Exploring the manifold relationships between religion and public administration, this topical book conceptualises and theorises the diverse influence of religions on the functioning of public administrative systems across the globe.

This book seeks to argue that religious actors play a crucial role in the complex processes of entering or re-entering the public spheres of state, political, and civil society. Seeking to ameliorate the analytical lacuna and concentrating on both the meso and micro levels of religious public involvement, the contributors explain how representatives from religious and political institutions act and interact in a variety of ways for various purposes. Analysing empirical examples from both Europe and beyond, and including a variety of religions, including multi-faith platforms, the volume examines selected religious actors’ objectives, means and strategies and effects in order to address the following questions: • What are selected religious actors’ public and/or political activities and objectives? • In what ways and with what results do selected religious actors operate in various public spheres? • What are the consequences of religious actors’ political involvement, and which factors condition the degree to which they are successful? Whilst focusing mainly on Europe, the book also utilizes examples from Egypt, Turkey and the USA to provide a valuable and unique comparative focus. The contributors demonstrate that various religious actors, whether functioning as interest groups or social movements, and almost irrespective of the religious tradition to which they belong and the culture from which they emanate, do not necessarily differ markedly in terms of strategies. This important study will be of great interest to all scholars of International Politics, Religion, and Public Policy.

This book involves a study of the influence of religion, mainly that of Christianity and Hinduism, on the formation of the values in the Indian Civil Service (ICS) and its successor, Indian Administrative Service (IAS). The book deals with the problem ofadministrative corruption in the IAS, which is the premier civil service of the country. The study attempts to ferret out the root causes of corruption in the Indian society, and especially in the government services like the IAS, through a socio-religious analysis of religion in society. The book is a result of a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods of study that include a thorough survey and in-depth interviews of the serving officers of the Karnataka cadre.

This book is a study of the influence of religion on the values and ethics of the ‘steel frame of India’—the Indian Civil Service (ICS) and its successor, the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). Examining pertinent subjects like the historical origins of IAS, colonial ethics, codes of conduct and Hindu ethics, the book presents a socio-religious analysis of corruption in India. The book deals primarily with the issue of administrative corruption in the IAS, the premier civil service of India, and also in the Indian society, of which the IAS is an integral component. It is the result of a thorough survey and in-depth interviews of serving IAS officers of the Karnataka cadre.

While many introductory public administration textbooks contain a dedicated chapter on ethics, The Public Administration Profession is the first to utilize ethics as a lens for understanding the discipline. Analyses of the ASPA Code of Ethics are deftly woven into each chapter alongside complete coverage of the institutions, processes, concepts, persons, history, and typologies a student needs to gain a thorough grasp of public service as a field of study and practice. Features include: A significant focus on "public interests," nonprofit management, hybrid-private organizations, contracting out and collaborations, and public service at state and local levels. A careful examination of the role that religion may play in public servants’ decision making, as well as the unignorable and growing role that faith-based organizations play in public administration and nonprofit management at large. End-of-chapter ethics case studies, key concepts and persons, and dedicated "local community action steps" in each chapter. Appendices dedicated to future public administration and nonprofit career management, writing successful papers throughout a student’s career, and professional codes of ethics. A comprehensive suite of online supplements, including: lecture slides; quizzes and sample examinations for undergraduate and graduate courses containing multiple choice, true-false, identifications, and essay questions; chapter outlines with suggestions for classroom discussion; and suggestions for use of appendices, e.g., how to successfully write a short term paper, a brief policy memo, resume, or a book review. Providing students with a comprehensive introduction to the subject while offering instructors an elegant new way to bring ethics prominently into the curriculum, The Public Administration Profession is an ideal introductory text for public administration and public affairs courses at the undergraduate or graduate level.

Over the past three decades, the study of religion and politics has gone from being ignored by the scholarly 7ommunity to being a major focus of research. Yet, because this important research is not easily accessible to nonspecialists, much of the analysis of religion's role in the political arena that we read in the media is greatly oversimplified. This Handbook seeks to bridge that gap by examining the considerable research that has been conducted to this point and assessing what has been learned, what remains unsettled due to conflicting research findings, and what important questions remain largely unaddressed by current research endeavors. The Handbook is unique to the field of religion and American politics and should be of wide interest to scholars, students, journalists, and others interested in the American political scene.

Although emerging scholarship in the social sciences suggests that religion can be a potential catalyst of cosmopolitanism and global citizenship, few attempts have been made to bring to the fore new theoretical positions and empirical analyses of how cosmopolitanism -- as a philosophical notion, a practice and identity outlook -- can also shape and inform concrete religious affiliations. Key questions concerning the significance of cosmopolitan ideas and practices – in relation to particular religious experiences and discourses -- remain to be explored, both theoretically and empirically. This book takes as its starting point the emergence of cosmopolitanism -- as a major interdisciplinary field -- as a springboard for generating a productive dialogue among scholars working within a variety of intellectual disciplines and methodological traditions. The chapter contributions offer a serious attempt to critically engage both the limitations and possibilities of cosmopolitanism as an analytical and critical tool to understand a changing religious landscape in a globalizing world, namely, the so-called ‘new religious diversity’, religious conflict, and issues of migration, multiculturalism and transnationalism vis-à-vis the public exercise of religion. The contributors’ work is situated in a range of world sites in Africa, India, North America, Latin America, and Europe. This work will be of great interest to students and scholars of globalization, religion and politics, and the sociology of religion.

Table of contents

"Do you know if you are going to heaven?" -- Saved in South Jersey -- Just ask pops -- What would Madison and Franklin do? -- The founders' faithful consensus -- Myths 1 and 2 : a godly republic, not a secular state or a Christian nation --One nation, under God, for all -- A warm civic welcome, not a high legal wall -- Between Jefferson and Witherspoon : Madison -- Madison's multiplicity of sects versus the anti-federalists -- Most blessed compromise : the Bill of Rights -- Neo-anti-federalists versus judicial tyranny -- The court's neutrality doctrine -- Myths 3 and 4 : equal protection -- Blessings in the balance -- Strict separation doctrine's anti-Catholic roots -- Lemon aid stands : religion and education -- Free exercise versus indirect establishment -- Blame the founders, the anti-federalists, and the people -- The people's charitable choice -- Myths 5 and 6 : religious pluralists, not strict secularists or religious purists -- Bipartisan beliefs -- Purple people on church-state -- Turning red over religion? -- Two electoral extremes equal one-third -- Proxy government gets religion, 1996-2000 -- No Bush versus Gore on "faith-based" -- The president's bipartisan prayer -- Faith-based without works is dead -- Three steps on the road not taken -- Neutrality challenges : the Bush faith bill -- Believers only need apply? -- Religious voucher visions -- Hope in the semi-seen : Amachi -- The nation's spiritual capital -- Myths 7 and 8 : faith-based volunteer mobilization, not faith-saturated spiritual transformation -- Bowling alone versus praying together -- Big picture : bridging Blacks and whites -- Faithful Philadelphia : scores of services for people in need -- Putting faith in civic partnerships -- Esperanza objectivo : the three faith factors -- The republic's faith-based future -- Myths 9 and 10 : civiv ecumenism, not sectarian triumphalism or secular extremism -- Take prisoners : evangelical Christians versus secular liberals -- Do unto others : Pratt versus Pratt -- Think Catholic : church, state, and larger communities -- No post-poverty nation : Matthew 25 -- The faith-based future's blessings -- Second trinity : three faith-free principles -- Invest wisely : FBOS as civic value stocks -- Target blessings : young Black low-income males -- Honor thy Franklin : back to America's faith-based future.

Administration an exhilarating and challenging perspective.