Response to Peter Shergold

Andrew Podger wrote an article in the June 2007 AJPA entitled ‘What Really Happens: Department Secretary Appointments, Contracts and Performance Pay in the Australian Public Service’. Dr Peter Shergold replied to his criticisms in the September issue of AJPA. This short response from Podger is the final rejoinder. In a second paper following this rejoinder the present Australian Public Service Commissioner comments on public service independence today.     

There are Better Alternatives than Easton: A Critical Rejoinder to William J. Kelleher

In the last issue of this journal, Dr William J. Kelleher claimed that my earlier discussion of the intellectual origins of the CNPS has some serious misconceptions which may obscure the formation of a clear vision of the Caucus’s options for future endeavors. His main concern is that I misunderstand David Easton’s systematic political theory, which Kelleher argues may provide a bridge between official political science and a more radical political science. I appreciate Dr Kelleher’s willingness to critically engage the on-going discussion within the CNPS about what constitutes critical and radical political science, but I remain convinced that there are better (and more radical) alternatives to Easton’s systems analysis.     

JISB Interview: The Responsibility to Protect

Abstract

Dr Aidan Hehir interviewed Dr Francis Deng, UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, in New York on 20 August 2009     

The efficacy of electronic group meetings

Telephone conference calls could be used to extend participation in public decision-making. In order to clarify the involved problems and prospects we conducted 16 nine-member conference calls discussing and voting on a public issue. The discussions were recorded for analysis and a questionnaire was administered. The meetings worked well despite the isolation of the participants and the lack of visual contact. Access to the floor was easy, attention good, and participation was eager. The participants felt that the analysis of the topic had been effective. The chairman's guidance of the discussion was judged effective, and his actions legitimate. Additionally, the data suggest what we might call greater intellectual elbow room—less pressure to go along with the group opinion than in face-to-face meetings, and more ease in changing opinions and positions. The disagreements about the issue did not spill over into emotional hostility. The participants were quite pleased with the conduct and efficacy of the electronic meetings. These findings suggest that a mass participatory system, based upon such electronic meetings, can also be used to provide wider involvement in decision-making in our society.This study is part of a much larger project exploring the use of technology to extend political participation. The project is supported by the National Science Foundation, grant # GI-29940. Dr. Amitai Etzioni and Dr. Stephen Unger are Co-Principal Investigators for the MINERVA Project, which is being carried out at the Center for Policy Research in New York. The author is particularly indebted to Dr. Etzioni for many important contributions to the conception, design and analysis of the study reported in this paper. Dr. Unger also made significant contributions to the development of the study. Camille Gubello, Joshua Freeman and Nancy Gershon were of central importance in conducting the experiments, assembling the data and preparing this report.     

THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE

The seventeenth annual conference of the Australian Regional Groups was held in Canberra on 11th—13th November, 1974. The general topic was "Public Administration in Co-operative Federalism". We publish in this issue the papers presented at the conference and a summary of the discussion. The conference chairman was Mr Walter Ives, Secretary of the Australian Department of Agriculture. On the first evening, The Honourable Sir John Kerr, K.C.M.G., K. St. J., Q.C., Governor-General of Australia, delivered the Sir Robert Garran Oration, with the title, "Ethics and Public Office". Dr R. L. Wettenhall, President of the Australian Capital Territory Group, was in the chair.     

Nothing to Hide,Nowhere to Run,or Nothing to Lose: Candidate Position-Taking in Congressional Elections

If candidates do not state clear issue positions, then voters cannot anticipate how the candidates will govern if elected nor hold candidates accountable for breaking campaign pledges. Yet, previous research argues electoral incentives lead candidates to avoid discussing the key issues of the day. Even though silence on issues is the modal campaign strategy, this paper argues that candidates systematically make clear issue statements on occasion. We identify three variables that predict whether a candidate will address an issue and the clarity of the candidate’s stance on that issue: (i) the public salience of an issue; (ii) ideological congruence between candidate and district; and (iii) candidate quality. This argument is tested using data on candidate position-taking regarding the Iraq War and gay marriage collected from the campaign websites of U.S. House candidates in 2006 and 2008.     

