Die Rückkehr des befehlenden Staates? Muster und Ursachen der Veränderung staatlicher Handlungsformen in der deutschen Abfallpolitik

During the last 15 years, a shift in the relationship between state and society has been identified that can be characterized by an overall “retreat of the state”. The increasing use of co-operative policy instruments that do both, supplement and replace traditional authoritative measures, is one of the relevant manifestations of this change. However, most recent developments in German environmental policy in general and product-related waste management policy in particular reveal that this is all but an unambiguous tendency. After years of predominantly co-operative policy-approaches, there seems to be a revival of the authoritative state. The article analyses the patterns of change and presents reasons. In doing so, it challenges the popular functionalist hypothesis assuming that co-operative approaches arise from the functional needs of modern policy problems. Quite the contrary, the article draws on institutional factors — the European law in particular — and on party politics for explaining the identified change.     

Federal Court Responses to State and Local Claims of "Undue Burden" in Complying with The Americans with Disabilities Act

Are federal courts sympathetic to local and state officials'cost concerns, particularly when it comes to meeting the requirementsof the Americans with Disabilities Act? This is the fundamentalquery taken up by this analysis. After examining twenty-eightfederal ADA cases where state and local officials have goneto court claiming that complying with this civil rights measurewould be unduly burdensome, this study comes up with mixed findings.In some cases, the courts have been sensitive to cost concernsbut, in others, they have not. Despite these inconclusive findings,this study does cast some light on what state and local officialsmust do if they expect federal courts to be sensitive to theirconcerns.     

Financial restraint management and budget control in Canadian provincial governments

Abstract: This study compares and contrasts approaches to the management of financial stress and restraint in four Canadian provincial governments in the period from 1983 to 1985. It indicates that a number of different approaches to restraint management are utilized by Canadian provinces to cope with shortfalls in revenue and policy changes that influence resource allocation decision-making. The four provinces reviewed - British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nova Scotia - have managed restraint in different ways, each reflecting the politics and the socio-economic and cultural context within which government resource allocation decisions are made. Profiles of these provinces indicate how these factors have influenced financial stress management and budget control strategy. Provincial experience is compared on the following dimensions: overall restraint management strategy; employment policy; marketing the need for restraint; centralized versus participatory government decision authority and control; the use of evaluation in restraint decision-making; and the influence of ideology in restraint management strategy-setting. Sommaire: Cette étude compare et oppose les méthodes de gestion financière adoptées en période d'austérité budgétaire par quatre gouvernements provinciaux au Canada, de 1983 à 1985. Elle indique que les provinces du Canada suivent diverses orientations en matière de gestion durant une période d'austérité budgétaire pour faire face aux manques de revenus et aux changements de politiques qui influencent les décisions d'allocation des ressources. Les quatre provinces étudiées, c'est-à-dire la Colombie-Britannique, la Saskatchewan, le Manitoba et la Nouvelle-Écosse, ont chacune adopté une orientation différence, reflétant le contexte politique, soeio-économique et culturel particulier dans lequel sont prises les décisions gouvernementales d'allocation des ressources. Les profils de la Colombie-Britannique, du Manitoba, de la Nouvelle-Éeosse et de la Saskatchewan précisent la manière dont ces facteurs ont influé sur la gestion de I'austérité financière et la stratégie de contrôle budgétaire. La comparaison entre les provinces porte sur les aspects suivants: 1) stratégie globale de gestion en période d'austérité, 2) politique d'emploi, 3) sensibilisation du public au besoin d'austérité, 4) autorité et contrôle décisionnels concentrés ou participatoires de la part du gouvernement, 5) rôle de 1'évaluation dans la prise des décisions en période d'austérité, et 6) influence de l'idéologie sur la définition des stratégies de gestion de l'austérite.     

Sexually active but not pregnant: A comparison of teens who risk and teens who plan

Previous studies have compared contraceptive users with nonusers, and pregnant teens with nonpregnant ones. This paper reports the findings of a study of a sample of 119 women aged 21 and under who visited the Young Adult Clinic at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City during 1981. All of these women had been sexually active for a year or longer, but had never been pregnant. The expectation that such a sample would include mainly consistent users of contraception was unwarranted; within this special population were found young women who had never used contraception or who had only been sporadic users, as well as the consistent users. Moreover, there are many more similarities than differences among these groups, and their stated motivations for not becoming pregnant are the same. The consistent contraceptors were more likely to live with their mothers, to have mothers who worked, to indicate that their parents would help them have an abortion, and to indicate they would have an abortion should they become pregnant. The similarities between these young women are very important for programs, which often rely heavily on stated motivation or even on a clinic visit as evidence that a young woman intends to use a birth control method. There is nothing here to support this simple view. Instead the notion is substantiated that many adolescents may lack cognitive consistency on this subject or may lack the future orientation to be effective contraceptive users.