Public policy inquiry and advice as an aspect of constitutional reform

This article presents for the first time an outline of a classified review of the many types (some 20) of public policy inquiry or review exercises used in British public affairs. They are mainly created by the government but are also increasingly promoted by private bodies hoping to influence government and the established specialist interests in a policy field by supplying free and authoritative information and recommendations. A brief commentary on each of these ‘decision advice processes’ (DAPs) draws out their changing profile and questions the democratic propriety of the executive itself now investigating or reviewing important public policy issues which were, until quite recently, unquestioningly given out by departments for external and (normally) independent‐minded commissions and committees of inquiry to study and recommend upon. The question of whether the current movement for constitutional reform should include the overall ‘decision advice process’ and place it on a more independent and authoritative basis is raised. A parliamentary, rather than (or as well as) an executive, basis for most official ‘DAPs’ is proposed, while the currently flourishing practice of charitable foundations, think‐tanks and established interest groups promoting unofficial DAPs for the information and guidance of the government, parliament and the public is endorsed.     

我国农村公共信息服务建设与地方政府责任

本文认为,深化农村公共信息服务建设,各级地方政府责任重大,但当务之急是处理好地方财政投入力度不足、地方政府角色定位失当、地方政府职能转变迟滞问题.为此,应建立健全各级地方政府部门主导下的多元投资机制;建立健全各级地方政府部门涉农公共服务机制;建立健全农民公共信息需求表达及反馈机制;建立健全由广大农民积极参与的监督机制;建立健全各级地方政府部门的相关决策及规划机制;建立健全科学有效的农村公共信息服务评估机制.     

合理制定公共政策的路径：有效利用决策信息系统

决策信息系统是公共政策制定系统的基础和前提,政策制定者进行科学决策必须依赖可靠的信息系统,借助该系统提供的准确、及时、有效的信息。然而我国当前的政策信息系统却受诸多因素的制约,未能完全发挥作用。因此,要合理制定公共政策,就必须努力寻求消除这些制约因素的对策,有效利用决策信息系统。     

Nanotechnology in Global Medicine and Human Biosecurity: Private Interests, Policy Dilemmas, and the Calibration of Public Health Law

This paper considers how best to approach dilemmas posed to global health and biosecurity policy by increasing advances in practical applications of nanotechnology. The type of nano-technology policy dilemmas discussed include: (1) expenditure of public funds, (2) public-funded research priorities, (3) public confidence in government and science and, finally, (4) public safety. The article examines the value in this context of a legal obligation that the development of relevant public health law be calibrated against less corporate-influenced norms issuing from bioethics and international human rights.     

地方官员政策偏好的风险防范及整合

地方官员因其处于特殊的地方权力体系当中,故其个人偏好容易代替社会偏好直接进入政策制定过程,造成公共政策的决策风险加大。分析地方官员政策偏好特别是不良偏好的表现形态及原因,寻找地方官员政策偏好风险防范及有效整合措施,保证决策的民主化和科学化,是地方政府公共政策制定和实施中的重要课题。     

Mad cows and democratic governance: BSE and the coonstruction of a “free market” in the UK

The Conservative government elected in 1979 was ideologically committed to deregulation and removed many of the state's previously established regulatory procedures. The policy permitted important changes in the structure of the meat rendering industry and in the processes employed by it. These changes were directly responsible for the spread of BSE through the British cattle herd and lead to a rising incidence of the human form of BSE – variant-CJD. The British Government – and particularly MAFF – sought to defend the meat industry by denying – until March 1996 – both the seriousness of the BSE epidemic in cattle and the possibility of a species jump from cattle to the human population. Ministers and officials insisted that beef was safe to eat and underpinned this stance by providing misleading or inaccurate information to Parliament and the public. This deception was made possible by officials having the power to manipulate the scientific evidence and to prevent research and the publication of research findings. The British Government also succeeded in obstructing European Union directives from 1990 and in intimidating the Commission. MAFF equated the “public interest” with that of the meat rendering industry and consistently put the financial interests of the dominant firms above public health. The conspiracy of silence and the deceits employed to hide the increased risks resulting from infectious agents carried by food and the public health implications of deregulation reflect not only the broad economic and industrial policy of the then government and its agencies, but also the state's lack of independence from industrial and financial interests. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

