Books

Counting Islam: Religion, Class, and Elections in Egypt

Counting Islam: Religion, Class, and Elections in Egypt

Abstract:

Tarek Masoud, Cambridge University Press, 2014

Why does Islam seem to dominate Egyptian politics, especially when the country's endemic poverty and deep economic inequality would seem to render it promising terrain for a politics of radical redistribution rather than one of religious conservativism? This book argues that the answer lies not in the political unsophistication of voters, the subordination of economic interests to spiritual ones, or the ineptitude of secular and leftist politicians, but in organizational and social factors that shape the opportunities of parties in authoritarian and democratizing systems to reach potential voters. Tracing the performance of Islamists and their rivals in Egyptian elections over the course of almost forty years, this book not only explains why Islamists win elections, but illuminates the possibilities for the emergence in Egypt of the kind of political pluralism that is at the heart of what we expect from democracy.

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Last updated on 01/30/2020

Open Budgets: The Political Economy of Transparency, Participation, and Accountability

Citation:

Khagram, Sanjeev, Archon Fung, and Paolo de Renzio. 2013. Open Budgets: The Political Economy of Transparency, Participation, and Accountability. Brookings Institution Press/Ash Center,.
Open Budgets: The Political Economy of Transparency, Participation, and Accountability

Abstract:

Sanjeev Khagram, Archon Fung, and Paolo Renzio, Brookings Institution Press, 2013  

Decisions about “who gets what, when, and how” are perhaps the most important that any government must make. So it should not be remarkable that around the world, public officials responsible for public budgeting are facing demands – from their own citizenry, other government officials, economic actors, and increasingly from international sources – to make their patterns of spending more transparent and their processes more participatory. Surprisingly, rigorous analysis of the causes and consequences of fiscal transparency is thin at best. Open Budgets seeks to fill this gap in existing knowledge.

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The Education of Nations: How the Political Organization of the Poor, Not Democracy, Led Governments to Invest in Mass Education

The Education of Nations: How the Political Organization of the Poor, Not Democracy, Led Governments to Invest in Mass Education

Abstract:

Stephen Kosack, Oxford University Press, 2012 

What causes a government to invest – or not invest – in poor citizens, especially mass education? In The Education of Nations, Stephen Kosack focuses on three radically different developing countries whose developmental trajectories bear little resemblance to each other – Brazil, Ghana, and Taiwan – and offers an elegant and pragmatic answer to this crucially important question. Quite simply, the level of investment in mass education is the product of one of two simple conditions, one political and one economic. The first condition is the nature and success of political entrepreneurs at organizing the poor politically; the second is the flexibility of the labor market faced by employers who need skilled workers.

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Can We Put an End to Sweatshops?

Citation:

and Dara O’Rourke, Archon Fung, Charles Sabe. 2011. Can We Put an End to Sweatshops?. Beacon Press.
Can We Put an End to Sweatshops?

Abstract:

Dara O’Rourke, Archon Fung, and Charles Sabe; Beacon Press, November 2011

Sweatshops The MIT scholar who broke the news about Nike’s sweatshops argues, with two colleagues, that consumer choices can improve workers’ lives globally Seventy-five percent of Americans say they would avoid retailers whom they knew sold goods produced in sweatshops. And almost 90 percent said they would pay at least an extra dollar on a twenty-dollar item if they could be sure it had not been produced by exploited workers. Knowing that information about the conditions of workers around the world can influence what we buy, Dara O’Rourke, Archon Fung, and Charles Sabel argue that making that information widely available is the best way to improve conditions. Although watchdog agencies have tried to monitor working conditions and pressure corporations to adhere to international standards, the authors show how these organizations alone cannot do enough; only consumer action and the threat of falling profits will force corporate owners to care about the conditions of their workers. Respondents include activists, scholars, and officials of the International Labor Organization and World Bank.

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Last updated on 03/16/2020

From Reformasi to Institutional Transformation: A Strategic Assessment of Indonesia's Prospects for Growth, Equity, and Democratic Governance

From Reformasi to Institutional Transformation: A Strategic Assessment of Indonesia's Prospects for Growth, Equity, and Democratic Governance

Abstract:

Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia, Kompas Gramedia Group, 2010

Rates of economic growth in Indonesia have returned to the levels experienced before the global economic crisis of 2007-08. And yet other countries in Asia, such as China, India, Thailand, Malaysia, and The Philippines have been growing even faster. Compared to these countries, Indonesia is quickly being left behind in terms of foreign direct investment, manufacturing growth, infrastructure investments, and educational attainment. Like a marathoner carrying a twenty kilogram pack, Indonesia can see the competition pulling away but is powerless to pick up the pace. Indonesia must engage in a thorough process of institutional transformation if it is to shed the legacy of Guided Democracy and the New Order and learn to compete in an ever globalizing economy.

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Last updated on 04/20/2021

From the Ground Up: Improving Government Performance with Independent Monitoring Organizations

Citation:

Griffin, Charles, Stephen Kosack, and Courtney Tolmie. 2010. From the Ground Up: Improving Government Performance with Independent Monitoring Organizations. Brookings Institution Press.
From the Ground Up: Improving Government Performance with Independent Monitoring Organizations

Abstract:

Charles Griffin, Stephen Kosack, and Courtney Tolmie, Brookings Institution Press, 2010

From the Ground Up proposes that the international community’s efforts to improve public expenditure and budget execution decisions would be more effective if done in collaboration with local independent monitoring organizations. The authors track the work of 16 independent monitoring organizations from across the developing world, demonstrating how these relatively small groups of local researchers produce both thoughtful analysis and workable solutions. They achieve these results because their vantage point allows them to more effectively discern problems with governance and to communicate with their fellow citizens about the ideals and methods of good governance.

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Why David Sometimes Wins: Leadership, Organization, and Strategy in the California Farm Worker Movement

Why David Sometimes Wins: Leadership, Organization, and Strategy in the California Farm Worker Movement

Abstract:

Marshall Ganz, Oxford University Press, 2009

Why David Sometimes Wins tells the story of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers' groundbreaking victory, drawing important lessons from this dramatic tale. Since the 1900s, large-scale agricultural enterprises relied on migrant labor – a cheap, unorganized, and powerless workforce. In 1965, when some 800 Filipino grape workers began to strike under the aegis of the AFL-CIO, the UFW soon joined the action with 2,000 Mexican workers and turned the strike into a civil rights struggle. They engaged in civil disobedience, mobilized support from churches and students, boycotted growers, and transformed their struggle into La Causa, a farm workers' movement that eventually triumphed over the grape industry's Goliath. Why did they succeed? How can the powerless challenge the powerful successfully? Offering insight from a longtime movement organizer and scholar, Ganz illustrates how they had the ability and resourcefulness to devise good strategy and turn short-term advantages into long-term gains. Authoritative in scholarship and magisterial in scope, this book constitutes a seminal contribution to learning from the movement's struggles, setbacks, and successes.

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The State of Access: Success and Failure of Democracies to Create Equal Opportunities

Citation:

de Jong, Jorrit, and Gowher Rizvi, ed. 2009. The State of Access: Success and Failure of Democracies to Create Equal Opportunities. Brookings Institution Press.
The State of Access: Success and Failure of Democracies to Create Equal Opportunities

Abstract:

Jorrit de Jong and Gowher Rizvi, editors, Brookings Institution Press, 2009

The State of Access documents a worrisome gap between principles and practice in democratic governance. This book is a comparative, cross-disciplinary exploration of the ways in which democratic institutions fail or succeed to create the equal opportunities that they have promised to deliver to the people they serve. In theory, rules and regulations may formally guarantee access to democratic processes, public services, and justice. But reality routinely disappoints, for a number of reasons—exclusionary policymaking, insufficient attention to minorities, underfunded institutions, inflexible bureaucracies. The State of Access helps close the gap between the potential and performance in democratic governance.

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The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States

The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States

Abstract:

Alexander Keyssar, Basic Books, 2009

Most Americans take for granted their right to vote, whether they choose to exercise it or not. But the history of suffrage in the U.S. is, in fact, the story of a struggle to achieve this right by our society's marginalized groups. In The Right to Vote, HKS historian Alexander Keyssar explores the evolution of suffrage over the course of the nation's history. Examining the many features of the history of the right to vote in the U.S.—class, ethnicity, race, gender, religion, and age—the book explores the conditions under which American democracy has expanded and contracted over the years. Keyssar presents convincing evidence that the history of the right to vote has not been one of a steady history of expansion and increasing inclusion, noting that voting rights contracted substantially in the U.S. between 1850 and 1920. Keyssar also presents a controversial thesis: that the primary factor promoting the expansion of the suffrage has been war and the primary factors promoting contraction or delaying expansion have been class tension and class conflict. The June 2009 edition includes a new chapter on voting rights since 2000.

