Public Budgeting in the United States: The Cultural and Ideological Setting

by Steven G. Koven

Overview

Budgeting has long been considered a rational process using neutral tools of financial management, but this outlook fails to consider the outside influences on leaders’ behavior. Steven G. Koven shows that political culture (moralistic, traditionalistic, individualistic) and ideological orientations (liberal vs. conservative) are at least as important as financial tools in shaping budgets.

Koven examines budget formation at the national, state, and local levels to demonstrate the strong influence of attitudes about how public money should be generated and spent. In addition to statistical data, the book includes recent case studies: the 1997 budget agreement; Governor George W. Bush’s use of the budget process to advance a conservative policy agenda in the state of Texas; and Mayor Marion Barry’s abuses of power in Washington, D.C.

Koven demonstrates that administrative principles are at best an incomplete guide for public officials and that budgeters must learn to interpret signals from the political environment.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780878407521
Publisher:	Georgetown University Press
Publication date:	09/07/1999
Series:	Texts and Teaching/Politics, Policy, Administration series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.54(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Steven G. Koven is an associate professor of management and urban policy at the University of Louisville. He is the coauthor of American Public Policy: the Contemporary Agenda (Houghton-Mifflin, 1998).

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. American National and Subnational Cultural Perspective

3. Historical Antecedents of American Culture and Political Ideology

4. Case Studies: Cultural and Ideological Influences on Budgeting: 1997 Tax Reform/Budgeting in Texas/Washington, D.C.

5. Linkages among Culture, Ideology, and Budget Outputs

6. Conclusions

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Steve Koven has given us a pungent and useful study of budgeting in America. His perspective on the cultural underpinning of budgeting is refreshing and unique. The author has gotten beyond the public skin of budgeting and given us a long range and lucid view of the values which structure budgeting. This is a splendid book and a good read for scholars and students alike."—Hank V. Savitch, Urban Studies Institute, University of Louisville

Hank V. Savitch

Steve Koven has given us a pungent and useful study of budgeting in America. His perspective on the cultural underpinning of budgeting is refreshing and unique. The author has gotten beyond the public skin of budgeting and given us a long range and lucid view of the values which structure budgeting. This is a splendid book and a good read for scholars and students alike.

Editorial Reviews

Steve Koven has given us a pungent and useful study of budgeting in America. His perspective on the cultural underpinning of budgeting is refreshing and unique. The author has gotten beyond the public skin of budgeting and given us a long range and lucid view of the values which structure budgeting. This is a splendid book and a good read for scholars and students alike.

Hank V. Savitch

Focuses on the role of concepts of political culture and ideology on public budgetary decisions, aiming to present a fuller picture of budgeting than the traditional view of budgeting as a closed system. Identifies the influences of political culture and ideology on budget outputs, presenting both empirical data and case studies for the purpose of explicating the relationship between a cognitive environment and budget outputs. Discusses historical antecedents of American culture and political ideology, and American national and subnational cultural perspectives, and presents case studies on tax reform of 1997, and budgeting in Texas. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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