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Key Concepts in Governance
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Key Concepts in Governance

  • Mark Bevir - University of California, Berkeley, USA


January 2009 | 232 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
A comprehensive, multidisciplinary examination of the concepts embodied in governance and their wide-ranging applications and implications. An important read and reference for students and academics in the social sciences, particularly those engaged in public policy studies.
Carolyn J. Heinrich, University of Wisconsin-Madison

The language of governance has risen to prominence in the last twenty years as a way of describing and explaining changes in the nature and role of the state but the concepts involved can be confusing, as they are often new and come from diverse disciplinary and theoretical settings.

Key Concepts in Governance provides a clear introduction to the technical concepts and policies of contemporary governance through short definitional essays.

Each entry features:
  • a snapshot definition of the concept
  • a contextualization of the concept
  • an overview of relevant debates
  • a guide to further reading

The book also includes a substantial introductory chapter which gives an overview of governance studies as a whole, orientating and guiding the reader around the issues that the concepts address.

Intended Audience
Highly readable, with clear indexing and cross referencing, this is an ideal book for students on introductory courses and an indispensable resource for anyone interested in governance.


Mark Bevir
is a Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley


 
I. What is Governance?
 
II. The Concepts
 
Accountability
 
Bureaucracy
 
Capacity
 
Center-local relations
 
Collaborative governance
 
Collective action problem
 
Communitarianism
 
Co-ordination
 
Corporatism
 
Decentralization
 
Dialogic policy-making
 
Differentiated polity
 
Enabling state
 
Environmental governance
 
Evidence-based policy
 
Global governance
 
Globalization
 
Good governance
 
Governance Indicators
 
Hierarchy
 
Implementation
 
Incrementalism
 
Institutionalism
 
Interdependence
 
Local governance
 
Managing networks
 
Market
 
Marketization
 
Metagovernance
 
Multi-level governance
 
Network
 
New public management
 
Participatory democracy
 
Pluralism
 
Policy cycle
 
Policy network
 
Public-private partnerships
 
Rational choice theory
 
Regionalism
 
Regulation
 
Regulation theory
 
Representative democracy
 
Rule of law
 
Social capital
 
Social constructivism
 
Social inclusion
 
Sovereignty
 
State
 
Systems theory
 
Transnationalism

'A comprehensive, multidisciplinary examination of the concepts embodied in governance and their wide-ranging applications and implications. An important read and reference for students and academics in the social sciences, particularly those engaged in public policy studies' - Professor Carolyn J. Heinrich, University of Wisconsin-Madison

'An authoritative short survey for which students and teachers alike will be profoundly grateful' - Professor Rod Rhodes, University of Tasmania and Australian National University

'Students of governance will welcome this book given the explosion of literature in the field. It provides a quick guide to key concepts and ideas but does so with considerable originality. We are offered not just a review of well -established positrions but a distinctive take on the governance debate' - Gerry Stoker, Professor of Governance, University of Southampton


Good book, but not focused enough on public management for my course

Professor Bruce Perlman
Sch Of Public Administration, University of New Mexico
March 12, 2013

Great to ahve all the key concepts associated with governance in one place. The text is accessible and provides signals for further reading around key topics.

Dr Sarah Ayres
School for Policy Studies, Bristol University
January 31, 2012

Bevir's book is a helpful source to gain a circumspect view over the various issues and problems involved in processes of governance at state and international levels. Transcending disciplinary modes of categorization, Bevir has arranged the topics in a fashion that reckons with the subtleties of governance as a real-world phenomenon.

Dr Guenther Auth
Geschwister-Scholl Institute, Ludwig-Maximilians University
November 21, 2011

Sample Materials & Chapters

Part One PDF


For instructors

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