System under Stress: The Challenge to 21st Century Governance / Edition 3

by Donald F. Kettl

Overview

In System under Stress, The Challenge to 21st Century Democracy, Third Edition, Donald F. Kettl looks at the latest stress to hit the system—the financial crisis of 2008. In his brief, gripping narrative, Kettl assesses how well the U.S. political system responds under extraordinary pressure—from 9/11, to Hurricane Katrina, to the Great Recession— and asks if the government is ready to face that next challenge. A well-known scholar, commentator, and writer in the areas of federalism and governance, Kettl asks the hard questions, makes a credible and persuasive argument, and crafts a readable case study that is fascinating and thought-provoking.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781452239903
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	03/12/2013
Series:	Public Affairs and Policy Administration Series
Edition description:	Third Edition
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Donald F. Kettl is professor emeritus and former dean at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy. Until his retirement, he was the Sid Richardson Professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also a senior adviser at the Volcker Alliance, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.

Kettl is the author or editor of twenty-five books, including Bridgebuilders: Harnessing Society’s Superpowers to Solve Its Biggest Problems, with William D. Eggers; The Divided States of America (2020); Can Governments Earn Our Trust? (2017); Little Bites of Big Data for Public Policy (2017); Escaping Jurassic Government: Restoring America’s Lost Commitment to Competence (2016); System under Stress: The Challenge to 21st Century American Democracy Homeland Security and American Politics (2014); The Next Government of the United States: Why Our Institutions Fail Us and How to Fix Them (2008); and The Global Public Management Revolution (2005).

He has received three lifetime achievement awards: the Dwight Waldo Award of the American Society of Public Administration; the John Gaus Award of the American Political Science Association; and the Warner W. Stockberger Achievement Award of the International Public Management Association for Human Resources. Three of his books have received national best-book awards.

Kettl holds a Ph D in political science from Yale University. He consults broadly for government organizations, at all levels and around the world. He has appeared frequently in national and international media. With his wife, Sue, he is also a co-shareholder of the Green Bay Packers.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

About the Author x

Chapter 1 Policy Lightning 1

Lennon's Lesson 4

Lightning Strikes 7

The Rise of "Homeland Security" 11

Financial Collapse 17

Administering the Stress Test 21

Policy Lightning and Public Policy 22

Chapter 2 Coordination Dilemmas 25

Connecting the Dots 30

Mysterious Powder 34

Worries Spread 38

Policy Problems as Coordination Problems 40

Chapter 3 Reshaping the Bureaucracy 46

Organizational Challenge 47

Complexity and Coordination 49

Bureaucratic Autonomy 49

Mission Conflicts 50

Different Cultures 52

Gaps: Distance and Technology 53

Congressional Jurisdictions 56

Structured Organizations, Networked Threats 57

First Steps 58

The Restructuring Struggle 61

The Battle over Boundaries 68

Chapter 4 Federalism Jumble 72

The Struggle to Regain the City 75

Huddling at the Hyatt 76

Gauging the Federal Response 77

State and Local Response 82

Collapse of the Levees 86

Learning for the Future 88

Fixing the Problem? 89

Rethinking Emergency Response 90

The Future of Federalism 93

Chapter 5 The Political Costs of Managing Risk 95

Balancing Risks 97

Using the Market to Manage Risk 105

Warning Signals 109

Trust 115

Chapter 6 Balancing Liberty with Protection 119

Assault on an Open Society 120

The Patriot Act 123

Broadening the War 127

The Fierce Debate 132

Balancing Security and Rights 137

Chapter 7 Goldfish Bowls 146

Too Big to Fail 147

Learning from Stress Tests 150

Crises that Open Policy Windows 151

Results of the Stress Test 155

Pressures for Backsliding 159

Challenges to the Policy System 163

The Challenge to Twenty-First-Century American Democracy 168

Notes 173

Photo Credits 189

Index 190

Editorial Reviews

I think the greatest strength of the text is as a case study that applies policy and administrative studies to a pivotal time in American history. These events were so news-worthy that every individual easily has a firm background on the cases and integrating these cases with theories of the policy process is quite beneficial for those new to the subject. Including the recent financial crisis is quite beneficial and not only provides an updated example of crisis, but also helps readers understand that crisis may come in many forms."

Matthew Jones

One of the book’s many strengths is the way it brings an analytic focus to recent events. It does so in an engaging way, with the book overall written extremely well. And the emphasis on the role of political institutions is right on target.”

Charles Shipan

System under Stress offers useful and engaging cases, bringing alive bureaucratic politics. The mixture of detailed case-study facts with probing and thought-provoking questions make System under Stress a brief text that conveys a great deal. I appreciate the analogies to ‘health’ and how the bureaucracy must act in a way to keep things in check, even though it does not control many of the factors that influence ‘the patient.’ It’s a great way to conceptualize the system. I appreciate the addition of the financial crisis. Katrina, terrorism, and financial malfeasance are all very different, but have many of the same impacts on the system. It is instructive for students to see how such different phenomena can result in similar stresses.

Bryan Brophy-Baermann