Books

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

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Last updated on 12/13/2023

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.

 

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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.

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Last updated on 01/04/2023

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.

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Last updated on 09/09/2022

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.

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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.

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Last updated on 04/01/2021

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.

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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

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

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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Deep Roots: How Slavery Still Shapes Southern Politics

Citation:

Acharya, Avidit, Matthew Blackwell, and Maya Sen. 2018. Deep Roots: How Slavery Still Shapes Southern Politics. Princeton University Press.
Deep Roots: How Slavery Still Shapes Southern Politics

Abstract:

Avidit Acharya, Matthew Blackwell & Maya Sen, Princeton University Press, 2018 

Despite dramatic social transformations in the United States during the last 150 years, the South has remained staunchly conservative. Southerners are more likely to support Republican candidates, gun rights, and the death penalty, and southern whites harbor higher levels of racial resentment than whites in other parts of the country. Why haven't these sentiments evolved or changed? Deep Roots shows that the entrenched political and racial views of contemporary white southerners are a direct consequence of the region's slaveholding history, which continues to shape economic, political, and social spheres. Today, southern whites who live in areas once reliant on slavery—compared to areas that were not—are more racially hostile and less amenable to policies that could promote black progress. 

Highlighting the connection between historical institutions and contemporary political attitudes, the authors explore the period following the Civil War when elite whites in former bastions of slavery had political and economic incentives to encourage the development of anti-black laws and practices. Deep Roots shows that these forces created a local political culture steeped in racial prejudice, and that these viewpoints have been passed down over generations, from parents to children and via communities, through a process called behavioral path dependence. While legislation such as the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act made huge strides in increasing economic opportunity and reducing educational disparities, southern slavery has had a profound, lasting, and self-reinforcing influence on regional and national politics that can still be felt today.

A groundbreaking look at the ways institutions of the past continue to sway attitudes of the present, Deep Roots demonstrates how social beliefs persist long after the formal policies that created those beliefs have been eradicated.

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Party Systems in Latin America: Institutionalization, Decay, and Collapse

Party Systems in Latin America: Institutionalization, Decay, and Collapse

Abstract:

Scott Mainwaring, Cambridge University Press, February 2018

Based on contributions from leading scholars, this study generates a wealth of new empirical information about Latin American party systems. It also contributes richly to major theoretical and comparative debates about the effects of party systems on democratic politics, and about why some party systems are much more stable and predictable than others. Party Systems in Latin America builds on, challenges, and updates Mainwaring and Timothy Scully's seminal Building Democratic Institutions: Party Systems in Latin America (1995), which re-oriented the study of democratic party systems in the developing world. It is essential reading for scholars and students of comparative party systems, democracy, and Latin American politics. It shows that a stable and predictable party system facilitates important democratic processes and outcomes, but that building and maintaining such a party system has been the exception rather than the norm in contemporary Latin America.

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Last updated on 03/01/2020

The Fissured Workplace

Citation:

Weil, David. 2017. The Fissured Workplace. Harvard University Press, 424.
The Fissured Workplace

Abstract:

David Weil, Harvard University Press, May 2017

For much of the twentieth century, large companies employing many workers formed the bedrock of the U.S. economy. Today, on the list of big business’s priorities, sustaining the employer-worker relationship ranks far below building a devoted customer base and delivering value to investors. As David Weil’s groundbreaking analysis shows, large corporations have shed their role as direct employers of the people responsible for their products, in favor of outsourcing work to small companies that compete fiercely with one another. Weil proposes ways to modernize regulatory policies and laws so that employers can meet their obligations to workers while allowing companies to keep the beneficial aspects of this innovative business strategy.