论公共信息管理系统在提升政府危机管理能力中的作用

公共信息在帮助政府及时地识别和界定危机、迅速地进行危机决策、协调各方面的力量应对危机等方面具有重要的作用。目前我国政府公共信息管理方面还存在着机构设置不合理、管理机制不健全等欠缺。我们应该在加强对公共信息认识的基础上,通过建设完善的公共信息资源库、建立健全的信息公开制度和强化与媒体的良好合作关系等方式健全和完善我国的公共信息管理系统,提升我国政府危机管理能力。     

The curious case of Housing First: the limits of evidence based policy

Evidence Based Policy has been articulated and practiced in Europe, particularly under the ‘New Labour’ policies of the former Labour government in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the impact of research on policy has been inconsistent due to differing relationships between researchers and policy makers. This paper gives an overview of evidence based policy and presents critiques based on its reliance on positivist methods and technical approach to policy making. Using these critiques as a framework, the paper discusses the case of Housing First, a policy adopted by the Bush Administration in order to address the problem of chronic homelessness. The case is an example of research driven policy making but also resulted in a progressive policy being promoted by a conservative administration. In discussing the case, the paper elaborates on the relationship between evidence and policy, arguing that evidence based policy fails to integrate evidence and values into policy deliberations. The paper concludes with alternative models of policy decision making and their implications for research.     

The effect of publicness on the energy technology decision process

Publicness, a concept developed by public administration theorists, is a measure of government influence on an organizational process. This study examines the effect of publicness on the flow and movement of the energy technology decision process. The study finds that technology service providers have the potential for adversely affecting the technology decision process of service recipients by increasing paperwork, conflict, and decision time. The study suggests that a greater understanding of the multiple forms of publicness can help technology service providers minimize disruptions and administrative costs for service recipients. It lays the groundwork for more extensive research into how economic development agencies, state universities, federal laboratories, and other service providers affect the technology decision process of private firms.     

On-line Citizenship: Consultation and Participation in New Labour's Britain and Beyond

This article looks critically at how the Labour Government in the United Kingdom is using technology to connect with citizens. Although the UK Online and Citizen's Portal initiative may improve the level of service in transactions between government and citizens it is argued that such an approach misses out on the possibilities of using technology to re-invigorate democracy by creating a new public space where participatory decision making can enhance a wider project of democratic renewal. After reviewing briefly the background of government using technology, the article examines ideas of participatory democracy and endorses a normative ideal of democracy as political communication within a model of democratic process where citizens must engage with one another and with government in a genuinely neutral public space. The potential of technology to enhance democratic decision making is reviewed and a model of participatory decision making for computer support is outlined. This is followed by an overview of the range of computer support tools that are available to develop such a model.     

基本公共服务均等化中的效率问题研究——以广州市公共文化服务为例

基本公共服务均等化作为一项具有战略意义的重大决策,如何实现公平与效率的平衡是一个恒久的议题。本文以广州市公共文化服务为例,在对相关情况进行调研的基础上,重点围绕如何提升广州市基本公共服务均等化的现有效率问题进行了一定的研究和设计,以期为政府进一步完善并有效推进基本公共服务均等化的制度与政策安排提供决策参考。     

北京市东城区公众参与机制研究

推行公众参与对完善政府决策机制、维护公众利益、加强基层政府自身建设具有重要意义,通过完善政府信息收集系统、信息传送系统、智力支持系统、信息交互平台、民间组织培育等基础性工作和可操作性的制度建设,建立起和谐有序、持续互动的城区治理模式,是一种有益尝试。     

