Integrated written and oral assignments for the MPA curriculum

The article describes an integrated approach to written and oral assignments throughout the MPA curriculum. Beginning with the program orientation and the lead course in the MPA program, a series of written assignments that blend theory and practice are used as the basis for later advanced work and special projects such as internships, major papers, or theses. A three-part assignment in the first course, an assessment center for developing interviewing and other skills, and a conscious attempt to develop linkages across courses in the MPA curriculum are the keys to implementation of the model.

The integrated writing and speaking model introduces students to research through preparation of an article review essay on some aspect of public policy or management. Another paper requires field work to analyze a particular aspect of the policy or management process. The third assignment produces a “usable product” for a level of government or public agency, such as a policy or management options paper. Written assignments are coupled with a formal assessment center conducted outside of regular classroom time. The field work helps students begin a networking process for obtaining clients for other projects in other courses and for internships, field papers, and jobs. Presentations of the final course “product” are via a poster session format that includes written, graphic, and oral presentations open to faculty and students, as well as the public agencies and/or governmental units for whom products are prepared.     

Improving Public Service Education Programs through Assessing the Performance of MPA Alumni

Educational outcomes assessment can improve public service education programs. This article applies the Model of Learning Outcomes for Public Service Education which suggest that enabling characteristics—factors that mediate the relationship among immediate, intermediate, and longer term outcomes—can improve our understanding of public service education. A survey was conducted of alumni at The George Washington University in Washington, DC, and the American University in Cairo in Cairo, Egypt. The responses from the two groups of MPA program alumni were striking: curriculum understanding and application were markedly similar, suggesting that this model is appropriate for use in different contexts.     

A capability analysis of Rwandan development policy: calling into question human development indicators

This article provides a capability analysis of Rwandan development policy. It is motivated by impressive progress on human development indicators in combination with highly centralised policymaking, giving ambiguous signs regarding a capability approach. It is based on extensive original empirical material, along with large numbers of official documents and academic sources. The analysis is structured around three issues that concern the relation between individual agency and government policy, and that are debated among capability scholars as well as in relation to Rwandan development policy: participation, transformation and paternalism. The finding that Rwandan development policy reflects an approach very different from a capability approach is not surprising, but establishes that the assumed link between human development indicators and the capability approach needs to be questioned. This brings our attention to shortcomings in any quantitative measurements of development, or in the use of and importance attached to them, as well as to the problem of assuming that certain outputs go hand in hand with certain processes. While this is valid for contexts far beyond Rwanda, it also sheds light specifically on the polarisation that exists in the scholarly debate on Rwanda.     

Looking for peace in national curriculum: the PECA Project in New Zealand

This is the pilot study for the Peace Education Curricular Analysis Project – a project that seeks to become a longitudinal and global analysis of national curriculum statements for pro-peace values. National education as a system of organized learning can act as a transmission belt – a cultural institution that assigns communal ideals and values and uses pedagogy to echo social standards. As this analysis considers that it is possible to assess non-peace education for peace education qualities, this study analyzed New Zealand’s early childhood, primary, and secondary education curricular statements to ascertain the presence or absence of three elements common in peace education programs: recognition of violence; addressing conflict nonviolently; and creating the conditions of positive peace. The methodologies used in this mixed methods study include directive and summative content analysis. This analysis finds that the curricular statements (2) of New Zealand have made progress to educate students toward peace and non-violence and that in general, the early childhood curricular statement incorporates a greater amount of pro-peace content than the primary and secondary curriculum statement. Opportunities exist to strengthen peace education content in future New Zealand curricular statements.     

Seizing the moment: outcomes assessment,curriculum reform,and mpa education

This article reviews a recent exercise in developing an outcomes-based capstone course for the MPA program at the University of Baltimore. Chronicled is the way a reversible logic approach to designing that course led ineluctably into a full-scale, outcomes-based, strategic planning exercise for the program as a whole. In the process, the department was able to craft a performance-based curriculum that attacked an “entitlement ethic” among students, that made the faculty more accountable for its actions in the classroom, that streamlined course offerings and content in mission-related ways, and that introduced a “continuous process improvement” ethic driven by constant feedback from the capstone course.     

