Public budgeting and financial management curriculum reform: A conceptual framework

Public budgeting and financial management (PBFM) education has been undergoing intense scrutiny which can be seen through many professional conferences, journal symposia, and recently, the creation in 1984 of a Task Force on Budgeting and Financial Management Curriculum Reform by the Section on Budgeting and Financial Management of the American Society for Public Administration. This study analyzes pedagogic deficits in PBFM, suggests a comprehensive scope of PBFM, points to some dilemmas in PBFM curriculum design or reform, proposes some models for a curriculum reform, and raises some implementation constraints in each model.     

Bureaucracy and bribery a conceptual framework

Public bureaucracies carry a potential for bribery. This paper tries to identify and examine the factors affecting the potential or the probability of bribery. It is argued that the specific nature and the probability of bribery depend on the persons involved, the corrupt act in question, the organization in which the event takes place and finally the socio cultural, economic and political environment with in which the organization operates.     

Local governance and learning: in search of a conceptual framework

This article proposes a conceptual framework explaining the phenomenon of local governance learning. The framework is grounded in organisational learning, institutional theory and in a case study of local governance practices undertaken in the process of public dispute resolution. Our analysis offers an advancement in the knowledge on governance learning by (1) specifying different types of governance learning, which are linked to the structure of learning not to its motivation, (2) linking the micro level of local governance practices with the mezzo level of organisational structures, and with the institutions regulating governance on the macro level and (3) explicating the difference between learning and institutional change. We introduce the category of astonishment, which we treat as a prerequisite of governance learning. It is defined as a cognitive state caused by a disruption of institutionalised patterns of thinking and behaviour deployed by a (public) organisation to deal with a specific (social) problem.     

The post-Leninist state: A conceptual and empirical examination

While it is becoming increasingly evident that the post-Leninist state is experiencing a considerable decline in capacity and strength, Western analysts have been slow to address the situation analytically. This essay examines the reasons for the lack of attention paid to the state by former Sovietologists, and offers a new theoretical perspective on the Leninist and post-Leninist states. The utility of this perspective is subsequently demonstrated by applying it to the case of local government reform in Poland. The inability of the Polish reform to overcome the administrative weakness of the state demonstrates both the seriousness of the problem, and the need for greater “state” consciousness on the part of post-Sovietologists.     

环境与国际关系：一种区域性国际公共产品的视角

后冷战时代,随着传统的军事安全地位的相对下降,全球环境问题正渗透到国际关系领域成为许多国家对外政策的一个重要方面,甚至成为国际冲突中的一个新热点。对于全球环境问题,传统经济学所提出的解决方法并不适用,因此有必要对国际政治经济学中的“国际公共产品”理论进行改造和重构,提出“环境类区域性国际公共产品”的概念。有关国家为了本地区的环境安全而联合起来共同生产和维护环境类区域性国际公共产品将成为一种必然趋势,也必将成为今后国际关系的一个基本特点。     

国际货币体系的变革之路：众里寻她千百度

布雷顿森林体系解体,使世界经济失却了被清楚界定的政府干预规则,失却了各国在国际收支调节中的义务,致使各国经济的决策只能在非正式的货币安排中做出。基于这种没有制度规定的制度框架,国际货币体系中潜在冲突的可能性增大了。     

A Coalition of Coalitions: International Cooperation Against Terrorism

The term “coalition against terror” is commonly used, but is fundamentally misleading. Multiple coalitions against terror exist in different issue areasincluding military, financial, law enforcement, intelligence, and reconstruction. These coalitions are independent of each other, and yet inextricably linked, both enabling and constraining each other's actions. Actions taken by the military coalition can undermine the intelligence coalition, for example, by destroying documents and other information during attacks. Overlapping membership may also cause challenges, for countries who disagree with the approach of one coalition many restrict their cooperation with the others. A successful counterterror strategy must account for the interactions of the various coalitions, understanding how actions taken in one area may cause tradeoffs and unintended consequences in others.     