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Last updated on 03/01/2020

Presidents’ Secrets: The Use and Abuse of Hidden Power

Presidents’ Secrets: The Use and Abuse of Hidden Power

Abstract:

Mary Graham, Yale University Press, February 2017

Ever since the nation’s most important secret meeting—the Constitutional Convention—presidents have struggled to balance open, accountable government with necessary secrecy in military affairs and negotiations. For the first one hundred  and twenty years, a culture of open government persisted, but new threats and technology have long since shattered the old bargains. Today, presidents neither protect vital information nor provide the open debate Americans expect.
 
Mary Graham tracks the rise in governmental secrecy that began with surveillance and loyalty programs during Woodrow Wilson’s administration, explores how it developed during the Cold War, and analyzes efforts to reform the secrecy apparatus and restore oversight in the 1970s. Chronicling the expansion of presidential secrecy in the Bush years, Graham explains what presidents and the American people can learn from earlier crises, why the attempts of Congress to rein in stealth activities don’t work, and why presidents cannot hide actions that affect citizens’ rights and values.

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Social Policy Expansion in Latin America

Citation:

Garay, Candelaria. 2017. Social Policy Expansion in Latin America . Cambridge University Press.
Social Policy Expansion in Latin America

Abstract:

Candelaria Garay, Cambridge University Press, January 2017 

 

Throughout the twentieth century, much of the population in Latin America lacked access to social protection. Since the 1990s, however, social policy for millions of outsiders - rural, informal, and unemployed workers and dependents - has been expanded dramatically. Social Policy Expansion in Latin America shows that the critical factors driving expansion are electoral competition for the vote of outsiders and social mobilization for policy change. The balance of partisan power and the involvement of social movements in policy design explain cross-national variation in policy models, in terms of benefit levels, coverage, and civil society participation in implementation. The book draws on in-depth case studies of policy making in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico over several administrations and across three policy areas: health care, pensions, and income support. Secondary case studies illustrate how the theory applies to other developing countries.

 

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Democracy Reinvented: Participatory Budgeting and Civic Innovation in America

Democracy Reinvented: Participatory Budgeting and Civic Innovation in America

Abstract:

Hollie Russon Gilman, Brookings, 2016 

Democracy Reinvented is the first comprehensive academic treatment of participatory budgeting in the United States, situating it within a broader trend of civic technology and innovation. This global phenomenon, which has been called “revolutionary civics in action” by the New York Times, started in Brazil in 1989 but came to America only in 2009.  Participatory budgeting empowers citizens to identify community needs, work with elected officials to craft budget proposals, and vote on how to spend public funds.

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Last updated on 01/24/2020

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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The Arab Spring

Citation:

Brownlee, Jason, Tarek Masoud, and Andrew Reynolds. 2015. The Arab Spring . Oxford University Press.
The Arab Spring

Abstract:

Several years after the Arab Spring began, democracy remains elusive in the Middle East. The Arab Spring that resides in the popular imagination is one in which a wave of mass mobilization swept the broader Middle East, toppled dictators, and cleared the way for democracy. The reality is that few Arab countries have experienced anything of the sort. While Tunisia made progress towards some type of constitutionally entrenched participatory rule, the other countries that overthrew their rulers, Egypt, Yemen, and Libya remain mired in authoritarianism and instability. Elsewhere in the Arab world uprisings were suppressed, subsided, or never materialized. The Arab Spring's modest harvest cries out for explanation. Why did regime change take place in only four Arab countries and why has democratic change proved so elusive in the countries that made attempts? This book attempts to answer those questions. First, by accounting for the full range of variance: from the absence or failure of uprisings in such places as Algeria and Saudi Arabia at one end, to Tunisia's rocky but hopeful transition at the other. Second, by examining the deep historical and structure variables that determined the balance of power between incumbents and opposition. Brownlee, Masoud, and Reynolds find that the success of domestic uprisings depended on the absence of a hereditary executive and a dearth of oil rents. Structural factors also cast a shadow over the transition process. Even when opposition forces toppled dictators, prior levels of socioeconomic development and state strength shaped whether nascent democracy, resurgent authoritarianism, or unbridled civil war would follow.

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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.

