A Big Bang for Japanese Mandarins? The Civil Service Reform of 2014

In 2014, the largest reform since the US postwar occupation was enacted in Japanese civil service. It was designed as the final step of the two-decade-long effort to restructure the “1955 System,” that is, the politico-administrative system developed under the Liberal Democratic Party’s hegemony. Its purpose was to remold Japan’s independent-minded bureaucrats into the elected officials’ obedient servants. Unfortunately, the reform is unlikely to deliver expected results. The failure’s major reason concerns the fact that Japanese bureaucracy’s unusually large role in policymaking paradoxically discourages elected officials to use their major reining tool against it, namely, appointive power.     

Has Public Administration Grown Up? A Case for Class-Related Education and Research

Abstract

This article contends that public administration has not grown up because the discipline has yet to address adequately the issue of social class. To this end, public administration education programs and research programs must be refocused. A number of concrete proposals are made along these lines. It is pointed out that affirmative action was never intended to address discrimination and injustice associated with social class, and now the field has an opportunity to lay the basis for filling this void.     

A Desire for Isolation? Mass Public Attitudes in South Africa Toward Immigration Levels

In the last decade incidents of xenophobia in South Africa have been prevalent. Are such anti-immigration attitudes related to a desire for isolationism in the country and support for a withdrawal from world affairs? Using data from the 2013 round of the nationally representative South African Social Attitudes Survey (N = 2,739), this article was able to shed light on determinants of anti-immigration attitudes using multivariate techniques. Foreign policy attitudes and cultural patriotism were found to be salient determinants of attitudes toward preferred immigration level. Support for isolationism was a better predictor than economic position. The findings suggest that discouraging isolationism would reduce xenophobia in the country.     

The European Union and Upheavals in its Neighborhood: A Force for Stability?

This article explores the EU’s action in the context of revolutionary upheavals in its neighborhood, focusing on two cases where the EU’s overall influence is relatively strong: Moldova in 2009 and Tunisia in 2010–2011. It analyzes the intertwining of the normative and strategic agendas by examining the goals, instruments and impact of EU action in each case. The findings highlight a limited and reactive role of the EU, a strong emphasis on stability and a shift towards a more normative engagement in response to external changes that made it easier to merge security- and value-oriented goals.     

Local Government Capital Spending During and After Recessions: A Cause for Concern?

This article combines literature on cutback management with the results of a survey of county commissioners. Specifically, it focuses on the use of capital spending reductions in county government to cope with fiscal stress and the potential long-term impact of such reductions in response to the limited amount of research on this form of local government. In light of the literature and survey results, it recommends that county governments change their behavior and avoid cuts to their capital budgets due to the long-term costs of delayed maintenance and the opportunity costs incurred by stifling economic development. It also presents policy choices available to many counties that enable them to maintain capital investments, including public–private partnerships and earmarked local option sales taxes. The study concludes with a call for quantitative research on the long-term effects of capital reductions during economic downturns.