Download or read book Making Government Work written by Tan Parker and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-09-29 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Making Government Work: A Conservative Agenda for the States is an updated version of the highly acclaimed 1994 original book. It serves as a modern-day guide for how as Americans we can move the states forward with common sense, conservative public policy initiatives to benefit the Nation as a whole. Making Government Work is a reminder that conservative reforms set the stage for unprecedented prosperity. The book contains a star-studded line up of some of today’s most powerful voices, including Nikki Haley, Chuck Norris, Rick Perry, Kathy Ireland, Rick Santorum, Chad Hennings, Jeb Bush, Dr. Art Laffer and Bob Woodson along with many more. "Making Government Work is for state government what the Contract with America was for the federal government. It is a sensible, fact based plan to create a better future through the application of sound principles." –Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House The author’s proceeds from the book will be donated to organizations that serve America’s veterans.

Download or read book America the Owner s Manual written by Bob Graham and published by CQ Press. This book was released on 2016-07-15 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2016, Americans fed up with the political process vented that frustration with their votes. Republicans nominated for president a wealthy businessman and former reality show host best known on the campaign trail for his sharp rhetoric against immigration and foreign trade. Democrats nearly selected a self-described socialist who ran on a populist platform against the influence of big money in politics. While it is not surprising that Americans would channel their frustrations into votes for contenders who pledge to end business as usual, the truth is that we don’t have to pin our hopes for greater participation on any one candidate. All of us have a say—if we learn, master and practice the skills of effective citizenship. One of the biggest roadblocks to participation in democracy is the perception that privileged citizens and special interests command the levers of power and that everyday Americans can’t fight City Hall. That perception is undoubtedly why a 2015 Pew Charitable Trusts survey found that 74 percent of those Americans surveyed believed that most elected officials didn't care what people like them thought. Graham and Hand intend to change that conventional wisdom by showing citizens how to flex their citizenship muscles. They describe effective citizenship skills and provide tips from civic experts. Even more importantly, they offer numerous examples of everyday Americans who have used their skills to make democracy respond. The reader will see themselves in these examples of citizens who chose to be victorious participants rather than tranquil spectators in the arena of democracy. By the end of the book, you will have new confidence that citizen participation is the lifeblood of America -- and will be ready to make governments work for you, not the other way around.

Download or read book Making Government Work written by Ernest F. Hollings and published by Univ of South Carolina Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this political memoir, six-term U.S. Senator "Fritz" Hollings takes aim atAmerica's increasingly flawed political system and a government that has gone"into the ditch."University of South Carolina Press

Download or read book Good Enough for Government Work written by Amy E. Lerman and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2019-06-14 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American government is in the midst of a reputation crisis. An overwhelming majority of citizens—Republicans and Democrats alike—hold negative perceptions of the government and believe it is wasteful, inefficient, and doing a generally poor job managing public programs and providing public services. When social problems arise, Americans are therefore skeptical that the government has the ability to respond effectively. It’s a serious problem, argues Amy E. Lerman, and it will not be a simple one to fix. With Good Enough for Government Work, Lerman uses surveys, experiments, and public opinion data to argue persuasively that the reputation of government is itself an impediment to government’s ability to achieve the common good. In addition to improving its efficiency and effectiveness, government therefore has an equally critical task: countering the belief that the public sector is mired in incompetence. Lerman takes readers through the main challenges. Negative perceptions are highly resistant to change, she shows, because we tend to perceive the world in a way that confirms our negative stereotypes of government—even in the face of new information. Those who hold particularly negative perceptions also begin to “opt out” in favor of private alternatives, such as sending their children to private schools, living in gated communities, and refusing to participate in public health insurance programs. When sufficient numbers of people opt out of public services, the result can be a decline in the objective quality of public provision. In this way, citizens’ beliefs about government can quickly become a self-fulfilling prophecy, with consequences for all. Lerman concludes with practical solutions for how the government might improve its reputation and roll back current efforts to eliminate or privatize even some of the most critical public services.

