Expectations from Administrative Reforms: An Attempt to Implement the Balanced Scorecard in a Public Sector Organization

The aim of this case study is to explore what actors in a Swedish municipality expect from a new administrative reform (i.e., an attempt to implement the Balanced Scorecard). The findings show that the expectations on changes are highest among the politicians, moderate among the administrators, and lowest among the operative employees. The differences can be explained by the way the reform is anticipated to favor or disfavor the actors, who in turn are influenced by the actors' past experiences. Most of the expressed expectations concern expectations of the outcome of the administrative reform, but some concern expectations on the reform itself.     

Should Business and Non-Business Accounting be Different? A Comparative Perspective Applied to the French Central Government Accounting Standards

The French General Law of Finances of 2001 introduced a set of accounting standards including an explicit conceptual framework reconciling accrual basis accounting with the specific aspects of accounting for central government activities. This article analyzes this French set of accounting standards from a dualistic perspective that compares both business and non-business accounting. Three different views of accounting for business enterprises are addressed: the wealth-basis (static), the cash-basis, and the accrual-basis (dynamic). A dynamic view of the accrual basis is adapted to the specificities of non-business entities, including governments. The accounting representation is used here to explore further the nature and role of public sector activities within the economic system and their economic and monetary significance.     

Domestic institutions,liberalization patterns,and uneven crises in Korea and Taiwan

pragmatic and long-term approach to financial market reform, with greater sensitivity to political risks and constraints.     

The UN system's contribution to Asia-Pacific security architecture

Although it has been the major states of China, the former Soviet Union and especially the United States that have made the major contributions to shaping the security architecture of the Asia-Pacific region since 1945, the UN system has played a useful, adjunct role. This is especially the case in the post-Cold War era when its principal bodies, together with its various specialized agencies, have provided vital support in moving warring societies into a period of relative peace and stability. The UN peace-building operations in Cambodia and East Timor were some of the most demanding ever undertaken by this universal institution. But beyond these particular examples, the United Nations has been influential in the region in other, more indirect, ways. It has set standards, its charter has been a powerful source of ideas when it comes to composing parallel documents at the state or regional levels, and it has helped with the negotiation of global arms control treaties, making up to some degree for the absence of such arrangements at the regional level. The UN has also had a legitimating function, providing an arena where Asia-Pacific states can publicize their grievances, and receive approval or reprimand for their behaviour. It has played a valuable role, too, as third-party mediator. However, the UN's political structure constrains the contribution it can make to the security order since it is reliant on major state agreement before it can act. Veto power - not its actual use but simply its anticipated use - gives China, Russia and the United States a controlling function with respect to a potential UN role in the management of conflict. Beijing and Washington would work, and have worked, to exclude the United Nations from major involvement in conflicts in which they have direct security interests: the Taiwan and Korean issues being the two most obvious in this regard. Thus, the United Nations is a useful buttress but not a central pillar of the region's security architecture.     

‘Opening up’ by default: North Korea,the humanitarian community and the crisis

In April 1999, ASEAN formally admitted Cambodia thereby completing its declared goal of grouping together all ten Southeast Asian countries under its umbrella. This was the culminating event in the latest phase of ASEAN's enlargement. This process, however, had been problematic from the start. The entry of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam without any clear criteria for admission has raised questions regarding the preparedness of these countries to participate in ASEAN. More importantly, it led to strains in ASEAN's relations with its dialogue partners over the legitimacy of some of the governments in power in these countries. The was further complicated by the economic upheaval caused by the financial crisis which struck Southeast Asia in 1997. The impact of these events on ASEAN has put into question the association's growing role as a leading player in Asia-Pacific affairs. More importantly, it has raised issues which are central to ASEAN's continued existence.     

Book reviews

Making Sense in Law: Linguistic, Psychological and Semiotic Perspectives, BERNARD S. JACKSON Liverpool: Deborah Charles Publications 1995

Culture And Sexual Risk: Anthropological Perspectives On Aids, HAN T. BRUMMELHUIS &; GILBERT HERDT (Eds) Amsterdam: Gordon and Breach Publishers, 1995

Virtual Geography, MCKENZIE WARK, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994     

The Defining Elements of Advocacy Coalitions: Continuing the Search for Explanations for Coordination and Coalition Structures

As the theoretical and practical interest in policy networks increases, so does the need for further research into how, and based on what rationales, actors within a policy subsystem engage in interorganizational collective action and form political coalitions. The aim of this paper is to continue the search for explanations for coordination and coalition structures in the setting of Swedish carnivore policy. Based on the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) and a previous case study within the same policy subsystem, the study investigates a set of hypotheses regarding actors' coordinating behavior and the defining elements of coalitions. The empirical analysis indicates, in support of the ACF, that perceived belief correspondence is a better predictor of coordination than perceived influence. Moreover, the explanatory power of empirical policy core beliefs in general, and normative policy core beliefs in particular, is further reinforced, while deep core beliefs seemingly do not influence coalition structure. The relevance of more shallow beliefs for coalition formation cannot be dismissed and therefore calls for additional research.     

社保会计核算问题与对策

近年来我国社保管理制度改革深入发展,社保基金管理部门除了负责社保基金的收支以及运营管理外,还担负着对社保基金进行必要的监督管理,并实现社保基金的保值增值的职责,因此社保体制的改革对社保基金会计核算工作提出了更高的要求。总结分析现阶段社保基金会计核算工作现状问题,并通过对社保基金会计核算改革,提高社保基金的管理水平,已经成为当前社保基金管理的重要内容。     

Accounting for ideas: Bringing a knowledge economy into the picture

Abstract

Over the past 15–20 years, the margins of industrial classifications, corporate balance sheets and GDP have been altered to capture knowledge as a new category of value. This has resulted in the institutionalization of categories such as an information economy (1997), intangible assets (2001) and, most recently, a knowledge-adjusted GDP (2013) in these calculating technologies. By harnessing knowledge as a manageable and valuable object, these shifts are responding but also contributing to the concept of a knowledge economy. This paper investigates the conditions necessary to anchor these new categories of value. The analysis attends not only to the changing rules and regulations, but also to the rhetorics of visibility/invisibility, materiality/immateriality, and measurability/immeasurability used to make a case for these transformations.