Behavioral Public Administration: Combining Insights from Public Administration and Psychology

Behavioral public administration is the analysis of public administration from the micro‐level perspective of individual behavior and attitudes by drawing on insights from psychology on the behavior of individuals and groups. The authors discuss how scholars in public administration currently draw on theories and methods from psychology and related fields and point to research in public administration that could benefit from further integration. An analysis of public administration topics through a psychological lens can be useful to confirm, add nuance to, or extend classical public administration theories. As such, behavioral public administration complements traditional public administration. Furthermore, it could be a two‐way street for psychologists who want to test the external validity of their theories in a political‐administrative setting. Finally, four principles are proposed to narrow the gap between public administration and psychology.     

Competition and switching in public service markets: Can they reduce inequalities?

Regulatory reforms to public infrastructure services across European Union (EU) countries were aimed at increasing consumer welfare by introducing competition and choice into service markets. However, empirical evaluations have questioned whether these reforms have benefitted all consumers, suggesting that vulnerable groups of service users (especially those with lower levels of formal education), might be locked into poorly performing services. We assess the relationship between the level of competition in electricity and fixed telephony markets in EU countries and evaluate the affordability of these services for different socio‐educational layers. Our findings show that – although in countries where there is a relatively high frequency of switching, inequalities between socio‐educational groups are smaller and eventually disappear – competition as such does not play a part. These results suggest that demand‐side regulation that successfully enables consumer switching has the potential to equalize social welfare, thereby reflecting a possible convergence of regulatory instruments and the central aims of the welfare state in this context.     

Meeting development goals: evidence from the Civil Society Education Fund

In recent years, the Civil Society Education Fund has supported national education civil society coalitions (NECs) in low-income countries so that they put pressure on governments and donors to implement the Education for All agenda and the Millennium Development Goal on education. This article draws on literature on global governance as well as on an extensive evaluation of the CSEF to explore the actual contribution of this initiative to the activity of NECs. The article highlights the achievements and shortcomings of the CSEF and includes a set of practical recommendations on the role of global civil society in international development processes.     

EU-Professionalismus als transnationales Feld

The article scrutinizes the emergence and expansion of EU-related professions and forms of occupation from a field-analytical perspective. Starting from the observation that the EU is not just an influential political actor, but also an expanding area of work, expert involvement and job specialization the paper discusses various forms, dimensions and loci of the ongoing “professionalization” of Europe. It is shown that the expansion of EU-related professional activities is not just a phenomenon of Brussels and the “Eurocracy”, but has expanded into the member states and various areas of occupational activity and expertise. The EU professionalization is conceptualized as a transnational field of specialization and professionalization which produces own principles, forms of knowledge and resources which are used and reproduced by experts and specialists. The field perspective allows identifying common principles, but also the variance and transnational dimension of EU affairs.     

Mestizaje,Córdoba's patria chica: beyond the myth of black disappearance in Argentina

This article examines the ‘disappearance of the black population’ by moving beyond the more traditional explanation of the blanqueamiento (whitening) movement at the end of the nineteenth century. In shifting the temporal framework to the republican period, 1820–1853, a more colorful explanation arises to address how the black population was first lightened which would lead to it being whitened during the second half of the nineteenth century. Ultimately because of mestizaje (racial mixture), blacks and other castas (a person who was not a Spaniard and often of a mixed racial heritage) became pardos. Pardos at first included those of mixed heritage with an elite status among other castas in the colonial period. As Córdoba joined the nation-building process, pardo encompassed all people of color, especially the growing, free black population. In order to explain this process, I traced African descendants who were originally labeled negro and changed to pardo in the 1813, 1822, and 1832 city censuses     

The Perpetration of Intimate Partner Violence among LGBTQ College Youth: The Role of Minority Stress

Preliminary research suggests that partner violence is a problem among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) college youth. However, there is no study to date with college youth on the factors associated with perpetration of same-sex partner violence, which is needed to inform prevention efforts specific to this population. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to assess how facets of minority stress (i.e., sexual-orientation-related victimization, sexual minority stigma, internalized homonegativity, sexual identity concealment) relate to physical, sexual, and psychological partner violence perpetration among LGBTQ college youth (N = 391; 49 % identified as men; 72 % Caucasian; M age: 20.77 years). At the bivariate level, physical perpetration was related to identity concealment and internalized homonegativity; sexual perpetration was related to internalized homonegativity; and psychological perpetration was related to sexual-orientation-related victimization. However, at the multivariate level (after controlling for concurrent victimization), psychological perpetration was unrelated to minority stress variables, whereas physical and sexual perpetration were both related to internalized homonegativity; physical perpetration was also related to identity concealment. These results underscore the utility of understanding partner violence among LGBTQ youth through a minority stress framework. Moreover, the current study highlights the need for a better understanding of factors that mediate and moderate the relationship between minority stress and partner violence perpetration among LGBTQ youth in order to inform prevention and intervention efforts.     

欧盟与中国的软实力对地区和全球治理的影响

本文讨论了欧洲和中国软实力政治对于东亚地区治理过程以及全球治理的影响。文中笔者重点讨论了欧盟及美国对东亚地区特别是对中国政策的特点;指出了二者的区别所在,及其对东亚地区化进程以及东亚地区发展带来的不同影响。通过比较,说明软实力对于地区治理及全球治理将产生深远影响。