Download or read book The Tides of Reform written by Paul Charles Light and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1997-01-01 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the past fifty years, the Congresses and presidents of the United States have made many efforts to improve the performance of the federal government. In this book, a leading expert in public management examines the most important reform statutes passed and concludes that the problem is not too little reform but too much. Paul Light explains that Congress and the presidency have never decided whether they trust government and its employees to do their jobs well, and so they have moved back and forth over the decades between four reform philosophies: scientific management, war on waste, watchful eye, and liberation management. These four philosophies, argues Light, operate with different goals, implementation strategies, and impacts. Yet reform initiatives draw on one or another of them almost at random, often canceling out the potential benefits of a particular statute by passing a contradictory statute soon afterward. Light shows that as the public has become increasingly distrustful of government, the reform agenda has favored the war on waste and watchful eye. He analyzes the consequences of these changes for the overall performance of government and offers policy recommendations for future reform approaches.

Download or read book Making Democracy Work written by Robert D. Putnam and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 1994-05-27 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why do some democratic governments succeed and others fail? In a book that has received attention from policymakers and civic activists in America and around the world, Robert Putnam and his collaborators offer empirical evidence for the importance of "civic community" in developing successful institutions. Their focus is on a unique experiment begun in 1970 when Italy created new governments for each of its regions. After spending two decades analyzing the efficacy of these governments in such fields as agriculture, housing, and health services, they reveal patterns of associationism, trust, and cooperation that facilitate good governance and economic prosperity.

Download or read book Making Government Work written by Katherine Barrett and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2019-12-24 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, Barrett and Greene present evolving theories of performance management, the practices necessary for a good performance-based government, and the pitfalls that can easily be encountered along the way—andhow to avoid them. As performance management has evolved, it has encompassed many different tools and approaches including measurement, data analysis, evidence-based management, process improvement, research and evaluation. In the past, many of the efforts to improve performance in government have been fragmented, separated into silos and labeled with a variety of different names including performance-based budgeting, performance-informed management, managing for results and so on. Making Government Work: The Promises and Pitfalls of Performance-Informed Management by Katherine Barrett and Rich Greene is loaded with dozens of stories of what practitioners are currently working on—what’s working and what’s not. The benefits are ample, so are the challenges. This book describes both, along with practical steps taken by practitioners to make government work better. Readers will discover that while the authors strive to meet the documentation standards of carefully vetted academic papers, the approach they take is journalistic. Over the last year, Barrett and Greene talked to scores of state and local officials, as well as academics and other national experts to find out how performance management tools and approaches have changed, and what is coming in the near-term future. Performance management has been in a state of evolution for decades now, and so Barrett and Greene have endeavored to capture the state of the world as it is today. By detailing both the challenges and conquests of performance management in Making Government Work: The Promises and Pitfalls of Performance-Informed Management, Barrett and Greene ensure readers will find the kind of balanced information that is helpful to both academics and practitioners—and that can move the field forward.

Download or read book Designing Democratic Government written by Susan Stokes and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 2008-09-04 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What are the essential elements of a democracy? How can nations ensure a political voice for all citizens, and design a government that will respond to those varied voices? These perennial questions resonate strongly in the midst of ongoing struggles to defend democratic institutions around the world and here at home. In Designing Democratic Government, a group of distinguished political scientists provides a landmark cross-national analysis of the institutions that either facilitate or constrain the healthy development of democracy. The contributors to Designing Democratic Government use the democratic ideals of fairness, competitiveness, and accountability as benchmarks to assess a wide variety of institutions and practices. John Leighly and Jonathan Nagler find that in the U.S., the ability to mobilize voters across socioeconomic lines largely hinges on the work of non-party groups such as civic associations and unions, which are far less likely than political parties to engage in class-biased outreach efforts. Michael McDonald assesses congressional redistricting methods and finds that court-ordered plans and close adherence to the Voting Rights Act effectively increase the number of competitive electoral districts, while politically-drawn maps reduce the number of competitive districts. John Carey and John Polga-Hecimovich challenge the widespread belief that primary elections produce inferior candidates. Analyzing three decades worth of comprehensive data on Latin American presidential campaigns, they find that primaries impart a stamp of legitimacy on candidates, helping to engage voters and mitigate distrust in the democratic process. And Kanchan Chandra proposes a paradigm shift in the way we think about ethnic inclusion in democracies: nations should design institutions that actively promote—rather than merely accommodate—diversity. At a moment when democracy seems vulnerable both at home and abroad, Designing Democratic Government sorts through a complex array of practices and institutions to outline what works and what doesn't in new and established democracies alike. The result is a volume that promises to change the way we look at the ideals of democracy worldwide.

