Virtue,Interest, and Works in American Foreign Policy

Three questions shape American foreign policy: Is it right? Is it in the national interest? And does it work? “Right” is defined by the American ethos, sometimes called the civil religion. Self-interest and pragmatism characterize the other two elements. The interplay among these factors may be found most clearly in presidential rhetoric. After examining Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, FDR, and Ronald Reagan, the article finds that while effective presidents have invoked a religiously based virtue, U.S. foreign policy itself tended to avoid religious issues. In contrast, President George W. Bush has relied on the American civil religion to combat Islamism. But his rhetoric “stretches too far” on democratic virtue at the expense of national interest and pragmatism. The article concludes that the U.S. civil religion, although based on theological ideas, does not travel well.     

利益多元抑或利益联盟——政策网络研究的核心辩解

政策网络的研究,缘起于"多元主义是否适用于现实中的美国政策过程"的质疑与追问,兴起了一场反多元主义与多元主义之间的争论与辩解,搅动了人们对于政策过程中利益多元还是利益联盟的本质探究,同时催生出诸如亚政府、铁三角、政策共同体、议题网络、倡导联盟等新术语.其中,亚政府、铁三角、政策共同体等术语,表明政府在与利益集团的利益联盟中实现对政策过程的操纵,公共政策只是一部分政府部门与利益集团狭隘利益的体现;而议题网络、倡导联盟等术语则表明公共政策并不只是政府与利益集团的互动结果,包括传媒、公众等在内的广泛主体都可以而且事实上也参与其中.在广泛阅读西方文献的基础上,疏理政策网络各种称谓和概念之间的前后传承关系,使充斥各种概念的政策网络研究清晰化和明朗化,同时运用利益分析的方法,揭示这些概念所隐含的内在意涵,理清政策网络研究的基本研究脉向,说明政策网络研究本质上是对"政策过程是利益多元还是利益联盟"这一问题的求解,表明政策网络研究旨在对政策过程作出最贴近现实的描述和理解.     

Chinese Foreign Policy Making: A Comparative Perspective

As one of the fastest growing economies in the world, many wonder what kind of international behavior an increasingly powerful China will demonstrate in the future. Will it be a responsible state on the world stage? The article aims to understand Chinese foreign policy making from a comparative perspective. By using the neoclassical realist approach, key features of Chinese foreign policy as well as possible future alternatives for its implementation are outlined. The essay concludes that significant changes in Chinese foreign policy in recent years are remarkably similar to those of other major powers.     

Party Polarization and Party Structuring of Policy Attitudes: A Comparison of Three NES Panel Studies

The conventional wisdom in the partisan change literature predicts that increasing party conflict on one issue agenda leads to a decline in party conflict on another agenda—a process called conflict displacement. We have argued that recent party politics in the United States has experienced conflict extension, with the Democratic and Republican parties in the electorate growing more polarized on cultural, racial, and social welfare issues, rather than conflict displacement. Here, we suggest that the failure of the literature to account for conflict extension results from incomplete assumptions about individual-level partisan change. The partisan change literature typically considers only issue-based change in party identification, which necessarily leads to the aggregate prediction of conflict displacement. This ignores the possibility of party-based change in issue attitudes. If party-based issue conversion does occur, the aggregate result can be conflict extension rather than conflict displacement. Our analysis uses data from the three-wave panel studies conducted by the National Election Studies in 1956, 1958, and 1960; in 1972, 1974, and 1976; and in 1992, 1994, and 1996 to assess our alternative account of individual-level partisan change. We show that when Democratic and Republican elites are polarized on an issue, and party identifiers are aware of those differences, some individuals respond by adjusting their party ties to conform to their issue positions, but others respond by adjusting their issue positions to conform to their party identification.     

Analysing the Links between National Capitals and Brussels in EU Foreign Policy

The article contributes to the study of EU foreign policy decision-making processes by analysing the links between national officials working in the committees of the Council of the EU and their capitals. Through an original dataset of 138 questionnaires (and 20 interviews) with national representatives, it explores the micro-foundations of the formulation of EU foreign policy. It first shows how, even in this most intergovernmental field, diplomats in Brussels play a very important role in the policy process: only 30 per cent claim to always have a mandate and half state that they do not feel constrained by their capital. Next, it reveals that if (larger) member states attempt to retain control of CFSP/CSDP negotiations, the effective discretion/autonomy these officials enjoy depends on the experience accumulated in the decision-making process, and knowledge of the (formal and informal) links between Brussels and the home department.     

State Debt Management Policy: A National Survey

The amount of outstanding, long-term, tax-exempt state debt has grown precipitously over the last decade, from $87 billion in 1977 to $264 billion in 1987. But there have been few attempts to carry out broad studies of basic state debt management policies, using comparative state data. As a result, policy-makers lack guidance as they attempt to adjust policies and procedures to meet the rapidly evolving requirements associated with public borrowing. This paper reports on a national survey of state debt manage ment policies - policies devoted to the planning, preparation, sale, and repayment of debt for which states consider themselves responsible.     

