Adjusting to New Ways of Working: Experiments with Service Delivery in the Public Sector

In response to the perceived failure of both the state and market models of service delivery, governments have embarked on a reform program that draws on the community sector to expand the suite of available policy and service delivery arrangements. This paper explores and identifies the nature of changed relationships between government and the community sector. It uses a case study that examines the operation of a new type of community organisation, and analyses the affectivity and outcomes from the experience of a community based networked arrangement. Although there is evidence of a shift to more relationship‐ oriented models of operation because of either mandate or preference both community and government sectors have found it difficult to make the necessary adjustments to these new ways of working. Community has begun the shift to this new relational approach but finds it difficult to sustain the momentum and tends to revert to more independent and competitive modes. Governments find it difficult to make the necessary adjustments to power‐sharing and resource allocation and continue to operate as ‘business as usual’ through the traditional bureaucratic authority of command and control. In this way, the rhetoric of collaboration and partnership between government and the community sector is not necessarily matched by policy and action supporting the practice of ‘new ways of working’ although these ‘experiments in service delivery’ have opened the way for adopting more innovative and effective approaches to service delivery.     

When silence threatens safety: lessons from the first Canberra Hospital neurosurgical inquiry

Despite widespread institutional and professional support, the recommendations of the Bristol Royal Infirmary Inquiry may be insufficient to reduce patient risk from impaired senior medical practitioners. Using the First Inquiry into Neurosurgical Services at the Canberra Hospital as a case study, this article argues that the Bristol-type recommendations--which emphasise reformulation of clinical governance structures, including early reporting of "sentinel events" and compulsory clinical audits--will be ineffective without a reformed institutional ethos that encourages open transparency and respect for those committed to such processes. Such reformulation may need to commence in medical education and involve new strategies including the use of portable digital technology to facilitate self-assessment of performance and immediate reporting of adverse incidents.     

ANTHROPOLOGY AND PUBLIC POLICY IN ALASKA: RECENT POLICY RELATED TO LEGAL SYSTEMS NATIVE SUBSISTENCE AND COMMERCIAL FISHERIES

The past and potential contributions of anthropology to public policy have been described andlor argued for by numerous writers in the past decade, but the primary application and concern have been at the national and international levels. The present paper continues this discussion, but focuses on state-level policy in Alaska. The work of three Alaskan anthropologists is presented; they have made significant contributions to policy in the areas of law, Native Alaskan subsistence rights and fisheries management. Their work is evaluated in the context of a five-step model for conducting policy analysis which begins with the assessment of policy-making environments and ends with an evaluation of policy alternatives. The primary policy concerns of the anthropologists discussed involved the traditional research focus of anthropology, Native Alaskans; however, the tools they employ and background they bring to their work, the specific kinds of policy issues and problems confronted, are not as traditional. One of the anthropologists discussed is atlingit Indian completing doctoral studies at Harvard University, another is a lawyer-anthropologist, and the third is highly trained in biological and economic theory as well as computer technology. It is argued that the "hyphenated" anthropologist, at least as exemplified in the cases discussed, is most readily equipped to make policy relevant contributions.     

Deng Xiaoping: Economist,Diplomat, Reformer

正Dear Readers,Forum is a column that provides a space for varying perspectives on contemporary Chinese society.We invite you to submit personal viewpoints on past and current topics(in either English or Chinese).yanwei@bjreview.com Please provide your name and address along with your comments Deng Xiaoping’s role as the father of reform in modern China is historically secure.In his vast biography of the Chinese leader published in 2011,American academic     

Xian Huang,Social Protection under Authoritarianism

Journal of Chinese Political Science -