An Application of the Theory of Communicative Competence in the Analysis of Juror's Decision-Making Structure

This study applied the theory of communicative competence in analyzing the juror's decision-making structure. The primary thrusts of this study were 1) to ascertain whether or not presuppositions or value laden data affect a juror's decision-making process and 2) to uncover common sense ground during a court trial.

Findings indicated that an imbalance existed between interpretations of both hard and soft data. This study questions the distorted system of communication and suggests methods of improving quality through reaching mutual consensus. The theory applied in this study was grounded in a culture of rational discourse. Finally, it was found that the manner in which the prosecution and defense construct their lines of questioning influences the juror's decision-making process.     

STRUCTURAL CHANGE AND PUBLIC SERVICE PERFORMANCE: THE IMPACT OF THE REORGANIZATION PROCESS IN ENGLISH LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Organization theory suggests that structural change has disruptive effects on managerial behaviour and organizational outcomes, and that these effects are likely to emerge in the period between the announcement and the commencement of the new structure. We evaluate the validity of this argument by analysing the performance of English county councils in the transition period before the voluntary restructuring of a sub‐set of these organizations. Disruptive effects are tested while controlling for a range of other variables, including the relative prosperity of the local population and the diversity of their service needs. The empirical results indicate that the performance of local authorities facing reorganization deteriorated prior to the onset of the new structures, and support the view that structural change has disruptive effects on organizational outcomes.     

Yin and Yang: Sina Weibo and the Chinese State

The new element in governance is social media. Inexorably, its fertile networks of shared information shift power from authorities to citizens and amateurs, including to the “unknown” experts in the “dorm rooms and edges of society” who drive innovation. Tweets may bust trust and undermine authority, but can social media also be a tool for building consensus through deliberation and negotiation among interests? When it comes to governance, is crowd‐sourcing any better than populism at generating collective intelligence instead of disruptive “dumb mobs?” Can networks aid the self‐administration of society, or does that take institutions with governing authority? In this section, leading Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, technologists and network theorists from Google, Microsoft and the MIT Media Lab join with political scientist Francis Fukuyama and top thinkers from Asia to address these issues.     

The Rise of the Parliamentary Counsel

SUMMARY

In this article Sir George Engle has traced the early development of the use of official Parliamentary Counsel for the drafting of government legislation. The origins are traced to a series of individual legal experts employed informally by government in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries until the formal appointment of a Parliamentary Counsel to the Treasury in 1769. Following that, other major departments engaged their own Counsel until Peel decided to rationalize the system in 1841 and J.E.D. Bethune was appointed Counsel for fourteen government departments. The work of Henry Thring in developing the principles of parliamentary drafting is discussed and then the appointment of Thring to the ‘Office of Parliamentary Counsel’ in 1869, with one assistant. The institution was made permanent in 1871. The work of Thring's two successors, Henry Jenkyns and Courtnay libert and the working practices they developed arc analysed. Finally the artide summarizes the principle achievements of the Parliamentary Counsel Office over its 126 years of activity.     

CORPORATE CAPACITY AND PUBLIC SERVICE PERFORMANCE

Corporate capacity is arguably a key determinant of the success or failure of public sector organizations. However, while there is growing evidence on the extent of corporate capacity, few researchers have systematically examined whether it is linked to public service performance. Does a larger corporate centre lead to better or worse performance for the organization as a whole? To answer this question we apply seemingly unrelated regression to measures of effectiveness, cost‐effectiveness and equity in English local government. We find that the effect of corporate capacity on performance is nonlinear, following an inverted u‐shaped pattern, and that its positive effect turns negative around the mean for effectiveness and cost‐effectiveness, and above the mean for equity. The study therefore suggests that senior managers face important trade‐offs between organizational goals when deciding on the appropriate level of corporate capacity.     

China's Megacity Mandarinate

The world is rapidly evolving on many fronts. Brazil, Turkey and other emerging powers are taking their own initiatives and building their own global links outside the old frameworks of the G‐8, the United Nations Security Council and NATO. The “third way” politics of Tony Blair that embraced globalization from the left of center in Britain has given way to the Tory party once again. Just as recovery from the financial crash seemed on the horizon, Europe's sovereign debt crisis has erupted. The historically unprecedented pace and scale of urbanization in China is transforming the politics of the Communist Party. President Lula of Brazil, former US treasury secretary Henry Paulson, Singapore's foreign minister George Yeo and others take stock of these manifold developments.