Reconstruction: An Agenda

This essay discusses several issues involving the theory of post-conflict reconstruction, and suggests that the concepts of reconstruction and of economic development be carefully kept apart. It explores the question of what moral and legal obligations to reconstruction the occupiers incur. Using Iraq as a case study it presents two scenarios for reconstruction: a ‘triage’ approach which relies heavily on prioritization and recognition of inherent limitations, and a ‘scattergun’ approach, exemplified by current efforts in Iraq. The latter, the essay concludes, is ineffective as a tool for reconstruction. Reconstruction has its own intrinsic merits, but using it to win the ‘hearts and minds’ of a population in order to gain support for the occupiers is unlikely to succeed.     

The Pracademic and the Fed: The Leadership of Chairman Benjamin Bernanke

When President Barack Obama nominated Ben Bernanke for a second term as chair of the Federal Reserve Board in August 2009, he emphasized Bernanke's “bold action and outside‐the‐box thinking” in preventing the recent financial collapse from turning into another Great Depression. While many saw this renomination as providing monetary policy stability and necessary institutional continuity during the crisis, Bernanke's “bold action” has generated robust criticism, mainly because Bernanke initiated fundamental reforms of traditional Fed practices. How has Bernanke's leadership style at the Fed evolved as the financial crisis of 2008–2009 has unfolded? Did his prior academic experience influence his decisions? What are the long‐term implications of Bernanke's innovative strategies for the Federal Reserve as an independent, powerful, policy making institution, traditionally one that possesses tremendous financial and political autonomy? If you want to build a factory, or fix a motorcycle, or set a nation right without getting stuck, then classical, structured, dualistic subject‐object knowledge, although necessary, isn't enough. You have to have some feeling for the quality of the work. You have to have a sense of what's good. That is what carries you forward … It's not just “intuition,” or unexplainable “skill” or “talent.” It's the direct result of contact with basic reality … —Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance There are no atheists in foxholes and no ideologues in financial crises. —Benjamin Bernanke, 2009 ¹ 1 This statement was widely cited in media news outlets from NPR to Face the Nation and the New York Times. See http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/business/21paulson.html .
     

An Agenda for Comparative Government*

The study of comparative government is in a state of relatively limited development. Questions are still being raised about the specificity of the subject matter and of the methodology; the enthusiasm with which comparative political scientists went into grand models in the 1960s and early 1970s has been followed by a degree of scepticism This scepticism is not justified It was imprudent to move so quickly towards grand models, while what was critical for the development of comparative government was and continues to be twofold First, there has to be a substantial improvement in our knowledge of political life all over the world: this has begun to occur, but empirical studies must be pursued more systematically and in a true comparative manner Second, the major theoretical thrust has to relate to the understanding of structures, which arc the key elements in the life of political systems; this means in particular that we have to understand systematically and dynamically such questions as institutionalization, integration, legitimacy, as well as the relationship between values and structures. If this were to occur, as it can and if empirical studies develop at a rapid pace in parallel, there is no reason to be despondent about the future of comparative government.     

Five Questions: An Integrated Research Agenda for Public Choice

All societies, political or academic, must choose among alternatives; these choices can be good, or bad. The worst choice may be looking for“answers” before there is consensus, or at least a debate, on what the real questions should be. Five “real” questions are offered here, in an integrated research agenda for Public Choice. My premis is that there is a single, fundamental human problem: Construct or preserve institutions that make self-interested individual action not inconsistent with group welfare. All social science research is either a distraction, or a step toward understanding at least one of five questions: (1) What are Preferences? (2) What are feasible Alternatives? (3) How much does the form of Implementation affect the way alternatives are valued? (4) How do alternatives chosen Today affect the Menu of alternatives available in the Future? (5) What is Good? How would we know if some outcomes are better than others?

     

Attention to Detail: The Conservative Policy Agenda

Since 2001 (if not since 1997) the Conservative party has struggled to develop a coherent set of policies with which to provide a credible alternative to the Blair government. A second successive crushing election defeat fuelled the ongoing debates in the Conservative party, between those who were convinced of the need to steer towards the centre ground, thereby reviving the Conservative's 'one nation' tradition, and those who wanted to place clear blue water between themselves and New Labour, and thus adhere to Thatcherite radicalism. The Conservatives have therefore appeared to struggle in developing clear, alternative policies on such issues as 'tax-and-spend' and public service reform and delivery. They have, however, inched hesitatingly towards a more socially liberal stance on various issues. A major problem for the Conservatives has been that the Blair governments have actually continued with, or consolidated, many policies inherited from the Conservatives in 1997, thereby making it even more difficult for the Conservatives to articulate their own distinct policy agenda. This is likely to contribute towards a third heavy defeat for the Conservative party in the next general election.     

The Australian Environmental Policy Agenda

This paper seeks to identify major shifts in the Australian environmental policy agenda over the past fifty years, and discusses the possible causes of and variables affecting agenda change. The issue of what comprises ‘environment’ policy is discussed, with reference to overlaps and intersections with other policy sectors such as agriculture, public health, energy and regional affairs. While the diversity of the environment policy domain complicates any analysis of trends, there have been two persistent trends of (i) an expansion from a more narrowly to a more broadly defined suite of issue (from environment to sustainable development) and incorporation of environment into natural resource management, and (ii) an increasing diversity of policy instruments being used. Consistent with the wide variety of issues confronted, pragmatism and convenience are often as influential as political ideology or underlying trajectories. The drivers of policy change are diverse, including biophysical factors such as drought, political leaders and international policy developments, and punctuations are often better interpreted as intensification or redirections of past policy trajectories.     

Government Budget Reforms: Agenda for the 1980s

A previous article (Vol. 1, No. 2, Spring 1980) examined the progress and problems of budgetary innovation in the postwar era. Through a succession of reforms, budgeting maintained its coherence and continuity, It is likely, however, that future innovations will take a different path, one less certain of its success and more a product of fiscal stress than of government affluence. This article considers the reform issues likely to emerge in the coming years.     

Theory Competency for MPA-Educated Practitioners

In this issue, Cynthia McSwain and Orion White, writing under the nom de plume O.C. McSwite, address the issue of theory in MPA education. This is an important aspect of the larger theory–practice question in public administration, especially given the large number of MPA students who are mid-career managers rather than pre-service students. McSwite's position is that theoretical competency does not consist of specific content, such as theories of the budgeting process; rather, it is a frame of mind that helps practitioners "know what kind of situation they are in." While McSwite's path to this conclusion is unique, it is also consistent with the approach taken in Donald Schon's The Reflective Practitioner. Both McSwite and Schon recognize how basic to good practice is this ability to size up situations in a systematic and useful way. As always, readers are invited to comment either directly to the authors or to the associate editor.     

Monarchy and Democracy: A Progressive Agenda

The Blair governments since 1997 have seen the single most significant period of constitutional reform in Britain for over a century. However, they leave the monarchy, the institution at the apex of the unwritten constitution, untouched. It is argued that neither inaction nor abolition is advisable, but that reform should be undertaken, with particular attention to the rules of succession and to the royal prerogative powers, notable examples being the powers to declare war, to dismiss parliament, to assent to legislation and to appoint the Prime Minister. Those powers now exercised by the executive should be formally and linguistically separated from the office of head of state, and put on a statutory basis. The achievement of these reforms depends, however, on political will and cannot be initiated by the monarchy itself.