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The tools of government in the digital age.
Van Pelt Library JF1525.A8 H66 2007
Available
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Hood, Christopher, 1947-
- Series:
- Public policy and politics
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Public administration--Technological innovations.
- Public administration.
- Public administration--Automation.
- Internet in public administration.
- Physical Description:
- xiv, 218 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.
- Edition:
- [New edition] / Christopher C. Hood and Helen Z. Margetts.
- Place of Publication:
- Basingstoke ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
- Summary:
- The 'tools-based approach' has become increasingly influential in understanding the nature and activity of government since the publication in 1983 of Christopher Hood's classic text The Tools of Government. This new text provides a systematic update of its arguments and assesses their relevance in the twenty-first century using a wide range of examples from around the world.
- It shows how and why the tools of nodality, authority, treasure and organization help us to understand government. It also examines subsequent attempts to develop a tools-based approach to government and in so doing demonstrates what has made Hood's original classification such an effective way of understanding the task of government in different places and time periods.
- Today's digital developments provide a fresh context in which to consider the concept of the tools of government. Digital technologies have clearly altered society - both in individual behaviour and in the interaction of government with individuals and firms. The framework provided by this book helps us to pinpoint precisely what has and has not changed in the way that government uses the tools to gather information and influence societal behaviour. This new edition provides a long-anticipated update to a classic work and an important angle of vision on the continuities and differences of modern society and the task of government within it.
- Contents:
- 1 Exploring Government's Toolshed 1
- Government as a toolkit 2
- Pay-offs of the 'toolkit perspective' 11
- The focus and limits of the book 14
- 2 Nodality 21
- Detecting with nodality: nodal receivers 21
- Effecting with nodality 28
- The toolset in context 34
- 3 Authority 50
- Detecting tools based on authority: requisitions 51
- Effecting with authority: tokens of authority 56
- The toolset in context 68
- 4 Treasure 78
- Detecting with treasure: rewards 80
- Effecting with treasure: from customized to open payments 85
- The toolset in context 93
- 5 Organization 102
- Detecting with organization: ergonomic detectors 103
- Effecting with organization: direct action or treatment 106
- The toolset in context 116
- 6 Comparing the Tools of Government 126
- Government tools or tools of government? 126
- Tools of which government? 128
- Inside government: comparing government agencies 130
- Retooling: change over time 134
- The measurability of the toolkit approach 138
- 7 Evaluating Government's Toolkit 144
- Appraising government's use of tools: intelligent policy design 144
- Reviewing alternatives: a rational choice? 146
- Matching the tool to the job 149
- Economizing on bureaucracy 152
- A moral dimension? 161
- 8 Alternative Approaches to the Tools of Government 167
- The institutions-as-tools approach: the tools of government as forms of organization 168
- The politics-of-instrument-choice approach 169
- Generic institution-free typologies of tools 171
- The three approaches compared: a phoney war? 173
- How the tools analysis of this book relates to other generic institution-free analyses of public policy instruments 174
- The challenge of digital-age technology for the analysis of public policy instruments 177
- 9 Looking Ahead: The Tools of Government in the Digital Age 184
- The future as an extrapolation of the past: a new world of cyber-detection, group-targeting and variable nodality 184
- Same tools, different governments 192
- Sharpening government's tools? 196.
- Notes:
- Previous ed. published as: The tools of government / Christopher C. Hood. London : Macmillan, 1983.
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- ISBN:
- 9780230001435
- 0230001432
- 0230001440
- 9780230001442
- OCLC:
- 82672580
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