Using the Wrong Policy Tools: Education,Charity, and Public Benefit

A recent decision on the application of public benefit under the Charities Act 2006 sidestepped the political debate surrounding the charitable status of independent fee‐charging schools. The broader political context nevertheless underscores the legislative reforms, and this article questions whether the new statutory public benefit requirement has utility as a welfare policy tool in the field of education. It examines the public benefit requirement in charity law against the backdrop of government policy towards education and the broader political agenda for a mixed economy of welfare provision, and argues that the difficulties Labour faced in developing its education policies were replicated in the application of the post‐Act public benefit requirement to fee‐charging schools. As a result, achieving broader policy goals for widening educational opportunity through public benefit was almost impossible given the regulatory framework and the principles upon which charity law is founded.     

Privacy,stigma and public protection: A socio-legal analysis of criminality information practices in the UK

Criminality information practices involve public authorities in the UK (and elsewhere) gathering, retaining and sharing information that connects with an identifiable individual; all with the ostensible aim of upholding and improving standards of public protection. This piece first charts the landscape of contemporary criminality information practices in the UK today. The article then examines recent legal emphases and policy directions for public protection networks. Consideration is then given in the piece to privacy rights and values and the difficulties in providing an exact typology and grounding for these. The piece then outlines a suggested framework for correct legal regulation, as well as a through commentary on the work done by Catherine Bellamy et al. to empirically determine the extent to which public protection information sharing can in fact occur in correct adherence to legal regulation. A socio-legal analysis is undertaken of the nature of public protection networks as variants on Goffman's performance teams within a dramaturgical routine that foregrounds stigmatisation of perceived ‘risky’ individuals as an aspect of that routine. This piece also explores the processes of institutional isomorphism as a reaction to shifting policy directions and legal doctrines, acting as a driving force towards a hierarchical performance of criminality information practices by public protection networks. Three conclusions are offered up for consideration: firstly, that the growing complexity of the law and regulation relating to criminality information practices might improve privacy values in the criminal justice system and help to add precision to necessary processes of stigmatisation in relation to the aim of public protection. Secondly, that these shifts in the law still need ongoing revisions, in order that a hierarchical approach to criminality information practices can be arrived at over time. Thirdly, that if the permanency of potential stigmatisation through the indefinite retention of criminality information cannot change, due to the competing pressure on the criminal justice system from public protection duties, then consultation with ‘risky’ individuals where practicable, before criminality information connected to them is shared across public protection networks becomes essential as a privacy-enhancing value and practice.     

Market-oriented health care reforms and policy learning in the Netherlands

In this article we analyze the evolution of market-oriented health care reforms in the Netherlands. We argue that these reforms can be characterized as policy learning within and between competing policy programs. Policy learning denotes the process by which policy makers and stakeholders deliberately adjust the goals, rules, and techniques of a given policy in response to past experiences and new information. We discern three distinctive periods. During the first period (1988-1994), the prevailing corporatist and etatist policy programs were seriously challenged by the proponents of a new market-oriented program. But when it came to political decision making and implementation, the market-oriented program soon lost its impetus because it was technically too complex and could not provide short-term solutions to meet the urgent need for cost containment. During the second period (1994-2000), the etatist program regained its previously dominant position. In parallel to a strengthening of supply and price controls, however, the government also persevered in creating the technical and institutional preconditions for regulated competition. Moreover, public discontent over waiting lists and the call for more autonomy by individual providers and insurers strengthened the alliance in favor of regulated competition. This led to the revival of the market-oriented program in a 2001 reform plan. We conclude that the odds of these new post-2001 reforms succeeding are substantially higher than in the first period due to the technical and institutional adjustments that have taken place in the past decade.     

The evolution of computer/privacy concerns: Access to government information held in the balance∗

Computers are a mainstay of most record systems at virtually all levels of government. The vast accumulation of personal information by governments has raised concerns about the erosion of personal privacy caused by the speed and efficiency of computers. For more than 30 years, realistic and sometimes exaggerated concerns about the proper role of computers in society have driven the public policy debate, resulting in a raft of legislation designed to protect the privacy of individuals about whom government keeps records.

