What is wrong with job security?

Most Western studies into motivation suggest that public servants are prosocial. Moreover, scholars suggest that a desire for external rewards, like pay and job security, may crowd out prosocial proclivity. However, recent studies from non‐Western contexts provide mixed results about the actual drivers of public servants' motivation to seek and retain public sector employment and perform their duties. To advance the development of theory regarding motivational dynamics of public servants in developing countries, we examine how pursuing external rewards impacts public service motivation, job satisfaction, and turnover intention among public servants in Kazakhstan (n = 627), a developing former Soviet republic that has been subjected to various waves of personnel reform. Our quantitative and qualitative data show that a desire for job security relates positively to public service motivation and job satisfaction, whereas a desire for monetary rewards correlates negatively with public service motivation and positively with turnover intention. We conclude with the implications for theory and practice.     

When Syria was in Egypt’s land: Egyptians cooperate with Syrians,but less with each other

Public Choice - With the number of people fleeing Syria since 2011 exceeding 5 million, and unclear prospects regarding the country’s future, Syrians currently residing outside their homeland...     

Do Donors Penalize Nonprofit Organizations with Accumulated Wealth?

Does current accumulated wealth by nonprofit organizations influence contributions from individuals? Existing research demonstrates that financial reserves aid program continuity during economic downturns. Yet donors, charity watchdogs, and policy makers voice concern about accumulated wealth in nonprofits. This empirical analysis examines whether the expected negative relationship occurs when donors perceive accumulated wealth as excessive. The results support the conclusion that future contributions are negatively affected when wealth levels are deemed excessive. Nonprofit managers concerned that accumulated wealth will diminish donations should consider financial strategies that will allow their organizations to build modest—but not excessive—reserves.     

Do the elderly “vote with their feet?”

This research explores whether the elderly vote with their feet by migrating to states with government policies that treat them favorably. A theoretical model is presented that clarifies the effects of cost-of-living, amenities and the public sector on migration decisions and that informs our empirical analysis. Using state-level migration data from the 1990 Census, we estimate out-migration and in-migration equations that suggest that the public sector is an important determinant of elderly migration, but in sometimes unexpected ways. Our results lend some support for the Tiebout hypothesis, but they also raise serious questions about the nature of the elderly's preferences for government policy.     

What has gone wrong with inclusive education in Thailand?

This article critically reviews the inclusive education policy in Thailand. Since 1939, the Thai government has promoted the right of persons with disabilities to education. However, very little is known about the reasons why the inclusive education policy in Thailand has failed to motivate school‐aged children to participate in mainstream schools. This article argues that (i) the government has no coherent policy implementation; (ii) school teachers are not well trained to deal with students with disabilities; and (iii) universal design is not well placed. These three major factors have hindered the Thai government in its efforts to empower persons with disabilities through education. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Why cooperate with others? Demystifying China's trilateral aid cooperation

This article examines China's motivations for trilateral aid cooperation in the context of its seemingly assertive diplomacy in recent years. Previously known for its preference for bilateral aid delivery, China, however, is increasingly conducting trilateral cooperation with western donor states and UN agencies. By employing constructivism and cognitive learning theories, this paper focuses on two perspectives: China's calculation of national interests and international engagement, and is structured around two case studies: UNDP's advisory role for China on development cooperation, and China–US trilateral aid cooperation. It argues that strategically, China is putting growing emphasis on its identity as a growing great power in the development sector, using trilateral cooperation to build its global image. Technically, China's four-decade long external engagement has promoted changes in its ideas about aid cooperation, thus reinforcing its desire for cognitive learning to improve its aid performance.     

