Download or read book In Defense of Public Service written by Cedric L. Alexander and published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers. This book was released on 2020-01-21 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The former police chief and news commentator makes a compelling case for the importance of civil service in this timely book—foreword by Elijah Cummings. When those we elect descend into partisan tribalism, criminal malfeasance, and emulation of foreign autocracies and oligarchies, where do we turn? Cedric Alexander believes it is the unelected, apolitical "fourth branch" of government—our nation's public servants, civil servants, and first responders—who must save the nation. Alexander, a former deputy mayor, police chief, and CNN commentator, argues that these people do not constitute a nefarious “deep state” pursuing a hidden agenda. They are the analysts, scientists, lawyers, accountants, educators, consultants, enforcers of regulations, and first responders of every kind who keep the country running and its people safe. This book recounts the evolution of the professional civil service as an antidote to widespread cronyism, with examples of how it has served as a bulwark against powerful corrupting influences. It describes the role civil servants play in bringing our badly divided society together.
Download or read book Government Is Good written by Douglas J. Amy and published by Dog Ear Publishing. This book was released on 2011 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Confessions of a Civil Servant written by Bob Stone and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2004-07-26 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Confessions of a Civil Servant is filled with lessons on leading change in government and the military. Bob Stone based the book on thirty years as a revolutionary in government. It comes at a time when the events of 9-11 are sharpening America's demands for government at all levels that works.
Download or read book In Defense of Elitism written by Joel Stein and published by Grand Central Publishing. This book was released on 2019-10-22 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Thurber finalist and former star Time columnist Joel Stein comes a "brilliant exploration" (Walter Isaacson) of America's political culture war and a hilarious call to arms for the elite. "I can think of no one more suited to defend elitism than Stein, a funny man with hands as delicate as a baby full of soft-boiled eggs." —Jimmy Kimmel, host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! The night Donald Trump won the presidency, our author Joel Stein, Thurber Prize finalist and former staff writer for Time Magazine, instantly knew why. The main reason wasn't economic anxiety or racism. It was that he was anti-elitist. Hillary Clinton represented Wall Street, academics, policy papers, Davos, international treaties and the people who think they're better than you. People like Joel Stein. Trump represented something far more appealing, which was beating up people like Joel Stein. In a full-throated defense of academia, the mainstream press, medium-rare steak, and civility, Joel Stein fights against populism. He fears a new tribal elite is coming to replace him, one that will fend off expertise of all kinds and send the country hurtling backward to a time of wars, economic stagnation and the well-done steaks doused with ketchup that Trump eats. To find out how this shift happened and what can be done, Stein spends a week in Roberts County, Texas, which had the highest percentage of Trump voters in the country. He goes to the home of Trump-loving Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams; meets people who create fake news; and finds the new elitist organizations merging both right and left to fight the populists. All the while using the biggest words he knows.
Download or read book In Defense of Public Debt written by Barry Eichengreen and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-08-11 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A dive into the origins, management, and uses and misuses of sovereign debt through the ages. Public debts have exploded to levels unprecedented in modern history as governments responded to the Covid-19 pandemic and ensuing economic crisis. Their dramatic rise has prompted apocalyptic warnings about the dangers of heavy debtsabout the drag they will place on economic growth and the burden they represent for future generations. In Defense of Public Debt offers a sharp rejoinder to this view, marshaling the entire history of state-issued public debt to demonstrate its usefulness. Authors Barry Eichengreen, Asmaa El-Ganainy, Rui Esteves, and Kris James Mitchener argue that the ability of governments to issue debt has played a critical role in addressing emergenciesfrom wars and pandemics to economic and financial crises, as well as in funding essential public goods and services such as transportation, education, and healthcare. In these ways, the capacity to issue debt has been integral to state building and state survival. Transactions in public debt securities have also contributed to the development of private financial markets and, through this channel, to modern economic growth. None of this is to deny that debt problems, debt crises, and debt defaults occur. But these dramatic events, which attract much attention, are not the entire story. In Defense of Public Debt redresses the balance. The authors develop their arguments historically, recounting two millennia of public debt experience. They deploy a comprehensive database to identify the factors behind rising public debts and the circumstances under which high debts are successfully stabilized and brought down. Finally, they bring the story up to date, describing the role of public debt in managing the Covid-19 pandemic and recession, suggesting a way forward once governmentsnow more heavily indebted than beforefinally emerge from the crisis.
