Women's right to work: The interplay of state,market and women's agency

This article addresses questions central to the conception of women's citizenship: Do women have the same right to wage work as men have? That is, do women have the same access to and chances to keep jobs as men? Is women's right to employment perceived as an individual right, disconnected from men's traditional prerogative to hold jobs as breadwinners? Women's right to work is conceptualized as a complex structural and ideological construct, shaped by the interplay of the labour market, welfare state and women's agency. The empirical analysis takes one of the Scandinavian welfare states, Norway, as its main case. The study concludes that women's individual right to work was significantly strengthened from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s.     

The Disappearance of a Gender Gap: Tolerance and Liberalism in Denmark from 1971 to 1990

Bad on data from Denmark, the paper examines the development of gender differences in political tolerance during the 1970s and 1980s. There was a large gender gap in tolerance at the beginning of the 1970s. which had totally disappeared by the end of the 1980s. The analysis shows that at the beginning of the 1970s. the gender gap is partly explained by differences in political involvement. Interpreted as a result of the different political socialization of men and women. However. part of the difference is unchanged by any control. and this "unexplained" difference is interpreted as the result of a specific female culture. Against this background, it is surprising that the gender difference in political tolerance has vanished only twenty years later. The paper argues that, during these twenty years. a cultural shift has taken place in Denmark. merging the female and male cultures. and eliminating the hitherto 'unexplained' gender difference.     

State autonomy, policy paralysis: paradoxes of institutions and culture in the French health care system

In this article, we assess the recent performance of the French state at containing costs in health care using political science concepts such as path dependency and incentives, which are central to an economic approach. The article focuses on institutional capacities and cultural immobilism and attempts to lay bare the tensions at play in seizing (or not) opportunities for structural change. In particular, we attempt to delineate what constitutes real change in this policy arena (big reforms versus the accumulation of many small policy movements) and to understand the variables at play in the coming together of conjunctures that provide for the big, as well as the underlying structures that allow the accumulation of the small. Except in cases of favorable conjuncture, the analysis bodes very ill for nonincremental reform and, indeed, for significant change over the long term.     

The reciprocal dynamics of organizing and sense‐making in the implementation of major public‐sector reforms

Abstract: Drawing on a longitudinal study from the early years of implementation of health‐care networks in Quebec, this article describes how public‐sector managers deal with complex challenges when both organizational structures and organizational strategies are radically transformed simultaneously. The new organizations studied had to completely re‐shuffle roles and responsibilities of their management teams while making sense of their new mandate of developing a population‐focused approach to health problems – all the time maintaining day‐to‐day operations. The four health‐care networks studied proceeded somewhat differently to meet these reciprocal challenges. The study reveals the importance of balancing organizing initiatives (focused on structures) with “sense‐making” initiatives (focused on strategies), of developing capacities for sense‐making through the creation of key “sense‐maker/sense‐giver” positions whose occupants are able to ensure that conceptual activities engage people working at different levels, even as organizational structures are in flux, and of mobilizing external constraints and influences as opportunities and resources in sense‐making and organizing. Sommaire : Se fondant sur une étude longitudinale des premières années de la mise en œuvre des réseaux de soins de santé au Québec, cet article décrit la manière dont les gestionnaires du secteur public font face à des défis complexes, alors que les structures et les stratégies organisationnelles sont radicalement transformées simultanément. Les nouveaux organismes étudiés ont dû complètement remanier les rôles et les responsabilités de leurs équipes de gestion et comprendre leur nouveau mandat d'élaborer une approche axée sur la population pour ce qui est des problèmes de santé, tout en maintenant leurs activités au jour le jour. Les quatre réseaux de soins de santéétudiés ont travailléà relever ces défis réciproques d'une manière assez différente. L'étude révèle l'importance de trouver un équilibre entre les initiatives consistant à organiser (axées sur les structures) et les initiatives consistant à interpréter les faits (axées sur les stratégies) ; de perfectionner les capacités à interpréter les faits grâce à la création de postes clés d'«interpréteurs de faits», dont les titulaires veilleraient à ce que des activités conceptuelles fassent intervenir les gens travaillant à différents niveaux même lorsque les structures organisationnelles fluctuent continuellement; et enfin de tirer parti des contraintes et influences externes comme autant d'occasions et de ressources pour interpréter et organiser les faits.     

Le défi de la rétention des jeunes travailleurs : le cas de la fonction publique québécoise

Abstract: In the next few years, Quebec's public service will be facing a problem of labour retention. With many public-service employees due to retire, the number of young people old enough to enter the job market will likely not be sufficient to fill the voids created by their departure. At the request of the Treasury Board Secretariat, we conducted a survey of young public servants in an effort to determine whether they were planning to leave the public service in the next few years and, if so, the reasons for their decision. This study presents the results of that survey. We noted a certain dissatisfaction surrounding issues related to working conditions. However, we also found that a good number of young public servants identify with the objectives of the public service. The government can certainly gain important benefits from this in order to position itself as an “employer of choice.”     

Der Abschluss von Swap-Geschäften durch Gemeinden und die Grenzen der Gemeindeautonomie

Gemeinden haben mit Swap-Geschäften zur Absicherung des Zinsrisikos teilweise erhebliche Verluste erlitten. Dieser Umstand führt mittlerweile auch zu Gerichtsverfahren, in welchen die Gültigkeit dieser Geschäfte streitgegenständlich ist. Im folgenden Beitrag werden die Voraussetzungen für die Gültigkeit von Swap-Geschäften der Gemeinden untersucht.     

Global Constitutionalism: Editorial Introduction

Netherlands International Law Review -     

Academic faculty governance and recruitment decisions

We analyze the implications of the governance structure in academic faculties for their recruitment decisions when competing for new researchers. The value to individual members through social interaction within the faculty depends on the average status of their fellow members. In recruitment decisions, incumbent members trade off the effect of entry on average faculty status against alternative uses of the recruitment budget if no entry takes place. We show that the best candidates join the best faculties but that they receive lower wages than some lesser ranking candidates. We also study the allocation of surplus created by the entry of a new faculty member and show that faculties with symmetric status distributions maximize their joint surplus under majority voting.