Handbook of Politics and Administration in 21st Century (2 Volumes)

Volume 1: The proper role of public administration in the political process has remained an important question since the emergence of public administration as a field of study in the late 1880s. The relation between politics and administration is a classic theme in political science since the writings of Max Weber, Woodrow Wilson and several other prominent writers. Today, it seems as if the idea of a total separation between a political and an administrative sphere has been abandoned. Rather than a dichotomy, politics and administration is today seen as two overlapping spheres. The politics-administration dichotomy has long been a subject of considerable debate in public administration. Despite the argument that there is no strict separation between politics and administration, the tension between the two continues to be significant. In response, this book explores why, and the extent to which, countries seek by various legislative means to maintain political neutrality in administration and restrict political involvement by public servants. The first chapter of this book is concerned with the topic of cosmopolitan citizenship and its relation to democracy. Highlighting the main postulates of Kantian cosmopolitanism, as many theorists Kant contributes an idea of cosmopolitan citizenship linked to the need to establish international political institutions that support citizenship beyond an exclusively moral dimension, then discuss the issue of the transformation undergone by the nation state in the context of globalization, particularly the loss of sovereignty of the state and the growth of multinational companies, and how these changes have come to set a new scenario for the emergence of international actors and the basis for various citizenship practices in a cosmopolitan dimension. With the increasing awareness among citizens about their rights and the resultant increase in expectations from the government to perform and deliver, the whole paradigm of governance has changed. Government, today, is expected to be transparent in its dealings, accountable for its activities and faster in its responses. This has made the use of ICT imperative in any agenda drawn towards achieving good governance. It has also led to the realization that such technologies could be used to achieve a wide range of objectives and lead to faster and more equitable development with a wider reach. Therefore, fifth chapter in this book highlights on conceptual framework of e-governance. In the past few years, e-government has been a topic of much interest among those excited about the advent of Web 2.0 technologies. This book also reviews the recent literature concerning Web 2.0, social media, social networking, and how it has been used in the public sector. The present book also examines the mediating role of perceptions of organizational politics on the relationship between leader-member exchange and perceptions of organizational justice. Finally, the book contributes to the literature aimed at employing the discipline of strategic management a thriving field of inquiry business administration and management as a valuable source of knowledge for the advancement of public management. Volume 2: Fundamental political change continues to occur in many countries. Sometimes it takes place as a result of the collapse of a regime due to protests, military force, or other forms of disruption. Studying the politics and development of the Third World is important and rewarding - but demanding. To begin with one must know the problems of development and the role of politics. For political scientists, this implies broadening one`s competence to include interdisciplinary co-operation and knowledge of how different factors interrelate in processes of development. Thereafter, there is a need for empirically well-grounded studies of the political ingredients themselves; studies which despite their solid empirical character do not lose track of comparative and theoretical perspectives. For most of us, this implies time-consuming searching for necessary information in the field, in addition to reading relevant literature. The goal of politics according to experts of political economy is the realization of common wealth in a state. Invariably, the chief actors in any political economy are men. In fact, the existence of the web of relationship among men for mutual intercourse presupposes equally the feature of estrangement and strife among men. In a way, therefore, politics must have to come in to direct or modify their relationship to promote the attainment of the expected goals. The first chapter of this book attempts to point out the root causes of the problems bedeviling the nation, and the reason why religion has not helped in ushering in the much desired stability shows that there exists a fundamental link between religion and politics, charting a course for progress and stability with both religion and politics being still inseparable. The second chapter explores on the system of Democracy, a system of processing conflicts in which outcomes depend on what participants do, but no single force controls what occurs and its outcomes. The third chapter presents a research that aims to make people understand that we can never clean the dirt by just staying away from it. This chapter also stresses on the fact that most people agree on having an educated politician but most of the educated people are not interested in joining politics. It seems that government power has increasingly shown its growing penchant of tolerance. The old fashioned governance through coercion has given way to much willingness for cooperation. A great number of socially articulated issues, together with many government sponsored topics, have been successfully managed to put on the public tables for deliberation. Increasingly transparent policy making processes have educated and taught everyone that successful government governance can be reached by welcoming public participation. Therefore, fifth chapter elucidates on politics of participation in search for deliberative governance in China. The twenty first century is characterized by radical changes due to the advent of globalization and emergence of new models of development. The exogenous forces of Globalization and Modernization have resulted into widespread transformation in the socio- economic, cultural and political system across nations of the world. The political, social and economic systems are also undergoing major transformation and significant changes can be seen in the normative and existential order of the society. The complex nature of these changes requires learning society and participant democracy so that inclusive development can take place. A focus on Political Socialization is given in sixth chapter. In further chapters, the book presents a focus on women candidates for political office in the US in the Twenties, and the alter-politics of complementary currencies, and electoral periods in Cameroon involve an impressive mobilization of human, material and financial resources. Technology is allowing communication to become inexpensive, ubiquitous, secure, and instantaneous, in the process transforming individual lives and societies. Representative government was conceived in an era of laborious, slow, insecure, local, and high-cost communication modalities. These modalities imposed burdensome but inescapable limitations on both the representatives who were entrusted to aggregate and adjudicate public sentiment while making decisions on the behalf of others, as well as the public who faced trust crises, participation barriers, and ignorance of facts and issues. Finally, this book explores positive and negative consequences that improved communication has for representatives. Consequences for a better educated and informed citizenry often with unprecedented discretionary time are also examined.