Download or read book Reforming the Public Sector written by Giovanni Tria and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many countries are still struggling to adapt to the broad and unexpected effects of modernization initiatives. As changes take shape, governments are challenged to explore new reforms. The public sector is now characterized by profound transformation across the globe, with ramifications that are yet to be interpreted. To convert this transformation into an ongoing state of improvement, policymakers and civil service leaders must learn to implement and evaluate change. This book is an important contribution to that end. Reforming the Public Sector presents comparative perspectives of government reform and innovation, discussing three decades of reform in public sector strategic management across nations. The contributors examine specific reform-related issues including the uses and abuses of public sector transparency, the "Audit Explosion," and the relationship between public service motivation and job satisfaction in Europe. This volume will greatly aid practitioners and policymakers to better understand the principles underpinning ongoing reforms in the public sector. Giovanni Tria, Giovanni Valotti, and their cohorts offer a scientific understanding of the main issues at stake in this arduous process. They place the approach to public administration reform in a broad international context and identify a road map for public management. Contributors include: Michael Barzelay, Nicola Bellé, Andrea Bonomi Savignon, Geert Bouckaert, Luca Brusati, Paola Cantarelli, Denita Cepiku, Francesco Cerase, Luigi Corvo, Maria Cucciniello, Isabell Egger-Peitler, Paolo Fedele, Gerhard Hammerschmid, Mario Ianniello, Elaine Ciulla Kamarck, Irvine Lapsley, Peter Leisink, Mariannunziata Liguori, Renate Meyer, Greta Nasi, James L. Perry, Christopher Pollitt, Adrian Ritz, Raffaella Saporito, MariaFrancesca Sicilia, Ileana Steccolini, Bram Steijn, Wouter Vandenabeele, and Montgomery Van Wart.
Download or read book A New Working Class written by Jane Berger and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2021-10-15 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New Working Class traces efforts by Black public-sector workers and their unions to fight for racial and economic justice in Baltimore. Federal policy shifts imperiled their efforts. Officials justified weakening the welfare state and strengthening the carceral state by criminalizing Black residents—including government workers.
Download or read book The New Guardians written by Cedric L. Alexander and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-06-02 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New Guardians: Policing in America's Communities for the 21st Century embodies nearly forty years of experience in law enforcement in addition to a career in clinical psychology. In search of a better way to police our nation, Dr. Cedric L. Alexander takes us back some 200 years to the Constitution-and then some 2,400 to Plato's Republic-and shows us how to remodel the warrior cop into the Guardian at the heart of community policing. Amid today's explosion of homicide in our most-challenged neighborhoods and the bid of international terrorism for the allegiance of marginalized youth everywhere, healing wounded relations between the police and the people has never been more urgent. This is the story of one man's quiet, courageous leadership. Cedric L. Alexander entered law enforcement in 1977, as a deputy sheriff in Leon County, Florida, on the brink of profound transformations in America and American policing. In many cities, the nation was in civil war, the police on one side, the community on the other. Wars are about winning by inflicting defeat. As a young deputy, Alexander saw that unending combat was destroying police-community relations. He devoted the next four decades to creating something new and something better. His background combines a long career as a deputy, a police officer, and a detective in the Tallahassee area, in Orlando, and in Miami-Dade, Florida, with a career in clinical psychology, both as a practitioner and an assistant professor at the University of Rochester (New York). He holds a Doctorate of Clinical Psychology from Wright State University (Dayton, Ohio) and provided senior-level administrative and clinical leadership of mental health services within the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, with special emphasis on counseling police officers, firefighters, and their families. He served as Deputy Chief and then as Chief of Police of the Rochester Police Department and subsequently was appointed Deputy Commissioner in the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services before joining the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as Federal Security Director for Dallas/ Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). In 2013, Dr. Alexander was appointed Chief of Police for DeKalb County and, at the end of the year, became Deputy Chief Operating Officer/Public Safety Director. About the Author Cedric L. Alexander, Psy.D., is Director of Public Safety and Deputy Chief Operating Officer, DeKalb County Office of Public Safety, responsible for leading the Police and Fire Departments in the second-largest county in the metro-Atlanta area. He has served as President of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) and was appointed in 2015 to the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Dr. Alexander has appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe, CBS Evening News, ABC World News with Diane Sawyer, and NBC Nightly News, and has have written numerous opinion editorials for CNN, for which he is an on-air Law Enforcement Analyst.
