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"Essentially, good governance is the primary mission of the public sector. Effective policy management is a crucial component of good governance if the desired improvements in society are to be achieved. A thorough understanding of the nature, content, processes and outcomes of public policy is not only imperative for continually improving public sector governance, but also vital for establishing good public management on a daily basis. The fourth edition of Improving public policy for good governance has been updated and revised substantially. It focuses on integrating the functionally specialised agencies of government, business, labour and civil society into a holistic and efficient policy network. This is necessary in an attempt to deal with the complexities of transformational leadership while addressing optimal development and public services delivery in society, amidst an ever advancing digital era that is under increasing resource constraints. This book bridges the theory and practice of public policy by linking them in a user-friendly manner. It explains what public policy is and should be, why and how it is created, and how public policy content, processes, outputs and outcomes can be improved to promote optimal good governance. Furthermore, it shows how to achieve sustainable developmental goals in the information society of the 21st century, particularly in complex developing countries. This edition also contains a new chapter on competing values and the ethics of public policy. Among other issues, it addresses the intractable problems of corruption and nepotism that are endemic to any policy system. Each chapter also includes references to the latest published South African and international resources on various aspects of public policy. Improving public policy for good governance is essential reading material for all students, researchers and practitioners in the field of public policy who require knowledge, insight and/or practical skills in this important field. All contributors are experienced public policy educators, practitioners and evaluators."--Back cover.
This report examines the influence of trust on policy making and explores some of the steps governments can take to strengthen public trust.
The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.tandfebooks.com/, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. There has been an enormous increase in interest in the use of evidence for public policymaking, but the vast majority of work on the subject has failed to engage with the political nature of decision making and how this influences the ways in which evidence will be used (or misused) within political areas. This book provides new insights into the nature of political bias with regards to evidence and critically considers what an ‘improved’ use of evidence would look like from a policymaking perspective. Part I describes the great potential for evidence to help achieve social goals, as well as the challenges raised by the political nature of policymaking. It explores the concern of evidence advocates that political interests drive the misuse or manipulation of evidence, as well as counter-concerns of critical policy scholars about how appeals to ‘evidence-based policy’ can depoliticise political debates. Both concerns reflect forms of bias – the first representing technical bias, whereby evidence use violates principles of scientific best practice, and the second representing issue bias in how appeals to evidence can shift political debates to particular questions or marginalise policy-relevant social concerns. Part II then draws on the fields of policy studies and cognitive psychology to understand the origins and mechanisms of both forms of bias in relation to political interests and values. It illustrates how such biases are not only common, but can be much more predictable once we recognise their origins and manifestations in policy arenas. Finally, Part III discusses ways to move forward for those seeking to improve the use of evidence in public policymaking. It explores what constitutes ‘good evidence for policy’, as well as the ‘good use of evidence’ within policy processes, and considers how to build evidence-advisory institutions that embed key principles of both scientific good practice and democratic representation. Taken as a whole, the approach promoted is termed the ‘good governance of evidence’ – a concept that represents the use of rigorous, systematic and technically valid pieces of evidence within decision-making processes that are representative of, and accountable to, populations served.
Policymakers and public managers around the world have become preoccupied with the question of how their goals can be achieved in a way that rebuilds public confidence in government. Yet because public policies and programs increasingly are being administered through a complicated web of jurisdictions, agencies, and public-private partnerships, evaluating their effectiveness is more difficult than in the past. Though social scientists possess insightful theories and powerful methods for conducting empirical research on governance and public management, their work is too often fragmented and irrelevant to the specific tasks faced by legislators, administrators, and managers. Proposing a framework for research based on the premise that any particular governance arrangement is embedded in a wider social, fiscal, and political context, Laurence E. Lynn Jr., Carolyn J. Heinrich, and Carolyn J. Hill argue that theory-based empirical research, when well conceived and executed, can be a primary source of fundamental, durable knowledge about governance and policy management. Focusing on complex human services such as public assistance, child protection, and public education, they construct an integrative, multilevel "logic of governance," that can help researchers increase the sophistication, power, and relevance of their work.
