Supervised Devolution: The Case of Child-Support Enforcement

Supervised devolution in the area of child-support enforcementhas produced a tenuous but politically popular sharing of powerbetween the federal government and the states for more thantwo decades. In this paradigm, policy has proceeded simultaneouslyalong two developmental tracks. Along the first track, the federalgovernment has pushed states toward reform by establishing thelegal framework for the program. Along the second track, thefederal government also has granted the states freedom to experimentwith a variety of new policies, including those that targetan extremely important group: low-income fathers. This freedom,however, is not without its limits. The federal government activelysupervises the states' performance through a combination offinancial incentives, penalties, and funding for demonstrationprojects. When the states have innovated in a particularly noteworthydirection, the federal government has followed through withappropriate rewards. When they have faltered, the states havefaced negative repercussions. Future challenges to this delicatebalance of power include processing interstate cases, adaptingto a changing clientele base, and resolving outstanding cost-sharingissues.     

Informant Discrepancies in Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms in an At-Risk Sample: The Role of Parenting and School Engagement

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - A number of studies have used variable-centered approaches to examine informant discrepancies on children’s behavior problems; however, few such studies...     

Researching difference and diversity within women's movements: Sisterhood and after

This paper illustrates how Sisterhood and After: The Women's Liberation Oral History Project has approached difference and diversity within the history of women's movements. I argue that the terms ‘difference and diversity’ cannot do justice to histories of black women unless they are used to highlight the impact of race on black women's experiences in women's movements. Furthermore given the widespread acknowledgment that there was tension in the British women's liberation movement over the marginalization, exclusion and racism faced by black and Asian women, the project sought to ensure that black and Asian women's varied experiences as campaigners were explored and we also asked our white interviewees about race. I show how the in-depth nature of the life history interview method holds the possibility for greater reflection on these vital and often unsettling issues in feminism's history.     

Emotional Distress Among LGBT Youth: The Influence of Perceived Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation

The authors evaluated emotional distress among 9th–12th grade students, and examined whether the association between being lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgendered (i.e., “LGBT”) and emotional distress was mediated by perceptions of having been treated badly or discriminated against because others thought they were gay or lesbian. Data come from a school-based survey in Boston, Massachusetts (n = 1,032); 10% were LGBT, 58% were female, and ages ranged from 13 to 19 years. About 45% were Black, 31% were Hispanic, and 14% were White. LGBT youth scored significantly higher on the scale of depressive symptomatology. They were also more likely than heterosexual, non-transgendered youth to report suicidal ideation (30% vs. 6%, p < 0.0001) and self-harm (21% vs. 6%, p < 0.0001). Mediation analyses showed that perceived discrimination accounted for increased depressive symptomatology among LGBT males and females, and accounted for an elevated risk of self-harm and suicidal ideation among LGBT males. Perceived discrimination is a likely contributor to emotional distress among LGBT youth.     

Beyond the Contract: The Scope and Nature of Informal Government–Nonprofit Partnerships

Privatization research lacks an understanding of the scope and nature of informal service delivery relationships between nonprofits and local government. This article reports on a study of local service delivery partnerships in Georgia using survey and interview data. In addition to assessing the frequency of noncontractual partnerships, this study builds on B. Guy Peters's definition of public–private partnerships to delineate the control–formality dimensions of these partnerships more clearly. The agency theory notion that a trade-off occurs between formality and control is also tested. The findings show that most public–private partnerships involving nonprofits are led by government agencies, and they are only weakly collaborative in the sense of shared authority or resources. Often, community norms substitute for formal service agreements. The study concludes with suggestions for further research regarding trust and behavioral norms in public–private partnerships.     

Shaping participation: an international NGO implementing a government participation policy

This article reports on a case study of how one NGO utilised a government participation policy to establish ostensibly participatory spaces in the Cambodian health sector. The ethnographic field study revealed how the NGO exerted influence in establishing and facilitating participative committees by controlling membership, resources, and meeting agendas. This resulted in limited citizen participation, with committees used to educate, lobby, and mobilise community leaders to work towards the NGO’s priorities rather than community identified needs. This case contributes to our understanding of insisted spaces and the role of third parties implementing government participation policies.     

Board Diversity,Stakeholder Representation,and Collaborative Performance in Community Mediation Centers

Does board diversity or representativeness influence organizational performance? Though it is understudied in both the public and the nonprofit sectors, learning more about this critical subject can enhance organizational performance within highly collaborative settings. Community mediation centers, which rely on multiple public and private resources to meet their programmatic objectives, provide excellent case studies for analyzing the impact of different kinds of interorganizational linkages on organizational performance. A multitheoretic view incorporating agency, resource dependence, and stakeholder perspectives is employed through a national sample and a two‐stage analysis using a logic model to test the cumulative impact of board characteristics and interorganizational relationships on organizational outcomes. Organizations’ collaborative capacity depends on several kinds of boundary‐spanning activities, including network ties, revenue sources, and the number of stakeholder groups represented on the board.     

Capacity for public administration: analysis of meaning and measurement

Public administration researchers and practitioners have placed a heavy emphasis on the theme of programme performance. More recently, there has been a growing sentiment in the literature about the integral role of organisational capacity in achieving performance. While this is often expressed in the (re)iteration of a ‘management matters’ mantra, we see some disarray in the broader capacity literature both in definition and application. As scholars call for more integrated models of governance that link, for example, capacity and performance, we see a growing need for an analysis of the concept of capacity. Using bibliometric and content analyses to explore scholarly treatment of capacity constructs, this article assesses whether the perceived disarray is real, and if so what consequences it might have. We do so by reporting on capacity's meaning and measurement through an analysis of four decades of the private, public and nonprofit management literatures. While specific definitions of capacity are, by nature, context dependent, we conclude by distilling a general, conceptual framework of capacity for public management researchers and practitioners. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.