The authors explore the problems of the ongoing digitization of government, such as the creeping loss of data quality, and how citizens and officials must respond to these complications in the coming years. The “iGovernment” is running at full speed on information networks and digitization, but it is also seriously out of step with existing bureaucracies. Illustrates how digital technologies are shaping modern governments, while pointing to the dissonance between technology and organizational management.

(GOVERNMENT * COMMUNICATION * iGOVERNMENT * DIGITIZATION AND BUREAUCRACY )

Investigates the consequences of social individualization and economic globalization on the welfare state. With a particular focus on solidarity, or the willingness to accept shared risks, the editors look at the dynamics between the aging and the young, the healthy and the sick, and the working and unemployed within welfare states. The editors translate recent changes in the global economy into risk management strategies for businesses, unions, and government administrators, while showing how the public views these risks. They also provide a “new tool for understanding how welfare states operate.”

(GOVERNMENT * WELFARE STATES * RISK MANAGEMENT)

International juridical double taxation is generally defined as imposition of comparable taxes intwo or more states on the same taxpayer, in respect to the same income and for identical periods. Its harmful effects on the exchange of goods and services, and movements of capital, technology, and persons, are well-known. This 8th edition contains the full text of the convention as it read on 22 July 2010, including the Articles, Commentaries, non-OECD-member economies positions, Recommendation of the OECD Council, historical notes (now expanded to go back to 1963), the detailed list of conventions between OECD member countries, and background reports. The electronic version includes such features as extensive internal linking; fast searching capabilities; the ability for the user to attach notes to specific areas of text and cut and paste capabilities. The 30 articles cover such matters as residency definitions, business profits, income from immovable property, dividends, interest, royalties, capital gains, income from employment, pensions, taxation of students, and methods for eliminating double taxation.

(GOVERNMENT * TAXATION * DOUBLE TAXATION ISSUES)

Any widespread perception of undue influence-peddling in government tears at the very fabric of democratic legitimacy. Lobbying is once more at the top of the policy agenda, as the success or failure of public policy reforms seem to be increasingly influenced by private interests, to the potential detriment of public interests. For example, approximately US$3.3 billion was spent just on lobbying the United States Congress in 2011. Public’s trust in government in general, and lobbying in particular, has fallen to critical lows in many countries. When asked to rate the honesty and ethical standards of people in various professions in a 2008 Gallup poll, lobbyists were ranked lowest in public integrity (5%), along with telemarketers and used car salesmen. The 2nd volume of the OECD study on lobbying examines regulation and self-regulation of lobbying and explores various options for enhancing transparency and accountability. It specifically reviews the definition of lobbying, the role of professional lobbying associations in Europe, and the experience of codes of conduct developed for lobbyists in various country contexts. In a survey of lobbyists, 91% indicated that they are subject to a code of conduct (most commonly of a lobbying association), but self-regulation may not be effective in all situations.

(GOVERNMENT * LOBBYING)

Government leaders need high-quality and responsive advice to make informed decisions. In many countries, ministerial advisors are appointed primarily in order to increase the responsiveness of government and help address strategic challenges faced by government leaders. An OECD survey in 2010 into the work of ministerial advisors across 27 countries revealed that their sheer number and the opacity surrounding their status have prompted widespread concern. This report considers why ministers use their services, how they are appointed, the special status they enjoy, the concerns they have prompted in the general public, and how reform may make them more accountable and improve the transparency of their status. Contents discuss 1) the institutionalization, employment, functions, and influence of ministerial advisors, 2) governance frameworks to ensure that ministerial advisors do their work transparently, ethically and accountably, and 3) case studies from Austria, Canada, Denmark, and the United Kingdom.

(GOVERNMENT * MINISTERIAL ADVISORS)

Democracy promotion has been an influential policy agenda in many Western states and international organizations, and amongst many NGO actors. Kurki discusses models of democracy that democracy promoters promote and examines in detail the conceptual orders that underpin democracy support activity, and the conceptions of democracy these professionals, consciously or inadvertently, work with. The text provides the reader not only with the outlines of various possible politico-economic models of democracy, but also with a close empirical engagement with democracy promoters’ discourses and practices. Drawing on a broad spectrum of examples, it exposes challenges faced by Western governments in trying to reshape the political and economic landscape worldwide, and tentatively advances a set of concrete policy provocations which may enable a more pluralist and flexible democracy promotion practice to emerge.

(GOVERNMENT * DEMOCRATIZATION * DEMOCRACY PROMOTION)

Since the early 1990s, a series of major scandals in both the financial and most especially the political worlds has resulted in close attention being paid to the issue of corruption and its links to political legitimacy and stability. Corruption remains as widespread today, possibly even more so, as it did when concerted international attention started being devoted to the issue following the end of the Cold War. This Handbook showcases the most innovative and exciting research being conducted in the field of political corruption.

(GOVERNMENT * POLITICAL CORRUPTION * CRIME/JUSTICE)

When we think about environmental policy and regulation in the US, attention invariably falls on the federal level and, more specifically, the US Environmental Protection Agency. Albeit understandable, such a focus neglects the actors most responsible for implementation and maintenance of the nation's environmental law: the states. Recognizing the importance of states still ignores an even smaller subsection of actors. Inspectors are responsible for writing environmental rules and ensuring compliance with those rules, and play an important role in the environmental regulatory state. With data collected from more than 1,200 inspectors across 17 states, Pautz and Rinfret explore the role these front-line actors play, what it is like to do their job, what they think of their place in the environmental regulatory system, and how they interact with the regulated community.

(ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION IN THE U.S. * GOVERNMENT * INSPECTORS * STATE ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION)

In the US, there is wide variation from state to state in the institutional arrangements – for example, registration laws – that structure the environment in which citizens decide whether to vote and parties decide whom to mobilize. This has important consequences for who gets elected and the policies they enact. Interactions between social and political context and these institutional arrangements affect outcomes. Examines how the factors that influence adoption of a set of registration laws affect turnout, the composition of the electorate, and party strategies. Concludes that the effect of registration laws is not as profound as either reformers would hope or previous studies suggest. Argues for a shift in the approach to increasing turnout.

(GOVERNMENT * ELECTIONS * VOTER REGISTRATION REFORM)

It is often said that knowledge is power, but more often than not relevant knowledge is not used when political decisions are made. The authors examine how political decisions relate to scientific knowledge and what factors determine the success of scientific research in influencing policy, with a focus on the discourse of racism, Keynesianism, and climate change. Case studies cover a number of countries and different time periods. While there is a close link between 'knowledge producers' and political decision makers in all three cases, the effectiveness of the policies varies dramatically.

(SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE AND PUBLIC POLICY * METHODS TO SHAPE THE FUTURE * GOVERNMENT)