Designing Health Service Organization in the UK, 1968 to 1998: from Blueprint to Bright Idea and 'Manipulated Emergence'

Four sets of reforms of the National Health Service are employed to illustrate the changing character of policy making in this sector over a thirty year period, from the production of a carefully developed technocratic blueprint for its organization to the promulgation of a series of bright ideas accompanied by incentives for local actors to develop them into concrete organizational arrangements consonant with these ideas. We term this latter approach 'manipulated emergence' and relate it to the literatures of organizational culture and of post-Fordism. The approach adopted by the 1997 Labour government is largely, though not wholly consistent with this, and it remains to be seen whether the high-water mark of manipulated emergence has passed.     

Case-control studies: Design issues for criminological applications

The current understanding of the determinants of homicide derives primarily from studies in which data are aggregated for geopolitical units. Case-control studies and other analytic methods are needed to test causal hypotheses regarding the risk of homicide victimization or perpetration for individuals. Strengths and limitations of the case-control method are illustrated by comparing the design with cohort studies. Fundamental issues include the selection and comparability of cases and controls, effects of biases, interpretation of risk estimates, and problems of implementation. Increased use of this method should advance our understanding of homicide and other forms of intentional violence.Presented in part at the 37th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, San Diego, California, November 16, 1985.     

Voice Over IP services: Regulatory perspectives from the developed and the developing worlds

As the technology for Internet telephone service (“Voice Over IP” or “VOIP”) matures, and the quality of service improves, regulators in developed and developing countries are encountering significant and very different regulatory challenges. This article looks at the issues faced by regulators in developed country markets with a history of extensive service competition. A follow-up article will contrast the issues faced in developing country markets, particularly those where service competition is limited.