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The Online Journal & Network of ASPA’s
Section for Public Management Practice

American Society for
Public Administration

BOOKS, REVIEWS & REPORTS

Transforming American Governance

As Transforming American Governance: Rebooting the Public Square points out, we need a government that “can operate on demand.” From the table-setting preface through 21 chapters this book offers a thoughtful collection of fresh perspectives on what needs to be done to create a 21st century governance model.

Genocide and the Ethics of Public Management

This review looks at From Bloodshed to Hope in Burundi: Our Embassy Years during Genocide, which lays out the context and graphic evidence needed to understand what happened on the ground in Burundi in the last decade of the twentieth century. The story is told from the perspective of Ambassador Robert Krueger and his wife, Kathleen Tobin Krueger.

by Warren Master
President &
Editor-at-Large
The Public Manager

by Warren Master
President &
Editor-at-Large
The Public Manager

Surmounting State Capture: Latvia’s Anti-Corruption Agency Spurs Reforms, 2002-2011

Eager to demonstrate progress against corruption in order to advance its standing in the accession processes for NATO and the European Union, Latvia established the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau, known as KNAB, in 2002.

A New Approach to Managing at the Center of Government: Governor Mitch Daniels and Indiana, 2005-2012

When Indiana governor Mitch Daniels took office in January 2005, he sought to change the performance and culture of state government. To implement his agenda, Daniels needed new systems and new processes in his office, the center of Indiana state government. He created an Indiana office of management and budget and established a new group within that office to set goals, monitor performance, and link budgets to outcomes. Policy teams in Daniels’s office reported progress on agency-level reforms and helped unclog bottlenecks. And Daniels created a performance-based pay system to encourage state workers to focus on results. By 2012, the final year of his second term, Daniels’s reforms had produced marked changes, including a budget surplus every year from 2006 to 2012. Michael Scharff drafted this case study based on interviews conducted in Indianapolis, Indiana in July 2012. Rick Messick provided guidance, editorial suggestions, and interview support. Case published November 2012.

Case Study by Gabriel Kuris

Case Study by Michael Scharff

Public Administration in Asia

Gerald Caiden reviewed three of Evan Berman's edited works:  Public Administration in Southeast Asia: Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Macao, Public Administration in East Asia: Mainland China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan (with co-editors M. Jae Moon and Heungsuk Choi), and Public Administration in South Asia: India, Bangladesh,Pakistan, and Sri Lanka (with lead editor Meghna Sabharwal).

Mater Asia

Three of Pan Suk Kim's edited volumes, Public Administration and Public Governance in ASEAN Member Countries and Korea, Civil Service System and Civil Service Reform in ASEAN Member Countries and Korea, and Public Sector Reform in ASEAN Member Countries and Korea, were reviewed by Demetrios Argyriades.

Review by Gerald Caiden

Review by Demetrios Argyriades

Governance Reform and Practice in Slovenia

Slovenian Democratic Evolution & Praxis by Milo Haček, Marjan Brezovše & Simona Kukovič, focuses on overall governance reform and improved practice in Slovenia since gaining independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. The e-book available online provides a thorough overview of the transition from the highly autocratic system and centralized processes of government to the democratic and more distributed arrangement in place today.

Review by Warren Master