International support for action on climate change and democracy: exploring complementarities

International support for democracy and climate action (mitigation; adaptation; addressing climate loss and restoring damage) are two distinct spheres: motivations, purposes, activities and the relevant literatures exist independently of one another. This article challenges this separation by investigating the scope for policy complementarities that potentially could further both democracy support’s objectives and climate action. Findings that address possible future scenarios where global warming exceeds safe limits or where democracy and democratisation are threatened by climate change impacts are worth exploring. The article’s provisional findings are mixed but provide grounds for believing that democracy support and democratisation potentially could gain from taking support for climate action into consideration and that climate action might benefit too.     

The European Budget and the Principles of Solidarity and Added Value

By presenting a proposal for the EU's fifth Financial Perspective, now named Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), in June 2011, the European Commission started negotiations on the European Union's budget policy and financial programming that are expected to end in December 2012. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the MFF negotiations will be extremely difficult because a settlement can only be achieved by consensus. That means that all 27 member states and the European Parliament will have to agree. Two principles might be taken as guidelines to facilitate a compromise: the principle of European solidarity and the principle of European added value. The task will be to define a concept that combines both principles so that it can become the main argument and narrative for explaining the complex budget negotiations, enabling the European Union to avoid a stalemate.     

The Short‐Term Effects of Mediation on Low‐Intensity Civil Wars

International diplomacy, to the extent it is effective, should not only prevent escalation of low‐intensity conflict, but should also facilitate de‐escalation. This article focuses on the short‐term effects of managing low‐intensity civil wars through third‐party mediation. Specifically, we compare the efficacy of third party‐mediated direct (face‐to‐face) and indirect talks in low‐intensity civil wars from 1993 to 2004 using the Managing Intrastate Low‐Intensity Conflict data set. We argue that a focus on short‐term success is valid because of the relationship among mediation, short‐term success, humanitarian aid access, and peacebuilding. We also assess the roles of mediator identity, mediation strategy (behavior focus versus incompatibility focus), peace agreements, war type, per capita gross domestic product, level of democracy, and conflict duration. Our overarching finding is that direct forms of mediation in which all parties meet face to face were the most likely to yield short‐term success in the sample of civil wars that we analyzed.     

Radical right parties in Europe and anti‐foreign violence: A comparative essay

This is a comparative survey of contemporary patterns of anti‐foreign violence in Europe and some historical antecedents, such as pogroms and individual and small group attacks on visible foreigners. It considers the perpetrators and the long list of different categories of victims, many of them not foreigners at all. Against the background of general youth violence in schools and neighborhoods and waves of asylum‐seekers, the motives of anti‐foreign violence are examined and attributed to the under‐educated, ‘no‐future’ youth or underclass ‘losers’ of the ‘communications revolution’ of the 1980s. The skinhead and soccer hooligan anti‐foreign violence is, on the whole, not remotely as political as the fascist blackshirts and Nazi stormtroopers of the inter‐war period were. A look at the evidence from different European countries reveals on the one hand recruitment attempts by extreme right‐wing organizations among the skinhead and hooligan groups ‐ but rather limited success. On the other hand, most of the violent actions appear to be uncoordinated and responsive to community panic and media hype regarding the ‘floods’ of asylum‐seekers and illegal immigrants in the offing. By making themselves the executors of the community panic, the otherwise despised skinheads are grasping at personal acceptance and legitimacy.     

On the unintended consequences of publishing performance data in the public sector

Most performance indicator schemes in the public sector have been implemented on the assumption that they will yield benefits in terms of efficiency and equity. Less attention has been paid to the potential costs of such schemes. Drawing on experience from a range of sources, this paper identifies eight consequences of publishing performance data that are not necessarily intended, and which are likely to be dysfunctional. The paper gives examples of such phenomena from the UK public sector, and suggests ways in which they can be mitigated. While not challenging the desirability of publishing performance data, the paper concludes that the performance indicator philosophy is based on inadequate models of production and control. Most performance indicator schemes will therefore fail unless serious consideration is given to the deficiencies described in this paper.     