透析日本新内阁

穷则思变改组人事菅直人2010年6月取代鸠山由纪夫上台组阁后,内阁支持率一度曾高达60%以上,显示了日本国民对其清廉务实形象和执政能力的期待。菅直人也对自己在从政三十周年之际登上相位踌躇满志,     

走近美国阿米西人部落

一个安静得连太阳西坠的声音都能听见的乡村,一条粗糙的碎石便道将田合与外界连接在一起.一辆黑色的包厢马车从前方的树林中驶出,缓缓地碾过冰冻的小路,在冬日黄昏的余辉中映衬出一幅宁静且略带几分神秘的剪影.这,就是美国阿米西人生活的部落.阿米西人选择了这样的生活方式:他们抗拒现代的物质诱惑,拒绝使用电、汽车、电话等,始终以土地为本,过着简单朴素的传统农业生活.     

人间正道是沧桑——十六大以来中国外交理论与实践的创新与发展

中国共产党十六大以来,以胡锦涛为总书记的党中央,以博大的政治胸襟、非凡的执政能力、求真务实的勇气和远见卓识的理论创新的胆识,从容面对国际国内形势的新变化,总揽国际国内两个大局,先后提出了对内构建"和谐社会"和对外推动建设"和谐世界"(以下简称"两个和谐")的重大战略思想,将内政外交统一到全新的境界.     

论犯罪发展研究

犯罪学研究在促进社会主义和谐社会的构建中有着重要的作用,要发挥好这一作用,当前必须在内容上重视研究犯罪发展,尤其是对社会转型时期犯罪发展的特殊性研究,在方法上要大力推重理论联系实际的方法及实证的方法。本文从犯罪学研究的实际出发,就犯罪发展研究及推重理论联系实际的方法及实证的方法谈些认识。     

Strengthening administration of the development process

An analysis was made of 33 cases and 34 articles from current literature to examine means for strengthening the development process. Among the problems mentioned in cases and literature were: (1) improving the implementation of development programs, (2) structural and organizational changes, (3) administrative planning, (4) improved leadership and managerial skills, (5) methods improvement, and (6) administrative and political reform. Of these, the strengthening of field implementation of development projects was mentioned by far the most frequently. The implementation gap can be improved by: (1) donors changing from a “compliance approach” to a flexible, decentralized approach to international development projects, and by (2) host governments creating promotion ladders for field personnel and providing them with training in (a) participative management, (b) budgetary management, and (c) project management methods.     

The development of the Guatemalan military

Studies in Comparative International Development -     

Past imperfect: The construction of history in the school curriculum and mass media in post-communist Russia and Ukraine

This introduction to the special section on the history education in contemporary Russia and Ukraine discusses selected articles in the context of comparative scholarship. It isolates important implications for the burgeoning field of political socialization in the post-communist societies.     

Grassroots development where no grass grows: Small-scale development efforts on the peruvian coast

“Grassroots Development Where No Grass Grows: Small-Scale Development Efforts On The Peruvian Coast” reports site visits to several low-budget development projects: one in a squatter settlement on the outskirts of Lima, three in the agricultural area near Chiclayo, and one in the small provincial city of Ilo. The article describes a style of development assistance referred to as “accompaniment” and contrasts its requirements and potential benefits with those of more standard practices. In a philosophical vein, the article examines the advantages of emphasizing how development assistance is carried out as opposed to a focus on outcomes. It suggests that much is to be gained by supporting the small-scale activities of local Non-Governmental Development Organizations. Everything nced not be done at once, but something must be done… John Francis Kavanaugh, S.J. Richard L. Clinton is professor of political science at Oregon State University, where he teaches international relations, Americna foreign policy, alternative futures, and Latin American politics. His most recent book wasPoblación y desarrollo en el Perú (University of Lima, 1985).