Public administration and policy analysis education have long emphasized tidiness, stages, and rationality, but practitioners frequently must deal with a world where objectivity is buffeted by, repressed by, and sometimes defeated by value conflict. Politics and policy are "messy" and power explains much more about the policy process than does rationality. Public Policy Praxis, now in a thoroughly revised fourth edition, uniquely equips students to better grapple with ambiguity and complexity.

By emphasizing mixed methodologies, the reader is encouraged, through the use of a wide variety of policy cases, to develop a workable and practical model of applied policy analysis. Students are given the opportunity to try out these globally applicable analytical models and tools in varied case settings (e.g., county, city, federal, international, plus urban and rural) while facing wide-ranging topics (starving farmers and the red panda in Nepal, e-cigarettes, GMOs, the gig economy, and opioid abuse) that capture the diversity and reality of public policy analysis and the intergovernmental and complex nature of politics. The fourth edition expands upon its thorough exploration of specific tools of policy analysis, such as stakeholder mapping, content analysis, group facilitation, narrative analysis, cost-benefit analysis, futuring, and survey analysis...

In this third edition of Globalization in World History, Peter Stearns explores the roots of contemporary globalization, examining shifts in the global flow of people, goods, and ideas as early as 1000 CE. Exploring how four moments in history have accelerated the process of globalization, Stearns's narrative details how factors such as economics, migration, disease transmission, culture, the environment, and politics have influenced the nature of globalization as we understand it today. This...

This revised and updated second edition introduces students of violent conflict to a variety of prominent theoretical approaches, and examines the ontological stances and epistemological traditions underlying these approaches. Theories of Violent Conflict takes the centrality of the group as an actor in contemporary conflict as a point of departure, leaving us with three main questions. What makes a group? Why and how does a group resort to violence? Why and how do or dont they stop? The book...

This new Routledge Handbook offers a comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview of the meanings and uses of the term peacebuilding, and presents cutting-edge debates on the practices conducted in the name of peacebuilding. The term peacebuilding has had remarkable staying power. Other terms, such as conflict resolution have waned in popularity, while the acceptance and use of the term peacebuilding has grown to the extent that it is the hegemonic and over-arching term for many forms of mediatio...

This accessible introduction to the system of public administration uses a clear, country by country analysis to the contemporary system of public administration and management in a number of significant countries. This text examines the extent to which new public management, politicians and public opinion can influence bureaucracies in various countries; in addition, it explores the role of public administration systems within the wider political systems and democratic frameworks of their st...

Drawing on mainstream and critical theoretical approaches, International Organizations offers a comprehensive examination of international organizations' political and structural role in world politics. This text details the types and activities of international organizations and provides students with the conceptual tools needed to evaluate their effectiveness. Surveying key issue areas from international and human security to trade and the environment, International Organizations looks at p...

Focusing on the phenomenon of terrorism in the age of ISIS/ISIL, Terrorism and Counterterrorism investigates this form of political violence in an international and American context and in light of new and historical trends. In this comprehensive and highly readable text, renowned expert Brigitte Nacos clearly defines terrorism's diverse causes, actors, and strategies; outlines anti- and counterterrorist responses; and highlights terrorism's relationship with the public and media. Terrorism a...

The third edition of Global Politics: A New Introduction continues to provide a completely original way of teaching and learning about world politics. The book engages directly with the issues in global politics that students are most interested in, helping them to understand the key questions and theories and also to develop a critical and inquiring perspective. Completely revised and updated throughout, the third edition offers up-to-date examples engaging with the latest developments in gl...

Offers a comprehensive review of leadership theories in the field, from the classic to the cutting-edge, and how they relate specifically to the public sector and nonprofit contexts. Covers the major competency clusters in detail, portrayed in a leadership action cycle that aids readers in visually connecting theory and practice. Integrates expanded coverage of nonprofit leadership throughout the chapters, including in-depth discussions about managing volunteers, fundraising ethics, the nonpr...

Public Management and Governance examines the factors which make government critically important and the barriers which often stop it being effective. It questions what it means to have effective policies, efficient management and good quality public services, and it explores how the process of governing could be improved. Key themes include: the challenges and pressures facing governments around the world;the changing role of the public sector in a 'mixed economy' of provision;governance iss...