Download or read book In Defense of Public Lands written by Steven Davis and published by Temple University Press. This book was released on 2018-05-21 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Debates continue to rage over the merits or flaws of public land and whether or not it should be privatized—or at least, radically reconfigured in some way. In Defense of Public Lands offers a comprehensive refutation of the market-oriented arguments. Steven Davis passionately advocates that public land ought to remain firmly in the public’s hands. He reviews empirical data and theoretical arguments from biological, economic, and political perspectives in order to build a case for why our public lands are an invaluable and irreplaceable asset for the American people. In Defense of Public Lands briefly lays out the history and characteristics of public lands at the local, state, and federal levels while examining the numerous policy prescriptions for their privatization or, in the case of federal lands, transfer. He considers the dimensions of environmental health; markets and valuation of public land, the tensions between collective values and individual preferences, the nature and performance of bureaucratic management, and the legitimacy of interest groups and community decision-making. Offering a fair, good faith overview of the privatizers’ best arguments before refuting them, this timely book contemplates both the immediate and long-term future of our public lands.
Download or read book A Passion for Leadership written by Robert M. Gates and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2017-01-10 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Having led change successfully at three sprawling, monumental organizations—the CIA, Texas A&M University, and the Department of Defense—Robert M. Gates offers the ultimate insider's look at how leaders can transform large organizations and companies. For many Americans, bureaucracy and corporate structure are code words for inertia. Gates knows that it doesn't have to be that way. With stunning clarity, he shares how simple plans, faithfully executed, can cut through the mire of bureaucracy to reform organizational culture. And he shows that great leaders listen and respond to their teams and embrace the power of compromise. Using the full weight of his wisdom, candor, and devotion to duty, he empowers leaders at any level to effectively implement his leadership strategies.
Download or read book A Well Founded Fear written by Philip G. Schrag and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-09-11 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Download or read book The Modern Defense Industry written by Richard A. Bitzinger and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2009-10-15 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whether it's guns and ammunition or multidimensional anti-terrorism systems, the defense industry is dynamic, complex, and ubiquitous. It is also mysterious, powerful, and controversial, involving thousands of players worldwide—from suppliers and producers to government and military procurers to shadowy figures that trade in the black market. This comprehensive, two-volume reference will explore, on a global scale, the various issues, concepts, problems, and controversies surrounding the rise of the modern defense industry. Unparalleled in its scope and insight, The Modern Defense Industry will prove invaluable to the industry's critics and champions alike. The phenomenon of a more-or-less permanent defense industry—especially one so wide in scale, breadth (air, sea, land, and space), technology, and geography—is still relatively new. Until now, its implications for politics, economics, and technology have not been adequately discussed in an authoritative, accessible format for scholars and researchers, business people, journalists, policymakers, and interested laymen. The Modern Defense Industry addresses the period from 1945 to the present, covering the United States, Europe, Russia, China, Israel, and other important arms-producing and arms-procuring countries. Including essays by experts from around the world, a glossary, data on firms and governments, laws and policies, primary documents, case studies, and a host of other elements, this set will be a unique resource for anyone interested in the arms industry. It will also offer penetrating insights into topics like international relations and diplomacy, arms proliferation, and contemporary politics. Volume I comprises chapters by experts in the field on topics like the relationship between the industry, military, and government; how new modes of warfare are changing the industry; the implications of globalization on the industry; the black and gray areas of the arms trade; and much more. Volume II features an extensive A-Z glossary of terms, lists of defense firms and government agencies, annotated primary documents, lists of leading defense contractors and key weapons systems, an analysis of key legislation, and professional organizations. The Modern Defense Industry sets the standard for state of the art overviews of an industry that has, for better or worse, come to infuse nearly every aspect of world affairs in the early twenty-first century.