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What a Mighty Power We Can Be: African American Fraternal Groups and the Struggle for Racial Equality

Citation:

Skocpol, Theda, Ariane Liazos, and Marshall Ganz. 2006. What a Mighty Power We Can Be: African American Fraternal Groups and the Struggle for Racial Equality. Princeton University Press.
What a Mighty Power We Can Be: African American Fraternal Groups and the Struggle for Racial Equality

Abstract:

Theda Skocpol, Ariane Liazos, & Marshall Ganz, Princeton University Press, 2006 

From the nineteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries, millions of American men and women participated in fraternal associations – self-selecting brotherhoods and sisterhoods that provided aid to members, enacted group rituals, and engaged in community service. Even more than whites did, African Americans embraced this type of association; indeed, fraternal lodges rivaled churches as centers of black community life in cities, towns, and rural areas alike. Using an unprecedented variety of secondary and primary sources – including old documents, pictures, and ribbon-badges found in eBay auctions – this book tells the story of the most visible African American fraternal associations. The authors demonstrate how African American fraternal groups played key roles in the struggle for civil rights and racial integration. Between the 1890s and the 1930s, white legislatures passed laws to outlaw the use of important fraternal names and symbols by blacks. But blacks successfully fought back. Employing lawyers who in some cases went on to work for the NAACP, black fraternalists took their cases all the way to the Supreme Court, which eventually ruled in their favor. At the height of the modern Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, they marched on Washington and supported the lawsuits through lobbying and demonstrations that finally led to legal equality. This unique book reveals a little-known chapter in the story of civic democracy and racial equality in America.

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Last updated on 03/16/2020

Decentralizing Governance: Emerging Concepts and Practices

Citation:

Cheema, G. Shabbir, and Dennis A. Rondinelli, ed. 2007. Decentralizing Governance: Emerging Concepts and Practices. Brookings Institution Press.
Decentralizing Governance: Emerging Concepts and Practices

Abstract:

G. Shabbir Cheema and Dennis A. Rondinelli, editors, Brookings Institution Press, 2007

The trend toward greater decentralization of governance activities, now accepted as commonplace in the West, has become a worldwide movement. Today's world demands flexibility, adaptability, and the autonomy to bring those qualities to bear. In this thought-provoking book, experts in government and public management trace the evolution and performance of decentralization concepts, from the transfer of authority within government to the sharing of power, authority, and responsibilities among broader governance institutions. The contributors to Decentralizing Governance assess emerging concepts such as devolution and capacity building; they also detail factors driving the decentralization movement such as the ascendance of democracy, economic globalization, and technological progress.

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Last updated on 01/30/2020

Decentralizing Governance: Emerging Concepts and Practices

Citation:

Cheema, G. Shabbir, and Dennis A. Rondinelli, ed. 2007. Decentralizing Governance: Emerging Concepts and Practices. Brookings Institution Press.
Decentralizing Governance: Emerging Concepts and Practices

Abstract:

The trend toward greater decentralization of governance activities, now accepted as commonplace in the West, has become a worldwide movement. Today's world demands flexibility, adaptability, and the autonomy to bring those qualities to bear. In this thought-provoking book, experts in government and public management trace the evolution and performance of decentralization concepts, from the transfer of authority within government to the sharing of power, authority, and responsibilities among broader governance institutions. The contributors to Decentralizing Governance assess emerging concepts such as devolution and capacity building; they also detail factors driving the decentralization movement such as the ascendance of democracy, economic globalization, and technological progress.

Publisher's Version

Full Disclosure: The Perils and Promise of Transparency

Citation:

Fung, Archon, Mary Graham, and David Weil. 2007. Full Disclosure: The Perils and Promise of Transparency. Cambridge University Press.
Full Disclosure: The Perils and Promise of Transparency

Abstract:

Which SUVs are most likely to roll over? What cities have the unhealthiest drinking water? Which factories are the most dangerous polluters? What cereals are the most nutritious? In recent decades, governments have sought to provide answers to such critical questions through public disclosure to force manufacturers, water authorities, and others to improve their products and practices. Corporate financial disclosure, nutritional labels, and school report cards are examples of such targeted transparency policies. At best, they create a light-handed approach to governance that improves markets, enriches public discourse, and empowers citizens. But such policies are frequently ineffective or counterproductive. Based on an analysis of eighteen U.S. and international policies, Full Disclosure shows that information is often incomplete, incomprehensible, or irrelevant to consumers, investors, workers, and community residents. To be successful, transparency policies must be accurate, keep ahead of disclosers' efforts to find loopholes, and, above all, focus on the needs of ordinary citizens.

Read the Open Access Version

Last updated on 10/16/2023

Which SUVs are most likely to roll over? What cities have the unhealthiest drinking water? Which factories are the most dangerous polluters? What cereals are the most nutritious? In recent decades, governments have sought to provide answers to such critic

Which SUVs are most likely to roll over? What cities have the unhealthiest drinking water? Which factories are the most dangerous polluters? What cereals are the most nutritious? In recent decades, governments have sought to provide answers to such critic

Abstract:

Which SUVs are most likely to roll over? What cities have the unhealthiest drinking water? Which factories are the most dangerous polluters? What cereals are the most nutritious? In recent decades, governments have sought to provide answers to such critical questions through public disclosure to force manufacturers, water authorities, and others to improve their products and practices. Corporate financial disclosure, nutritional labels, and school report cards are examples of such targeted transparency policies. At best, they create a light-handed approach to governance that improves markets, enriches public discourse, and empowers citizens. But such policies are frequently ineffective or counterproductive. Based on an analysis of eighteen U.S. and international policies, Full Disclosure shows that information is often incomplete, incomprehensible, or irrelevant to consumers, investors, workers, and community residents. To be successful, transparency policies must be accurate, keep ahead of disclosers' efforts to find loopholes, and, above all, focus on the needs of ordinary citizens.

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Empowered Participation: Reinventing Urban Democracy

Empowered Participation: Reinventing Urban Democracy

Abstract:

Archon Fung, Princeton University Press, 2006 

Every month in every neighborhood in Chicago, residents, teachers, school principals, and police officers gather to deliberate about how to improve their schools and make their streets safer. Residents of poor neighborhoods participate as much or more as those from wealthy ones. All voices are heard. Since the meetings began more than a dozen years ago, they have led not only to safer streets, but also to surprising improvements in the city's schools. Chicago's police department and school system have become democratic urban institutions unlike any others in America. Empowered Participation is the compelling chronicle of this unprecedented transformation. It is the first comprehensive empirical analysis of the ways in which participatory democracy can be used to effect social change. Using citywide data and six neighborhood case studies, the book explores how determined Chicago residents, police officers, teachers, and community groups worked to banish crime and transform a failing city school system into a model for educational reform. The author's conclusion: Properly designed and implemented institutions of participatory democratic governance can spark citizen involvement that in turn generates innovative problem-solving and public action. Their participation makes organizations more fair and effective.

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Last updated on 03/16/2020

Despite the Odds: The Contentious Politics of Education Reform

Despite the Odds: The Contentious Politics of Education Reform

Abstract:

Merilee S. Grindle, Princeton University Press, 2004

Despite the Odds poses an important question: How can we account for successful policy reform initiatives when the political cards are stacked against change? Theories of politics usually predict that reform initiatives will be unsuccessful when powerful groups are opposed to change and institutions are biased against it. This book, however, shows how the strategic choices of reform proponents alter the destinies of policy reforms by reshaping power equations and undermining institutional biases that impede change. Despite the Odds opens the "black box" of decision making in five initiatives designed to enhance the quality of education services in Latin America. The book addresses the strategies used by reformers to manage the political process of change and those adopted by opposition groups and institutions resisting their efforts.

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Deepening Democracy: Institutional Innovations in Empowered Participatory Governance

Deepening Democracy: Institutional Innovations in Empowered Participatory Governance

Abstract:

Archon Fung and Erik Olink Wright, Verso Press, 2003

The institutional forms of liberal democracy developed in the 19th century seem increasingly ill-suited to the problems we face in the 21st. This dilemma has given rise in some places to a new, deliberative democracy, and this volume explores four contemporary empirical cases in which the principles of such a democracy have been at least partially instituted: the participatory budget in Porto Alegre; the school decentralization councils and community policing councils in Chicago; stakeholder councils in environmental protection and habitat management; and new decentralized governance structures in Kerala. In keeping with the other Real Utopias Project volumes, these case studies are framed by an editor’s introduction, a set of commentaries, and concluding notes.

