The New Governance of French Education?

This article contributes to ongoing debates in comparative public administration through exploring the governance paradigm in the unfavourable empirical terrain of French education. After identifying potentially relevant features of governance, we investigate changing patterns of policy-making in French education at macro, meso and micro levels. Extrapolating research findings from extensive interviews and participant observation at ministerial meetings, we conclude the existence of a French-style governance that operates within distinctive ideational and institutional environments and interest structures. The article emphasizes the importance of historical and institutional traditions in framing the available pathways of governance.     

Strategic campaigning, closeness, and voter mobilization in U.S. Presidential elections

The scholarly literature on voter mobilization is ambivalent regarding the effects of closeness on turnout. Economic analyses of turnout (i.e. the classic calculus of voting) contend that as elections become closer, voters perceive their participation as more valuable because there is a greater chance that they will cast the deciding vote. Other work argues that voters do not take closeness into account because the probability that their vote uniquely changes the outcome of an election is quite small even in close elections. Still, this second perspective maintains that closeness may increase turnout because elites distribute campaign resources to places where election results could be affected by mobilizing additional supporters. While the latter perspective is theoretically well-developed, empirical support for the notion that elite activity (rather than citizen perceptions) connects closeness and turnout is limited. Using improved measures of closeness and campaign activities, we test for citizen perception and elite mobilization effects on turnout in the context of U.S. Presidential elections. Results show that while closeness has no direct effect on turnout, elites indeed target campaign activities on close states and the asymmetric distribution of resources across states results in higher turnout in battleground states.     

The Influence of Administrative Law Judge and Political Appointee Decisions on Appellate Courts in National Labor Relations Board Cases

Scholars have long been simultaneously concerned with the factors that influence appellate court decision making and the level of deference that the courts allow for agencies. However, scholars have treated administrative agencies as unitary actors with a single level of decision making, but in reality agency decisions involve input from multiple actors within the agency. I argue that appellate courts rely more heavily on decisions made by actors in the bureaucracy with greater levels of expertise and who are less politically motivated as cues in their decision making. This theory is bolstered by legal precedent in the area of administrative law that suggests courts should more heavily rely on the expert judgment of administrative judges. Thus, as a result of their increased expertise, appearance of political neutrality, and institutional support, courts will be more reliant on decisions issued by administrative law judges (ALJs) than those issued by the political appointees as cues in their decision making. Using over 300 unfair labor practice decisions issued by the federal appeals courts on review of cases from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board), I develop a model of appeals court decision making in unfair labor practice cases as a function of the initial decision of the ALJ, the final order of the political appointees of the NLRB, case characteristics, the ideology of the deciding appeals court panel, Supreme Court influence, and economic factors. Though the ideology of the court plays a role in its decision making, cues from ALJ decision making and that of the Board weigh more heavily in appellate court outcomes. However, cues from ALJ decisions play the most consistent role in appellate court decision making, even in more difficult cases. This has important implications for agency strategy in courts and suggests that future research should consider the influence of lower‐level decision making over appellate court decision making in the area of administrative law.     

Combating Asymmetric Threats: The Interplay of Offense and Defense

The overarching objective of this analysis is to examine the ways and means by which the United States could take the asymmetric battle-space and win against the ever-changing array of threats posed by nation-states and non-state actors. Today's security challenges are predominantly hybrids: offense and defense; symmetric and asymmetric; synchronous and asynchronous; regular and irregular; geographically-focused and globally-ubiquitous. This reality requires multi-dimensional thinking, nuanced approaches, and nimble, decisive execution guided by a new strategic paradigm. Fighting on the enemy's terms, scoring short-term wins at unjustifiably high costs in lives, treasure and lost opportunities is simply unacceptable.     

Evaluating the potential of Protestant Christianity to stimulate democracy and good governance in sub-Saharan Africa through the valuing of the individual

ABSTRACT

The global distribution of Christians is expected to change by 2050, with the largest proportion of Christians – more than a billion – residing in sub-Saharan Africa. Historical and empirical studies have argued for a positive relationship between the proportion of Christians – Protestants in particular – and the development of liberal democracy. A key explanation for this positive influence is cultural, namely the valuing of the individual. Could the growth in Christianity have the potential to influence democratic development and good governance in the sub-Saharan region? To test our hypotheses – (1) sub-Saharan states with proportionally larger Protestant populations are more likely to have higher levels of democracy and good governance, and (2) sub-Saharan states with growing Protestant populations are more likely to have increasing levels of democracy and good governance – we employ a longitudinal and cross-sectional study (a panel of data) using data from the World Christian Database, Polity IV and the International Country Risk Guide. Our data show that the population share of Protestants is positively related with both levels of and growth in democracy and good governance. With the spread of Protestantism we could expect the future improvement of democracy and governance in the region.     

Katherine Tonkiss,Migration and Identity in a Post-National World

Theories of Local Economic Development. Edited by Richard D. Bingham and Robert Meir. Newbury Park CA, Sage, 1993. Pp. 319. £20.50 pb.

Policy and Change. Edited by Randall Smith and Jane Raistrick. Saus Publications. 1994, Pp.442, £14.95 pb.

