From David Osborne, the best-selling author of Reinventing Government and Victor Colon Rivera comes the training material you need to implement reform and renewal in government. Since the publication of Reinventing government, readers have sought hands-on materials for implementing the revolutionary concepts of this book in their own organizations. In the Reinventing Government Workbook and Facilitator Guide, David Osborne and Victor Colon Rivera give you the tools you need to effectively apply the principles behind the reinvention revolution that is changing the way government works The Facilitators Guide offers detailed, step-by-step instructions on making the training experience rewarding and memorable. It provides: The groundwork for understanding and preparing for the Reinventing Government Workshop and using the workbook **Suggestions, in checklist format, to help promote the workshop and foster communication with decision makers and potential participants **A checklist of ideas, suggestions, and items needed to run a successful workshop **Information in a step-by-step recipe format to assist you in introducing the workshop, managing the group, and running each of the four modules **Additional exercises and overheads designed for longer formatted workshops or courses **Reproducible masters that correspond to all overheads The user-friAndly workbook brings the pronciples of Reinventing Government to life, helps participants apply the principles, and inspires improved performance. It offers: A guide to developing innovative and better ways of conducting public business Tools and techniques to increase the effectiveness of your organization Examples of successful governments that are reinventing themselves today Designed for use in federal, state, and local government, the workshop material includes exercises, brain teasers, and discussion items to create an interactive, involving learning environment. It also gives you the flexibility to run a one-day, two-day or longer workshop.

What is the proper role of government in American life? This is the principal controversy in contemporary American politics. Milton J. Esman believes that the United States suffers not from too much government but from too little. Most Americans today proclaim pride in their democracy, but they do not trust Washington. Esman shows how American conservatives have, for the last quarter-century, hammered away at the federal government, attacking its size, its inefficiencies, the limits it places on personal freedom, and its intervention in what conservatives believe should be free and untrammeled market transactions. Such commentators have effectively seized the initiative, and their antigovernment viewpoint now dominates the public discourse on politics. "This bias runs contrary to the main thrust of American political experience," Esman writes, "and is detrimental to the well-being of the nation on the brink of the new millennium." His book includes a historical study of public attitudes toward government and an analysis of the functions that only government can perform to ensure a healthy future for the American people and to check the negative effects of economic globalization. He proposes a set of political tactics to address the unchallenged trashing of a central institution of American democracy and restore public confidence in government.Plainspoken, straight-shooting, wide-ranging, Government Works draws on the progressive tradition in American thought to deal with the central predicament in contemporary public affairs.