Policy process perceptions of senior Canadian federal civil servants: a view of the state and its environment

Abstract: Based on interviews with senior civil federal civil servants in Ottawa, perceptions of various actors' influence on public policy are examined. It is hypothesized that perceived influence patterns will change as one moves across the major phases of the policy process. Although it is expected that actors within the state will be of primary importance throughout the process, it is also expected that the relative importance of actors outside the state will increase as one moves from forming a policy agenda and selecting policy towards policy implementation. This should be particularly true of the perceived influence of private companies. Despite this change in perceived levels of influence of state versus non-state actors, the structure of correlation patterns for perceived influence patterns will probably not change dramatically from one policy process phase to the next. Results are also presented pertaining to the actual interaction patterns of the civil servants who were interviewed, as well as the relation between interaction and perceived influence. It is expected that there will be positive relations between these two types of variables but that direct interaction will not consistently explain the majority of variation in perceived influence variables. Sommaire: À la suite d'entrevues avec des hauts fonctionnaires fédéraux à Ottawa, on examine ici les perceptions quant à l'influence de divers intervenants sur les politiques gouvernementales. On prend pour hypothèse que ces perceptions évolueront à mesure que l'on avance d'une grande étape à l'autre dans le processus de définition des politiques. On s'attend à ce que les intervenants étatiques jouent un rôle primordial tout au long du processus, mais aussi à ce que le rôle relatif des intervenants extérieurs au gouvernement prenne de l'ampleur lorsqu'on passe de l'établissement d'une liste de politiques au choix des politiques elles-mêmes et, en?fin, à la mise en oeuvre de ces politiques. Ceci devrait s'appliquer tout particulièrement à la manière dont on perçoit l'influence des sociétés privées. Malgré ce changement du niveau d'influence perçu entre les intervenants gouvernementaux et les nongouvernementaux, la structure corrélative des influences perçues ne changera probablement pas de façon dramatique d'une étape à l'autre du processus d'élaboration des politiques. On présente également des résultats concernant l'interaction effective des fonctionnaires interviewés, ainsi que le rapport entre cette interaction et l'influence perçue. On prévoit des rapports positifs entre ces deux groupes de variables, mais aussi que l'interaction directe ne saurait expliquer de manière cohérente la plupart des variations dans les variables de l'influence perçue.     

Politics and provincial government spending in Canada

Abstract: Much has been written on the growth of government expenditures at the national level, focusing on economic variables. Few studies have focused on the growth of spending at the provincial level. Even fewer studies have sought to examine the role of politics in provincial government spending. This paper seeks to fill the gap. It examines the growth of government in Canadian provinces over the last quarter-century, 1960 through 1986, and the role of politics in that growth. Government spending in Canada has grown rapidly at the provincial level over the past quarter-century, more rapidly than at the federal level. The present study develops and tests an econometric model of provincial government expenditure that incorporates economic, social, and political factors. In particular, the influence of the political party in power on provincial government spending is examined. Surprisingly, in most Canadian provinces the political party in power is found to have no significant impact on the level or growth of provincial government spending over the last twenty-five years. Instead, the growth of provincial government spending has been stimulated by the growth of the private sector provincial GDP. The provincial governments have responded to changes in the state of provincial economy and to provincial unemployment by increasing their own level of expenditures. Sommaire: La croissance des dépenses gouvernementales à l'échelon national a fait l'objet de nombreuses analyses, centrées sur des variables économiques. Très peu d'études ont porté sur l'augmentation des dépenses provinciales et, encore moins, sur le rôle joué par la politique à cet égard. Le présent exposé a pour objet de combler cette lacune en examinant la croissance des gouvernements dans les provinces canadiennes au cours du dernier quart de siècle, soit de 1960 à 1986, ainsi que le rôle qu'a joué la politique dans cette croissance. Les dépenses gouvernementales au Canada ont augmenté pendant cette période plus rapidement au niveau des provinces qu'au fédéral. La présente étude élabore et teste un modèle économétrique des dépenses des gouvernements provinciaux qui incorpore des facteurs économiques, sociaux et politiques. En particulier, on y examine l'influence du parti politique au pouvoir sur les dépenses du gouvernement au niveau provincial. Chose surprenante, dans la plupart des provinces, on constate que l'identité du parti politique au pouvoir n'a pas d'effet significatif sur le niveau ou sur la croissance des dépenses des gouvernements provinciaux au cours de ce quart de siècle. C'est plutôt la croissance du produit intérieur brut du secteur privé provincial qui a stimulé l'augmentation des dépenses des gouvernements provinciaux. Ces derniers ont réagi à l'évolution de l'économie provinciale ainsi qu'au chômage provincial en augmentant leur propre niveau de dépenses.     

