Unlocking the Power of Networks

The era of strict top-down, stovepiped public management in America is over. The traditional dichotomy between public ownership and privatization is an outdated notion. Public executives have shifted their focus from managing workers and directly providing services to orchestrating networks of public, private, and nonprofit organizations to deliver those services. Unlocking the Power of Networks employs original sector-specific analyses to reveal how networked governance achieves previously unthinkable policy goals.

Stephen Goldsmith and Donald F. Kettl head a stellar cast of policy practitioners and scholars exploring the potential, strategies, and best practices of high-performance networks while identifying next-generation issues in public-sector network management. They cover the gamut of public policy issues, including national security, and the book even includes a thought-provoking look at how jihadist terrorists use the principles of network management to pursue their goals.

Contributors: William G. Berberich (Virginia Tech), Tim Burke (Harvard University), G. Edward DeSeve (University of Pennsylvania),William D. Eggers (Manhattan Institute), Anne M. Khademian (Virginia Tech), H. Brinton Milward (University of Arizona), Mark H. Moore (Harvard University), Paul Posner (George Mason University), Jörg Raab (Tilburg University), and Barry G. Rabe (University of Michigan).

Stephen Goldsmith is the Daniel Paul Professor of Government and director of the Innovations in American Government Program at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is also chair of the Corporation for National and Community Service, and he served two terms as mayor of Indianapolis. He is the coauthor (with William D. Eggers) of Governing by Network: The New Shape of the Public Sector.

Donald F. Kettl is the Robert A. Fox Leadership Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is also a professor of political science. Among his many books are The Next Government of the United States and The Global Public Management Revolution.