System Under Stress: Homeland Security and American Politics (Public Affairs and Policy Administration Series) [Paperback]

Donald F. Kettl (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2004 | ISBN-10: 1568028881 | ISBN-13: 978-1568028880

Homeland security is perhaps the least understood of the important issues in American politics today. Created in response to system-wide coordination problems, it's unclear whether this new bureaucracy has made enough--and the right--changes to repel future terrorist attacks. Kettl shows how 9/11 stressed the political system and reveals what policymakers are doing well--and what the government is still struggling to solve.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Donald F. Kettl is the Stanley I. Sheerr Endowed Term Professor in the Social Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania, director of the Fels Institute of Government and professor of political science. He is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. Kettl is the author of numerous books, including System under Stress: Homeland Security and American Politics (Winner of the 2005 Louis Brownlow Book Award); Deficit Politics; Leadership at the Fed; and The Next Government of the United States (forthcoming). His Transformation of Governance: Public Administration for Twenty-first Century America (2002) shared the 2003 Brownlow Book Award for the best book in public administration. Kettl has consulted broadly for government organizations and is a regular columnist for Governing magazine. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 151 pages
• Publisher: CQ Press (January 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568028881
• ISBN-13: 978-1568028880
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #705,522 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stress test for the American political system, April 14, 2007

By 

Steven A. Peterson (Hershey, PA (Born in Kewanee, IL)) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: System Under Stress: Homeland Security and American Politics, 2nd Edition (Public Affairs and Policy Administration Series) (Paperback)

Donald Kettl's thin but rich book, "System under Stress," examines homeland security and American politics. He begins by observing that most of us tend to think that things will be in the future as they were in the past, that the political system behaves in predictable ways. However, he goes on, shocks to the system raise intriguing and powerful questions. Specifically, how have the events of 9/11 affected American politics and governance?

He raises a series of key questions, such as: "But what happens to that system when a major shock shakes its foundations? What can such a profound upheaval tell us about the system's ability to respond? How does it help define the core truths and enduring principles that lie at the heart of American government? And how can we evaluate the system's response to better understand how it can adapt to the diverse challenges we are likely to face in the future?"

This volume explores a number of issues emerging from a consideration of such questions. What systemic failures led to the successful and devastating attacks on 9/11? What kind of coordination problems across government agencies need to be addressed/ What about the roles of state and local governments? How does the political system address the policy challenge of protection against threats that can never be fully eliminated? What about the balance between security and civil rights and liberties? How does a system, in short, respond to strain? Kettl uses a medical analogy: attacks like 9/11 serve as a kind of political "stress test" to diagnose what works and what does not work in the American political system.

This book is a well crafted analysis of such questions. Worth reading and worth thinking about. . . .

4.0 out of 5 stars VERY NEW, October 7, 2011

By 

Chris to the T - See all my reviews

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This review is from: System Under Stress: Homeland Security and American Politics, 2nd Edition (Public Affairs and Policy Administration Series) (Paperback)

LOVE this book condition, its just what I was lookin for, no binds or anything done to it, just like NEW!!...SWEET!!

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars System under stress, May 16, 2010

By 

Mr. R. K. Helliger "Robert Keith Helliger" (Narre Warren, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: System Under Stress: Homeland Security and American Politics, 2nd Edition (Public Affairs and Policy Administration Series) (Paperback)

Donald F. Kettl's 2007 Public Affairs book "System under Stress" is an excellent book that details President George Bush's failure during two major events: the 9/11 terrorist attacks; and Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Kettl explains how these 'failures' created a 'stress test', (a test where Government, FEMA, and other emergency organizations in the USA, couldn't cope. And, as a result, let every American family down).

I highly recommend this confronting book to anyone who is interested (in the pre-Obama years), that deal with how Homeland Security works; how Government works; and how we deal with issues that affect our lives.

That's why I give the book five stars.

Robert Helliger,
Narre Warren, Melbourne, Victoria,
Australia.