Dimensions of Authority in Oversight Agencies: American and Australian Comparisons

Fraud, waste, and abuse damage public administration. Responding involves law enforcement and best practice administration. Many jurisdictions create watchdog agencies to perform this role. A model, which includes seven dimensions of jurisdiction and authority that policymakers should consider when creating an oversight entity, is presented. The model goes beyond the simple functional jurisdiction, i.e., who is overseen and how oversight occurs. Four subnational watchdog agencies in two countries are examined to demonstrate the trade-offs that occur in each dimension when the agencies are designed. This analysis demonstrates there are significant balancing issues at stake, which impact watchdog effectiveness.     

Cohousing For Whom? Survey Evidence to Support the Diffusion of Socially and Spatially Integrated Housing in the United States

Cohousing is a resident-led neighborhood development model that clusters private dwelling units around collectively owned and managed spaces, with potential to address long-term social and environmental challenges in American metropolitan regions. To date, however, the cohousing model has been slow to diffuse beyond a demographically narrow following. This limited following may signal to policymakers that cohousing is an unappealing housing model, and therefore an impractical policy objective. Drawing from a survey of 1,000 American residents, the results of a multivariate regression model suggest that (a) many of the characteristics of the current resident population of cohousing in the United States have no statistical association with the individuals who indicate interest in cohousing nationwide; (b) other characteristics serve as better predictors of interest in cohousing; and therefore (c) the slow diffusion of cohousing is likely the consequence of inaccessibility rather than low appeal. Overcoming these challenges demands shifts in policy.     

Conflict,choice or geography? Explaining patterns of democracy in continental Europe

The ‘character’ of democracy is regularly summarised using political‐institutional measures of, for instance, ‘consensus’ or ‘majoritarian’ democracy. Yet, there is little quantitative‐comparative research on the origins of such configurations. Drawing on literature on endogenous institutions and constitutional design, this article proposes a model for the explanation of empirical patterns of democracy. Using a novel database of 26 continental (neighbouring) European democracies and Bayesian spatial modelling, the results indicate that while today's empirical patterns of democracy in terms of proportional power diffusion can be traced back to waves of democratisation rather than historical partisan power configurations, decentral power diffusion can partially be explained by socio‐structural factors, and spatial dependencies exist for all variants of power diffusion.     

Institutional design of ecolabels: Sponsorship signals rule strength

Ecolabels are designed to help consumers identify environmentally superior products and services; however, they are not all created equal. Some ecolabels have strong rules that promote environmental improvements, while others have weaker rules that permit free‐riding. Because information about ecolabel design and rule strength is typically not readily available at the point of purchase, consumers struggle to differentiate stronger ecolabels from weaker ones. We investigate whether ecolabel sponsorship is a signal that can help consumers distinguish between ecolabels according to the quality of their institutional design. Using data of 189 prominent ecolabels, we find that while most ecolabels have basic rules for environmental performance, monitoring, and conformance, the strength of these rules varies across labels according to sponsoring organization. Independent sponsors have the strongest ecolabel rules, followed by governments. Industry sponsored ecolabels have the weakest rule structures. Taken as a whole, these findings suggest that sponsorship may provide important information about whether an ecolabel is designed with rules that effectively condition firms to promote meaningful environmental improvements.     

Can the best interests of young people be met in residential care? An Ireland case study

The search for factors essential to the achievement of congruence in residential youth care services in Ireland led to the discovery of five critical success factors, each of which affects all three organizational levels of such services. These critical factors included: needs-led, not regulation-driven, care; senior managers with workforce responsibility require domain expertise; shared vision and purpose across three organizational levels; practice-led planning and service development; and bureaucratic policies and practices that are congruent with corporate parenting obligations to provide developmental care that serves each child's best interests.     

基层警务绩效评价的程序设计

基层警务绩效评价是一个复杂的系统工程,在这个系统中,基层警务绩效评价的程序是一个很重要的要素。程序设计如何,直接关系到评价的最终结果。因此,本文在遵循绩效评价的基本原则基础上,结合我国公安机关警务实际,提出了基层警务绩效评价的程序方案。     

对峙性抓捕问题研究

对峙性抓捕是公安机关对持有杀伤性武器与公安机关进行公然对抗的犯罪嫌疑人实施的一种特殊的抓捕行动。在对峙性抓捕中,犯罪嫌疑人具有一些特殊的心理活动,公安机关必须遵循抓捕的安全性原则,充分考虑抓捕策略,尽最大可能减少抓捕可能造成的危险。有备型抓捕方案的设计和遭遇型抓捕方案的设计是比较常用的对峙性抓捕方案。     

城市设计中的政府行为分析

随着城市市场经济的不断发展和公众参与意识的不断增强,城市设计无论在思想观念上还是在管理体系及制度等方面都不同程度地遇到了前所未有的新问题。本文强调了政府在城市设计中应尽的职责,从公共政策与社会学视角对规范城市设计的政府行为路径选择进行了思考,阐述了政府通过完善城市设计相关法规制度、行政机制来完善政府在城市设计中的主导作用,以期实现政府行为的有效性来引导城市设计,塑造高品质的城市公共空间。     

A physical therapy environment design concept for children with cerebral palsy in accordance with patient behavior and therapy effectiveness

This research aims to study the effects of interior environmental features on the effectiveness of physical therapy among children with cerebral palsy. The research assumes that interior environment primarily determines the central attention of the patients, which further institutes the level of cooperation and thus the effectiveness of therapy. Distinctive interior settings in three state hospitals are utilized to test the effects of different environmental settings on child patients＇ level of attention. A ＇~structured observation＂ together with an ＂achievement rating＂, measured by the patients＇ cooperative level, are utilized to gauge the success of therapy conducted within the three different environmental settings. Statistical result reveals a pattern of correlative linkages among the interior features, the level of central attention and the effectiveness of therapy. Behavioral responses are found to be positively correlated with the level of patient cooperation. The analysis of behavioral response discloses three types of environmental stimuli--crowding in the treatment rooms, present of particular interior features such as windows, and activities outside the treatment rooms visible to the patients. Desirable response is also found to be increasing along with the number of interior stimulus features. A design guideline for treatment room is finally established. Two groups of interior environmental features could be manipulated to elevate the effectiveness of therapy--the physical environment which includes room size, and the spatial location of therapy activities within the interior environment.     

论违宪审查程序的启动机制

构建富有实效的违宪审查制度是现代宪政制度建设的重要内容。我国宪政实践虽已基本形成具有自己特色的违宪审查模式，但在程序启动机制的制度化设计方面仍不完整，为此，要本着实事求是的态度对我国政治、经济、文化和宪政理论的发展水平进行理性考量，着眼于我国宪政建设的总体布局，兼顾我国公民的宪政观念与权利意识，充分利用现有的法律资源及相关的技术要素，合理借鉴他国的成功经验，从违宪审查的启动机制、主体制度、审查范围以及强化监督机制的制约功能等渠道入手，设计一套切实可行又富有实效的违宪审查机制。