Freedom of information: Developments in the United Kingdom

The great Iranian whodunit

Edward Shirley (pseud.): Know Thine Enemy: A Spy's Journey into Revolutionary Iran, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1997, 247 p. $24.00

The big con game

John Barron: Operation SOLO: The FBI's Man in the Kremlin, Regnery Publishing, Inc., Washington, D.C., 1996, 368 p., $24.95.     

Managing financial resources in the states: the role of computerized information systems

One of the principal and most visible functions of public managers is the allocation of public funds across multiple, many times competing services and constituencies. This vital process must be as efficient and effective as managerial skills and the application of technology permits. Yet, as the effects of technology escalate, little is known about the application of computerized information systems (CIS) to important strategic and operational, financial management decision-making. This study examines the use of information technology in financial decision-making in state governments. The findings suggest that computerized information systems play central but diverse functions in various financial decisions, but that public managers will continue to play a key role in ensuring that CIS use enhances decision-making capabilities.     

Developments in school desegregation

Rossell, C. H., & Hawley, W. D. (Eds.). (1983). The Consequences of School Desegregation. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Stephen, W. G., & Feagin, J. R. (Eds.). (1980). School Desegregation: Past, Present, and Future. N.Y.: Plenum Press.     

Information systems and organizational development: Meeting the demands of information resource management in the twenty-first century

The central thesis of this article is that organizations in the twenty-first century will pursue the full benefits of information system technology by moving beyond a narrow focus on the technological dimensions to consider attendant managerial and policy issues. The challenges to establishing and implementing a coherent philosophy to guide information resource management are novel and difficult, but not unyielding. The application of organizational development techniques holds great potential to surmount these obstacles and may provide organizations with significant advantages from developments in computing technology in the twenty-first century. Evidence suggests that leading edge organizations are turning toward an integrated approach to Information Resource Management.

The benefits that advances in computer and information system technology offer to organizations in the twenty-first century seem indisputable, but whether organizations will actually achieve them, however, seems very much in question. The thesis of this article is that if organizations of the future are to garner full benefits from dramatic improvements in computing technology, they must develop a coherent philosophy for Information Resource Management (IRM). While the foundation for this philosophy rests on a strategy for integrating useful changes in computing technology into organizations, IRM must also encompass managerial and policy components. Yet, the field has been dominated by technological concerns, with only limited attention devoted to the other key dimensions.

In this article we propose a tripartite approach to information system adoption and implementation focusing on the technical, managerial, and policy dimensions. For Information System (IS) advantages to be fully realized, organizations must find ways to balance the demands of each of these components. Though these challenges should not be minimized, the article concludes that proven techniques from the field of organizational development can be brought to bear to deal with them constructively. Organizations that do so will very likely be rewarded with the substantial benefits that changes in computing and information system technology promise for the twenty-first century.     

“四方安全对话”的新发展及前景探析

自2017年美、日、印、澳“四方安全对话”重新启动以来,其虽然只开展了少量且缺乏实质性内容的行动,却引发了大量讨论和高度的政策关注。纵观这一对话的发展演变可以看出,四国之间的某些共识构成了其重启后的显著特点,如更明确地将目标指向中国、以“民主价值观”作为秩序构建的出发点、服务于美国“印太战略”的需要以及开始将关注重点延伸至发展和治理领域等。基于这些新特点,“四方安全对话”在近三年来的实践中提升了四国之间的战略联系和协同作战能力、从议题领域和地理范围两个维度拓展了四国的战略合作、在外交上释放了四国团结一致的政治信号,并强化了美国主导的地区安全结构,从而对“印太”地缘环境产生了不容忽视的影响。尽管从组织内部以及次区域战略环境角度分析,“四方安全对话”的前景仍有很大的不确定性,但考虑到这一新的地缘战略安排针对中国的目标指向性,以发展的眼光看待并审慎地予以应对,是中国从外交上塑造地区和平秩序、维护国家安全和发展利益的应有之义。     

Developments in health care finance

Costs, quality, and access are the central themes in health care policy in the United States. In the 1980s the predominate issue is becoming access, and the likelihood for universal health coverage, or a national health insurance program, is growing. This paper explores how the America health care system got to this point and examines the present conditions, the trends, and the consequences of those trends.