Public Lands Policy and Economic Trends in Gateway Communities

From the mid‐1960s through 1980, major policy changes were adopted as a result of federal and state public lands protection statutes. This article analyzes the impact these policy changes have had upon the economies of gateway communities, a subject of limited discussion in the scholarly literature. One conclusion is that gateway community economies have become less dependent on resources extraction. This analysis finds that several factors––beyond policy change––have influenced the shift away from resources extraction. Likewise, there is the question over what economic mainstays have stepped in to fill the resources extraction void? For many gateway communities, it appears that the answer has been recreational tourism. The implications of this economic shift within gateway communities are explored.     

Nonpunctuated and Sweeping Policy Change: Bhutan Tobacco Policy Making from 1991 to 2009

This paper examines policy outputs associated with the 2004 Bhutan antitobacco law, including 2009 amendments, to determine if the law is congruent with punctuated equilibrium or social policy realism theories of policy change. There was no direct and sudden tobacco policy output change in Bhutan due to a shock to the policy system contrary to what punctuated equilibrium theory would predict. Rather, policy change was sweeping but nonpunctuated. This paper reconfirms prior findings of social policy realism theory that various and complex policy output patterns occur due to a mixture of contingent and complex factors. Under social policy realism, a complex interplay of factors drive policy with the state, corporate actors, and interest groups, and the market often playing a primary role. These complex policy outputs have a direct impact on society and the natural environment reflected in government policy output actions or inactions.     

The Challenges of Consulting the Public on Science Policy: Examining the Development of European Risk Assessment Policy for Genetically Modified Animals

With the growing importance of public engagement in science policy making and declining levels of public trust in food production, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has attempted to embed “good governance” approaches to strengthen scientific independence and open up risk decision making, which include the use of public consultations. However, “opening up” of risk assessment policies reveals some tensions; namely, balancing the goals of scientific excellence and transparency, protecting science from interests, addressing value judgments, and limited opportunities to debate ethical and social issues. EFSA's development of risk assessment policy for genetically modified animals is used as a case study to analyze these tensions. This analysis suggests that in order to fulfill good governance commitments and maintain trust in risk governance, closer cooperation between EFSA and the European Commission is required to provide “space” for debating the broader risk management issues. This publically accessible space may be needed alongside rather than instead of EFSA's consultation.     

Science and Politics in the Regulation of Genetically Modified Organisms in Brazil

This paper analyzes the regulation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Brazil, focusing on the debates that preceded the enactment in 2005 of the current Biosafety Law and the factors (both domestic and international) that influenced the policy‐making process. More specifically, it identifies the social and governmental actors that influenced the congressional debates, showing how their interests and agenda were translated into two different institutional frameworks. Here, the policy outcome was what we call a “hybrid” and “conciliatory” regulatory model, which formally acknowledges the importance of both technical/scientific and social/political considerations in the evaluation of GMO biosafety and engages most of the stakeholders in the regulatory process. The new policy regime also establishes a middle ground between the conflicting demands of promoting agricultural development and protecting the country's biodiversity.     

Developing Knowledge States: Technology and the Enhancement of National Statistical Capacity

National statistical systems are enterprises tasked with collecting, validating, and reporting societal attributes. These data serve many purposes—they allow governments to improve services, economic actors to traverse markets, and academics to assess social theories. National statistical systems vary in quality, especially in developing countries. This study examines determinants of national statistical capacity in developing countries, focusing on the impact of technological attainment. Just as technological progress helps to explain differences in economic growth, we argue that states with greater technological attainment have greater capacity for gathering and processing quality data. Analysis using panel methods shows a strong, statistically significant positive linear relationship between technological attainment and national statistical capacity.     

Promoting an Environmental Civil Society: Politics,Policy, and Russia's Post‐1991 Experience

In recent years the United Nations Environment Program, UN Conference on Environment and Development, and other international organizations have acknowledged the importance of civil society for engaging stakeholders in environmental change—especially at the local community level—and in promoting democracy. ¹ In Russia, efforts by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to promote reform since 1991 have aimed at achieving both objectives and face numerous political, legal, and attitudinal hurdles. This article examines these hurdles and the factors that facilitate development of an environmentally conscious civil society in Russia through analysis of the views of 100 representatives of environmental NGOs, news media, scientific community, corporations, and public agencies. We also investigate three abbreviated but illustrative vignettes that illuminate civil society impediments. Our thesis is that successful efforts to ensure adequate protection of Russia's environment require a strengthening of civil society.     