The Past,Present, and Future of Mediation as Seen through the Eyes of Some of Its Founders

This article is drawn from interviews with thirty‐one of mediation's “founders,” those pioneers who began mediating in the 1970s and 1980s, when the field was young. They describe what first attracted them to mediation and why they have remained active in the field. Some told us that they have found it to be both intellectually challenging and interpersonally satisfying to assist disputing parties in their search for a mutually acceptable resolution they could not find on their own. Others see mediation's collaborative approach to decision making as a means of bringing about social and political change that might be otherwise unattainable. The mediators also described the changes they have observed since they entered the field: mediation's dramatic growth, institutionalization in the judicial system, and market domination by lawyers and retired judges. Among the concerns they expressed were the prevalence of a mediation model that focuses primarily on the legal strengths and weaknesses of each party's position, and the dollar amount that should resolve the dispute, with little interest in creative outcomes. Other concerns are a lack of quality control of mediators and trainers, and unproductive debate about whether the “correct” approach to mediation is evaluative, facilitative, or transformative. The mediators who work on public policy matters, including environmental disputes, were the most positive about the opportunity for creativity in their work, considerably more so than those mediators whose practice is primarily business/commercial. The mediators' views of the future of mediation are remarkably similar — their general sense is that the type of mediation that takes place in the shadow of the courts is likely to increase and to become even more routinized than it is at present. Several respondents told us that they also expect to see substantial growth in the use of mediation to resolve public policy issues. Many of these mediators predicted that this type of mediation is likely to be carried out by organizational insiders, rather than outside interveners. As one mediator said, “Maybe there's a new set of mediation roles for people within traditional institutions, not just for free‐standing neutrals.”     

Drinking and drug use by college students: Comparing criminal justice majors and non-majors

The current research examined drinking and drug use among college students. Using a self-report survey of students from a midwestern university, the frequency of alcohol use, binge drinking, and drug use were explored. Particular attention was paid to drinking behaviors and drug use among Criminal Justice (CJ) students compared to students from other majors. Differences were found between CJ and non-CJ students especially in terms of drinking behavior; fewer differences were found between majors in terms of drug use. Issues of moral authority were examined as well as issues of employability. Implications for CJ students, faculty and advisors are discussed.     

Examining the predictors of juvenile probation officers' rehabilitation orientation

According to the importation model, individual attributes such as gender and race influence correctional orientation. In contrast, the work/role model contends that differences in correctional orientation are due to work experiences and environment. The purpose of the present study was to explore whether individual attributes, work-related experiences, and perceptions of one's own cultural competency and juveniles' social supports predicted rehabilitation orientation for one hundred juvenile probation officers working within an organization framework that favored a balanced approach to juvenile justice. Multiple regression results indicated that the importation variables were not predictive of rehabilitation orientation, either as a set or individually. The work/role model and the perception variable sets predicted rehabilitation orientation. Employment type and perceptions of social support were most strongly related to rehabilitation orientation. The study's unique contribution stems from its use of unordered sets analyses to examine the relative validity of theoretical grounded sets of variables.