Bureaucratic politics and the translation of movement agendas

Research on social movement outcomes focuses on the publicly visible stages of government policymaking. It rarely opens the black box of government's translation of movement demands beyond the agenda‐setting stage and before their materialization into legislative bills. Using a bureaucratic politics perspective, we suggest that bureaucrats play a central role in translating movement agendas into concrete problems and policy solutions, which they tend to link with their bureaus' missions and existing programs. We further suggest that relative consensus among bureaucrats when coupled with politicians' disinclination to intervene in the translation process tends to advantage conservative interpretations of movement agendas. Conversely, interbureau confrontation and political intervention are associated with more radical policy responses. Empirically, we examine the responses of the Israeli government to the large‐scale mobilization, in 2011, surrounding the rising costs of housing and living. We build on archival research and interviews with senior bureaucrats located in 11 central‐government ministries.     

Securing cyberspace: How states design governance arrangements

The functioning of modern societies increasingly depends on secure cyberspace. Given states' lacking capacities to protect this novel domain, governments draw on a variety of third parties for support. Yet, they face a challenge. While imposed control may limit third parties' competence, the abandonment of hierarchical control contradicts the widespread notion of national security. How do states navigate between these functional and national security imperatives to design governance arrangements? We develop a typology that combines cybersecurity problems (risks vs. threats) with governance modes (delegation vs. orchestration). This helps us to explore more than 100 cybersecurity policies across 15 different states. We find one predominant pattern. Governments delegate authority but maintain elements of hierarchical control, when they respond to threatening attacks. In contrast, governments orchestrate intermediaries by soft inducements to address risks and diffuse vulnerabilities in cyberspace. This contributes to both indirect governance scholarship and the debate on cybersecurity.     

Validation of a Short Form of the Marlowe-Crowne for Use with Law Enforcement Personnel

This study cross-validates a 13-question version of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale proposed by Reynolds (1982), using law enforcement professionals (n?=?241). A rational is offered for the importance of scales of this nature being used to assess honesty, social desirability and self-deception. External validity indicators including concurrent measures of aggression and prejudice as well as prehire MMPI scales K and L on a subset of this sample (n?=?70) are reviewed. Correlations between the 13-question version of the Marlowe-Crowne and external measures demonstrate robust effect sizes and statistical significance. Comparisons are also examined between officer scores and students from another cross-validation study of the 13-question short form of the Marlowe-Crowne (Zook & Sipps, 1984). Conclusions are made in consideration of the importance of honesty in law enforcement testing as well as the need for better means of accounting for variance due to social desirability in testing. Future directions for research are suggested.     

The powers of problem definition: The case of government paperwork

Problem definition is a package of ideas that includes, at least implicitly, an account of the causes and consequences of undesirable circumstances and a theory about how to improve them. As such, it serves as the overture to policymaking, as an integral part of the process of policymaking, and as a policy outcome. In each of these roles it seems to exert influence on government action. Distinguishing among the roles clarifies the nature of that influence. A case study examines the transition from one problem definition to another in the domain of information collection by the federal government. The rise of the Paperwork Reduction definition illustrates the variety of ways in which problem definition has powerful consequences.     

A: Reviews: general

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Between NATO and a hard place: defence spending debate in Germany and Czechia

Defence spending has become a primary issue in the context of NATO. The question of fair burden-sharing and development of new capabilities in reaction to the changing security environment led NATO members to aim to spend 2% of GDP on defence by 2024. While some allies have managed to reach the level quickly, others seem not to be able or willing to do so. We know little, however, how the international commitment is reflected and referred to in individual member states. This article shows how size played a role when the 2% pledge was discussed in domestic politics, even if the resulting policy may be very similar. Based on expert and political debates in Germany and Czechia, it demonstrates that external expectations and the question of status play a crucial part in the small state’s reasoning whereas it is mainly internal drivers that shape the big state’s decisions.     

The transatlantic dialogue on Iran: the European subaltern and hegemonic constraints in the implementation of the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran

This article analyses the US–EU transatlantic dialogue on the Iranian nuclear dossier with a particular view to the implications for EU foreign policy on Iran. Doing so, it uses neo-Gramscian scholarship to put the EU’s “over-compliance” with Iran sanctions into perspective. Constrained by the imperatives of hegemonic coercion in the form of US financial Iran sanctions against third country entities and with the hegemonic consent of a Western US-led “historic bloc”, Europe was relegated to a subaltern below its mediatory potential. It will be shown how this finding complicates the EU’s ambition to renew relations with Iran. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with experts and delegation members from the P5+1, this article thus analyses “the normative element” in the transatlantic security dialogue on Iran at a time where the latter is undergoing a sea change in the wake of the implementation of the “Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action” of July 2015.     

A study of the interrelationships of several validity scales used in police selection

Validity scale data have received attention recently as providing valuable information about potential problematic police officer candidates. In this study, validity scale data from a number of selection instruments were obtained using 42 state police officer candidates. The scale used were the MMPI-2 L scale, the MMPI-2 K scale, the PAI Positive Impression Scale (PIM), the PAI Defensiveness Index (DI), the IPI Guardedness scale, the Hilson Life Adjustment Profile Lack of Candor scale, and the Inwald Survey 2 Denial of Shortcomings scale. Intercorrelations among the scales were developed and a factor analysis was performed. Factor analysis revealed two factors to be present. One is associated with the Hilson scales and is appropriately named guardedness or defensiveness. The other is associated with the MMPI-2 K scale and the PAI scales and is appropriately named social desirability. The MMPI-2 L scale loaded significantly on both factors and seemed to be the most general of the validity scales in terms of its characteristics. Implications of these analyses for police selection are discussed.