International relations theory has posited that transnational advocacy networks (TANs) affect international human rights norms. Human rights norms are created through a political process that involves both state and non-state actors. I establish in this project the importance of network structure as a determinant for how well human rights principles advocated by transnational networks transition into international norms. Centralized network structure is a key factor in explaining TAN effectiveness over time. Using insights from social network analysis, I build a theory that argues centralization in networks leads to the ability for certain nodes to control the agenda and rule-making powers, allowing for a core set of principles to develop within a network, and making it more likely those principles can be advocated successfully in international politics. In a historical overview of the post-World War II era, I demonstrate that although many principles of human rights existed in the middle of the 20th century, none held an internationally normative status. Even a document as vaunted as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights evinces the lack of agreement, rather than the consensus over which rights were mattered most. I then move to a network analysis of Amnesty International, from 1968-1980, demonstrating the power of centralization as the factor explaining its success in influencing international norms. I also show that Amnesty's network structure differed from its formal structure, affecting the flows of information within the network. I move to a comparison of other human rights-related TANs, the International Red Cross, Oxfam International, and Médecins Sans Frontières. Finally, I conclude with an analysis of state behavior as an indicator of international norms, using economic sanctions data from the 20th century.

The performance of governments around the globe is constantly in the spotlight, whether as a celebration or indictment of their activities. Providing evidence on strategies to improve the performance of public agencies is therefore essential to the practice of public management. Originally published in 2006, this important contribution to the debate explores issues of measurement, research methodology, and management influences on performance. It focuses on three key questions: what approaches should be adopted to measure the performance of public agencies? What aspects of management influence the performance of public agencies? As the world globalizes, what are the key international issues in performance measurement and management? In examining these questions, the contributors debate both methodological and technical issues regarding the measurement of performance in public organizations, and provide empirical analyses of the determinants of performance. The book concludes with groundbreaking work on the international dimensions of these issues.

Benjamin Constant (1767-1830) was born in Switzerland and became one of France's leading writers, as well as a journalist, philosopher, and politician. His colourful life included a formative stay at the University of Edinburgh; service at the court of Brunswick, Germany; election to the French Tribunate; and initial opposition and subsequent support for Napoleon, even the drafting of a constitution for the Hundred Days. Constant wrote many books, essays, and pamphlets. His deepest conviction was that reform is hugely superior to revolution, both morally and politically. While Constant's fluid, dynamic style and lofty eloquence do not always make for easy reading, his text forms a coherent whole, and in his translation Dennis O'Keeffe has focused on retaining the 'general elegance and subtle rhetoric' of the original. Sir Isaiah Berlin called Constant 'the most eloquent of all defenders of freedom and privacy' and believed to him we owe the notion of 'negative liberty', that is, what Biancamaria Fontana describes as "the protection of individual experience and choices from external interferences and constraints." To Constant it was relatively unimportant whether liberty was ultimately grounded in religion or metaphysics -- what mattered were the practical guarantees of practical freedom -- "autonomy in all those aspects of life that could cause no harm to others or to society as a whole." This translation is based on Etienne Hofmann's critical edition of Principes de politique (1980), complete with Constant's additions to the original work.

In the early republic, constitutional debates over federal-state relations were fundamental to party battles and divergent conceptions of republicanism. Then, as now, theories about the sources and nature of federal power informed public debate, policy, and judicial decisions. In examining the conflicts of the revolutionary era, Lenner's work provides a ground-breaking overview of the 'culture of constitutionalism'--the clash of ideas about the nature and structure of Union--that pervaded the early republic.

Provides an in-depth overview of the Federal Reserve System, including information about monetary policy and the economy, the Federal Reserve in the international sphere, supervision and regulation, consumer and community affairs and services offered by Reserve Banks. Contains several appendixes, including a brief explanation of Federal Reserve regulations, a glossary of terms, and a list of additional publications.