Revitalizing American Governance

Revitalizing American Governance PDF Author: Charles Bingman
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1532041942
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
Americans are fortunate because they have one of the most effective governance systems in the world, yet the author analyzes and proposes more than two hundred other ways in which our governments can become more valuable and effective. To achieve this, it is vital to strengthen the bottom-up involvement of the American public to bring a new level of common sense and moderation and spirit of service while asking politicians to show more courage in making hard decisions.

Revitalizing American Governance

Revitalizing American Governance PDF Author: Charles Bingman
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1532041942
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 308

Get Book Here

Book Description
Americans are fortunate because they have one of the most effective governance systems in the world, yet the author analyzes and proposes more than two hundred other ways in which our governments can become more valuable and effective. To achieve this, it is vital to strengthen the bottom-up involvement of the American public to bring a new level of common sense and moderation and spirit of service while asking politicians to show more courage in making hard decisions.

Government Is Good

Government Is Good PDF Author: Douglas J. Amy
Publisher: Dog Ear Publishing
ISBN: 1457506580
Category : Democracy
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
Why a book defending government? Because for decades, right-wing forces in this country have engaged in a relentless and irresponsible campaign of vicious government bashing. Conservatives and libertarians have demonized government, attacked basic safety net programs like Medicare, and undermined vital regulations that protect consumers, investors, workers, and the environment. This book takes on this anti-government movement and shows that most of its criticisms of this institution are highly exaggerated, misleading, or just plain wrong. In reality, American government - despite its flaws - plays a valuable and indispensable role in promoting the public good. Most government programs are working well and are actually improving the lives of Americans in innumerable ways. Democratic government is a vital tool for making our world a better place; and if we want an America that is prosperous, healthy, secure, well-educated, just, compassionate, and unpolluted, we need a strong, active, and well-funded public sector. Part I: Why Government is Good. The section of the book describes how government acts as a force for good in society. One chapter chronicles a day in the life of an average middle-class American and identifies the myriad ways that government programs improve our lives. Other chapters describe the forgotten achievements of government; how government is the only way to effectively promote public values like justice and equality; and how a free market economy would be impossible without the elaborate legal and regulatory infrastructure provided by government. Part II: The War on Government. This section of the book chronicles the unrelenting assault on government being waged by conservative forces in this country. Chapters describe how cuts in social programs and rollbacks of regulations have harmed the health, safety, and welfare of millions of Americans and how these assaults have taken place on many fronts - in Congress, the administrative branch, and the federal courts, as well as on the state and local level. Also addressed: how the right's radical anti-government agenda is out of touch with the views and priorities of most Americans, and what the real truth is about government deficits. Part III: How to Revitalize Democracy and Government. There are, in fact, some problems with American government, and we need to address these if we are to restore Americans' faith in this institution. One of the main problems with our government is that it is not accountable and responsive enough to the public. Moneyed special interests too often win out over the public interest. Chapters in this section describe this problem and how we can fix it. There are several reforms - including public financing of elections - that could help our government live up to its democratic ideals. The final chapter discusses strategies for building a pro-government coalition in this country.

Collaborative Governance for Urban Revitalization

Collaborative Governance for Urban Revitalization PDF Author: Michael J. Rich
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 0801470900
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
For more than one hundred years, governments have grappled with the complex problem of how to revitalize distressed urban areas. In 1995, the original urban Empowerment Zones (Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, New York, and Philadelphia) each received a $100 million federal block grant and access to a variety of market-oriented policy tools to support the implementation of a ten-year strategic plan to increase economic opportunities and promote sustainable community development in high-poverty neighborhoods. In Collaborative Governance for Urban Revitalization, Michael J. Rich and Robert P. Stoker confront the puzzle of why the outcomes achieved by the original Empowerment Zones varied so widely given that each city had the same set of federal policy tools and resources and comparable neighborhood characteristics.The authors' analysis, based on more than ten years of field research in Atlanta and Baltimore and extensive empirical analysis of EZ processes and outcomes in all six cities shows that revitalization outcomes are best explained by the quality of local governance. Good local governance makes positive contributions to revitalization efforts, while poor local governance retards progress. While policy design and contextual factors are important, how cities craft and carry out their strategies are critical determinants of successful revitalization. Rich and Stoker find that good governance is often founded on public-private cooperation, a stance that argues against both the strongest critics of neoliberalism (who see private enterprise as dangerous in principle) and the strongest opponents of liberalism (who would like to reduce the role of government).

