Policy capacity in Saskatchewan: strengthening the equilibrium

Abstract: This article examines the views of provincial public servants concerning how policy capacity can be strengthened. The findings are based on interviews conducted in 1997 with thirty-three senior public servants in the Province of Saskatchewan. Findings indicate that most public servants regard their role in policy-making as both natural and important to maintain, but they all accept the division of responsibilities in the policy process between themselves, as system stabilizers, and politicians, as the providers of energy in the system. In this regard, the public servants interviewed welcome clearly articulated goals that apply directly to their departmental concerns. Overall, the responses indicate that policy capacity can be strengthened by improving the government's policy processes, especially those linking cabinet and the bureaucracy, and those that operate horizontally across departments. These views are consistent with the traditional self-image of senior career officials who see themselves as policy managers overseeing a process that invests decisions with a high degree of legitimacy, power and accuracy. Sommaire: Dans cet article, on examine I'avis des functionaries provinciaux en ce qui conceme le renforcement de la capacité de prise de décisions politiques. Les constatations découlent d'entrevues avec 33 hauts fonctionnaires de la Saskatchewan, effectuées en 1997. Selon les constatations, la plupart des fonctionnaires voient leur rôle de décideurs politiques comme étant naturel et important à maintenir, mais ils acceptent tous le partage des responsabilités dam le processus décisionnel, entre, d'une part, eux-mêmes en tant que stabilisateurs du système, et d'autre part, les politiciens comme source de dynamisation. Sur ce point, les fonctionnaires interviewés aimeraient voir des objectifs clairement formulés s'appliquant directement à leurs préoccupations ministérielles. Dans l'ensemble, les réponses indiquent qu'on peut renforcer la capacité décisionnelle en améliorant les processus décisionnels du-gouvernement, particulièrement ceux qui relient le conseil des ministres au fonctionnariat et ceux qui assurent le lien horizontal entre les ministères. Ces avis cadrent bien avec la perception de soi classique des hauts fonctionnaires qui se perçoivent comme des gérants de politiques souhaitant que le processus qu'ils surveillent accorde aux décisions plus de légitimité, de puissance et de précision.     

电子计算机在小型案件中的应用

<正> 约翰·奈斯比特指出,我们已经从一个工业社会进入到一个信息处理的社会。这个社会是基于计算机的日益增长的应用建立起来的。例如,仅在一九八三年就有三百万台微型电子计算机被安装使用。可是,对于律师这个行业来说,计算机的潜力似乎是最后被意识到的一个行     

Working at the intersection—a story from Australia

Conceived by nurses in the hospital of a Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, and inspired by Norwegian People's Aid, the international aid agency of the Australian trade unions was designed to give a genuine material base to solidarity with national liberation struggles. Bridging the difficult division in Australian labour politics between the Catholic right and the social democratic and pro‐Moscow lefts, Australian People for Health, Education and Development Abroad (now Union Aid Abroad APHEDA) was able to channel funds from unions and the Australian government to agriculture, health, and vocational training projects in many countries in the South. Unlike most counterpart organisations in Europe and the USA, its earlier partners were rarely trade unions. Only recently has APHEDA directly supported trade union training in Cambodia, East Timor, and Indonesia, under pressure from Australian unions, who see workers' rights in neighbouring countries as crucial to their own fate. Yet unions in advanced capitalist countries don't spontaneously understand the humanitarian and development needs of countries, such as Papua New Guinea, where waged workers are a small minority of the population. Unionisation is only one part of the solution. The April 2000 Durban congress of the ICFTU called for trade unions to ‘organise the unorganised’, such as informal‐sector workers, and to build alliances with NGOs and civil society around shared values. As a trade union NGO, APHEDA is located in the middle of a challenging intersection. Mandated to educate Australian workers on globalisation issues, APHEDA finds itself often more partisan than other international development NGOs in Australia, sometimes more circumspect. With attacks on union rights and the increasing share of the Australian aid budget delivered through private companies, APHEDA faces decisions about its independence, alliances, direction, and sustainability.