Showing papers on "Government published in 1979"

The many meanings of research utilization.

Abstract: This is a time when more and more social scientists are becoming concerned about making their research useful for public policy makers and policy makers are displaying spurts of well publicized concern about the usefulness of the social science research that government funds support. There is mutual interest in whether social science research intended to influence policy is actually "used" but before that important issue can profitably be addressed it is essential to understand what "using research" actually means. A review of the literature reveals that a diverse array of meanings is attached to the term. Much of the ambiguity in the discussion of "research utilization"-and conflicting interpretations of its prevalence and the routes by which it occurs-derives from conceptual confusion. If we are to gain a better understanding of the extent to which social science research has affected public policy in the past and learn how to make its contribution more effective in the future we need to clarify the concept. Upon examination the use of social science research in the sphere of public policy is an extraordinarily complex phenomenon. Authors who have addressed the subject have evoked diverse images of the processes and purposes of utilization. Here I will try to extract seven different meanings that have been associated with the concept. (excerpt)

Public Employee Market Power and the Level of Government Spending

Abstract: Recent budgetary rhetoric emanating from Washington and other governmental capitals suggests a growing fear that public spending is getting out of control. For long periods of time the government budget has grown more rapidly than GNP in most mixed economies, and observers of these trends have begun to realize that if this process continues, public expenditures will approach very high shares of GNP and income tax rates could get close to unity.1 These scare stories are counteracted by the simple question that if government gets too large, why can't voters band together to stop its growth? Rational, informed, democratic voting processes should provide a limit to the size of the public sector; indeed they should insure that the public sector is just as large as the voters want it to be. According to what economists have come to know as the "median voter" theory, it is puzzling to know exactly how government spending could ever get too high or out of control. There have been several attempts to explain the apparent anomaly. The major focus of previous efforts has been on some aspect of bureaucratic aggrandizement, either broadly or narrowly construed. William Niskanen (1971), for example, presents a model in which bureaucracies desire to obtain as large a budget as possible for the bureau in which they are employed. (See also his 1975 paper.) Despite competition from other bureaus, the size of the overall governmental budget is larger than socially optimal because the nature of the budget process allows bureaus to act as price-discriminating revenue maximizers. Their ability to use their market power is constrained, both by competition from other bureaus and by the preferences of relevant legislative committees. As is implicit in the title of his work, Bureaucracy and Representative Government, Niskanen's major concern is with the way in which the institutions of representative government (particularly the U.S. federal government) may lead to an overprovision of public services. The model is not directly relevant to the behavior of local governments since it ignores two important constraints on local government spending. One is provided by households' opportunity to vote directly on referenda concerning tax collections, and the other by the ability of households to leave local jurisdictions in response to expendituretaxation packages which they find to be unsatisfactory.2 More general in application than Niskanen's work are a number of papers which focus on the ability of public employees to influence the political process so as to increase both wages and the size of the public sector.3 The implications of this approach have been discussed by a number of authors, but in each case the underlying model has been left unstated or undeveloped. For example, James Buchanan considers the possible ramifications of the right of public employees to vote when he argues:

Evaluation of medical practices. The case for technology assessment.

Abstract: We believe that the systematic evaluation of medical practices, especially those that are risky or costly deserves more attention. Available methods are limited, and definitive assessments of innovative or controversial practices are infrequent. Nevertheless, some evaluations have successfully enhanced the use of effective practices and diminished the reliance on ineffective ones. Greater efforts at evaluation can improve the quality of patient care, avoid waste and promote the more rational use of health resources. The cost of assessing new practices should be viewed as an intrinsic part of the cost of medical care. Physicians and medical societies bear primary responsibility for recognizing the need for this evaluation, for enlisting other experts, participating in technology assessment and working to translate the results of evaluation into practice. The commitment of government agencies, insurance companies and teaching institutions is also essential to an effective program of evaluation.

The Electoral Cycle and Patterns of American Politics

Abstract: The relationship between citizens and leaders is the core concern of democratic theory and the primary focus of students of democratic politics. Competitive elections are typically assigned the principal role in structuring this relationship. They are a means by which the public can make government officials accountable and influence the policy directions of government. The case for how elections should link public and leaders is a familiar one. Not so obvious is the strength of this link, particularly the extent to which mass electoral forces may make for fundamental changes in the behaviour of leaders and the policies of governments.

