LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AS IMPLEMENTORS OF PUBLIC POLICY

This study expands the growing literature in comparative public policy that examines welfare services. By now, it is accepted that a combination of economic, social, and political factors are influential in the delivery of these services by the 60 states. This paper finds that similar factors are also operating at the county level in New York state. Most notably, political factors affect the distribution of welfare benefits–despite federal and state mandates that require distribution to be based solely on need. This raises a number of issues. concerning the nature of political influence and the autonomy of local bureaucracies, which require further exploration.     

Population frequency distribution of HumF13A01, HumFXIIIB, and HumLIPOL loci in the Basque Country (Northern Spain)

A population study of unrelated individuals from the Basque Country (Northern Spain) was carried out using the GenePrint STR System. The PCR products were separated on denaturing polyacrylamide gels and visualized by silver staining. Three tetrameric loci were evaluated: HumF13A01, HumFXIIIB, and HumLIPOL. All loci fit Hardy-Weinberg expectations, and independence of alleles was found between these STR loci. A comparison with other population groups indicated allele frequencies are well conserved in Caucasians, but differ from other racial groups. The calculated parameters a priori probability of exclusion (Pex) and "power of discrimination" (PD) show how informative these loci are for the determination of identity and relatedness of individuals.     

Reviews

Ideology and Development in Africa by Crawford Young Yale University Press, New Haven (Connecticut), 1982. xviii plus 376 pp. including tables, notes and index. R62,57. R23,35 paperback.

Essays on the Political Economy of Rural Africa by Robert H. Bates Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1983. xiii plus 184 pp. including tables, notes and index. R40,95.

Political Development Theory: The Contemporary Debate by Richard A. Higgott Croom Helm, London, 1983. xvi plus 124 pp. including index. £6,95 paperback.

Decolonization: The Administration and Future of the Colonies, 1919–1960 by Rudolf von Albertini Holmes and Meier, Inc., New York, 1982 (reprint), xxx plus 680 pp. including notes, bibliography and index. $ 37,50. $19,50 paperback.

Foreign Policy‐Making in Developing States: A Comparative Approach edited by Christopher Clapham Saxon House, Westmead, 1977. x plus 184 pp. including tables, maps, bibliography and index. R45,8o.

The Politics of Basic Needs: Urban Aspects of Assaulting Poverty in Africa by Richard Sandbrook Heinemann, London, 1982. vi plus 250 pp. including tables, notes and index. £5,95 paperback.

Redistribution of Population in Africa edited by John I. Clarke and Leszek A. Kosiński Heinemann, London, 1982. xii plus 212 pp. including tables, figures, maps, index of names and subject index. £7,50 paperback.

Oral Historiography by David Henige Longman, London, 1982. x plus 150 pp. including notes, bibliography and index. £3,95 paperback.

Nigeria von der völkerrechtlichen Unabhangigkeit zur zweiten Republik: Analyse und Dokumentation by Joseph Lütke Entrup Verlag Hans Richarz, Sankt Augustin, 1981. 243 pp. including appendices and bibliography. DM29,80.

Oral Poetry and Somali Nationalism: The Case of Sayyid Mahammad ‘Abdille Hasan by Said S. Samatar Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1982. xii plus 232 pp. including illustrations, figures, tables, notes, bibliography and index. R52,50.

Tom Mboya: The Man Kenya Wanted to Forget by David Goldsworthy Heinemann, London, 1982. xii plus 308 pp. including appendix and index. R30,80.

Development Policies and Approaches in Southern Africa edited by D. A. Kotzé Academica, Pretoria, 1983, 147 pp. including bibliography and index. R16,50.

Das südliche Afrika — I: Republik Südafrika‐Swasiland‐Lesotho by Ernst Klimm, Karl‐Günther Schneider and Bernd Wiese Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt, 1980. 307 pp. including maps, tables, graphs and index. Also annexure of photographs. DM84,00.

Die Städte des südlichen Afrika by Karl‐Gunther Schneider and Bernd Wiese, Bornträger, Berlin and Stuttgart, 1983. 175 pp. including maps, tables, figures, graphs, photographs and index. DM98,00.

Südafrika: Fakten und Probleme by Karl‐Gunther Schneider and Bernd Wiese Seewald, Stuttgart, 1983. 187 pp. including maps, tables, figures, graphs, photographs and index. DM24,00.

Verkehrsgeographische Strukturwandlungen im südlichen Afrika, 1975–1980 by Joachim Jeske Institut für Afrika‐Kunde, Hamburg, 1981. 256 pp. including maps, tables and figures. DM22,00.

Malawi: Geographie eines unterentwickelten Landes by Cay Lienau Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt, 1981. 243 pp. including maps, tables, graphs and index. Also annexure of photographs. DM89,00.

Kaunda on Violence by Kenneth D. Kaunda and edited by Colin M. Morris Willia m Collins, London, 1980. 184 pp. R6,95 paperback.

Under the Skin: The Death of White Rhodesia by David Caute Allen Lane, London, 1983. 447 pp. including maps and chronology. £14,95.

Race and Ethnicity: South African and International Perspectives edited by Hendrik W. van der Merwe and Robert A. Schrire, David Philip, Cape Town, 1980. 237 pp. including notes and index. R9,00 paperback.

South Africa in the World Economy edited by Jacqueline Matthews McGraw‐Hill, Johannesburg, 1983. xi plus 271pp. including index. R23,50.

Black Politics in South Africa since 1945 by Tom Lodge Ravan Press, Johannesburg, 1983. x plus 389 pp. including figures, notes, sources and index. R 14,95 paperback.

