The author addresses what he sees as an imbalance in a literature strongly oriented toward the language of privatization. He suggests the definitions of "business" have too often been confused with concepts of "enterprise"--That motivations for public enterprise may well go far beyond the profit motive. He argues that the motivation of public enterprise may be to provide the best possible service at cost, be competitive, excel as an enterprise, innovate, grow, thrive, and contend.

This book considers the many facets of the privatization process in advanced industrialised countries, along with the marketization of Eastern Europe, and the pressures on developing countries to adopt privatization as the route to growth.

Documents the recent developments in privatisation through 25 country case-studies. The studies outline the varying privatisation programmes, comparing them with material from developed, developing and former communist countries.

This text discusses the central role of bureaucratic representation as a key vehicle for representing the general interests of most citizens. Though formal elections remain indispensable, bureaucracies in the capital, public and social sectors, have used their superior expertise and continuity, to achieve responsible discretion and creative implementation.

Savoie considers the war of reform waged by the leaders of these major industrial countries. Reagan declared that he had come to Washington to "drain the swamp" of bureaucracy, and set up the Grace Commission to investigate the operation of the U.S. government. Thatcher and Mulroney were equally committed to reform and initiated wide-ranging changes. By the end of the 1990s, the changes were dramatic. Many governments operations had been privatized in all three countries, and new management techniques had been introduced. In Great Britain, one observer judged that the changes were historically as important as the collapse of Keynesian economics. Is government now better in these countries, and was political leadership right in focusing on management of the bureaucracy as the villain? Savoie suggests that the reforms overlooked problems now urgently requiring attention and, at the same time, attempted to address non-existent problems. He combines theory and research based on sixty-two interviews, nearly all with members of the executive branch of the governments of Britain, Canada and the United States.

This one-volume history chronicles a 150-year history of dramatic changes in fortune and attitudes in western Canada. From the Riel Rebellions and the Winnipeg General Strike to the founding of the CCF, Social Credit, and Reform parties, Canada's West has always been a hotbed of political, social, and economic change. In the early twentieth century those calls for change emanated from the left as farmers and workers fought for social and economic justice. In the past two decades, the protests and calls for change emanated from the right as the region gained a new role for itself in Canada. This history chronicles the rise and fall of such figures as Grant Devine, Bill Vander Zalm, Glen Clark, Roy Romanow, Stockwell Day, and Lorne Calvert -- and the emergence of Stephen Harper and the federal Conservatives. It describes how the West, the political wellspring of progressive changes over the years, has been transformed into the bastion of the right, culminating in the virtual annihilation of the NDP in Saskatchewan, the cradle of social democracy in Canada. This is the updated fourth edition of John Conway's classic book originally published under the titleThe West.

This revealing and balanced portrait of homeschooling today provides a full history of the movement, demographic insights, and extensive research on how homeschooled children fare in the United States. Delving into a movement that impacts more students nationwide than the entire charter school movement, this book explores: • The history of homeschooling in America • How this movement has grown in credibility and enrollment exponentially • The current state of homeschooling, including questions about who gets homeschooled, why, and what is the success—academically and in life—of students who are homeschooled • The impact of homeschooling on the student and on American society In 2010, more than two million students were homeschooled. In the most extensive survey and analysis of research on homeschooling, spanning the birth of the movement in the 1970s to today, Homeschooling in America shines a light on one of the most important yet least understood social movements of the last forty years and explores what it means for education today.

The contributors first analyse recent public-sector initiatives that have altered the Canadian economy and transformed Canadian society. These include monetarist macroeconomic policies, a trade deal with the United States, and the increasing use of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to make regulatory decisions. The contributors then analyse the consequences of these changes for some of Canada's key industries and for Canadian social policy, noting the conservative agenda's effect on workers' incomes, work conditions, social benefits, and the role of the state in the economy. The final chapters explore possible alternatives and the difficult but very real choices economic and social policy makers must make with respect to macroeconomic management, employment, industrial strategy, and the environment. The contributors to this volume are Isabella Bakker, Duncan Cameron, Stephen Clarkson, Marjorie Cohen, Robert Cox, Arthur Donner, Daniel Drache, Colin Duncan, Meric S. Gertler, John Holmes, Jeanne Laux, Rianne Mahon, Michael Mandel, Anthony Masi, Jon Morris, John Myles, Paul Phillips, Abraham Rotstein, Frank Tester, Bruce Wilkinson.

In time for Alberta's and Saskatchewan's 100th anniversary of Confederation, political commentator and writer John Conway examines the unique way the West has shaped the rest of Canada. The Riel Rebellions, the Winnipeg General Strike, the founding of the CCF, Social Credit and Reform parties, the struggle for provincial control of resources -- much of the impetus for political, social and economic change in Canada has come from the West. From pre-Confederation to the present, author John Conway, himself a Westerner, tells the story of the colourful and controversial figures who molded the region. His lively history of the West and its peoples offers insight into the experience of Western Canadians and documents their contribution to Canadian economic and political life. The third edition of this popular and successful history describes Stephen Harper's arrival on the political scene, as well as the rise and fall of such figures as Grant Devine, Bill Vander Zalm, Glen Clark, Roy Romanow, and Stockwell Day. It also describes how the West, the cradle of Canadian social democracy, was transformed into the bastion of the right during the last decade.