Traditional rulers and development administration: Chieftaincy in Niger,Nigeria, and Vanuatu

Although the paramountcy of chiefs was undone by colonial rule, traditional rulers have served as important adjuncts in the administration of post-colonial government in both Africa and Oceania. This paper examines the evolution of the chieftaincy, particularly as an agent of administration, in West Africa (Niger and Nigeria) and Melanesia (Vanuatu). Although French and British colonial regimes had distinctive policies regarding the use of “their” chiefs, post-colonial Nigérien, Nigerian, and ni-Vanuatu governments have all come to rely on traditional rulers to aid in development activities. The degree of autonomy retained by traditional rulers varies, however: it is highest in Vanuatu, lowest in Niger. Differing conceptions and uses of tradition and “custom” help explain these variations. Five modern functions of traditional rulers are identified as contributing to development administration: 1) linkage or “brokering” between grassroots and capital; 2) extension of national identity through the conferral of traditional titles; 3) low-level conflict resolution and judicial gate-keeping; 4) ombudsmanship; and 5) institutional safety-valve for overloaded and subapportioned bureaucracies. Creating educated chieftaincies significantly enhances the effectiveness of traditional rulers' contributions to development and administration. William F.S. Miles is chair of the Development Administration Concentration (Public Administration Program) and associate professor of political science at Northeastern University in Boston. Some of his recent articles have appeared inAfrican Studies Review, theAmerican Political Science Review, andComparative Politics. Professor Miles's two forthcoming books areImperial Burdens: Countercolonialism in Former French India (Lynne Rienner Publishers) andHausaland Divided: Colonialism and Independence in Nigeria and Niger (Cornell University Press). Please address correspondence     

East Africa's pastoralist emergency: is climate change the straw that breaks the camel's back?

The global warming trend of climate change is having severe adverse effects on the livelihoods of the Turkana pastoralists of northwestern Kenya. Care has to be taken in making assertions about the impact of climate change. The biggest effects may come not from lower average rainfall but from a widening of the standard deviation as weather extremes become more frequent. In a region already prone to drought, disease and conflict, climate change, access to modern weapons and new viral livestock diseases are now overwhelming pastoralists' coping capacity and deepening the region's roughly 30-year dependency on famine relief. This article examines the livelihood strategies of the Turkana and several poverty reduction programmes currently established, while addressing the reality that traditional pastoralism may no longer be a viable livelihood option, given the effects of climate change, disease and the ensuing conflict over diminishing resources. The findings conclude that the future for traditional Turkana pastoralists is dismal because they continue to depend on an environment that may no longer support them. Humanitarians are recommended to shift their focus to advocate and invest in alternative livelihood strategies that generate economic independence and help the Turkana adapt to their changing environment.     

Which Dictators Produce Quality of Government?

This study deals with the effects of authoritarian regimes on state capacity or the quality of government (QoG): do some types of dictatorship (military, monarchy, and civilian) perform better than others? More importantly, which are the mechanisms through which different authoritarian rulers produce better government? The article argues theoretically, first, that single-party regimes are more responsive to citizens’ demands than other types of authoritarian rule because they have a structured mechanism to channel citizens’ “voices” (the single party). As a consequence, they will provide QoG following societal demands, which are low in low-income countries and high in high-income ones. Second, the effect of the other relevant authoritarian types—monarchies and military regimes—is exclusively conditional on rulers’ self-interests. We predict that with short-sighted rulers, monarchies and military regimes will tend to under-provide QoG. In contrast, when monarchs and military rulers have long-term horizons, these types of authoritarian regimes will have a positive effect on QoG. Employing a sample of over 70 authoritarian countries from 1983 to 2003, we find empirical support for these interactive effects. In single-party autocracies, the higher (lower) the average income, the higher (the lower) the QoG; while albeit weaker support than the first finding, in monarchies in particular, the longer (shorter) the government’s time horizon, the higher (the lower) the QoG.     

Fighting for the right to play: women’s football and regime-loyal resistance in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This paper seeks to contribute to the scholarship on women and social change in Saudi Arabia through the case of female football players in Riyadh. Officially, there has been no women’s football in the kingdom, but beneath the surface women have been playing for more than a decade. The women are actively promoting and engaging in change and women’s opportunities to practise sport by building organisations, creating awareness, and negotiating norms and regulations. They are not in opposition to the regime, but supportive of reforms in favour of increased rights for women, while seeing conservative elements in the society as their opponents and the royal family as their allies. They are thus engaging in what O’Brian and Li termed ‘rightful resistance’, by deploying the language of the rulers to express their perspectives and aims, and are engaged in a three-party game with the rulers and conservatives, where divisions within the state and elite allies matter greatly.     

