Research

California's Golden Years: When Government Worked and Why

William T. Bagley
2009

"Politics is personal," Bill Bagley likes to say, and here is a personal journey through the politics of America's most extraordinary state. California's Golden Years offers tales of cash-filled envelopes, all-night poker games, and all the free liquor a legislator could drink. But the stories and anecdotes offer more than mere fun - they illuminate a larger lesson learned during Bagley's 14 years in the California Legislature. Personal relationships are, in Bagley's view, the glue that ensures working relationships and pragmatic compromises. "Those who play together," he writes, "...

Globalization's Muse: Universities and Higher Education Systems in a Changing World

John Aubrey Douglass
C. Judson King
Iriwn Feller
2009

Universities have become a widely recognized route to full participation in the knowledge society. They serve as an unparalleled source of knowledge production, a foundation for modern science, an unequaled generator of talent, and a nearly required path for socioeconomic mobility. But how do we build, nurture, and sustain these crucial institutions? Globalization's Muse helps to answer those questions, informing both policymakers and educators of the profound efforts by governments and institutions, and reminding both groups that in this complex and evolving environment, the United...

California in the Balance: Why Budgets Matter

John Decker
2009

Why is California broke? California in the Balance offers a precise analysis of the Golden State's fiscal condition - from the process used to write the state budget to the reasons for chronic deficits to the possible paths to stability. Here are the details of California's financial woes, laid out step-by-step by one of the state's leading budgetary experts. In a book recommended by both Republicans and Democrats, John Decker makes plain his extraordinary knowledge of California's budget. With a foreword by California Treasurer Bill Lockyer.

The People’s University: A History of the California State University

Donald R. Gerth
2010

Since its founding as a single institution in San Francisco in the years after the Gold Rush, the California State University has grown into a system of 23 campuses that enroll more than 450,000 students. The People’s University is the story of that extraordinary growth. Today, the California State University is the state’s 1,000-mile campus. Its programs reach every corner of the state, and its mission of access, affordability, and quality touches countless people of all ages.

Negotiation Alchemy: Global Skills Inspiring & Transforming Diverging Worlds

Nancy Erbe
2011

Negotiation Alchemy is the result of the author's work with cross ethnic process around the world for over two decades. To date, Professor Erbe's clients, colleagues and students come from about eighty countries, including several war-torn nations. The book presents several case study examples of success using the tools and skills of integrative negotiation and facilitative mediation within multicultural process. Extended case studies are presented of negotiation, conflict resolution and peacebuilding in Cameroon, cross ethnic dialogue in the Balkans, court-mandated mediation in Nepal, and...

The United States and the Turmoil in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Ahmed Rashid
2012

Ahmed Rashid, as characterized by noted journalist Christopher Hitchens, is “Pakistan’s best and bravest reporter.” Rashid’s unique knowledge of this vast and complex region allows him a panoramic vision and nuance that no western writer can emulate. His book, Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia, first introduced American readers to the brutal regime that hijacked Afghanistan and harbored the terrorist group responsible for the 9/11 attacks. In Descent into Chaos: The U.S. and the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and...

More Votes That Count: A Case Study in Voter Mobilization

Robert Benedetti, editor
2012

This collection grew from the experience of a group of scholars at the University of the Pacific who were challenged by the San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters to reduce voter error, improve poll worker-training, and increase voting by mail (absentee voting). The project was supported by funds from the help America Vote Act (HAVA), legislation passed in the wake of Florida's experience in the 2000 presidential election, and by the Pew Foundation for the States. Its immediate context was a controversy in California over the use of voting machines, a controversy that resulted in a...

Governing California: Politics, Government, and Public Policy in the Golden State (3rd edition)

Ethan Rarick, editor
2013
Who are the people of California, and what do they believe politically? How do Californians choose their leaders, and how do those leaders govern once they are in power? How has California confronted some of its greatest public policy challenges?

These are the questions that underlie this in-depth and careful examination of America’s mega-state. This book uses the latest research and scholarship to explore California’s civil society – how an extraordinarily complex state of 37 million people governs itself through politics and policy.

The results paint a complex and ever-changing...

Remotely Operated Systems: Myths and Reality

Norton A. Schwartz
2013

General Norton A. Schwartz retired as the Chief of Staff of the US Air Force (CSAF) on Oct 1, 2012, after serving over 39 years in the Air Force. A graduate of the US Air Force Academy, General Schwartz began his service as a pilot with the airlift out of Vietnam in 1975, and was the first CSAF who piloted special operations transport planes and helicopters as a primary discipline. He helped lead a joint special operations task force during the Gulf War in 1991 and later served as the strategic planner for the Air Force, the second-in-command of the US Special Operations Command, and...

Business at Berkeley: The History of the Haas School of Business

Sandra Epstein
2016

Founded by a gift of benefactor Cora Jane Flood in 1898, the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley is the second oldest business school in the country. Its upward trajectory from a “College of Commerce” to its top-ranked position today owes as much to its place as it does to its people and culture. Its affiliation with Berkeley has ensured rigorous academic research while its location at the heart of Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area has placed it at the forefront of innovative developments in business, technology, and society. Providing access...