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Last updated on 03/16/2020

Democracy by Disclosure

Citation:

Graham, Mary. 2002. Democracy by Disclosure. Brookings.
Democracy by Disclosure

Abstract:

Mary Graham, Brookings, August 2002 

Drawing on detailed profiles of disclosure systems for toxic releases, nutritional labeling, and medical errors, Graham explains why the move toward greater transparency has flourished during a time of regulatory retrenchment and why corporations have often supported these massive raids on proprietary information. However, Democracy by Disclosure, sounds a cautionary note. Just as systems of financial disclosure have come under new scrutiny in the wake of Enron’s collapse, systems of social disclosure deserve careful examination. Behind the seemingly simple idea of transparency, political battles rage over protecting trade secrets, minimizing regulatory burdens, and guarding national security. Like other forms of regulation, disclosure systems can be distorted by narrow scope, flawed metrics, minimal enforcement, or failure to adapt to changing markets and public priorities. Graham urges designers of future systems to heed lessons from early experience to avoid misleading the public.

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Oppositional Consciousness: The Subjective Roots of Social Protest

Oppositional Consciousness: The Subjective Roots of Social Protest

Abstract:

Jane Mansbridge, University Of Chicago Press, 2001

How can human beings be induced to sacrifice their lives – even one minute of their lives – for the sake of their group? This question, central to understanding the dynamics of social movements, is at the heart of this collection of original essays. The book is the first to conceptualize and illustrate the complex patterns of negotiation, struggle, borrowing, and crafting that characterize what the editors term "oppositional consciousness" – an empowering mental state that prepares members of an oppressed group to undermine, reform, or overthrow a dominant system. Each essay employs a recent historical case to demonstrate how oppositional consciousness actually worked in the experience of a subordinate group. Based on participant observation and interviews, chapters focus on the successful social movements of groups such as African Americans, people with disabilities, sexually harassed women, Chicano workers, and AIDS activists. Ultimately, Oppositional Consciousness sheds new light on the intricate mechanisms that drive the important social movements of our time.

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Deliberative Systems: Deliberative Democracy at the Large Scale

Citation:

Parkinson, John, and Jane Mansbridge. 2012. Deliberative Systems: Deliberative Democracy at the Large Scale. Cambridge University Press.
Deliberative Systems: Deliberative Democracy at the Large Scale

Abstract:

John Parkinson and Jane Mansbridge, Cambridge University Press, 2012 

'Deliberative democracy' is often dismissed as a set of small-scale, academic experiments. This volume seeks to demonstrate how the deliberative ideal can work as a theory of democracy on a larger scale. It provides a new way of thinking about democratic engagement across the spectrum of political action, from towns and villages to nation states, and from local networks to transnational, even global, systems. Written by a team of the world's leading deliberative theorists, Deliberative Systems explains the principles of this new approach, which seeks ways of ensuring that a division of deliberative labor in a system nonetheless meets both deliberative and democratic norms.

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The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States

The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States

Abstract:

Alexander Keyssar, Basic Books, 2009

Most Americans take for granted their right to vote, whether they choose to exercise it or not. But the history of suffrage in the U.S. is, in fact, the story of a struggle to achieve this right by our society's marginalized groups. In The Right to Vote, HKS historian Alexander Keyssar explores the evolution of suffrage over the course of the nation's history. Examining the many features of the history of the right to vote in the U.S.—class, ethnicity, race, gender, religion, and age—the book explores the conditions under which American democracy has expanded and contracted over the years. Keyssar presents convincing evidence that the history of the right to vote has not been one of a steady history of expansion and increasing inclusion, noting that voting rights contracted substantially in the U.S. between 1850 and 1920. Keyssar also presents a controversial thesis: that the primary factor promoting the expansion of the suffrage has been war and the primary factors promoting contraction or delaying expansion have been class tension and class conflict. The June 2009 edition includes a new chapter on voting rights since 2000.

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Innovations in Government: Research, Recognition, and Replication

Citation:

Borins, Sandford F., ed. 2008. Innovations in Government: Research, Recognition, and Replication. Brookings Institution Press.
Innovations in Government: Research, Recognition, and Replication

Abstract:

Sandford F. Borins, editor, Brookings Institution Press, 2008

What is the future of government innovation? How can innovation enhance the quality of life for citizens and strengthen democratic governance? Innovations in Government: Research, Recognition, and Replication answers these questions by presenting a comprehensive approach to advancing the practice and study of innovation in government. The authors discuss new research on innovation, explore the impact of several programs that recognize innovation, and consider challenges to the replication of innovations.

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Innovations in Government: Research, Recognition, and Replication

Citation:

Borins, Sandford F., ed. 2008. Innovations in Government: Research, Recognition, and Replication. Brookings Institution Press.
Innovations in Government: Research, Recognition, and Replication

Abstract:

Sandford F. Borins, editor, Brookings Institution Press, 2008

What is the future of government innovation? How can innovation enhance the quality of life for citizens and strengthen democratic governance? Innovations in Government: Research, Recognition, and Replication answers these questions by presenting a comprehensive approach to advancing the practice and study of innovation in government. The authors discuss new research on innovation, explore the impact of several programs that recognize innovation, and consider challenges to the replication of innovations.

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Unleashing Change: A Study of Organizational Renewal in Government

Unleashing Change: A Study of Organizational Renewal in Government

Abstract:

Steven Kelman, Brookings Institution Press, 2005 

This is a hopeful account of the potential for organizational change and improvement within government. Despite the mantra that "people resist change," it is possible to effect meaningful reform in a large bureaucracy. In Unleashing Change, public management expert Steven Kelman presents a blueprint for accomplishing such improvements, based on his experience orchestrating procurement reform in the 1990s. Kelman's focuses on making change happen on the front lines, not just getting it announced by senior policymakers. He argues that frequently there will be a constituency for change within government organizations. The role for leaders is not to force change on the unwilling but to unleash the willing, and to persist long enough for the change to become institutionalized.

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From Walden to Wall Street: Frontiers of Conservation Finance

Citation:

Levitt, James N., and Lydia K. Bergen, ed. 2005. From Walden to Wall Street: Frontiers of Conservation Finance. Island Press.
From Walden to Wall Street: Frontiers of Conservation Finance

Abstract:

James N. Levitt and Lydia K. Bergen, editors, Island Press, 2005

In the absence of innovation in the field of conservation finance, a daunting funding gap faces conservationists aiming to protect America's system of landscapes that provide sustainable resources, water, wildlife habitat, and recreational amenities. Experts estimate that the average annual funding gap will be between $1.9 billion and $7.7 billion over the next forty years. Can the conservation community come up with new methods for financing that will fill this enormous gap? Which human and financial resources will allow us to fund critical land conservation needs? From Walden to Wall Street brings together the experience of more than a dozen pioneering conservation finance practitioners to address these crucial issues. Contributors present groundbreaking ideas, including mainstreaming environmental markets; government ballot measures for land conservations; convertible tax-exempt financing; and private equity markets.

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Despite the Odds: The Contentious Politics of Education Reform

Despite the Odds: The Contentious Politics of Education Reform

Abstract:

Merilee S. Grindle, Princeton University Press, 2004

Despite the Odds poses an important question: How can we account for successful policy reform initiatives when the political cards are stacked against change? Theories of politics usually predict that reform initiatives will be unsuccessful when powerful groups are opposed to change and institutions are biased against it. This book, however, shows how the strategic choices of reform proponents alter the destinies of policy reforms by reshaping power equations and undermining institutional biases that impede change. Despite the Odds opens the "black box" of decision making in five initiatives designed to enhance the quality of education services in Latin America. The book addresses the strategies used by reformers to manage the political process of change and those adopted by opposition groups and institutions resisting their efforts.

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Governing by Network: The New Shape of the Public Sector

Citation:

Goldsmith, Stephen, and William D. Eggers, ed. 2004. Governing by Network: The New Shape of the Public Sector. Ash Center and Brookings Institution Press.
Governing by Network: The New Shape of the Public Sector

Abstract:

Stephen Goldsmith and William D. Eggers editors, Ash Center and Brookings Institution Press, 2004

A fundamental, but mostly hidden, transformation is happening in the way public services are being delivered, and in the way local and national governments fulfill their policy goals. Government executives are redefining their core responsibilities away from managing workers and providing services directly to orchestrating networks of public, private, and nonprofit organizations to deliver the services that government once did itself. Authors Stephen Goldsmith and William D. Eggers call this new model "governing by network" and maintain that the new approach is a dramatically different type of endeavor that simply managing divisions of employeesGoverning by Network examines for the first time how managers on both sides of the aisle, public and private, are coping with the changes. Here is a clear roadmap for actually governing the networked state for elected officials, business executives, and the broader public.

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Last updated on 04/13/2021

Making Government Work: Lessons from America's Mayors and Governors

Making Government Work: Lessons from America's Mayors and Governors

Abstract:

Stephen Goldsmith, Contributor, May 2000

The role of government, particularly at the state and local levels, has evolved dramatically over recent years. In Making Government Work, a bipartisan collection of the nation's most innovative governors and big city mayors describe how they make government more efficient and effective. From welfare to clean water, these original essays discuss a wide variety of issues and propose progressive solutions that will influence the thinking of all Americans interested in politics.

