Global Governance: Prospects and Problems

The 50th anniversary of the UN in 1995 occasioned a widespread international discussion of 'global governance'. This term is understood to denote not just conventional bodies of international security and economic management but the overlapping and interlocking of institutions found in all issues and regions, and the increasing body of non-state actors, broadly termed 'international civil society'. This article discusses the functions and reform of global governance, and then examines these in the light of five central issues of the 1990s: the role of the great powers, peace-keeping, economic nationalism, a crisis of NGOs, and global values. It argues that advocacy of global governance must be matched by political realism on the one hand, and the recognition of the need for difficult ethical choices on the other.     

One voter, two first-order elections?

Conventional wisdom has it that elections other than national ones are “second-order elections,” driven by political conditions in the “first-order” national arena. It has not yet been shown that a sub- or supra-national election can exhibit qualities similar to those of first-order elections. This paper uses the 2003 Ontario Election Study, from a provincial election in extremely decentralized federation, to demonstrate that a sub-national election can be a first-order election. Aggregate evidence shows voters' interest and turnout is comparable to national elections. Individual-level evidence shows vote choice is determined by arena-specific factors. And dynamic evidence shows that this sub-national campaign had its own homegrown events that influenced voters, just as campaign events influence national elections.     

Public administration theory a futurist vision

As the world becomes increasingly interdependent, Americans interested in public administration will begin to realize that it is a universal phenomenon and field of inquiry that attracts the attention of researchers and teachers in all countries of the world. This will lead them to stop equating American governance with Public Administration. They will come to see that, in a comparative frame of reference, American bureaucracy, its administrative practices and political functions are quite unique. Comparative Public Administration as a special focus of study will disappear because all administrative studies must be comparative, and “American Public Administration” will gain recognition as one of many parochial foci for research as a country-specific emphasis.

Before this shift in perspective can gain widespread acceptance in America, however, the relevant work of non-American scholars will have to become more generally read in America, and the distinctively American conditions that led to the origin of this field and its subsequent dissemination on a global basis must be recognized.

Among the specific points that this paradigmatic shift will highlight are the following: the reasons why bureauphilia and bureauphobia persist in a context marked by pressure to make administrative studies and performance non-political and to divorce “politics” from “public administration;” the vain effort to gain recognition for Public Administration as either a profession or a discipline; the institutional implications of this false dilemma; the effects of focusing on career civil servants while paying scant attention to other bureaucrats, namely military officers, partisan appointees, retainers and consultants; and the causes and consequences of the American bureaucracy's semi-powered status.     

Evaluating the OEO Legal Services Program

During 1970 and 1971, the complex and politically sensitive OEO Legal Services Program received its first independent national evaluation. This paper describes how evaluators dealt with the policy issues arising during the evaluation. Their decisions involved the interaction of three factors: conceptual problems, access to data, and a sense of what would be relevant to public policy. They found only a small area of intersection between a large set of issues important to policy-makers and an equally large, but usually different, set of issues amenable to systematic research.One finding was that the program's use of full-time poverty lawyers is a less expensive way to provide poor clients with legal services than underwriting the fees of private lawyers would be. Another was that the Legal Services attorneys' strong emphasis on law reform apparently adds very little to the cost of providing more routine services.The writer was the government's technical representative on this contract, but the viewpoints expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Office of Economic Opportunity.     

Work ethic of gifted black adolescents

The attitudes and opinions of 15 gifted Black male and 152 Black female adolescents toward their future in the world of work were surveyed. Under headings of self-determination on the job, rewards, and work philosophy, significant differences were found between the sexes. Males demanded more freedom and independence, yet would be more willing to unionize. They also believed men to be the main breadwinners and marriage more important to females. Gifted males wanted to surpass the successes of their parents more than did their gifted female peers. The latter would not put up with poor working conditions as often as would the males. Thus, among gifted Black adolescents the world of work is still the domain of the male.Received his B.S. from Temple University, M.A. from University of Pennsylvania, Ed.D. from George Peabody College for Teachers. Major research interests include interests and attitudes of adolescents regarding the current scene.