Rebuilding Ukraine's hollow State: Developing a democratic public service in Ukraine

This article describes assistance that is being provided as part of an institution building project with a view to making a lasting impact on the development of a democratic public service of Ukraine. It explains the nature of the project and the strategies adopted to overcome difficulties. It compares and contrasts approaches adopted by technical assistance projects in assisting administrative reform. It also examines the special nature of the Ukraine project that arises out of the distinctive context and needs of Ukraine. The article continues by examining the role of external assistance in validating the Ukrainian Institute of Public Administration and Local Government's Masters in Public Administration and the contribution made to the development and delivery of the Masters programme. A special feature of the project is the series of one-month internships when IPALG students visit London. The internship programme allows students to identify aspects of UK experience relevant to changes that Ukraine wishes to make in its administrative culture. As part of this programme, students are placed in government organizations and NGOs. The placements are complemented by a series of change management seminars that enable students to evaluate options for change, to assess their own role in the change process and recognize the key stages in the change process. The project team has undertaken a full evaluation of the first presentation of the programme and the article presents the findings.     

Building sustainable capacity in the public sector: What can be done?

Effective government performance is central to the creation of market-oriented economies, secure and productive populations, and democratic political systems in developing countries. Capacity building to improve public sector performance is thus an important focus of development initiatives. Several implicit assumptions underlie most such efforts: that organizations or training activities are the logical site for capacity-building interventions; that administrative structures and monetary rewards determine organizational and individual performance; that organizations work well when structures and control mechanisms are in place; and that individual performance improves as a result of skill and technology transfer through training activities. Each of these assumptions is called into question by the findings of research carried out in six developing countries and reported in this article. Our studies indicate designing interventions that most constructively address sources of poor performance must follow from an assessment of a relatively broad set of variables, including the action environment in which all such activities take place. We also found that effective public sector performance is more often driven by strong organizational cultures, good management practices, and effective communication networks than it is by rules and regulations or procedures and pay scales. Our case studies further indicate that individual performance is more affected by opportunities for meaningful work, shared professional norms, teamwork, and promotion based on performance rather than it is by training in specific skills. In this article, we describe a framework or conceptual map that emphasizes that training activities, organizational performance and administrative structures are embedded within complex environments that significantly constrain their success and that often account for training or organizational failure. When it was applied in the six case study countries, the framework proved useful in identifying capacity gaps and providing a tool for the strategic design of interventions that are sensitive to the roots of performance deficits. This allows us to conclude that the assumptions underlying many capacity-building initiatives may focus attention on interventions that do not generate the highest payoffs in terms of improved performance.     

Gender,education and the new christian right

She has written several articles on Evangelicals and the Christian School Movement in the United States and on North American evangelical activity in Guatemala. Her most recent publication is Keeping Them Out of the Hands of Satan: Evangelical Schooling in America.     

THE DIMMING OF ILLUSIONS: CHANGING ATTITUDES OF LABOURERS TO DIRECT GOVERNMENT EMPLOYMENT ON NSW PUBLIC WORKS, 1899–1916*

Abstract: Direct employment on public works (or day labour) was a powerful symbol of the possibilities for reform within capitalism in the early years of this century. It promised not only more work at times of high unemployment, but better conditions of employment. Further, there was the possibility of labourers, through their unions, having much greater control of their working lives. The major political battles were over whether governments should use day labour or contract. But, for the labourers themselves, the question of the nature of the administration of day labour became an increasingly important one. A sympathetic administration, such as that under E.W. O'Sullivan, not only meant great practical benefits for labourers; it served also as an example of what was possible through developing an alternative model of dealing with capitalist crises. However, in the case where a Labor government was unwilling to challenge the weight of traditional bourgeois economic thinking, day labour lost any pretence of being either model employment or a symbol for the future. In 1910–16, when labourers already had raised expectations of what day labour promised, such administration meant a growing alienation of labourers and their unions from the Holman Government and from Labor's parliamentary road in general.     