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Last updated on 02/21/2022

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

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

A New City O/S: The Power of Open, Collaborative, and Distributed Governance

Citation:

Goldsmith, Stephen, and Neil Kleiman. 2017. A New City O/S: The Power of Open, Collaborative, and Distributed Governance. Brookings Institution Press.
A New City O/S: The Power of Open, Collaborative, and Distributed Governance

Abstract:

Stephen Goldsmith and Neil Kleiman, Brookings, November 2017

At a time when trust is dropping precipitously and American government at the national level has fallen into a state of long-term, partisan-based gridlock, local government can still be effective—indeed more effective and even more responsive to the needs of its citizens. Based on decades of direct experience and years studying successful models around the world, the authors of this intriguing book propose a new operating system (O/S) for cities. Former mayor and Harvard professor Stephen Goldsmith and New York University professor Neil Kleiman suggest building on the giant leaps that have been made in technology, social engagement, and big data.

Calling their approach “distributed governance,” Goldsmith and Kleiman offer a model that allows public officials to mobilize new resources, surface ideas from unconventional sources, and arm employees with the information they need to become pre-emptive problem solvers. This book highlights lessons from the many innovations taking place in today’s cities to show how a new O/S can create systemic transformation.

 

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Last updated on 10/18/2021

Public Health Preparedness: Case Studies in Policy and Management

Citation:

Howitt, Arnold M., Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard, and David W. Giles. 2017. Public Health Preparedness: Case Studies in Policy and Management. American Public Health Association.
Public Health Preparedness: Case Studies in Policy and Management

Abstract:

Arnold M. Howitt, Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard, and David W. Giles, American Public Health Association, February 2017

Containing 15 Harvard Kennedy School case studies on public health emergency preparedness and response, this book provides detailed accounts of a range of natural disasters, infectious diseases, and bio-terrorism. With chapters on Superstorm Sandy, the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, the 2001 anthrax attacks, and evacuations from Gulf Coast hurricanes, the book covers major areas in public health preparedness, portraying the varied and complex challenges the public health community faces when confronting disaster.

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Last updated on 03/01/2020

Dealing with Dysfunction: Innovative Problem Solving in the Public Sector

Dealing with Dysfunction: Innovative Problem Solving in the Public Sector

Abstract:

Jorrit de Jong, Brookings Institution Press, 2016

How can we intervene in the systemic bureaucratic dysfunction that beleaguers the public sector? De Jong examines the roots of this dysfunction and presents a novel approach  to solving it. Drawing from academic literature on bureaucracy and problem solving in the public sector, and the clinical work of the Kafka Brigade — a social enterprise based in the Netherlands dedicated to diagnosing and remedying bureaucratic dysfunction in practice, this study reveals the shortcomings of conventional approaches to bureaucratic reform. The usual methods have failed to diagnose problems, distinguish symptoms, or identify root causes in a comprehensive or satisfactory way. They have also failed to engage clients, professionals, and midlevel managers in understanding and addressing the dysfunction that plagues them. This book offers conceptual frameworks, theoretical insights, and practical lessons for dealing with the problem. It sets a course for rigorous public problem solving to create governments that can be more effective, efficient, equitable, and responsive to social concerns.

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Last updated on 01/24/2020

Economics of the Public Sector

Citation:

Stiglitz, Joseph E, and Jay Rosengard. 2015. Economics of the Public Sector. W.W. Norton & Company.
Economics of the Public Sector

Abstract:

What should be the role of government in society? How should it design its programs? How should tax systems be designed to promote both efficiency and fairness? Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz and new co-author Jay Rosengard use their first-hand policy-advising experience to address these key issues of public-sector economics in this modern and accessible Fourth Edition.
 