经济基础决定上层建筑原理的形成过程及系统论证

本文通过考察马克思、恩格斯在《黑格尔法哲学批判》、《1844年经济学哲学手稿》、《神圣家族》、《德意志意识形态》、《路易.波拿巴的雾月十八日》、《〈政治经济学批判〉序言》等著作中的有关论述,说明了经济基础决定上层建筑的历史唯物主义基本原理的孕育、形成和逐步臻于完善的过程;通过考察恩格斯在《反杜林论》中的有关论述,说明了为什么是经济基础决定上层建筑而不是上层建筑决定经济基础;通过考察马克思晚年《古代社会史笔记》中的有关论述,说明了经济基础决定上层建筑的原理不仅适用于阶级社会,而且也适用于无阶级社会以及从无阶级社会到阶级社会的转变时期;通过考察毛泽东在《关于正确处理人民内部矛盾的问题》中的有关论述,说明了经济基础决定上层建筑的原理也适用于未来的社会主义社会。     

Havel versus Klaus: Public Policy Making in the Czech Republic

In Central and Eastern Europe, we can observe and analyze an ongoing social experiment euphemized as the process of the transformation of totalitarian countries with centrally planned economies into democratic countries with market economies. This article offers an analysis of what has been happening in the Czech Republic in this regard. Attention is given to the impact of political philosophies (those represented by names of Václav Havel and Václav Klaus) upon legal and institutional changes. Key terms for better understanding of these processes are the free market, civil society, civic sector, and participation of citizens in public affairs. Channels, developmental threats, and opportunities for public policy formation and implementation are studied as well.     

Enhancing Public Accountability for Developing Countries: Major Constraints and Strategies

Many Asian countries are attempting to promote public accountability as a part of public-sector reform, but their situation remains unsatisfactory compared to advanced countries. Except for a few, many Asian developing countries are still struggling with political and socioeconomic weaknesses. Indeed, the nature of public sector reform in many Asian developing countries differs substantially from that of advanced countries. Furthermore, the concept of accountability is not interpreted equally throughout the world. Accordingly, the purpose of this article is to review the major constraints to enhancing public accountability in Asian developing countries and to discuss major strategies to promote such accountability from the perspective of developing countries. This article first reviews the concept of accountability and its development, followed by discussion of constraints in enhancing public accountability and public sector reform, key measures to enhance public accountability, and implications and conclusions.     

NGOs and the “Information Society”: Grassroots Advocacy at the UN—A Cautionary Tale

This article looks at the United Nations‐brokered World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in light of nongovernmental organization participation as a full partner in consultations and decisions. Combining participation‐observation fieldwork, interviews, and eye‐witness accounts with a selective content analysis of key WSIS documentation, official and dissenting, the article presents the occupational hazards of this sort of encounter between civil society participants, government, and business sectors as global information and communication technologies (ICTs) and media agenda‐setting partners. It focuses on the hazards of key word strategies in what are now irrevocably computer‐embedded domains for action and access. Hyperlinked textual production and related key word search functionalities are now, I argue, integral to global agenda‐setting in the intertwined areas of ICT, media, and sociocultural policy. This formal encounter between multilateral institutions and social justice and ICT advocacy, online and on the ground, raises new questions for policy research in these domains, questions that require fresh approaches.     

Enhancing Precision and Clarity in the Study of Policy Narratives: An Analysis of Climate and Air Issues in Delhi,India

The study of policy narratives is challenged by inconsistencies and a need for more precise definitions and measurements. The goals of this article are to build precision and clarity in the study of policy narratives by developing a network‐based approach—the ego‐alter dyad—for coding characters and their interactions around a policy issue and then to illustrate this approach in the analysis of air and climate issues in Delhi, India. The empirical results show that (1) the same actors are often heroes and villains, (2) heroes and villains are associated with different actions but with similar victims or beneficiaries, (3) narrators differ in their propensity to tell hero‐heavy or villain‐heavy policy narratives, and (4) the proportion of hero‐heavy or villain‐heavy policy narratives changes over time and differs across subtopics. The article concludes with a research agenda for further theoretical and methodological advancement in studying policy narratives.     

科学技术、公共领域与和谐社会

就科学技术发展来说,“和谐社会”这一概念不仅直接强化了科技对经济社会发展的积极推动作用,而且在其涉及新型工业化道路、环境保护、安全生产、网络伦理等问题方面又显现出了对科技发展的公共价值的相应反思。这意味着可以通过公共领域来把握科技与社会的协调关系问题。科技进步无疑推动了公共领域的兴起和发展,但科技发展及其生态和社会效应本身也可以作为公共问题在公共领域层面获得政治伦理考量。也就是说,在公共领域中通过建构科技公共交往机制,确保公众最大程度地参与科技发展的公共决策,进而推动权力、资本和知识精英围绕着科技与人、自然和社会之间的持续协调发展问题,提出适合公共利益的解决方案,从而促进和谐社会的逐步生成。     

Institutional Actors in the Brazilian Amazon: Possibilities for NGO and Public Sector Collaboration in Rural Agriculture

Public sector institutions in Amazonian Brazil are experiencing structural reforms, budget cuts, and overburdened missions. Services needed to support appropriate resource use practices by rural farmers are gradually being provided by NGOs where the public sector has failed to provide them. But local NGOs are institutionally weak, and their activities are poorly coordinated with other regional service providers. This article analyzes three models for NGO organization and partnership that were designed outside of the Amazon region, and tests their applicability to the small-farming sector in Pará State in the eastern Brazilian Amazon. With some adaptation, these models can effectively help coordinate three overarching needs in the region: institutional strengthening, regional planning, and improving program effectiveness and efficiency.     

