Author: Allison Stanger File Type: epub International relations scholar Allison Stanger shows how contractors became an integral part of American foreign policy, often in scandalous waysbut also maintains that contractors arent the problem the absence of good government is. Outsourcing done right is, in fact, indispensable to Americas interests in the information age. Stanger makes three arguments. ul lThe outsourcing of U.S. government activities is far greater than most people realize, has been very poorly managed, and has inadvertently militarized American foreign policyl lDespite this mismanagement, public-private partnerships are here to stay, so we had better learn to do them rightl lWith improved transparency and accountability, these partnerships can significantly extend the reach and effectiveness of U.S. efforts abroad.l ul The growing use of private contractors predates the Bush Administration, and while his era saw the practice rise to unprecedented levels, Stanger argues that it is both impossible and undesirable to turn back the clock and simply re-absorb all outsourced functions back into government. Through explorations of the evolution of military outsourcing, the privatization of diplomacy, our dysfunctional homeland security apparatus, and the slow death of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Stanger shows that the requisite public-sector expertise to implement foreign policy no longer exists.The successful activities of charities and NGOs, coupled with the growing participation of multinational corporations in development efforts, make a new approach essential.Provocative and far-reaching, One Nation Under Contract presents a bold vision of what that new approach must be. **From Publishers Weekly Stanger, professor of international politics and economics at Middlebury College, comes to admirably nuanced conclusions in this important assessment of the trend of outsourcing critical tasks in the areas of foreign aid, defense, diplomacy and domestic security. Her analysis finds nothing inherently pernicious in the Bush administrations outsourcing of Iraqi security and reconstruction contracting is a necessity given the ascendancy of the private sector as a key player in diplomacy in a globalized world. The executive branchs error has been to outsource proper oversight and contractor accountabilitya laissez-faire approach she finds dangerous. Stanger is also troubled by the Pentagons usurpation (and militarizing) of diplomatic and nation-building roles previously under the aegis of the State Department. She argues that the government must recognize that power in the 21st century flows from new sources and complacency at this stage threatens the government with enervation and possible obsolescence. These are vital, well-made and worrying pointsreaders will hope that the executive branch will heed the authors call to take the plunge and re-imagine government itself. (Nov.) Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. Review The book aims admirably for both breadth and depth, examining the specifics of private activity in defense, diplomacy, development and security under an intellectual rubric that cuts across all four spheres.This is a fascinating treatment of an important subject. -- Debora Spar, President, Barnard College (Debora Spar) A superb work on government outsourcing and contracting for those who want to get past the myths and truly understand this hot topic. One Nation Under Contract should be required reading for all those leaders involved in fixing this process in order to get a clear sense and scope of this critical issue. -- General Anthony C. Zinni USMC (Retired) (General Anthony C. Zinni) Allison Stanger argues that the outsourcing of foreign policy functions as currently practiced is scandalous, but we cannot turn the clock back to top-down government. Smart power requires smart government, and this well reasoned book suggests how better to harness all the networks at our disposal in the information age. -- Joseph S. Nye Jr., Harvard University, author of The Powers to Lead (Joseph S. Nye) One Nation Under Contract breaks new ground in describing how the emergence of joint ventures between the government and private actors is transforming government accountability and diplomacy. -- Charles MacCormack, CEO, Save the Children (Charles MacCormack) As governments around the world contract out important tasks to private corporations, Allison Stanger has asked the key question how do citizens reestablish effective oversight over private-public partnerships?One Nation Under Contract is a clarion call to bring the business of government under more effective public control. -- MichaelIgnatieff, Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada (Michael Ignatieff) Slim but powerfully arguedprovocative.By shining a light on what she callsAmericas shadow government, [Stanger] does us the great favor of triggering a long overdue political debate. -- Thomas P.M. Barnett, World Politics Review (Thomas P.M. Barnett World Politics Review) The real strength of this superb book is not what it reveals, as stunning as that may be, but how well [Stanger] assimilates the changed circumstances of modern-day governance and simply addresses what now must be done.Stanger deserves a gold medal for this book. -- BostonGlobe (The Boston Globe) As we debate how many more troops to dispatch to Afghanistan, it might be a good time to also debate just how far weve already gone in hiring private contractors to do jobs that the State Department, Pentagon and C.I.A. once did on their own. A good place to start is with ...One Nation Under Contract. -- Thomas Friedman, New York Times (Thomas Friedman New York Times 2009-11-04) Received Merit of Special Recognition for the 2010 Charles H. Levine Memorial Book Prize, given by The International Political Science Associations Research Committee on the Structure of Governance. (Charles H. Levine Memorial Book Prize International Political Science Assocation 2010-01-01)

Author: László Krasznahorkai File Type: epub From the winner of the 2015 Man Booker International Prize At long last, twenty-five years after the Hungarian genius Laszlo Krasznahorkai burst onto the scene with his first novel, Satantango dances into English in a beautiful translation by George Szirtes. Already famous as the inspiration for the filmmaker Bela Tarrs six-hour masterpiece, Satantango is proof, as the spellbinding, bleak, and hauntingly beautiful book has it, that the devil has all the good times. The story of Satantango, spread over a couple of days of endless rain, focuses on the dozen remaining inhabitants of an unnamed isolated hamlet failures stuck in the middle of nowhere. Schemes, crimes, infidelities, hopes of escape, and above all trust and its constant betrayal are Krasznahorkais meat. At the center of Satantango, George Szirtes has said, is the eponymous drunken dance, referred to here sometimes as a tango and sometimes as a csardas. It takes place at the local inn where everyone is drunk. . . . Their world is rough and ready, lost somewhere between the comic and tragic, in one small insignificant corner of the cosmos. Theirs is the dance of death. You know, Mrs. Schmidt, a pivotal character, tipsily confides, dance is my one weakness.