This book summarizes the current state of research on strategic planning and offers an agenda for future research. The book edition comes with a new introduction that argues that strategising by public, non-profit and business organisations should be a major focus of research. Strategising is what links aspirations, capabilities, and implementation. Strategic planning should be viewed as one approach, but not the only approach, to strategising. A focus on strategising prompts researchers to consider issues of vertical and horizontal alignment of purpose, including across sectors; competence and scalability; co-production; decision-making and change management; and trust, transparency, authenticity and accountability. Additionally, the role of various strategising techniques and information technology should be analysed further. Beyond the book’s introductory overview of the field, chapters focus on the following topics: planning styles collaboration, strategic plans, and government performance impacts of context and political responsibilities on government strategic planning efforts impacts of strategic planning in municipal governments impacts of austerity on strategic planning and government performance The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal, Public Management Review.

The federal government wastes your tax dollars worse than a drunken sailor on shore leave. The 1984 Grace Commission uncovered that the Department of Defense spent $640 for a toilet seat and $436 for a hammer. Twenty years later things weren't much better. In 2004, Congress spent a record-breaking $22.9 billion dollars of your money on 10,656 of their pork-barrel projects. The war on terror has a lot to do with the record $413 billion in deficit spending, but it's also the result of pork over the last 18 years the likes of: - $50 million for an indoor rain forest in Iowa - $102 million to study screwworms which were long ago eradicated from American soil - $273,000 to combat goth culture in Missouri - $2.2 million to renovate the North Pole (Lucky for Santa!) - $50,000 for a tattoo removal program in California - $1 million for ornamental fish research Funny in some instances and jaw-droppingly stupid and wasteful in others, The Pig Book proves one thing about Capitol Hill: pork is king!

The federal government is running huge budget deficits, spending too much, and heading toward a financial crisis. Federal spending soared under President George W. Bush, and the costs of programs for the elderly are set to balloon in coming years. Hurricane Katrina has made the federal budget situation even more desperate. In Downsizing the Federal Government Cato Institute budget expert Chris Edwards provides policymakers with solutions to the growing federal budget mess. Edwards identifies more than 100 federal programs that should be terminated, transferred to the states, or privatized in order to balance the budget and save hundreds of billions of dollars. Edwards proposes a balanced reform package of cuts to entitlements, domestic programs, and excess defense spending. He argues that these cuts would not only eliminate the deficit, but also strengthen the economy, enlarge personal freedom, and leave a positive fiscal legacy for the next generation. Downsizing the Federal Government discusses the systematic causes of wasteful spending, and it overflows with examples of federal programs that are obsolete and mismanaged. The book examines the budget process and shows how policymakers act contrary to the interests of average Americans by favoring special interests.