Return to Tradition in the Name of Change

The author argues that although a new military strategy of US Armed Forces is far from being completed, an outline has emerged, that is to develop a military strategy suitable for ＂soft power diplomacy＂, rather than Bush＇s strategy of unilateralism and preemption. The author then makes some analysis on the difficulties Obama is facing to fulfill this change.     

Notwendigkeit eines Europäischen Bodenschutzes

Im Zusammenhang mit einer Europ?ischen Bodenschutzstrategie sind wichtige Problemfelder des Bodenschutzes in den Gremien der Europ?ischen Union differenziert er?rtert und bereits bodenschutzdienliche Regelungen in einzelnen Materien, insbes. im Landwirtschafts- und Abfallrecht erlassen worden. Seitens der Wissenschaft wird z. T. eine gesamthafte Regelung für erforderlich gehalten. Formulierungen der Aktionsprogramme für den Umweltschutz, rsp. das 6. Aktionsprogramm von 2002, weisen in diese Richtung, w?hrend die Mitteilung der Kommission Hin zu einer spezifischen Bodenschutzstrategie, derzufolge diese einen umfassenderen und systematischeren Bodenschutz erm?glichen will, insoweit keine eindeutigen Aussagen enth?lt. Auch das Europ?ische Parlament hat in seiner Stellungnahme zur Strategie zwar die Umkehr der alarmierenden Trends von Erosion, Verdichtung und Versiegelung, Beseitigung und Verunreinigung von B?den gefordert, sich jedoch zu der Empfehlung einer übergreifenden Regelung nicht entschlie?en k?nnen, so dass zu befürchten ist, dass es bei einem normativen Flickenteppich des Bodenschutzes bleibt.     

Power Dynamics in an Experimental Game

We introduce a new experimental method for studying power. Drawing from multiple theoretical perspectives, we conceptualize power as relational and structural, as well as comprised of different forms through which basic human needs can be met. Thus, the method we introduce examines how, when faced with a particular need, people use multiple forms of power concurrently and within a “field of influence,” namely, the other players in a game. This enabled us to examine how one form of power is transformed into another and how power is transferred from one player to another through interaction, as well as to measure power as behavior, as the exercise of choice, as potential, and as outcomes. Two experiments using egalitarian start conditions and a survivable ecology demonstrated that participants used power to gain more power, creating inequality. Being the target of force made some players unable to “survive” in the local ecology. Theoretical and methodological issues in the study of power are discussed and the application of our game method to the study of power in other fields is considered.     

Stressors, coping resources and strategies, and police stress in South Korea

The present article extends prior research to identify the predictors of police stress from work place problems, the resources available through social support, different strategies for coping with stress, and conditions unique to policing in South Korea. The unique conditions are perceived public perception of police and attitudes towards women working outside of the home. Seven hundred officers were asked to participate in the research, and 686 did participate (96 percent response rate). Almost half of the variance in stress could be explained. Reports of being ridiculed and “set up” in dangerous situations, and to a lesser extent, lack of support from superiors and perceived disrespect from the public, were salient predictors of stress. Coping strategies did not moderate the associations between stressors and stress. Findings were interpreted in relation to collectivist culture and possible points of intervention.     

Bio-Kraftstoff,Nachhaltigkeit, Boden- und Naturschutz

Zusammenfassung  Um ihr Klimapaket und die damit verbundenen Ziele im Bereich der erneuerbaren Energien umzusetzen, hat die Europ?ische Kommission eine Richtlinie zur F?rderung der Nutzung von Energie aus erneuerbaren Quellen vorgeschlagen. Um den Richtlinienentwurf rankt sich – auch noch zur Zeit – eine breite noch nicht abgeschlossene Diskussion, in deren Rahmen unter anderem Bedenken gegen die F?rderung von Energiepflanzen, die als nachhaltig deklariert wird, ge?u?ert werden, da blühende Kulturlandschaften dadurch verschandelt werden. Der Beitrag besch?ftigt sich mit der politischen und rechtlichen Diskussion des Richtlinien-Entwurfs.     

Americanising Brexit Britain's Welfare State?

Will the British welfare state revert to an Americanisation trajectory or retain features of the European model after April 2019? After a period of historically prolonged austerity and substantial working age welfare reform, with the UK facing yet another renegotiation of the social contract in a post‐Brexit world, the question of whether there remains space for an alternative to the ‘American’ model is of crucial importance. We argue that there has been a blurring of differences across the American and European welfare states in terms of working age benefits, as most countries have adopted aspects of work‐based conditionality reforms, which attach the receipt of benefits to the active pursuit of work and, to varying extents, the underlying politics of US welfare reform, where there are large coalitions supportive of more punitive policies towards low‐income adults and minorities. These trends are taking place against the backdrop of a second major shift: increasing restrictions on benefits for immigrants. This double narrowing of the welfare state, making benefits conditional for citizens and excluding those who are not citizens, seemingly sets the agenda for a more restrictive post‐Brexit welfare state. The experience of the last two decades suggests, however, that the adoption of the American model has not been wholesale; steering a middle path between punitive conditional American benefits and more traditionally generous universal benefits is on the agenda across advanced welfare states.     

An application of innovation theory to the strategy of administrative reform in developing countries

Conscious pursuit of public goals is the essence of public policymaking. Policy process involves among other things activating and mobilizing various administrative elements such as authority, structure, resources, procedures, and relations. Rationality requires that these elements become continuously restructured, revamped, and realigned in order to maximize the goal effectiveness of policy. The effort to gear administrative elements to the achievement of deliberate policy goals is administrative reform. This is a continuous and prevasive process.Now the crux of administrative reform is innovation, that is, injection of new ideas and new people in new combinations of tasks and relationships into the policy and administration process. This is, however, not an automatic process. It requires strategy in order to facilitate its adoption and diffusion throughout the public organization.The purpose of this paper is to examine the relevance of innovation theory to administration in developing countries in general and administrative reform in particular and then to devise a heuristic matrix of administrative reform strategy that brings to the fore innovational leadership and environmental factors.