Executive and legislature in Ontario: a case study on governmental reform

Abstract. In pursuit of the search common to many governments for a more rationalistic approach to policy-making, Ontario in the 1970s engaged in massive restructuring of its executive and administration. As that was nearing completion, a more modest essay at reform of the legislature was undertaken and is still in progress. The central argument of this paper is that the dominant drive on the executive-administrative side was to reduce rationality to technocratic efficiency (though more recent developments have offset that trend to an extent), while legislative reform to date has at best been a small beginning at reducing executive dominance over the legislature (though a potential is noted at the end of the paper for enhancing the legislature's role). Moreover, the two reform movements have so far followed parallel rather than intersecting courses, thus leaving the basic democratic issues of responsiveness and accountability largely untouched. Sommaire. Dans sa recherche d'une approche plus rationnelle pour l'établissement des politiques, recherche qui est commune à bien des gouvernements, l'Ontario s'est lancé en 1970 dans une restructuration massive du gouvernement et de son administration. Celle-ci éant presque terminée, il tenta plus modestement de reformer le Parlement et cette réforme se poursuit à l'heure actuelle. La thèse de l'auteur de cette communication est que le principal effort du côte du gouvernement et de l'administration a consistéà ramener la rationalisation à l'efficacité technocratique (bien que les développements les plus récents aient renversé la vapeur dans une certaine mesure), alors que jusqu'ici la réforme du Parlement a tenté timidement de réduire la domination du gouvernement sur le Parlement (bien que l'auteur mentionne à la fin de l'exposé la possibilité d'accroître davantage le rôle de la législature). De plus, les deux mouvements de réforme ont suivi jusqu'à présent des routes parallèles, ce qui laisse pratiquement intactes les questions fondamentales de la responsabilité et du contrôle.     

WHAT IS A “GOOD” SOCIAL NETWORK FOR POLICY IMPLEMENTATION? THE FLOW OF KNOW‐HOW FOR ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

This study concerns how intraorganizational networks affect the implementation of policies and practices in organizations. In particular, we attend to the role of the informal subgroup or clique in cultivating and distributing locally adapted and integrated knowledge, or know‐how. We develop two hypotheses based on the importance of intraorganizational coordination for an organization's capacity for change. The first emphasizes the importance of distributing know‐how evenly to potential recipient subgroups. The second emphasizes the importance of restricting know‐how to flow from high know‐how subgroups. We test our hypotheses with longitudinal network data in 21 schools, finding stronger support for the second hypothesis than the first. Our findings can help managers cultivate know‐how flows to contribute to organizational change.     

Enlarging the Euro Area: External Empowerment and Domestic Transformation in East Central Europe

Immigrants and their descendants are becoming increasingly visible in Germany’s political life. What determines immigrant political incorporation into parliamentary positions over time and in specific contexts? The article focuses on the regional parliaments of Germany’s 16 states. A comparative analysis enables us to specify whether, how and under what conditions factors thought to impact levels of immigrant representation are indeed influential and how they interact with local and situational conditions. The article first outlines immigrant representation in Germany’s states over time. It then discusses several possible explanations for the striking variation between states. Rather than one key factor, it is found that interactions between demographic, institutional, cultural and political conditions account for different levels of immigrant representation in Germany’s state parliaments.     

China's Future Economic Regionalization

This paper investigates China's economic growth potentials and limitation up to 2020 and recommends a trend of economic regionalization. A sustainable growing economy is a necessity for China's future stability. The growth sustainability of the Chinese economy depends essentially on its continued commitments to institutional reform and economic deregulation. China's relaxation of government intervention in economic activities has led and will be leading China to decentralize its central governmental authority over economic planning and control. This will consequently stimulate the emergence of regional economies in Mainland China. In the next two decades, there will likely be 10 regional economies with relatively independent industrial structures emerging in Greater China (or the Chinese Economic Area of Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and the Mainland) as a result of economic liberalization and decentralization.     

Rereading the Public: Isolationism and Internationalism Revisited

This is the first installment in what we hope will be a recurring series of Forums in ISP. In each segment we intend to provide an outlet for peer-reviewed dialogue and debate on important topics in the field and to allow our readers to discuss material previously printed in the pages of ISP. Below are two comments on "Challenging U.S. Policymakers' Image of an Isolationist Public" by Steven Kull and Clay Ramsay published in ISP 1:1. Both comments raise a number of important issues pertaining to the relationship of public opinion and foreign policy, and also address more general questions of domestic impact on foreign policy outputs and several significant methodological questions about approaches to polling. The Forum begins first with comments by Richard Clark and Kenneth Dautrich, is followed by comments from Shoon Murray, and concludes with a response from Kull and Ramsay.