Irish Women’s Networks on the West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island, 1864–1922

This article explores the ethnic incorporation of Irish women on the West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island from 1864, when the gold rushes began, until the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922. The central argument is that these newcomers did not choose ethnic solidarity as a means to pursue their goals and, for most, an ethnic or religious category sufficed in an environment where local communities, churches, trade unions, kinship ties and non‐ethnic political parties had far more social relevance. The small‐scale structure of West Coast localities, the relative economic homogeneity of its inhabitants and the absence of entrenched anti‐Irish elites militated against the rise of sectarian animosities and the maturation of intensified ethnic consciousness. As a consequence, Irish women did not construct and sustain informal social networks based on ‘principles of ethnic categorisation’ in which they distributed resources and channelled interaction among group members.     

Budgeting for Our Times: Target Base Budgeting

Target base budgeting sets limits on how much a department may request in its budget. Departments must submit two budget requests—one within the target base and another for additional funds. Some supplemental requests may be funded from a reserve pool. Target base budgeting has been used in parts of the federal government over the last forty years. Its use continues to slowly expand. This article examines the experiences in three cities: Rochester, Tampa, and Phoenix.     

What is ‘fair compensation’ for death or injury?

This note demonstrates that David Friedman's recent assertion that, because full ex post compensation means that the potential injuror is overcompensating, ‘it follows that he will be overdeterred from imposing risk …’ cannot be supported, a priori, except in special cases. It is argued that this finding actually strengthens the case for compensation which is ‘fair’ as defined by Friedman.     

Czech regional development agencies in a shifting institutional landscape

In recent years regional development disparities in the Czech Republic have been increasing, regional policy and regionalisation have moved up the national political agenda, and considerable regional development resources have become available through EU Structural Funds. The Czech Republic now has more than 18 institutions that describe themselves as Regional Development Agencies (RDAs), with a wide range of policy and practical experience and, in the present climate, they should now be poised to take on a key regional development role. However, their function and position in regional development networks is continually plagued by uncertainty, and they are struggling to fulfil the ‘ideal’ of what an RDA is and what it should do. This article asks why this is the case and examines how domestic and EU policy agendas and actors have influenced the role and function of RDAs in the Czech Republic. Whilst theories such as ‘new regionalism’ suggest that RDAs can lead integrated, bottom-up regional development actions, it is questionable whether Czech RDAs have the capacity to adapt to the type of role that proponents of this approach expect.     

Past and Future Budget Classics: A Research Agenda

This article summarizes the content of four classic articles on budgeting that have appeared in Public Administration Review, outlines some of the major changes in budgeting that have occurred since those authors wrote, and, based on those changes, offers a research agenda for the next set of budget classics.     

Underpinning success in the real world of corporations law

This paper reports on an action research project which sought to evaluate and guide ongoing teaching and learning development in Principles of Corporations Law, a semester-long unit of study. Typically, enrolments in this subject area include students from a range of cultural contexts for whom the legislative and administrative concepts of the unit are unfamiliar and who also experience significant difficulties with cultural conventions of communication and business practice. At our university, unit enrolments include a high proportion of distance education as well as non-English speaking background (NESB) students, predominantly from China, who have not studied units formerly considered as prerequisite, and many of whom experience difficulties with basic academic skills. As the development team planned and created teaching features to ensure better learning outcomes for these students, it was clear that some truly contextual thinking as well as some practicable solutions would be required. While we had determined in the redesign planning that scenario- or problem-based learning (PBL) with its emphasis on finding, understanding and using information in context, was best suited to help students acquire the skills that underpin success in the unit, our experience in the project indicated students had a broader range of more basic needs. It emerged that students were struggling with fundamental issues that would need to be addressed before real change could occur.