Economic Development Work Book ‐ Briefings on Key Economic Development Topics. National Development Project, Employment Department. Researched and Produced by Mersyside TEC and West London TEC, and edited by Andrew Coulson and Paul Lovejoy, 1994. Pp.220. £58.75 (£35.25 for TECs). Available from Nicholas Johnson, West London TEC, Sovereign Court, 15–21 Staines Road, Hounslow, Middlesex, TW3 3HA. Tel. 0181–577–1010. Fax 0181–570–9969)

Resolving Conflict: Strategies for Local Government. Edited by Margaret S. Herrman. International City Management Association (P.O. Box 2011, Annapolis Junction, MD 20701, USA), 1994. $29.95.

Local Government in the United Kingdom. By David Wilson and Chris Game (with Steve Leach and Gerry Stoker). Macmillan, 1994. Pp.377. £12.99 pb.

International Handbook of Local and Regional Government: A Comparative Analysis of Advanced Democracies. By Alan Norton. Aldershot, Hants: Edward Elgar, 1994. Pp.559 + xx. £85.00 hb.

Management Innovations in Urban Policy: Lessons from France. By Patrick Le Gales and John Mawson. Local Government Management Board, 1994. Pp.123. Free.

Urban Policy in Britain: The City, the State and the Market. By Rob Atkinson and Graham Moon. Macmillan, 1994. Pp.306. £35.00 hb, £11.99 pb.

Healthy Cities: Research and Practice. Edited by John K. Davies and Michael P. Kelly. Routledge, 1993. Pp.188. £35.00 Hb, £11.99 pb.

Normality is Hard Work—Trade Unions and the Politics of Community Care. By Mick Carpenter. London, Lawrence and Wishart, 1994 (published in association with UNISON). Pp.162. £14.99 pb.

Local Government in Britain (Sixth Edition). By TONY BYRNE. Penguin Books, 1994. Pp.665. £10.00 pb.

The Size and Efficiency Debate: Public Library Authorities in a Time of Change (British Library R &; D Report 6143). By Arthur Midwinter and Murray McVicar. Library Association Publishing Limited, 1994. Pp.106. £25.00. (Available from Bookpoint Limited, 39 Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4TD.)

Managing Your City or Town: A Reference Guide for the New Public Official. By Kenton G. Griffin. University Press of America, 1994. Pp.282 including appendices. $57.50 hb, $36.50 pb.

Community Profiling: Auditing Social Needs. By Murray Hawtin, Geraint Hughes and Janie Percy‐Smith. Open University Press, 1994. Pp.194. £12.00 pb.

Management of Quality in Local Government. Edited by Ian Sanderson. Longman, 1992. Pp.180. £21.00 hb.

Competing for Quality: A Manager's Guide to Market Testing. By Lynton Barker. Longman, 1993. Pp.217. £35.00 pb.

The Valuation of Changes in Quality in the Public Services: A Report prepared for HM Treasury by Brunei University. By Martin Cave and Others. HMSO, 1994. £19.00.

Research in Public Administration: Reflections on Theory and Practice. Edited by Jay D. White and Guy B. Adams. Sage, 1994. Pp.280. £26.95 hb, £12.95 pb.

Gender Audit 1994. Engender, Scotland. Pp.81, A4 loose‐leaf format. £7.00 (individuals), £15 (institutions).(Available from Scottish Women's Aid, Edinburgh)

Cassell Multilingual Dictionary of Local Government and Business. Edited by Clive Leo McNeir. Cassell, London, 1993. Pp.xv + 222. £50.

A la Recherche du ‘local’. Edited by Albert Mabileau. Paris, L'Harmattan, 1993. Pp.232.

Le système local en France (2nd edition). By Albert Mabileau. Paris, Monchrestien, 1994. Pp.157. FF60.

Gouvernement local et politique urbaines: Actes du colloque international, Grenoble, 2–3 février 1993, Edited by Sylvie Biarez and Jean‐Yves Nevers. Cerat, Paris, 1993. Pp.557.

Ombudsmen in the Public Sector. By Mary Seneviratne. Open University Press, 1994. Pp.148. £15.23 pb, £40.00 hb.

The New American Political (Dis)order. By Robert A. Dahl et al. Institute of Governmental Studies Press, University of California, Berkeley, 1994. Pp.xii + 102. $10.95.

Entwicklungschancen deutscher Stadte ‐ Die Folgen der Vereinigung. D. Henckel, B. Grabow, B. Hollbach, Hartmut Usbeck, Heinz Niemann. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart, Berlin, Cologne/Deutsche Ver‐meinde Verlag, 1993. Pp.567. DM78.

French Politics Today. By Peter Morris. Manchester University Press, 1994. Pp.182. £29.99 hb, £8.99 pb.

Lobbying in the European Community. Edited by Sonia Mazey and J. Richardson. Oxford University Press, 1993. Pp.263. £30.00.

Single Market to Social Europe: European Community in the 1990s. By M. Wise and R. Gibb. Longman, 1993. Pp.356. £13.99.