Basic Directions of Perestroyka

Three basic directions of the economy's perestroyka (social orientation, uskoreniye of technological readjustment, and restructuring of management in enterprises) are outlined by its leading architect and advisor to General Secretary Gorbachev. The presentation, commencing the first joint Soviet Economy round-table, is followed by questions and comments by American participants relating to sequence, momentum, transition, anticipated consequences and contradictions in the reform. A rejoinder covering such issues as priorities, price formation, adaptation to change, allocation of resources and comparison with the Hungarian and other models, is followed by a concluding exchange of views on competition. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 027, 052, 124.     

Panel on Growth and Technology in Perestroyka

A part of the proceedings of the first joint Soviet Economy roundtable, focused on the pivotal role of modern technology in perestroyka, is presented in the form of questions and answers reflecting a lively debate between distinguished Soviet and American economists. Adaptation to new technologies is analyzed in light of uskoreniye, plan priorities, and a variety of factors influencing economic growth. Also debated are issues relating to enterprises and industries, particularly within the context of contrasts between the civilian and military economies. Specific issues such as the tradeoffs between centralization and autonomy are discussed in some detail. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 052, 124, 621.     

Gorbachev's Economic Strategy: A Preliminary Assessment

Gorbachev's economic strategy for the remainder of this decade is analyzed using the information contained in the Twelfth Five-Year Plan covering the years 1986-1990. The plan calls for an acceleration in the rate of economic growth achieved through a modernization of industry, a restructuring of investment, and increased labor effort on the part of the entire labor force. The economic reforms which accompany the plan are fairly modest. Analysis of the plan shows that it is very ambitious, and probably unachievable, although some improvement in economic performance is not excluded. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 052, 113, 124.     

Do impersonal mobilisation methods work? Evidence from a nationwide Get-Out-the-Vote experiment in England

While face-to-face mobilisation has a demonstrable effect on voter turnout, a series of field experiments show that impersonal methods, such as telephoning and direct mail, are less effective. This paper provides a new test of the effectiveness of telephone and direct mail on voter turnout, which uses a large nationally representative Get-Out-the-Vote two-wave field experiment. We find that impersonal methods are more effective, though the magnitude depends on electoral context. Moreover, these effects accumulate both within and across elections as voters are exposed to multiple contacts. However this is an incremental and cumulative process, not the product of synergy.     

E‐campaigning: what it is and how to do it

Building community support for a candidate or a cause has traditionally been the essence of grass roots advocacy within the issues management process. And while political decisions in democracies are still made by the establishment, increasingly voters are expressing their views between elections on how an issue should be settled—and those who seek to retain political power are listening and responding. Corporations now need to adopt these tactics to show community support and to gain a legitimate seat at the table when decisions are made. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications     

Being a voter: developing a survey instrument for expressive voting

It has been argued that expressive motivations are a crucial element in persuading people to vote, overcoming the “paradox of voting” and it has been demonstrated that in experimental situations, subjects behave in a manner consistent with expressive voting. However, there have been limited attempts at operationalizing expressive voting in a survey context and these have been unable to successfully separate the influence of outcome related benefits (instrumental pay-offs) from expressive pay-offs. In this paper, we use a web survey experiment to first identify citizens with a propensity to behave expressively and then assess the validity of the instrument.     

The electoral effectiveness of constituency campaigning in the 2010 British general election: The ‘triumph’ of Labour?

This article establishes a model of likely campaign effectiveness, before examining the intensity of constituency campaigning at the 2010 general election in Britain and its subsequent impact on electoral outcomes, using both aggregate and individual level data. It shows that constituency campaigning yielded benefits in varying degrees for all three main parties and that Labour’s constituency campaign efforts were effective despite the electoral context, and ultimately affected the overall outcome of the election. These findings have significant implications for our understanding of the circumstances under which campaigns are likely to be more or less effective, and provide further evidence that a carefully managed campaign stands the most chance of delivering tangible electoral payoffs.     

Policy Transfer among Local Governments: An Information–Theory Approach

We argue that the burgeoning literature on policy transfer suffers from the lack of an analytical framework that would facilitate understanding and, thus, theory–building. We suggest that policy transfer be conceptualized as occurring through a communications and information framework and that it focus on information networks that include producers, senders, and facilitators of information, as well as recipients. We apply this framework to an illustrative study of how British local–authority officials involved in the area of urban regeneration policy learn from each other's experience.
Utilizing this approach, the results of our case study yield several testable hypotheses for future study. In particular, they direct us towards the importance of informal networks in the policy–transfer process, towards an examination of the motivations of producers, senders, and disseminators of information, and towards the difficulty all participants in the network have in assessing the quality and validity of the information they receive.