Capacity for public administration: analysis of meaning and measurement

Public administration researchers and practitioners have placed a heavy emphasis on the theme of programme performance. More recently, there has been a growing sentiment in the literature about the integral role of organisational capacity in achieving performance. While this is often expressed in the (re)iteration of a ‘management matters’ mantra, we see some disarray in the broader capacity literature both in definition and application. As scholars call for more integrated models of governance that link, for example, capacity and performance, we see a growing need for an analysis of the concept of capacity. Using bibliometric and content analyses to explore scholarly treatment of capacity constructs, this article assesses whether the perceived disarray is real, and if so what consequences it might have. We do so by reporting on capacity's meaning and measurement through an analysis of four decades of the private, public and nonprofit management literatures. While specific definitions of capacity are, by nature, context dependent, we conclude by distilling a general, conceptual framework of capacity for public management researchers and practitioners. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Distributing social goods between generations

Conclusion The issue of justice in intergenerational exchange has been studied with a focus on what is owed the elderly. Conceptual matters have been emphasized. The analysis has concerned two levels: the macrolevel on which a social contract might be achieved between representatives of generation-based interest groups, and a microlevel on which members of families and family-based networks have to find a proper balance between elder care and their other wants and obligations. The paper was written with the situation in Sweden in mind, but I believe that the analytical arguments have a wider generality.     

The Law and the Desert: Alternative Methods of Delivering Justice

This article considers the way in which the Federal Court of Australia has adapted to the native title jurisdiction. Here we see how common law approaches to law and procedure challenge, and are challenged by, the culture of indigenous peoples and customary law. It conveys the risk of cultural violence in a balancing of legal and cultural norms and shows how access to justice debates reach beyond debates about funding and advice into more fundamental issues about legal process and the nature of substantive law. The Court's approach to facilitating access to justice goes deeper than essential procedural changes. Its approach suggests a cultural change within the Court.     

AGRICULTURAL MARKETING ORDERS AND THE PROCESS AND POLITICS OF SELF-REGULATION

Agricultural marketing orders, put into operation with the initiative and approval of affected producers, are a form of supervised self-regulation. The 47 orders in effect variously authorize quantity controls, quality controls, and market support activities for fruits, vegetables, and specialty crops. Administered by producer committees under the supervision of the Agricultural Marketing Service, for most of their history they produced l i t t l e controversy. In recent years they have been attacked as anticompetitive. The impact of orders on prices, however, seems limited at best. Orderly marketing has largely replaced concern for "parity prices" as the goal of marketing orders.     

THE PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION OF TEXAS: A CASE OF CAPTURE OR RAPTURE?1

Anderson reviews the notion of the “captured” regulatory agency and summarizes four theories for how it occurs. The author then uses the example of the newly formed Texas Public Utility Commission to demonstrate none of the four apply; that the regulators became “enraptured” with the interests of the industry rather than “captured” by them.     

Administrative determinants of inmate violence: A multilevel analysis

This study examined the effect of remunerative and coercive controls on inmate assault, net of traditional controls. The sample included 4,168 male inmates nested within 185 state correctional facilities. The results suggest a complex relationship between remunerative controls and inmate assault. Remunerative controls were not significant predictors of inmate-on-inmate assault; however, prisoners involved in work programs were significantly less likely to assault staff, net of control variables. A significant relationship was not found between coercive control and inmate assault.     

The water‐supply system in the margin of Dasht‐e‐Kawir (central Iran)

The Dasht‐e‐Kawir in central Iran is a catchment, which includes saline, swampy areas and sandy land.

The system of water supply in the margins of the Dasht‐e‐Kawir is limited by the amount of underground water which can be extracted by qanats and wells.

Six kinds of qanats and two kinds of shallow wells have been recognized in the region.

A qanat is usually produced in six stages, of which measurement of the gradient is the most crucial for its successful construction. Thus, the construction of thirty qanats in the margin of Dasht‐e‐Kawir has been studied to determine the logical relationship between (a) the gradient, (b) the depth of main well, (c) the length and (d) the discharge of the qanat.