In one of the most important critiques of U.S. government in more than a decade, the 2003 report of the Volcker Commission pulled no punches in describing an underperforming, dysfunctional U.S. government. The commission's report urged improvements in reorganization, leadership, and performance, but stopped short of specifying how to put its recommendations into practice. In High-Performace Government: Structure, Leadership, Incentives experts from the RAND Corporation offer practical ways to reorganize and restructure, enhance leadership, and create flexible, performance-driven agencies. Edited by Robert Klitgaard, Dean and Ford Distinguished Professor of International Development and Security at the Pardee RAND Graduate School, and Paul C. Light, Founding Director of the Center for Public Service at the Brookings Institution and Senior Adviser to the Volcker Commission, this new book presents an innovative approach for rethinking government. This book looks at examples of successful reforms and examines what can be learned from them to improve the way our government works. High-Performance Government includes an opening discussion by Robert Klitgaards, the full text of the Volcker Commission report, and a dozen chapters by senior RAND researchers. These chapters discuss how to confront the challenges posed by the changing role and increasing uncertainty of government; restructure under the constraints of structural politics; reorganize the national security apparatus; tailor public-private partnerships to particular needs; reform the system of presidential appointments; enhance leadership and incentives in the civil service; and much more.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
With the publication of this collection of papers on federal government organization and performance, RAND is announcing its institutional intention to become a major player in the intellectual and professional world of public management and public administration. The analytical spirit and practical sophistication of the RAND research corps, evidenced in these papers, may be a happy augury of even better things to come. (Eugene Bardach )
If we are to sustain and reinforce the American values in which we take pride, if we want to maintain and enhance our vision of a democratic and peaceful world, we need to pay attention to strengthening and reinforcing our own governing institutions. Among other things, we must engage the constructive forces of our thinking and imagination. This volume can help lead the way. (Paul Volcker )
Anyone concerned with how to make government more mission-driven, how to implement performance-based measurements, how to develop more collaboration among agencies, and how to create more effective public-private partnerships, will benefit greatly from the insights and examples set forth in this volume. (Barbara J. Nelson )
High-Performance Government is worthy of attentive reading because it plunges right into the heart of the debates on government reform. In conclusion, the contribution of High-Performance Government is evading a naive rationalism and simplification that would arise from the benchmarking of the private sector as a source of truth for the state, and instead be built from what the anthropologist Clifford Geertz calls a 'size-up-and-solve social science': a social science of evaluation and resolution. (Futuribles )
Moving towards high-performance government involves two challenges. One is philosophical—getting government to focus on performance and results. The second is empirical—figuring out what practices promote high performance in the public sector. High-Performance Government helps us move forward on both. (Steven Kelman )
If we are to sustain and reinforce the American values in which we take pride, if we want to maintain and enhance our vision of a democratic and peaceful world, we need to pay attention to strengthening and reinforcing our own governing institutions. Among other things, we must engage the constructive forces of our thinking and imagination. This volume can help lead the way. (Paul Volcker )
Anyone concerned with how to make government more mission-driven, how to implement performance-based measurements, how to develop more collaboration among agencies, and how to create more effective public-private partnerships, will benefit greatly from the insights and examples set forth in this volume. (Barbara J. Nelson )
High-Performance Government is worthy of attentive reading because it plunges right into the heart of the debates on government reform. In conclusion, the contribution of High-Performance Government is evading a naive rationalism and simplification that would arise from the benchmarking of the private sector as a source of truth for the state, and instead be built from what the anthropologist Clifford Geertz calls a 'size-up-and-solve social science': a social science of evaluation and resolution. (Futuribles )
Moving towards high-performance government involves two challenges. One is philosophical—getting government to focus on performance and results. The second is empirical—figuring out what practices promote high performance in the public sector. High-Performance Government helps us move forward on both. (Steven Kelman )
From the Inside Flap
Fixing problems in the federal government
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