Beyond the Age of Innocence or Public Administration Theory Primer

Beyond the Age of Innocence: A Worldly View of America

Author: Kishore Mahbubani

After publishing articles in leading American journals for over two decades, Kishore Mahbubani was described as "an Asian Toynbee, preoccupied with the rise and fall of civilizations" by The Economist. Trained in philosophy in North America and Asia, and well-experienced in real politik as a diplomat on the world stage, Mahbubani has unusual insight into America's ever more troubled relationship with the rest of the world.

In Beyond the Age of Innocence Mahbubani reveals to us the America that Asia and the rest of the world see. We are a country that has given hope to billions by creating a society where destiny is not determined at birth. After the Second World War, we created a global order which allowed many nations to flourish. But when the Cold War ended, America made a terrible mistake. We started behaving like a normal country, ignoring the plight of others, indifferent to the consequences of our decisions on others. America was imprudent in its policy towards two large masses of mankind: the Chinese and Muslim populations. Guantanamo damaged our moral authority, but Abu Ghraib, paradoxically, may have demonstrated the accountability of American institutions. Still, disillusionment with America has spread to all corners.

To allow any lasting gap between America and the world, Mahbubani argues, would be a colossal strategic mistake for America and a huge loss to the world. But there is still time for the US to change course; and in this thoughtprovoking, visionary book, Mahbubani shows us how.

Book review: Grundlagen der Bestandsverwaltung: Vom Lager bis Verbreitungszentrum

Public Administration Theory Primer

Author: H George Frederickson

In the past thirty years, public administration has developed more systematic patterns of inquiry about the substance of public organization behavior, public management, and public policy implementation. This book explores how the science and art of policy administration is definable, describable, replicable, and cumulative. Frederickson and Smith describe several theories and analytical approaches that contribute to what we know about policy administration. This book asks: Which theories or approaches are the most promising, the most influential? Which are the most important now and likely to be the most important in the future? The purpose of this effort is to set out a detailed description of key theories in contemporary public administration and thus improve the reliability of our knowledge and our understanding of public administration.

Table of Contents:

	Preface
1	Introduction: The Possibilities of Theory	1
2	Theories of Political Control of Bureaucracy	15
3	Theories of Bureaucratic Politics	41
4	Public Institutional Theory	67
5	Theories of Public Management	95
6	Postmodern Theory	127
7	Decision Theory	161
8	Rational Choice Theory	185
9	Theories of Governance	207
10	Conclusion: A Bright Future for Theory?	229
	References	249
	Index	267