Globalization and the Choice of Governing Instruments: The Direct,Indirect, and Opportunity Effects of Internationalization

We propose to shed light on the effect of globalization on the choice of policy tools. Contrary to what is commonly believed, we find that the source of many of the changes in the patterns of instrument choice found in contemporary society lies in the domestic rather than the international arena. To the extent that global factors have had an effect, it is through what we term indirect and opportunity effects rather than direct ones. Further, we argue that traditional command and control instruments are not antithetical to globalization as is evident in their continued, and at times even increasing, use in a variety of settings. We conclude that what is important for policymakers is to ensure that their choice of instruments is consistent with traditional sectoral and national policy styles, with or without globalization.     

Understanding Public Sector Ethics: Beyond Agency Theory in Canada's Sponsorship Scandal

ABSTRACT

Public sector ethics is a topic of ongoing concern in developed democracies. The most popular theoretical approach to this issue is found in principal–agent theory literature. This approach assumes that public sector organizations are populated by principals and agents, each of whom pursue their own self-interest, with agents having a persistent informational advantage. A second approach to ethical conflicts focuses on cognitive processes. According to cognitive theory, all decision makers are vulnerable to “ethical numbing,” particularly in organizational settings that condone the substitution of personal agendas for organizational goals. We argue that Canada's sponsorship scandal has been interpreted almost exclusively from a principal–agent perspective, with subsequent reforms firmly based on introducing new rules to oblige agents to advance the interests of principals. While more faithful adherence to established rules by agents would have avoided a scandal, such adherence is unlikely to be achieved through incentives, monitoring, and penalties as suggested by principal–agent theory. The policy message contained in and implied by the cognitive framework suggests that the focus must be on creating an organizational learning environment that discourages responsible public officials from reframing decision situations in a manner that allows them to become morally disengaged.     

The Multiple Institutional Logics of Innovation

ABSTRACT

How do decentralized systems deal with innovation? In particular, how do they aggregate the myriad experiences of their component parts, facilitate diffusion of information, and encourage investments in innovation? This is a classic problem in the study of human institutions. It is also one of the biggest challenges that exists in the governance of decentralized systems: How do institutions shape individual behavior around solving problems and sharing information in a fashion that is reasonably compatible with collective well-being? We use a particular decentralized institution (the U.S. House of Representatives), wrestling with a novel problem (how to utilize the Internet), to explore the implications of three archetypical principles for organizing collective problem solving: market, network, and hierarchy.     

The economics of poverty traps and persistent poverty: An asset-based approach

Longitudinal data on household living standards open the way to a deeper analysis of the nature and extent of poverty. While a number of studies have exploited this type of data to distinguish transitory from more chronic forms of income or expenditure poverty, this paper develops an asset-based approach to poverty analysis that makes it possible to distinguish deep-rooted, persistent structural poverty from poverty that passes naturally with time due to systemic growth processes. Drawing on the economic theory of poverty traps and bifurcated accumulation strategies, this paper briefly discusses some feasible estimation strategies for empirically identifying poverty traps and long-term, persistent structural poverty, as well as relevant extensions of the popular Foster-Greer-Thorbecke class of poverty measures. The paper closes with reflections on how asset-based poverty can be used to underwrite the design of persistent poverty reduction strategies.     

The Projection of Development: Cinematic Representation as A(nother) Source of Authoritative Knowledge?

Popular representations of development need to be taken seriously (though not uncritically) as sources of authoritative knowledge, not least because this is how most people in the global North (and elsewhere) ‘encounter’ development issues. To this end, and building on the broader agenda presented in a previous article exploring the usefulness of literary representations of development, we consider three different types of cinematic representations of development: films providing uniquely instructive insights, those unhelpfully eliding and simplifying complex processes, and those that, with the benefit of historical hindsight, usefully convey a sense of the prevailing assumptions that guided and interpreted the efficacy of development-related interventions at a particular time and place. We argue that the commercial and technical imperatives governing the production of contemporary films, and ‘popular’ films in particular, generate a highly variable capacity to ‘accurately’ render key issues in development, and thereby heighten their potential to both illuminate and obscure those issues.     

OBITUARIES

The Indian Federation. An Exposition and Critical Review. By Sir Shafa'at Ahmad Khan, Litt.D. Pp. xii + 450. 6?” × 9”. Macmillan and Co. 1937. 15s.

The Spirit of Zen. By Alan W. Watts. Wisdom of the East Series. Edited by L. Cranmer‐Byng and Dr. S. A. Katadia. 73/4” × 5”. Pp. 136. John Murray, 1936. 3s. 6d.

When Japan Goes to War.* By O. Tanin and E. Yohan. 8/1/4>” × 5/1/2>”. Pp. 271. Lawrence and Wishart. 5s.

Japan at the Cross Roads. By Walter Smith. Published by Lawrence and Wishart, London. 1936. 3s. 6d.

The Far East Comes Nearer. By H. Hcsscll Tiltman. Pp. 314. Illustrated. London: Jarrolds. 1936. 12s. 6d.

The China Year Book, 1936

Problems of Chinese Education. By Victor Purcell, Ph.D. 8 /3/4>” ×5/3/4>. Pp. viii+261. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co., Ltd. 1936. 10s. 6d.

Attack on Everest. By Neil Macintyre. Pp. 172. Methuen. 5s.

Tibetan Journey. By Madame Alexandra David‐Neel. 9” × 5 ?”. Pp. 276. Maps and illustrations. London: John Lane, The Bodley Head. 12s. 6d.

