Negotiation,politics, and management

Book reviews in this article:
Samuel B. Bacharach and Edward J. Lawler , Power and Politics in Organizations: The Social Psychology of Conflict, Coalitions, and Bargaining .
Max H. Bazerman and Roy J. Lewicki , eds., Negotiating in Organizations .
Jeffrey Pfeffer , Power in Organizations .     

Nonprofit and for-profit medical care: shifting roles and implications for health policy

The contemporary expansion of investor-owned health care facilities has stimulated much controversy but little response from policymakers. We believe this results from the apparently ambiguous relationship between ownership and socially valued outcomes. In our assessment, this ambiguity occurs largely because the effects of ownership are mediated in complex ways by characteristics of the services being delivered and the training of health care providers. Reviewing both the history and current performance of nonprofit and for-profit health care facilities, we identify some of the more important of these mediating factors. Taking these into account, there is a consistent influence of ownership on the delivery of health services. On the basis of this analysis, we discuss appropriate policy responses to the future growth of investor-owned health care organizations.     

Police demilitarisation: cops,soldiers and democracy

Arthur Costa is a PhD candidate at the University of Brasilia, Brazil. His forthcoming book is entitled Transição e Tutela: Militares e Políticos na Nova República. Mateus Medeiros was Co-ordinator of the Office for Human Rights of the City of Belo Horizonte and a lecturer in legal philosophy at the Federal University of Ouro Preto, Brazil. He is now a legislative analyst at the Human Rights Commission, Brazilian Chamber of Deputies.¹     

NATURAL HAZARD LOSSES IN THE UNITED STATES: A PUBLIC PROBLEM

Using arisk analysis and evaluation approach, the authors estimate losses from nine major natural hazards in the United States. The data show that these probable losses exceed those of many other national social problems, including fire and crime. The article also examines geographic and social distributions of estimated losses. States in the upper quartile of hazard exposure are likely to account for 50 percent of the increase in dollar losses over the next 30 years. Consistent with prior research, the most dependent segments of the population (poor, elderly, non-white) will proportionately suffer the most. While policy options pose inherently difficult choices, many promising avenues have yet to be fully explored.