Reviews for Intergovernmental Management for the 21st Century

The average rating for Intergovernmental Management for the 21st Century based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-05-03 00:00:00 Dennis Cox During the debate over the Constitution, "Publius," in the "Federalist Papers," argued for the value of dividing power between the national and state governments. From the origins of the United States, the principle of dividing power between the central and state governments and the value of state governments working with one another has been a defining characteristic. This book explores intergovernmental relations today. The book's emphasis is exemplified in this quotation (Page x): "Collectively, the authors [of the chapters in this book:] shout loud and clear, 'Pay attention to our federal system! It is changing; it is stressed, and the stresses are about to get worse. If you care about improving public services in the United States, work hard now to understand and improve the functioning of our federal system.'" With the financial problems still apparently worsening, states are stressed, are having to reduce services, and are finding it difficult to get funding for infrastructure improvements. The times fit the call for action in that preceding quotation. The book itself is composed of three parts. Part I examines the nature of the intergovernmental debate here, including chapters on updating theories of federalism (authored by Richard Nathan), the evolution of federalism over time (Timothy Conlon), and intergovernmental finance in the global economy (Raymond Scheppach and Frank Shafroth). Part II looks at a variety of policy arenas and what is at stake in each. Among the policy arenas explored: homeland security (Charles Wise and Rania Nader), education (Kenneth Wong), welfare reform (Jocelyn Johnston), Medicaid (Carol Weissert and William Weissert), and climate change (Barry Rabe). The final segment of the book examines issues of governance in the intergovernmental system. A sampling of issues: mandates (Paul Posner), performance management (Beryl Radin), and block grants (Carl Sternberg). The final chapter lays out where we need to go from here. For those who wish to get a sense of the nature of America's intergovernmental system, how it operates, and what future challenges are could do a lot worse than starting with this book. An excellent resource.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-12-07 00:00:00 Timothy Cox urban politics doesn't matter