EXECUTIVE EDUCATION FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT: A SURVEY

ABSTRACT

Executive education is a growth industry in the United States. Executive education programs and, more particularly, the variety of teaching techniques they use, promise to be key issues in the field of public administration in as much as they may be precursors of techniques and technology that will be used in more traditional teaching venues. This study reports the results of a survey of executive education programs conducted in 1998 under the auspices of the South Carolina Executive Institute. The survey covered four areas – curriculum, participants, faculty, and program administration. We conclude that the immediate future of executive education likely will be marked by a continuing emphasis on customization, experimental learning, and rigorous evaluation of the results. Two areas in which there are likely to be more significant departures from existing practices in public sector executive education are program alliances and the use of new communications and information technology.     

Electoral Engineering in the Russian Regions (2003–2017)

Abstract

This article addresses the puzzle of electoral engineering in autocracies using data from three rounds of Russian regional legislative elections between 2003 and 2017. The analysis shows that electoral engineering was widespread in regions where governors lacked the resources necessary to rely on blatant forms of electoral malpractice for the benefit of United Russia. This pattern became evident during the third round of regional legislative elections. The study indicates that the manipulation of electoral systems may be important for authoritarian rulers when they are unable to rely on blatant electoral malpractice to ensure the certainty of electoral outcomes.     

Twilight of impunity for Africa's presidential criminals

This article tracks the fate of six former African tyrants all accused of crimes against humanity: Charles Taylor; Mengistu Haile Mariam; Hissène Habré; Idi Amin, Mobutu Sese Seko and Jean‐Bédel Bokassa. It examines the politics that have determined their fate and finds that, despite changes in international law and opinion since the Cold War, impunity still prevails. Western governments are still willing to trump justice with politics; and African presidents still offer solidarity to club members. For recent tyrants, life is only a little more difficult than it was for older ones. Yet their future may be tougher as the globalisation of justice begins to bite. None will be comfortable with the powers granted the International Criminal Court; nor with western disregard of state sovereignty as it targets heads of government still in office who are deemed guilty of international crime. Even the new African Union has abandoned the doctrine of non‐interference.     

Illiberal democracy and the future of opposition in Singapore

There are quite a number of ways by which politics in Singapore can be meaningfully approached. One perspective is to focus on the guiding beliefs and values of the People’s Action Party (PAP) governing elite and its nature of state governance since its assumption of power in 1959; it has ruled the state continuously since then. Its success in turning Singapore into a modern metropolis the envy of many has helped to buttress and legitimise its rule. Despite the growing criticisms, especially by the opposition parties, of the highly regulated manner by which the country has been managed, the PAP government, led by its first and former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, and now by Goh Chok Tong, has unrepentantly stuck to its long-held world-view and governing paradigm. To the government, Singapore’s rapid economic growth and political stability could not have been achieved if the country were to follow the Western liberal democratic path and its attendant notions of development. While gradually allowing for greater citizen participation in the formulation of policies in more recent times, the present leadership, mindful of opening up a Pandora’s box, is still cautiously wary of the growth of a more pluralistic political environment; hence, its preference for what can be described as an illiberal, (soft) authoritarian democratic culture. Given this particular regime mindset and its parameters of governance, it is indeed a Herculean task for Opposition parties to make any significant inroads in the Republic’s future politics. However, all may not be lost for opposition parties and for those aspiring to see the evolution of a civil society. If they can capitalise on some probable future happenings—such as intra-party PAP factionalism consequent to the departure of the ‘old guard’, a prolonged economic downturn, and the rise of a new educated, IT generation—then their political future may hold some promise.     

Cointegration and market integration: An application to the Indonesian rice market

This article suggests improvements in the use of regression analysis to measure spatial market integration. The procedure pioneered by Ravallion is still widespread but is valid only under certain conditions of exogeneity. The alternative offered here is an error‐correction mechanism which makes it possible to test for exogeneity as well as indicating the direction and strength of causality in price formation between markets. The method is illustrated with data on rice prices in different parts of the Indonesian market. The results confirm, among other things, that supply sources are more important than demand sources in driving prices.     

NIGEL BALCHIN AND THE POLITICS OF SOUNDNESS

The bulk of Nigel Balchin's fiction follows the same pattern – a sound male character observing an unsound one; his plots are occasionally more complicated, as when a character examines critically his own soundness or when scientific soundness is transformed into political unacceptability. The novels are therefore a good guide to soundness as a golden mean. But rulers need to balance sense and vision. Balchin questions the value of bureaucratic games in modern organizations which harm a balanced resolution. It is surprising that as a psychologist who understands the pragmatic of interpersonal politics in organizations he failed himself to acquire the depth of vision of a great political novelist.     