But these computer /privacy concerns threaten legitimate public and media access to government records. The dangers to access were underscored by the Supreme Court in a holding that publicly available records regained privacy interests when drawn together in a centralized government computer. In other words, the form in which records were kept rather than their content could control access.

This article suggests that understanding the origin and context of the computer /privacy conflict will better prepare access proponents to deal with attempts to curtail legitimate access to government information because of privacy concerns.     

‘Private jurisprudence’ and the right to be forgotten balancing test

Upon receipt of a right to be forgotten request, private actors like Google are responsible for implementing the balancing test between competing rights of privacy and data protection and free expression and access to information. This amounts to private jurisprudence that data subjects, lawyers, and interested parties could, theoretically, game to their advantage. This paper critiques this process and argues two separate, but related points. (1) Search engines have become the sole arbiter of the rights to privacy and data protection under Articles 7 and of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Articles 8 and 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights, when safeguarding should be a responsibility of state authorities. (2) As private actors face litigation if their decision is not acceptable to the data subject, the right to access information and the public's right to know is compromised. Search engines exert considerable power over access to and Internet usage, yet nevertheless benefit from frameworks that permit a lack of adherence to similar human rights standards as public actors or agencies. As such, empowering search engines as decision-makers over conflicting fundamental rights is problematic. Rather than allow the content of the right to be forgotten to be fleshed out by private actors, the significant body of existing jurisprudence should form the basis for public guidelines on how to implement the right to be forgotten. An analysis of case law of national courts, the European Court of Human Rights and the CJEU reveals two related matters: it is possible to reverse engineer how search engines determine which requests will be actioned and those which will be denied. This paper argues a) collectively the body of jurisprudence is of sufficient standing to develop a public and transparent balancing test that is fair to all stakeholders and b) private actors should no longer be resolving the conflict between competing fundamental rights. The paper closes by positing a framework, loosely based on ICANN's Uniform Domain Resolution Procedure for resolving conflict between conflicting cyber property rights that provides transparency and accountability to the right to be forgotten and removes search engines as arbiters of the balancing test in select cases.     

In Defense of Asbestos Tort Litigation: Rethinking Legal Process Analysis in a World of Uncertainty, Second Bests, and Shared Policy-Making Responsibility

A central question in American policy making is when should courts address complex policy issues, as opposed to defer to other forums? Legal process analysis offers a standard answer. It holds that judges should act when adjudication offers advantages over other modes of social ordering such as contracts, legislation, or agency rule making. From this vantage, the decision to use common law adjudication to address a sprawling public health crisis was a terrible mistake, as asbestos litigation has come to represent the very worst of mass tort litigation. This article questions this view, arguing that legal process analysis distorts the institutional choices underlying the American policy‐making process. Indeed, once one considers informational and political constraints, as well as how the branches of government can fruitfully share policy‐making functions, the asbestos litigation seems a reasonable and, in some ways, exemplary, use of judicial power.     

Civil Litigation, Access to Government-Held Information, and Coordination of Public and Private Enforcement in the Czech Republic

To correct the historical suppression of environmental information under communist rule, the Czech Republic has instituted several new laws granting citizen access to government-held information. This access should facilitate civil litigation by providing evidence in court for establishing causality in a country where practically everyone feels the effects of broad and severe environmental degradation. However, poor de facto citizen access and citizens'; traditional distrust of information severely limits litigation activity. Similarly, this paper examines the joint use of a privately-initiated ex post liability policy (i.e., tort litigation) and a state-initiated ex post liability policy (i.e., penalties). In particular, it explores a potential exchange of information between a government enforcer and plaintiffs, where the government enforcer provides information on the causality of harm to plaintiffs and plaintiffs provide information on the level of harm to the government enforcer. With more accurate information on both causality and damages, the joint use of state and private enforcement should lead to more efficient outcomes. This paper finds great potential for such improvement given the limited use of privately-provided information on harm and poor de facto access to government-provided information on environmental matters.