Distribution of surplus in sequential bargaining with endogenous recognition

I examine a sequential bargaining situation in which agents contest the right to propose an allocation. The contest can either take place at a pre-bargaining stage, yielding “persistent recognition” to propose, or recur throughout the bargaining, yielding “transitory recognition”. Equilibrium analysis reveals that surplus is distributed more unequally under persistent recognition; social cost is higher under persistent recognition if and only if it attracts a sufficient number of “active” bargainers; and individual’s incentive to propose under transitory recognition may actually increase in the number of agents, while this incentive always diminishes under persistent recognition.     

Voluntary contributions with imperfect information: An experimental study

This paper uses a two-person linear voluntary contribution mechanism with stochastic marginal benefits from a public good to examine the effect of imperfect information on contributions. Estimates of individual risk preferences are obtained using data from second-price auctions over lotteries. The results show that limited information about the value of the public good significantly lowers average contributions in all periods but the last. Moreover, the results support the interpretation that subjects bid “as if” they were risk averse, and suggest that “as if” risk-averse behavior is negatively correlated with willingness to contribute.     

Simpler is better? Analysis of a codesign session with elders

Prototyping plays various roles in software engineering: it can function in an exploratory way in order to gather requirements, or generate an artifact that, through iterative cycles of development, leads to final delivery of the product or system. According to literature (Beaudouin-Lafon, M., and W. Mackay. 2007. “Prototyping Tools and Techniques.” In Human Computer Interaction Handbook: Fundamentals. CRC Press.; Lim, Y. K., E. Stolterman, and J. Tenenberg. 2008. “The anatomy of prototypes: Prototypes as filters, prototypes as manifestations of design ideas.” ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI) 15 (2): 7.), a prototype can be described as an incomplete but flexible communication tool for a design idea, both manifesting and filtering interesting aspects of the original idea. On this basis, we propose a Peircean definition for this tool: a prototype can be considered as a complex set of signs, or better as a text, because each of its features literally “stands for” corresponding features of the final artifact, foreseeing particular aspects or the overall capacity of the outcome. But what happens when stakeholders involved in a project have no or little competence in tools and technologies discussed? Can they correctly interpret a prototype? To answer this question, we propose a Discourse Analysis (Duranti, A. 1997. Linguistic Anthropology. Cambridge, Mass: Cambridge University Press; Potter, J. 2004. “Discourse analysis as a way of analyzing naturally occurring talk.” In Qualitative research: Theory, Method and Practice, edited by D. Silverman, 200–221. SAGE; Schegloff, J. 1989. “Harvey Sacks’ lectures on conversation: an Introduction/memoir.” Human Studies 12: 185–209.) of a co-design session with elders of a daily centre for frail adults in Rome. In this context, we could observe how interactions between the material aspect of the prototype (i.e. the product itself) and its intended meaning (i.e. its significance) can produce distortions, in the form of aberrant interpretations or even a complete lack of comprehension. During this communication breakdown, prototypes lose their connection to the features and behaviors of the product: the relation between representamen and interpretant is lost.     

Moderate Machiavelli? Contrasting The Prince with the Arthashastra of Kautilya

Abstract

Max Weber was the first to see that the writings of Machiavelli, when contrasted with the brutal realism of other cultural and political traditions, were not so extreme as they appear to some critics. "Truly radical ‘Machiavellianism,’ in the popular sense of that word," Weber said in his famous lecture "Politics as a Vocation," "is classically expressed in Indian literature in the Arthashastra of Kautilya (written long before the birth of Christ, ostensibly in the time of Chandragupta [Maurya]): compared to it, Machiavelli's The Prince is harmless." In this article, contrast Machiavelli's writings to those of Kautilya (c. 300 B.C.E.) and question why Machiavelli omitted the harsher aspects of political domination such as spies, assassination of enemies, and torture. Could it be that he was afraid to tell a prince about the harsher characteristics of tyrannical rule? If so, why?     

