The Divided Welfare State: The Battle over Public and Private Social Benefits in the United States Review

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The Divided Welfare State: The Battle over Public and Private Social Benefits in the United States ReviewAt a time of renewed debate over Medicare and Social Security, this is an important and insightful look at the origins and effects of America¡¯s distinctive public-private system of social welfare. Hacker¡¯s main point is that the American ¡°welfare regime¡± (he prefers this formulation to the common term, ¡°welfare state¡±) is a lot larger than most people think because, unlike most European nations, the United States relies heavily on private social benefits provided by employers, for example, private health insurance. The book carefully explains why private benefits play such a large role in the United States, why the role of private benefits differs between the two biggest areas of U.S. social policy -- health insurance and retirement pensions -- and what difference all this makes for the politics of U.S. social policy and the nature of present political debates. The book is original and well-researched. And even if you delve into the more theoretical parts of the book, it's a joy to read -- a rare combination of academic rigor, lucid prose, and clear thinking about current affairs.The Divided Welfare State: The Battle over Public and Private Social Benefits in the United States Overview

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Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty Review

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Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty ReviewRoberts, a Rutgers law professor, examines the sociopolitical reproductive history of black women--concluding this group did and still faces disparate treatment in public policy. The combined impact of race/ethnicity, sex and ecconomic status govern black women's relation to their own bodies--and treatment from policymakers and medical personnel.
While this premise has been previously examined by other scholars, Robert's contribution differs in legal analysis of the state/women relationship specifically as it applies to black women. She also faults fellow feminists for their ignorance, silence, and apathy towards black women's unique reproductive rights.
Begining with a critique of the predominantley white pro-choice movement for preoccupation with white middle class women and the assumption reproductive access means the same thing for all groups, Roberts holds black women's fertility is only valued if a predominantley white society can find ways to benefit from it.
She also notes that illegal abortion took the highest tolls on low-income black women who were unlikely to have the financial and political clout of rich white women to convince doctors to perform theraputic abortions in secret. At the same time, abortion should not be the sole issue of a truly progressive reproductive rights movement because coercive sterilization and contraceptive programs are also painful incidents in black women's reproductive history.
The pro-choice movement should oppose reccent 'welfare reform victories' because of the destruction such punitative measures have on black communities. Although most recipients were and continue to be white, policy debates were flooded with inferred images of the black "welfare queen" to foster and exacerbate racial and class tensions within the most conservative industrialized nation in the world.
Because anything else repeats the very conditions she is seeking to eliminate, a truly progressive reproductive policy supports the rights of all women to control their own bodies. Not enough to perform "multicultural" outreach, all feminist reproductive rights groups must fully intergrate a multi-pronged, class concious approach into their mission statement and policy objectives.
This book is an indispensible text for a social science course on reproductive rights, law, and/or social policy, but should be read by all who are concerned about securing freedom for all.Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty Overview

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Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making, Revised Edition Review

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Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making, Revised Edition ReviewDeborah Stone's "Policy Paradox" is an important work in the field of policy analysis. The subtitle is illuminating: "The Art of Political Decision Making." Her takeoff point is the following statement (pages x-xi): "This new field of policy analysis supposedly devoted to improving governance, was based on a profound disgust for the ambiguities and paradoxes of politics. . . . In rational analysis, everything has one and only one meaning." In her own words, she (page xi) ". . .wrote this book to critique the field and to capture, I hope, a more inspiring and humane kind of policy analysis."
Her basic point is that the rational models drawn from economics do not explain very well how policy analysis works. Nor, in her view, should it be the actual model for decision making. She contends that economic rationality often gives way to political reality, to accommodation to conflicting interests, to compromise, to values other than economic efficiency (such as liberty, fairness, and so on).
The introduction opens the book strongly, with Stone noting policy paradoxes, where the economic rational model does not prevail and explain how things work. She argues (page 13) that "each type of policy instrument [e.g., inducements, rules, rights, for example] is a kind of sports arena, each with its peculiar ground rules, within which political conflicts are continued." The first chapter continues the theme, by speaking of the market (economics) and the polis (politics), with a nice table summarizing key points on page 33). She concludes that (page 34) "Problems in the polis are never `solved' in the way that economic needs are met in the market model." Two different realms, and what works in the market may or may not work in the polis.
The book proceeds in three major sections: Part II focuses on broad goals (e.g., equity, efficiency, security, liberty); Part III examines problems (with chapters labeled as follows: symbols, numbers, causes, interests, decisions); Part IV focuses on solutions (or tools or instruments, such as inducements, rules, facts).
In the end, the book examines nicely the tensions between economic rational analysis of policy ideas and the messier but inescapable political process as it addresses policy issues. The reader will be provoked to think about important issues upon encountering Stone's perspective. A very useful work on the bigger picture of policy analysis.
Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making, Revised Edition Overview

