The politics of audit: the federal Office of the Auditor General in comparative perspective

Abstract: The Office of the Auditor General has continued to expand its functions since the legislation of 1977. In March 1985 it was in court against the Government of Canada, pressing a claim that the auditor general (AG) required all of cabinet's papers that may have touched on the acquisition by Petro Canada Limited of Petrofina Canada Inc., a subsidiary of the Belgian company Petrofina S.A., in order to complete his review of expenditures from the Canadian Ownership Account. The rationale presented was that the AG needed to see the whole picture of advice tendered to cabinet by officials in order to assess whether cabinet itself had done its homework before authorizing the deal, after which he could give cabinet a “report card.” The Federal Court Justice's Reason for Decision, released on November 1, initially seemed to give the AG even more than he had asked, while the eventual decision of December 6 reintroduced grave ambiguity. The argument of the paper is that the AG'S move into the advice stream, as opposed to the traditional duties of an auditor, constitutes his Office as a force in policy-making, a factor that cannot be reconciled with responsible and representative government. The article compares the OAGS legislation and operating mandate with those of provincial legislative auditors, and those of Great Britain, New Zealand and Australia. It concludes that the 1977 legislation should be rewritten so that the OAG would once more work from the base of a replicable, objective financial audit, reporting as broadly as it would wish. Sommaire: Le Bureau du Vérificateur général à continue a é largir ses fonctions depuis qu'il a obtenu la nouvelle lé gislation en 1977. En mars 1985, il faisait comparaître devant les tribunaux le gouvernement du Canada, dans le cadre d'un procès réclamant le droit d'accèb, par le Vérificateur général, à tous les documents du Conseil des ministres concernant l'acquisition, par Pétro-Canada Ltée, de la société Pétrofina Canada Inc., une succursale de la société belge Pétrofina S. A., afin de compléter l'exa-men, par le Vérificateur général, des dépenses effectuées a même le Compte de propriété canadienne. D'après l'argument présenté, le Vérificateur général (VG) devait être au courant de tous les conseils fournis par les fonctionnaires au Conseil des ministres, afin que le VG puisse décider si le Conseil lui-même avait bien fait son travail avant d'autoriser le rachat, après quoi le Vérificateur général serait à même d'évaluer les gestes posés par le Conseil. Les raisons de la décision du juge de la Cour fédérale, publiées le 1^er novembre, semblaient initialement donner au VG encore plus qu'il n'avait demandé, mais la décision éventuellement rendue le 6 décembre réin-troduisait d'importantes ambiguîtés. Selon l'argument de l'article, l'entrée du Vérificateur général dans le domaine des conseils prodigués, contrairement aux devoirs traditionnels d'un vérificateur, fait du Bureau du Vérificateur général une véritable instance décisionnelle pour l'adoption de politiques, facteur incompatible avec la notion de gouvernement responsable et représentatif. L'article compare la législation et le mandat fonctionnel du Bureau du VG à ceux des vérificateurs législatifs provinciaux de la Grande-Bretagne, de la Nouvelle-Zélande et de l'Australie. Il en conclut que la législation de 1977 devrait être reformulée afin que le Bureau du VG axe ses travaux de nouveau sur une vérification financeère objective, la portée de son compte rendu pouvant être aussi large qu'il le veut.     

Elites and the Diffusion of Foreign Models in Russia

Globalization has sparked renewed interest in the diffusion of ideas and norms across boundaries. Although much work has focused on diffusion at the macro-level and on the groups that transmit ideas, few researchers have studied the cognitive processes of political elites as they weigh the merits of various foreign-inspired models. Drawing on a series of original, in-depth interviews with Russian parliamentarians and high-ranking bureaucrats conducted in 1996, this paper makes two contributions to the study of individual-level borrowing in the Russian context. First, the openness of Russian elites to foreign borrowing is investigated; despite the public rhetoric about Russia's uniqueness, a substantial number of Russian elites are willing to borrow from foreign experience – particularly from models of European welfare capitalism. Second, three explanations of why policy-makers prefer to emulate some countries rather than others are tested – because they are similar to their own country either geographically, historically or culturally (comparability); because they have geostrategic prominence (prestige); or because they excel economically and/or politically (performance). Comparability and prestige are found to be of lesser importance than performance to Russian elites when considering the merits of various foreign models. Given that Russia closely approximates a most-likely case for validating explanations stressing comparability, this suggests that the array of foreign ideas that could become part and parcel of Russia's transition process is probably wider than is usually assumed. It also implies that, in general, the regional dimension of diffusion plays a smaller role than previously theorized.     

