Implementation: How Great Expectations in Washington Are Dashed in Oakland: or, Why It's Amazing that Federal Programs Work at All, This Being a Saga of the Economic Development Administration as Told by Two Sympathetic Observers Who Seek to Build Mo
Author: Aaron B Wildavsky
Three substantial new chapters and a new preface in this third edition explore and elaborate the relationship between the evaluation of programs and the study of their implementation. The authors suggest that tendencies to assimilate the two should be resisted. Evaluation should retain its enlightenment function while the study of implementation should strengthen its focus on learning.
National Review
There are innumberable ways to profit from this fully documented yet highly readable tale of earnest but relatively unsuccessful ways of spending the taxpayers' money.
New Republic
They make an unimpeachable case for close attention to the modes of implementing policy, and . . . their chapters five and six constitute the first solid survey of the adminsitrative thickets through which future urban policies will have to make their way.
New York Times Book Review
Of universal application . . . this is an analysis of why the urban crisis has proved so intractable . . . . Nobody who reads this book will ever again be surprised by the gulf between promise and performance in a program to help revive or save or rebuild the country's cities.
Books about: Marketing or Teaching Today
Making Peace
Author: George Mitchell
UPDATED WITH A NEW PREFACE
Fifteen minutes before five o'clock on Good Friday, 1998, Senator George Mitchell was informed that his long and difficult quest for an Irish peace effort had succeeded--the Protestants and Catholics of Northern Ireland, and the governments of the Republic of Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom, would sign the agreement. Now Mitchell, who served as independent chairman of the peace talks for the length of the process, tells us the inside story of the grueling road to this momentous accord and the subsequent developments that may threaten, or strengthen, the chance for a lasting peace in Northern Ireland.
Washington Monthly - Fred Barbash
We...congratulate George Mitchell for his role in Northern Ireland. He is a tremendous hero, in ways most Americans have yet to recognize, in part because the Norwegians foolishly left his name off when they gave the Nobel Peace prize in 1998...
Boston Globe
Compelling.
Irish America Magazine
...[A]n interesting account of [Mitchell's] time as chairman of the peace talks which ultimately led to the signing of the Good Friday agreement.
Brill's Content - Rifka Rosenwein
It's no small feat to keep a story suspenseful when the reader already knows the outcome, but former U.S. Senate majority leader George Mitchell manages to do so...
The New York Times Book Review - Warren Hoge
...[A]n account of [Mitchell's] participation that characteristically focuses less on himself than on the process he put in motion....The narrative usefully chronicles how Mitchell constructed a trustworthy ladder for people who needed enormous persuasion to reach out for the first rung....It was an unaccustomed and short-lived moment of euphoria for Northern Ireland. Putting the agreement into place has faltered, and Mitchell has been dispatched by President Clinton to lead the salvage effort.
Publishers Weekly
Politics, according to Bismarck, is the art of the possible. Mitchell, the former Senate majority leader, used his mastery of this art to achieve the seemingly impossible: a peace settlement in Northern Ireland. This is his account of his role as chairman of the interparty negotiations and of how the major nationalist and unionist political parties — and the British and Irish governments — managed to forge the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement. Recruited by President Clinton to serve as an intermediary in the peace process, Mitchell spent nearly three years trying to create the conditions that made the final agreement possible. It wasn't easy. The IRA temporarily abandoned its ceasefire in the middle of the process, and extremist unionist and nationalist paramilitary groups tried their utmost to thwart the process by continuing to conduct bombings and shootings. Mitchell describes the twists and turns of the peace process in comprehensive detail, and his overview of the conflict provides a concise introduction to the turbulent history of Northern Ireland. He came to know all of the major protagonists very well, and his shrewd assessments of Gerry Adams ("sincerely trying hard, in difficult and dangerous circumstances, to bring his supporters into the grand tent of democracy"), David Trimble ("he saw the opportunity to end a long and bitter conflict, and he did not want to go down in the history books as the man who let it pass") and other political leaders enrich the book. In discussing the crucial final negotiating session, the narrative becomes as fast-paced as any thriller. While noting that the peace remains fragile, Mitchell provides solid evidence for believing the Good Friday agreement will hold and that the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland have finally come to an end.
