Local Councillors: Between Local 'Government' and Local 'Governance'

With a two-dimensional concept of 'New Public Management' as its point of departure, the article points to the development of a specific Danish model of NPM at the local level of government. In the municipalities the market-oriented NPM dimension has been almost absent and the managerial dimension has been interpreted and translated into a 'governance'-oriented model that combines decentralized self- and user-governance from below with centralized goal-steering from above. This combined model institutes new governing roles including a new leadership role for elected councillors as central goal-steering decision and policy makers. Rather than strengthening the local councillors, the new leadership role has turned out to be problematic for the elected councillors. The problems inherent in the new institutional role as goal-steering decision makers are discussed and arguments are put forward in favour of a more 'governance' and less NPM and government-oriented role for elected councillors. What seems to be needed is another new role that stresses local councillors as co-governors and guardians of an inclusive and democratic form of local governance.     

Treatment adherence of maltreating families: A survey of professionals regarding prevalence and enhancement strategies

Maltreating parents often do not identify themselves as having a problem and are usually not self-referred for evaluation or treatment. As a result, treatment adherence problems are believed to be common. Unfortunately, the literature to date about the extent of the problem and what to do about it is sparse. The present investigation focuses on two types of treatment adherence by maltreating families: session attendance and homework completion. The goals of the study were the following: (a) provide information on the extent of the problem of nonadherence; (b) examine the relationship between nonadherence and client, treatment, and professional factors; and (c) provide information on the use and effectiveness of strategies to facilitate adherence. A survey was sent to 300 mental health and social service agencies nationwide and completed by 105 professionals. The survey requested specific data on three randomly selected maltreating parents from each respondent's current caseload. Data were obtained on 303 maltreating parents. Implications of the results for intervention and future research are discussed.     

SERVICE UTILIZATION AND SATISFACTION WITH SERVICE PROVIDERS IN VICTIMS OF RAPE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT

The aim of the present study was to investigate service utilization and satisfaction with service delivery among victims of rape and sexual assault. The victims completed a questionnaire comprising questions about whether they felt they received the appropriate help following an assault and whether they were met with positive staff attitudes within the public treatment system. The victims completed the questionnaire at three different time points： one month, three months and six months following an assault. Results showed that a high number of victims were satisfied with the support and treatment they received from psychologist and other part of the public help system. However, a high number of victims also reported receiving insufficient help from the social service and the police. Results are discussed in terms of consequences for victim recovery and the importance of receiving feedback from the victims in order to improve public service provision for victims of rape and sexual assault.     

US politics and World Bank IDA-lending

Abstract

This paper studies the role of US political factors in the allocation of World Bank concessional lending, where US political interests are proxied by voting similarity in the United Nations General Assembly on issues identified as important by the US Department of State. In contrast to previous studies we find that the US exerted a significant influence on IDA lending during the period 1993–2000. We demonstrate that the influence was both statistically as well as economically significant. Finally, we demonstrate that our result is robust with respect to the omission of the IDA Country Performance Rating index.     

Comparing Public and Private Managers' Leadership Styles: Understanding the Role of Job Context

ABSTRACT

Comparing public and private managers is a major subject in the public management literature, but there have been only a few empirical studies of the differences in their respective leadership styles. Traditionally, leadership style is explained by the characteristics of the manager, the employees, and their job. This study explains leadership by the manager's job context: the degree of job complexity, role clarity, and job autonomy. We argue that differences in job context explain the use of different leadership styles in the public and private sector. To clearly specify the importance of sector, the study investigates direct, mediating, and moderating effects. Based on a survey of Danish public and private managers with 949 respondents, this article shows that job context variables vary significantly between public and private sector managers. The article provides some explanations for why public managers use more participative leadership, while private ones use more directive leadership.     

Intelligence Contracting: On the Motivations,Interests, and Capabilities of Core Personnel Contractors in the US Intelligence Community

In the debate on intelligence contracting, intelligence officers are grouped into two personnel categories characterized by opposing sets of motivations and interests. Government employees are assumed to be motivated by a higher goal related to national security, while intelligence contractors are said to be motivated primarily by pecuniary interests and loyal first and foremost to their shareholders. Contemporary research on human motivation, however, suggests that the two personnel categories are not all that different in that both appear to be intrinsically motivated and loyal primarily to the mission at hand, namely national security. Moreover, comparative research on public organizations and private corporations suggests that there are more similarities between the two than there are differences. This must lead us to re-examine the recent criticism fielded against the practice of intelligence contracting.     

Problem-solving training with a multiply distressed abusive and neglectful mother: Effects on social insularity,negative affect,and stress

Multiple sources of stress and deficient problem-solving skills have been identified among maltreating parents. In the present study, a problem-solving intervention was evaluated with a multiply distressed, abusive and neglectful mother. Problem-solving skills were trained sequentially in a multiplebaseline design. Training focused on improving judgments related to child care and managing daily stress. The impact of training was examined in relation to problem-solving skill improvements, as well as social insularity, affect, and stress which appeared to compromise child care abilities. Problem-solving training resulted in a substantial increase in generation of alternative solutions and in the quality of plans to implement solutions on both training and generalization vignettes. Moreover, training resulted in positive changes in social insularity, negative affect, and self-reported stress and anxiety. Most of these gains were maintained at 1- and 5-month follow-ups. There were no further reports of child maltreatment during the 21 months following intervention.     

Voluntary Organisations and Community Politics: Norwegian and British Comparisons

The study reported in this article compares local political activity of voluntary organizations in a Norwegian and an English city — Tromsø and Birmingham. The two cities display rather striking structural similarities with respect to the relative number of organizations as well as to organizational membership. The relative distribution of major types of organizations is also rather similar, although there is a greater degree of organizational specialization in the English city.
With respect to political activity of the organizations the two cities are, however, quite different. While two thirds of the organizations in Tromsø have been active in local political matters, this holds true for less than 30 per cent of the organizations in Birmingham.
This difference is attributed to the finding that in the Norwegian case local government assists organizations with goods and services, while in the English case organizations have to depend on their own internal resources. An additional factor is that Norwegian organizations, when compared to their English counterparts, have greater access to political decision-making bodies.