INFORMATION‐SHARING AND CONFIDENTIALITY IN SOCIAL POLICY: REGULATING MULTI‐AGENCY WORKING

In recent years, there has been growing concern in the UK that local services aimed at risky or vulnerable people are ineffective, because of agencies’ persistent failure to share information about their clients. Despite considerable national policy effort to encourage better information‐sharing, previous research indicates that there are many cases where information is still not shared when it should be, or where it is shared when it should not be, with potentially devastating results. This article uses data from the largest empirical study of local information‐sharing yet undertaken to examine four policy sectors where multi‐agency working has come to the fore. It shows that variations in their information‐sharing and confidentiality practices can be explained by neo‐Durkheimian institutional theory and uses insights from this theory to argue that current policy tools, which emphasize formal regulation, are unlikely to lead to consistent and acceptable outcomes, not least because of unresolved conflicts in values and aims.     

PRIVATISM AND PARTNERSHIP IN URBAN REGENERATION

In 1988, inner city policy took on a distinctly new style. The publication that year of the government brochure Action for Cities heralded the introduction of the 'enterprise culture' as the new instrument for the economic regeneration of the inner cities, the re-moralization into self-reliance of their inhabitants, and the defeat of welfare dependency. Simultaneously, the job of regeneration would be placed more firmly in the hands of Urban Development Corporations that would do the job that inefficient and ineffective local government had so signally failed to achieve. The dynamism of privatism would be harnessed by means of public subsidy to attract (or lever) private investment into the inner cities. The rationale or privatism as a means of abolishing urban deprivation however, rests on untested logic. At its simplest, new jobs would be created by inward investment, unemployment would fall, and there would be 'trickle-down' effects to those not in the labour force. There are other and more fundamental assumptions however, the contestable nature of which throws doubt on the possibility of the privatism strategy ever working. Principal among these are that there are discrete and insulated 'inner city economies' that can be regenerated; that it is even now possible to reverse history in the inner cities, and that to be of benefit to inner city residents, investment must be in the her cities themselves.     

Media malaise or a virtuous circle? Exploring the causal relationships between news media exposure,political news attention and political interest

Being politically interested is one of the most important norms from a democratic perspective, as it is a crucial antecedent for voting, political knowledge, civic and political participation, and attentiveness to political information. However, only limited research has focused on the relationship between media use and political interest, despite the notion that modern politics is mediated politics. Even more important is the fact that the causal relationship between media use and political interest still has not been firmly established. Against this background, the purpose of this study is to investigate the causal relationship between news media use and political interest. The results show that there are indeed causal and reciprocal relationships between political interest and attention to political news, and between political interest and exposure to some, but not all, news media. Overall these results lend stronger support to the perspective of media mobilisation theories than media malaise theories.     

All spending is not equal: European Union public spending,policy feedback and citizens’ support for the EU

While public support is central to the problem‐solving capacity of the European Union, we know little about when and why the EU can increase its citizens’ support through spending. Extensive research finds that citizens living in countries that are net beneficiaries of the EU budget are more supportive of the EU, assuming that citizens care equally about all forms of spending. It is argued in this article, however, that the amount of spending is only part of the story. Understanding the effects of spending on support requires a consideration of how transfers are spent. Drawing on policy feedback theories in comparative politics, it is shown that support for the EU is a function of the fit between the spending area and economic need in individuals’ immediate living context. Results from a statistical analysis of EU spending on human capital, infrastructure, agriculture, energy and environmental protection in 127 EU regions over the period 2001–2011 corroborate this argument. As the EU and other international organisations become increasingly publicly contested, the organisations themselves may increasingly try to shore up public support through spending, but they will only be successful under specific conditions.     

Organizational learning in non-governmental organizations: What have we learned?

Learning is considered to be an essential component of organizational effectiveness in all sectors—private, public and non-governmental. All NGOs aspire to be ‘learning organizations’, yet few have reflected systematically on the success in this regard. This article summarizes the experience to date of international NGOs that have prioritized learning as an objective, drawing out areas of both success and failure, and reflecting on whether there are any features that distinguish learning in NGOs from learning in other types of organization. A simple typology and set of tests of NGO-learning are presented, along with a series of challenges for the future. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Public Admin. Dev. Vol. 17 : 235–250 (1997). No. of Figures: 0. No. of Tables: 0. No. of Refs: 48     

NUDGING,SHOVING, AND BUDGING: BEHAVIOURAL ECONOMIC‐INFORMED POLICY

In recent years, behavioural economics has gained considerable traction in the policy discourse, with a particular conceptual framework called libertarian paternalism, which informs nudge policy, dominating. Libertarian paternalism requires policies to protect individual liberty, to be focused specifically upon improving the welfare of those towards whom the intervention is targeted, and to be informed by the findings of behavioural economics. In practice, however, many of the interventions that are being advocated as nudges do not meet all of these criteria. Moreover, libertarian paternalism is not the only framework in which behavioural economics can inform policy. Coercive paternalism and behavioural regulation, frameworks that respectively underpin shove and budge policies, both use behavioural economics to inform public policy, and both face their own set of limitations. This article attempts to bring a degree of intellectual clarity to the potentially important contribution that behavioural economics can make to public policy.     

Die and Let Die: Exploring Links between Suicide Terrorism and Terrorist Use of Chemical,Biological, Radiological,and Nuclear Weapons

The use of suicide bombings by some organizations is often presented as evidence of eroding constraints among terrorists to use chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear weapons. Besides a possibly more reckless approach to violence resulting from the weakened instinct of self-preservation, it is clear that suicide delivery of such weapons would have great tactical advantages over other forms of delivery. This article explores the often neglected nuances of contemporary suicide terrorism to explain why this practice does not necessarily make a mass-casualty chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear attack by a terrorist group more likely.