Policy‐making and administrative discretion: The case of immigration in Canada

Abstract: Decisions in complex and controversial policy areas are often left to civil servants. As a result, civil servants use their discretionary power to make decisions that will likely have important consequences for society. This is the case with immigration. Partially based on interviews conducted with Canadian and Quebecois immigration agents, the authors note that the use of the judgement of civil servants is an important factor in the selection process of newcomers. The authors recognize also that discretion can take different forms: procedural discretion, selection grid discretion, and final decision discretion. This case study enables a better understanding of both the use of judgement in the decision‐making process and the role of street‐level civil servants in the policy implementation process. Sommaire: Les décisions se rapportant à des domaines de politiques complexes et prêtant à controverse sont souvent laissées aux mains des fondionnaires. Ainsi, les fonctionnaires usent de leur pouvoir discrétiormaire pour prendre des décisions qui auront vraisemblablement des conséquences importantes pour la sociéte. C'est précisément le cas de l'immigration. Se fondant partiellement sur des entrevues effectuées par des agents d'immigration canadiens et québécois, les auteurs remarquent que dans le processus de sélection des nouveaux arrivants, le jugement de ces agents est un facteur important. Les auteurs reconnaissent également que la discrétion peut prendre différentes formes: la discrétion procédurale, la discrétion relative à la grille de sélection et la discrétion en matière de décision définitive. La présente étude de cas permet de mieux comprendre à la fois le recours au jugement dans le processus décisionnel et le rôle des fonctionnaires de la base dans le processus de mise en æeuvre des politiques.     

Is there empirical evidence of a David E. carkut trend towards “managerialism”? A longitudinal study of six countries

Abstract: In the past decade, there has been a considerable amount written about the development of “managerialism” and the “new public management” (NPM) in the Western, primarily Westminster-type, democracies. There has even been some concern expressed that the trend towards managerialism, with its lack of emphasis on the acquisition of technical competence, may be undermining policy capacity and the career public service itself. This paper addresses the question of whether there has been a trend towards managerialism over time. Specifically, this paper looks at whether changes in three objective measures of “managerialism” - mobility, education, and management type - indicate a shift towards managerialism in the senior levels of selected departments in Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, the United States and Mauritius, during the period between 1971 and 1991. There is little evidence of such a trend. There has been, however, a slight shift in the “management type” of senior bureaucrats towards administrative rather than towards technical expertise and an increase in the number of administratively managed departments. If there is a large scale shift towards managerialism, it must be manifested in improved management skills on the part of technical managers or in improved technical knowledge and skills on the part of administrative managers. Sommaire: Au cours de la dernière décennie, de nombreux auteurs ont examiné la montée du nouveau management public et des préoccupations de gestion dans les démocracies occidentales, surtout celles du type Westminster. Certains se sont dit inquiétés par la possibilité que cette tendance, qui met moins l'accent sur l'acquisition de compétences techniques, risque de miner la capacité de formuler des politiques et la Fonction publique de carrière. Dans cet article, on se demande si effectivement cette tendance s'est matérialisée au fil des années. Plus précisément, on y examine si l'évolution des trois mesures objectives du nouveau management public que sont la mobilité, la formation et le type de gestion, indique un changementaux niveaux supérieurs de certains ministères choisis, de 1971 à 1991, dans les pays suivants: Australie, Grande-Bretagne, Canada, Nouvelle-Zélande, États-Unis et l'lle Maurice. Selon l'auteur, une telle tendance ne semble pas avoir eu lieu. Cependant, il y a eu un léger glissement du «type de gestionnaire» supérieur vers la compétence administrative plutôt que technique, ainsi qu'une augmentation du nombre de ministères gérés suivant les principes du nouveau management public. Un déplacement massif vers ce dernier doit se manifester soit par de meilleures capacités de management chez les gestionnaires techniques, soit par de meilleures connaissances et aptitudes techniques chez les gestionnaires administratifs.     

Commercial contracts and human connectedness

She is author of The Madam as Entrepreneurand has published articles in the fields of the sociology of deviance and the sociology of law. Her recent research and publications have been on the legal impact of federal legislation in the education of handicapped children.     

Foster Parent Strategies to Support the Functional Adaptation of Foster Youth

Individual interviews and focus groups with 35 experienced foster parents explored strategies that facilitate the functional adaptation of children transitioning into their care. Findings from this qualitative study suggest functional adaptation is enhanced by unconditional commitment by foster parents, “claiming” behaviors of foster children and parents, establishment of routines, support of birth family relationships, and advocacy for the youth across systems. Implications of this study support the vital role that foster parents have in helping children adapt to placement, and indicate that agencies can provide increased support for foster parents to better meet the needs of foster youth.     

Measurement of Uncertainty for Aqueous Ethanol Wet‐Bath Simulator Solutions Used with Evidential Breath Testing Instruments

Aqueous ethanol wet‐bath simulator solutions are used to perform calibration adjustments, calibration checks, proficiency testing, and inspection of breath alcohol instruments. The Toxicology Bureau of the New Mexico Department of Health has conducted a study to estimate a measurement of uncertainty for the preparation and testing of these wet‐bath simulator solutions. The measurand is identified as the mass concentration of ethanol (g/100 mL) determined through dual capillary column headspace gas chromatography with flame ionization detector analysis. Three groups were used in the estimation of the aqueous ethanol wet‐bath simulator solutions uncertainty: GC calibration adjustment, GC analytical, and certified reference material. The standard uncertainties for these uncertainty sources were combined using the method of root‐sum‐squares to give u_c = 0.8598%. The combined standard uncertainty was expanded to U = 1.7% to reflect a confidence level of 95% using a coverage factor of 2. This estimation applies to all aqueous ethanol wet‐bath simulator solution concentrations produced by this laboratory.     

The Structure of Political Competition: Dimensions of Candidate and Group Evaluation Revisited

In this paper, we take a fresh look at the structure of sociopolitical conflict through confirmatory factor analyses of survey data gathered in Florida during the presidential campaign of 1996. Our analysis shows both stability and change in the electorate. In line with prior research, a single bipolar partisan dimension underlies the mass public's evaluations of political leaders, though national figures fit more comfortably on this continuum than do those at the state level. Citizens' evaluations of key sociopolitical groups reflect orthogonal cultural disputes, class divisions, and conflicts relating to issues of social control. While all three of these dimensions impinge to some degree on voters' conceptions of party and ideology, our findings point to the leading role that cultural issues now play in shaping ideological images and identities.     

When registration barriers fall,who votes?: An empirical test of a rational choice model

It is well known that those with higher SES characteristics tend to vote at higher rates in U.S. elections. Over the past several decades many proponents of eased voter registration requirements have predicted that liberalizing voter registration laws will significantly improve turnout, especially among the least well- educated and the poor. In this article we offer a rational choice model of turnout that leads us to expect the greatest turnout gains from virtually eliminating voter registration costs will instead accrue to those with medium income and education. We test this prediction longitudinally over the period 1972–1992 using a vast survey and a natural experiment comparing voters in states that adopted election day registration (EDR) with those residing in states maintaining more traditional closing dates. Contrary to much of the literature, citizens with medium education and medium income voted more under EDR, as the model predicts. We conclude that the methods used here better capture and empirically identify the curvilinear relationship between voter registration laws and the turnout probabilities at various SES levels.