Provides empirical evidence that power-sharing measures used to end civil wars can help facilitate a transition to minimalist democracy.

First Published in 2007. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The subject of U.S. grand strategy has been getting increasing attention from the policy and academic communities. However, too often the debate suffers from being too reductionist, limiting America's choices to worldwide hegemony or narrow isolation. There is a wide spectrum of choices before Washington that lie "somewhere in the middle." Frequently, not enough thought is given to how such alternative strategies should be designed and implemented. The future cannot be known, and earlier predictions of American decline have proven to be premature. However, there is a shift in wealth and power to the extent that America may not be able to hold on to its position as an unrivaled unipolar superpower. Therefore, it is worth thinking about how the United States could shape and adjust to the changing landscape around it. What is more, there are a number of interlocking factors that mean such a shift would make sense: transnational problems needing collaborative efforts, the military advantages of defenders, the reluctance of states to engage in unbridled competition, and "hegemony fatigue" among the American people. Alternative strategies that are smaller than global hegemony, but bigger than narrow isolationism, would be defined by the logic of "concerts" and "balancing," in other words, some mixture of collaboration and competition. Can the United States adjust to a concert-balance grand strategy that made space for other rising powers without sacrificing too much of its forward military presence, without unleashing too much regional instability, and without losing the domestic political will? It is not certain that a cumulative shift to a new grand strategy would necessarily succeed, since other powers might turn down the chance to cooperate. But with soaring budget deficits and national debt, increasing burdens on social security, and possible agonizing choices in the future between guns and butter, it is surely worth a try.

After Barbara Frechette arrived in Colombia in 1994 as the wife of the United States ambassador, she witnessed the fascinating rise of powerful women leaders during the uncertainty of a dangerous drug war that raged for years. Fascinated as to how and why women progressed with such extraordinary speed in Colombia despite facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Frechette asked seven influential women leaders to analyze this paradoxical development. In this re-released version of her original comprehensive study of a womens movement in Colombia that sprang to life after women won the vote in 1957 and blossomed in 1998 when two of the women in this book ran for president, Frechette offers captivating chronological leadership profiles of outstanding women and the family influences, leadership styles, and religious roots that inspired them to seek to better their nation, despite death threats and risks of political exile.

In the flush of enthusiasm to make government work better, reformers from both left and right have urged government to turn as many functions as possible over to the private sector and to allow market competition instill efficiency and choice. In fact, government has been doing just this for years: every major policy initiative launched since World War II has been managed by public-private partnerships. Yet such privatization has not solved government's problems. While there have been some positive results, thee has been far less success than advocates of market competition have promised. In a searching examination of why the "competition prescription" has not worked well, Donald F. Kettl finds that government has largely been a poor judge of private markets. Because government rarely operates in truly competitive markets contracting out has not so much solved the problems of inefficiency, but has aggravated them. Government has often not proved to be an intelligent consumer of the goods and services it has purchased. Kettl provides specific recommendations as to how government can become a "smart buyer," knowing what it wants and judging better what it has bought. Through detailed case studies, Kettl shows that as market imperfections increase, so do problems in governance and management. He examines the A-76 program for buying goods and services, the FTS-2000 telecommunications system, the Superfund program, the Department of Energy's production of nuclear weapons, and contracting out by state and local governments. He argues that government must be more aggressive in managing contracts if it is to build successful partnerships with outside contractors. Kettl maintains that the answer is not more government, but a smarter one, which requires strong political leadership to refocus the bureaucracy's mission and to change the bureaucratic culture.

The collaborative orco-management of natural resources - whether between states and local communities or amongst and within communities themselves - is a process of collective understanding and actions to bring about negotiated agreements on roles, rights and responsibilities for decentralized governance of natural resources. At heart, co-management is about sharing power, one of the most difficult but rewarding experiences in personal and social life. The book is designed for professionals and people involved in practical co-management processes, and distils a wealth of experience and innovative approacheslearned by doing. It begins by offering a variety of vistas, from historical analyses to a clear grasp of key concepts. Illustrated in detail is the understanding accumulated in recent decades on starting points for co-management, conditions and methods for successful negotiations, ideas to manage conflicts and types of agreements and co-management institutions emerging from the negotiation tables. Simple tools, such as checklists distilled from different situations and contexts, are offered throughout. Examples and insights from experience highlight the importance of participatory democracy - the enabling contexts where ‘sharing power is ultimately possible and successful. Published with IIED and IUCN.

In many companies, two or three executives jointly hold the responsibilities at the top-from the charismatic CEO who relies on the operational expertise of a COO, to co-CEOs who trust in inter-personal bonds to achieve professional results. Their collaboration is essential if they are to address the dilemmas of the top job and the demands of today's corporate governance. Sharing Executive Power examines the behaviour of such duos, trios and small teams, what roles their members play and how their professional and inter-personal relationships bind their work together. It answers some critical questions regarding when and how such power sharing units form and break up, how they perform and why they endure. Understanding their dynamics helps improve the design and composition of corporate power structures. The book is essential reading for academics, graduates, MBAs, and executives interested in enhancing teamwork and cooperation at the top.