News from Governance 25 September 2014
An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions

Co-Editors  Alasdair S. Roberts and Robert H. Cox  Book Review Editor  Clay Wescott 
Commentary: How the Asian century will shape the field of policy studies
 
In the new issue of Governance, Sara Bice and Helen Sullivan of the Melbourne School of Government consider how the rise of Asia will affect the field of policy studies.  "Policy studies," they argue, "must question core concepts and approaches that are usually Western defined and taken for granted; expand its field of inquiry to embrace global challenges; and integrate more diverse knowledge and expertise into public service."  Read the commentary.
Special issue: Limited statehood and the role of external actors
 
Clinic in Somalia. Photo: Global Fund/Didier Ruef
The current issue of Governance features a set of articles on the role of external actors in providing essential services in areas of "limited statehood," where governments have little or no power.  The special issue is edited by Thomas Risse and Stephen Krasner.   "The provision of collective goods and services is possible even under extremely adverse conditions of fragile or failed statehood," Risse says.  "This special issue examines the conditions under which external efforts at state-building and service provision by state and non-state actors can achieve their goals."   Read an overview about the special issue. 
Call for nominations: 2015 Levine Book Prize

Governance has  issued the call for nominations for the 2015 Levine Book Prize.  The 2015 prize committee is comprised of Julia Fleischer (Chair), Bert Rockman, and Danny Wai Fung Lam.  The winner of the 2014 Levine Prize is Christopher Adolph, for his book Bankers, Bureaucrats, and Central Bank Politics (Cambridge University Press).  The prize is named in honor of Charles H. Levine, a longtime member of the editorial board of Governance. 
Book reviews: Punishing immigrants, and transnational governance
 
In the current issue of Governance, Dongjae Jung of Arizona State University reviews Punishing Immigrants, edited by Charis Kubrin, Marjorie Zatz and Ramiro Martinez Jr.  "This book asks us to face up to the social realities on immigration," says Jung.  It "confronts the impact of immigration policy from the point of view of both policy implementers and immigrants, their families, and communities."  Read the review.

And Stella Ladi of Queen Mary University reviews Knowledge Actors and Transnational Governance by Diane Stone.  Stone "illuminates the transnational policy activities of research networks, policy institutes, and think tanks," says Ladi, highlighting "the quasipublic nature of networks that act at the transnational level."  Read the review.
Measuring state capacity: more debate

 

On the World Bank's Governance for Development blog, Nick Manning and Jordan Holt recap the debate within Governance on the measurement of state capacity.  Read the blog.  They observe that Francis Fukuyama's 2013 commentary for Governance has become "an 'instant classic' . . . [with] over 40 google citations."  The debate over Fukuyama's commentary on the Governance blog is also discussed by Alan Hudson in a post for Global Policy, and in an August 2014 report from the Inter-American Development Bank, prepared by Maria Franco, Carlos Scartascini, and Mariano Tommasi.
SOG meeting: Accountability and welfare state reforms

 

IPSA's Research Committee on the Structure and Organization of Government (SOG), the academic sponsor of Governance, will hold its next conference in Bergen, Norway on February 19-20, 2015.  The conference will feature keynote addresses by Johan P. Olsen and Werner Jann.  More details about the conference here.
Kale on Electrifying India

 

Generator in Delhi Sunila Kale of the University of Washington has just published her book Electrifying India: Regional Political Economies of Development with Stanford University Press.  Details here.  Kale wrote a commentary for Governance with Rahul Mukherji last year, on power and telecommunications regulation in India.  The commentary led to an exchange with Richard French of the University of Ottawa about the influence of colonial legacies on today's regulatory policies in India.  Read the exchange on the Governance blog.
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