Cyclical accountability

Public Choice - A new wave of protectionism is threatening the open and cooperative international order. This paper applies evolutionary game theory to analyze the stability of international trade...     

Activists’ Perceptions of their Roles in Civic Organizations: A Case from Poland

This article presents a typology of meanings which Polish activists attribute to their roles in Polish organizations of civil society. The main object of interest is the social identity of activists which emerges through the process of engagement in an organization. After analysing interviews with members of organizations, six ways of playing the role of an activist were distinguished. First of all, it turns out that most activists understand their role as a particular job. However, it is also equated with being an expert. Further meanings emerging from the interviews link such activism with being a representative and having a task to fulfil. Finally, there is also a definition which is shared by those who treat their activism as an inherent part of their lives. It is often connected with perceiving it as a particular kind of sociability. The findings of this study point out the professionalization of civil society organizations.     

Further gender equality – is it good or bad for sexual health?

The question raised in this paper is how gender equality may affect sexual health. We suggest that this is dependent on the extent of gender equality. Our conclusion is a call for knowledge which consider a range of factors in future empirical studies.     

From Research Evidence to “Evidence by Proxy”? Organizational Enactment of Evidence‐Based Health Care in Four High‐Income Countries

Drawing on multiple qualitative case studies of evidence‐based health care conducted in Sweden, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom, the authors systematically explore the composition, circulation, and role of codified knowledge deployed in the organizational enactment of evidence‐based practice. The article describes the “chain of codified knowledge,” which reflects the institutionalization of evidence‐based practice as organizational business as usual, and shows that it is dominated by performance standards, policies and procedures, and locally collected (improvement and audit) data. These interconnected forms of “evidence by proxy,” which are informed by research partly or indirectly, enable simplification, selective reinforcement, and contextualization of scientific knowledge. The analysis reveals the dual effects of this codification dynamic on evidence‐based practice and highlights the influence of macro‐level ideological, historical, and technological factors on the composition and circulation of codified knowledge in the organizational enactment of evidence‐based health care in different countries.     

Rebuilding the White Earth Nation through Constitutional Reform

The process of Native nations’ resurgence, called nation building, is a phenomenon largely neglected by mainstream political science in the United States. Empirical and theoretical gaps exist in the study of Native nations’ political structures. This article’s empirical focus is on the rebuilding process of the White Earth Nation in Northwestern Minnesota. The objective is to investigate the long-term process of White Earth governance (1913 to the present) in order to explain why the White Earth government reform of 2007–2013 failed in the final implementation phase. I analyze hitherto unknown archival materials using a case-specific theoretical framework that employs Indigenous studies approaches, Michel Foucault’s genealogy, and new institutionalism. My findings suggest that the return to the institutional status quo in White Earth governance results from path-dependent dynamics and the Anishinaabe internalization of an outwardly imposed governing structure.     

Estimates and public policy: The politics of numbers

Abstract

Estimates of the number of homeless persons in the United States are frequently said to range from 250,000 to three million. In fact, the latter number is an invalid guesstimate that developed staying power for political reasons. National estimates of homeless persons based on explainable methodologies actually range from 230,000 to 736,000, with the most likely estimates around the half‐million mark. Despite the confrontational politics surrounding the numbers issue in the 1980s, a consensus is developing in the 1990s among private groups, including some major advocacy organizations, and all levels of government regarding policy direction in assistance programs for the homeless. There is widespread recognition that the goal should be to end homelessness, not simply to provide emergency assistance. Permanent housing solutions for special populations are needed in the context of renewed efforts to combat poverty.

In the public debate about the policy implications of divergent national estimates of the numbers of homeless persons, a common assumption is that the estimates vary widely and inexplicably—anywhere from a few hundred thousand to three million or more. Those who do try to explain the odd discrepancy between the extremes seem to assume that any count is politically motivated. They say that it depends on how one defines homelessness and who is counting. In other words, the implication is that numbers derive from policy and politics, rather than the other way around.

Given such perceptions, it is not surprising that some who have neither the time nor, perhaps, the resources to judge the accuracy of estimates begin to feel that the truth must be somewhere in between, as if a mathematical average were equivalent to a political compromise. Others will believe the message if they like the messenger. In a recent book on homelessness, for example, the author confesses that he trusts estimates “made by people who live where ‘the rubber meets the road’… rather more than the bright theorists tucked away in ivory towers.”¹ Although many statistics are politically controversial, it is probably safe to say that the debate on homelessness during the past decade represents the apogee of political numerology. It is worth reviewing just how this came to pass.