Mexico and Argentina: Economic reform and technocratic decision making

This article examines the Mexican and Argentine cases of market reform and argues that despite important differences in regime type and in recent economic and political trajectories, the decision-making process in the two countries came to display important common features. In both cases, economic crises and debt negotiations played key roles in propelling technocratic reformers into positions of policy predominance; both exhibited exclusionary technocratic decision-making styles in which small technocratic elites insulated themselves from both extra and intra state pressures. While policy isolation was no doubt necessary for the successful implementation of market reforms, this style may be counter-productive to political stability over the long term. Judith Teichman is Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto. Her articles have appeared in such journals asLatin American Research Review, Latin American Perspectives, Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, andThe Canadian Journal of Political Science and in edited volumes. She is the author ofPolicymaking in Mexico: From Boom to Crisis andPrivatization and Political Change in Mexico and is currently carrying out a comparative study of the structural adjustment policy process in Mexico, Argentina, and Chile.     

美、俄、日、印之外交决策机制

对于主权国家而言,能否作出正确的外交决策往往攸关其外交行动的成败,而及时、果断、正确的外交决策有赖于通畅、有效、迅速的外交决策机制.美、俄、日、印等国均重视外交决策机制的建设.     

后沙龙时代的以色列

1月4日晚,以色列总理沙龙因再度中风、严重脑溢血入院抢救,经过多次手术虽然暂时摆脱了死亡威胁,但一直昏迷不醒.各种迹象表明,沙龙此次即使能奇迹般地生还,也不可能完全康复,重返政坛的可能性更是微乎其微.沙龙病重后,副总理奥尔默特及时代行其职,政府工作和社会稳定基本未受影响.但是,作为曾在中东地区叱咤风云又饱受争议的政治强人,沙龙告别政坛,不仅引发了以色列国内政治格局变化和力量重组,也给巴以局势增添了新的变数,使中东地区形势更加复杂多变.     

Research and productivity in wheat in Israel

The introduction of the new Green Revolution wheat varieties to Israel is reviewed and analysed. It was found that the first stage varieties (developed from local Mexican wheats) did not have a significant impact on yields in Israel. Dwarf varieties and new crosses bred in Israel from Mexican genetic material contributed significantly to yield increases. Returns to local research are estimated. Conclusions about the role of the International Research System are drawn.     

Managerial attitudes of public sector managers in Sub-Saharan Africa

Africa, and more specifically Sub-Saharan Africa, is faced with severe economic problems. The public sector, both the political and the managerial, is under severe attack to change its approach to the organization and management of society and its administrative System.

There is today, external, and to some extent internal, pressure to downsize the administrative system, to privatize, and to generally give up the prominent role played by the administrative system in the production and distribution of the general welfare.

This study attempts to assess the attitudes of public sector managers in Sub-Saharan Africa to what may be called universal managerial concerns such as problem-solving, leadership, job challenge, change, and organizational culture. It also assesses the level of satisfaction with career and particular positions of Sub- Saharan African mangers. In assessing attitudes and levels of satisfaction, we compare managers' attitudes with managers from other third world countries. The study concludes with the findings that routineness of work generates negative attitudes while bureaucratization and experience initiate positive attitudes towards universal managerial concerns.     

以色列教育发展面面观

以色列位于地中海东岸,人口约为650万(2002年统计).从自然条件上看,全国近一半的地区是半沙漠和沙漠,水资源十分紧缺.     

启动中的中国与东盟经济一体化

10月22日,在我国广西举行的第二届中国-东盟博览会和中国-东盟商务与投资峰会胜利闭幕,这标志着中国在走向区域经济一体化的进程中迈出了新的步伐.自2002年11月<中国与东盟全面经济合作框架协议>签定以来,中国走向区域经济一体化的进程开始出现"迈大步、看多步"的战略转变.2004年在老挝举行的第八届东盟与中日韩领导人会议上,中国与东盟签署了<中国与东盟全面经济合作框架协议货物贸易协议>,标志着中国与东盟自由贸易区(ACFTA)进程的全面启动.     

Defense System in Israel: The State Comptroller's Perspective

The compliance of audited bodies to the recommendations published by the State Comptroller is very important while evaluating the effectiveness of the state audit process. To measure the effectiveness of the State Comptroller's audit the rate of deficiencies' rectification has been taken into account. Audit frequency is defined as the number of audits in audited bodies in a given period. The effectiveness of the State Comptroller's audit carried out in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) characterized by a rigid hierarchy was compared with that of the State Comptroller's audit carried out in the Ministry of Defense (MOD) characterized by a less rigid hierarchy.     

Managerial Innovations in the Egyptian Public Health Sector: An Empirical Investigation

The purpose of this article is to analyze the process of restructuring the Egyptian public health sector according to the new mode of governance principles and the concomitant dilemmas in the process. Based on an interpretative methodology, the findings of this research indicate that (a) despite some positive changes, serious doubts remain over the commercialization of basic public services; (b) confusions have emerged regarding the identity of public hospitals; (c) despite the introduction of the business management principles, the centralized hierarchical power of the state over the local governmental hospitals remains intact; (d) the new system has degraded the professional standards of medical practitioners and made them subservient to the whims of the financial management professionals; and (e) there have been some negative effects on equity.     

Jewish-Palestinian Relations in Israel: From Hegemony to Equality?

This article focuses on the relationships between the Jewish majority and the Palestinian minority in Israel. Opening with a historical perspective that emphasizes the marginality of the minority, the article proceeds to describe empirically that minority's inferior and subservient condition. The third section proposes an elaborate conceptual framework for analyzing politics in deeply divided societies and then applies it to the Israeli case. The final part addresses the possibility of transforming Israel's political system from one that is ethnically hegemonic and democratically flawed into a polity that is open, inclusive, and genuinely democratic. The article identifies ways for effecting such a systemic transformation through individual-based approaches (especially liberal democracy) and group-based designs (consociationalism, multinationalism, federalism, cantonization, and autonomy).