Library Journal
The landmark 1998 Good Friday Agreement of Northern Ireland still holds, however threatened. That agreement was the result of several years of intense, difficult negotiations led by former senate majority leader Mitchell (Not for America Alone: The Triumph of Democracy and the Fall of Communism, LJ 4/15/97). Here he presents a readable, illuminating portrait of the negotiation process, offering vivid snapshots of the key players and the high and low points of the whole affair. His understanding and observations are characterized by the same good sense and fairness that have long been regarded as hallmarks of his character and key elements in his successful senate career. Mitchells unusual family backgroundhis orphaned Irish American father was raised by Lebanese Americans, and his mother is Lebanesemay account for some of his understanding of and obvious patience with ethnic and religious tensions and differences. Highly recommended for larger public and academic libraries where such political fare is of interest.Charles V. Cowling, Drake Memorial Lib., Brockport, NY
Philadelphia Inquirer - Jonathan Stevenson
The paramount quality that shines through Mitchell's narrative is his cool professionalism, uncorrupted by ego or American chauvinism...He won the trust of most of those involved and got an improbable result. Making Peace faithfully memorializes that marvelous achievement.
The Washington Monthly - Fred Barbash
We...congratulate George Mitchell for his role in Northern Ireland. He is a tremendous hero, in ways most Americans have yet to recognize, in part because the Norwegians foolishly left his name off when they gave the Nobel Peace prize in 1998...
Sunday Times(London) - Paul Bew
A significant and decisive contribution to our understanding of the most serious attempt yet to achieve a historic compromise in Ireland.
Irish Voice - Niall O'Dowd
Riveting...Thoughtful and incisive.
The New York Times Book Review - Warren Hoge
...[A]n account of [Mitchell's] participation that characteristically focuses less on himself than on the process he put in motion....The narrative usefully chronicles how Mitchell constructed a trustworthy ladder for people who needed enormous persuasion to reach out for the first rung....It was an unaccustomed and short-lived moment of euphoria for Northern Ireland. Putting the agreement into place has faltered, and Mitchell has been dispatched by President Clinton to lead the salvage effort.
Brill's Content - Rifka Rosenwein
It's no small feat to keep a story suspenseful when the reader already knows the outcome, but former U.S. Senate majority leader George Mitchell manages to do so...
Kirkus Reviews
A rather dry firsthand account of the difficult negotiations leading up to the 1998 Good Friday Peace Agreement in Northern Ireland, as told by the former senator and negotiations chairman. Mitchell's inestimable political genius played a crucial role in achieving the historic Good Friday Agreement. As it emerges here, his unwavering patience, vast experience, and supreme evenhandedness steered the bickering parties toward consensus, pushing the peace process forward against powerful tides of sectarian hatred. Mitchell makes clear how his years as Senate majority leader prepared him well to confront the polarized political climate of Northern Ireland, where incendiary rhetoric and rifles have often substituted for political discourse. For the first time in eight decades, overwhelming international pressure (especially from Britain, Ireland, and the US) played a decisive role in creating the momentum for peace. The opposing Irish nationalists and pro-British Unionists, who have traded atrocities for 30 years, felt this pressure intensely, but also felt pressure from their own (often extremist) constituents who feared that compromise would be a "betrayal." Every inch the politician, Mitchell implicitly understood the tightrope walk that both sides were being asked to take. He performed brilliantly as a trusted, honest broker, enabling the parties to hammer out the details of an agreement. While Mitchell's political acumen is undeniably world-class, he's less skilled as a chronicler of events. He simply doesn't flesh out the critical personalities (Tony Blair, David Trimble, John Hume, Gerry Adams, etc.), nor does he provide enough historical background to explain the profound sectarianmistrust that continues to scar Northern Ireland. On the paramount issue of weapons decommissioning, Mitchell offers almost no insights. What emerges most clearly is not Mitchell's ability as a historian or memoirist, but his tremendous desire to bring the parties together. Despite horrific personal tragedy and diplomatic setbacks that would have driven a lesser person to hair-pulling insanity, Mitchell kept up the good fight. A middling book by an exemplary peacemaker and human being. (b&w photos) (First printing of 40,000)
What People Are Saying
Kevin Cullen
Mitchell's account of the negotiating sets the benchmark against which any subsequent books on that part of the peace process will be judged...One of its strengths is that while Mitchell is refreshingly honest in his descriptions of the various political leaders in Northern ireland, he is remarkably restrained and nonjudgmental.
Table of Contents:
| Preface | xi | |
| Introduction | xv | |
| 1 | "I have never known peace." | 3 |
| 2 | "Would you be willing to help?" | 7 |
| 3 | First Steps | 22 |
| 4 | A Different Route | 39 |
| 5 | "No. No. No. No." | 46 |
| 6 | No Progress | 71 |
| 7 | An American Interlude | 76 |
| 8 | Beyond Reason | 84 |
| 9 | Smear Tactics | 89 |
| 10 | No Turning Back | 96 |
| 11 | "The settlement train is leaving." | 101 |
| 12 | Sinn Fein Comes In | 107 |
| 13 | Andrew's Peace | 120 |
| 14 | "I don't talk to murderers!" | 129 |
| 15 | An Agreement at Last | 143 |
| 16 | Peace | 184 |
| Notes | 189 |
No comments:
Post a Comment