Which Way is South Africa Going? by Gwendolen M. Carter Indiana University Press, Bloomington (Indiana), and London, 1980. xii plus 162 pp. including maps, bibliographical notes and index. $12,95.

The God of the Xhosa: A Study of the Origins and Development of the Traditional Concepts of the Supreme Being by Janet Hodgson Oxford University Press, Cape Town, 1982. xiv plus 131 pp. including appendices, bibliography and index. R9,75 paperback.

Black People and the South African War, 1899–1902 by Peter Warwick Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1983. xiv plus 226 pp. including maps, tables, notes, select bibliography and index. R52,25.

Afrikaner Political Thought: Analysis and Documents — Volume I: 1780–1850 by André du Ton and Hermann Giliomee David Philip, Cape Town and Johannesburg, 1983. xxx plus 309 pp. including notes and index. R36,oo. R 18,00 paperback.     

Myths and the definition of policy problems

In this paper we argue that behind widely accepted problem definitions are myths, stories which draw on tradition and taken for granted knowledge. These myths, which may or may not be true in a factual sense, are important to the definition of problems because they link public issues to widely accepted ways of understanding the world and to shared moral evaluations of conditions, events, and possible solutions to problems. Such myths perform a double-edged function in a policy or planning process. On the one hand, they can provide creative inspiration for policies, a way of translating community values into action proposals, and a powerful means to communicate to a broad public and rally support. They can mediate social and economic change by allowing new policies to carry familiar meaning. On the other hand, a myth can conceal crucial contradictions and realities, legitimize policies that benefit the powerful, and support anachronistic perceptions of policy problems. These ideas are explored in case histories of two areas of urban policy. In one we trace the support for home ownership to a transformation of the Jeffersonian myth of the independent yeoman farmer as the ideal citizen. This use of myth made home ownership the cornerstone of US housing policies and helped suppress alternatives. Though debate over home ownership occurs in the context of housing policy, the tacit purpose is to maintain a myth which is central to our identity as a nation. In the second example, public officials and analysts engaged in an explicit myth-making process to garner support for public-private partnerships as a central tool in urban redevelopment. The myths, which drew on familiar themes, made socially beneficial cooperation seem easy to achieve and legitimized new political and institutional arrangements though it also concealed implementation difficulties. Though myths complicate the effort to use rational, systematic analysis, they are an inevitable part of policy making and planning processes. Planning professionals must openly confront myths and make creative, responsible, use of them rather than allow policies and plans to be subject to their unexamined influence.     

The emergence and future of PPOs

A new development in the restructuring of American health care is the dramatic growth of preferred provider organizations (PPOs). Based on a national telephone survey, this paper assesses the future direction of PPOs by examining segments of the market that are believed to be lead indicators of future activity. It includes analyses of "new" versus "old" PPOs, the ten largest PPOs, and the entrance of hospital chains into the insurance market. We conclude that the dramatic growth of PPO enrollment in 1985 is likely to continue in the future, but with increased movement toward vertical integration and joint ventures among providers and insurers.     

Citizens' Blame of Politicians for Public Service Failure: Experimental Evidence about Blame Reduction through Delegation and Contracting

Theories of blame suggest that contracting out public service delivery reduces citizens’ blame of politicians for service failure. The authors use an online experiment with 1,000 citizen participants to estimate the effects of information cues summarizing service delivery arrangements on citizens’ blame of English local government politicians for poor street maintenance. Participants were randomized to one of four cues: no information about service delivery arrangements, politicians’ involvement in managing delivery, delegation to a unit inside government managing delivery, and delegation through a contract with a private firm managing delivery. The politicians managing delivery cue raises blame compared to citizens having no information. However, the contract with a private firm cue does not reduce blame compared to either no information or the politicians managing delivery cue. Instead, the delegation to a unit inside government cue reduces blame compared to politicians managing delivery, suggesting that delegation to public managers, not contracting, reduces blame in this context.     

Populism and the politics of the extraordinary in Latin America

Building on past and current experiences of populism in Latin America, this article makes four arguments. First, whereas populist movements seeking power promise to democratize society by challenging the legitimacy of exclusionary institutions, populist governments often include the excluded at the cost of disfiguring democracy. Second, during populist events the meanings of the ambiguous term ‘the people’ are disputed. When social movements are weak, and when the institutions of liberal democracy are discredited, a populist leader could attempt to become the embodiment of the will of the people. Third, even though the concept of the people is central to populism, it could be constructed differently. It could be imagined as heterogeneous and plural, or as the people-as-one, as an entity that shares one identity and interest that could be embodied in a leader. Fourth, populism shares with fascism an imaginary construction of the people-as-one. Yet differently from fascism, which staged extraordinary politics as war against internal and external enemies, populists staged their extraordinariness as winning popular elections and did not establish dictatorships.     

The evolution of Japan's role in ‘Lusophone’ Africa: From inertia to action

This article explores Japan's relations with Lusophone Africa over the past 60 years. It asks what factors have propelled Japan's shift from a foreign policy based on inertia to a more proactive one. Arguably, colonialism and postcolonialism linked to the Cold War politics had a negative impact on Japan's relations with the Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP) and Africa as a whole; this contrasts with Japan's process of ‘Africanisation’ after 1990, reflective of changing external and internal circumstances. The question arises as to whether Japan's relations with the specific PALOP states, and with the group as a whole, have been influenced by, or have had influence over, Japan's long-term approach to other African states. Lastly, what characterises Japan's approach to the PALOP? Findings show mutual gains beyond the simple exploitation of natural resources towards broad-based sustainable growth. Still, from the perspective of the poorest PALOP, development cooperation and trade benefits are unbalanced and insufficient.