Policy Networks and Policy Learning UK Economic Policy in the 1960s and 1970s

Policy networks are advanced as an alternative to the Westminster model of the UK polity but the theory lacks an internal dynamic and has typological problems. This article applies Peter Hall's (1993) concept of 'social learning' to policy networks and maps the networks found in two case studies of British economic policy making: Hall's own study of the shift from Keynesianism to monetarism in the 1970s and the author's research on the advent of 'Keynesian-plus' in the early 1960s. The article advances three main propositions. Firstly, that integrating the concept of social learning can dynamize the policy network model. Secondly, the case studies suggest that different network configurations are associated with different orders of policy change but that Hall's definition of 'third order change' may be too restrictive. Thirdly, policy networks can be much more complex and fluid then is generally claimed, sometimes becoming so extensive that they might be termed a 'meta-network'.     

Improving Industrial Policy Intervention: The Case of Steel in South Africa

We contribute to the lack of tools to support efficient industrial policy-making, especially in the mineral beneficiation policy literature. To address this vacuum, we adapt the product space analysis approach to incorporate an input-output value chain lens. This framework is applied to the case of steel in South Africa to derive novel insights regarding the (in)efficiency of implementing a downstream linkage-based beneficiation policy. Our dynamic analysis approach allows for interactions with the rest of the product space. We find that a ‘leap-frogging’ approach to development within the value chain may be more optimal than a strict beneficiation based industrial policy.     

Administrative Traditions and Policy Change: When Policy Paradigms Matter. The Case of Italian Administrative Reform During the 1990s

In recent years a growing number of scholars have developed cognitive and ideational theoretical frameworks for the analysis of policy-making processes: their underlying belief is that ideas (conceived as beliefs, causal theories and paradigms) really do matter. The concept of policy paradigm has been particularly useful in studying both the contents and dynamics of policy change. The present paper takes this concept, partially reformulates Hall's definition in terms of the distinction between the hegemonic and dominant paradigm, and then uses it to come to terms with the contents and dynamics of the Italian administrative reforms implemented during the 1990s. Mixing the conceptual lenses offered by the ideational and cultural path taken in the field of public policy and by historical neo-institutionalism, this article attempts to explain the Italian trajectory, and to underline how normative and cognitive elements represent an important influence on the 'design' and 'strategy' of policy change. Our analysis of the consistency of the reformers' documents and policy strategy shows that, despite their claims, the contents and strategy of reform do not represent a paradigmatic about-turn, but constitute an evolutionary adaptation to external pressures imposed by the hegemonic administrative paradigm.     

GPU Repressions of Zionists: Ukraine in the 1920s

This essay explores repressions against Zionist political parties in Soviet Ukraine in the 1920s, and considers the formation of an efficient synergetic structure of Soviet secret organs in Moscow and Ukraine. The narrative identifies participants from central and regional secret departments who engaged in systematic mass operations against Zionists, and reveals that despite Moscow's initial vacillation between tolerance and persecution of Zionist parties, the Soviet secret police exhibited a continual escalation of repressions against Zionists. The policies of the secret police in Ukraine illuminate their personal adaptation to the coercive Soviet system of centralisation and ideological exclusion.     

Economic and Social Policy Trade-Offs in the Russian Regions: Evidence from Four Case Studies

Through case studies of four Russian regions, we examine the trade-offs between social and economic policy at the regional level. All four regions studied seek to stimulate entrepreneurship while preserving or expanding social welfare coverage. Regions differ in development strategies, some placing greater emphasis on indigenous business development and others seeking to attract outside investment. Variation in levels of democracy are unrelated to policy choices. All four regional governments consult actively with local business associations while organised labour is weak. The absence of effective institutions to enforce commitments undermines regional capacity to make social policy an instrument for long-term development.     

二十年代国民党人对马克思主义的传播

新文化运动以后 ,马克思主义在中国得到广泛的传播 ,并且在部分国民党人中间也产生了重要的影响。部分国民党人传播马克思主义是有其客观原因的 ,并从自身的阶级属性和当时的社会需要出发 ,传播了马克思主义思想体系中的重要内容 ,对于当时国民党人的选择和与中国共产党的关系产生了深刻的社会历史影响     

Four Scenarios of Development and the Role of Economic Policy

We ask which economic policies can help a country create the most favourable conditions for development. We observe that the dynamics of several development indicators can be grouped into four clusters, each cluster corresponding to a different combination of growth and changes in inequality. Based on this observation, we define four different development scenarios and use limited dependent variable regressions to study how structural and policy factors affect a country's probability to achieve the most (or the least) favourable of these scenarios. Our results point to a comforting picture: through the choice of appropriate policies countries can effectively increase their chances to achieve the most favourable development scenario.     

戈尔巴乔夫经济体制改革失败与苏联剧变

导致戈尔巴乔夫经济体制改革失败的客观因素,主要是在斯大林模式下长期成长起来的在各个领域起作用的阻碍机制.这一机制到戈尔巴乔夫进行根本性改革时作用突显出来,最终发展成为政治冲突.主观原因是在改革过程中出现了一系列失误.两方面的因素结合起来,最后导致了经济体制改革的失败.改革失败是加速苏联剧变的一个重要直接原因,但剧变的根本原因则是斯大林模式丧失了动力机制,这种模式的弊端带有制度性与根本性.     

Active Private Sector Development Policies Revisited: Impacts of the Ethiopian Industrial Cluster Policy

We analyse impacts of a cluster policy aiming to increase firm growth through maximising agglomeration benefits and improving production facilities. Firms located in a natural cluster were incentivised to move to a new government-created cluster. A limited number of firms were allowed to move, and many similar firms, also eager to move but could not, formed our comparison group. Controlling for selection, and employing difference in-difference estimation, we find large negative effects on job-creation and firm performance. The policy hampered the firms’ business and knowledge networks, reduced trust among firms, increased transaction costs and curbed market information.     

The Transformation of Soviet Industrial Relations and the Foundation of the Moldovan Dniester Republic

The debate about post-socialist internal conflict has overcome the ‘ethnic turn’ and increasingly focuses on actors. For the case of separatism in the Moldovan Dniester Valley, research has highlighted the crucial role of industrial factory directors. These managers mobilised their factories’ employees. To refine the knowledge of how collective conflict actors are formed, this article asks the question: what enabled directors to mobilise ‘their’ workers? The sources show that, on the one hand, the managers’ political power was rooted in typical Soviet enterprise structures; on the other, it was further strengthened by perestroika market reforms and the economic crisis entangled to them. These results suggest that separatist mobilisation and internal conflict were entangled to social transformation and functioned as a catalyst to the process of (re-)distribution of capital and power.