This book analyzes kidnapping in various forms and from various perspectives. First it argues that kidnapping, including the threat of kidnapping, reflects a breakdown in the mechanisms of social control in society. This volume also discusses the ways governments and para-military and terrorist groups employ kidnappings as part of their foreign and domestic policy. This analysis evaluates why and under what conditions governments, para-military and terrorist groups decide to abduct individuals and groups. It emphasizes how individuals, groups, and governments employ abductions to achieve their psychological, social, religious, and political objectives. This analysis also examines the ways in which cultural traditions in different societies emerge to foster behaviors such as bride abductions. Moreover, this book addresses the extent to which social change modifies these cultural patterns. Suitable for students and researchers, mental health practitioners, and law enforcement, this volume is a unique analysis of our contemporary understanding of kidnapping and violence, and the social, psychological, political, and cultural motivations for such an act.

From the first, specialization and coordination have presented governments with a conundrum: specialized program might be best for delivering one service to the public, but combining such programs for all public services inevitably produces costly redundancies and inefficiencies. In this long-awaited book, Guy Peters brings his expertise and extensive experience to bear on the problem of administrative and policy coordination. Through theory and four real-world case studies, he explores how—and whether—coordination can transform ordinary, flawed patterns of governing into more effective and efficient performance by the public sector. This timely work arrives at a moment when coordination is proving especially challenging—as popular approaches to public administration emphasize breaking larger public organizations into smaller, single purpose programs, and as a push to involve the private sector in policy development and implementation has increased government segmentation. For insights into the workings—and limitations—of coordination, or horizontal management, Peters draws on extensive scholarship as well as his own consulting work with governments including Finland, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, and Mexico. He highlights practical successes, and failures, of horizontal management in case studies of Homeland Security in the US; child protection in the UK; policymaking in Finland; and the operations of the European Union. In the process, Peters evaluates a full tool chest of “instruments” that might be used to enhance coordination. Combining theory and practice, and considering a wide range of public policy challenges, this book clearly and cogently presents the most comprehensive, in-depth, and detailed discussion available of policy coordination in the public sector—at a time when its insights are most urgently needed.

Americans' safety, productivity, comfort, and convenience depend on the reliable supply of electric power. The electric power system is a complex "cyber-physical" system composed of a network of millions of components spread out across the continent. These components are owned, operated, and regulated by thousands of different entities. Power system operators work hard to assure safe and reliable service, but large outages occasionally happen. Given the nature of the system, there is simply no way that outages can be completely avoided, no matter how much time and money is devoted to such an effort. The system's reliability and resilience can be improved but never made perfect. Thus, system owners, operators, and regulators must prioritize their investments based on potential benefits. Enhancing the Resilience of the Nation's Electricity System focuses on identifying, developing, and implementing strategies to increase the power system's resilience in the face of events that can cause large-area, long-duration outages: blackouts that extend over multiple service areas and last several days or longer. Resilience is not just about lessening the likelihood that these outages will occur. It is also about limiting the scope and impact of outages when they do occur, restoring power rapidly afterwards, and learning from these experiences to better deal with events in the future.