Read Goldsmith's Chapter 

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Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government

Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government

Abstract:

Mark H. Moore, Harvard University Press, 1997

A seminal figure in the field of public management, Mark Moore presents his summation of 15 years of research, observation, and teaching about what public sector executives should do to improve the performance of public enterprises. Useful for both practicing public executives and those who teach them, this book explicates some of the richest of several hundred cases used at Harvard Kennedy School and illuminates their broader lessons for government managers. Moore addresses four questions that have long bedeviled public administration: What should citizens and their representatives expect and demand from public executives? What sources can public managers consult to learn what is valuable for them to produce? How should public managers cope with inconsistent and fickle political mandates? How can public managers find room to innovate? Moore's answers respond to the well-understood difficulties of managing public enterprises in modern society by recommending specific, concrete changes in the practices of individual public managers: how they envision what is valuable to produce, how they engage their political overseers, and how they deliver services and fulfill obligations to clients.

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Last updated on 02/18/2020
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Defending Democracy in an Age of Sharp Power

Citation:

Dobson, William J, Tarek Masoud, and Christopher Walker. 2023. Defending Democracy in an Age of Sharp Power. John Hopkins University Press.
Defending Democracy in an Age of Sharp Power

Abstract:

 William J. Dobson, Tarek Masoud, and Christopher Walker; July 2023 

The world's dictators are no longer content with shoring up control over their own populations—they are now exploiting the openness of the free world to spread disinformation, sow discord, and suppress dissent. In Defending Democracy in an Age of Sharp Power, editors William J. Dobson, Tarek Masoud, and Christopher Walker bring together leading analysts to explain how the world's authoritarians are attempting to erode the pillars of democratic societies—and what we can do about it.

Popular media, entertainment industries, universities, the tech world, and even critical political institutions are being manipulated by dictators who advance their regimes' interests by weakening democracies from within. Autocrats' use of "sharp power" constitutes one of the gravest threats to liberal, representative government today. The optimistic, early twenty-first-century narrative of how globalization, the spread of the internet, and the rise of social media would lead to liberalization everywhere is now giving way to the realization that these same forces provide inroads to those wishing to snuff out democracy at the source. And while autocrats can do much to wall their societies off from democratic and liberal influences, free societies have not yet fully grasped how they can resist the threat of sharp power while preserving their fundamental openness and freedom.

Far from offering a counsel of despair, the international contributors in this collection identify the considerable resources that democracy provides for blunting sharp power's edge. With careful case studies of successful resistance efforts in such countries as Australia, the Czech Republic, and Taiwan, this book offers an urgent message for anyone concerned with the defense of democracy in the twenty-first century.

Contributors: Ketty W. Chen, Sarah Cook, William J. Dobson, John Fitzgerald, Martin Hála, Samantha Hoffman, Aynne Kokas, Edward Lucas, Tarek Masoud, Nadège Rolland, Ruslan Stefanov, Glenn Tiffert, Martin Vladimirov, Christopher Walker

Publisher's Version

Last updated on 12/13/2023

Institutional Change and Adaptive Efficiency: A Study of China's Hukou System Evolution

Institutional Change and Adaptive Efficiency: A Study of China's Hukou System Evolution

Abstract:

Tony Saich and Kunling Zhang, December 2023


Since the 1990s, neo-institutionalists have posited that "institutions matter". However, they overlook one important issue: the ways institutions change also matters. Numerous academic studies have identified "good" and "bad" institutions, but little has been written about effective methods of transforming "bad" institutions so that they enhance economic performance. To fill this gap, this book reframes the approach of neo-institutional economics to analyze institutions' role and evolution, focusing on the interaction between the household registration (hukou) system evolution and economic transformation.

The authors apply an endogenous and dynamic perspective. First, the theory of endogenous institutional change illustrates how the drivers of hukou system evolution differ in the pre-reform and reform eras. Second, the theory of adaptive efficiency evaluates the evolution of the system's institutional efficiency. Finally, the authors were able to test the impact of the hukou reform on urban economic growth by examining local experimentation, helping explain the current "stickiness" of the system.

At the heart of hukou reform lies the question of how to deal with the link between hukou and welfare provision. This book will offer policymakers a better understanding of institutional change in dynamic economic contexts, helping them enhance economic performance.

Read the introduction

Learn more on the publisher's site

Last updated on 11/21/2023

Vietnam: Navigating a Rapidly Changing Economy, Society, and Political Order

Citation:

Perkins, Dwight, and Borje Ljunggren, ed. 2023. Vietnam: Navigating a Rapidly Changing Economy, Society, and Political Order. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Vietnam: Navigating a Rapidly Changing Economy, Society, and Political Order

Abstract:

Börje Ljunggren and Dwight Perkins, June 2023 

In the late 1980s, most of the world still associated Vietnam with resistance and war, hardship, refugees, and a mismanaged planned economy. During the 1990s, by contrast, major countries began to see Vietnam as both a potential partner and a strategically significant actor—particularly in the competition between the United States and an emerging China—and international investors began to see Vietnam as a land of opportunity.

Vietnam remains a Leninist party-state ruled by the Communist Party of Vietnam that has reconciled the supposedly irreconcilable: a one-party system and a market-based economy linked to global value chains. For the Party stability is crucial and, recently, increasing economic openness has been combined with growing political control and repression.

This book, undertaken by scholars from Vietnam, North America, and Europe, focuses on how the country’s governance shapes its politics, economy, social development, and relations with the outside world, as well as on the reforms required if Vietnam is to become a sustainable and modern high-income nation in the coming decades.

Despite the challenges, including systemic ones, the authors remain optimistic about Vietnam’s future, noting the evident vitality of a determined society.

Read the introduction 

Learn more on the publisher's site

Last updated on 07/26/2023

When Democracy Breaks: Studies in Democratic Erosion and Collapse, From Ancient Athens to the Present Day

Abstract:

Archon Fung, Arne Westad, and David Moss

Democracy is often described in two opposite ways, as either wonderfully resilient or dangerously fragile. Curiously, both characterizations can be correct, depending on the context. When Democracy Breaks aims to deepen our understanding of what separates democratic resilience from democratic fragility by focusing on the latter. The volume’s collaborators—experts in the history and politics of the societies covered in their chapters—explore eleven episodes of democratic breakdown, ranging from ancient Athens to Weimar Germany to present-day Turkey, Russia, and Venezuela. Strikingly, in every case, various forms of democratic erosion long preceded the final democratic breakdown.  Although no single causal factor emerges as decisive, linking together all of the episodes, some important commonalities (including extreme political polarization, explicitly anti-democratic political actors, and significant political violence) stand out across the cases. Moreover, the notion of democratic culture, while admittedly difficult to define and even more difficult to measure, may play a role in all of them.

Throughout the volume, we see again and again that the written rules of democracy are insufficient to protect against tyranny. They are mere “parchment barriers,” as James Madison once put it, unless embedded within a strong culture of democracy, which itself embraces and gives life not only to the written rules themselves but to the essential democratic values that underlie them.

 

Download Chapters

Last updated on 07/07/2023

A Hacker's Mind: How the Powerful Bend Society's Rules, and How to Bend them Back

A Hacker's Mind: How the Powerful Bend Society's Rules, and How to Bend them Back

Abstract:

Bruce Schneier, February 2023 

It’s not just computers—hacking is everywhere.

Legendary cybersecurity expert and New York Times best-selling author Bruce Schneier reveals how using a hacker’s mindset can change how you think about your life and the world.

A hack is any means of subverting a system’s rules in unintended ways. The tax code isn’t computer code, but a series of complex formulas. It has vulnerabilities; we call them “loopholes.” We call exploits “tax avoidance strategies.” And there is an entire industry of “black hat” hackers intent on finding exploitable loopholes in the tax code. We call them accountants and tax attorneys.

In A Hacker’s Mind, Bruce Schneier takes hacking out of the world of computing and uses it to analyze the systems that underpin our society: from tax laws to financial markets to politics. He reveals an array of powerful actors whose hacks bend our economic, political, and legal systems to their advantage, at the expense of everyone else.

Once you learn how to notice hacks, you’ll start seeing them everywhere—and you’ll never look at the world the same way again. Almost all systems have loopholes, and this is by design. Because if you can take advantage of them, the rules no longer apply to you.

Unchecked, these hacks threaten to upend our financial markets, weaken our democracy, and even affect the way we think. And when artificial intelligence starts thinking like a hacker—at inhuman speed and scale—the results could be catastrophic.

But for those who would don the “white hat,” we can understand the hacking mindset and rebuild our economic, political, and legal systems to counter those who would exploit our society. And we can harness artificial intelligence to improve existing systems, predict and defend against hacks, and realize a more equitable world.

