The Strategic Hub Concept: Plan C for Iraq?

This article will apply what shall be termed a “strategic hub” concept of counterinsurgency to the war in Iraq. This concept posits that the development of insurgent and militia nodes or “hubs” of activity could provide a more relevant way to address the key dilemmas of the Iraq equation in light of the Coalition and Iraq government's inability to secure Iraq. The article will argue that ceding the insurgency and militias ground on a temporary basis may be required to maintain both military and political momentum in the post “surge” Iraq given the draw down of U.S. forces, the immaturity of the Iraqi Security Forces, and the present state of American and Iraqi politics.     

Relational Leadership,Storytelling, and Narratives: Practices of Local Government Chief Executives

This article examines the storytelling and narrative practices of an elite group of public administrators in the United Kingdom: local government chief executives. The authors do so through the lens of relationality, exploring the collective dimensions of leadership. The focus on leadership and stories embraces the narrative turn in public administration scholarship. It responds to calls for research examining the distinctive settings of everyday leadership action. The contribution to theory is a qualitative understanding of the relational ways in which stories and narratives are used in the practices of public administration leaders. The article analyzes four ways in which such leadership is accomplished: inviting an emotional connection and commitment to public service, making sense of organizational realities, provoking reflections on practices and assumptions, and managing relations with politicians. The authors offer an appreciation of how relational leadership influence can be generated by expressive narratives and storytelling rather than stemming from bureaucratic authority.     

Naturschutzrechtliche Vorgaben zur Verwendung gebietseigener Gehölze

Zusammenfassung  Die genetische Vielfalt ist oft übersehenes Schutzgut des Naturschutzrechts. Sie ist der Grund, warum zunehmend gefordert wird, Anpflanzungen nur mit gebietseigenem Pflanzmaterial durchzuführen. Rechtliche Probleme stellen sich hier an der Schnittstelle von Naturschutz- und Vergaberecht. Soll n?mlich bei der ?ffentlichen Auftragsvergabe zur Anpflanzung von Geh?lzen oder beim Einkauf von Pflanzmaterial nicht gegen vergaberechtliche Vorschriften versto?en werden, bedarf es hinreichender, im Naturschutzrecht verwurzelter Gründe, um ?ffentliche Ausschreibungen ausschlie?lich auf gebietseigenes Pflanzmaterial einzuengen. Diesen naturschutzrechtlichen Verpflichtungen geht der vorliegende Beitrag nach.     

Public Administration Scholarship and the Politics of Coproducing Academic–Practitioner Research

Developing greater cooperation between researchers and practitioners is a long‐standing concern in social science. Academics and practitioners working together to coproduce research offers a number of potential gains for public administration scholarship, but it also raises some dilemmas. The benefits include bringing local knowledge to bear on the field, making better informed policy, and putting research to better use. However, coproduction of research also involves managing ambiguous loyalties, reconciling different interests, and negotiating competing goals. The authors reflect on their experience of coproducing a research project in the United Kingdom and discuss the challenges that coproducers of research confront. They situate the discussion within a consideration of traditions of public administration scholarship and debates about the role of the academy to understand better the politics of their joint practice. Thinking about the politics of coproduction is timely and enables the authors to become more attuned to the benefits and constraints of this mode of research..     

Determination of illicit drugs in seized materials: role of sampling and analysis in estimation of measurement uncertainty

The determination of illicit active ingredients in seized materials, in order to assess penal or administrative offences, is routinely carried out in many forensic toxicology laboratories. This paper presents main features of the protocol adopted in the Authors' laboratory for the above investigations. In particular, sampling and analysis are considered as the same measurement process quantifying their combined contribution to overall measurement uncertainty. Aspects concerning representative sampling in the case of single and multiple items are discussed. The effects of material heterogeneity are considered by analyzing separately distinct primary samples taken from different parts of the sampling target. Possible errors due to particles dimension that could arise when sub-sampling are also considered. Analytical precision, bias and other matrix effects are studied in order to quantify the component of the overall measurement uncertainty associated to the analysis of prepared test samples. Typical scenarios arising when measurement results are used to assess compliance with specification limits are also discussed revealing the crucial role of measurement uncertainty.