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The Responsive City: Engaging Communities Through Data-Smart Governance

The Responsive City: Engaging Communities Through Data-Smart Governance

Abstract:

Stephen Goldsmith and Susan Crawford, Wiley, 2014

The Responsive City is a compelling guide to civic engagement and governance in the digital age that will help municipal leaders link important breakthroughs in technology and data analytics with age-old lessons of small-group community input to create more agile, competitive, and economically resilient cities. The book is co-authored by Professor Stephen Goldsmith, director of Data-Smart City Solutions at Harvard Kennedy School, and Professor Susan Crawford, co-director of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

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Last updated on 01/26/2021

The Persistence of Innovation in Government

The Persistence of Innovation in Government

Abstract:

Sandford Borins, Brookings, 2014

In The Persistence of Innovation in Government, Sandford Borins maps the changing landscape of American public sector innovation in the twenty-first century, largely addressing three key questions: Who innovates? When, why, and how do they do it? What are the persistent obstacles and the proven methods for overcoming them? Probing both the process and the content of innovation in the public sector, Borins identifies major shifts and important continuities. His examination of public innovation combines several elements: his analysis of the Harvard Kennedy School's Innovations in American Government Awards program; significant new research on government performance; and a fresh look at the findings of his earlier, highly praised book Innovating with Integrity: How Local Heros Are Transforming American Government.

Recognizing Public Value

Citation:

Moore, Mark H. 2013. Recognizing Public Value. Harvard University Press.
Recognizing Public Value

Abstract:

Mark H. Moore, Harvard University Press, 2013

Mark H. Moore's now classic Creating Public Value offered advice to public managers about how to create public value. But that book left a key question unresolved: how could one recognize (in an accounting sense) when public value had been created? Here, Moore closes the gap by setting forth a philosophy of performance measurement that will help public managers name, observe, and sometimes count the value they produce, whether in education, public health, safety, crime prevention, housing, or other areas. Blending case studies with theory, he argues that private sector models built on customer satisfaction and the bottom line cannot be transferred to government agencies.

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Agents of Change: Strategy and Tactics for Social Innovation

Citation:

Cels, Sanderijn, Jorrit de Jong, and Frans Nauta. 2012. Agents of Change: Strategy and Tactics for Social Innovation. Brookings Institution Press.
Agents of Change: Strategy and Tactics for Social Innovation

Abstract:

Sanderijn Cels, Jorrit De Jong, Frans Nauta, Brookings Institution Press, 2012

Agents of Change describes imaginative, cross-boundary thinking and transformative change and explains exactly how innovators pull it off. While governments around the world struggle to maintain service levels amid fiscal crises, social innovators are improving social outcomes for citizens by changing the system from within. In Agents of Change, three cutting-edge thinkers and entrepreneurs present case studies of social innovation that have led to significant social change. Drawing on original empirical research in the United States, Canada, Japan, Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands, they examine how ordinary people accomplished extraordinary results.

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Ports in a Storm: Public Management in a Turbulent World

Ports in a Storm: Public Management in a Turbulent World

Abstract:

The 9-11 attacks resulted in heightened security efforts in American ports. Any attack on a seaport would be far more disruptive to the day-to-day functions of the country than even airport closures. Much of the responsibility for increasing port security fell to the U.S. Coast Guard. In this book, Harvard Kennedy School authors focus diverse conceptual lenses on a single high-stakes management challenge – enhancing U.S. port security. The aims are two: to understand how that complex challenge might plausibly be met and to explore the similarities, differences, and complementarities of their alternative approaches to public management.

Last updated on 01/30/2020

The Power of Social Innovation: How Civic Entrepreneurs Ignite Community Networks for Good

Abstract:

Stephen Goldsmith with Gigi Georges and Tim Glynn Burke, Jossey-Bass, 2010

Civic leaders across the U.S. and throughout the world are discovering creative ways to overcome the obstacles that seal the doors of opportunity for too many. These inspiring individuals believe that within our communities lies the entrepreneurial spirit, compassion, and resources to make progress in such critical areas as education, housing, and economic self-reliance. Real progress requires that we take bold action and leverage our strengths for the greater good. The Power of Social Innovation offers public officials, social entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and individual citizens the insights and skills to create healthier communities and promote innovative solutions to public and social problems. This seminal work is based on Stephen Goldsmith's decades of experience, extensive ongoing research, and interviews with 100+ top leaders from a wide variety of sectors. Goldsmith shows that everyday citizens can themselves produce extraordinary social change.

