Governing Fables: Learning from Public Sector Narratives advocates the importance of narrative for public servants, exemplifies it with a rigorously selected and analyzed set of narratives, and imparts narrative skills politicians and public servants need in their careers. Governing Fables turns to narratology, the inter-disciplinary study of narrative, for a conceptual framework that is applied to a set of narratives engaging life within public organizations, focusing on works produced during the last twenty-five years in the US and UK. The genres discussed include British government narratives inspired by and reacting to Yes Minister, British appeasement narratives, American political narratives, the Cuban Missile Crisis narrative, jury decision-making narratives, and heroic teacher narratives. In each genre lessons are presented regarding both effective management and essential narrative skills. Governing Fables is intended for public management and political science scholars and practitioners interested in leadership and management, as well as readers drawn to the political subject matter and to the genre of political films, novels, and television series.

Sandford Borins addresses the enduring significance of innovation in government as practiced by public servants, analyzed by scholars, discussed by media, documented by awards, and experienced by the public. In The Persistence of Innovation in Government, he maps the changing landscape of American public sector innovation in the twenty-first century, largely by addressing three key questions: • Who innovates? • When, why, and how do they do it? • What are the persistent obstacles and the proven methods for overcoming them? Probing both the process and the content of innovation in the public sector, Borins identifies major shifts and important continuities. His examination of public innovation combines several elements: his analysis of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Innovations in American Government Awards program; significant new research on government performance; and a fresh look at the findings of his earlier, highly praised book Innovating with Integrity: How Local Heroes Are Transforming American Government. He also offers a thematic survey of the field’s burgeoning literature, with a particular focus on international comparison.

Interpreting Governance, High Politics, and Public Policy offers the latest perspectives on the interpretive approach to governance and public policy research. This book commemorates more than a decade of governance research by Mark Bevir and R.A.W. Rhodes, the leading exponents of interpretive political science in the United Kingdom. It explains how insights from the interpretive perspective may be used to advance the study of governance, high politics, and public policy. Featuring contributions from major scholars in the field, both inside and outside the interpretivist fold, the authors critically reflect upon interpretivism and consider how aspects of the interpretive approach apply to their own research. The authors debate the significance of Bevir and Rhodes’s work and develop future directions for interpretive governance research. The chapters link one of the most innovative contemporary perspectives in political science with the latest empirical studies. Contributing towards setting the governance research agenda, Interpreting Governance, High Politics and Public Policy is an excellent resource for the study of interpretive policy analysis.

Edwin Hatch provided a colorful portrait of the religious world to which Justin Martyr belonged: "The main subject-matter of . . . literary education [amongst the pagans] was the poets. . . . They were read as we read the Bible. They were committed to memory. The minds of men were saturated with them. A quotation from Homer or from a tragic poet was apposite on all occasions and in every kind of society" (The Influence of Greek Ideas on Christianity, 1957). So when some of these pagans converted to Christianity in Justin's day, is it reasonable to assume that they simply "forgot" these mythical narratives in which they had been reared from childhood? Re-appropriating "Marvelous Fables" sets out to argue that this was hardly the case. Rather, Justin in 1 Apology can be seen taking full advantage of this mythical framework that still loomed large in the minds of fledgling Christian believers and students in his care--masterfully re-appropriating this popular form of religious discourse for the purpose of solidifying their newfound faith.

Now in an extensively revised tenth edition, Introducing Public Administration provides students with the conceptual foundation they need, while introducing them to important trends in the discipline. This classic textbook—blending historical accounts with contemporary events—examines the most important issues in the field of public administration through the use of examples from various disciplines and modern culture. Its approach of using extensive case studies at the end of each chapter encourages students to think critically about the nature, purpose, and public value of public administration today. Refreshed and revised throughout, the tenth edition contains a number of critical updates for the field: All-new case studies at the end of each chapter to address various challenges, including social justice, climate change action, smart cities, transforming governmental institutions, and economic responses to the global pandemic. The case studies—many with legal dimensions as well—cover emerging issues and are well suited for further research by students. Two chapters by contributing authors on 1) Social equity and justice, covering contemporary challenges in the US, from police reform to voting rights and homelessness, and 2) Public budgeting, contrasting government fiscal efforts between two recessions, illuminating successes and failures with a case study on the federal government shutdown in 2019 over border wall funding. Keynotes at the start of each chapter to help introduce students to historical figures, contemporary dilemmas, and examples of public service in action, including subjects such as diversity and inclusion, marijuana legalization, organizational effects of remote work, and examining scenarios for the future. A completely rewritten concluding chapter on leadership, followership, and leading teams with a discussion of destructive leadership types and a flipped case study on defining what leadership effectiveness is. Complete with a fully updated companion website containing instructor slides for each chapter, a chapter-by-chapter instructor’s manual and sample syllabus, student learning objectives, and self-test questions, Introducing Public Administration is the ideal introduction to the discipline for first year masters students, as well as for the growing number of undergraduate public administration courses and programs.

Starting from the catastrophic floods and terrorist attacks of recent years, Prakash reaches back to the sixteenth-century Portuguese conquest to reveal the stories behind Mumbai's historic journey. Examining Mumbai's role as a symbol of opportunity and reinvention, he looks at its nineteenth-century development under British rule and its twentieth-century emergence as a fabled city on the sea. Different layers of urban experience come to light as he recounts the narratives of the Nanavati murder trial and the rise and fall of the tabloid Blitz, and Mumbai's transformation from the red city of trade unions and communists into the saffron city of Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena. Starry-eyed planners and elite visionaries, cynical leaders and violent politicians of the street, land sharks and underworld dons jostle with ordinary citizens and poor immigrants as the city copes with the dashed dreams of postcolonial urban life and lurches into the seductions of globalization. --

Networks and other collaborations are central to the public sector’s ability to respond to their diverse responsibilities, from international development and regional governance, to policy development and service provision. Great strides have been made toward understanding their formation, governance and management, but more opportunities to explore methodologies and measures is required to ensure they are properly understood. This volume showcases an array of selected research methods and analytics tools currently used by scholars and practitioners in network and collaboration research, as well as emerging styles of empirical investigation. Although it cannot attempt to capture all technical details for each one, this book provides a unique catalogue of compelling methods for researchers and practitioners, which are illustrated extensively with applications in the public and non-profit sector. By bringing together leading and upcoming scholars in network research, the book will be of enormous assistance in guiding students and scholars in public management to study collaboration and networks empirically by demonstrating the core research approaches and tools for investigating and evaluating these crucially important arrangements.