Learn more on the publisher's site

Last updated on 01/04/2023

In Praise of Skepticism: Trust but Verify

Citation:

Norris, Pippa. 2022. In Praise of Skepticism: Trust but Verify. Oxford University Press.
In Praise of Skepticism: Trust but Verify

Abstract:

Pippa Norris, September 2022 

A culture of trust is usually claimed to have many public benefits--by lubricating markets, managing organizations, legitimating governments, and facilitating collective action. Any signs of its decline are, and should be, a matter of serious concern. Yet, In Praise of Skepticism recognizes that trust has two faces. Confidence in anti-vax theories has weakened herd immunity. Faith in Q-Anon conspiracy theories triggered insurrection. Disasters flow from gullible beliefs in fake Covid-19 cures, Madoff pyramid schemes, Russian claims of Ukrainian Nazis, and the Big Lie denying President Biden's legitimate election.

Trustworthiness involves an informal social contract by which principals authorize agents to act on their behalf in the expectation that they will fulfill their responsibilities with competency, integrity, and impartiality, despite conditions of risk and uncertainty. Skeptical judgments reflect reasonably accurate and informed predictions about agents' future actions based on their past performance and guardrails deterring dishonesty, mendacity, and corruption. We should trust but verify. Unfortunately, assessments are commonly flawed. Both cynical beliefs (underestimating performance) and credulous faith (over-estimating performance) involve erroneous judgements reflecting cultural biases, poor cognitive skills, and information echo chambers. These conclusions draw on new evidence from the European Values Survey/World Values Survey conducted among over 650,000 respondents in more than 100 societies over four decades.

In Praise of Skepticism warns that an excess of credulous trust poses serious and hitherto unrecognized risks in a world full of seductive demagogues playing on our insecurities, lying swindlers exploiting our greed, and silver-tongued conspiracy theorists manipulating our darkest fears.

Learn more on the publisher's site

Last updated on 09/23/2022

Democracy in Hard Places

Citation:

Mainwaring, Scott, and Tarek Masoud. 2022. Democracy in Hard Places. Oxford University Press.
Democracy in Hard Places

Abstract:

Scott Mainwaring and Tarek Masoud, August 2022 

The last fifteen years have witnessed a "democratic recession." Democracies previously thought to be well-established--Hungary, Poland, Brazil, and even the United States--have been threatened by the rise of ultra-nationalist and populist leaders who pay lip-service to the will of the people while daily undermining the freedom and pluralism that are the foundations of democratic governance. The possibility of democratic collapse where we least expected it has added new urgency to the age-old inquiry into how democracy, once attained, can be made to last.

In Democracy in Hard Places, Scott Mainwaring and Tarek Masoud bring together a distinguished cast of contributors to illustrate how democracies around the world continue to survive even in an age of democratic decline. Collectively, they argue that we can learn much from democratic survivals that were just as unexpected as the democratic erosions that have occurred in some corners of the developed world. Just as social scientists long believed that well-established, Western, educated, industrialized, and rich democracies were immortal, so too did they assign little chance of democracy to countries that lacked these characteristics. And yet, in defiance of decades of social science wisdom, many countries that were bereft of these hypothesized enabling conditions for democracy not only achieved it, but maintained it year after year. How does democracy persist in countries that are ethnically heterogenous, wracked by economic crisis, and plagued by state weakness? What is the secret of democratic longevity in hard places?

This book--the first to date to systematically examine the survival persistence of unlikely democracies--presents nine case studies in which democracy emerged and survived against the odds. Adopting a comparative, cross-regional perspective, the authors derive lessons about what makes democracy stick despite tumult and crisis, economic underdevelopment, ethnolinguistic fragmentation, and chronic institutional weakness. By bringing these cases into dialogue with each other, Mainwaring and Masoud derive powerful theoretical lessons for how democracy can be built and maintained in places where dominant social science theories would cause us to least expect it.

Learn more on the publisher's site

Last updated on 09/09/2022

Growing Fairly: How to Build Opportunity and Equity in Workforce Development

Citation:

Goldsmith, Stephen, and Kate Markin Coleman. 2022. Growing Fairly: How to Build Opportunity and Equity in Workforce Development. Brookings Institution Press.
Growing Fairly: How to Build Opportunity and Equity in Workforce Development

Abstract:

Stephen Goldsmith and Kate Markin Coleman, February 2022  

The labor market in the United States faces seemingly contradictory challenges: Many employers have trouble finding qualified applicants for current and future jobs, while millions of Americans are out of work or are underemployed—their paths to living-wage jobs blocked by systemic barriers or lack of adequate skills.

Growing Fairly offers workforce development reforms that meet the needs of both workers and employers. Based on the experiences of hundreds of leaders and workers, the authors set out ten principles for designing a more effective and equitable system that helps workers obtain the skills necessary for economic mobility.

The principles outlined in the book argue for a more comprehensive view of the skilling needs of current and prospective workers. They spell out the attributes of effective programs and make the case for skill-based hiring, widely distributed performance data, and collaboration. The book emphasizes the importance of local action to overcome the structural barriers that challenge even the most determined would-be learners. Growing Fairly shows cross sector leaders how to work across organizational boundaries to change the trajectory of individuals struggling to make a living wage.

This is not a book of untested theories. Instead, it is written by practitioners for practitioners. Much of it is told through the voices of those who run programs and people who have taken advantage of them. While the issues the book addresses are profound, its take on the subject is optimistic.

Between them, the authors have spent decades searching out and supporting effective practices. Even more critically, they have learned how to knit competing agencies and organizations into cohesive systems with coordinated missions. Their practical ideas will benefit a wide range of readers, from practitioners in the field to students and scholars of the American labor system.

Learn more on the publisher's site

Last updated on 02/21/2022

From Rebel to Ruler: One Hundred Years of the Chinese Communist Party

From Rebel to Ruler: One Hundred Years of the Chinese Communist Party

Abstract:

Tony Saich, July 2021 

Mao Zedong and the twelve other young men who founded the Chinese Communist Party in 1921 could hardly have imagined that less than thirty years later they would be rulers. On its hundredth anniversary, the party remains in command, leading a nation primed for global dominance.

Tony Saich tells the authoritative, comprehensive story of the Chinese Communist Party—its rise to power against incredible odds, its struggle to consolidate rule and overcome self-inflicted disasters, and its thriving amid other communist parties’ collapse. Saich argues that the brutal Japanese invasion in the 1930s actually helped the party. As the Communists retreated into the countryside, they established themselves as the populist, grassroots alternative to the Nationalists, gaining the support they would need to triumph in the civil war. Once in power, however, the Communists faced the difficult task of learning how to rule. Saich examines the devastating economic consequences of Mao’s Great Leap Forward and the political chaos of the Cultural Revolution, as well as the party’s rebound under Deng Xiaoping’s reforms.

Leninist systems are thought to be rigid, yet the Chinese Communist Party has proved adaptable. From Rebel to Ruler shows that the party owes its endurance to its flexibility. But is it nimble enough to realize Xi Jinping’s “China Dream”? Challenges are multiplying, as the growing middle class makes new demands on the state and the ideological retreat from communism draws the party further from its revolutionary roots. The legacy of the party may be secure, but its future is anything but guaranteed.

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Last updated on 06/28/2021

The Judicial Tug of War

Citation:

Sen, Maya, and Adam Bonica. 2020. The Judicial Tug of War. Cambridge University Press.
The Judicial Tug of War

Abstract:

Maya Sen and Adam Bonica, Cambridge University Press, December 2020 

Why have conservatives decried 'activist judges'? And why have liberals - and America's powerful legal establishment - emphasized qualifications and experience over ideology? This transformative text tackles these questions with a new framework for thinking about the nation's courts, 'the judicial tug of war', which not only explains current political clashes over America's courts, but also powerfully predicts the composition of courts moving forward. As the text demonstrates through novel quantitative analyses, a greater ideological rift between politicians and legal elites leads politicians to adopt measures that put ideology and politics front and center - for example, judicial elections. On the other hand, ideological closeness between politicians and the legal establishment leads legal elites to have significant influence on the selection of judges. Ultimately, the judicial tug of war makes one point clear: for good or bad, politics are critical to how judges are selected and whose interests they ultimately represent.

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Last updated on 04/01/2021

Authoritarian Police in Democracy: Contested Security in Latin America

Authoritarian Police in Democracy: Contested Security in Latin America

Abstract:

Yanilda María González, Cambridge University Press, November 2020 

In countries around the world, from the United States to the Philippines to Chile, police forces are at the center of social unrest and debates about democracy and rule of law. This book examines the persistence of authoritarian policing in Latin America to explain why police violence and malfeasance remain pervasive decades after democratization. It also examines the conditions under which reform can occur. Drawing on rich comparative analysis and evidence from Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia, the book opens up the 'black box' of police bureaucracies to show how police forces exert power and cultivate relationships with politicians, as well as how social inequality impedes change. González shows that authoritarian policing persists not in spite of democracy but in part because of democratic processes and public demand. When societal preferences over the distribution of security and coercion are fragmented along existing social cleavages, politicians possess few incentives to enact reform.