In recent years, the developing world has seen a burst of efforts to reduce corruption, increase transparency and accountability, and improve governance. Needless to say, this is an important and encouraging development. However, the lack of a reliable compass to describe where a country is at a given moment—and where it could be heading in the absence or acceptance of proposed reforms—can result in disastrous missteps. The unfortunate absence of such a guide has helped lead to innumerable failed governments or ineffective regimes. This important book aims to fill that void. How to Improve Governance emphasizes the need for an overall analytical framework that can be applied to different countries to help analyze their current situations, identify potential areas for improvement, and assess their relative feasibility and the steps needed to promote them. A country-specific analysis needs to be comprehensive, in the sense that it includes the four concepts of transparency, accountability, governance, and anticorruption throughout the calculus. Without such an analytic framework, any reform attempt is likely to flounder for lack of a shared understanding of the underlying problems and of the feasible reforms. The book gives special emphasis to the potential for civil society groups to play a stronger role in holding governments accountable for their use of public resources, and to the importance of developing politically feasible, prioritized country strategies for reform. "Whether one looks at how to increase domestic demand for good governance, how to make government more accountable to the public, or how to build democratic processes that deliver results, the underlying issues are essentially the same.... As development actors of various types... seek to help, more and more of them are calling for a clearer conceptual framework to guide their efforts."—From the Introduction
This book aims to show that a strong and achieving public service is a necessary condition for a competitively successful nation. The concept of good governance is linked with institutionalised values such as democracy, observance of human rights and greater effectiveness of the public sector.
Effective governance is the essential mission of the public sector. Good policy management is crucial if effective governance is to take place. This revised text successfully combines the theory and practice of public policy.
"Essentially, good governance is the primary mission of the public sector. Effective policy management is a crucial component of good governance if the desired improvements in society are to be achieved. A thorough understanding of the nature, content, processes and outcomes of public policy is not only imperative for continually improving public sector governance, but also vital for establishing good public management on a daily basis. The fourth edition of Improving public policy for good governance has been updated and revised substantially. It focuses on integrating the functionally specialised agencies of government, business, labour and civil society into a holistic and efficient policy network. This is necessary in an attempt to deal with the complexities of transformational leadership while addressing optimal development and public services delivery in society, amidst an ever advancing digital era that is under increasing resource constraints. This book bridges the theory and practice of public policy by linking them in a user-friendly manner. It explains what public policy is and should be, why and how it is created, and how public policy content, processes, outputs and outcomes can be improved to promote optimal good governance. Furthermore, it shows how to achieve sustainable developmental goals in the information society of the 21st century, particularly in complex developing countries. This edition also contains a new chapter on competing values and the ethics of public policy. Among other issues, it addresses the intractable problems of corruption and nepotism that are endemic to any policy system. Each chapter also includes references to the latest published South African and international resources on various aspects of public policy. Improving public policy for good governance is essential reading material for all students, researchers and practitioners in the field of public policy who require knowledge, insight and/or practical skills in this important field. All contributors are experienced public policy educators, practitioners and evaluators."--Publisher's description.
In 2002 the No Child Left Behind Act rocked America's schools with new initiatives for results-based accountability. But years before NCLB was signed, a new movement was already under way by mayors to take control of city schools from school boards and integrate the management of public education with the overall governing of the city. The Education Mayor is a critical look at mayoral control of urban school districts, beginning with Boston's schools in 1992 and examining more than 100 school districts in 40 states. The authors seek to answer four central questions: * What does school governance look like under mayoral leadership? * How does mayoral control affect school and student performance? * What are the key factors for success or failure of integrated governance? * How does mayoral control effect practical changes in schools and classrooms? The results of their examination indicate that, although mayoral control of schools may not be appropriate for every district, it can successfully emphasize accountability across the education system, providing more leverage for each school district to strengthen its educational infrastructure and improve student performance. Based on extensive quantitative data as well as case studies, this analytical study provides a balanced look at America's education reform. As the first multidistrict empirical examination and most comprehensive overall evaluation of mayoral school reform, The Education Mayor is a must-read for academics, policymakers, educational administrators, and civic and political leaders concerned about public education.