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Planning Local Economic Development: Theory and Practice Review

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Planning Local Economic Development: Theory and Practice ReviewWith relevant real-world examples and references to political and economic climates that are as recent as the Obama administration, Planning Local Economic Development is a textbook with personality and purpose. It sets the background, explaining that the proactive, multidisciplinary, and bottom-up approach taken by local economic development encourages communities to participate in the shaping and strengthening of their economy. Throughout the book, the authors cover a very broad range of topics, yet they still manage to get to the heart of each subject with relevant case studies and analysis. The book may be difficult for readers without a background in urban planning, but it is certainly not required. Primarily used to teach economic development students and future planners, the information and examples will also be useful for policymakers, community groups, and earlier editions have even been translated for international use.
The authors take widely accepted economic development strategies and deconstruct those strategies down to their core theories for the reader. Most notably, these strategies are then synthesized with the basic principles of sustainability. While traditional economic development strategies focus on job creation by attracting industries, the authors offer a three-part definition of sustainable local economic development as being, "achieved when a community's standard of living can be preserved and increased through a process of human and physical development that is based on principles of equity and sustainability" (p 75). That is to say that this concept of development must establish a minimum and increasing standard of living that reduces inequality and promotes sustainable resource use and production. This is also supportive of the book's assertion that human capital is the new driving force for economic development, and the jobs created from these strategies are superior to competing for an existing industry to relocate.
The book even presents arguments for novel, challenging, and sometimes controversial topics. In the section about planning process, the authors assert that, "Because the expected earnings for the U.S. Workforce will likely never be able to compete with the low wages of international labor markets, this country will best be able to maintain a healthy economy if its current and future workforce has a skills-based competitive advantage"(p 136-7). It is clear that local economic development has only begun to change the way people think about growth and viability, and its role in planning and policy will inevitably become more important in the years to come. If you enjoyed Thomas Friedman's Hot, Flat, and Crowded, you will certainly appreciate the knowledge and perspective that is offered by this text.Planning Local Economic Development: Theory and Practice Overview

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Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government Review

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Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government ReviewMark Moore postulates creating public value as a mode of practical reasoning and an alternative way of conceiving of the public policy challenge in relation with the public administrative enterprise. Moore offers a notion of strategic management in government as a way of linking the traditional study of ends in public policy with the traditional study of means in public administration. Moore postulates a strategic triangle, arguing that a useful conception of public value can be envisioned by managers if they integrate (1) substantive judgments of what would be valuable and effective (2) a diagnosis of political expectations (and legal parameters) and (3) hard-headed calculations of what is operationally feasible. The text articulates ways of thinking about and enacting public value in government, considers approaches and techniques for managing upwards toward politics and downwards toward organizational operations in relation to a wide variety of case studies, and concludes with a consideration of what consciousness or temperament is required of public managers if they are to be successful in managing, effectively and democratically.
The text is exceptionally well-written and is equally accessible to undergraduate students, graduate students, and practitioners. It remains a fundamental resource and an invaluable key to new ways of thinking for policy makers and administrators today.Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government Overview

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The Quest for Cosmic Justice Review

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The Quest for Cosmic Justice ReviewThis book is good, not great. And the people who would get the most out of this book are those who are most unlikely to read it. If you are already familiar with Sowell, or read Forbes or The Wall Street Journal on a regular basis, then you are already familiar with most of the ideas and concepts in this book. Nonetheless, the book makes for an interesting read. Sowell persuasively points out that many of those seeking "justice" (cosmic or otherwise) frequently don't give a darn about the costs and benefits of their current flavor of justice on society. Sowell provides many examples, and gloomy predictions, about what happens when the liberal elite impose their visions on the rest of us. As an attorney who just graduated from NYU Law School, I couldn't agree more with Sowell's comments regarding how the rule of law is systematically undermined by our nation's elite law schools. Once the rule of law is gone, you decide justice given the judge's present whims, which is awful close to monarchy---which the liberal elite unfortunately fail to recognize. I was taught nothing but contempt for precedent and the rule of law at NYU, I'd even go so far as to say that most of my professors seemed to feel you should just examine each case from the perspective of who you feel is "disadvantaged" and rule for them. After three years of that attempted brainwashing, Sowell's book is like climbing out of a dark cave and realizing light still exists.The Quest for Cosmic Justice Overview

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