E-government gateway project and authentication： The case of Turkey

Parallel to the advancements in information and communication technologies, certain risks and security problems also arise, one of which is the authentication problem. In order to control who can have access to information sources, it is of utmost importance to develop an advanced authentication mechanism. It is through this mechanism that one can protect personal information, and prevent unauthorized access to the information or services provided. Likewise, this mechanism can block unauthorized persons to change or release information that is not public. All the work being undertaken in this field can be named as access control. The concept of authentication is among those concepts that have been studied for a long time in Turkey in the context of rapidly growing e-transformation efforts. In the process of e-transformation, the transformation circle is completed by first defining the concept of modeling business processes, followed by the formation of automation process, and lastly, providing services in electronic medium.     

Not ‘by those old books of international law,but only by war’: Ottoman Intellectuals on the Eve of the Great War

Prevailing understanding of the Ottoman entry into Word War I has focused on the role of Enver Pasha and the so-called pro-German faction in the Ottoman Committee of Union and Progress (CUP). This article examines Ottoman views on international relations and the future of the Ottoman Empire in contemporary Ottoman publications. The article concludes that substantial parts of Ottoman society viewed war in 1914 not only as an acceptable course of action, but as a morally justified, potentially liberating, and unifying experience for many Ottomans. Ottoman views, therefore, form part of a much wider non-Western response to Western expansion, and Ottoman entry into World War I is best understood as a reaction against the international system which the Ottoman leaders thought had betrayed them.     

Islam in Europe: Quest for a Paradigm

Mr. Malik, a journalism fellow with the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMFUS), has returned from fieldwork in six West European countries to write a book on the outlook for Islam in the West. The GMFUS is an independent U.S. foundation created to deepen understanding, promote collaboration and stimulate exchanges of practical experience between Americans and Europeans.     

Understanding Shared Roles in Policy and Administration: An Empirical Study of Council‐Manager Relations

Recent literature in public administration emphasizes enhanced collaboration between elected and administrative officials. The complementarity view is presented as an alternative to the traditional politics–administration dichotomy. At the center of this new perspective lies the concept of shared roles between elected officials and public administrators with respect to policy making and administration. This article expands the emerging literature on role sharing by proposing and testing new variables to understand what enhances the policy‐making role of city managers and the administrative role of elected officials. Employing data collected from a nationwide survey of city managers and utilizing structural equation modeling methodology, this research finds that the council’s expectations and the city manager’s role conception significantly influence the city manager’s involvement in policy making, while the context of policy making, the city manager’s support, and the council’s access to resources affect elected officials’ involvement in administration. This article aims to make a cumulative contribution to the literature on role sharing.     

The forensic deaths caused by pesticide poisoning between the years 2006 and 2009 in Izmir, Turkey

Pesticide poisoning is still a significant health problem in Turkey. We conducted a retrospective study of autopsy cases at Izmir Branch of the Council of Forensic Medicine to describe the characteristics of deaths caused by pesticide poisoning between 2006 and 2009. The distributions of the cases according to gender and age were as follows: men 74.1% (n = 40, mean [±SD] age, 44.7 ± 14.1), women 25.9% (n = 14, mean [±SD] age, 39.2 ± 18.9). The majority of pesticide-poisoning deaths were suicides (n = 43, 80%) followed by accidents (n = 4, 8%) and homicide (n = 1, 2%). The manner of death could not be determined in six cases (11%). Suicides mostly occurred at home (n = 26, 63%) (p < 0.05). Methomyl was the most frequent pesticide (n = 9, 17%) among the all cases. This study reported that most of the pesticides found in poisoning cases were highly hazardous types. Combined efforts of medical professionals and law makers are needed for enacting strict laws against highly hazardous pesticides.     

Stature and sex estimate using foot and shoe dimensions

The aim of the study was to develop a formula to estimate the stature and sex of an individual using foot and shoe dimensions. To this aim the stature, right and left shoe sizes, and maximum and minimum feet length and width measurements of a target group of 569 individuals were taken. The group was composed of 294 males and 275 females. The highest correlation coefficient was found in length measurements. A notable difference between males and females existed with regard to both right and left foot and shoe length and width averages and shoe sizes (p < 0.001). Among the group, a significant correlation was found in regard to stature and right shoe length (r = 0.591, p < 0.001), with the correlation between stature and right foot length and stature and right shoe length being 0.579 (p < 0.001); as for the female group, there was a significant correlation between stature and right foot length and stature and right shoe length (r = 0.460, p < 0.001). Thus the regression formula obtained are as follows: for the right side: sex = 69.169 + 0.173 (maximum foot length) - 0.368 (maximum foot width) - 0.820 (shoe length) + 0.224 (shoe width) - 1.280 (shoe number). For the left side: sex = 69.551 + 0.276 (maximum foot length) - 0.504 (maximum foot width) - 0.739 (shoe length) + 0.344 (shoe width) - 1.360 (shoe number). In application of the formula, if sex is lower than 0.50, the shoe belongs to a male, if higher, then to female. The formula which was obtained in regression analysis in order to estimate the stature when the measurements of shoe and foot were known. For the right side, stature = 47.93 + 1.083 (maximum foot length) + 0.788 (shoe length) 1.813 (shoe number) (SEE:31.410). For the left side: stature = 47.33 + 1.139 (maximum foot length) + 0.593 (shoe length) x 1.924 (shoe number) (SEE:31.607). It was understood that foot and shoe sizes are a criteria to estimate the stature of a person that there was a strong relationship between foot and shoe length and width and that these can be used to aid estimation. It was found that in sex estimate, foot and shoe lengths are better in helping the estimate than width measurements, and that the use of shoe measurements rather than bare foot measurements are better to obtain meaningful results.     

Does Power Corrupt? An Empirical Study of Power,Accountability, and Performance Triangle in Public Administration

Foundational work in public administration has considered the relationship between administrative power, accountability, and performance in public organizations. Even with the vast literature addressing power, accountability, and performance, scholars are still theorizing on how they influence one another. This study proposes and empirically tests a theoretical model of the relationships between each of these three constructs. Data are analyzed from an original survey of a national sample of US local government public administrators—city managers. Using structural equation modeling, results show that there are positive relationships between power and accountability, power and performance, and accountability and performance. The article discusses theoretical and practical implications of these findings.     

Depolitization of Bureaucracy: The Case of Central and Eastern European Countries

Political parties worldwide seek to work with bureaucrats who are close to their programs, willing to cooperate, and concerted. On the other hand, there is a huge body of literature which argues that bureaucracy should be separate from politics and that it has to consist of public servants who are technically knowledgeable, expert, and also politically neutral. The countries of Central and Eastern Europe suffered from highly politicized public administrations under one-party regimes, and have struggled to separate their bureaucracies from politics since early 1990s. In view of the relation between politics and bureaucracy from the perspective of (de)politization, this paper looks into the changes that Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) have gone through after the institutionalization of multi-party regimes and tries to provide some generalizations.