The Potential of Path Dependence in Political Studies

This article explores the difficulties with both the theoretical content and application of the concept of 'path dependence' in political studies, but suggests that, by combining it with insights from morphogenetic social theory, we can provide a coherent framework for its use. After providing a brief survey of the literature on path dependence, it presents a summary of the most significant criticisms made of the approach. The article then moves on to examine morphogenetic social theory and its potential to meet these criticisms before concluding by characterising the elements of a path-dependent system incorporating insights from both new institutionalism and morphogenetic social theory.     

Organizational Readiness for Change in Correctional and Community Substance Abuse Programs

Significant needs exist for increased and better substance abuse treatment services in our nation's prisons. The TCU Organizational Readiness for Change (ORC) survey has been widely used in community-based treatment programs and evidence is accumulating for relationships between readiness for change and implementation of new clinical practices. Results of organizational surveys of correctional counselors from 12 programs in two states are compared with samples of community-based counselors. Correctional counselors perceived strong needs for new evidence-based practices but, compared to community counselors, reported fewer resources and less favorable organizational climates. These results have important implications for successfully implementing new practices.     

COMPARATIVE HEALTH POLICY

COMPARATIVE HEALTH POLICY
Robert H. Blank and Viola Burau
Palgrave Macmillan, 2004, 260 pp., £17.99 (pb) ISBN: 0333985990     

Understanding NHS Reform: The Policy-Transfer, Social Learning, and Path-Dependency Perspectives

This paper utilizes three perspectives in analyzing health policy in the U.K. during the formulation of the "internal market" reforms of the late 1980s and early 1990s: policy transfer, social learning, and path-dependency. By doing so, it attempts to incorporate the most significant insights from each perspective to construct a framework for analysis that better illuminates the actors, processes, and constraints involved in health policy reform, as well as providing a means of assessing its importance. I suggest that the reform process in the U.K. was considerably more complex than most existing accounts suggest, and that notions such as "conjuncture" require caution in their usage in order to avoid confusion between the contingent and relatively permanent factors that allow reform to occur.     

Health Service Organization in the UK: a Political Economy Approach

This paper revisits Harrison and Wood's (1999) account of health service organizational design in the UK to bring that account up to date. It also attempts to broaden it through an increased use of the political economy perspective it incorporated. As a consequence, the paper presents a number of alternative findings to Harrison and Wood, reconsidering their analysis of organization from 'blueprint' to 'design', and finding that Jessop's framework, utilizing the movement from the Keynesian Welfare National State toward the Schumpeterian Workfare Postnational Regime ( Jessop 1999 ), is more appropriate in explaining the reasons underpinning change in health services in the UK, and also in demonstrating their likely future direction.     

Congress and the political expansion of the U.S. districts courts

Expanding the number of U.S. district judgeships is often justifiedas a response to expanding caseloads. Increasing judgeshipsduring unified government, however, allows Congress and thePresident to engage in political (patronage and ideological)control of the federal district courts. This paper examinesempirically the relative importance of caseload pressure andpolitical motives for Congress to expand the number of federaldistrict judgeships. We demonstrate that politics dominatesthe timing of judgeship expansion in the U.S. District Courts.We also show that both politics and caseload affect the actualsize of those timed expansions. In particular, we find thatbefore 1970, Congress seemed to have strong political motivationsfor the size of an expansion. After 1970, Congress became muchmore attentive to caseload considerations.