In search of a foreign policy

He is author of Red Star on the Nile; Soviet Foreign Policy Since World War II;and Moscow’s Third World Strategy.He is co-editor of Anti-Americanism in the Third World.     

In search of a governance institution model for Jakarta Metropolitan Area (JMA) under Indonesia's new decentralisation policy: old problems,new challenges

This study explores a possible governance model for Jakarta Metropolitan Area (JMA) under Indonesia's new Decentralisation Policy. At present the management of JMA development is coordinated by Badan Koordinasi Pembangunan Jabodetabekjur (BKSP) —Coordinating Board for JMA Development, but this agency is ineffective and powerless to perform its tasks because of lack of authority and power. The establishment of JMA governance model should take into account the existence of the BKSP which has been politically accepted by all provincial and local governments in the region. Involvement of central government in JMA governance is very important. A mixed model of urban governance is most suitable for the JMA. Thereunder the central government should have authority to plan and develop major physical infrastructure for the whole JMA, while the provincial and local governments retain their respective general administrative functions. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Philippines: In search of identity

The Philippines: A Singular and a Plural Place, (second edition) by David Joel Steinberg. Westview Press, Oxford and Boulder Co. 1990, xiv + 224 pp. £11.95 paperback. ISBN 0–8133–0766‐X;

Rebellion and Repression in the Philippines, by Richard J. Kessler. Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1989. xii+227 pp. £22.50 ($30.00). ISBN 0–300–04406–2;

Red Revolution: Inside the Philippine Guerrilla Movement, by Gregg R. Jones. Westview Press, Boulder Co. and London, 1990. xxii+360 pp. £10.50 paperback. ISBN 0–8733–0877–1;

The Philippine Revolution: The Leader's View, by Jose Maria Sison with Rainer Werning. Taylor and Francis, New York and London, 1989. xxix + 241 pp. £25 cloth, £11 paperback. ISBN 0–8448–1580–2 and 0–8448–1581–0.     

Experimentation in policy design: insights from the building sector

The current article questions how experimentation in policy design plays out in practice. In particular, it is interested in understanding how the content and process of policy-design experiments affect their outcomes. The article does so by building on an original study into 31 real-world examples of experimentation in policy design in the building sector in Australia, the Netherlands, and the United States. All examples aim to improve the environmental sustainability of the building sector. The article finds that these 31 examples have attracted moderate to substantial numbers of participants (policy outcome HO.i), but have not achieved substantial numbers of buildings built or retrofitted with high levels of sustainability (policy outcome HO.ii). By carefully unpacking these policy designs into a number of key characteristics, it finds that this mismatch between the two outcomes may partly be explained by flawed policy-design processes. The article concludes with the main lessons learnt and provides some suggestions on how to improve experimentation in policy design.     

Policy beliefs,policy learning,and risk perception: Exploring the formation of local creative Placemaking-catalyzed policy network

This article studies the formation of a local Creative Placemaking (CPM) policy network based on the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) and social capital perspective of policy networks. This article hypothesizes that policy beliefs, policy learning, social capital, and the perceived risks induced by defections, as well as macro-level changes in the broader political and socio-economic system, influence partner selection in the local CPM policy networks. The study collected survey data from policy actors participating in the Franklinton CPM-catalyzed revitalization project in Columbus, Ohio. An exponential random graph model (ERGM) was applied to test the hypotheses. The findings partially support the hypotheses: policy learning, certain secondary policy beliefs, and risk perceptions of changes in economic and political factors are correlated with tie formation. The reciprocity-driven bonding structure underlies the Franklinton CPM policy network, suggesting that policy actors perceive the Franklinton CPM policy network as a high-defection-risk network. This study has implications for policy makers in designing engagement strategies to better involve stakeholders holding different beliefs and occupying different network positions.     

Program in search of a policy: The chrysler loan guarantee

In 1979, the U.S. government responded to the threat that Chrysler might close its doors with a program that had almost no U.S. precedents. The policy that lay behind the program was obscure at the time and remains so. A variant of the traditional argument for the protection of infant industries offers the glimmering of a rationalization. But defining a general policy in such cases remains a task for the future.     

In search of homunculus politicus

This paper addresses the question: What is the political analog to Homo economicus, familiar from economics. Difficulties arise indefining what community objectives are motivations for political man.     

Localism in environmental policy: New insights from an old case

Determining the appropriate balance between local and national interests is an enduring issue in public and environmental policy. Study of this issue, however, has been impeded by the theory of agency capture. This paper demonstrates the limitations of capture theory with respect to localism and provides a new perspective on the issue by revisiting the case of the U.S. Division of Grazing, a common example in the literature of a captured agency. Until now, the over-extension of capture theory to this case has obscured the division's extensive efforts to balance local and federal influence over range policy and prevent domination by large private interests. At the center of this struggle was a prominent legal dispute over local control involving Colorado sheepherder Joseph Livingston. As a detailed debate over political representation and the merits of localism, the Livingston case holds important lessons for modern community-based conservation efforts seeking similar policy goals.     

Research opportunities in search of federal flood policy

Continuing increases in flood losses raise a variety of issues, and suggest numerous important research opportunities, from: (1) evidence of persistently incorrect economic analysis of structural flood control; (2) lack of understanding of how subsidies (for navigation, structural versus non-structural mitigation, and parts of agriculture) have defeated or subverted flood policies; and (3) lack of understanding of the distortions of urban form resulting from manipulation of hazard mitigation, induced development and inappropriate incentives for municipalities. Without adequate understanding of these topics, policy will fail to reduce flood losses and improve location of investments, and flood policy will continue to be effectively a legitimating rationale for other purposes. But policy-supportive research in re-analysis, historical analysis, and empirical work awaits only recognition of its value. Failure to do the useful work, however, bodes ill for responses to global change and other threats; the research proposed here would help establish methods badly needed for human dimensions research.     

新时期:高职院校办公室工作新特点与新思路

近年来,中国高等职业教育实现了跨越式发展和历史性变革,高等职业院校所处社会经济条件和学校内部管理体制也发生了剧烈变化,科学构建适应高等职业院校办公室工作的现代管理理念、现代管理队伍和现代管理方式,才能实现高等职业院校办公室工作从传统的执行型、操作型、事务型向研究型、参谋型、开拓型转变。     

实践当代革命军人核心价值观的路径探析

在全面建设小康社会的新形势下,实践当代革命军人核心价值观是军队思想政治建设的根本任务。探索当代革命军人核心价值观的实践路径,对科学指导军队思想政治教育意义重大。