OAKESHOTT'S CONCEPT OF CIVIL ASSOCIATION: NOTES FOR A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Abstract. The concept'Civil Association'in Oakeshott contains two discrepant elements, namely the quality of civility and the institution of the state. This conflation is the result of Oakeshott's idealist mode of reasoning which consists in the method of one-sided abstraction. Civil association, in its abstract presentation, appears as a purely moral association, sharply distinguished from the pursuit of substantive aims in enterprise associations. Analysis of its postulates, however, reveals civil association as being insubstantial and only a particular expression of a given world of enterprise associations. Without substantive inequality and conflict civil association could not be made intelligible, and it is these features only which, although not ostensibly present in Oakeshott's abstract concept, endow it with its distinctive character: morality by itself is not a sufficient explanation. Idealist abstraction is, on a certain level, common to opposed ideological trends; the content of Oakeshott's concept does not meaningfully distinguish it from the ideal vision of Utopian thought.     

CREATING THE OPPORTUNITY: VOTING AND THE CRISIS OF DEMOCRACY

The Committee for the Study of the American Electorate, an organiza- tion concerned with the involvement of citizens in politics, with a grant from the Ford Foundation, has collected the largest inventory of registra- tion laws and electoral provisions from the fifty states. It has incorporated these into an analysis designed to compare the relative impact of individual requirements, and sets of provisions, on turnout intended to determine the projected increase in voter participation if different strategies were adopted. The electoral changes addressed include door-to-door registration, driver's license registration, the elimination of purging from the rolls for non-voting, election day registration and mail registration. The data pool and analysis may be the most thorough of its kind ever attempted and ones that can serve as the basis for the future comparative research. The analysis finds that election day registration and a liberalized deputy registration program in combination with restrictions on dropping non-voters from the rolls would have the most immediate impact on turnout. States with the most open, least restrictive registration requirements had the highest levels of political participation.     

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND ADMINISTRATIVE POWER THEORY: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF STATE DEVELOPMENT AGENCIES*

The ability of state leaders to influence economic growth and diversity within their states is a disputed issue within the literature on state economic development policy-making. This research contributes to this debate by developing comparative measures of state development agency power drawn from the emerging theory on organizational power. If state policy leaders have independent control over the economic performance of their states and if that influence is exercised through the administrative unit responsible for that activity, states which have supplied their agencies more resources and freedom in using those resources should outperform those states which have not.     

A NEW PARLIAMENT HOUSE — A NEW PARLIAMENTARY ORDER*

Abstract: The physical design and location of the existing Parliament House has influenced the evolution of Australia's parliamentary system. The new Parliament House will exert a new set of influences. The Executive will assume an entrenched position within its own enclave and Ministers will be physically more remote from backbenchers. The physical arrangements of the Executive entrance and the Prime Minister's suite will encourage a presidential-style status in the office. But the architecture also emphasises the public's access to Parliament in the spirit of Burley Griffin's original conception. There is likely to be a strong “congressional” impetus arising from the prominence given to committee room space and backbencher facilities. Tensions between the Executive and Parliament will be exacerbated. Changes to procedures and to parliamentary administration are also likely to flow from the new layout and facilities. The new building will provide an impetus for widespread parliamentary reform.     

THE OLD AND NEW GUARDS: A FACTOR IN THE LIBERALISATION OF AUSTRALIA'S RESTRICTIVE IMMIGRATION POLICY*

Abstract: Prior to the second world war, the White Australia policy had been secure as the foundation stone of Australia's immigration policy. In the post-war period, however, the policy came under increased critical scrutiny. The result was the gradual liberalisation of Australia's restrictive immigration policy. There are many factors which can be held accountable for the dismantling of the White Australia policy. A certain factor was the rise of a new educated professional generation in the post-war period. Their new positions in an expanding middle management environment enforced a desire to be well informed and responsible. As a consequence, the new generation found defects in national policy and the most visible was White Australia. This new generation called for a re-evaluation of, and alternatives to, the policy through the formation of public organisations and through their increasing power in Australian decision-making bodies, especially the public service and the major political parties.     

SPEED KILLS: A LONGITUDINAL ANALYSIS OF TRAFFIC FATALITIES AND THE 55 MPH SPEED LIMIT*

An interrupted time-series design is used to analyze the impact of the 55 mph speed limit on U.S. traffic fatalities over the period 1950 to 1980. In addition to speed such potential effects on highway fatalities as safety improvements, decreased speed dispersion, and decreased travel are examined. We conclude that the overwhelming proportion of the decline in traffic fatalities from 1973 to 1974 must be attributed to the change in the speed limit.     

PUBLIC POLICY AND POLITICAL CHOICE: A REVIEW ARTICLE

Abstract: In reviewing the literature on policy studies, as in studying policy making itself, what you see depends on where you look. Studies of public policy vary widely in forms, methods and rationale. This paper does not try to categorize and capture the spirit of all aspects of a diverse and burgeoning literature. Its focus is on a number of recent books that straddle broadly the categories of process and administrative studies. The questions addressed in the volumes discussed are about how institutions handle issues in public policy, their relevance to the actual content of policy, and the ways in which individuals and groups within them see and respond to opportunities for choice. Each book is concerned with questions of theory but the books do not, either singly or together, suggest a single compelling theory of institutions and policy processes. Indeed, considering their theoretical sophistication, one may doubt whether such a goal is practicable. The better the work done on policy studies the more open-ended theoretically the field seems to be.