In Governance in the 21st Century, Morris Bosin offers an integrated approach in addressing real world governance challenges.
Divided into four broad sections, Bosin begins in Part 1 by introducing the nature of governance, its use in the public and private sector, and at different levels in our society. Part 2covers traditional and emerging approaches to governance and reviews the various epistemological roots that frame our understanding of governance approaches. Part 3 includes a detailed discussion of the three components of his proposed approach to an expanded view of governance – requisite variety, complexity, and reflexivity. Part 4 illustrates the application of this approach through the use of case studies targeted at selected Federal agencies as well as at specific societal issues including the FDA's Drug Review Program, Bureau of Indian Education Program, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, COVID 19, and Police Department Strategies.
Crossing traditional disciplinary lines, Bosin’s integrated approach will guide the academic community as well as practitioners toward a more holistic view of governance and offer generic solutions that can be adapted to any number of issues that portend transformational change for society.
Part 1
1. Purpose of Text
2. Governance Defined
Part 2
3. Epistemological Paradigms
4. The Range of Governance Approaches
5. Requisite Variety
Part 3
6. Complexity
7. Reflexivity
8. The Integrated Governance Concept
Part 4
9. U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Drug Review Program
10. Indian Affairs – Bureau of Indian Education
11. U.S. Customs and Border Protection
12. Integrating the Governance Concepts – Crosscutting Challenges
Biography
Morris Bosin is adjunct professor at the University of Maryland Global Campus and a part-time consultant working with various Federal agencies.
"Morris Bosin's extensively researched Governance in the 21st Century is an amazing, in-depth analysis of the dynamical challenges facing all of us. He explores the new roles for leaders, the challenges of boundary management, and the need to develop new thinking. He uses the ideas of requisite variety, complexity, and reflexivity to integrate all the myriad of ideas into a framework for the governance processes to engage the future successfully. Congratulations on this fine work."
Richard N. Knowles, Ph.D.
"Morris Bosin’s book, Governance in the 21st Century, is an important step forward in using ideas from systems theory and cybernetics to understand the governance process. I like that he uses the three ideas – requisite variety, complexity, and reflexivity. These ideas are now widely known in the systems and cybernetics community but are not yet well known among managers and public administrators. His explanation of these ideas along with examples from several government agencies is a very important contribution. Thank you for writing the book."
Stuart A. Umpleby, Professor Emeritus, Department of Management, George Washington University
"Making the important distinction between administration and governance, Dr. Bosin examines and broadens the definition of governance and its role in today's society. Combining three important concepts from cybernetics, law of requisite variety, complexity, and reflexivity, into an integrated approach allows for a new understanding of the requirements of governance. The case studies provide the needed examples of how this approach can be applied to real world scenarios. An excellent contribution to the study of governance."
Valarie C. Lamont, Ph.D.
"Morris Bosin’s focus on requisite variety, complex adaptive systems, and reflexivity as applied to governmental actions would have been invaluable to us at Commerce’s Office of Program Evaluation and at Al Gore’s National Performance Review – and today throughout the Government Accountability Office, especially GAO’s Duplication and Cost Savings reports. Wherever and whenever any governmental body reviews situations perhaps needing intervention, considers taking action, or evaluates similar efforts at home or abroad, this book needs to be at hand – not only for in depth looks at requisite variety, complex adaptive systems, and reflexivity, but also for the overall perspectives provided."
Robert Knisely, Former Advisor on Vice President Gore’s ‘Reinventing Government’ Initiative