Download or read book The Trusted Leader written by Terry Newell and published by CQ Press. This book was released on 2011-08-04 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Improving government on a macro level is only possible with public managers who herald change on a micro level. While many studies of government reform focus on new policies and programs, these public managers—building relationships built on trust—are the real drivers behind many successful reforms. In this second edition, chapter authors once again draw on their real-world experience to demonstrate the importance of values-based leadership. With new research and lessons from the first two years of the Obama administration, chapters focus on the concrete ways in which leaders build effective relationships and trust, while also improving themselves, their organizations, and those they coach. Surveying agencies both horizontally and vertically, The Trusted Leader also addresses how public managers can collaborate with political appointees and the legislative branch, while still engaging with citizens to create quality customer experiences. Two brand-new chapters focus on: “Effective Conversations”—the importance of one-on-one conversations to building trust, with a model for having such conversations. “The Diversity Opportunity”—the need to effectively lead across a diverse workforce and a diverse society to build trust in both realms. With the addition of chapter headnotes, the editors provide necessary context, while the new “Resources for Further Learning” feature guides readers toward additional print and web resources.

Download or read book Making the Government Work written by Robert E. Hunter and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 35 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Our American Government written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Committee on House Administration is pleased to present this revised book on our United States Government. This publication continues to be a popular introductory guide for American citizens and those of other countries who seek a greater understanding of our heritage of democracy. The question-and-answer format covers a broad range of topics dealing with the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of our Government as well as the electoral process and the role of political parties.--Foreword.

Download or read book Making Government Work written by Robert E. Hunter and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-03-05 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Relations between Congress and the executive branch have always been an uneasy mixture of mutuality and autonomy, cooperation and conflict. The U.S. Constitution required that the two branches of the federal government work in concert, but it also mandated a separation of powers. Inevitably, this situation has led to a clash of wills and a contest

Download or read book The Centrist Solution written by Joseph I. Lieberman and published by Diversion Books. This book was released on 2021-10-19 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The four-term senator shares behind-the-scenes stories illustrating the lost art of aisle-crossing—and how to make American democracy function again. Senator Joseph Lieberman offers a master class in effective government by revealing events from his forty years in elective office—which spanned from the Vietnam War era to the Obama presidency—and shining a light on historic acts of centrism and compromise. He was an up-close witness to a not-so-distant era when Republicans and Democrats worked together (and even became friends), and problems actually got solved. Today we need these examples more than ever. Having two fiercely opposed political parties is what John Adams dreaded “as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.” If American government is to work, it must do so in the center—where open discussion, hard negotiation, and effective compromise take place. In this vivid account of his political life, Lieberman shows how legislative progress and all-inclusive government occurs when politicians reject extremism and put country before party. The Centrist Solution shines a light on ten milestones of centrist success during his time in government—from the Clean Air Act of 1990 and the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the repeal of the military’s anti-gay “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy—as well as his vice presidential run alongside candidate Al Gore, and his experience being vetted by John McCain to be his potential running mate on the 2008 Republican ticket. In the telling, Lieberman extracts clear lessons and proven methods of collaboration that can carry us forward after years of partisan warfare and legislative inaction. The centrist solution leads to government truly of the people, by the people, and for the people—a citizenry looking for solutions, not destructive extremist standoffs. “Reprising successes and failures, he ends each chapter with ‘Lessons for Centrists.’ . . . A heartfelt plea to legislators and the constituents who elect them.” —Kirkus Reviews “The wisdom offered in this magnificently timed book serves as a reminder of history’s powerful examples of bipartisanship, almost completely forgotten in today’s environment of ever-changing party dogma and misplaced priorities.” —Jon Huntsman, former Governor of Utah (R) and US Ambassador

Download or read book How Our Laws are Made written by John V. Sullivan and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The End of Government as We Know it written by Elaine Ciulla Kamarck and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Looks at the ways in which government in the United States needs to change in order to cope with the challenges of the new century. The author presents a new model, which is more flexible and less bureaucratic.

Download or read book Making Policy written by Glen G. D. Milne and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Warping of Government Work written by John D. Donahue and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2008-05-30 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It’s a long-standing pattern: elite workers spurn public jobs, while less skilled workers cling to government work as a refuge from a harsh private economy. Donahue documents government’s isolation from the rest of the U.S. economy and arrays the stark choices we confront for narrowing, or accommodating, the divide between public and private work.