The State of Access documents a worrisome gap between principles and practice in democratic governance. This book is a comparative, cross-disciplinary exploration of the ways in which democratic institutions fail or succeed to create the equal opportunities that they have promised to deliver to the people they serve. In theory, rules and regulations may formally guarantee access to democratic processes, public services, and justice. But reality routinely disappoints, for a number of reasons – exclusionary policymaking, insufficient attention to minorities, underfunded institutions, inflexible bureaucracies. The State of Access helps close the gap between the potential and performance in democratic governance.

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The twenty-first century has been dubbed the Chinese century. As China becomes a dominant world economic actor, its enterprises – state run or otherwise – increasingly look to distant shores in the Western Hemisphere and the European continent for inspiration. Edited by John R. McIntyre and Asia Programs Fellow Ilan Alon, this collection of papers brings together a diverse community of interdisciplinary Chinese research scholars to assess the impact of Chinese business on global business and environments, disseminate knowledge on the emergence of globalizing Chinese firms, and address the issues related to corporate sustainable development and outsourcing.

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China’s leaders faced a major challenge to provide citizens with acceptable social welfare during the economic transition. They are confronted with building a new support system in the countryside, shifting the burden in urban China from the factory to the local state, and integrating new social groups, into existing systems. Providing Public Goods comprises a detailed study of healthcare, disease control, social insurance, and social relief.

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Over the next 10-15 years, China's urbanization rate is expected to rise from 43 percent to well over 50 percent, adding an additional 200 million mainly rural migrants to the current urban population of 560 million. How China copes with such a large migration flow will strongly influence rural-urban inequality, the pace at which urban centers expand their economic performance, and the urban environment. The growing population will necessitate a big push strategy to maintain a high rate of investment in housing and the urban physical infrastructure and urban services. To finance such expansion will require a significant strengthening and diversification of China's financial system. Containing this without at the same time constraining the economic performance of cities or the improvement in the standards of living will call for enlightened policies, strategies, careful urban planning, and significant technological advances. This volume identifies the key developments to watch and discusses the policies which would affect the course as well as the fruitfulness of change.

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Presidential Politics in Taiwan discusses some of the main themes which emerged following Chen Shui-bian’s election and seeks to elucidate the major challenges that the administration faced as well as the policies that Chen established. This serves as a foundation for the individual chapters assessing the direction that the Chen Shui-bian administration has taken in regard to the major issue areas of domestic political dynamics; socio-political “hot buttons”; and foreign policy/national security. Each chapter addresses the question of how the Chen administration’s first term defined, debated, and impacted specific aspects of the evolving Taiwanese polity.

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Innovations in Government: Research, Recognition, and Replication presents a comprehensive approach to advancing the practice and study of innovation in government. It discusses new research on innovation, explores the impact of several programs that recognize innovation, and considers challenges to the replication of innovations.

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China's successful transition from a centrally planned economy to a socialist market economy, with rapid growth in rural areas 1980s, is a consequence of the impact of both formal and informal institutions. Hitherto, most work undertaken on this issue has focused on formal institutions. This book shows the great importance of informal institutions on the economic and social development of rural China. It examines the relationship between informal institutions and rural development in China since the end of the 1970s, focusing in particular on three major informal institutions: village trust and rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs), guanxi community and 'integrating village with company' (IVWC) governance. It argues that informal institutions, traditions and customs are all critical factors for facilitating modernization and social and economic development, enabling, the integration of trust, reciprocity, responsibility and obligation into economic and social exchange processes, and considerably lowering risks and transactions costs. It does this by analysing case studies that illustrate how informal institutions function and support development in rural China.

Decentralizing Governance: Emerging Concepts and Practices traces the evolution and performance of decentralization concepts, from the transfer of authority within government to the sharing of power, authority, and responsibilities among broader governance institutions. The book’s contributors assess the emerging concepts of decentralization – devolution, empowerment, capacity building, and democratic governance – and detail factors driving the decentralization movement.

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Governing by Network examines, for the first time, government’s transformation from centralized control over public programs to facilitating services through networks of nongovernmental entities, as seen through the experience of dozens of public innovators. Also available in Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish.

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