The health care state in the information age

The computerization of the medical record has important implications for the governance of health care, and the importance of health care means that changes wrought there are indicative of changes in government as a whole. This paper draws on work in public policy, medical sociology and studies of science and technology, as well as on cross–national empirical research in Britain and France. It describes the recent development of information policy in health care as an exercise in state–building, realized specifically in the governance of the health professions. The paper concludes with a discussion of what is both new and not so new in the form and extent of state power which emerges.     

The forgotten worker: Neglected aspects of public service in an information age

One of the most consistent themes among contemporary administrative theorists is that the workplace of the future will be a more hospitable environment for public workers than is currently the case. Decentralization, participative management, and intrinsically satisfying work are commonly forecast. Using survey data from state employees, this study identifies a large class of civil servants that has not yet, and probably will not, enjoy the enriched jobs that are so often predicted. The discussion identifies a number of factors in the work environment of these workers that are likely to frustrate attempts to make their jobs more meaningful and pleasant. Having acknowledged their existence and assessed their plight, the study concludes with a summary of measures that can be taken to address the needs of these “forgotten workers.”     

Brazilian National Identity at a Crossroads: The Myth of Racial Democracy and the Development of Black Identity

This article aims at coping with the 2003 implementation of affirmative action policies favoring blacks and “browns” in public-funded universities in Brazil. We are especially interested in coming to terms with some of the most resounding controversies over this type of “race”-based policy, which in our view are to be seen as reactions to some core aspects of Brazil’s national identity. The key question that has pervaded this debate is: Should the State apparatus, by means of these non-universalist policies, foster racial identities in a society that has historically imagined itself as racially mixed and, as such, able to deal with race-based conflicts in a quite positive way? As we will strive to demonstrate, these controversies gained momentum as multiculturalism started to inform identity-oriented social movements, which in recent years excelled in challenging the image of Brazil as a successful case of a melting-pot society by denouncing deep-seated social inequalities grounded in racial lines. We want to investigate whether popular resistance to race-based public policies will propel the rise of a sort of resented form of nationalism in Brazil’s public scene.     

Knowledge management and communities of practice in the private sector: lessons for modernizing the National Health Service in England and Wales

The National Health Service (NHS) in England and Wales has embarked upon a radical and far–reaching programme of change and reform. However, to date the results of organizational quality and service improvement initiatives in the public sector have been mixed, if not to say disappointing, with anticipated gains often failing to materialize or to be sustained in the longer term. This paper draws on the authors' recent extensive research into one of the principal methodologies for bringing about the sought after step change in the quality of health care in England and Wales. It explores how private sector knowledge management (KM) concepts and practices might contribute to the further development of public sector quality improvement initiatives in general and to the reform of the NHS in particular. Our analysis suggests there have been a number of problems and challenges in practice, not least a considerable naïvety around the issue of knowledge transfer and 'knowledge into practice' within health care organizations. We suggest four broad areas for possible development which also have important implications for other public sector organizations.     

对“26岁腐败现象”的社会学透视

“26岁腐败现象”的实质就是腐败群体的年轻化倾向,它表明腐败已渗透进青年群体。“26岁腐败现象”和“59岁现象”以及“39岁现象”的先后继起和同时并存,表明腐败已渗透进社会的各个年龄层次。“26岁腐败现象”既与我国当前的社会控制机制和干部政策中存在的局限有关,同时又具有其自身的特性。本文从腐败青年主体的腐败机会、腐败动机及腐败后受惩罚的危险性三方面,对其进行了原因剖析。     

The National Ideology and the Basis of the Lukashenka Regime in Belarus

The rule of Alyaksandr Lukashenka in Belarus has created one of the most resilient authoritarian regimes in post-communist Europe but the sources of its stability have not been clearly understood until now. The article suggests that President Lukashenka's authority is sustained on the basis of a national ideology, which he uses to drive his economic, social and foreign policies. The Belarusian transition reveals a new type of national mobilisation in the post-communist area: egalitarian nationalism. It is suggested that this ideology provides the principal source of the failure of democratisation and the authoritarian consolidation in post-Soviet states such as Belarus.     

The variation of the mean age of suicides in the United States

In the United States from 1968-1996, the mean age of suicides was positively associated with measures of domestic social integration. It is suggested that the mean age of suicides could be an interesting dependent variable in suicidological research.     

葡萄牙共产党十七大亲历记

11月底的南部欧洲已进入了初冬,但2004年11月26日这一天,葡萄牙阿尔马达市却阳光明媚,到处是绿色的常青植物,空气中充满着洋洋暖意.在喷水池和茵草环绕的市体育馆,歌声嘹亮、红旗招展,胸佩红色镰刀斧头证件的代表们从全国各地涌来,出席在这里举行的葡萄牙共产党第十七次全国代表大会.我作为中共代表、中共中央候补委员、安徽省委副书记王明方同志的随员,亲眼目睹了这一葡共历史上的盛会.     

德国新时期的国家安全观与安全战略

二战后,德国虽迅速成为世界经济强国,但很长时间内,有"政治侏儒"之虞.随着国家的重新统一亦即新时期的开始,德国作为享有完全主权的国家,立即开始重新思考和全面构造自己的国家安全观和安全战略.社民党自上世纪末执政以来,在这方面态度更为鲜明,坚持不渝地精心策划,使德国新时期的国家安全观与安全战略有了清晰的构想与蓝图.     

The Politics of the Past in Dagestan: National Unity and Symbolic Revolt

Abstract

Dagestan is inhabited by numerous ethnic communities with their own languages, cultures and histories. However, despite its ethnic and cultural diversity, the republic’s authorities have consistently sought to promote a unified concept of Dagestani identity. This policy has been challenged by local ethnic nationalists concerned about the future of their ethnic communities, which they saw as being endangered by assimilation and marginalisation. This struggle to secure political and social benefits began in the Soviet period and reached its height in the early 1990s. Resentment was particularly widespread among the Kumyks and Lezgins. Their dissatisfaction with the status quo resulted in a competition between inclusive (national) and exclusive (ethnic) approaches, which in turn manifested themselves in debates over historiography. This essay analyses the development and outcomes of this struggle from the 1950s through to the early 2000s, with an emphasis on the early 1990s.     

The Role of International Clientelism in the National Factionalism of Palestine

In this article I investigate the role of the international community's policy in the national factionalism in Palestine. I attempt to illuminate how international policy has contributed to the sustaining of internecine Palestinian violence as Fatah, which lost the elections in 2005 and 2006, has been motivated not to hand over power. In the process of selecting allies in the fight against Islamist terrorism, the epitomic undemocratic feature of Arab political culture, clientelism, has been promoted over democracy. Hamas seizing power in Gaza in 2007 probably resulted from the need to tame unruly militant groups which were sponsored by leaders of the Palestinian Fatah party, which again were supported by Western powers. To understand the national splitting in Palestine there is a need to analyse the interconnection between warlords, local clientelism and international clientelism.     

The Soviet and the Post-Soviet: Street Names and National Discourse in Almaty

Abstract

While discussing Kazakhstan's post-Soviet identity, scholars treat ‘Kazakhisation’ as a given, and the substance of the process of developing such an identity is usually ignored. This article gives an insight into this process by analysing the politics of street names in Almaty and its relation to collective memory in post-Soviet Kazakhstan. It is argued that the so-called ‘Kazakhisation’ of the country has been shaped primarily by the Soviet legacy, and it is in no sense pursuing the elimination of the Soviet past, or moving essentially anti-Russian lines. In fact, the post-Soviet discourse of the Kazakh nation is not a rupture but a continuation of Soviet discourses.