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This volume concentrates on international issues that relate to economic policies and governance. It is essential reading for all postgraduates and scholars looking for expert discussion and debate of the issues surrounding the case for new economic policies at the global level.

In the wake of the economic crisis, many public services are facing a challenging environment in which they receive less funding but are expected to deliver better services. Organisational Innovation in Public Services develops new theoretical models and analyses case studies to provide an important insight into how to modernise public services.

"Over the past 20 years, the international community has shown an increased desire to intervene to re-build societies emerging from war. From East Timor to Bosnia; from Azerbaijan to Mozambique, UN agencies and bilateral donors have stepped in to create stable durable societies in the aftermath of conflict. During the same period, there has also been increased attention paid to the developing role on the world stage of multinational companies. Statistics suggesting that 51 of the world's largest economies are corporations, and the acceleration of so-called "globalisation" has led to a considerable focus on how private sector organisations fit into established processes of global governance. This book looks at the impact multinational companies have in post-conflict environments, the role they have and how they are governed. Drawing on detailed fieldwork in three post-conflict countries-- Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Rwanda--Peter Davis considers in each case the impacts that international companies have had on the reconstruction programme in each location, and what governance processes are used by companies and by state agencies to manage these impacts. Based on this evidence, this book then draws hypotheses about how the international corporate sector might better be integrated into post-conflict efforts, and considers the implications of this both for how companies manage themselves, and for how the development community's relationship with the private sector"--Provided by publisher

The book discusses how to tackle long-term social and ecological problems by using different environmental governance approaches to creating sustainable development. It explores opportunities and requirements for the governance of long-term problems, and examines how to achieve a lasting transformation. When investments are made to mitigate climate change or preserve biodiversity, future generations can reap benefits from the efforts of the present generation. However, long-term social-ecological change towards sustainable development is disrupted by the fact that the costs and benefi.

This volume, from an international group of scholars, deals with two main issues: firstly, how can the governance of the financial sector by the authorities be improved and secondly, how can the governance of firms and institutions within the sector be improved to render the probability and cost of future crises lower? Poor governance has been one of the major contributors to the global financial crisis. With better governance of and in the financial sector the financial crisis might well have been avoided altogether and certainly could have been much milder in its impact. This is not simply a case of being wise after the event. These problems were widely discussed before the event, but little action was taken. This book explores not only what the contribution of poor governance was to the crisis and to its depth, but also why it is often difficult to improve governance. The volume offers a positive critique of the measures that are being put in place in the light of the experience of the crisis and suggests how they might plausibly be improved.

"Provides an in-depth overview of how China is governed, how its domestic political system functions and the critical issues it faces in the coming decades. Discusses China's transition to a modern state and its rise within the international system"--

"This book manuscript can be seen as two different books. The first is a history of political parties in ten nations (with the sections on France and Germany limited to specific periods). The second is a critique of the existing literature that emphasizes the importance of electoral rules as determinative of political party systems. In contrast, the authors argue that votes are determined more by community ties (specifically labor unions and some religious organizations), and these ties can explain many of the patterns that we see in party politics in specific countries. In addition, the authors add an explanation of the rise of new parties that hinges largely on whether or not alternatives exist that have not been tainted by having been part of the government"--