Will science and technology undermine the international political system?

The framework, actors and issues of international politics havechanged as a result of the massive effects of advances in scienceand technology, but the fundamental principles and organizationof the international system have not been substantially altered.Science and technology are no more or less subversive of theinternational political system than are other pressures forchange. Rather, the nation-state structure, with all its problems,will be essential to manage this increasingly complex and interdependentworld. The policy processes within nations, in fact, rarelyallow scientific and technological factors to dominate policy,even in international issues in which those aspects are clearlycentral, might be thought to be the overwhelming considerations,and might have been expected to overturn traditional patternsin the international system. With climate change as the primaryexample, it is seen how and why economic, political and socialconsiderations dominate, not the scientific and technological.     

Community violence in context: risk and resilience in children and families

Although some community violence research has examined the context of community violence, including the social, economic, and structural organization of neighborhoods, more needs to be learned about family, school, and community-level factors that may promote and lessen the incidence and prevalence of community violence. In addition, further research is needed on various social, environmental, and contextual factors hypothesized to protect youth from exposure. This article (a) reviews and examines the relation between neighborhood context and risk of violence exposure, (b) reviews current literature on predictors of community violence and mental health and behavioral consequences for children and families adversely affected by community violence, (c) examines sources of resilience and community strengths that extend beyond the individual, (d) discusses the contributions and limitations of current conceptualizations of risk and resilience, and (e) highlights directions for future research. Information from this review can inform community and government efforts to lessen community violence through prevention and treatment.     

Networks,Hierarchies, and Hybrids

Clusters of organizations making at least modest efforts to collaborate on implementing joint solutions to public sector problems are often called “networks.” By directing attention away from the hierarchical aspects of these clusters, and towards the voluntaristic and egalitarian aspects, this nomenclature can undermine and distort our understanding of the phenomenon. Such organizational clusters can be more fruitfully thought of as “implementation hybrids,” a type of collective production arrangement that has its own distinctive strengths and weaknesses, which this article delineates.     

The policy process in Washington: a conceptual template for public affairs programming

Professional and scholarly literatures are rich at individual steps within Washington policy formulation. But a single, guiding template for the entire process—from start to finish—is absent. This creates two difficulties: practitioners toil additionally to explain process intricacies to senior business managers, and educators labor to teach students the public affairs process. This article fills the void. As the policy process unfolds, options to mold policy outcomes in Washington change and increase substantially over time. Knowing what stage one faces within the policy process prescribes communication strategy and tactics. What begins narrowly ends broadly with a virtually universal right to make the government listen and respond. The United States virtually stands alone among democracies globally in the organization of its policy process. This study offers a single, holistic approach to the US public policy process and ways to influence it. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.