Fair play and empathy： A research study with student teachers

Empathy for difficulties that students have in learning and for their emotional well-being is an essential but difficult skill that teachers must develop. Shields and Bredemier （1994） have emphasized the necessity of empathic skills in physical education classes given the wide range of abilities that students bring to those classes. One of the emphases in the current training of physical education teachers is on sports ethics generally and fair play specifically. The relationship between moral development and the ability to empathize has been suggested （Grief ＆ Hogan, 1973）. Therefore, it may be argued that fair play education heavily focusing on moral behaviors in sports can contribute to the development of empathic skills of student teachers. This study outlines findings from a study of the impact in a class on the importance of fair play in sports on the development of empathy among 50 Turkish student teachers enrolled in the Physical Education and Sports Teaching Department at Gazi University in Ankara, Turkey. The Interpersonal Reactivity Index （IRI） developed by Davis （1983） was administered during the first week of class and again after during the final week of class in order to examine the impact of a class on fair play on empathic skills. A comparison between the before class and after class scores indicate that student teachers reported significantly more empathic skills at the end of the class as compared to what they had at the beginning.     

Can't get no satisfaction with the Westminster model? Winners,losers and the effects of consensual and direct democratic institutions on satisfaction with democracy

Are citizens in consensus democracies with developed direct democratic institutions more satisfied with their political system than those in majoritarian democracies? In this article, individual‐level data from the second wave of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems and an updated version of Lijphart's multivariate measure of consensus and majoritarian democracy covering 24 countries are used to investigate this question. The findings from logistic multilevel models indicate that consensual cabinet types and direct democratic institutions are associated with higher levels of citizens' satisfaction with democracy. Furthermore, consensus democracy in these institutions closes the gap in satisfaction with democracy between losers and winners of elections by both comforting losers and reducing the satisfaction of winners. Simultaneously, consensus democracy in terms of electoral rules, the executive–legislative power balance, interest groups and the party system reduces the satisfaction of election winners, but does not enhance that of losers.     

‘Living with culture’: creative citizenship practices in Toronto

This paper addresses the contemporary creativity ethos through the lens of citizenship. The paper builds upon governmentality scholarship to examine how creativity and cultural participation are being recast as moral duties of active citizenship. It notes the development of governmental projects that seek to optimize the creative capacities of individuals toward a variety of ends. The paper develops these observations through an examination of cultural planning practices in Toronto. It notes how the city's cultural policies are viewed in increasingly therapeutic terms as technologies of creative citizenship. Emphasis is placed on the proliferation of participatory arts festivals and arts-based community development projects that enlist urban denizens into creative citizenship practices. The paper then explores a paradox at the centre of this emergent regime of creative citizenship. It describes how the creative citizen is construed in cultural planning practice as a heroic agent of innovation and civic renewal, and, at the same time, as an object of continual monitoring, assessment and risk-management.     

Getting to Peace? Negotiating with the LRA in Northern Uganda

Getting to peace is not a straightforward process. In Uganda, internal conflict has raged for more than 20 years between the Government and the Lord’s Resistance Army. The construction of a comprehensive negotiated settlement is at the mercy of conflicting ideologies and influences at the international, national and grassroots levels. This paper examines the Juba peace talks, the major actors in the negotiation process, and tension between prosecution and amnesty.

Can Democratic Governments Save? Experiences of Countries with Budget Surpluses

It has long been held that it is difficult for advanced democracies to achieve and sustain continued fiscal restraint. The benefits of such restraint are diffuse, and as a result restraint will generally lose out to spending increases and/or tax cuts that are supported by organized political agents. However, our study of other nations that have achieved budget surpluses makes the case that it is possible for an advanced democracy to achieve consensus on the need for continued fiscal restraint during a period of surplus. To some extent, the design of budget processes in these nations has played a critical role in encouraging fiscal discipline. But even more importantly, these nations demonstrate that ideas matter and that the ability to sustain fiscal discipline is related to the ability of decision makers to reframe the budget debate in terms of broader national goals. However, it is unclear how long this new consensus will last, and many competing policy ideas wait in the wings to spring forth when economic and political circumstances shift.