POPULATION GROWTH AND ADMINISTRATIVE VARIATIONS IN SMALL CITIES1

This seven city study of administrative arrangements finds that small municipal governments deal with rapid growth in a variety of ways. Some employ central executives, some expand the duties of incumbent officials, and others turn to consultants and outside sources of aid. Accordingly, more or less population increase in a community is not necessarily related to either the kind or degree of administrative change, at least in the short term.     

CHANGE IN THE GOVERNANCE OF AUSTRALIAN RURAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Abstract: Australian rural research and development underwent a period of sustained organisational and managerial change during the 1980s and early 1990s. The transition from a scattered and disparate research effort prior to 1985, to one which is today highly structured, commodity-specific and strategically oriented, raises a number of issues concerning the processes used, the motivation for the change, and the manner in which that change has been accomplished. This article reviews the reforms that have been made in the sector, and seeks to assess their impact on the stakeholders involved. In so doing it highlights the changing nature of the expectations placed upon the rural research and development community, and raises questions concerning the appropriateness of the reforms and the methods by which they were implemented.     

WELFARE LIBERALISM, SOCIAL POLICY, AND POVERTY IN AMERICA

The conservative explanation for the persistence of poverty—that liberal social programs have created with disincentives-explains very little of the poverty that exists. It has gained acceptance because liberal anti-poverty efforts have been based on flawed understanding of the problem that insured their failure. Because of the oversupply of young adult workers in the 1970s, there was a proliferation of jobs paying low wages. Liberal programs that assumed that the poor simply needed training and education to lift themselves out of poverty, ignored the shortage of jobs paying above-poverty-level wages. Liberals also assumed that with the requisite training and jobs, all Americans have the capacity to gain the skills necessary to obtain those jobs. This neglects data showing that a larger proportion of individuals with low native ability have earnings beneath the poverty line than workers with normal ability, even when controlling for educational attainment. A new anti-poverty effort must take into account these realities.     

AMERICA AND SOUTH AFRICA

The Reagan policy of constructive engagement was not really mean to succeed; it was meant to make apartheid palatable. Convinced that the contest between the United States and the Soviet Union overrides all other considerations of international relations, the Reagan administration has always been prepared to tolerate apartheid as the "lesser evil," and when apartheid is overthrown, this country may be in an active insurgency against the new regime. These policies are contrary to the American political tradition and the rules of international law.     

THE RURAL POOR

The rural poor made especially great strides in the 1970s; unlike earlier decades. Primarily as a result of federal income transfer programs, rural poverty has lost much of its harsh personal impact. Nonetheless, the residual hard core of the poor still exist, being too costly and too difficult to reach.