Economics, Health, and Post-Industrial Society

Abstract: Increases in medical resources, and access to care, do not lead to comparable decreases in either morbidity or mortality in modern nations. The number of years of schooling, rather than level of income, emerges as the surest correlate of good health, although progress in medical science and changes in productivity remain powerful influences. Family, religion, and especially government, are examined as institutions serving competing goals of security, freedom, and equality.

Political Participation and Government Responsiveness: The Behavior of California Superior Courts

Abstract: Students of democratic politics have long been concerned with the role of political participation in linking government and the people it serves. Whereas participation is generally defined in terms of voting, this article defines participation as the communication of citizen preferences to public officeholders. We show that aggregate sentencing decisions of California superior courts changed to reflect more closely prevailing public opinion after a large percentage of the populace expressed their preferences on a marijuana issue. The fact that members of California superior courts are seemingly immune from any effective electoral sanction serves both to underline the importance of this form of participation to a responsive system of government and to caution against conceiving of the participation-responsiveness relationship only in terms of punitive electoral devices.

Post-War Britain: A Political History

Abstract: The General Election of 1945 the Labour government, 1945 the Labour government, 1950-51 the Churchill government, 1951-5 Eden's premiership, 1955-7 the start of the Macmillan era, 1957-4 the Conservative anti-climax, 1959-64 the Labour government, 1964-6 the Labour government, 1966-70 the politics of confrontation - the Heath government 1970-74 the return of Harold Wilson, 1974-6 the Callaghan administration, 1976-9 the first Thatcher government, 1979-83 the second Thatcher government, 1983-7 from Thatcher to Major, 1987-92.

The refugee question in mid-Victorian politics

Abstract: 1. Introductory: asylum 2. The refugees 3. The view from abroad 4. 'Public opinion' 5. The government 6. The Orsini affair 7. Aftermath: conclusion.

Black Resources and City Council Representation

Abstract: S INCE THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT gathered momentum in the 1950's, changing race relations have been a prominent feature of the American political landscape. The 1964, 1965, and 1968 Civil Rights Acts were greeted as signal victories at the national level, as were various fair employment practice and open housing laws adopted at the state and local levels. In the past decade, however, the emphasis has shifted from court litigation and lobbying for general "anti-discrimination" statutes to voter registration drives, the passage of redistributive social class policy, community control of key local institutions, and the election of blacks to governmental posts, especially in city government. This last objective, that of electing blacks to public office, has received considerable public attention, and is the central concern of this report. Contemporary studies indicate that despite recent progress, blacks continue to be underrepresented on city councils.' From these and other treatments of race politics, we can infer three general hypotheses about the types of conditions most conducive to black council representation. The propositions revolve around the effects of (1) formal electoral characteristics; (2) white population char-

The impact of the centralization of educational funding and control on state and local organizational governance

Abstract: American education is distinctive in the decentralization of its funding and control. Despite recent expansion, the role of the federal government is still restricted to funding and authority in special programs and situations, while both states and localities have authority to define educational purposes, programs, and policies. At all levels of the administrative organization, administrators must consider relationships with groups outside the educational hierarchy, such, parent, community, and legislative bodies. Centralization of authority and funding at the federal level would theoretically reduce\ the power of these outside groups and increase the importance of relationships within the vertical hierarchy, while simplifying and\ritualizing administrative functions. If. funding alone or authority alone were centralized, it would appear that many of the same results would occur. The American case is one of fragmented centralization, featuring unrelated federal funding programs processed through several independent channels. The situation seems to read to a massive middle-level educational bureaucracy, poorly linked with the classroom world below, little integrated around broad educational policies or purposes, organized for the function of reporting to a wide, fragmented funding and control environment, and less and less able to respond to the legitimate authority of local systems. (Author/PGD) NN U.S. OEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. EDUCATION £WELFARE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRO. DUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED DO NOT -NECESSARLLY REPRE SENT OFFICIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY Institute for Research on Educational Finance anco,vernance SCHOOL OF EDUCATION STANFORD UNIVERSITY tt

Ungovernability: Is There Fire behind the Smoke?:

