Administrators and professionals in local government

This article evaluates the shift to an executive and scrutiny model in local government by assessing the changes at Devon County Council. Interviews were used to evaluate support for the changes and identify the key issues and problems. Most members had little enthusiasm for the reforms, support for the changes was dependent on the loyalty of Liberal Democrat backbenchers towards the leadership and central government's legislative agenda. The analysis revealed substantial problems with the operation of the reformed structure and suggested that the changes might fail to deliver the benefits expected by central government.     

Identification of impurities and statistical classification of methamphetamine tablets (Ya-Ba) seized in Thailand

Impurity profiles of methamphetamine tablets seized in Thailand have been investigated. The samples are extracted with small amounts of ethyl acetate under alkaline condition and the extracts are analyzed by capillary gas chromatography. Nine compounds (1,2-dimethyl-3-phenylaziridine, ephedrine, methylephedrine, N-formylmethamphetamine, N-acetylmethamphetamine, N-formylephedrine, N-acetylephedrine, N,O-diacetylephedrie, methamphetamine dimer) are identified as impurities in methamphetamine tablet. Caffeine and ethyl vanillin are also detected as diluents and/or adulterants, and acetylcodeine monoacetylmorphine and diacetylmorphine are contained in many samples. In addition, trans-3,4-dimethyl-5-phenyl-2-oxazolidone is newly found as an impurity. For characterization and comparison of methamphetamine tablet exhibits, intensely and commonly detectable nine peaks are selected as the factor for multivariate analysis. The procedures reported here permit classification of 250 analyzed exhibits into five groups and characterization of classified groups.     

Toward a Theory of Performance Reporting to Achieve Public Sector Accountability: A Field Study

Governments in many countries are implementing performance reporting systems. Many advocates claim that performance reporting results in accountability and effectiveness. There is no theory to justify these claims and guide implementation. This paper presents five field studies of five performance‐reporting systems to begin building theory. Four locations are optimistic; one is not. Mere adoption of performance reporting is not effective. Broad involvement across all government levels is important. Communication and integration with strategic planning and agency management are essential. Two theoretical streams, accounting in organized anarchies and the constitutive role of accounting, are useful theoretical bases.     

Campfire decision-making and strategic management: A politics and leadership approach to economic development

Privatization is recommended unconditionally by some scholars as the optimal means for achieving economic development. While privatization can be helpful medicine, it provides no universal cure for all the ills associated with low economic growth. A country's economic and political institutions are intertwined. Mandating privatization without being mindful of both political and economic consequences to such a policy can bring undesirable consequences during and after policy implementation. This paper proposes that to enhance the likelihood of economic growth a leader should blend economics with politics. Sensitive political leadership can stimulate a bonding among citizens, a bonding which can generate the commitment to risk by investing personal savings, to work the long hours which much precede the rewards, and often to be satisfied by a job well done rather than with material reward. Analogous to the chief executive officer of a successful corporation, the effective political leader involves stakeholders, steers decision processes, takes reasonable risks, encourages private investment, and rations public resources according to national priorities. Collective decision-making guided by the political leader, who also acts as a strategic manager during implementation, is offered as a model for development.     

Reviews

Orlando Figes, Peasant Russia, Civil War: The Volga Countryside in Revolution, 1917–1921. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989, xx + 401 pp., £40.00.

Hugh Macdonald, The Soviet Challenge and the Structure of European Security. Aldershot: Edward Elgar, 1990, ix + 318 pp., £38.50.

Jonathan Eyal, ed. The Warsaw Pact and the Balkans: Moscow's Southern Flank. London: Macmillan Press, 1989, xvi + 246 pp., £35.00.

Kurt M. Campbell & S. Neil MacFarlane, eds., Gorbachev's Third World Dilemmas. London & New York: Routledge, 1989, xvi + 270 pp., £35.00.

Terry L. Thompson, Ideology and Policy: The Political Uses of Doctrine in the Soviet Union. London: Westview Press, Westview Special Studies on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, 1989, viii + 220 pp., $28.95 p/b.

Mary Buckley, Women and Ideology in the Soviet Union. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1989, 266 pp., £9.95 p/b.

Maria Lo?, ed., The Second Economy in Marxist States. London: Macmillan, 1990, xiv + 240 pp., £37.50.

Harley D. Balzer, Soviet Science on the Edge of Reform. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1989, xxi + 290 pp., $32.50.

Michael Ryan, Doctors and the State in the Soviet Union. Basingstoke and London: Macmillan, 1989, ix + 205 pp., £37.50.

Jerzy Tomaszewski, The Socialist Regimes of East Central Europe: Their Establishment and Consolidation 1944–67, Trans. Jolanta Krauze. London: Routledge, 1989, 305 pp., £40.00.

Paul G. Lewis, Political Authority and Party Secretaries in Poland 1975–1986. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989, xix + 340 pp., £35.00.

Leonard J. Cohen, The Socialist Pyramid: Elites and Power in Yugoslavia. Oakville, TX: Mosaic Press, 1989, 499 pp., $29.95 h/b, $19.95 p/b.

Diane P. Koenker & William G. Rosenberg, Strikes and Revolution in Russia, 1917. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989, xix + 393 pp., $39.50.     

Strategies of Resistance: Diversification and Diffusion

Why do organizations choose to use nonviolence? Why do they choose specific nonviolent tactics? Existing quantitative work centers on mass nonviolent campaign, but much of the nonviolence employed in contentious politics is smaller‐scale nonviolent direct action. In this article, we explore the determinants of nonviolence with new data at the organization level in self‐determination disputes from 1960 to 2005. We present a novel argument about the interdependence of tactical choices among nonviolent options in self‐determination movements. Given limitations on their capabilities, competition among organizations in a shared movement, and different resource requirements for nonviolent strategies, we show that organizations have incentives to diversify tactics rather than just copy other organizations. The empirical analysis reveals a rich picture of varied organizational resistance choices, and a complex web of interdependence among tactics.     

Group selection of service efforts and accomplishments indicators for colleges

In this study, a set of key Service Efforts and Accomplishments (SEA) indicators was determined for higher-education external reports. Personal interviews were conducted with presidents and administrators from 28 colleges to determine their preferences for and the usefulness of performance indicators. Participants’ perceptions were analyzed using the analytic hierarchy process. In addition to determining indicators, the study discovered an unexpectedly high correlation between the key indicators selected by private and public institutions.