B. Reviews: general

i. SHADOWS ON THE SAND: THE MEMOIRS OP SIR GAWAIN BELL. By (SIR) GAWAIN BELL. London, C.Hurst/New York, St Martins, 1983. pp.xiv, 258, 2 maps and index. El3.50.

ii. THE SUDAN MEMOIRS OF CARL CHRISTIAN GIEGLER PASHA. Edited by RICHARD HILL. Translated from the German by THIRZA KÜPPER. With a foreword by the Pasha's great‐granddaughter, HEIDI GROHA. Oxford, Oxford University Press (for the British Academy), pp. xxxii, 231, 3 maps, 12 plates. £18.00.

iii. EGYPT IN THE REIGN OF MUHAMMAD ALI. By AFAF LUTFI AL‐SAYYID MARSOT. (Cambridge Middle East Library) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1984. pp.x, 300. £25.00.

iv. URBAN NOTABLES AND ARAB NATIONALISM: THE POLITICS OF DAMASCUS. By PHILIP S. KHOURY. (Cambridge Middle East Library) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1983. pp.153, 2 maps.

v. VICTIMS OF A MAP. Translated by ABDULLAH AL‐UDHARI. London, Al‐Saqi Books, 1984. pp.165. £4.95.

vi. PALESTINE AND MODERN ARAB POETRY. By KHALID A. SULAIMAN. London, Zed Books Ltd., 1984. pp.240. £6.95.

vii. L'ARABIE DU SUD: HISTOIRE ET CIVILISATION. By JOSEPH CHELHOD and others. Paris, Maisonneuve & Larose, 1984. pp.264. 21 illustrations, maps, tables. FF 94.

viii. THE TWO YEMENS. By ROBIN BIDWELL. Harlow (UK), Longman/Boulder (USA), Westview. 1983. pp.350.

ix. BAHRAIN AND THE GULF: PAST PERSPECTIVES AND ALTERNATIVE FUTURES. Edited by JEFFREY B. NUGENT and THEODORE H. THOMAS. London, Croom Helm, 1985. pp.221, 26 tables, 4 figs., bibliography. £16.95.

x. THE ARABS. New Edition. By PETER MANSFIELD. Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1985. pp.510, map, index. £4.95/$6.95.

xi. THE EVOLUTION OF MIDDLE EASTERN LANDSCAPES: AN OUTLINE TO AD 1840. By J.M. WAGSTAFF. London, Croom Helm, 1983. pp.304, 459 maps and figs., 5 tables.

xii. THE GREEK MINORITY OF ISTANBUL AND GREEK‐TURKISH RELATIONS 1918–1974. By ALEXIS ALEXANDRIS. Athens, Centre for Asia Minor Studies, 1983.

xiii. SEX AND SOCIETY IN ISLAM: BIRTH CONTROL BEFORE THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. By B.F.MUSALLAM. (Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilizations). Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1983. pp.ix, 176. £17.50.

xiv. TOWARDS A JUST MONETARY SYSTEM. By MUHAMMAD U. CHAPRA. Leicester (UK), The Islamic Foundation, 1985. pp.292. £10.00 (hardback); £4.75 (paperback).

xv. INSURANCE IN AN ISLAMIC ECONOMY. By MUHAMMAD NEJATULLAH SIDDIQUI. Leicester (UK), The Islamic Foundation, 1985. £5.50 (hardback); £2.00 (paperback).

xvi. PARTNERSHIP AND PROFIT SHARING IN ISLAMIC LAW. By MUHAMMAD NEJATULLAH SIDDIQUI. Leicester (UK), The Islamic Foundation, 1985. pp.111. £6.50 (hardback); £2.25 (paperback).

xvii. THE IMMORTAL ATATURK: A PSYCHOBIOGRAPHY. By VAMIK D. VOLKAN and NORMAN ITZKOWITZ. Chicago‐London, Chicago University Press, 1984. pp.xxv, 374. £34.50.

xviii. TURKEY. MERI REPORT. Compiled by MIDDLE EAST RESEARCH INSTITUTE. London, Croom Helm, 198 3. pp.181. £35.00

xix. BORDER AND TERRITORIAL DISPUTES. Edited by ALAN J.DAY. (A Keesing's Reference Publication). Harlow, Longman, 1982. pp.406, 44 maps. £45.00

xx. ‘IF ONLY MY PEOPLE...’ By IMMANUEL JAKOBOVITS. London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1984. pp.288.

xxi. L'IMPRIMERIE ARABE EN OCCIDENT (XVIe, XVIIe XVIIIe SIÈCLES). By JOSÉE BALAGNA. (Islam & Occident, 2.) Paris, Maisonneuve & Larose, 1984. pp.153. 68F.     

The impact of sunset review: A study of real estate licensing

This paper focuses on the impact that state sunset review has had on the real estate occupation's ability to restrict entry through the imposition of licensing requirements. The results presented indicate that the 1983 rejection rate for real estate brokers and salespersons was lower in states undergoing sunset review of real estate than in those states not undergoing such a review. Sunset appears to have the power to effect changes in the licensing behavior of the occupation considered in this analysis.