term.subject="administration"

Summary: This handbook presents contemporary research on public administration in Latin America. The first section explores the range of administrative systems in existence across the region. The second portion of the book discusses important topics such as public personnel management, accountability and policy coordination in Latin America

Summary: "The 2016 local government elections in South Africa, held on 3 August 2016, marked a crucial turning point in the politics of the country. These fifth local government elections in democratic South Africa were characterised by a marked change in patterns of voting, and consequently, in the constitution of local government. An unprecedented loss of power in the country's metropolitan municipalities by the governing African National Congress (ANC), which subsequently resulted in the formation of several coalition governments with opposition parties with simple majority. This seismic shift in power has had implications for local government at both a theoretical and practical level. What lessons, if any, have been learned from the 2016 elections? And how, if at all, do they help us to prepare for the multiple scenarios that could potentially play themselves out? These questions and more are engaged in this book. Through interviews with various local and national government practitioners in the country, as well as the Southern African Development Community (SADC)."

Summary: Wie beeinflussen Eliten weiterhin die Entwicklung von Kommunen in postsowjetischen Ländern Europas? Dieses Buch befasst sich mit der Frage der lokalen Führung in den Ländern Ostmitteleuropas. Genauer gesagt ist es der Versuch, das Profil und die Rolle der lokalen politischen Eliten (Mitglieder der Gemeinderäte) in sechs Städten in sechs Übergangsdemokratien der Region vergleichend zu untersuchen

Summary: "After a cascade of failures left residents of Flint, Michigan, without a reliable and affordable supply of safe drinking water, citizens spent years demanding action from their city and state officials. Complaints from the city's predominantly African American residents were ignored until independent researchers confirmed dangerously elevated blood lead levels among Flint children and in the city's tap water. Despite a 2017 federal court ruling in favor of Flint residents who had demanded mitigation, such efforts have been incomplete at best. Assessing the challenges that community groups faced in their attempts to advocate for improved living conditions, 'Tainted Tap' offers a rich analysis of conditions and constraints that created the Flint water crisis"

Summary: "Combining oral histories with decades of archival material, Village Work formulates a sweeping history of twentieth-century statecraft that centers on the daily work of rural people, local officials, and family networks, rather than on the national governments and large-scale plans that often dominate development stories. Wiemers shows that developmentalism was not simply created by governments and imposed on the governed; instead, it was jointly constructed through interactions between them. The book contributes to the historiographies of development and statecraft in Africa and the Global South by emphasizing the piecemeal, contingent, and largely improvised ways both development and the state are comprised and experienced, providing new entry points into longstanding discussions about developmental power and discourse, unsettling common ideas about how and by whom states are made, exposing the importance of unpaid labor in mediating relationships between governments and the governed, showing how state engagement could both exacerbate and disrupt inequities. Despite massive changes in twentieth-century political structures-the imposition and destruction of colonial rule, nationalist plans for pan-African solidarity and modernization, multiple military coups, and the rise of neoliberal austerity policies-unremunerated labor and demonstrations of local leadership have remained central tools by which rural Ghanaians have interacted with the state. Grounding its analysis of statecraft in decades of daily negotiations over budgets and bureaucracy, the book tells the stories of developers who decided how and where projects would be sited, of constituents who performed labor, and of a chief and his large cadre of educated children who met and shaped demands for local leaders. For a variety of actors, invoking "the village" became a convenient way to allocate or attract limited resources, to highlight or downplay struggles over power, and to forge national and international networks"

Summary: "This book explores Michael Bloomberg's mayoral successes and failures through the prism of the challenges he faced from several sources: the boundaries of municipal power imposed by the external constraints of state government, the limits imposed by federal and state courts, the internal obstacles faced in resolving labor union contracts. The book offers an incisive analysis of Bloomberg's policies during his long service as mayor of New York City and highlights the legacy Bloomberg left for de Blasio and other mayors"

Summary: "It feels like politics counts more today than it ever has. At the same time, people are frustrated by "the mess in Washington" or think "I can't make a difference." Local Politics Matters shows a way out: a chance for everyday people to feed their hunger for political action while having a positive impact. Local Politics Matters takes the knowledge that scholars have gathered from half a century of studying local politics, and translates it into clear action steps for citizens. Local Politics Matters: Explains local government. There are over 90,000 local governments in America. Do you have a "strong mayor" or "council-mayor" system of government? Who sits on your "board of supervisors"? What the heck is a "selectman"?! Shows why you should care. Local politics offers access-officials are literally the people in your neighborhood-and impact: you can make a difference. Lays out what to do. In local politics, sometimes there are right answers. The book explores six issues where only one path makes sense, and then follows up with specific steps to get involved. For readers who want to make a difference, this book lets them know how, by reminding them that Local Politics Matters"

Summary: "Kerala, a narrow stretch of land cuddled on the foothills of Western ghats is bestowed with nature's magic and has awesome rank among tourist destinations globally. Kerala society is evolved through spectacular religious and reform movements. The book is a compilation of 17 chapters which promulgates the rich tradition, biodiversity, politics, governance, climate change and health of Kerala State which outlines history, current state and future. The book is very helpful for those who seek answers about the multicultural society ladder and Kerala Model success stories with an in depth and panoramic approach"