Download or read book The Privatization of Everything written by Donald Cohen and published by The New Press. This book was released on 2021-11-23 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book the American Prospect calls “an essential resource for future reformers on how not to govern,” by America’s leading defender of the public interest and a bestselling historian “An essential read for those who want to fight the assault on public goods and the commons.” —Naomi Klein A sweeping exposé of the ways in which private interests strip public goods of their power and diminish democracy, the hardcover edition of The Privatization of Everything elicited a wide spectrum of praise: Kirkus Reviews hailed it as “a strong, economics-based argument for restoring the boundaries between public goods and private gains,” Literary Hub featured the book on a Best Nonfiction list, calling it “a far-reaching, comprehensible, and necessary book,” and Publishers Weekly dubbed it a “persuasive takedown of the idea that the private sector knows best.” From Diane Ravitch (“an important new book about the dangers of privatization”) to Heather McGhee (“a well-researched call to action”), the rave reviews mirror the expansive nature of the book itself, covering the impact of privatization on every aspect of our lives, from water and trash collection to the justice system and the military. Cohen and Mikaelian also demonstrate how citizens can—and are—wresting back what is ours: A Montana city took back its water infrastructure after finding that they could do it better and cheaper. Colorado towns fought back well-funded campaigns to preserve telecom monopolies and hamstring public broadband. A motivated lawyer fought all the way to the Supreme Court after the state of Georgia erected privatized paywalls around its legal code. “Enlightening and sobering” (Rosanne Cash), The Privatization of Everything connects the dots across a wide range of issues and offers what Cash calls “a progressive voice with a firm eye on justice [that] can carefully parse out complex issues for those of us who take pride in citizenship.”
Download or read book Billions for Defense written by Gerald Taylor White and published by . This book was released on 1980 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Gentleman from Illinois written by Alan J Dixon and published by Southern Illinois University Press. This book was released on 2013-08-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1993, Alan J. Dixon’s political career came to an end with a defeat—the first one in his forty-three years of elected service. Beginning his legislative career in 1950 as a Democrat in the Illinois House of Representatives, Dixon also served in the Illinois State Senate, worked as state treasurer and secretary of state, and concluded his political career as a U.S. senator. The Gentleman from Illinois is an insider’s account of Illinois politics in the second half of the twentieth century, providing readers with fascinating stories about the people he encountered and events he participated in and witnessed during his four decades of service. With a degree of candor often unheard of in political memoirs, The Gentleman from Illinois reveals Dixon’s abilities as a storyteller. At times chatty and self-effacing, Dixon pulls no punches when it comes to detailing the personalities of major political figures—such as Mayor Richard J. Daley, Adlai Stevenson, Paul Simon, and presidents of the United States. Indeed, he uses this same honest approach when examining himself, fully describing the setbacks and embarrassing moments that peppered his own life. As a moderate Democrat who regularly crossed party lines in his voting and his views, Dixon also shares his thoughts on the proper way to run a government, the difficulties of passing legislation, the balancing act required to be a statewide official, and other valuable observations on local, state, and national politics. Full of behind-the-scenes insights presented in 121 short vignettes, The Gentleman from Illinois entertains as much as it informs, making it a necessary book for everyone interested in Illinois politics.
Download or read book In Defense of Civility written by James Calvin Davis and published by Westminster John Knox Press. This book was released on 2010-09-21 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From "the big four" (abortion, homosexuality, euthanasia, and stem-cell research) to war, poverty, and the environment, this timely book considers religion's impact on moral debates in America's past and present. James Calvin Davis argues for religion's potential to enrich both the content and the civility of public conversation. This book will interest all concerned citizens yearning for more careful thinking about the role of religion in public debate.
Download or read book Governing Fables written by Sandford Borins and published by IAP. This book was released on 2011-08-01 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Governing Fables: Learning from Public Sector Narratives advocates the importance of narrative for public servants, exemplifies it with a rigorously selected and analyzed set of narratives, and imparts narrative skills politicians and public servants need in their careers. Governing Fables turns to narratology, the inter-disciplinary study of narrative, for a conceptual framework that is applied to a set of narratives engaging life within public organizations, focusing on works produced during the last twenty-five years in the US and UK. The genres discussed include British government narratives inspired by and reacting to Yes Minister, British appeasement narratives, American political narratives, the Cuban Missile Crisis narrative, jury decision-making narratives, and heroic teacher narratives. In each genre lessons are presented regarding both effective management and essential narrative skills. Governing Fables is intended for public management and political science scholars and practitioners interested in leadership and management, as well as readers drawn to the political subject matter and to the genre of political films, novels, and television series.