Policy analysis: past,present, and future

This article reviews three themes in the past, present and future of policy analysis—policy analysis as a paradigm for policy advice, the fragility of public policy analysis organizations, and the emergence of ideologically based policy analysis organizations. The policy sciences have evolved from the rational model and the efficiency emphasis to an increased sensitivity to political factors in policy settings and to softer forms of analysis as legitimate ways of understanding policy issues. The article traces the growth of policy analysis staff in both the legislative and executive branches of the Federal Government. The article closes with a consideration of the implications for policy analysis education of the trends described above.

Commenting on the state of policy analysis is like trying to describe Southern California. Continuing claims and counter claims have been made about the area's demise. Yet, people from many backgrounds continue to flock to it and proclaim native status. Observers agree there is something important there but they warn that its future is potentially imperiled.

This is a selective roadmap to the past and present of policy analysis with some added perspectives on its future.⁽¹⁾ Three themes are developed in the discussion. One is the durability of policy analysis as a paradigm for policy advice. The second is that, despite this durability, government policy analysis organizations are fragile entities. The third is the challenge to policy analysis brought about by ideologically oriented policy movements. Rather than drawing a tight boundary around policy analysis, this discussion defines the field as those activities which are undertaken, ostensibly at least, in support of decision making about prospective actions for addressing public problems. The key distinguishing points are that the activities—whether labeled policy analysis, policy research, policy design, implementation analysis, program analysis, regulatory analysis, or something else—are: (1) decision oriented, (2) problem driven, and (3) forward 10oking.⁽²⁾ Specifically excluded from this categorization are both retrospective evaluations and traditional academic research. As the diverse set of labels listed above suggests, policy analysis presently comes in many forms and is produced in a variety of institutional settings.     

Managed care systems in the people's republic of china

This article attempts to determine whether or not managed care is the way forward for health services systems reforms in urban China. It first highlights the problems of the present Chinese urban health care financing system, which is largely based on third party fee-for-service reimbursement. It then analyses the salient features of three existing managed care systems in China -private plans, plans under the existing public and labor medical insurance systems, and the newly introduced pilot Employees Medical Insurance Scheme. Available evidence tend to suggest that all of them have been quite effective in controlling cost escalation, and that there have been some improvement in terms of equity under the new Employees Medical Insurance Scheme.     

Book Reviews

Women and Public Policy: The Shifting Boundaries Between the Public and Private Spheres. Edited by S. Baker and A. Van Doorne‐Huiskes. Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 1999. Pp.234.

Environmental Movements: Local, National and Global. Edited by Christopher Rootes. Frank Cass. 1999. Pp 316. £39.50 hb; £17.50 pb.

Driving Forces ‐ The Automobile, its Enemies and the Politics of Mobility. By James A. Dunn JR. Brookings Institution Press, 1998. Pp.230. $18.95 pb; $44.95 hb.

Perspectives on British Rural Planning Policy 1994–97. By Andrew Gilg. Ashgate, 1999. Pp.154. £35 hb.

Power to the Parishes. Special issue of Local Governance. Edited by A. Coulson. Institute of Local Government Studies, University of Birmingham, 2000. £10.

The Changing Nature of Local Government in Developing Countries. Edited by Patricia L. McCarney. Centre for Urban and Community Studies, University of Toronto, 1996. Pp.314.

Planning Beyond 2000. Edited by P. Allmendinger and M. Chapman. John Wiley &; Sons, 1999. £22.50 pb.

Regional Policy and Planning in Europe. By P. Balchin, L. Sykora and G. Bull. Routledge, 1999. £15.99 pb.

Urban Policy and Politics in Britain. By Dilys M. Hill. Macmillan, 2000. Pp.254. £.14.99 pb.

Local Statesmen: The Story of Politics in Nottinghamshire County Council. By Peter Housden. The Local Government Centre, University of Warwick and Nottinghamshire County Council, 2000. Pp.219. £9.99 plus £2 postage and packaging.

County Borough Elections in England and Wales 1919–1938: A Comparative Analysis: Volume 1: Barnsley ‐ Bournemouth. By Sam Davies and Bob Morley. Ashgate, 1999. Pp.708. £80.

The British Police. Police Forces and Chief Officers 1829–2000. By Martin Stallion and David S. Wall. Police History Society, 1999. Pp.256. £15 pb.

Policing Provincial England 1829–1856: The Politics of Reform. By David Philips and Robert D. Storch. Leicester University Press, 1999. Pp.342. £55 hb.