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This title offers a comprehensive yet concise introduction to the new field of state management. It systematically examines the key approaches to the study of how government attempts to achieve successful delivery of public services.
State Management offers a comprehensive yet concise introduction to the new field of state management, systematically examining the key approaches to the study of how government attempts to achieve successful delivery of public services, discussing the pros and cons of alternative frameworks of analysis.
The Third Edition of this successful textbook introduces students to the major concepts, models, and approaches surrounding the public sector. Now fully updated to include coverage of the New Public Management (NPM), The Public Sector is the most comprehensive textbook on theories of public policy and public administration. The Public Sector is introduced within a three-part framework: public resource allocation, redistribution and regulation. Jan-Erik Lane explains the basic concepts of each of these broad areas, and goes on to examine their consequences for various approaches to the making and implementation of public policy. The book explores models of management, effectiveness and
Politics and Society in Western Europe is a comprehensive introduction for students of West European politics and of comparative politics. This new edition has been extensively revised and updated to meet with the new needs of undergraduate students as they come to terms with a changing social and political landscape in Europe. This textbook provides a full analysis of the political systems of 18 Western European countries, their political parties, elections, and party systems, as well as the structures of government at local, regional, national and European Union levels. Throughout the book, key theoretical ideas are accessibly introduced and examined against the very latest empirical data on civil society and the state.
This concise, accessible text presents an overview of the relevance of culture for politics. Culture figures prominently in the theories of the great classics such as Marx, Durkheim and Weber. Recently, the cultural approach to politics has developed quickly, and the concept of political culture has played a role in these developments, particularly given the emergence of large-scale survey research into political value orientations. Seeking to outline this rapid development, the book is divided into three sections: Section I of the book discusses the relevance of cultural perspectives to political analysis including discussion of the most significant concepts and methods. Section II looks at...
This comprehensive textbook is the first to go beyond a West European perspective and provide a clear overview of the whole of European politics. Jan-Erik Lane and Svante Ersson address the similarities of key political features among states in Western, Central, Eastern, Northern and Southern Europe and look forward to political developments at the turn of the century. Traditionally, books have polarized Europe by focusing on points of divergence. European Politics provides a thoroughgoing analysis of several converging themes, including political culture, the nature of the state, party systems, and the formation of government and public policies. With this approach to economic, social and political aspects of politics in Europe this major text presents a Europe that, within the context of reform, transition and integration, has more in common in the early 1990s than ever before. With a clear thematic structure and helpful discussions of data drawn from some 30 countries European Politics offers both an accessible and genuinely comparative text which will be essential reading for student and researcher alike.
Jan-Erik Lane begins by examining the origins and history of constitutionalism, the doctrine that the state must be regulated by means of a set of institutions that guarantee citizen rights and procedural accountability. He then examines the structure of the state in order to identify the essential elements that constitutional institutions regulate. Lane asks why constitutions exist, and how they matter for society. Finally he seeks out the requirements for a fair and democratic constitution by referring to three key concepts in political theory: justice, equality and the rule of law. The book also offers a comparative survey of formal constitutional arrangements in different countries, and an analysis of how constitutions develop in practice, through the implementation of constitutional and administrative law in a country's courts.
Since constitutional arrangements are what make politics work, they are a central concern of political theory. This book, now completely updated, is the first comprehensive exploration of the political theory of constitutions. Jan-Erik Lane begins by examining the origins and history of constitutionalism and answers key questions such as: What is a constitution? Why are there constitutions? From where does constitutionalism originate? How is the constitutional state related to democracy and justice? Constitutions play a major role in domestic and international politics in the early 21st century and an updated version of this classic textbook will introduce students to a number of different areas -- theoretical, empirical, and moral -- which will aid their understanding of this important topic.
While some people debate whether globalization really exists, it proceeds apace, affecting all societies. It presents us with unknown challenges and, as governments start to discuss what to do about these challenges, it is becoming obvious that globalization is not manageable. With globalization the juggernaut of the 21st century, all countries of the world become interdependent in relation to the coming energy crisis, climate change, the sharper cleavages between rich and poor countries and people, and the emergence of a multicultural social structure. This interesting and erudite book adopts a distinctive approach to the multiple dimensions of the globalization debate. The impressive coverage of philosophical thought – including Popper, Weber, Habermas, Lipset and Hobbes – makes a valuable contribution to the debates on globalization.
Globalization and Politics brings together vision and imaginative insight to the analysis of the evolution of inter-state politics to produce a clear, comprehensive and coherent sense of how globalization works and how it might work better. The study looks upon globalization as a distinct set of phenomena - energy, economy, environment and politics - all of which interact. Presenting opportunities for interdependency and governance, globalization offers both dangers and promises which explains why it is equally feared and praised. Globalization is an economic trend with strong spillovers and as such has become a political trend with cultural implications. This volume is an invaluable, highly readable new text for graduate and undergraduate courses. It sets out the key challenges for globalization in the 21st century and looks at the challenges, responses and risks of globalization. It is required reading for analysts, students and professionals who want to understand what's at stake in the globalization debate.