Governance And The Changing American States

This book chronicles the kinds of changes that have occurred on the "demand" and "supply" sides of American state government. It assesses the consequences of those developments for the quality of statehouse democracy and the ability of state governments to govern responsibly and effectively.

The Organization of American States (OAS) is the world’s oldest regional multifunctional organization. This work provides a clear and comprehensive discussion of this important body, dealing with security, technical cooperation, and the construction of democratic institutions. Providing an incisive analysis of the history, decision making procedures, relevance, functions, and operations of the OAS, this book also examines the organization in the context of the web of international and regional institutions that deal with global governance and international politics in the Western Hemisphere. In this accessible and concise text, Mônica Herz seeks to move beyond the well-studied roles of the OAS as a tool of foreign policy and assess the increasing significance of its independent normative and operational activities. Providing an important resource to those seeking to fully understand the activities and impact of the OAS, this work will be essential reading for all students of Latin American politics, international organization, and global governance.

The history of public policy in postwar America tends to fixate on developments at the national level, overlooking the crucial work done by individual states in the 1960s and ’70s. In this book, Nicholas Dagen Bloom demonstrates the significant and enduring impact of activist states in five areas: urban planning and redevelopment, mass transit and highways, higher education, subsidized housing, and the environment. Bloom centers his story on the example set by New York governor Nelson Rockefeller, whose aggressive initiatives on the pressing issues in that period inspired others and led to the establishment of long-lived state polices in an age of decreasing federal power. Metropolitan areas, for both better and worse, changed and operated differently because of sustained state action—How States Shaped Postwar America uncovers the scope of this largely untold story.

The Associational State argues that the relationship between state and civil society is fluid, and that the trajectory of American politics is not driven by ideological difference but by the ability to achieve public ends through partnerships forged between the state and voluntary organizations.

The benefits of using technology to remake government seem almost infinite. The promise of such programs as user-friendly "virtual agencies" and portals where citizens can access all sections of government from a single website has excited international attention. The potential of a digital state cannot be realized, however, unless the rigid structures of the contemporary bureaucratic state change along with the times. Building the Virtual State explains how the American public sector must evolve and adapt to exploit the possibilities of digital governance fully and fairly. The book finds that many issues involved in integrating technology and government have not been adequately debated or even recognized. Drawing from a rich collection of case studies, the book argues that the real challenges lie not in achieving the technical capability of creating a government on the web, but rather in overcoming the entrenched organizational and political divisions within the state. Questions such as who pays for new government websites, which agencies will maintain the sites, and who will ensure that the privacy of citizens is respected reveal the extraordinary obstacles that confront efforts to create a virtual state. These political and structural battles will influence not only how the American state will be remade in the Information Age, but also who will be the winners and losers in a digital society.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for governments to generate the necessary capacity to address important security and institutional challenges; this volume deepens our understanding of the nature and extent of state governance in Latin America. State capacity is multidimensional, with all elements interacting to produce stable governance and security. As such, a collection of scholars and practitioners use an explicit interdisciplinary approach, drawing on the contributions of history, political science, economics, public policy, military studies, and other fields to gain a rounded understanding of the link between security and democracy. Democracy and Security in Latin America is divided in two sections: Part 1 focuses on the challenges to governance and key institutions such as police, courts, armed forces. and the prison system. Part 2 features country case studies that illustrate particularly important security challenges and various means by which the state has confronted them. Democracy and Security in Latin America should appeal not only to those seeking to learn more about the capacity of the democratic state in Latin America to effectively provide public security in times of stress, but to all those curious about the reality that a democracy must have security to function.

A Brookings Institution Press and Centre for International Governance Innovation publication The global order is shifting. Even though no major war has intervened to reshape the architecture of the international order, the global financial crisis has accentuated the emergence of an enlarged global leadership. It is clear that change is afoot. The United States may be hanging on as the world's leading power, as the European Union remains an independent force in global politics, but a host of rising states—including China, India, and Brazil—clamor to be heard and take on bigger roles in world forums. Rising States, Rising Institutions features a panel of distinguished scholars who examine the forces at work: Gregory Chin (York University), Daniel W. Drezner(Tufts University), Thomas Hale (Princeton University), Andrew Hurrell (Oxford University), G. John Ikenberry (Princeton University), John Kirton (University of Toronto), Flynt Leverett (New America Foundation), Steven E. Miller (Harvard University), Andrew Moravcsik (Princeton University), Amrita Narlikar (Cambridge University), and Anne-Marie Slaughter (U.S. State Department). Together they analyze different models of international cooperation, the states that have most actively challenged the existing order, and leading and emergent international institutions such as the G-20, the nascent regime for sovereign wealth funds, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the entities organized to foster cooperation in the war on terror.

A noted historian explores the development of U.S. State governments from the end of the 19th century to the so-called renaissance of States in the 20th. It is a common misperception that America’s state governments were lethargic backwaters before suddenly stirring to life in the 1980s. In The Rise of the States, Jon C. Teaford presents a very different picture. Teaford shows how state governments were continually adapting and expanding throughout the past century, assuming new responsibilities, developing new sources of revenue, and creating new institutions. The Rise of the States examines the evolution of the structure, function, and finances of state government during the Progressive Era, the 1920s, the Great Depression, the post-World War II years, and into the 1960s. State governments not only played an active role in the creation, governance, and management of the political units that made up the state, but also in dealing with the growth of business, industries, and education. Different states chose different solutions to common problems, and this diversity of responses points to the growing vitality and maturity of state governments as the twentieth century unfolded.