APPRAISING PUBLIC VALUE: PAST,PRESENT AND FUTURES

Despite the increasing popularity of the concept of ‘public value’ within both academic and practice settings, there has to date been no formal review of the literature on its provenance, empirical basis, and application. This paper seeks to fill this gap. It provides a critical introduction to public value and its conceptual development before presenting the main elements of the published literature. Following this, a series of key areas of disagreement are discussed and implications for future research and practice put forward. The authors argue that if the espoused aspirations for the public value framework are to be realized, a concerted process of research, debate and application is required. Although some criticisms of public value are argued to be unwarranted, the authors acknowledge ongoing concerns over the apparent silence of public value on questions of power and heterogeneity, and the difficulties in empirically testing the framework's propositions.     

FAMILY,ACQUAINTANCE, AND STRANGER HOMICIDE: ALTERNATIVE PROCEDURES FOR RATE CALCULATIONS*

This paper describes the extent of missing data within the Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR), collected as part of the Uniform Crime Reporting Program of the FBI. The yearly SHR provides coded information on the victim, the offender, and the circumstances of all reported homicides in the United States. Thus, the data allow the computation of specific kinds of homicide rates, such as those involving family members, acquaintances, and strangers. However, missing data within reported events, primarily on offender characteristics and thus the victim/offender relationship, present a serious obstacle to the accurate calculation of such rates. The authors propose computational procedures designed to compensate for missing data and empirically evaluate the impact of these procedures on comparative analyses of homicide rates for cities, metropolitan areas, and states.     

Tools for Anticipating Asylum Denials: An Application to Afghan Refugees in Pakistan, 1997-2001

The growing tendency toward non-compliance with internationalobligations to refugees requires UNHCR to make contingency plansfor asylum denials. Making such plans calls for tools, suchas game theory and confrontation analysis, that link non-compliancein refugee asylum with the configuration of interests for asylumand donor countries in a potential crisis. We illustrate suchtools in a case study of Afghan refugees in Pakistan in 1997–2001,which generated asylum denials by Pakistan ranging from briefborder closings to threats of mass refoulement, linked to thewithholding of assistance by the United States and other donors.We also consider the prospects for using these tools to informcontingency planning for an impending crisis.     

THE DONOUGHMORE REPORT IN RETROSPECT

The Report of the Committee on Ministers' Powers which appeared in 1932, was principally concerned with problems of subordinate legislation and formal administrative adjudication. Against a background of Dicey's views on parliamentary sovereignty and the Rule of Law, the Committee explored a variety of issues and made numerous proposals. In this article an attempt is made to consider why the Committee was appointed and what has happened since 1932. Particular reference is made to the Report of the Committee on Administrative Tribunals and Enquiries which appeared in 1957. The Reports of 1932 and 1957 are important in identifying significant developments in administrative law during this century.