The Tools of Government in the Digital Age

by Christopher C. Hood, Helen Z. Margetts

This important new work updates the arguments of Christopher Hood's classic work The Tools of Government for the twenty-first century. Revised and updated throughout and drawing its examples from a wide range of places and contexts, it includes substantially increased coverage of how government gets information and an assessment of how the tools available to government have changed over time--especially with new developments in digital technologies.

218 pages, Paperback

First published July 24, 2007

Reviews

[Leif · Rating 3 out of 5]

A relic with a paint job, this book. The original from the 1980s must have been as conversational as the current version, but perhaps more cohesive. What remains are decent chapters on governmental tools that use a specific language of nodality, effectors, treasury, and organization, but which do not contribute much beyond a semi-systematic description of possible refined descriptions of those four general types of tools. Yet I would hesitate to call it a typology proper as there is too little cohesion and integration as a whole. Unfortunately, the latter half of the book is eminently forgettable and dated.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slightly alarmist but interesting look into how governmental tools need to evolve with technology.