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Last updated on 04/01/2021

Lynching and Local Justice: Legitimacy and Accountability in Weak States

Citation:

Cohen, Dara Kay, and Danielle F. Jung. 2020. Lynching and Local Justice: Legitimacy and Accountability in Weak States. Cambridge University Press.
Lynching and Local Justice: Legitimacy and Accountability in Weak States

Abstract:

Dara Kay Cohen and Danielle F. Jung, Cambridge University Press, September 2020 

What are the social and political consequences of poor state governance and low state legitimacy? Under what conditions does lynching – lethal, extralegal group violence to punish offenses to the community – become an acceptable practice? We argue lynching emerges when neither the state nor its challengers have a monopoly over legitimate authority. When authority is contested or ambiguous, mass punishment for transgressions can emerge that is public, brutal, and requires broad participation. Using new cross-national data, we demonstrate lynching is a persistent problem in dozens of countries over the last four decades. Drawing on original survey and interview data from Haiti and South Africa, we show how lynching emerges and becomes accepted. Specifically, support for lynching most likely occurs in one of three conditions: when states fail to provide governance, when non-state actors provide social services, or when neighbors must rely on self-help.

Learn more on the publisher's site

Last updated on 04/01/2021

Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College?

Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College?

Abstract:

Alexander Keyssar, Harvard University Press, July 2020

With every presidential election, Americans puzzle over the peculiar mechanism of the Electoral College. The author of the Pulitzer finalist The Right to Vote explains the enduring problem of this controversial institution.

Every four years, millions of Americans wonder why they choose their presidents through the Electoral College, an arcane institution that permits the loser of the popular vote to become president and narrows campaigns to swing states. Most Americans have long preferred a national popular vote, and Congress has attempted on many occasions to alter or scuttle the Electoral College. Several of these efforts—one as recently as 1970—came very close to winning approval. Yet this controversial system remains.

Learn more on the publisher's site

Last updated on 04/01/2021

Finding Allies and Making Revolution

Finding Allies and Making Revolution

Abstract:

Tony Saich, Brill, February 2020 

What does a Dutchman have to do with the rise of the Chinese Communist Party? Finding Allies and Making Revolution by Tony Saich reveals how Henk Sneevliet (alias Maring), arriving as Lenin’s choice for China work, provided the communists with two of their most enduring legacies: the idea of a Leninist party and the tactic of the united front. Sneevliet strived to instill discipline and structure for the left-leaning intellectuals searching for a solution to China’s humiliation. He was not an easy man and clashed with the Chinese comrades and his masters in Moscow. This new analysis is based on Sneevliet’s diaries and reports, together with contemporary materials from key Chinese figures, and important documents held in the Comintern’s China archive.

Watch a video introduction to the book 

Open Access Full Text Available Here

Last updated on 11/21/2023

The Hidden Face of Rights

The Hidden Face of Rights

Abstract:

Kathryn Sikkink, Yale University Press, January 2020 

When we debate questions in international law, politics, and justice, we often use the language of rights—and far less often the language of responsibilities. Human rights scholars and activists talk about state responsibility for rights, but they do not articulate clear norms about other actors’ obligations. In this book, Kathryn Sikkink argues that we cannot truly implement human rights unless we also recognize and practice the corresponding human responsibilities.
 
Focusing on five areas—climate change, voting, digital privacy, freedom of speech, and sexual assault—and providing many examples of on-the-ground initiatives where people choose to embrace a close relationship between rights and responsibilities, Sikkink argues for the importance of responsibilities to any comprehensive understanding of political ethics and human rights.

Learn more on the publisher's site

Last updated on 04/01/2021

Legitimacy: The Right to Rule in a Wanton World

Citation:

Applbaum, Arthur Isak. 2019. Legitimacy: The Right to Rule in a Wanton World. Harvard University Press.
Legitimacy: The Right to Rule in a Wanton World

Abstract:

Arthur Applbaum, Harvard University Press, November 2019 

What makes a government legitimate? The dominant view is that public officials have the right to rule us, even if they are unfair or unfit, as long as they gain power through procedures traceable to the consent of the governed. In this rigorous and timely study, Arthur Isak Applbaum argues that adherence to procedure is not enough: even a properly chosen government does not rule legitimately if it fails to protect basic rights, to treat its citizens as political equals, or to act coherently.

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Last updated on 02/18/2020

Valuing U.S. National Parks and Programs: America’s Best Investment

Valuing U.S. National Parks and Programs: America’s Best Investment

Abstract:

Linda J. Bilmes and John B. Loomis, Routledge, August 2019 

This book provides the first comprehensive economic valuation of US National Parks (including Monuments, Seashores, Lakeshores, Recreation Areas, Historic sites) and National Park Service (NPS) Programs.

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Last updated on 01/24/2020

Cultural Backlash: Trump, Brexit, and Authoritarian Populism

Citation:

Norris, Pippa, and Ronald Inglehart. 2019. Cultural Backlash: Trump, Brexit, and Authoritarian Populism. Cambridge University Press.
Cultural Backlash: Trump, Brexit, and Authoritarian Populism

Abstract:

Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart, Cambridge University Press, February 2019

Authoritarian populist parties have advanced in many countries, and entered government in states as diverse as Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Switzerland. Even small parties can still shift the policy agenda, as demonstrated by UKIP's role in catalyzing Brexit. Drawing on new evidence, this book advances a general theory why the silent revolution in values triggered a backlash fuelling support for Authoritarian-Populist parties and leaders in the US and Europe. The conclusion highlights the dangers of this development and what could be done to mitigate the risks to liberal democracy.

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Last updated on 01/24/2020

Public Value: Deepening, Enriching, and Broadening the Theory and Practice

Citation:

Lindgreen, Adam, Nicole Koenig-Lewis, Martin Kitchener, John D. Brewer, Mark H. Moore, and Timo Meynhardt. 2019. Public Value: Deepening, Enriching, and Broadening the Theory and Practice. Routledge.
Public Value: Deepening, Enriching, and Broadening the Theory and Practice

Abstract:

Adam Lindgreen, Nicole Koenig-Lewis, Martin Kitchener, John D. Brewer, Mark H. Moore, and Timo Meynhardt, Routledge, 2019 

Over the last 10 years, the concept of value has emerged in both business and public life as part of an important process of measuring, benchmarking, and assuring the resources we invest and the outcomes we generate from our activities. In the context of public life, value is an important measure on the contribution to business and social good of activities for which strict financial measures are either inappropriate or fundamentally unsound.

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Last updated on 03/16/2020

Alan Brinkley: A Life in History

Citation:

Greenberg, David, Moshik Temkin, and Mason B. Williams. 2019. Alan Brinkley: A Life in History.
Alan Brinkley: A Life in History

Abstract:

David Greenberg, Moshik Temkin, and Mason B. Williams; Columbia University Press; January 2019

Few American historians of his generation have had as much influence in both the academic and popular realms as Alan Brinkley. His debut work, the National Book Award–winning Voices of Protest, launched a storied career that considered the full spectrum of American political life. His books give serious and original treatments of populist dissent, the role of mass media, the struggles of liberalism and conservatism, and the powers and limits of the presidency. A longtime professor at Harvard University and Columbia University, Brinkley has shaped the field of U.S. history for generations of students through his textbooks and his mentorship of some of today’s foremost historians. Alan Brinkley: A Life in History brings together essays on his major works and ideas, as well as personal reminiscences from leading historians and thinkers beyond the academy whom Brinkley collaborated with, befriended, and influenced. 

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Institutional Change and Adaptive Efficiency: A Study of China's Hukou System Evolution

Institutional Change and Adaptive Efficiency: A Study of China's Hukou System Evolution

Abstract:

Tony Saich and Kunling Zhang, December 2023


Since the 1990s, neo-institutionalists have posited that "institutions matter". However, they overlook one important issue: the ways institutions change also matters. Numerous academic studies have identified "good" and "bad" institutions, but little has been written about effective methods of transforming "bad" institutions so that they enhance economic performance. To fill this gap, this book reframes the approach of neo-institutional economics to analyze institutions' role and evolution, focusing on the interaction between the household registration (hukou) system evolution and economic transformation.

The authors apply an endogenous and dynamic perspective. First, the theory of endogenous institutional change illustrates how the drivers of hukou system evolution differ in the pre-reform and reform eras. Second, the theory of adaptive efficiency evaluates the evolution of the system's institutional efficiency. Finally, the authors were able to test the impact of the hukou reform on urban economic growth by examining local experimentation, helping explain the current "stickiness" of the system.