Society and transition in post-Soviet Russia

Applying traditional notions of the concept `political cleavage' to Russian society is premature. Judicious analysis of public opinion data demonstrates that, despite any statistically significant differences of opinion that may exist, major Russian social groups have substantively similar attitudes toward economic reform. As economic issues are likely to dominate political life in Russia for the foreseeable future, the homogeneity of opinion on those issues minimizes the potential for socially based political cleavages. This social environment weakens the rationale for adherence to democratic institutions, which are essentially a means for peaceful mediation of societal conflicts.     

“She has done me no work”: language and power asymmetry in impoverished families in Poland

Based on an in-depth semantic analysis of interviews with poor Polish couples living in a foreclosed state farm and the examination of the so-called “linguistic sexism” of the Polish language, the author shows that despite a manifest change in the social context of poor households, power relations within impoverished rural married couples still remain the same. The traditional power imbalance can be observed at the level of the respondents’ utterances, especially with regard to gender roles, work and household duties, dowries and inheritance. In households with downwardly mobile men, husbands tend to assert even more symbolic power than in households in which the husbands have jobs, even if low-paying ones. Wives of downwardly mobile men in the community studied are inclined to verbally support their husbands and patriarchal family relations, despite the fact that often the traditional basis of patriarchy—economic providership—is now women’s responsibility also.     

Social services to claim legitimacy: comparing autocracies’ performance

ABSTRACT

Autocrats cannot rule by repression and co-optation alone, and need to instil some sense of legitimacy in the populace. Lacking democratic legitimacy, and being in shortage of other identity-based sources of diffuse support, legitimation claims in post-Cold War autocracies increasingly rests on rulers’ ability to achieve concrete outcomes, including the improvement of citizen living conditions. However, autocracies differ from each other, and different institutional arrangements could influence a leader’s ability to deliver social services, and chase performance-based legitimation. Accordingly, this article compares the social service performance of different post-Cold War authoritarian regimes. The analysis demonstrates that so-called electoral autocracies outperform single-party and military regimes, although they show a capacity to provide for their citizens that is similar to hereditary regimes. These findings suggest that the legitimacy returns of introducing semi-competitive and participatory institutions could grow exponentially. Besides procedural legitimacy, these institutions could help rulers pursue legitimation through social services.     

欧盟在中美之间的艰难选择——基于“蛋糕主义”视角的分析

在中美战略竞争的背景下,美国要求欧盟国家与其联手遏制中国,抵制中国在欧洲的基础设施建设和投资。欧盟陷入两难境地,一边是为欧洲诸国提供安全保障的传统盟友美国,另一边是给欧洲带来经济利益的合作伙伴中国。大多数欧洲国家和欧盟实际上在实施一种“蛋糕主义”的平衡策略,即在中美之间“不选边站队”,保持一种矛盾和摇摆的立场,同时它们也希望能够避免因得罪任何一方而遭受重大利益损失。欧盟国家非常清楚这种策略只是一种权宜之计,只有进一步加强战略自主,从根本上提升欧盟的防务能力和外交自主权,才能拯救欧洲,并在此基础上发展欧洲。中国需要认识到欧盟目前的骑墙状态无法长期持续,因为美国如果加大对欧盟的施压力度或者对欧盟作出更有利的安全承诺,欧盟国家大概率会回归美国的怀抱,进而联手应对中国。对中国来说,应该鼓励欧盟“不选边站队”,因为总体上让欧盟偏向中国是不现实的,欧盟能够保持中立对中国来说在理论上是一种次优选择,在现实中也可能是最优选择。今后的中美欧三边关系存在较大不确定性,欧盟的战略空间可能会缩小,需要在中、美两强之间艰难地维持平衡。     

Prospects for a European Identity

In several respects, the EU represents both a novel system of quasi-supranational governance and a novel form of political community or polity. But it is also a fragile construction for it remains a community still in the making with an ambiguous sense of identity and within which powerful forces are at work. This paper has three main aims: first, to stress the shifting nature of Europe??s geographical frontiers and assess whether cultural frontiers have remained more stable throughout time. In particular, it examines the main criteria, which have traditionally been employed when having to decide who should be included and excluded from Europe. A different question concerns the requirements for EU membership and the monopoly of the adjective ??European?? by the EU, which somehow has become to be identified with Europe. Second, to explore the prospects for the emergence of a European identity. Here, I argue that European identity stands as a ??non-emotional identity?? in sharp contrast with traditional forms of national identity associated with intense nationalist feelings. Third, through the analysis of the most recent Eurobarometer (annual survey of EU??s public opinion) to examine the views of Europeans regarding the EU at a time of a major global economic crisis. To conclude, the paper explores the main challenges to be faced by a still incipient European identity.     

