POLICY‐LEARNING AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY INTEGRATION IN THE COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY, 1973–2003

This article uses the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) ( Sabatier and Jenkins‐Smith 1999 ; Weible and Sabatier 2007 ) and a refined version of the social learning approach of Peter Hall (1993) to assess and explain policy change in the Common (Agricultural) Policy (CAP) with a special view on Environmental Policy Integration (EPI). Three stages of EPI are discerned that move from central to vertical and later horizontal EPI, complementing an impact model of agriculture and the environment with a public goods model. Reform debates appear as prolonged and iterative battles over the institutionalization of new ideas which are finally incorporated into the existing policy framework. The policy network increasingly reflects cross‐policy interdependencies and includes superior authorities, rendering the notion of a policy subsystem problematic. Contrary to the social learning model, the major (although not the most radical) change proponent dominates the policy community while superior authorities tend to intervene on behalf of the status quo. The argument is developed on the base of interviews with policy‐makers in Brussels.     

NEW GOVERNANCE ARRANGEMENTS AT THE INTERSECTION OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND FOREST POLICY: INSTITUTIONAL,POLITICAL AND REGULATORY DIMENSIONS

This article investigates emerging governance arrangements at the intersection between forest management and climate policy. The authors deploy the symposium's three‐dimensional framework to describe and evaluate developments within two distinct policy sectors (forestry/climate change adaptation and mitigation) at several levels of governance (bi‐national, national, and sub‐national) to explore the nature and operation of the emerging governance arrangements, and assessing and measuring change within these arrangements over time. Drawing on four contemporary case studies from the US and Canada, New Zealand, British Columbia and Alaska, the authors discern little evidence of a generalized, linear trend from ‘government to governance’. Instead, they conclude, across institutional, political and regulatory dimensions of governance, a more variegated and diverse picture emerges. Their analysis also lends support for the Trubek and Trubek (2007) hypothesis that emerging governance arrangements typically interact with extant ones through modalities of rivalry, complementarity and transformation.     

THE CONDITIONS FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE POLICY: ROUTINES AND INSTITUTIONS IN THE DUTCH CASE OF NEED ASSESSMENT

By focusing on institutions (rules for action) and routines (patterned behaviour) our intention is to contribute to the understanding of government policy and its outcomes in health and social care. We analysed data to show how the relationship between a new idea for a routine and new rules from the government on the one hand, and existing rules and routines in society on the other, as well as the interaction between rule makers and rule takers (i.e. those who are governed by those rules), have an impact on the change or maintenance of routines. The data concern the case of government policy for need assessment (that is, assessment of needs) in The Netherlands. As our discussion will show, even a national government, however, is not able to completely impose its will on other agents in order to change existing routines. The concept of ‘negotiated order’ helps us to understand why. In the case reported here, the Dutch government and the home care agencies had to exercise give and take, the outcome being a suboptimal result for both.     

PUBLIC MANAGEMENT FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE: REFORMS,REGIMES, AND REALITY IN BANGLADESH

Bangladesh, a relatively young country, emerged with expectations of charting a new course in departing from its traditional and rigid system of public administration that prevailed during its existence as a part of British India and later as a province of Pakistan. The evolution of public administration in Bangladesh was profoundly influenced by the legacy of Pakistani rule, and subsequent efforts at reform hardly had any impact in breaking up the domination of the bureaucracy, which thrived under a pseudo-democratic and military-led government. Several factors contributed to the breakdown of administrative governance and the problem was reflected in poor performance, high incidence of corruption, and a lack of direction in the administrative system. A number of internal and external factors have exerted pressure for improving the system, but all efforts have yielded little result. Consequently, the achievement of good governance remains a distant dream in the absence of a vital and effective tool of public management.     

ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF POLICY CONFLICT IN THE ILLINOIS RIVER WATERSHED IN OKLAHOMA: AN APPLICATION OF Q METHODOLOGY[1]

ABSTRACT

Environmental policy formulation is a difficult business under the best of circumstances. In many cases, policymaking is complicated by factual uncertainty about the likely outcomes of policy intervention and by persistent value conflicts over desired policy ends and goals. This is nowhere more true than in formulating policy to manage adverse impacts to a watershed caused by natural and human activities. In the case of the Illinois River watershed in eastern Oklahoma, controversy over whether and how economic activities in the watershed should be regulated has effectively stifled meaningful policy reforms for three decades. As part of a test of a novel watershed management policymaking protocol funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency, a Q methodological study of stakeholders' perspectives on impact concerns and impact management preferences was conducted to diagnose the conflicts that have pre-empted policy initiatives for so long. We found that the conflicts that exist are not bipolar, but orthogonal – opening the way to potential super-optimum solutions that can satisfy everyone. This study demonstrates the power of Q methodology to assess conflict and thereby suggest strategies for its resolution.     

POLICY DESIGN FOR LEGITIMACY: EXPERT KNOWLEDGE,CITIZENS, TIME AND INCLUSION IN THE UNITED KINGDOM’S BIOTECHNOLOGY SECTOR

More than ever, policy designers need to take legitimacy deficits seriously. To do so, they increasingly involve citizens in policy design processes and draw from a wider range of expertise. Where should they stop in terms of inclusiveness to citizens and expertise and for how long should they allow citizens and experts to be persuasive? These are the questions addressed in this article. Policy design legitimacy, the article argues, can be related to variations in designers and politicians’ inclination to resort to output‐oriented (expertise‐based) versus input‐oriented (citizen‐centred) design processes. Input‐oriented processes have a higher potential in terms of legitimacy deficit reduction than output‐oriented processes, but they take longer, notably because they require the involvement of large numbers of people. In contrast, output‐oriented processes have a slightly lower legitimacy potential, but can produce it faster. These propositions are illustrated by two policy design narratives drawn from the United Kingdom’s biotechnology sector.     

PUBLIC MANAGEMENT REFORM IN THE UK AND ITS CONSEQUENCES FOR PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

It is often assumed in the literature on public management reforms that radical changes in values, work and organization have occurred or are under way. In this paper our aim is to raise questions about this account. Focusing on three services in the UK, each dominated by organized professions – health care, housing, and social services – significant variations in the effectiveness of reforms are noted. The available research also suggests that these outcomes have been inversely proportional to the efforts expended on introducing new management practices. The most radical changes have been in housing, where, paradoxically, successive UK governments focused least attention. By contrast, in health and social services, management restructuring has been less effective, despite the greater resources devoted to it. This variation is attributed to professional values and institutions, against which reforms were directed, and the extent to which different groups became locked either into strategies of resistance or accommodation.     

ACTING OUT REFORM: THEATER AND VILLAGE IN THE REPUBLICAN RURAL RECONSTRUCTION MOVEMENT

Abstract

Rural theater reform was a component of the Republican Rural Reconstruction Movement from its mid-1920s beginnings in mass literacy efforts. Amid the economic and political upheaval of the 1920s and 1930s, reformers argued that national salvation depended on the unity and continued relevance of village communities, and they believed that rural theater could contribute to bringing village communities together. One important example, the Mass Education Movement project in Dingxian, illustrates how reformers used the theater to reinforce the village as the unit of reform and national reconstruction. Reformers hoped rural theater would transmit to villagers ideas about citizenship and the new responsibilities this political role entailed. However, it was equally important that the reform theater — a group activity performed for a village audience — enable and sustain a reconstitution of the village community. In this way, the Rural Reconstruction Movement demonstrates an alternative to the top-down rule that characterized most Guomindang state-making efforts.     

FROM COUNTY MAGISTRATE TO COUNTY HEAD: THE ROLE AND SELECTION OF SENIOR COUNTY OFFICIALS IN GUANGDONG PROVINCE IN THE TRANSITION FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC

Abstract

When China became a republic in 1912, the country’s core territorial units of province and county were retained intact. Continuity in the territorial architecture of state from empire to republic invites the question of whether provinces and counties were institutionally identical before and after the revolution. This paper explores adjustments made to the county level of government aimed at meeting republican ideals of good government and popular sovereignty. It probes changes in the roles assigned to county heads and the patterns of their appointment in Guangdong relating to educational qualifications, native places, and tenure over the transitional period. Employing magistrate tenure as a proxy for the stability of local government, the paper correlates variations in the length of tenure with other variables at the provincial and sub-provincial levels of government, including competition between different echelon levels, disputes between military and civil authorities, in-fighting among regime factions, and methods of appointment varying over time from appointment by administrative fiat to county-head elections. By relating these variables to longitudinal data on magistrates’ length of tenure, it identifies some of the challenges facing provincial and county authorities in trying to manage the revolutionary transition from empire to republic at the local level while keeping the inherited territorial system largely intact.     

NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT FOR THE ‘CLASSICAL CONTINENTAL EUROPEAN ADMINISTRATION’: MODERNIZATION AT THE LOCAL LEVEL IN GERMANY,FRANCE AND ITALY

The article is aimed at analysing New Public Management (NPM) reforms at the local level in Germany, France and Italy. The case selection is justified by the fact that these three ‘classical’ Continental European countries have largely been missing from comparative administrative research thus far. The article focuses on local governments, since in all three countries these are considered the NPM forerunners and are acknowledged to be more advanced in reform implementation than are upper levels of government. Against this background, the purpose of this contribution is twofold. On the one hand, we wish to show to what extent and with what effects the NPM agenda has been taken up at the local level in Continental Europe. On the other hand, taking a comparative perspective over time, we wish to ask whether or not there has been increasing convergence or divergence between the three countries as a result of these reforms.     

ORGANIZING FOR EU IMPLEMENTATION: THE EUROPEANIZATION OF GOVERNMENT MINISTRIES IN ESTONIA,POLAND, AND SLOVENIA

Do different levels of exposure to EU law implementation have consequences for the organization of national ministries? Previous accounts suggest that European integration has little influence on the ‘hardware’ of member state administrations. Data covering the organization of 21 ministries in Estonia, Poland, and Slovenia show the Europeanization effect to be more pronounced than might be expected. Ministries responsible for transposing many EU directives tend to institutionalize centralized oversight in legislative planning, review, and monitoring; ministries with few implementation responsibilities rarely make such adaptations. This effect holds when one controls for the impact of partisan preferences and organizational conventions. The results offer a counterpoint to the studies of old member states that find little EU effect on the organization of domestic ministries.     

FAIRNESS AND JUSTICE OF THE PROCEDURES FOR THE PROMOTION SYSTEM BY RECOMMENDATION IN GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS: A CASE STUDY OF TAIWANESE POLICE OFFICERS

ABSTRACT

Significant difference emerges between the spirit of the recommendation system, (the idea to strictly prevent from redundancy, select genuine talents, and make up for the incompleteness in regulations involving personnel management, performance evaluation and seniority computation), and the reality. This paper is to analyze the activity of recommendation by taking the promotion system by recommendation applicable to the police officers above the middle class in Taiwan area as example. Its purpose is to explore the reliability of recommendation, find out the factors affecting promotion, and the conditions pertain to promoters and beyond them. Besides, it investigates into personnel's response to this system. The results will be of benefit to personnel managers and administrators, within these police and public department organization and business in provision of useful guidelines for human resource management.     

THE SPATIAL LEGACY OF INFORMAL EMPIRE: OIL,THE SOVIET UNION,AND THE CONTOURS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA'S FAR WEST

Abstract

Beginning in the 1930s, Soviet geologists, engineers, and economic planners began laying the infrastructure of informal empire in China's westernmost province of Xinjiang. Seeking to gain access to its rich petroleum wealth in particular, these Soviet state agents helped create a blueprint for state investment and development in Xinjiang that continues to resonate today. Confronting the substantial Soviet investment in the province and driven by a border policy intent on minimizing capital expenditures for distant peripheries, economic planners in the Republic of China and the People's Republic alike relied heavily on Soviet reports, technology, and infrastructure in their own economic development plans. In the end, the efforts of Chinese and Soviet planners, often working in collaboration, helped create an enduring pattern of state investment in Xinjiang. Focusing on oil extraction, processing, and transport operations in Xinjiang, this work reveals the long-term resonances of informal empire in Chinese border regions.