National Competition Policy — Its Evolution and Implementation: A Study in Intergovernmental Relations

The second reading speech on the Competition Policy Reform Bill 1995 described the policy as 'the most important single development in micro-economic reform in recent years'. The speech went on to describe the vision of the Hilmer Report 'for a national competition policy in which the commonwealth, states and territories cooperated to ensure that universal and uniformly applied rules of market conduct apply to all market participants regardless of their form of ownership'. This article considers how this vision was translated into reality.     

公共利益、公共交易和公共政策——由“定海古城被毁事件”谈开去

从公共政策和公共利益的关系出发,讨论“定海古城被毁”事件,认为公共政策并不必然地反映公共利益。“定海古城被毁”事件实际上可能是一起代表部分政府官员利益的政府部门利益通过公共政策的方式以政府利益和人民利益的不正当名义严重侵害公共利益的事件。由此,提出保证公共政策有效地维护、增进公共利益的公共交易机制。     

Public Policy and Foreign Policy: Divergences,Intersections, Exchange

Policy studies tend to be divided between domestic matters and foreign affairs. Scholars seldom employ one another's literature, and they largely draw on different traditions within political science. This article explores the potential for cross‐fertilization and calls for greater integration of these related subfields. The argument considers the case for unity, parallelism, and overlap between domestic public policy studies and foreign policy studies. It examines the reasons for the divide and surveys a variety of attempts to find solutions for the problem of intersection at the boundary between national life and the international environment. It places the dichotomy in a broader context of political science as a whole and offers suggestions about potentially fruitful exchanges. It treats globalization and suggests that a theory of the state could be helpful to both tendencies in policy studies.     

有限理性利益人--公共政策学的人性假设

公共政策学的人性假设是其理论的根本出发点。以有限理性利益人作为公共政策学的人性假设,这既符合人的一般本性,也符合公共政策实践活动的人的特殊本性,更重要的是它为科学地揭示公共政策的本质及其运行规律提供了依据。公共政策行为实质是一种选择行为,有限理性利益人的行为选择具有价值偏好多元性、智能活动有限性和追求满意性的特征。有限理性利益人假设规定了公共政策学的逻辑起点、内在结构和研究路径,从而规定了公共政策学的整体面貌。     

Bridging Chinese Foreign Policy Studies and Foreign Policy Analysis: Towards a Research Agenda for Mutual Gains

Journal of Chinese Political Science - Building foreign policy theories with Chinese characteristics has long been an aspiration of Chinese scholars, but has not resulted in much globally...     

National Competition Policy: Progress and Prospects

National Competition perspectives Policy — contending perspective.
The Hilmer Report is to competition what fertiliser is to grass (Ian Salmon, BCA 1995).
These reforms are good for the Australian economy and community. They hold the promise of helping to deliver more growth, more jobs and lower inflation but with higher real wages and a better standard of living (Hon. George Gear MP 1995).
The legislation has the potential to be very far reaching and may have implications far broader than originally intended (General Evidence — Australian Senate Economics Legislation Committee 1995).
The process of putting detailed legal and administrative flesh on the bare bone of the principles was not going to be easy. The resolution of issues. at times came down to the balance of power rather than good sense (Christine Charles, South Australian Dept of Premier and Cabinet 1995).
The practical failure to deliver on the claims about competition and efficiency are becoming increasingly evident (Professor Frank Stilwell 1995).
The Commission has a number of concerns on the impact on rural and remote communities and how the competing demands of increased competition and maintaining levels of community service obligations will be balanced in a newly competitive environment (ATSIC 1995).     

Limiting State Involvement in Foreign Policy: The Governors and the National Guard in Perpich v. Defense

The National Guard is a largely successful intergovernmentalinstitution in the United States. In September 1989, however,the governor of Minnesota asked the U.S. Supreme Court to strikedown federal legislation that gives the Department of Defenseauthority to assign state National Guard units to active-dutyoverseas training without the consent of the governor. In Perpich(1990), the Supreme Court upheld the Montgomery Amendment allowingthe president to order members of a state's Guard to activeduty for training outside the United States even during peacetimewithout either the consent of the governor or the declarationof a national emergency. The Court did not address the factthat the president has ample authority under other statutesfor calling up the National Guard. The decision dealt only withthe authority for calling Guard units for two weeks of active-dutytraining. The practical effect of this interpretation of themilitia clauses of the U.S. Constitution is to reduce the states'authority for training to, at best, a ministerial function,even when Guard units are called up by the secretary of defenseonly for the purpose of training.     

Dilemmas of Policy Innovation in the Public Sector: A Case Study of the National Innovation Summit

Policy innovation is a significant challenge for the public sector. This article illustrates its magnitude through a case study of the National Innovation Summit. The article concludes that the Summit represented an elaborate process of search and engagement that sanctioned an outcome that was, in most respects, largely pre‐determined. Its outreach and deliberations served the political purpose of mobilising industry and media attention and communicating the government's commitment. But there is no evidence that it exercised any substantive influence on policy development. The obstacles confounding any other outcome are considerable. Strategic thinking is inhibited by various organisational factors including lock‐in to a present successful strategy, the constraints on policy choices associated with multiple veto points and the need to maintain medium term fiscal and policy discipline across a wide range of agencies and claimants. The article explores ways these inhibitions might be overcome.