Social Organization and Customary Law of the Nepalese Tribes. By Dr. Leonhard Adam, American Anthropologist. No. 4. 3$

Khyber Caravan: Through Kashmir, Waziristan, Baluchistan and Northern India. By Gordon Sinclair. 8 3/4” × 6”. Pp. xvi+287. Maps. Hurst and Blackett. 12s. 6d.

The Clear Mirror: A Pattern of Life in Goa and in Indian Tibet. By G. E. Hutchinson. 9” × 5 ⁷/_8". Pp. xii+171. Cambridge University Press. 8s. 6d.

Ganésa: A Monograph on the Elephant‐Faced God. By Alice Getty. With an Introduction by Alfred Foucher. Oxford : Clarendon Press. 1936.

Afghanistan. A Brief Survey. By J. D. Ahmada and M. A. Aziz. With a Foreword by Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbal. 10” × 7/1/2>". Pp. xx + 159. First published by Dar‐ut‐Talif, Kabul, September, 1934. New impression, Longmans, Green and Co., printers in India, April, 1936. Three maps and seventy illustrations. 12s. 6d. Library edition, 15s. 6d.

The Harēm. By N. M. Penzer. Pp. 260. Index. Map. Forty‐two plates. Harrap and Co. 1936. 21s.

Moslem Women Enter a New World. By Ruth Frances Woodsmall. Publications of the American University of Beirut, Social Science Series, No. 14. London: George Allen and Unwin, Ltd. 12s. 6d.

The Effects of Centralization on Education in Modern Egypt. By Russell Gait, Ph.D. 9?"× 6”. Pp. vi + 134. Cairo: Department of Education, American University. 1936.

The Nile : From the Source to Egypt. The Life‐Story of a River. By Emil Ludwig. Translated by Mary Lindsay. London: Allen and Unwin. 1936. Price 16s.

Sea Adventures. By Henry de Monfried. Translated by Helen Buchanan Bell. Thirteen illustrations and endpaper map. Methuen and Co., Ltd. 10s. 6d.

The Dangerous Sea: The Mediterranean. By George Slocombc. 8/3/4> × 5/3/4>”. Pp. xxx+286. Hutchinson. 1936. 10s. 6d.

Aden Protectorate: A Report on the Social, Economic and Politica Condition of the Hadhramaut. By W. H. Ingrams, O.B.E. Colonial No. 123. Pp. 1–127. With map. H.M. Stationery Office. 3s.

The Arabian Knight: Sir Richard Burton. By Seton Dearden. Pp.334. Arthur Barker. 12s. 6d.

The Gates of Jerusalem. By Jacqueline Cockburn. With an appreciation by Sir Ronald Storrs, K.C.M.G., C.B.E. Pp. x + 300. John Murray. 7s. 6d.

Who is Prosperous in Palestine ? Labour Pamphlet No. 7.

The Palestine Mandate : Invalid and Impracticable. By W. F. Boustany. Palestine Information Centre. 1936. IS. 6d.     

The Aral sea environmental crisis: problems and a way forward

A relatively small group of Japanese war veterans has played a major part in creating a favourable image of Burma in Japan. In the early 1950s both Japan and Burma needed a swift agreement on reparations, the Japanese because the export markets and natural resources of South East Asia offered a real opportunity to rebuild the Japanese economy, Burma because economic policy was already faltering and financial aid was needed. The Reparations Agreement between Japan and Burma became the model for ODA agreements with other South East Asian nations and the Japanese committed large sums to Burma, yet the Japanese mercantilist approach was never compatible with the Burmese road to Socialism. Since the imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi, some in Japan have promoted a policy of solidarity towards Burma, while others, including the new Prime Minister, Hatoyama have advocated an approach based on concern for human rights.     

War on error and the Southern fire: How terrorism analysts get it wrong

Abstract

This extended, five-part critique of Conflict and Terrorism in Southern Thailand interrogates how terrorism experts have interpreted the recent escalation of violence in the Thai southern border provinces. It does so by questioning the authors' use of sources, and draws on a range of alternative Thai-and English-language sources to suggest that the authors have reached poorly founded conclusions. The first part considers the contemporary context of terrorism studies and argues that it is important to understand Conflict and Terrorism as a knowledge product influenced by that discipline. The second presents an overview of competing theories concerning events in Thailand, as background to the conclusions presented in Conflict and Terrorism. The third evaluates the book's conclusion that Thailand faces a renewed insurgency, largely driven by domestic factors and carried out by definable actors. The fourth part examines the authors' claim concerning the importance of a booklet titled Berjihad di Patani, which is said to have motivated insurgents involved in the 28 April 2004 “uprising.” The fifth will attend to some significant factual and interpretative errors that severely undermine the credibility of the book. Overall, the critique demonstrates that various interpretations of what is happening in the South of Thailand remain plausible, and the article concludes that the authors of Conflict and Terrorism were too poorly equipped to deal with these competing interpretations to offer any insights into the conflict.     

The irrelevance of negative campaigns to political trust: Experimental and survey results

This article examines how media and partisan mechanisms of accountability influence presidential agendas in Latin America. The authors argue that responsiveness increases in powerful presidential systems when opposition parties and free media help citizens hold presidents accountable between elections. Where presidents must contend with a cohesive, ideological opposition and effective constraints to their power, they turn to valence issues with broad appeal and over which they have greater control. A free media—one without significant economic, legal, or political constraints—pressures the president to respond to the electorate's concerns, which include crime and corruption due to the incentives that motivate news content and the media's agenda-setting powers. Analyzing more than 50 presidential terms across 18 countries, the authors show that when Latin American presidents face either free and competitive media or strong legislative oppositions, homicide rates and the level of perceived corruption tend to be lower. Thus, this study proposes that efforts to improve media or partisan environments, or both, would help address Latin America's accountability deficit and promote good governance in the region.