strategies” (p. 43). Roberts briefly mentions that officials should be experts in institutions. From this information, it is not a big leap for readers to infer that administrators are professionals trusted by leaders to do the best job possible and reprimanded for failure to meet expectations. Even so, there is a feeling of incompleteness, challenging intellectual puzzles still to be cracked. Roberts’s book is a real bottomless well of research ideas ready to be pursued by scholars, especially junior ones. The book would also be useful for directors of graduate programs in PA interested in equipping students with the mindset and tools to address the big picture. IULIIA SHYBALKINA University of Kentucky The Power of Accountability: Offices of Inspector General at the State and Local Levels by Robin J. Kempf. Lawrence, University Press of Kansas, 2020. 192 pp. $45.00. In July 2020, the National Intergovernmental Audit Forum (NIAF) vir- tually joined federal, state, and local auditors and Offices of Inspector General (OIGs) to discuss “Accountability in Challenging Times and Building Auditor Resilience.” As Robin Kempf highlights in her book The Power of Accountability, these kinds of neo‐institutional processes establish and perpetuate “logics of appropriateness” that create and reinforce norms of accountability. Through an in‐depth examination of the conceptualization, design, and implementation of state and local OIGs, Kempf shows how these norms help ensure that OIGs adopt and evolve strategies to pursue ac- countability despite practical and political obstacles. This book is an important contribution to the study of OIGs at all levels. During the NIAF, one presenter remarked that OIGs are “expected to be auditors, investigators, evaluators, and analysts…with competing skillsets needed to generate evidence to support auditing and investigatory func- tions.” One of Kempf’s most valuable contributions is a critical study of how these evidentiary responsibilities are shaped by and respond to political forces. Her collection of quantitative and interview data creates an engaging narrative of the experience of OIG staff navigating this environment. A major contribution of this research is a detailed account of the growth of OIGs with key insights into differences in structure, independence, and responsibility. This offers a guide for policymakers and advocates to consider whether the OIG idea could be a useful tool in other contexts and describes a 392 | BOOK REVIEWS Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/psq/article/136/2/392/6848643 by guest on 13 January 2023