The new tools of public action have come to rely heavily on third parties - private businesses, nonprofit organisations, and other levels of government - for their operation. The Tools of Government is a comprehensive guide to the operation of these tools and to the management, accountability, policy, and theoretical issues they pose.

This collection of readings examines the tools used by today's government to achieve legitimacy, effectiveness, and accountability. The contributors examine the "instrument choice" perspective on government and public policy over the past two decades, moving beyond the preoccupation with deregulation and efficiency to trace the complex relationships between instrument choices and governance. Readers are encouraged to consider factors in the design of complex mixes, such as issues of redundancy, context, the rule of law and accountability. These latter factors are especially central in today's world to the design and implementation of effective instrument choices by governments and, ultimately, to good governance. The authors conclude that instrument choice itself is integral to government and governance.

The Tools of Government is the first professional guide to the principles and practices of public administration in an age when governments no longer provide many services--but arrange for others to do so. Characterized by extensive collaboration among levels of government and between government and the private sector, this new approach to solving public problems presents many new important issues. Comprehensive in scope, this new book offers a first hand look at the challenges faced by contracting out to nonprofit and profit sectors for grants, insurance, regulation, vouchers, cooperative arrangements, tax data, grants-in-aid, and others. The chapters examine over 20 different tools in use today and summarizes their basic features, patterns of usage, key tasks, political and substantive rational, and the major management challenges that each one poses. International in coverage and application, this book is ideal for students, teachers, and scholars in public administration, management, public policy, economics, political science, and nonprofit management; managers and heads of state, local, and federal agencies; executives in foundations and other nonprofit organizations; and academic, government, and research libraries.

Proposing an entirely new governance model to unleash innovation throughout local government At a time when trust is dropping precipitously and American government at the national level has fallen into a state of long-term, partisan-based gridlock, local government can still be effective—indeed more effective and even more responsive to the needs of its citizens. Based on decades of direct experience and years studying successful models around the world, the authors of this intriguing book propose a new operating system (O/S) for cities. Former mayor and Harvard professor Stephen Goldsmith and New York University professor Neil Kleiman suggest building on the giant leaps that have been made in technology, social engagement, and big data. Calling their approach "distributed governance," Goldsmith and Kleiman offer a model that allows public officials to mobilize new resources, surface ideas from unconventional sources, and arm employees with the information they need to become pre-emptive problem solvers. This book highlights lessons from the many innovations taking place in today's cities to show how a new O/S can create systemic transformation. For students of government, A New City O/S: The Power of Distributed Governance presents a groundbreaking strategy for rethinking the governance of cities, marking an important evolution of the current bureaucratic authority-based model dating from the 1920s. More important, the book is designed for practitioners, starting with public-sector executives, managers, and frontline workers. By weaving real-life examples into a coherent model, the authors have created a step-by-step guide for all those who would put the needs of citizens front and center. Nothing will do more to restore trust in government than solutions that work. A New City O/S: The Power of Distributed Governance puts those solutions within reach of those public officials responsible for their delivery.

How government can forge dynamic public-private partnerships All too often government lacks the skill, the will, and the wallet to meet its missions. Schools fall short of the mark while roads and bridges fall into disrepair. Health care costs too much and delivers too little. Budgets bleed red ink as the cost of services citizens want outstrips the taxes they are willing to pay. Collaborative Governance is the first book to offer solutions by demonstrating how government at every level can engage the private sector to overcome seemingly insurmountable problems and achieve public goals more effectively. John Donahue and Richard Zeckhauser show how the public sector can harness private expertise to bolster productivity, capture information, and augment resources. The authors explain how private engagement in public missions—rightly structured and skillfully managed—is not so much an alternative to government as the way smart government ought to operate. The key is to carefully and strategically grant discretion to private entities, whether for-profit or nonprofit, in ways that simultaneously motivate and empower them to create public value. Drawing on a host of real-world examples-including charter schools, job training, and the resurrection of New York's Central Park—they show how, when, and why collaboration works, and also under what circumstances it doesn't. Collaborative Governance reveals how the collaborative approach can be used to tap the resourcefulness and entrepreneurship of the private sector, and improvise fresh, flexible solutions to today's most pressing public challenges.

This enlightening book scrutinizes the shifting governance paradigms that inform public administration reforms. From the rise to supremacy of New Public Management to new the growing preference for alternatives, four world-renowned authors launch a powerful and systematic comparison of the competing and co-existing paradigms, explaining the core features of public bureaucracy and professional rule in the modern day.