A Hinge of History

A Hinge of History PDF Author: George P. Shultz
Publisher: Hoover Press
ISBN: 0817924361
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
The world is at an inflection point. Advancing technologies are creating new opportunities and challenges. Great demographic changes are occurring rapidly, with significant consequences. Governance everywhere is in disarray. A new world is emerging. These are some of the key insights to emerge from a series of interdisciplinary roundtables and global expert contributions hosted by the Hoover Institution. In these pages, George P. Shultz and James Timbie examine a range of issues shaping our present and future, region by region. Concrete proposals address migration, reversing the decline of K–12 education, updating the social safety net, maintaining economic productivity, protecting our democratic processes, improving national security, and more. Meeting these transformational challenges will require international cooperation, constructive engagement, and strong governance. The United States is well positioned to ride this wave of change—and lead other nations in doing the same.

Importing Democracy

Importing Democracy PDF Author: Raymond A. Smith
Publisher: Praeger
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Describes twenty-one features from the political systems of democracies from around the world that the author believes would benefit United States politics and government.

Public Governance as Co-creation

Public Governance as Co-creation PDF Author: Christopher Ansell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108807232
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 341

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Book Description
We need new governance solutions to help us improve public policies and services, solve complex societal problems, strengthen social communities and reinvigorate democracy. By changing how government engages with citizens and stakeholders, co-creation provides an attractive and feasible approach to governance that goes beyond the triptych of public bureaucracy, private markets and self-organized communities. Inspired by the successful use of co-creation for product and service design, this book outlines a broad vision of co-creation as a strategy of public governance. Through the construction of platforms and arenas to facilitate co-creation, this strategy can empower local communities, enhance broad-based participation, mobilize societal resources and spur public innovation while building ownership for bold solutions to pressing problems and challenges. The book details how to use co-creation to achieve goals. This exciting and innovative study combines theoretical argument with illustrative empirical examples, visionary thinking and practical recommendations.

Encyclopedia of School Crime and Violence

Encyclopedia of School Crime and Violence PDF Author: Laura L. Finley
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781782680024
Category : School violence
Languages : en
Pages : 747

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Book Description
This book provides a thorough compilation of the types, specific incidents, relevant agencies, theories, responses, and prevention programs relevant to crime and violence in schools and on campuses.

Democracy in America?

Democracy in America? PDF Author: Benjamin I. Page
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022672493X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
America faces daunting problems—stagnant wages, high health care costs, neglected schools, deteriorating public services. How did we get here? Through decades of dysfunctional government. In Democracy in America? veteran political observers Benjamin I. Page and Martin Gilens marshal an unprecedented array of evidence to show that while other countries have responded to a rapidly changing economy by helping people who’ve been left behind, the United States has failed to do so. Instead, we have actually exacerbated inequality, enriching corporations and the wealthy while leaving ordinary citizens to fend for themselves. What’s the solution? More democracy. More opportunities for citizens to shape what their government does. To repair our democracy, Page and Gilens argue, we must change the way we choose candidates and conduct our elections, reform our governing institutions, and curb the power of money in politics. By doing so, we can reduce polarization and gridlock, address pressing challenges, and enact policies that truly reflect the interests of average Americans. Updated with new information, this book lays out a set of proposals that would boost citizen participation, curb the power of money, and democratize the House and Senate.

Central Bank Governance and Oversight Reform

Central Bank Governance and Oversight Reform PDF Author: John Cochrane
Publisher: Hoover Press
ISBN: 0817919260
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 377

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Book Description
A central bank needs authority and a sphere of independent action. But a central bank cannot become an unelected czar with sweeping, unaccountable discretionary power. How can we balance the central bank's authority and independence with needed accountability and constraints? Drawn from a 2015 Hoover Institution conference, this book features distinguished scholars and policy makers' discussing this and other key questions about the Fed. Going beyond the widely talked about decision of whether to raise interest rates, they focus on a deeper set of questions, including, among others, How should the Fed make decisions? How should the Fed govern its internal decision-making processes? What is the trade-off between greater Fed power and less Fed independence? And how should Congress, from which the Fed ultimately receives its authority, oversee the Fed? The contributors discuss whether central banks can both follow rule-based policy in normal times but then implement a discretionary do-what-it-takes approach to stopping financial crises. They evaluate legislation, recently proposed in the US House and Senate, that would require the Fed to describe its monetary policy rule and, if and when it changed or deviated from its rule, explain the reasons. And they discuss to best ways to structure a committee—like the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets interest rates—to make good decisions, as well as offer historical reflections on the governance of the Fed and much more.

How Public Policy Became War

How Public Policy Became War PDF Author: David Davenport
Publisher: Hoover Press
ISBN: 0817922660
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 154

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Book Description
President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal is widely understood as a turning point in American history. Roosevelt's decisions of 1933 reset the balance of power away from Congress and the states toward a strong executive branch. They shifted the federal government away from the Founders' vision of deliberation and moderation toward war and action. Modern-day presidents have declared war on everything from poverty and drugs to crime and terror. Exploring the consequences of these ill-defined (and never-ending) wars, this book calls for a re-examination of this destructive approach to governance.