Learning our way out of environmental policy problems: a review of the scholarship

In acknowledgement of the complexity of environmental challenges, research on learning in environmental policy has grown substantially over the past two decades across a range of disciplines. Despite this growth, there are few comprehensive assessments of the literature on learning in environmental policy. This article fills this gap by providing insights on the overall coherence and impact of this body of scholarship. To do so, we analyze a sample of 163 articles from 2004 to 2014 using a standardized coding framework. The results provide an in-depth assessment of the status of the literature on learning in the context of environmental policy, as well as the quality of the literature. We demonstrate that despite the diversity in research questions and goals, the literature is lacking with respect to diversity in cases and context, theoretical development, clear conceptualization and operationalization of learning, and advancements in empirical approaches to study learning. From these insights, we discuss the challenges and opportunities for scholars in studying learning and provide recommendations for building the theoretical and methodological rigor of the field.     

Applying Large-Group Interaction Methods in the Planning and Implementation of Major Change Efforts

Public policy makers, planners, and managers are increasingly relying on what might be called large-group interaction methods to involve large numbers of people (from as few as eight to more than 2,000) in planning and implementing major change efforts. These methods are structured processes for engaging large numbers of people to: (1) enhance the amount of relevant information brought to bear on a problem; (2) build commitment to problem definitions and solutions; (3) fuse planning and implementation; and (4) shorten the amount of time needed to conceive and execute major policies, programs, services, or projects. Proponents of such methods claim that they provide sets of concepts, procedures, and tools that can help public and nonprofit organizations and communities deal effectively with change. On the other hand, a number of boundary conditions surround the successful use of the methods. The authors compare and contrast seven approaches most frequently used in the public sector in the United States and abroad (i.e., Real Time Strategic Change, Search Conferences, Future Searches, Strategic Options Development and Analysis, Strategic Choice, Technology of Participation, and Open Space Technology) to illustrate their comparative strengths and weaknesses and to develop an agenda for research.     

U.S. MBA and Management Training Programs in Central and Eastern Europe

The transfer of the American model of management education to Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is the subject of this paper. It specifically looks at the impact of a U.S. government-funded program to promote linkages between U.S. business schools and institutions in the CEE region. In 1990, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) was authorized by the Congress to develop a program to assist the countries of the CEE region in their transition from command to market economies. This would consist of training and education in economics and management in nine countries from the Baltic states in the north to Albania in the south. This program, known as the Management Training and Economics Education Project (MTEEP) would include twelve grants amounting to nearly $100 million to eleven U.S. universities that would partner with 14 local institutions of higher education. The paper does not purport to contribute to theoretical literature, but rather to chronicle a trend in technology transfer. The author maintains that over a 10-year period MTEEP has contributed to a significant transfer of educational technology in the form of management education, especially in the establishment of MBA and executive MBA programs as well as management training programs.     

POLICY FOR THE'DESERVING,'BUT POLITICALLY WEAK: THE 1996 WELFARE REFORM ACT AND BATTERED WOMEN

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (Public Law #104–193) is perhaps the most visible national legislation since the sweeping Civil Rights laws of the 1960s. For social policy so well entrenched into the American social fabric, the rapidity with which reforms swept through the welfare system was unprecedented and confound conventional theoretical pronouncements on bureaucracy and policy change. The swiftness of reform, and the political rhetoric that surrounded the 1996 Welfare Reform Act, have prompted criticism that reformers responded more to the social construction of welfare recipients than they did to the dictates of sound public policy (Magusson and Dunham, 1996). This article discusses the ramifications of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act for battered women and concludes that battered women's social construction as deserving of public assistance, but politically weak, precipitated welfare reform policy, targeted to battered women, that has been largely rhetorical rather than substantive.