How political parties’ issue ownerships reduce to spatial proximity

Abstract

Scholarly interest in issue ownership is growing rapidly. Although originally introduced as a competence-oriented, alternative concept to the predominantly spatial understanding of voting and party behaviour, parties’ policy positions are an inescapable aspect of issue ownership. Using data for multiple issues in several countries over time, this article shows that the party with issue ownership sides with the median voter. A party earns issue ownership by taking up a position as close to as many voters as possible. Moreover, the analysis indicates that a party’s issue emphasis only matters to issue ownership insofar as it is used as a device to make its position credible to voters. Hence, to have issue ownership is to have a credible position, and in that sense, issue ownership has less added theoretical value to spatial proximity than previous literature suggests.     

Gurus, Theory, and Practice: A Reply to Catlaw and Chapman

In this reply to Catlaw and Chapman's commentary, Dr. Page acknowledges that attention to New Public Management theory is all well and good, but it should not come at the expense of field observation of the associated phenomena.     

Seeking to Inspire Public Policy Analysts

The 1997 Public Policy Network Conference was held at Melbourne University's Centre for Public Policy. John Chesterman, one of the organisers, provides a taste of the debates.
The 1998 Public Policy Network Conference will be held at Victoria University, Wellington, on 29 and 30 January. Enquires or offers of papers may be forwarded to Dr RJ Gregory (e-mail Bob.Gregory@vuw.ac.nz ).     

Legislation against Hate propaganda

Over the last decade there has been much academic and journalistic probing of the Malaysian prime minister's expressed attitudes towards Jews. That attention was renewed in 1997 following Dr Mahathir's recent denunciations of international currency speculation, as personified by George Soros. Yet at the same time that Dr Mahathir and his followers express their adverse views concerning Jews, there has also been evident in contemporary Malaysia, especially among the Malay political elite surrounding Dr Mahathir, a paradoxical fascination with the idea of 'diaspora', a desire to discover and even invent or create a 'Malay diaspora'. Understanding this peculiar 'diaspora-envy' may provide some insight into the modern Malay aspirations towards cosmopolitanism and 'global reach' that Dr Mahathir, with widespread domestic support, projects internationally. This 'diaspora-envy' seems the obverse side of Dr Mahathir's more direct and controversial views concerning Jews, and may throw some fresh light on them. Instead of providing evidence of classical political antisemitism, the views of Dr Mahathir and other leading Malaysians about Jews are the by-product of their views about other issues, especially the residue of a generally traditional religious education.     

重视社会主义制度可持续发展问题的研究

不仅生产力存在着可持续发展问题,生产关系和社会制度也存在着可持续发展问题。从逻辑的角度讲,资本主义制度不可能从根本上做到可持续发展,社会主义制度本身就是人类为了实现可持续发展的产物;从现实的角度讲,苏东剧变的教训,初级阶段社会主义的实际都迫使我们非常关注社会主义制度的可持续发展问题。呵以说,这个问题关系到社会主义的前途和命题。要实现社会主义制度的可持续发展,增强企业活力是必要条件,而要增强企业活动,就必须深化国有企业改革,以解决政企分开这个复杂的老大难问题。     

浅析解决我国农民工问题的途径

当前,农民工问题已经引起了社会各界的普遍关注。这一问题得不到合理的解决,不仅会减缓我国工业化、城市化的进程,而且影响到我国的社会和谐和稳定。为此,现在我们到了采取有效途径,彻底解决农民工问题的时候了。     

如何理解"公平"——从马克思主义的视域看

公平问题是当前的一个热点问题,时代要求构建公平正义的和谐社会。马克思恩格斯的公平观实现了科学性和价值性的统一,是当代正确合理的公平观,本文试从马克思主义哲学的基本精神方面重新理解公平问题的实质。     

Powerful Connections and the Challenge of Change

This is an edited version of the 2002 Garran Oration presented to the National Conference held in Adelaide on 13 November 2002. Dr Hetzel indicated in his address that he was pleased to respond to the challenge of the conference title 'Powerful Connections' but added 'and the Challenge of Change'. Dr Hetzel was joined in the Garran Oration by Mr James Fitzpatrick who delivered an address in verse (see Conference Papers 'Powerful Connections', 13–16 November 2002, IPAA).     

