Whole‐of‐Government Approaches to Outsourcing and Market Testing by the Commonwealth Government

This article traces the development of approaches to outsourcing by successive Australian governments from 1995. The analysis focuses on strategies initially adopted for the outsourcing of government information technology (IT) services and, subsequently, includes the market testing approach adopted for the outsourcing of both IT and corporate services. The framework for analysis has been based on theories of privatisation developed by Feigenbaum, Henig and Hamnett (1999). This framework offers insights into the goals and strategies employed by commonwealth government that underpin their approaches to sourcing of services for their public sector. The article concludes by discussing some of the unresolved issues associated with the failure of government to formally evaluate the impact of their outsourcing policies.     

Institutions and Market Reform in Emerging Economies: A Rent Seeking Perspective

The role of institutions as determinants ofrent seeking success is well established. In this paper, we focus on institutionsthat have received little attention in theliterature, namely electoral institutions. We examine three measures of electoralinstitutional structure that arehypothesized to be instrumental indetermining the level of rent seekingsuccess. These are the type of electoralsystem, pluralistic or proportional; methodof selection of the chief executive,presidential or parliamentary; and thenumber of electoral districts. An index ofeconomic freedom is used as the metric forrent seeking opportunities created bygovernments. Theoretical implications ofvariation in these electoral institutionsare developed. These implications areempirically tested employing data from 29countries classified as having emergingmarket economies. Countries with emergingeconomies are expected to exhibit moreinstitutional flexibility that moredeveloped countries whose property rightsare well established and defended. Theempirical results are controlled fordifferences in a number of demographic andhistorical factors. Plurality electoralsystems are more resistant to the politicaldemands of rent seeking than proportionalsystems. Fewer election districts seem toreduce rent seeking opportunities. However, conditional on the type ofelectoral system, presidential systems arefound to be no more resistant to rentseeking than parliamentary systems. Finally, we find strong control effects. Literacy increases a country's resistanceto rent seeking while military spending andyears of institutional entrenchment reduceit.     

Networked Legal Learning: An Evaluation of the Student Learning Experience

This paper reports the findings from a case study that was conducted as part of the JISC/CALT funded Networked Learning in Higher Education project. The paper casts light on the wider debate about how and whether tutors can 'align' their teaching style with students' approaches to learning. It evaluates a law course that has been taught on campus using Lotus Notes to support group work and to provide a general course environment. The paper builds upon earlier evaluations of the course reported by the course tutor and used to develop the course design. The findings combine a firm understanding of the tutor's intentions and design with an evaluation of the student experience. This allows a consideration of alignment in a networked learning environment and uses several sources of rich data to triangulate designers' intentions with outcomes. Our findings incline us to the view that networked learning environments may be more open to unplanned influences than traditional courses. As a consequence of the increased number of influences students' may encounter greater degrees of variation in their experience.     

Philosophical Interpretation in the Work of Michael Walzer

Walzer's work has been criticised by liberal writers on the grounds of its interpretive underpinnings, which have been equated with communitarianism. Theorists working in branches of radical political theory (such as feminism, critical theory or post-structuralism) have generally accepted this criticism and considered Walzer's work excessively conservative. Its influence on radical political theory has therefore been abbreviated. But the contention of this article is that, properly understood, the grounds on which Walzer takes issue with objectivist liberalism closely resemble those advanced within radical political theory, and therefore his work can be rescued from its conservative associations.     

Managing Tax Regimes: A Call for Research

Most academic research on taxation relates to higher-level issues of fiscal policy. Much public debate takes place about the calculation and incidence of different taxes, but little academic research addresses the management problems that are specific to national taxation regimes. This paper identifies emerging issues and calls for joint practitioner/academic attention on an international basis to address these issues.