Abstract: Ungovernability is a catchword of the moment, but analytically the term is a nonsense. A modern Western society can no more do without political authority than it could do without money. This paper defines the supposed threat to governability as the prospect of a fully legitimate government losing its effectiveness, losing popular consent, or both. One threat to effectiveness is an imbalance of resources, with the fiscal dividend of growth failing to keep up with the inertia growth in the costs of public policy. Another is an accumulation of government organizations, losing efficiency by increasing costs of co-ordination and losing effectiveness by adopting contradictory objectives or ends without known means. Authority is only seriously jeopardized by citizens growing increasingly indifferent to an ineffectual government, turning their backs on government and relying upon other major institutions of society to provide for their needs.

Implementing a human services program: how hard will it be?

Abstract: A framework is presented for examining obstacles to the implementation of human services delivery programs. These obstacles appear to arise from three basic sources: (1) from the operational demands implied by a particular program concept, (2) from the nature and availability of the resources required to run the program, and (3) from the need to share authority with, or retain support of, other bureaucratic and political actors in the implementation process. Within these three broad categories, fifteen areas deserve special attention: the people to be served, the nature of the service, the likelihood of distortions or irregularities, the controllability of the program, money, personnel, space, supplies and technical equipment, and intersections with overhead agencies, other line agencies, elected politicians, higher levels of government, private-sector providers, special-interest groups, and the press. By searching each of these fifteen areas diligently and systematically--with the aid of some 44 "factors for consideration"--it appears possible to make relatively powerful predictions about the obstacles that the implementation of a given human services program will entail. In addition, the framework can be used as a comparative instrument in allocating scarce political, managerial, and financial resources among human services programs, and as an aid to decision-making within particular programs and to identifying obstacles that cut across programs. Finally, some general guidance is offered on how implementing agency managers might deal with one of the more important and difficult dimensions of program implementation--namely, getting the cooperation of players in the implementation game whom the managers do not control, and who have different interests and agendas.

Working for wildlife : the beginning of preservation in Canada

Abstract: Twenty years ago, Working for Wildlife was published to wide acclaim. It remains the definitive history of the beginnings of wildlife consciousness in Canada. When Banff National Park was established by the federal government in the late 1880s, wildlife protection was not a top priority. By 1922, however, the government had hosted the first Dominion-Provincial Conference on Wild Life Protection, and wildlife preservation had become part of established government policy. Janet Foster shows how, in the early decades of this century, a small band of dedicated civil servants transformed their own goals of preserving endangered animals into active government policy. Today, the names of these individuals are scarcely known to most Canadians. Yet it was their commitment and dedication that charted the course of today's ecological movement. This new edition of Foster's important book will be welcomed by students of environmental studies, geography, and Canadian history, as well as by members of naturalist clubs and conservation societies. Lorne Hammond's new material places the book in context and provides readers with a sense of what has happened in the field since.

Technology versus Tradition: Communication in the Iranian Revolution

Abstract: Analysis of the “conflict between the official culture of the government … and the traditional culture of the masses rooted in Iranian national and religious traditions.”

The Efficacy of Trading Suspensions: A Regulatory Action Designed to Prevent the Exploitation of Monopoly Information

Abstract: WHILE MOST LAWYERS, government officials and security regulators would find it difficult to conceive of an efficient and equitable stock market without existing security regulation, a number of brokers, investors and economists would not find it difficult to do so. Although the merits of each viewpoint have been debated (and specified in an efficient market framework in [23]), the efficacy of current regulation can only be determined by empirical tests. However, to date, most of the empirical research on security regulation has dealt with the role played by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the United States Securities Acts of 1933 and 1934 in improving the economic performance of American security markets [for exceptions, see 23, 24, 25, 34, 35]. More

Trade, Distortions and Employment Growth in Korea

Abstract: Hong, Wontack.1979.Trade, distortions and employment growth in Korea,Report,SeoulKorea Development Institute,410

European government-controlled enterprises: explaining international strategic and policy decisions

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to explain why government-controlled enterprises (GCEs) do or do not have international activities (essentially in the sense of foreign direct investments) and to explain the international operations of such enterprises—which of their major operating policy decisions are distinctive in any way and why The paper arises from 304 interviews with leading executives, government officials, union leaders, etc throughout the nine EEC countries