Read the first chapter of the book 

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Last updated on 04/13/2021

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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Unlocking the Power of Networks: Keys to High Performance Government

Citation:

Goldsmith, Stephen, and Donald Kettl, ed. 2009. Unlocking the Power of Networks: Keys to High Performance Government. Brookings Institution Press.
Unlocking the Power of Networks: Keys to High Performance Government

Abstract:

Stephen Goldsmith and Donald Kettl, editors, Brookings Institution Press, 2009

The era of textbook top-down, stovepiped public management in America is over, and the traditional dichotomy between public ownership and privatization is an outdated notion. Public executives have shifted their focus from managing workers and directly providing services to orchestrating networks of public, private, and nonprofit organizations to deliver those services. In this new book, Stephen Goldsmith and Donald Kettl head a stellar cast of policy practitioners and scholars exploring the potential, strategies, and best practices of high-performance networks while identifying next-generation issues in public sector network management. Unlocking the Power of Networks employs sector-specific analyses to reveal how networked governance achieves previously unthinkable policy goals.

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The Public Innovator's Playbook: Nurturing Bold Ideas in Government

Citation:

Eggers, William D., and Shalabh Kumar Singh. 2009. The Public Innovator's Playbook: Nurturing Bold Ideas in Government. Deloitte Research.
The Public Innovator's Playbook: Nurturing Bold Ideas in Government

Abstract:

William D. Eggers & Shalabh Kumar Singh, Deloitte Research, 2009

The Public Innovator’s Playbook, published by Deloitte Research in the U.S. with the Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center, describes how governments have the opportunity to help improve the economic environment, create jobs, and more efficiently manage costs. According to the book, governments currently innovate. Moreover, some creative approaches in the private sector come from the public sector. However, few governments take an integrated view of the process or treat it as a discipline – which includes methodical processes, reward systems, and a mission linked to the process and organizational structure.

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Last updated on 02/05/2020

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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If We Can Put a Man on the Moon: Getting Big Things Done in Government

Citation:

Eggers, William, and John O'Leary. 2009. If We Can Put a Man on the Moon: Getting Big Things Done in Government. Harvard Business School Press.

Abstract:

William Eggers and John O'Leary, Harvard Business School Press, 2009

The American people are frustrated with their government — dismayed by a series of high-profile failures (Iraq, Katrina, the financial meltdown). Yet our nation has a proud history of great achievements: victory in World War II, our national highway system, welfare reform, the moon landing. The truth is, we need more successes like these to reclaim government's legacy of competence. In the book If We Can Put a Man on the Moon, William Eggers and John O'Leary explain how to do it. The key? Understand — and avoid — the common pitfalls that trip up public-sector leaders during the journey from idea to results.

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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.

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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Managing Crises: Responses to Large-Scale Emergencies

Citation:

Howitt, Arnold M., Herman B. Leonard, and David W. Giles, ed. 2009. Managing Crises: Responses to Large-Scale Emergencies. CQ Press.
Managing Crises: Responses to Large-Scale Emergencies

Abstract:

Arnold M. Howitt, Herman B. Leonard, and David W. Giles, editors, CQ Press, 2009

From floods to fires, tornadoes to terrorist attacks, governments must respond to a variety of crises and meet reasonable standards of performance. What accounts for governments’ effective responses to unfolding disasters? How should they organize and plan for significant emergencies? With twelve adapted Kennedy School cases, readers experience first-hand a series of large-scale emergencies and come away with a clear sense of the different types of disaster situations governments confront, with each type requiring different planning, resourcing, skill-building, leadership, and execution.

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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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