Big Data for Policy Analysis: The Good,The Bad,and The Ugly

Big data holds tremendous potential for public policy analysis. At the same time, its use prompts a number of issues related to statistical bias, privacy, equity, and governance, among others. Accordingly, there is a need to formulate, evaluate, and implement policies that not only mitigate the risks, but also maximize the benefits of using big data for policy analysis. This poses a number of challenges, which are highlighted in this essay.     

信息公开、公众参与和开放型政府建设

传统行政管理组织的不透明性、严格的等级制度等,造成了一系列的政府问题。要解决这些问题就必须建立一种新型的政府,即"开放型政府"。开放型政府是一个信息输入与输出的循环体,公众参与即输入的过程,信息公开则是输出的过程,而"开放"就是由一个输入和输出构成的不断互动的环路。建设开放型政府是全球化和知识产业化的必然要求,是民主的必然要求,是世界各国政府建设的必然趋势,它对中国意义更加重要。目前开放型政府建设还存在诸如信息公开不足、公众参与不够等问题,因此,要加强开放型政府建设应该从这两方面入手:通过转变观念、加强立法等促进信息公开;从扩大基层民主、拓宽公民参与渠道等推动公众参与。     

STAR METRICS and the Science of Science Policy

STAR METRICS is a data platform that is being voluntarily and collaboratively developed by U.S. federal science agencies and research institutions to describe investments in science and their results. It initially emerged as a result of reporting requirements associated with the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act; it has developed in response to a recognized need to begin to systematically document federal investments in science and their immediate and long‐term results. The eventual goal is to draw information from existing data on scientific and economic activities as well as from research institutions' and federal science agencies' systems to provide data that can be used for a more scientific analysis of science investments and their outcomes.     

Learning,political regimes and the liberalisation of trade

In this article, the probability of opening to trade is related to a country's propensity to learn from other countries in its region. It is argued that countries have different motivations to learn, depending upon the responsiveness and accountability of their political regimes. Whereas democracies cannot afford to be dogmatic, authoritarian regimes are less motivated to learn from the experience of others, even if they embrace policies that fail. Using data on trade liberalisation for 57 developing countries in the period 1970–1999, it is found that democracies confronting economic crises are more likely to liberalise trade as a result of learning; among democracies, presidential systems seem to learn more, whereas personalist dictatorial regimes are the most resistant to learning from the experience of others.     

Investigating the Implementation of New Public Management in Lebanon Ideas and Realities

This paper is an exploratory study that investigates the status of new public management （NPM） and the obstacles to its implementation within the Republic of Lebanon. The study employs a qualitative approach that examines two complementary data sources. The first data source is obtained from an extensive review of documents related to NPM that are available in the public domain such as policy initiatives and governmental projects. The second data source is obtained from in-depth semi-structured interviews with 40 stakeholders. Data is analyzed, using an iterative thematic content analysis. The findings suggest that the main obstacles that have inhibited the implementation of NPM in most public agencies in Lebanon include： the politicization of administration in the public sector, the lack of stability in the country, the non-targeted inconsistent and insufficient training, several institutional dysfunctions and organizational challenges, the absence of a country-specific applicable model of public management and the unsystematic and non-institutionalized link between concerned international organizations and the Lebanese public agencies. This research is significant as it provides a foundation for institutional practices to improve the design and implementation of NPM in the country. It also contributes to the relevant academic literature and fills a gap in the research on NPM in Lebanon. The paper provides policy recommendations needed to respond to the recurrent calls for administrative reforms in the Arab world especially in the aftermath of the popular uprisings in many of its countries.     

Civil society activism,strategic alignment and international public policy making for spectrum

Academic work has noted a growth in the prominence of civil society in international political-economic life, yet the conditions under which such civil society presence is developed, the ways in which it is manifest and their implications are still incompletely understood. The recent international policy debate on the allocation of spectrum provides a useful case for research aiming to close this gap in knowledge and is the focus of this article. It provides evidence of a significant – though ultimately highly contingent – civil society presence in the spectrum debate. It explains this through the construction of a framework of international civil society strategic alignment. This is used to illustrate and explain the conditions that allowed civil society to articulate its voice and the means through which and how this was achieved. The article contributes to the literature on civil society activism in communications by illustrating both its capacity for action – but also the highly significant limitations placed on it – in utilizing strategic alignment to engage in international public policy making debates.