Lobbying and uncertainty: Lobbying's varying response to different political events

Does political uncertainty affect whether lobbyists contact government officials? We suggest that the answer depends on the type of uncertainty introduced. Distinguishing between policy objective uncertainty—where organized interests and lobbyists are uncertain about the policy intentions of decision makers—and issue information uncertainty—where policymakers are uncertain about the technical details of issues—we hypothesize that whereas an increase in policy objective uncertainty leads to a decrease in lobbying, a rise in issue information uncertainty leads to more lobbying. We test the hypotheses with longitudinal data from the Canadian Lobbyists Registry measuring change in the number of times lobbyists have contacted government ministries each month from 2008 to 2018. The results suggest that lobbying intensity does respond differently to these types of uncertainty. Whereas events introducing issue information uncertainty have a statistically significant positive relationship with lobbying, events introducing policy objective uncertainty do not.     

Why only Nixon could go to China

Right-wing politicians sometimes can implement policies that left-wing politicians cannot, and vice versa. Contemporary wisdom has it that only Nixon could have gone to China. We develop a model to explain this phenomenon. A policy issue could depend on information, on which every one could potentially agree on policy, or on values, on which agreement is impossible. Politicians, who value both reelection and policy outcomes, realize the nature of the issue, whereas voters do not. Only a right-wing president can credibly signal the desirability of a left-wing course of action. The Nixon paradox can hold then if citizens vote retrospectively on the issue.     

Ford Motor Company and the Firestone tyre recall

This paper was prepared as the basis for a class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. It may be appropriate for public affairs, business and public policy, and/or crisis management courses at the undergraduate or graduate level. In conjunction with this case, it may be useful to use the framework for crisis management developed by Dr Ian I. Mitroff, the Harold Quinton Distinguished Professor of Business Policy at the Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California. This best practice model is discussed in ‘Managing Crises Before They Happen’, which Mitroff published in 2001 with Gus Anagnos, Vice President of Comprehensive Crisis Management. This case leads the audience through the Ford–Firestone tyre crisis from 1997—when Ford began to learn of a problem with Firestone tyres on its popular Explorer sport‐utility vehicle—up until the summer of 2001, just after Ford recalled 13 million Firestone tyres and the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration cleared Ford of further investigation into potential defects in the Explorer. The case addresses potential causes of the tyre problem, how Ford handled the crisis from a corporate public affairs perspective and, tangentially, how Firestone handled the issue. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications     

Is Federalism a Political Question? An Application of the Marshallian Framework to Garcia

In Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority (1985)the Supreme Court relegated the matter of the wages and hoursof local government employees to the national political processas though the issue were a political question. More importantly,the Court left the determination of whether the issue requirednational political resolution up to Congress. This article appliessome of the writings of John Marshall to the Garcia case inorder to ascertain whether national political resolution ofthe issue was appropriate. Under Marshall's framework, matterswhich involve the enumerated powers of Congress or the impliedpowers of Congress are political issues. However, in contrastto the holding in Garcia, the question of whether a particularissue involves an enumerated or an implied power is a matterappropriate for judicial scrutiny.     

Children's Exposure to Domestic Violence: Holding Men to Account

The issue of domestic violence has gained greater recognition within public policy in the United Kingdom over the past decade. There is a recognition that up to one million children may have been exposed to violence between the adults with whom they live. This has consequences for the child in both the short and long term in terms of social and emotional adjustment. However, most male perpetrators of domestic violence are never held to account through the criminal justice system and therefore the child protection system is the safety net for these children. This though can result in a response that is premised on women's responsibility to protect their child from experiencing harm, typically by either leaving or forcing her partner to leave. Child welfare professionals do not engage with the men who are the source of the problem, rather women are held accountable for allowing their children and themselves to be in this situation. In this article this issue is discussed and proposals offered to improve this situation through empowering women, holding men to account for their behaviour whilst also recognising their position as fathers.     

Political Studies and Cultural Studies: A Response to Finlayson and Martin

Cultural Studies has more to learn from Political Studies than Political Studies had to learn from Cultural Studies. In a recent issue of Politics (Vol 17, No 3), Finlayson and Martin argued that Political Studies should learn from the conceptions of 'culture' and 'politics' employed in Cultural Studies. This response reviews the development of Cultural Studies in order to elucidate its approach and argues that alternative approaches to the issue of culture are more useful for students of politics than Cultural Studies approaches.