Explaining the content of impact assessment in the United Kingdom: Learning across time,sectors, and departments

While several studies have documented how evidence‐based policy instruments affect public policy, less research has focused on what causes changes over time in the analyses mandated by the instruments, especially in Britain. Thus, we take the analytical content of a pivotal regulatory reform instrument (impact assessment) as a dependent variable, draw on learning as a conceptual framework, and explain the dynamics of learning processes across departments, policy sectors, and time. Empirically, our study draws on a sample of 517 impact assessments produced in Britain (2005–2011). Experience and capacity in different departments matter in learning processes. Guidelines also matter, but moderately so. Departments specialize in their core policy sectors when performing regulatory analysis, but some have greater analytical capacity overall. Peripheral departments invest more in impact assessment than core executive departments. The presence of a regulatory oversight body enhances the learning process. Elections have different effects, depending on the context in which they are contested. These findings contribute to the literature on regulation, policy learning, and policy instruments.     

The measurement and interpretation of morphine in blood

A method for the determination of morphine is post-mortem blood by HPLC with electrochemical detection is described. Blood morphine levels in post-mortem cases are reported and the importance of these in causing death is discussed. These post-mortem levels are compared further with morphine levels in the blood of patients receiving morphine as an analgesic.     

Remediation or Problem Translocation: An Ethical Discussion as to the Sustainability of the Remediation Market and Carbon Calculating

Remedial technologies consume energy, produce atmospheric, solid- and liquid-based waste streams and do not always destroy or remove contaminants from the environment. The following discussion reviews those factors associated with the environmental impacts of conducting land quality remediation works with particular focus upon the carbon calculating of different remediation technologies. This work seeks to challenge the conventional paradigm of paying hearsay to the term “sustainability” and challenges the selection of remediation technologies at specific sites in favor of sustainability versus time for non time critical problem holders. By promoting often simple changes to the ways in which we deliver remediation, then added value to society may be delivered while also driving changes in the behavior of market sector thinking.     

Die Umsetzung von EU-Richtlinien im Zeichen der Parteipolitik: Eine akteurszentrierte Antwort auf die Misfit-These

Recent debates about the problem-solving capacity of supranational governance within the EU form the background of this paper, which explores the causal conditions for correct and timely transposition of EU directives. In this context, some scholars have pointed to the degree of fit or misfit between European demands and existing national structures and traditions as one of the major factors determining implementation performance. On the basis of empirical evidence from the transposition of six labor-law directives in four member states, the paper demonstrates the limited explanatory power of this approach. Instead, it stresses the importance of domestic party politics and discusses the implications of this finding for the governance capacity of the EU.     

The Siren’s Song: Federalism and the Cops grants

The federalization of crime control has become a focal point for criminal justice researchers. Because the federal government is limited in how it can affect crime, it often assumes the role of funding agent to state or local governments and places restrictions on the use of these monies. Generally, no consideration is given to state or local concerns. As a result, national crime control policy often becomes mired in issues of federalism. One unintended consequence is the creation of a Siren’s Song, where state and local agencies simply pursue funding dollars to expand their budgets rather than to adopt beneficial policies or make meaningful changes. This paper illustrates this point by examining the federal “100,000 Cops” initiative in one rural West Virginia jurisdiction.     

Do More Options Always Benefit the Users of Public Services? An Experimental Study of School Choice,Performance, and Satisfaction

Recent years have seen an increase in choice of provider in many public services, including education. Proponents of provider choice suggest that it increases users' satisfaction. However, insights from the psychology of choice overload suggest that too much choice can be detrimental. The authors use a survey experiment to investigate the effect of provider choice on parents' satisfaction with schools (under performance declines and increases). The findings show that choice increases satisfaction and perceptions of fairness of the process compared with no choice. However, consistent with choice overload, increasing the number of options does not boost satisfaction. The findings have important implications for satisfaction as a measure of performance, because user satisfaction seems not to be independent of choice processes. This suggests lessons for designing delivery systems: although facilitating minimal user choice is preferable to having no choice, further increasing delivery options may not increase users' satisfaction.     

Interventionism by Design or Failure: The Coalition and Humanitarian Intervention

The Coalition took office in 2010 in what seemed to be a relatively benign foreign policy environment. Since then, the international environment has become far more treacherous and the government has considered war on humanitarian grounds on three occasions. In light of the silence of early Coalition documents on humanitarian intervention, together with the two parties’ different positions on the issue, this article assesses the extent to which the Coalition has adopted a distinctive approach to humanitarian intervention. In so doing, it evaluates the relative importance of Conservative and Liberal Democrat traditions in determining the direction of Coalition foreign policy. The article also considers whether there are other, more pertinent factors driving foreign policy, and offers an explanation for its relative isolation from coalition tensions. It concludes by reflecting on the likely future of humanitarian intervention after the May 2015 general election.