Technological change among peasants in Central Argentina

Drawing on a case-study from Central Argentina, this article suggests that researchers can be too cautious about introducing technologies of which farmers have no previous experience. In particular, it challenges the notion that the only technology appropriate to peasant conditions is that which is rooted in traditional ideas and culture. Under certain circumstances, externally supplied technologies may also be appropriate. Rather than focusing solely on the technology, it is necessary to look at the socio-economic and historical context in which the technology will be used.     

Changing policy views at the local level: The effect of age, generations and policy-periods in five European countries

Abstract.  This article addresses the question of how far turnover among those who make policy is relevant for understanding changing policy views. Does age or generation determine changing attitudes about policy making, or does the period in which new policy makers get dominant positions determine changes in attitudes? The research is based on a survey conducted in 1989, and repeated in 1996 and 2000, among local politicians and senior administrators in Sweden, the Netherlands, Russia, Lithuania and Belarus. The conclusion is that period-effects account for a large portion of attitude change among local policy makers. This can be explained by their perceptions of the urgency of policy problems with which their municipalities are confronted.     

Robert Blake and the Barbary Company 1636--1641

This interesting contribution to European and African historyis made by a member of the Historical Section of the MoroccanArchives, and is extracted by permission from the review Hespéris.The translation is by Mary Hicks.     

WHAT’S VALUED MOST? SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE ORGANIZATIONAL VALUES OF THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR

In recent administrative and organizational literature much attention has been paid to values that guide organizational and managerial behaviour in the public and private domain. Comparative empirical research efforts, however, are sparse. This article reports the results of a comparative empirical survey of 382 managers from a variety of public and private sector organizations in The Netherlands. Contrary to much recent literature that presupposes the intermixing or convergence of value systems guiding governance in different kinds of organizations, the results of this study show two distinct and relatively classical value systems for government and business as well as a ‘common core’ of important organizational qualities. These are accountability, expertise, reliability, efficiency and effectiveness, all of which are considered crucial in both public and private sector organizations. Additional analysis shows that value preferences are primarily attached to sector rather than to age, gender, working experience, or previous employment in the other sector.     

IMPLEMENTING PERFORMANCE-BASED MANAGEMENT IN THE TRADITIONAL BUREAUCRACY OF PORTUGAL

The influence of the New Public Management (NPM) movement in Portuguese administrative reform has been one of the country's noticeable trends in recent decades ( Araújo 2001, 2002a ; Rocha 2001 ). Many governments have aimed to introduce a new managerial rationality in public services. The literature about administrative reform shows that institutional bureaucracies resist change, particularly when it challenges prevailing practices and procedures ( Bjur and Caiden 1978 ; Olsen 1991 ). Thus, the influence of NPM in administrative reform has found different expressions and, in several countries, the introduction of NPM ideas is a limited and superficial phenomenon ( Pollitt 2000 ). This paper contributes to these debates. It examines the influence of New Public Management ideas in Portuguese administrative reform and discusses improvements in the way public services are implementing change using new managerial tools in Portugal: the Activity Plan (AP) and the Activity Report (AR). The data collected from official reports and a questionnaire show that the juridical-administrative model persists and transforms both Activity Plan and Activity Report into little more than a formality, another routine to be followed.     

CHILD-CENTERED, VERTICALLY STRUCTURED, AND INTERDISCIPLINARY

This paper will describe the genesis and philosophy of the Center for Children's Policy. Practice and Research at the University of Pennsylvania (CCPPR), a joint project of the Schools of Law, Medicine and Social Work. The mission of CCPPR was to mobilize the resources of all disciplines engaged in childhood issues across the campus to seek innovative solutions for the crises facing America's children. CCPPR seeks to combine clinical practice, research, and policy in a vertical structure that would maintain linkages at all stages of scholarship, practice, and reform. Five essential structural factors were that the project must be: (a) vertically integrated; (b) interdisciplinary; (c) team-based; (d) child-centered and (e) developmentally informed. This paper can serve as a template for developing similar centers or projects, and will describe our methods, the projects we have undertaken, as well as the pitfalls and challenges of this highly demanding integrative approach.     

China＇s Top Coaches and Their Nicknames

MARKSMAN Xu Haifeng became China＇s first ever Olympic gold medalist in Los Angeles in 1984, and over the years, China has won 112 additional gold medals at the summer Games. Ever since Liu Changchun became the first Chinese athlete to participate in the Games, also in Los Angeles, in 1932, China＇s Olympic sportsmen have been national heroes,