Competition Among Government Bureaus

Abstract: Maybe I should first -dwribo my own preferences: ontof my favorite fantasies is a dream that Washington might once again be a quiet southern town with several major shrines and puner universities and where everyone, other than tourists, has the good sense to leave town in the summer. My favorite prescription to balance the budget is to turn off the air conditioning in Washington as a symbol ofthegoyemment’s commitment to energy. My dream, 41as, is not likely to be realized in the near future and, in the meantime, it would be useful to improve the responsiveness and efficiency of the organizations supplying the many services we seem to expect from government. One of the many manifestations of academic parochialism is the difference in views concerning how activity in the private and government sectors should be organized. Most economic departments still teach that competition among profit-l8eldBI fwlltlaupplyinl similar products is desirable to achieve responsiveness to consumer demands. efficient supply, and incentives to innovate. Some eeonomists Mnfuse competition with the number of firms in an industry and some laws confuse competition with the preservation of wœk firms, but there is a broad consensus that competition is both a natural and desirable characteristic of private markets. And the empirical evidence provides overwhelming support for this consensus. At the same -time, most public administration departments, based on

Government Legitimacy and Political Stability

Abstract: It is generally assumed that widespread public confidence in the government is essential for political stability in the U.S. and other advanced capitalist democracies. This legitimacy-stability thesis implies that individuals with little confidence in the government would be particularly prone to support political protest. However, theoretical and empirical considerations suggest that this thesis must be revised to include a third, interacting factor-the preexistence of an organized protest movement: low confidence in the government is likely to translate into protest support only when such a movement is present. Using data from a 1972 national survey, only moderate associations are found between several indices of confidence in the government and support for political protest, and these associations are significantly reduced when salient structural factors (e.g., race, unemployment, community involvement) are taken into account. These results are not expected under the widely accepted, unrevised, legitimacy-stability thesis. However, consistent with a revised version of the thesis, it is found that low confidence in the government is strongly associated with protest support among those groups whose interests were being actively promoted by visible protest movements. State legitimacy, the widespread public belief that the society's governing institutions and political authorities are worthy of support, is commonly held to be a precondition for political stability in advanced capitalist democracies. In fact, Lipset (a) has argued that a regime's legitimacy may even be a more important determinant of political stability than how well the regime actually performs. The legitimacy-stability relationship has become a central tenet of most contemporary analyses of American society, including both structural-functionalist and neo-Marxist formulations. Talcott Parsons, for instance, contends that without citizen faith in the political system, the government is incapable of attaining the society's collectively *The authors' names are in arbitrary order, as this was a collaborative effort. The data used in this paper were made available by the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research; the authors, however, take sole responsibility for the analysis and interpretation of these data. We are grateful to Gordon Fellman, Joseph Helfgot, Richard Wilsnack, Yoram Neumann, and two anonymous readers for valuable comments on an earlier draft.

The Mayor as a Policy Leader in the Council-Manager Form of Government: A View from the Field

Abstract: Foundation (PRA 76-15549) and the RANN Division of the National Science Foundation (I.E. 41202500). James L. Perry and Kenneth L. Kraemer, Diffusion and Adoption of Computer Applications Software in Local Governments, Final Report submitted to the Division of Policy Research and Analysis, National Science Foundation (Irvine, CA: Public Policy Research Organization, 1978); and Perry and Kraemer, Technological Innovation in American Local Government: The Case of Computing (New York: Pergamon, forthcoming). Four innovation processes were examined in the research: adoption, adoptability, transfer, and diffusion. Adoption refers to the decision surrounding whether or not a particular computer application will be adopted by local governments. Adoptability refers to probability that an application will be adopted by local governments. Transfer refers to the process of moving a computer application developed in one local government (or federal, state or private agency) to another local government. Diffusion refers to the overall spread of computer applications among local governments. 14. The survey was supported by the National Science Foundation, Research Applied to National Needs Division (I.E. 41202500). 15. Nan Lin and Gerald Zaltman, "Dimensions of Innovations," in Processes and Phenomena of Social Change, ed. Gerald Zaltman (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1973), pp. 93-116 at 109. 16. Kenneth L. Kraemer, "Local Government, Information Systems, and Technology Transfer," Public Administration Review, Vol. 36, No. 4 (July/August 1977).