Policy persistence,risk estimation and policy underreaction

In recent years, there has been remarkable progress in our understanding of policy persistence, on the one hand, and of the psychological phenomenon of underreaction, on the other. Surprisingly, there has been no attempt to use robust findings, derived from these efforts, in order to understand the nuances of policy underreaction. Policy underreaction refers to systematically slow and/or insufficient response by policymakers to increased risk or opportunity, or no response at all. This article tries to give the concept of policy underreaction a robust analytical identity by integrating cognitive, social, psychological and emotional variables in the explanation of policy underreaction and by introducing a variation across different types of contextual sources of policy persistence as explanatory variables of this phenomenon. It develops an analytical framework that revolves around two key elements of decision making in situations of risk unfolding over time: (1) policymakers’ underestimation and accurate estimation of increased risks and (2) intra- and extra-organizational sources of policy persistence. Based on these dimensions, the article identifies and illustrates four distinct modes of policy underreaction which reflect differences in the nature of implemented policy.     

Delinquent activity among Jewish and Arab junior and senior high school students in Israel

This study compares the criminal activities of male and female Jewish and Arab junior and senior high school students in Israel based on self-reported criminal activities. The sample consisted of 906 randomly selected junior and senior high school students. The findings indicate that Jewish students committed more types of delinquent acts when compared with their Arab counterparts; males committed more delinquent acts than females; and Arab females had very low rates of delinquency. The findings are discussed in light of possible influences of cultural and ethnic origin and knowledge about possible discrimination against Arab juveniles by the Israeli criminal justice system. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are suggested.     

A Comparative Perspective on Executive Development: Trends in 11 European Countries

Senior officials in public organizations have a variety of training needs. Yet, the reduction in training budget is often a primary means of improving budget balance. This contradiction calls for a comparative investigation into executive development. Focusing on eleven European administrative systems, the paper investigates (i) whether bureaucracies lead the way, or lag behind, in the development of specialized training programmes, (ii) whether there is a widespread understanding that specific topics are important for training, and (iii) whether senior officials vary in their perception of the usefulness of training for current posts and for promotion. Based on an institutional analysis, a mail survey and e´lite interviews with senior civil servants, the paper advances a three-fold argument. First, bureaucracies lead the way in the development of specialized training programmes. Second, senior officials want to prepare themselves for items of importance in the near-term future (for example the European Union), as well as to cover as many remote possibilities as they can (for example with management training) in the hope they will do better in any post, even though they cannot now predict what those posts will require of them. Third, although some types of executive development programmes turn out to work well, numerous others do not. The latter, however, are not always a waste of money because they are sometimes used as places to temporarily 'store' people or to 'get rid of people' that an individual agency does not want to have around anymore.     

The Effects of Educational Context on Individual Difference Variables,Self-Perceptions of Giftedness,and School Attitudes in Gifted Adolescents

This study examined the effects of educational context on affective outcomes in a sample of 743 gifted Israeli adolescent students. Educational context (special gifted classes versus regular classes—with one day pull-out program) was hypothesized to predict context-sensitive personal variables and labeling of giftedness in the direction of better student personal-social adjustment and more favorable self-perceptions of giftedness in regular compared to special gifted classes. By contrast, students in special classes were predicted to show more positive school attitudes and better overall satisfaction with school than their mainstreamed counterparts. Analyses of the data showed that gifted adolescents in regular classes revealed a more positive personal-social profile than gifted mainstreamed students, showing lower test anxiety, a higher academic self-concept, and more positive perceptions of their giftedness. By contrast, students in special gifted classes held more favorable school attitudes and were more satisfied with their school environment in comparison to their mainstreamed counterparts. Overall, these data support the research hypotheses and point to a differential pattern of relationships between school program and personal-social adjustment, on one hand, and school attitudes and satisfaction, on the other.     

Across Nationalisms: Nascent Conceptualisation, Rudimentary Cross-Regional Historicisation

If nations are non-preordained configurations of socio-political collectivities then they cement – or fragment – as a consequence of two core sets of on-the-ground interactions: those taking place within a national movement among contending intra-national constituents; and those taking place between competing national movements, typically over territory. A third set of on-the-ground socio-political interactions has received less attention in the study of the phenomenon of nationalism: I term it 'dynamics across nationalisms'. If such dynamics are explored in conjunction with the more prevalent study of interactions within and between nationalisms, they can shed brighter explanatory light on the phenomenon of national consolidation/disintegration.     

Psychological Adjustment Among Israeli Adolescent Immigrants: A Report on Life Satisfaction,Self-Concept,and Self-Esteem

Our research examined central issues in the psychological adjustment of adolescents who immigrate: self-concept, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. Questionnaires were administered to newcomers from the former Soviet Union (n = 119) as well as to their Israeli host classmates (n = 135) attending secondary schools. Our findings indicate that immigrant adolescents as compared to their counterparts express less satisfaction with their lives and report less congruence between their self-concept and the ways in which in their opinion they are perceived by others. The 2 groups do not differ in global self-esteem. Among the immigrants, the length of stay in Israel was related to the extent of their life satisfaction, and to the degree of similarity between the constituents of their self-concept and those of their classmates. Across the sample, gender and age were also related to self-esteem and self-concept. Our discussion highlights the psychological tasks faced by immigrant adolescents and provides possible implications for enhancing their well-being.     

Policy Bubbles: Policy Overreaction and Positive Feedback

Drawing on insights from economics, psychology, sociology, political science, and policy sciences, this article proposes a definition and measurement strategies for policy bubbles. A policy bubble is a real and/or perceived policy overreaction that is reinforced by positive feedback over an extended period of time. Positive feedback is here integrated in a model of human herding as the key factor that propels this process but also as a key generator of change. The process is conceptualized in terms of the formation, growth, and burst of policy bubbles. This causal‐explanatory understanding of the term allows for the possibility that different modes of policy overreaction lead to different types of human herding, thereby resulting in different types of policy bubbles.     

Decrees,Laws, and Inter-Branch Relations in the Russian Federation

A UK-based political scientist presents a systematic analysis of the basic philosophical arguments and intellectual origins of fundamental conservative thought in Russia. Positing that fundamental conservatism seeks to displace interpretations of Western modernity in Russia with a culturally specific Russian version, she then probes more deeply into the methods and tasks of fundamental conservatism, before examining its main theoretical arguments. The fact that such thinking is increasingly prominent in Russia, including within political circles, is noted as a basis for the need to better understand it as a search for new forms of rationality and new forms of citizenship rooted in the Russian sociohistoric context.