The Provider/Purchaser Split: A Report from New Zealand

This article focuses on a narrow topic: the provider/purchaser split. It discusses the theoretical arguments justifying the separation of state agencies providing goods and services from the agencies which purchase those services on behalf of government. It also discusses some of the main criticisms of the theory and briefly reviews application of the theory to reform of New Zealand's state sector provision of policy advice, health care and scientific services.     

Reviews

Janos Kornai, The Socialist System: The Political Economy of Communism. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992, xxvii + 644 pp., £35.00 h/b, £9.95 p/b.

R. W. Davies, M. Harrison & S. G. Wheatcroft (eds), The Economic Transformation of the Soviet Union, 1913–1945. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994, xvi + 381 pp., £40.00 h/b, £15.95 p/b.

Michael H. Bernhard, The Origins of Democratization in Poland: Workers, Intellectuals, and Oppositional Politics, 1976–1980. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993, xv + 298 pp., $57.00 h/b, $20.50 p/b.

Rein Taagepera, Estonia: Return to Independence. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, xv + 268 pp., £33.50 h/b, £11.95 p/b.

Silviu Brucan, The Wasted Generation. Memoirs of the Romanian Journey from Capitalism to Socialism and Back. Boulder, CO, San Francisco, CA and Oxford: Westview Press, 1993, xii + 227 pp., £19.95.     

Towards a stages theory approach to privatization

In analysing the path of optimal sequencing of privatizations by public administrations, it is too simplistic to characterize the process as one in which in the early phase small state-owned enterprises are disposed of and, in the later stage, the larger enterprises. Such a dichotomy fails to capture fully the market failure elements, technological dimensions, sociological imperatives and political constraints that help to determine the choice and timing of enterprises to be privatized. Rather, the privatization experience of the developing and developed countries, including the former centrally planned economies, can be eclectically analysed as traditional, transitional and transformation stages in an almost inexorable movement towards a pure capitalist economy. In the traditional stage, countries have tended to privatize those enterprises for which the private sector has an obvious comparative advantage. In the transitional stage, the privatization programme includes certain important enterprises, which, despite a considerable amount of government subsidy or tariff protection, have performed ‘inefficiently’. In the stage of transformation from a still basically mixed economy to a near pure capitalist economy, there is privatization of the strategic enterprises. Although the stages approach varies between countries, the above-mentioned sequencing allows for more effective cumulative internalization of the learning experience.     

Costing governmental services in a reformed environment: Unreachable goal or unfinished business?

This article assesses the impact of New Public Management (NPM) reforms in the public sector from a cost consciousness perspective. Using an action‐research methodology, we analyze the intensity of the external pressures that influence the institutional logic under which public sector organizations manage their costs. The field work shows that even after decentralization, public sector organizations appear unable to move their costing function from expense control to cost management unless external pressures motivate managers to complete the reform. We propose that the probability of success of reforms is increased when organizations are subject to strong pressures that could take the form of individual incentives or external threats.     

Terrorism—a new era of criminality

The Hanafi terrorist attack and takeover in Washington, D.C. is used as an example of how the terrorist threat can be met with effective coun‐termeasures. Negotiation, rather than immediate assault, is regarded as the best solution once a terrorist takeover has occurred. Specific goals and techniques for law‐enforcement personnel are outlined. Criteria for selecting a negotiator are sketched. The main objective of negotiations is emphasized: the safe release of innocent victims. Negotiators are advised to use a variety of techniques including lengthening the time factor and never agreeing to a demand without receiving something in return.     

A database right in search results? – An intellectual property right reconsidered in respect of computer generated databases

With much information available from open sources on the internet, computer generated databases have become commonplace. The question whether computer generated databases can be protected under the sui generis database right has hitherto received little attention. This article investigates this question and finds that the substantiality of investment, the definition of the rights holder and the interpretation of exclusive rights raise fundamental issues.     

中非发展合作:关于非洲新受援单位的思考

20世纪50年代以来,中国在与非洲国家陆续建立外交关系后,不断向非洲国家提供多领域的援助,且在1964年宣布了对非洲国家的援助政策.虽然中国对非洲援助历来以非洲整体为受援单位,但是在实施援助政策中依然以双边关系为援助落实方式.其实,非洲国家在发展进程中已经意识到,非洲次地区的发展是整个非洲发展的重要步骤,所以建立起不同的次地区组织,并且努力完善其功能.故此,中国在以非洲各国为受援单位的基础上,更应该考虑以非洲次地区组织为新的受援单位.