Nolan,councillors and planning

This article focuses on the role of councillors in planning. The views of the Nolan Committee, which were expressed in their third report, are set into the context of other reports, published during the 1990s, about the way councillors exercised their planning responsibilities. Two contrasting views of the planning system as a quasi‐judicial process and as an administrative/representative process are highlighted. The article concludes that the Nolan report is significant because it reasserts the representative role of councillors in contrast to the professional planning view that councillors should perform a quasi‐judicial role.     

Physician recruitment and retention: A rural-suburban comparison

This study examined the recruitment and retention experience of medical group practices (MGPs), based on a 1991 national survey of all administrators of MGPs who are members of the Medical Group Management Association. Specifically, we compared rural (n=269) and suburban (n=169) MGPs regarding their recruitment and reten tion experience to assess the relevancy of physician recruitment theories that focus on the characteristics of the physician, practice, or community. The results indicate that, in terms of physician personal characteristics, rural MGPs were more likely to view rural background and exposure to rural practice as important to both recruitment and retention than suburban MGPs. The finding that both rural and suburban MGPs needed family practice physicians most and found it difficult to recruit them suggests the need for more primary care tracks in medical schools and the enhancement of primary care physician reimbursements relative to other specialties. In terms of practice characteristics, our study shows most rural and suburban MGPs were concerned about the financial aspects of the practice environment and provided generous recruiting benefits. In terms of community characteristics, physician's spouse and family was identified as an important factor particularly by rural MGPs.     

Congress and executive branch budget reform: the house appropriations committee and zero-base pudgeting

Local police agencies are in a fiscal crisis prompted by inflation on one hand and citizen tax revolt on the other. However, there is opportunity inherent in the budget crunch. It provides local government and police administrators with unprecedent political leverage to cut budgets in a manner where highly productive programs are retained while the unproductive ones are deleted. To this end the essay discusses avenues, drawn from recent police scholarships, for using budgetary retrenchment as means for substantive police reform.     

苦难的阿富汗妇女

近几十年,阿富汗由于频仍的政变,连绵的内战,以及外国入侵和占领一再发生,使阿富汗人生活在水深火热之中,而阿富汗妇女的命运则更加悲惨.落后的宗教传统使她们失去了与其他人一样的平等的权利;宗教极端主义剥夺了她们的自由和其他权利;而连绵不断的战争直接威胁着她们的安全和生存.