Shaping the Evolution of the Information Flow: The Centralizing Mechanisms in the Evolution of the North American Tobacco Quitline Consortium

The research reported here is an analysis of the evolution of the relationships that comprise a single public health network, focusing especially on the position of the network administrative organization (Provan and Kenis 2008 Provan, K. G. and P. Kenis. 2008. “Modes of Network Governance: Structure, Management, and Effectiveness.” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 18(2): 229–252.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) in the flow of knowledge among a large number of organizations providing similar services. Our study examines the North American Quitline Consortium (NAQC), a multi-sector network that spans the US and Canada and whose members provide telephone-based tobacco cessation services to anyone interested in quitting smoking. Data were collected using web-based surveys at three different points of time. Implications are discussed for network organizing, for both theory and practice, focusing especially on the importance of the network administrative organization in shaping the evolution of the whole network information flow.     

The Political Constitution of Federalism in Antebellum America: The Nullification Debate as an Illustration of Informal Mechanisms of Constitutional Change

The requirements of the U.S. Constitution are often assumedto be either clear or defined by the judiciary through interpretation,or both. Examination of the nullification crisis of 1833 indicatesthat this view of the U.S. Constitution is misleading. The nullificationcrisis provoked three competing visions of the appropriate understandingof federalism in the context of textual ambiguity and judicialactivity. The subsequent development of federalism was determinedby that political conflict and compromise. The nullificationcontroversy provides an important example of the openness ofconstitutional norms, the significance of political debate inthe shaping of constitutional meaning, and the complexity ofantebellum political thought.     

Industry Knowledge Sources and the Role of Universities

In recent yems, rapid growth hm occurred in both the number and diversity of university-industry progrmns in the United States. While little comprehensive assessment of these programs exists to date, this paper argues that a systematic empirical analysis of a cmpany's perception of universities as knowledge sources is critical toa clear understanding of the newallknces between industry and academia. From a survey of216 companies, a pattern emerges where the sources of technical knowledge perceived as important by industry are complex and highly interrelated, and they also vary according to the characteristics of companies, especially size. It is seen that university research rather than universities as institutions per se are critical ingredients to the development of new products and production processes.     

Mao Zedong on contradictions under socialism revisited

This paper explores the political background to, the reasons behind, and the stages through which Mao Zedong reversed the position of the Resolution of the 8th Party Congress of 1956 on the issue of the major domestic contradiction in China. Relying on recently published Chinese sources, both primary and secondary, the paper argues that Mao arrived at his position, in which the primacy of class struggle was once again asserted, principally as a result of his negative assessment of the criticism leveled against the CCP in the Party rectification of May 1957, but in an ambivalent and diffident frame of mind, and one highly sensitive to the question of theoretical orthodoxy. Mao's reversal on this crucial issue both confused his colleagues in the CCP CC and aroused strong arguments within that body.