A revolution in Whitehall? Changes in British central government since 1979

Since the Conservatives came to power in 1979 there have been important changes in British central government which have their intellectual origins in managerialist thinking of the 1960s, but owe their recent implementation to the commitment of the Prime Minister to reform the civil service along lines advocated by ‘new right’ or ‘public choice’ theorists. While most institutional reforms of departments were for political reasons, changes in the processes of the civil service can be seen as an extension of developments beginning with the Rayner Scrutinies, and moving through the Financial Management Initiative and the Efficiency Strategy to Executive Agencies. The British unified civil service is challenged by pressures for fragmentation, but limits to the changes are set by the dominance of the concepts of ministerial responsibility to Parliament, parliamentary audit, and of Treasury control.     

Is ‘competitive’ corporatism an adequate response to Globalisation? Evidence from the low countries

The Dutch practice of negotiated wage restraint and welfare state reform is often held up as a model for effective labour market adjustment. This article examines the distribution of adjustment costs under the Dutch model to determine whether it is stable in the long run ‐ both directly and by analogy with the situation in Belgium. The conclusion is that while the Dutch have succeeded in effecting a remarkable adjustment in the distribution of value‐added, the costs of this adjustment have been skewed against increasingly large sections of society. Should these groups outside the distributional coalition find representation at the national level, the Dutch model for negotiated wage restraint and welfare state reform is likely to revert to political alternation and tit‐for‐tat economic competition.     

Manual Indices and digital pathways: Developments in United States intelligence bibliography

Neal H. Petersen (comp. and ed.), American Intelligence, 1775–1990: A Bibliographical Guide, The New War/Peace Bibliography Series, 2 (Claremont, CA: Regina Books, 1992). Pp.xvi + 406. $49.95.

The Electronic Database of the Russell J. Bowen Collection of Works on Intelligence, Security and Covert Activities, National Intelligence Book Center, Lock Mail Unit 18757, Washington DC 20036–8757. 1992. $400.

CIABASE, PO Box 5022, Herndon, VA 22070. Cumulative. 1992. $99.00.

NameBase, Public Information Research, Box 5199, Arlington, VA 22205. Cumulative. 1992. $79.00.     

‘Bankable Slums’: the global politics of slum upgrading

This article develops a critical analysis of the Slum Upgrading Facility, a new initiative of UN-Habitat which seeks to improve conditions for residents of slums in Africa and elsewhere. The analysis highlights the neoliberal principles underpinning this initiative, and especially the vision of slum improvement by means of financialisation. The article argues that it is necessary and important to recognise the politics of international urban development and housing, which has since the 1970s increasingly emphasised neoliberal principles of private property and market institutions. The novel ambition of financialisation must also be situated in relation to historical transformations of housing finance in Anglo-American capitalism over the past three decades. After situating the ideological principles underpinning the Slum Upgrading Facility in these longer and broader global trajectories of international policy, the final section returns to the present to examine other initiatives currently being pursued alongside slum upgrading: the active promotion of mortgage markets in Africa.     

Radicalisation in the Philippines: The Cotabato Cell of the “East Asia Wilayah”

ABSTRACT

The backgrounds of seven suspects arrested in connection with a September 2016 bombing in Davao, Philippines provide clues to how extremist ideology and support for ISIS took root in a middle-class urban environment. The seven men, part of the coalition that eventually took over Marawi in 2017, were drawn in by the idea of a caliphate, propaganda videos that became discussion material for charismatic young religious scholars, and the pull of friends and family. They represented overlapping networks of neighbours, business partners, and students. Their interwoven journeys to violent extremism provide a glimpse into how ISIS managed to transcend traditional clan and regional loyalties in the Philippines, but much more research is needed among pro-ISIS detainees to understand the phenomenon and take measures to address it.     

Perspectives on management in the people's republic of china

This paper provides perspectives on management in China, focusing primarily on industrial enterprises and secondarily on government. Among the challenges to management in the Chinese context presented is the maintenance of labor motivation during a period of rapid modernization through incorporation of capitalist-oriented economic and wage incentives. Chinese, Japanese and American styles of management and worker participation are examined briefly. The paper concludes with a discussion of the need for better management education and training and improved health and safety regulation in China.     

Executing priority national development in indonesia: Program innovation of the junior minister

In the process of Indonesia's administrative reform and conduct of its planned development efforts, several innovative measures evolved in its executive structure. One of these was the use of temporary organizational entities to expedite the achievement of development goals where sectors/programs of the national development plan encompass two or more executive agencies and/or levels of governments. In organizational design, the executive problem is the reconciliation between responsibility and authority with the purpose of achieving maximum technical efficiency in the execution of priority development programs. As an organizational device to deal with this problem, the offices of six junior ministers were established. By employing the technique of executive authority in rank, these ministers, heading temporary agencies organized in terms of program responsibility as specified in the development plan and as approved by the cabinet, have become the organizational means by which to integrate all of the disparate project activities vested in the executive line agencies in productive organizational cores. Should this organizational innovation prove successful, it will be one of the more important organizational contributions in recent years to the execution of centrally planned development programs in a developing society.     

The central provident fund scheme in Singapore: Challenges and reform

The article explains the features and evolution of the Central Provident Fund (CPF) scheme in Singapore and the reforms it has undergone in the face of recent challenges. At its inception, it was designed as an exclusively state managed savings scheme to meet the retirement needs of its members. Over the years, it has been gradually liberalised, allowing account holders to use their savings for additional purposes. In recent years two key challenges have arisen. One has been the problems arising out of liberalisation itself, which has left too many CPF members with insufficient savings for their retirement as a result of mistaken or imprudent choices in committing their savings to the additional options available. In response, the Singapore government has tempered or reversed the process of liberalisation, imposing or maintaining constraints on the use of CPF savings so as to ensure sufficient savings to meet retirement needs. The second challenge is the need to restructure the Singapore economy in the face of regional and global competition so as to sustain the profitability of the business sector and enhance employability of the older workers. The response of the government has been to allow the CPF contribution rates of employers to be adjusted and the CPF salary ceiling to be lowered so as to reduce business costs and increase the chances of employment of older workers. However, using the CPF scheme as a macroeconomic tool by reducing employers’ contribution rates may lead to less scope for CPF members to accumulate sufficient savings for their retirement. This would mean that the response to the second challenge would be at odds with the response to the first challenge.