Bøger i American Governance and Public Policy series serien

In 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act rocked America's schools with new initiatives for results-based accountability. This work takes a critical look at mayoral control of urban school districts, beginning with Boston's schools in 1992 and examining more than 100 school districts in 40 states.

Presents a systematic analysis of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) political representation that explores the dynamics of state legislative campaigns and the influence of lesbian and gay legislators in the state policymaking process.

Governments throughout the industrialized world make decisions that fundamentally affect the quality and accessibility of medical care. This title explores an alternative regulatory approach to medical care based on the delegation of decisions about the allocation of scarce medical resources to private nonprofit organizations.

Expanding and extending John Kingdon's influential "multiple streams" model that explains agenda setting, the author argues that manipulation, the bending of ideas, process, and beliefs to get what you want out of the policy process, is the key to understanding the dynamics of policymaking in conditions of ambiguity.

Traces the competing forces that interject conflict into an overall consensus on the value of a liberalized trade policy. This title shows why it is impossible to understand trade legislation without first understanding how electoral politics and the institutional rules of Congress distort legislators' interests, incentives, and policy goals.

Examines reasons why environmental laws seldom work out exactly as planned. Casting federal-state working relationships as 'pulling together,' 'coming apart,' or somewhere in-between, this title provides dozens of observations from federal and state officials.

Although the linking of 'ethics' and 'politics' may seem more like the ingredients for a comedian's monologue, it is a sober issue and one that affects every American. This title offers an exploration with that moment when New York became the first state to enact a general ethics law, setting standards and guidelines for behavior.

Provides a combination of contemporary policy analysis, an interbranch perspective, and diverse methodological approaches that speak to a gap in the literature dealing with the role of the courts in the American policymaking process. This book unravels the interplay of governmental agencies and provides a look at how the US government functions.

Provides insight into the central role that municipal governments play in the governance of metropolitan areas. This title explores the theory of institutional collective action through empirical studies of land use decisions, economic development, regional partnerships, school choice, morality issues, and boundary change.

Explores how brownfields (environmentally contaminated land), trashed lots and abandoned buildings, and greenspaces (parks, community gardens, etcetera) are affected by the decisions of local governments, and shows how vacant land can be a valuable strategic asset for localities.

That there is a 'digital divide' - which falls between those who have and can afford the latest in technological tools and those who have neither in our society - is indisputable. This title redefines the issue as it explores the cascades of that divide, which involve access, skill, political participation, as well as the obvious economics.

Argues that since the 1980s a distinctive suburban politics has emerged in the United States. This title also argues that the political differences between urban and suburban voters have found expression in changes in congressional representation and new electoral strategies for the major political parties.

Over the years local governments across America have increasingly turned specialized functions over to autonomous agencies. This book offers a comprehensive examination of the causes and consequences of special-purpose governments in more than 300 metropolitan areas in the United States.

Offering a comprehensive look at the policymaking process, this title examines the motivations of public officials, the resources they have for shaping opinion, the influence of interest groups, and the evolution of waste reduction programs in Minnesota and other states.

Comparing national efforts to preserve public lands, this title investigates how effectively and under what conditions governments can provide goods for future generations. It examines the effect of institutional structure on the public delivery of these goods.

Whether joining forces to address tobacco legislation or proposed air safety regulations, Washington lobbyists with little in common are combining their clout to get results. This book examines why coalition strategies have emerged as a dominant lobbying technique, when lobbyists use them, and how these strategies affect their activities.