At the heart of hukou reform lies the question of how to deal with the link between hukou and welfare provision. This book will offer policymakers a better understanding of institutional change in dynamic economic contexts, helping them enhance economic performance.

Read the introduction

Learn more on the publisher's site

Last updated on 11/21/2023

Vietnam: Navigating a Rapidly Changing Economy, Society, and Political Order

Citation:

Perkins, Dwight, and Borje Ljunggren, ed. 2023. Vietnam: Navigating a Rapidly Changing Economy, Society, and Political Order. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Vietnam: Navigating a Rapidly Changing Economy, Society, and Political Order

Abstract:

Börje Ljunggren and Dwight Perkins, June 2023 

In the late 1980s, most of the world still associated Vietnam with resistance and war, hardship, refugees, and a mismanaged planned economy. During the 1990s, by contrast, major countries began to see Vietnam as both a potential partner and a strategically significant actor—particularly in the competition between the United States and an emerging China—and international investors began to see Vietnam as a land of opportunity.

Vietnam remains a Leninist party-state ruled by the Communist Party of Vietnam that has reconciled the supposedly irreconcilable: a one-party system and a market-based economy linked to global value chains. For the Party stability is crucial and, recently, increasing economic openness has been combined with growing political control and repression.

This book, undertaken by scholars from Vietnam, North America, and Europe, focuses on how the country’s governance shapes its politics, economy, social development, and relations with the outside world, as well as on the reforms required if Vietnam is to become a sustainable and modern high-income nation in the coming decades.

Despite the challenges, including systemic ones, the authors remain optimistic about Vietnam’s future, noting the evident vitality of a determined society.

Read the introduction 

Learn more on the publisher's site

Last updated on 07/26/2023

From Rebel to Ruler: One Hundred Years of the Chinese Communist Party

From Rebel to Ruler: One Hundred Years of the Chinese Communist Party

Abstract:

Tony Saich, July 2021 

Mao Zedong and the twelve other young men who founded the Chinese Communist Party in 1921 could hardly have imagined that less than thirty years later they would be rulers. On its hundredth anniversary, the party remains in command, leading a nation primed for global dominance.

Tony Saich tells the authoritative, comprehensive story of the Chinese Communist Party—its rise to power against incredible odds, its struggle to consolidate rule and overcome self-inflicted disasters, and its thriving amid other communist parties’ collapse. Saich argues that the brutal Japanese invasion in the 1930s actually helped the party. As the Communists retreated into the countryside, they established themselves as the populist, grassroots alternative to the Nationalists, gaining the support they would need to triumph in the civil war. Once in power, however, the Communists faced the difficult task of learning how to rule. Saich examines the devastating economic consequences of Mao’s Great Leap Forward and the political chaos of the Cultural Revolution, as well as the party’s rebound under Deng Xiaoping’s reforms.

Leninist systems are thought to be rigid, yet the Chinese Communist Party has proved adaptable. From Rebel to Ruler shows that the party owes its endurance to its flexibility. But is it nimble enough to realize Xi Jinping’s “China Dream”? Challenges are multiplying, as the growing middle class makes new demands on the state and the ideological retreat from communism draws the party further from its revolutionary roots. The legacy of the party may be secure, but its future is anything but guaranteed.

Visit Publisher's Site

Last updated on 06/28/2021

Finding Allies and Making Revolution

Finding Allies and Making Revolution

Abstract:

Tony Saich, Brill, February 2020 

What does a Dutchman have to do with the rise of the Chinese Communist Party? Finding Allies and Making Revolution by Tony Saich reveals how Henk Sneevliet (alias Maring), arriving as Lenin’s choice for China work, provided the communists with two of their most enduring legacies: the idea of a Leninist party and the tactic of the united front. Sneevliet strived to instill discipline and structure for the left-leaning intellectuals searching for a solution to China’s humiliation. He was not an easy man and clashed with the Chinese comrades and his masters in Moscow. This new analysis is based on Sneevliet’s diaries and reports, together with contemporary materials from key Chinese figures, and important documents held in the Comintern’s China archive.

Watch a video introduction to the book 

Open Access Full Text Available Here

Last updated on 11/21/2023

Playing by the Informal Rules

Citation:

Li, Yao. 2018. Playing by the Informal Rules. Cambridge University Press.
Playing by the Informal Rules

Abstract:

Yao Li, Cambridge University Press, November 2018  

Growing protests in non-democratic countries are often seen as signals of regime decline. China, however, has remained stable amid surging protests. Playing by the Informal Rules highlights the importance of informal norms in structuring state-protester interactions, mitigating conflict, and explaining regime resilience. Drawing on a nationwide dataset of protest and multi-sited ethnographic research, this book presents a bird's-eye view of Chinese contentious politics and illustrates the uneven application of informal norms across regions, social groups, and time. Through examinations of protests and their distinct implications for regime stability, Li offers a novel theoretical framework suitable for monitoring the trajectory of political contention in China and beyond. Overall, this study sheds new light on political mobilization and authoritarian resilience and provides fresh perspectives on power, rules, legitimacy, and resistance in modern societies.

 

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Last updated on 01/24/2020

The Cold War: A World History

Citation:

Westad, Odd Arne. 2017. The Cold War: A World History. Basic Books, 720.
The Cold War: A World History

Abstract:

Odd Arne Westad, Basic Books, September 2017

In this major new work, Bancroft Prize-winning scholar Odd Arne Westad argues that the Cold War must be understood as a global ideological confrontation, with early roots in the Industrial Revolution and ongoing repercussions around the world.

In The Cold War, Westad offers a new perspective on a century when great power rivalry and ideological battle transformed every corner of our globe. From Soweto to Hollywood, Hanoi, and Hamburg, young men and women felt they were fighting for the future of the world. The Cold War may have begun on the perimeters of Europe, but it had its deepest reverberations in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, where nearly every community had to choose sides. And these choices continue to define economies and regimes across the world.

 

 

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Last updated on 03/01/2020

3-in-1: Governing a Global Financial Centre

Citation:

Woo, Jun Jie. 2017. 3-in-1: Governing a Global Financial Centre. World Scientific Publishing, 128.
3-in-1: Governing a Global Financial Centre

Abstract:

Jun Jie Woo, World Scientific Publishing, August 2017

3-in-1: Governing a Global Financial Centre provides a comprehensive understanding of Singapore's past development and future success as a global financial centre. It focuses on three transformational processes that have determined the city-state's financial sector development and governance — globalisation, financialisation, and centralisation — and their impacts across three areas: the economy, governance, and technology. More importantly, this book takes a multidimensional approach by considering the inter-related and interdependent nature of these three transformational processes. Just like the 3-in-1 coffee mix that is such an ubiquitous feature of everyday life in Singapore, the individual ingredients of Singapore's success as a global financial centre do not act alone, but as an integrated whole that manifests itself in one final product: the global financial centre.

Publisher's Version

Last updated on 03/01/2020

Incentivized Development in China: Leaders, Governance, and Growth in China's Counties

Incentivized Development in China: Leaders, Governance, and Growth in China's Counties

Abstract:

David J. Bulman, Cambridge University Press, 2016

China's economy, as a whole, has developed rapidly over the past 35 years, and yet its richest county is over 100 times richer in per capita terms than its poorest county. To explain this vast variation in development, David J. Bulman investigates the political foundations of local economic growth in China, focusing on the institutional and economic roles of county-level leaders and the career incentives that shape their behaviour. Through a close examination of six counties complemented by unique nation-wide data, he presents and explores two related questions: what is the role of County Party Secretaries in determining local governance and growth outcomes? And why do County Party Secretaries emphasize particular developmental priorities? Suitable for scholars of political economy, development economics, and comparative politics, this original study analyzes the relationship between political institutions, local governance, and leadership roles within Chinese government to explain the growing divergence in economic development between counties.

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Last updated on 03/01/2020

Ethics in Public Life: Good Practitioners in a Rising Asia

Abstract:

The topic of moral competence is generally neglected in the study of public management and policy, yet it is critical to any hope we might have for strengthening the quality of governance and professional practice. What does moral competence consist of? How is it developed and sustained? These questions are addressed in this book through close examination of selected practitioners in Asian countries making life-defining decisions in their work. The protagonists include a doctor in Singapore, a political activist in India, a mid-level bureaucrat in central Asia, a religious missionary in China, and a journalist in Cambodia – each struggling with ethical challenges that shed light on what it takes to act effectively and well in public life. Together they bear witness to the ideal of public service, exercising their personal gifts for the well-being of others and demonstrating that, even in difficult circumstances, the reflective practitioner can be a force for good.