Scrutiny and the Political Party Group in UK Local Government: New Models of Behaviour

The introduction, via the Local Government Act 2000, of political executives held to account by influential overview and scrutiny committees challenges fundamentally the traditional operations of the party group system. This paper uses evidence from a variety of sources (including the experience of Parliamentary select committees) to explore how councillors are managing the tensions between party group loyalty and the expectation surrounding the operation of scrutiny. Four models of party group behaviour are identified with the group acting as partner, arbitrator, filter and Leviathan respectively. These typologies are then used (together with research evidence) to interpret the circumstances in which effective scrutiny may be aided or hindered by party group dynamics. Three alternative scenarios, which illustrate the impact of different political dynamics on the effectiveness of scrutiny, are identified and explored. It is concluded that the success of the overview and scrutiny experiment is by no means assured and faced with the intransigent nature of most party group behaviour, the future of effective scrutiny hangs in the balance.     

The relevance of legitimation – a new framework for analysis

ABSTRACT

The legitimacy of political orders is an important reference point in political analysis, but the concept is difficult to operationalize and measure – particularly in those countries where legitimacy is critical, i.e. cases of political transformation, non-democratic rule and high state fragility. To be successful, legitimation (the process by which legitimacy is procured) has to fulfil two functions: relate demands for legitimation to government performance (the ‘demand cycle’), and relate legitimacy claims issued by the rulers to behavioural patterns of the ruled (the ‘supply cycle’). Looking at the recent academic debate, the article finds that empirical research has largely ignored the demand cycle, while attempts to explore the relationships underlying the supply cycle tend to suffer from misconceptions of basic terms. The article proposes a framework for empirical enquiry that addresses both shortcomings.     

COMPETITIVE TENDERING IN THE NHS: AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS' OF THE EARLY IMPLEMENTATION OF HC(83)18

Economic theory identifies circumstances where in-house production can be expected to be more efficient, in terms of the cost of production, than purchase from outside contractors. However, this efficiency advantage can also expect to be dissipated when in-house producers face no competition. The introduction of competitive tendering does not invalidate the case for in-house production; but significant cost savings can still be expected.
An in-depth analysis is made of six contracts put out to tender in the three hotel-type services. Markets for contracts were created, and open competition commonly brought about savings of one-third to two-thirds. Part of the cost saving was often achieved through a rationalization of services. Economic theory does not predict this result; but NHS management used the opportunities to introduce changes. Wage rates were usually cut and earnings fell by still more. Staff resignations and redundancies were common.     

Soviet legacies,organized crime,and economic gangsterism: Russia, 1995–2010

In countries like Russia, where legal institutions providing political accountability and protection of property rights are weak, some elite actors accept the use of violence as a tool in political and economic competition. The intensity of this violent exposure may vary depending on the position the province had had in the Soviet administrative hierarchy. The higher the province's position before 1991, the greater the intensity of business violence one is likely to observe there in post-communist times, because the Soviet collapse left a more gaping power vacuum and lack of working informal rules in regions with limited presence of traditional criminal organizations. Post-Soviet entrepreneurs also often find it worthwhile to run for office or financially back certain candidates in order to secure a privileged status and the ability to interpret the law in their favor. Businessmen-candidates themselves and their financial backers behind the scenes may become exposed to competitive pressures resulting in violence during election years, because their competitors may find it hard to secure their position in power through the existing legal or informal non-violent means. To test whether Soviet legacies and Provincial elections indeed cause spikes in commerce-motivated violence, this project relies on an original dataset of more than 6000 attacks involving business interests in 74 regions of Russia, in 1991–2010. The results show that only legislative elections cause increases in violence while there is no firm evidence that executive polls have a similar effect.     

Open Government Information: Challenges Faced by Public Human Resource Management in China

The implementation in China of the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Open Government Information, on May 1, 2008, is considered a potential turning point, a shift from traditional public administration characterized by an entrenched culture of secrecy toward more transparent and accountable administration practices. This article shows, however, that due to a variety of institutional constraints, the implementation of the Regulations is still lacking. Although the success of an open government information (OGI) regime in China ultimately relies on thorough political and administrative reforms, this article presents the argument that short of drastic political system change, the implementation of the Regulations could be improved by adopting innovations at the management level. This article suggests that the Chinese government adopt new human resource management strategies in leadership, training, and performance management that are compatible with OGI in order to significantly improve the implementation of the Regulations. An incremental approach to improving OGI implementation in China will finally pave the way for future political reform.