Michael J. DeLor focuses on how the operation and regulation of private electric utilities has become complicated and contentious in the United States in part because of environmental impact. As a consequence, Congress rarely passes substantive economic-based legislation dealing with the topic, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), as the primary federal economic regulator of private electric utilities, must often act without clear legislative guidance.

This book presents an overview of why implementation research has contributed to a major reconsideration of the process of policy formation and offers conceptual frameworks that employ implementation research to develop a fuller understanding of the entire policy process. The contributors caution the error of assuming that implementation is the main factor in policy making and that once implementation is taken care of, policies will be effective. They attempt to place implementation in the broader policymaking process and show its relationship to the other parts of the policy cycle. Additionally, several of the contributors develop explanatory models that cut across the research dichotomies of the prevailing top-down and bottom-up approaches and establish an agenda for future research.

Every day, corporations are connecting the dots about our personal behavior—silently scrutinizing clues left behind by our work habits and Internet use. The data compiled and portraits created are incredibly detailed, to the point of being invasive. But who connects the dots about what firms are doing with this information? The Black Box Society argues that we all need to be able to do so—and to set limits on how big data affects our lives. Hidden algorithms can make (or ruin) reputations, decide the destiny of entrepreneurs, or even devastate an entire economy. Shrouded in secrecy and complexity, decisions at major Silicon Valley and Wall Street firms were long assumed to be neutral and technical. But leaks, whistleblowers, and legal disputes have shed new light on automated judgment. Self-serving and reckless behavior is surprisingly common, and easy to hide in code protected by legal and real secrecy. Even after billions of dollars of fines have been levied, underfunded regulators may have only scratched the surface of this troubling behavior. Frank Pasquale exposes how powerful interests abuse secrecy for profit and explains ways to rein them in. Demanding transparency is only the first step. An intelligible society would assure that key decisions of its most important firms are fair, nondiscriminatory, and open to criticism. Silicon Valley and Wall Street need to accept as much accountability as they impose on others.

Thoroughly revised, reorganized, updated, and expanded, this widely-used text sets the balance and fills the gap between theory and practice in public policy studies. In a clear, conversational style, the author conveys the best current thinking on the policy process with an emphasis on accessibility and synthesis rather than novelty or abstraction. A newly added chapter surveys the social, economic, and demographic trends that are transforming the policy environment.

There are more poor people around the world than ever before. One of the missing factors in efforts to address poverty and increase sustainable development is adequate governmental capacity development. One effective means to improve the quality of democratic governance is by learning from the past and from others' experiences. 'The Black Box of Governmental Learning' introduces the Learning Spiral a new concept for organizing effective learning events for governments in the 21st century. It helps governments to learn from each other. This theory-based concept has been applied successfully over the past decade in numerous conferences, training, and e-learning events all over the world. The book is directed toward practitioners in governments, such as members of cabinets, parliaments, and courts; civil servants and politicians; civil society organizations; and international organizations. It will help them understand the challenges of learning in governments and offers a concept for organizing effective learning events.

The purpose of Professor Rosenberg's work is to break open and examine the contents of the black box.

Bringing the major current insights in implementation research and theory together, Public Policy, Implementation and Governance reviews the literature on public policy implementation, relating it to contemporary developments in thinking about governance. The text stresses the continuing importance of a focus upon implementation processes and explores its central relevance to the practice of public administration. In light of the changing nature of governance, Hill and Hupe suggest strategies for both future research on and management of public policy implementation. Their basic approach is two-fold: firstly, to understand the process of implementation and secondly, to address how one might control and affect this process. Re-exploring the state of the art of the study of implementation as a sub-discipline of political science and public administration, this book will be essential reading for students and researchers in public policy, social policy, public management, public adminstration and governance. `This is an excellent and much needed book. Hill and Hupe have provided a well written and highly accessible account of the development of implementation studies which will be immensely valuable to everyone concerned with understanding implementation in modern policy making.' - Professor Wayne Parsons, University of London