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Governance and Politics of China

Citation:

Saich, Tony. 2015. Governance and Politics of China . Palgrave Macmillan.
Governance and Politics of China

Abstract:

This systematically revised fourth edition of the leading text on Chinese politics covers the major changes under Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang and their predecessors, and the recent attempts to restore Chinese Communist Party prestige and strengthen the role of the market in economic reforms whilst managing urbanization and addressing corruption.

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Political Governance In China

Citation:

Saich, Anthony J. 2015. Political Governance In China . Edward Elgar Publishing.
Political Governance In China

Abstract:

Including key research articles from specialists in the field, this volume provides an introduction and critical insights into the most important debates surrounding the governance of contemporary China. The material will enable readers to understand how China is ruled, how participation and protest are regulated by the authorities, and the relationship between the Central state and its local agencies. Spanning the most important areas of the subject, the chosen articles explore the study of Chinese politics, the nature of the Chinese political system, the policy-making process, the nature of the local state, participation and protest, and authoritarian resilience or democratization. Professor Saich’s collection brings together essential reading for students of China, those who are interested in comparative politics, and the general reader who wants a coherent introduction about how China is ruled.

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Natural Disaster Management in the Asia-Pacific

Citation:

Brassard, Caroline, Arnold M. Howitt, and David W. Giles. 2015. Natural Disaster Management in the Asia-Pacific. Springer.
Natural Disaster Management in the Asia-Pacific

Abstract:

Caroline Brassard, Arnold M. Howitt, and David W. Giles, Springer, 2015

The Asia-Pacific region is one of the most vulnerable to a variety of natural and manmade hazards. This edited book productively brings together scholars and senior public officials having direct experience in dealing with or researching on recent major natural disasters in the Asia-Pacific. The chapters focus on disaster preparedness and management, including pre-event planning and mitigation, crisis leadership and emergency response, and disaster recovery. Specific events discussed in this book include a broad spectrum of disasters such as tropical storms and typhoons in the Philippines; earthquakes in China; tsunamis in Indonesia, Japan, and Maldives; and bushfires in Australia. The book aims to generate discussions about improved risk reduction strategies throughout the region. It seeks to provide a comparative perspective across countries to draw lessons from three perspectives: public policy, humanitarian systems, and community engagement.

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Last updated on 01/24/2020

The Sum Is Greater Than the Parts: Doubling Shared Prosperity in Indonesia Through Local and Global Integration

Citation:

Program, Harvard Kennedy School Indonesia. 2013. The Sum Is Greater Than the Parts: Doubling Shared Prosperity in Indonesia Through Local and Global Integration. The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation.
The Sum Is Greater Than the Parts: Doubling Shared Prosperity in Indonesia Through Local and Global Integration

Abstract:

Harvard Kennedy School Indonesia Program, 2013 

Published in 2013, a new book from the Harvard Kennedy School Indonesia Program builds on findings of the 2010 report, From Reformasi to Institutional Transformation: A Strategic Assessment of Indonesia's Prospects for Growth, Equity, and Democratic GovernanceView the virtual book tour from the HKS Library.

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Last updated on 02/05/2020

Chinese Village, Global Market: New Collectives and Rural Development

Chinese Village, Global Market: New Collectives and Rural Development

Abstract:

Biliang Hu and Tony Saich, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012

This book is a story of one village, Yantian, and its remarkable economic and social transformation. The village sits in the Pearl River Delta, the engine of China's emergence as the hub of global manufacturing and production. The village's success relied on the creation of new economic collectives, its ability to leverage networks, and its proximity to Hong Kong to transform forever the formerly sleepy rural area. The result of almost 20 years of field work by the authors, Chinese Village, Global Market shows how outcomes are shaped by a number of factors such as path dependence, social structures, economic resources and local entrepreneurship.

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Chinese Village, Global Market: New Collectives and Rural Development

Chinese Village, Global Market: New Collectives and Rural Development

Abstract:

Biliang Hu and Tony Saich, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012 

This book is a story of one village, Yantian, and its remarkable economic and social transformation. The village sits in the Pearl River Delta, the engine of China's emergence as the hub of global manufacturing and production. The village's success relied on the creation of new economic collectives, its ability to leverage networks, and its proximity to Hong Kong to transform forever the formerly sleepy rural area. The result of almost 20 years of field work by the authors, Chinese Village, Global Market shows how outcomes are shaped by a number of factors such as path dependence, social structures, economic resources and local entrepreneurship.

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Responsive Democracy: Increasing State Accountability in East Asia

Citation:

Baum, Jeeyang Rhee. 2011. Responsive Democracy: Increasing State Accountability in East Asia. The University of Michigan Press.
Responsive Democracy: Increasing State Accountability in East Asia

Abstract:

Jeeyang Rhee Baum, The University of Michigan Press, 2011

Under what conditions is a newly democratic government likely to increase transparency, accountability, and responsiveness to its citizens? What incentives might there be for bureaucrats, including those appointed by a previously authoritarian government, to carry out the wishes of an emerging democratic regime? Responsive Democracy addresses an important problem in democratic transition and consolidation: the ability of the chief executive to control the state bureaucracy. Using three well-chosen case studies – the Philippines, South Korea, and Taiwan – Jeeyang Rhee Baum explores the causes and consequences of codifying rules and procedures in a newly democratic government.

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Responsive Democracy: Increasing State Accountability in East Asia

Citation:

Baum, Jeeyang Rhee. 2011. Responsive Democracy: Increasing State Accountability in East Asia. The University of Michigan Press.
Responsive Democracy: Increasing State Accountability in East Asia

Abstract:

Jeeyang Rhee Baum, The University of Michigan Press, 2011

Under what conditions is a newly democratic government likely to increase transparency, accountability, and responsiveness to its citizens? What incentives might there be for bureaucrats, including those appointed by a previously authoritarian government, to carry out the wishes of an emerging democratic regime? Responsive Democracy addresses an important problem in democratic transition and consolidation: the ability of the chief executive to control the state bureaucracy. Using three well-chosen case studies—the Philippines, South Korea, and Taiwan—Jeeyang Rhee Baum explores the causes and consequences of codifying rules and procedures in a newly democratic government.

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Last updated on 01/24/2020

Governance and Politics of China

Citation:

Saich, Anthony. 2010. Governance and Politics of China (Third). Third. Palgrave Macmillan,.
Governance and Politics of China

Abstract:

Anthony Saich, Third Edition, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010

Lavish spectacles such as the Beijing Olympics and Expo 2010 have raised China's global profile and echoed predictions of a rise to the position of a major world actor. Yet moves towards a market-based economy, together with the global recession, have exacerbated a number of political and social challenges for the Chinese government. The tensions between communist and capitalist identities continue to divide society. The People's Republic is now over sixty years old – an appropriate juncture at which to reassess the state of contemporary Chinese politics. In this substantially revised third edition, Saich delivers a thorough introduction to all aspects of politics and governance in post-Mao China, taking full account of the changes of the Seventeenth Party Congress and Eleventh National People's Congress.

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From Reformasi to Institutional Transformation: A Strategic Assessment of Indonesia's Prospects for Growth, Equity, and Democratic Governance

From Reformasi to Institutional Transformation: A Strategic Assessment of Indonesia's Prospects for Growth, Equity, and Democratic Governance

Abstract:

Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia, Kompas Gramedia Group, 2010

Rates of economic growth in Indonesia have returned to the levels experienced before the global economic crisis of 2007-08. And yet other countries in Asia, such as China, India, Thailand, Malaysia, and The Philippines have been growing even faster. Compared to these countries, Indonesia is quickly being left behind in terms of foreign direct investment, manufacturing growth, infrastructure investments, and educational attainment. Like a marathoner carrying a twenty kilogram pack, Indonesia can see the competition pulling away but is powerless to pick up the pace. Indonesia must engage in a thorough process of institutional transformation if it is to shed the legacy of Guided Democracy and the New Order and learn to compete in an ever globalizing economy.

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Last updated on 04/20/2021

Prospects for the Professions in China

Citation:

Alford, William P, William Kirby, and Kenneth Winston, ed. 2010. Prospects for the Professions in China. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Prospects for the Professions in China

Abstract:

William P Alford, William Kirby, and Kenneth Winston, editors, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2010

Professionals are a growing group in China and increasingly make their presence felt in governance and civil society. At the same time, however, professionals in the West are under increasing pressure from commercialism or scepticism about their ability to rise above self-interest. This book focuses on professionals in China and asks whether developing countries have a fateful choice: to embrace Western models of professional organization as they now exist, or to set off on an independent path, adapting elements of Western practices to their own historical and cultural situation. In doing so, the authors in this volume discuss a wealth of issues, including: the historic antecedents of modern Chinese professionalism; the implications of professionalism as an import in China; the impact of socialism, the developmental state, and rampant commercialism on the professions in China; and the feasibility of liberal professions in an illiberal state.

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