Canadian aid for the training of public servants in Ghana and Zimbabwe

The Canadian International Development Agency has co-sponsored a number of training programmes for public servants. In this article two of the larger programmes are examined, one with the Government of Ghana, the other with Zimbabwe. The main work with Ghana was undertaken in that country: much of the work with Zimbabwe was undertaken in Canada—for different reasons and with somewhat different results. Over 400 officials have completed the basic courses (generally of 3 months duration). Others have attended shorter courses, training-of-trainers projects, and a workshop for cabinet ministers. In this paper questions are explored about the relevance of such training, the nature of the content and ways to evaluate such activities. Practical issues of aid planning and implementation are raised and, finally, questions of aid targets are examined in the light of the experiences of these programmes.     

Different Seeds in the Same Plot? Competing Models of Capitalism and the Incomplete Contracts of Partnership Design

This article explains the differing nature of UK government and European Commission approaches to partnership, drawing on the 'competing models of capitalism' debate. Comparative studies have typically considered the impact of the same institutional arrangements across different territories – the 'study of identical seeds sown in different plots'(Putnam 1993, p. 7). However, this article is concerned with the study of different seeds sown in the same small plot: an area within the city of Sheffield. The different approaches to partnership enshrined in UK and EU regeneration programme documents structure different prospective outcomes. However, regeneration programme requirements must be understood as 'incomplete contracts' and as such, policy implementers play a key role in shaping policy outcomes.     

Consultation, Constraints and Norms: The Case of Nuclear Waste

The objectives of public consultation can clash with other policy objectives, partly because the norms underpinning public consultation clash with other institutional norms within the policy process. This phenomenon is evident in the case of selecting a site for a low-level nuclear waste disposal facility in Australia. This case shows how the results of consultation processes are moulded by the process design, which in turn is constrained by a range of policy process norms to which governments adhere. The case confirms some recent critiques of participatory practices. It also suggests that reconciling potentially competing policy process norms will be an important exercise in institutional design if elected representatives wish to mitigate citizens' alienation from their governments.     

Book reviews

Realism, Idealism and International Politics: A Reinterpretation

By M. Griffiths, Routledge: London, 1992, 206pp(hbk), £35.00

International Conflict Resolution: The US‐USSR and Middle East Cases

By Louis Kriesberg, Yale University Press: 1992.

Deterring Democracy

By Noam Chomsky, Vintage Press, 1992, 439pp £7.99(pbk) ISBN 0–09–913501–9.

Arab Military Industry: Capability, Performance, and Impact

By Yezid Sayigh. Brassey's, London, £38.00/$49.50. ISBN 0–08–041777–9.

The Velvet Revolution: Czechoslovakia 1988–91

By Bernard Wheaton and Zdenek Kavan, Westview Press, 1992.

Peace Without Hiroshima: Secret Action at the Vatican in the Spring of 1945

By Martin S. Quigley. Madison Books: Lanham, Maryland, 1991. 169pp.

Historical Discord in the Nile Valley

By Gabriel R. Warburg, London: Hurst & Company Ltd, 1992, £27.50.

To Loose the Bands of Wickedness: International Intervention in Defence of Human Rights

Nigel Rodley (Ed). Brassey's (UK), 1992. 287pp(HBk). ISBN l‐85753‐()47‐().     

Book reviews

Computer Law (4th edition) Colin Tapper Longman ISBN CSD 0 582 05932 1 £22.50 PPR 0 582 02491 1 £35.00

Further Computer Contracts M‐T Michèle Rennie Sweet and Maxwell 1989. ISBN 0 421 40330 6

Formalism in AI and Computer Science Philip Leith Ellis Horwood 1990. ISBN 1 3325549 2

Electronically Recorded Evidence ‐ A Guide to the Use of Tape and Video Recordings in Criminal and Civil Proceedings Sybil Sharpe Fourmat Publishing 1989. ISBN 1 85190 071 3

Computer Law Chris Reed(ed) Blackstone Press Limited 1990. ISBN 1 85 431037 2

EDI and American Law: A Practical Guide Benjamin Wright Electronic Data Interchange Association 1989. ISBN 0 96 238750 9

Computer Software Protection and Semiconductor Chips Dr Dirk Schroeder (Butterworth's Current EC Legal Developments Series) 1990. ISBN 0 406 04021 4

Computers and the Law David I Bainbridge (Pitman) 1990. ISBN 0 273 03170 8     

Sino-African Relations and the Problem of Human Rights

China's political and economic activities in Africa are increasingat an exponential rate. Equally, they are attracting criticism,chiefly over Beijing's no-strings-attached stance on human rightsand governance. It is clear that many African states that enjoyChinese support not only trample on civil and political rights(as per Western ideas of human rights), but also subvert theircitizens’ economic and social rights (as per China's discourseon human rights). If whilst adhering to the principle of non-interference,Chinese activities actually make things worse for some in Africa,then Beijing's argument that basic socio-economic rights aremore important for the poor than abstract politicalrights is potentially problematic. This is because there isa danger that Beijing's engagement in Africa might be exploitedby autocrats on the continent for their own, well-understood,reasons. Doing no harm, rather than a studied disinterest, needsto be part of China's overall African policy, something thatBeijing is bound to recognize. The author gratefully acknowledges the British Academy, CarnegieTrust for the Universities of Scotland, Chiang Ching-kuo Foundationfor International Scholarly Exchange, and the Russell Trustof Scotland for financial support for fieldwork on Sino-Africanrelations, carried out in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Namibia, SierraLeone, South Africa, and Uganda. The ideas for this articlewere initially tested at seminars at Wilton Park, the Universityof Plymouth, the State Department, SAIS-Johns Hopkins University,and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. I am gratefulto participants in these events, this journal's two anonymousreviewers, and Shaun Breslin for commenting and helping to crystallizemy thoughts. Any errors remain my own.     

Metrics or Peer Review? Evaluating the 2001 UK Research Assessment Exercise in Political Science

Evaluations of research quality in universities are now widely used in the advanced economies. The UK's Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) is the most highly developed of these research evaluations. This article uses the results from the 2001 RAE in political science to assess the utility of citations as a measure of outcome, relative to other possible indicators. The data come from the 4,400 submissions to the RAE political science panel. The 28,128 citations analysed relate not only to journal articles, but to all submitted publications – including authored and edited books and book chapters. The results show that citations are the most important predictor of the RAE outcome, followed by whether or not a department had a representative on the RAE panel. The results highlight the need to develop robust quantitative indicators to evaluate research quality which would obviate the need for a peer evaluation based on a large committee. Bibliometrics should form the main component of such a portfolio of quantitative indicators.     

Regulation of health practitioners: national reform in Australia

From the second half of 2010 Australia has had a uniform regime for registration of health practitioners and, with the exception of New South Wales, a nationally consistent scheme for regulation of a number of categories of health practitioners. This entails a move toward validation requirements, a continuing focus on protection of titles as the principal regulatory mechanism, and an identification of those professions currently suitable for formal registration and regulation. This editorial discusses issues arising from the new national regulatory arrangements, controversies about the distinction between "conduct" and "performance" investigations, challenges in relation to assessment of impairment and what constitutes a "fit and proper person" as well as issues arising from the mandatory notification provisions within the legislation.