Which reforms must governments implement in order to ensure a viable future for their countries? Sustainable Governance Indicators 2009 examines this key question as part of a biennial analysis of the need for reform in the thirty OECD member states. In addition to exploring the current situation, the index analyzes the extent to which policymakers are capable of finding and implementing solutions for pressing social problems.Focusing on the years 2005 to 2007, this new ranking supplies a range of quantitative data and expert opinions, thus providing a unique basis for comparing the democracies and market economies of the OECD member states. All expert assessments and comparative data are included on the accompanying CD-ROM.

Sustainable Governance Indicators 2009: Policy Performance and Executive Capacity in the OECD

Legal Theory & Systems

Verlag Bertelsmann Stiftung

Politische Reformprozesse in der Analyse: Untersuchungssystematik und Fallbeispiele

Thomas Fischer

How are European countries dealing with right-wing extremism? What can they learn from each other in this regard? Strategies for Combating Right-Wing Extremism in Europe provides information on right-wing radical movements in Belgium, Denmark, France, the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, and Hungary.
 The book focuses on government activities and the solutions advanced by political parties and civil society actors. It also examines legal measures, including implementation of new laws and special programs, and looks at the effectiveness of efforts to punish acts of right-wing extremist violence.

Strategies for Combating Right-Wing Extremism in Europe

Politics & Social Sciences

Politics & Government

The 21st century promises to be an "Age of Mobility." More people around the globe, from an ever greater variety of backgrounds, are migrating. As Europe and North America absorb larger and more diverse inflows, many policymakers, commentators, and academics are questioning whether their societies can cope with the influx.Citizenship has emerged as one of the key policy battlegrounds for such concerns. Citizenship lies at the nexus of a host of social policy issues because it provides definitions of identity, belonging, and participation in key aspects of society, including the right to vote. Governments recognize the urgent need to understand citizenship better.This book is the first major work of the Transatlantic Council on Migration, a group of leading political figures, policymakers, and innovative thinkers from the United States and Europe. The contributors provide insights into key aspects of the citizenship debate from a policy perspective.Contributors include Hans Martens (chief executive, European Policy Centre), John Mollenkopf (director, Center for Urban Research at the Graduate Center, City University of New York), and Demetrios G. Papademetriou (president, Migration Policy Institute).In collaboration with the European Policy Centre and the Migration Policy Institute

Delivering Citizenship

Transatlantic Council on Migration

Social Sciences

The global financial crisis is already having a marked impact on the scope and pace of international migration. Many countries have tightened their rules and procedures, seeking to protect jobs at home as unemployment has risen sharply. Confidence in established institutions, including governments and banks, has sunk rapidly.Governments, businesses, and individuals have all felt the damaging consequences. The crisis is also driving policymakers to rethink their assumptions about labor migration, as it becomes clear that the recession may profoundly alter the economic and social landscape in the long term, especially for the relatively wealthy nations of North America and Europe. This book examines the complex and contradictory challenges to immigration policy that governments face in the short term and midterm.In collaboration with the Migration Policy Institute

Talent, Competitiveness and Migration

Public perceptions and media coverage are powerful forces in shaping the immigration debate. Understanding public opinion on immigration, how it impacts the political debate, and how it affects reform prospects is critical when designing a strategy to advance thoughtful, rational, and effective immigration and integration policy.
 This volume analyzes how the public perceives immigration and immigrants—from their effects on the job market to their impact on culture and society to their prospects for integration. The authors assess the forces that shape how we perceive immigration and immigrants. The book also highlights patterns and trends in how political leaders speak about immigration.
 Focusing on three case studies, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, the volume includes chapters analyzing public opinion and media coverage of immigration issues in each country. Additional chapters propose strategies for unblocking opposition to thoughtful, effective immigration-related reforms.
 In collaboration with the Migration Policy Institute

Migration, Public Opinion and Politics

As the pace of change in the world has grown more rapid, an emphasis on survival and shortterm thinking has increasingly pervaded the realm of leadership and political decisionmaking. Consequently, the need for creative approaches in addressing the future has become more urgent than ever. In a bold response to this problem, the Israeli Knesset established the Commission for Future Generations and appointed Shlomo Shoham as head of the commission in 2001. Shoham was tasked with the difficult work of representing the needs, interests, and desires of those not yet born.
 In this book, Shoham demonstrates how we can overcome the pitfalls of short-term thinking by developing our "future intelligence." This kind of intelligence, he argues, is the key to infusing public administration with visionary thinking and creative foresight. As a seasoned practitioner of intergenerational justice, Shoham articulates new ways of conceptualizing and actively shaping the future for the better in education, health, environmental, and economic policymaking.

Future Intelligence

Business & Money

Shoham, Shlomo

Economics

Political scientist Samuel Huntington famously posited that most postcold war conflicts would be caused by cultural differences. Has his predicted "clash of civilizations" actually happened in the years since 1945? Events such as September 11 and the recent uproar over publication of caricatures of Mohammed may suggest that it has.
 The topic of culture and conflict has been the subject of fierce debate over the last two decades. This volume provides a theoretically informed definition of cultural conflicts and a worldwide mapping of such conflicts between 1945 and 2007. It is the result of extensive collaboration between the Institute for Political Science at the University of Heidelberg and Bertelsmann. The publication is based on an empirical study that explores conflicts in which cultural factors played a role—and the extent to which those factors influenced the intensity of violence in the respective conflicts.

Culture and Conflict in Global Perspective: The Cultural Dimensions of Global Conflicts 1945 2007

Bertelsmann Stiftung

This volume explores challenges that the global economic crisis has posed to health systems. It also asks whether the crisis has provided an opportunity for health care reform. For example, while some countries such as Estonia have drastically reduced their health care budgets, others, such as Austria and the United States, have responded with plans to boost public expenditure.In spite of the worldwide crisis, one of the key assumptions of contemporary health policy debate remains: more competition will help produce systems where resources are used more efficiently. However, as governments seek to enhance market mechanisms in health systems, successful regulation is needed to facilitate those changes and avoid unintended consequences. To assess the effects of competition and regulation, as well as other reform approaches, systematic analysis is needed. Therefore, the book also focuses on health policy evaluation, as well as hospital care and its coordination with other sectors, prevention, and health inequalities.

Health Policy Developments 13: Focus on Health Policy in Times of Crisis Competition and Regulation Evaluation in Health Care

Medical Books

Administration & Medicine Economics

The global recession is having a major impact on immigrant integration. With cuts in public budgets and a rise in anti-immigrant sentiment on both sides of the Atlantic, many governments have made short-term decisions responding to the economic crisis that will have longterm implications for immigrants and the broader society. Prioritizing Integration assesses where immigrants have lost ground—using evidence such as levels of funding for educational programs, employment rates, trends toward protectionism, public opinion, and levels of discrimination. It also considers how immigrants may have benefited from the crisis.This systematic look at where and how immigrants have been affected by the recession concludes with a set of priorities for the integration-related investments national and local governments should be making in the coming decade. These investments are designed to boost economic competitiveness and improve social cohesion.

Prioritizing Integration: The Transatlantic Council on Migration

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