La régulation des affaires sociales: une analyse politique††

Sommaire. Le gouvernement peut être défini comme la régulation des affaires publiques¹ et à des fins d'analyse cette régulation, comme d'ailleurs les régulations privées, peut être distinpée en communication et en commandement. Pour que la régulation s'accomplisse, la communication doit être commandée, et le commandement communiqué. Nous nous situerons ici dans la première perspective:celle où la régulation est vue comme commandement de la communication. C'est la perspective de l'analyse politique, par opposition à une analyse davantage socio-économique qui se donnerait pour objet les phénomènes de communication eux-mêmes. Abstract. Government can be defined in terms of the regulation of public affairs. For purposes of analysis, public regulation, like private regulation, can be identified as communication and command. For regulation to be achieved, communication must be ordered and the order communicated. Here we will explore the first notion, the consideration of regulation as ordering communication. This is the viewpoint of political analysis, as opposed to a more socio-economical analysis which is concerned with the phenomena of communication itself.     

Reviews

Holland Hunter & Janusz M. Szyrmer, Faulty Foundations: Soviet Economic Policies, 1928–1940. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992, xvi + 339 pp., $49.50, £33.00

Peter Rutland, The politics of economic stagnation in the Soviet Union. The role of local party organs in economic management. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993, xv + 297 pp., £40.00.

Saul Estrin & Martin Cave, eds, Competition and Competition Policy. London: Pinter Publishers, 1993, xi + 143 pp., £35.00.

Pekka Sutela, ed., The Russian Economy in Crisis and Transition. Helsinki: Bank of Finland, 1993, 192 pp., no price.

Sheila M. Puffer, ed., The Russian Management Revolution: Preparing Managers for the Market Economy. Armonk, NY, M. E. Sharpe, 1992, xxi + 290 pages, $59.95 h/b, $19.95 p/b.

Alan Smith, Russia and the World Economy: Problems of Integration. London: Routledge, 1993, 253 pp., £37.50 h/b, £12.99 p/b.

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Henryk J. Flakierski, Income Inequalities in the Former Soviet Union and its Republics. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1993, vii + 87 pp., $24.95 p/b.

Jan Winiecki, Post‐Soviet‐Type Economies in Transition. Aldershot: Avebury, 1993, v + pp. £35.00.

Roger Clarke, Ed., Privatisation: An International Symposium. Papers and Discussion from a Conference in Bled, Slovenia, 6–9 February 1992. London: The Centre for Research into Communist Economies, 1992, 133 pp., £6.50.

Sheila Fitzpatrick, The Cultural Front: Power and Culture in Revolutionary Russia. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1992, xx + 264 pp., $13.95 p/b.

Sharin Rai, Hilary Pilkington & Annie Phizacklea, eds, Women in the Face of Change: The Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and China. London: Routledge, 1992, x + 227 pp., £10.99 p/b.

Bertram Silverman, Robert Vogt & Murray Yanowitch, eds, Labor and Democracy in the Transition to a Market System: A US‐Post‐Soviet Dialogue. Armonk, NY and London: M. E. Sharpe, 1992, xxii + 228 pp., $59.95 h/b, $19.95 p/b.

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Donald D. Barry, ed., with the assistance of Louis Rodriguez, Toward the ‘Rule of Law’ in Russia? Political and Legal Reform in the Transition Period. Armonk, NY and London: M. E. Sharpe, 1992, xxv + 402 pp., $90.00.

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Kitty Weaver, Bushels of Rubles. Soviet Youth in Transition, Westport, & London CT: Praeger, 1993, vii + 216 pp., £40.50.     

Reviews

László Csaba, ed., Systemic Change and Stabilization in Eastern Europe. Aldershot, and Brookfield, NY: Dartmouth Publishing Co., 1991, x + 141 pp. £30.00.

Christopher T. Saunders, ed., Economics and Politics of Transition. New York: Macmillan Press, 1992, x + 419 pp., £50.00.

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Judith B. Sedaitis & Jim Butterfield, eds, Perestroika from Below: Social Movements in The Soviet Union. Boulder, CO, San Francisco, CA, and Oxford: 1991, xii + 220 pp., $23.00 h/b.

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Anthony Kemp‐Welch, ed., The Ideas of Nikolai Bukharin. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992, 209 pp., £27.50.     

A fatal case of chlorate poisoning: confirmation by ion chromatography of body fluids

A 49-year-old male chemical industry worker was admitted to intensive care with a 24-hour history of respiratory failure, vomiting, headache, stupor, arterial hypotension, and cyanosed face and limbs. He had acute haemolysis (3.9 g/L plasma haemoglobin concentration) and 30% methaemoglobinaemia. Whereas the search for alcohol, barbiturates and opiates was negative, benzodiazepines and tricyclic antidepressants were present. The patient was in fact being treated with fluvoxamine, amitryptiline, and alprazolam. As the clinical and biological signs suggested chlorate poisoning, chlorate was looked for by using an aniline color reaction. It was found in gastric content and urine. Treatment consisted in mechanical ventilation, vasoactive amines, methylene blue, plasma exchange, exchange transfusion, and haemodialysis. Despite this, the patient had several cardiac arrests and refractory metabolic acidosis. He died 12 h after his admission. Specific ion chromatography was used afterhand to assay the chlorate in various body fluids. The technique was based on a separation on an ion exchange Dionex AS 12A column coupled with conductivity detection. A quantitative estimation was carried out by using external calibration with a four-point calibration curve which was linear between 1 and 15 mg/L. The measured plasma levels of chlorate were 78 and 29 mg/L respectively before and after exchange transfusion. Gastric-lavage liquid contained 1300 mg/L of chlorate and urine 4300 mg/L. Ion chromatography, which is routinely used in environmental studies helped to confirm a massive oral intake of chlorate by measuring the corresponding blood and urine chlorate concentrations, data which had only rarely been reported previously.     

Enhancing learning in development partnerships

Through an analysis of practical examples and key literature, this article considers what will enhance learning in and between NGOs and other development partners. The authors explore how the types and qualities of relationship currently evolving in the development sector affect learning, drawing predominantly on experiences of relationships between Northern and Southern NGOs. The article identifies those aspects of relationships that foster learning and those that inhibit it, and offers recommendations to strengthen learning. The authors highlight the relevance of, the challenges posed by, and the potential of partnership work, as well as the impact of accountability demands, procedures, and processes on organisational relationships and on learning.     

Program design guidelines

Abstract. The article briefly examines organization and systems theory, Planning, Programming and Budgeting system, management and planning theory, Nadler's system design matrix and the scientific research design, and derives a ‘form’ or a format to describe and express human activities from a managerial point of view. This format is the Program Design Guidelines. A program is defined as a set of human activities and their requirements which can be described (for evaluation purposes) or formulated (for planning purposes) according to twelve aspects: title, introduction, needs/problems/concerns, objective, target population, operations, schedule, authority and responsibility, resources required, budget, evaluation and implications. A series of advantages could follow the wide use of such guidelines in government operations.