The Evolving Physiology Of Government

Canadian public administration has provided a rich ground for examining the changing nature of the state. Currents of political change have rippled through the administration of the public sector, often producing significant alterations in our understanding of how best to organize and administer public services. This volume brings together some of the leading Canadian and international scholars of public administration to reflect on these changes and their significance. Providing a historical perspective on public administration in Canada, the volume examines the shift from a traditional model of administration to newer forms such as new public management and governance, and explores current debates and the place of Canadian public administration within a broader comparative perspective.

This Oxford Handbook will be the definitive study of governance for years to come. 'Governance' has become one of the most popular terms in contemporary political science; this Handbook explores the full range of meaning and application of the concept and its use in a number of research fields.

Generally referring to all forms of social coordination and patterns of rule, the term 'governance' is used in many different contexts. In this Very Short Introduction, Mark Bevir explores the main theories of governance and considers their impact on ideas of governance in the corporate, public, and global arenas.

This book examines the impact of several decades of public sector reform in four Westminster systems – Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Political and managerial change has re-defined roles and relationships and how their public sectors function. Often this occurs in comparable ways because of a common administrative tradition, but choices made in different country contexts also produce divergent outcomes. In analysing the results and implications of reform, fundamental issues of and tensions in public administration and management are addressed.

With the direct participation of partisan political staff in governance, the onset of permanent election campaigns heavily dependent on negative advertising, and the expectation that the public service will not only merely implement but enthusiastically support the agenda of the elected government, we are experiencing a new form of political governance. The late Peter Aucoin (1943-2011) has argued that traditional norms of impartial loyalty have been displaced by partisanship on the part of civil servants and that the political executive is keen on directly controlling all aspects of communication and interaction between government and citizens. The arrival of "New Political Governance" has a direct bearing on the long-standing tension between the need of ensuring democratic control over bureaucracy, while also allowing the public service sufficient flexibility to exercise discretion, judgment, and professional expertise when implementing and managing programs. Through a series of essays using Aucoin's "New Political Governance" framework, leading scholars in the field address the manner in which this tension and its conflicts have played out over the past decade in different domains. Contributors examine themes including accountability, democracy, public management and reform, the paradoxes of electoral democracy, and the dilemmas of democratic governance. Contributors include: Mark Jarvis (University of Victoria), Herman Bakvis (University of Victoria), B. Guy Peters (University of Pittsburg), Donald Savoie (Université de Moncton), Allan Tupper (University of British Columbia), Lori Turnbull (Dalhousie), David E. Smith (University of Saskatchewan), C.E.S. Franks (Queen's), R. Kenneth Carty (University of British Columbia), Lisa Young (University of Calgary), Jennifer Smith (Dalhousie), Gerald Baier (University of British Columbia), Fred Fletcher (York University), André Blais (Université de Montréal), Evert Lindquist (University of Victoria), Ken Rasmussen (University of Regina), Jonathan Boston (Victoria University), John Halligan (University of Canberra), Grace Skogstad (University of Toronto), Jenn Wallner (University of Ottawa), Cosmo Howard (University of Victoria), Susan Phillips (Carleton University), Paul Thomas (University of Manitoba), Ralph Heintzman (University of Ottawa), Luc Juillet (University of Ottawa), G. Bruce Doern (Carleton), Kenneth Kernaghan (Brock).

The past two decades have witnessed dramatic shifts in public policy, with increasing complexity not only in the relationships between the state, society, and the private sector, but also in the interactions among various orders of government in places such as Canada, the United States, and the European Union. In Policy Governance in Multi-level Systems, Charles Conteh examines how these seismic structural changes have impacted the work of public organizations and how these organizations are responding to modifications in their operating environments. With an emphasis on Canada's controversial but resilient regional economic policy, Conteh focuses his study on four agencies - the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Western Economic Diversification Canada, FedNor, and FedDev - and their evolving policy portfolios and modes of operation in New Brunswick, Manitoba, northern Ontario, and southern Ontario. Drawing upon literature in public administration, urban and regional governance, as well as multi-level governance, Conteh offers a cutting-edge analysis of contemporary and emerging understandings of multi-level governance and regional development while acknowledging the historical context of policy and intellectual traditions. Combining a solid theoretical background with empirical depth and practical lessons from the field, Policy Governance in Multi-level Systems is an invaluable resource for policy analysts, policy makers, and practitioners in many tiers of government, business, and community leadership.