Income distribution and socioeconomic mobility: A framework for analysis and planning

This paper analyses income distribution and socioeconomic mobility within a framework that: (1) incorporates a dynamic as well as a static view of equity, (2) includes the distribution of income by households or individuals and also by socioeconomic classes, and (3) explicitly includes the translation from the distribution by socioeconomic groups into the overall size distribution. The dynamic analysis makes use of a mobility matrix which is similar to the transition matrix in dynamic Markov analysis. A representative mobility matrix is presented which includes ten socioeconomic groups. Four categories of mobility are identified: (1) rural‐urban migration, (2) movements within the urban labour market, (3) movement through the educational system, and (4) capital formation and asset redistribution. Some numerical examples are given analysing development strategies combining high or low socioeconomic mobility with equalising or unequalising growth.     

一部研究国际战略通道问题的力作——评李兵《国际战略通道问题研究》

在读世界近现代历史时,知道像直布罗陀海峡、黑海海峡这样的海上通道非常重要,列强为了争夺这些通道进行过一场又一场战争。到了20世纪末,随着国际局势的缓和,以及空中、管道等交通运输方式的发展,这些海上战略通道逐渐被淡忘。然而,进入21世纪后,随着中国经济的快速发展,能源需求持续增长,对外贸易不断扩大,     

Motivating the uninvolved worker: some conceptual and empirical observations

This paper focuses on the issue of whether less involved workers are affected by conventional management practices such as group involvement, merit pay, and participative management. The findings suggest that while these management practices have some influence on the performance of uninvolved employees, that uninvolved employees are behaviorally distinct from more actively involved workers. As a consequence, it may be prudent for managers in the public sector to develop management practices and approaches specifically designed to stimulate low involvement employees.     

A dynamic theoretical framework of gradual institutional changes

How do institutions transform? To answer that question, this article introduces a dynamic theoretical framework of gradual institutional changes. Instead of looking at each mode of gradual change—like layering or drift—as a stand‐alone process, we examine how the application of one mode of change affects the opportunities of change agents to induce additional modes of gradual transformation. We first point to the fact that any single mode of change produces a real but limited transformation. Nevertheless, since the application of a gradual mode of change alters the institutional context, it opens new change opportunities by affecting the support in the targeted institution and/or its internal coherence. Consequently, change agents who aspire to comprehensive transformation will be able to use these new opportunities to implement additional modes of gradual transformation. Two case studies of gradual social policy transformations in Israel exemplify these theoretical assertions.     

Contextuality and data collection methods: A framework and application to health service utilisation

When establishing the value of imports for tariff assessment, most countries apply duties to a cost‐insurance‐freight (c.i.f.) value of the traded good. One effect of using a c.i.f. valuation base is to place a disproportionate burden on countries that have relatively higher freight and insurance costs. Using matched tariff and transport cost information for six Latin American countries this study examines the influence of alternative valuation procedures on the level and incidence of tariff protection. The results show that developing countries are generally at a major transport and insurance cost disadvantage (relative to developed countries) on inter‐regional trade and that the relatively high Latin American tariffs applied on c.i.f. prices further worsen their competitive position. A shift to free‐on‐board. (f.o.b.) valuation would remove the bias against developing country intra‐trade.     

Leadership for public value: Political astuteness as a conceptual link

Both leadership and public value are increasingly seen as concepts highly relevant to public administration, not only because of complex societal challenges but also as ways to address pluralistic interests in society. This article explores in detail the varied conceptualizations of public value and of public leadership. Furthermore, we argue that political astuteness provides an important conceptual linkage between leadership and public value, enabling actors to read, understand and foster coalitions around diverse and sometimes competing interests. In this introduction to the symposium, we analyse the different conceptualizations of public value, of leadership, and also show how the six articles explicitly or implicitly draw on the linking concept of political astuteness. The article assesses how the six articles of the symposium contribute to each of these three concepts.     

Two conceptual approaches to Latin American social movements from the perspective of activists and scholars: A review essay

Steve Ellner is the director of the Center for Administrative and Economic Research of the Universidad de Oriente, Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela. He is the author ofOrganized Labor in Venezuela, 1958–1991: Behavior and Concerns in a Democratic Setting (Scholarly Resources) and coeditor ofThe Latin American Left: From the Fall of Allende to Perestroika (Westview Press), both published in 1993.