Showing papers on "Government published in 1981"

The Negro Family: The Case for National Action

Abstract: The removal of legal obstacles to equality of opportunity did not directly lead—and has not yet led—to equal results for African Americans considered as a group. Partly as a result, the demand for greater equality of outcomes has risen—especially in matters economic, where the black-white income gap continues to widen. But already in 1965, in the heady days of the Civil Rights Movement and its legislative victories outlawing overt racial discrimination, a government report called attention to what it called “a new crisis in race relations,” based on the need to help the disintegrating black family in order to attain full group equality for African Americans. The report, written by Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927–2003), Harvard sociologist, author, diplomat, advisor to four presidents, and three-term senator from the state of New York, called for major federal government programs to aid the black family and to help blacks achieve equal success and status in the United States. The present excerpt comprises the report’s Preface and Chapter 1 (“The Negro American Revolution”). Although widely attacked for what some called “blaming the victim,” the report played a crucial role in expanding the role of the federal government in antipoverty and family welfare programs.

Government Decentralization in Comparative Perspective: Theory and Practice in Developing Countries

Abstract: The need to decentralize development planning and management has become a recurring theme in the plans and policies of international assistance agencies and developing nations in recent years. With the shifting emphasis in development strategies toward promoting more socially equitable economic growth and meeting the basic needs of the poorest groups in developing societies, widespread participation in decision-making is considered essential to the development process, and decentralization has been advocated as a way of eliciting that participation.

The end of liberalism : the second republic of the United States

Abstract: The main argument which Lowi develops through this book is that the liberal state grew to its immense size and presence without self-examination and without recognizing that its pattern of growth had problematic consequences. Its engine of growth was delegation. The government expanded by responding to the demands of all major organized interests, by assuming responsibility for programs sought by those interests, and by assigning that responsibility to administrative agencies. Through the process of accommodation, the agencies became captives of the interest groups, a tendency Lowi describes as clientelism. This in turn led to the formulation of new policies which tightened the grip of interest groups on the machinery of government.

Policy and action : essays on the implementation of public policy

Abstract: PrefaceThis book is about the relationship between public policy and action, the processes at work within and between agencies involved in making and implementing public policy and the factors affecting those processes As a working approximation we suggest that the term 'public policy' may be defined as the implicit or explicit intentions of government and the expression of those intentions entailing specific patterns of activity or inaction by governmental agencies Public policy provides the framework within which agencies of government operate to control, regulate or promote certain facets of society in the interests of national defence, law and order, economic and financial management, social welfare and the likeIn recent years, professional and academic concern with problems of public policy implementation - translation of policy into actions - has increased, and this concern relates to wider anxieties about the effectiveness of public policy and government in general At one level, concern with effectiveness forms part of wider ideological debates about the role of the state in society and about the 'governability' of an increasingly complex industrial society, in which, it is argued, interventions are likely to have unforeseen or counter-intentional resultsWhilst public policy emanates from the 'public sector' - including both the institutions of central and local government and state created agencies such as water or health authorities, commissions and corporations - it may be implemented through and directed at a wide variety of individuals and organizations which may or may not be part of the state apparatus, and which may be to a greater or lesser degree independent of state influence or control In the past, studies have been dominated by institutional, public administration or policy analysis perspectives and have tended to concentrate on the substance of policy, the process of its formulation and its effectiveness in terms of impact Concern with effectiveness is now being extended to include a closer look at what actually happens to policy 'in the hands' of implementers, that is, the processes of implementation, the factors affecting those processes and their relationship to policy formulation and changeOur own interest and involvement in the subject area stems in part from this general environment of growing concern with different aspects of public policy 'effectiveness' and in part from our own experience and role as teachers and researchers in the field of policy studies As ex-practitioners ourselves from central and local government, and latterly as teachers-of-practitioners in our work at the University of Bristol School for Advanced Urban Studies, we have shared awareness of the public criticism of 'bureaucratic ineffectiveness' often levelled at those in the public sector, and the concern, even frustration, felt by many at their inability to 'get things done' What actually happens may appear a long way short of policy intentions, or innovative action seems to be thwarted by restrictive policy or practice imposed from above At worst, the sheer multiplicity of agencies that have to be involved in the formulation and implementation of a particular strand of policy, the complicated interaction between policies, and the difficulty of identifying clear objectives and priorities for action against a background of changing political, social and economic circumstances combine to produce an environment of uncertainty, if not impotence, for the individual 'actor' in the processThese rather different perspectives have led us, along with several of our colleagues, into the study of implementation aimed at understanding the relationship between policy and action Over the past few years, individuals at the School for Advanced Urban Studies have undertaken a number of studies of the process of implementation or impact of specific public policies At present a team of researchers (including three of the contributors: Michael Hill, Susan Barrett and Tom Davies) is undertaking research supported by the Social Science Research Council on Implementation in the Central-Local Relationship This body of work and the debate generated within the School have provided the background to some of the material included in this volumeAlthough we are close to the world of practice, we are aware of the power and dominance of practitioner ideologies and debates Consequently, in this volume we have attempted to allow the contributors and ourselves to develop ideas that are distinct from those used in the practice of government That is, we hope we have been able to get some distance on the world of practice and present an analysis from a somewhat more detached stance

Politicians, legislation, and the economy

Abstract: For several decades, the government sector has been viewed as a productive entity that behaves in an all-knowing, benevolent manner to promote the general welfare by correcting market failures Recently, several economists have challenged this view, arguing that the behavior of politicians, like that of other individuals, is motivated by self-interest In this book, the interestgroup theory of government is used as the basis for an analysis of the behavior of politicians in supplying legislation and the manner in which they are paid for this activity

The Administrative Behavior of Federal Bureau Chiefs

Abstract: Most of the people who keep tabs on the workings of the federal government, no matter what the reasons for their interest, seem to take for granted the power and autonomy of the chiefs of the bureaus that make up the executive branch. Because so much is taken for granted, there have not been many studies of what the chiefs actually do day by day. Of all the participants in the governmental process who wield--or are thought to wield--great influence, bureau chiefs are among the least examined.Believing that he could narrow this gap in the materials on the federal government somewhat, Herbert Kaufman set out to report his observations of six bureau chiefs at their jobs in the course of a year. The group consisted of the commissioners of the Internal Revenue Service, the Customs Service, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Social Security Administration; the chief of the Forest Service; and the administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service--a set diversified enough to include a wide variety of organizational situations and experiences, yet with enough in common to allow comparison and generalization.The objective of his research was to describe the chief's activities so as to explain how they exercise their power. And he hoped to find out whether they are as powerful as they are said to be.From his efforts emerges a detailed picture of the work of the bureau leaders and of their role in their agencies and in the government generally. The picture reveals that some of the common beliefs about these officials, and perhaps about the system as a whole, are not altogether accurate. Kaufman traces the implications of his findings for organizing the executive branch, for training administrators, and for organization theory.

Regulating America, Regulating Sweden: A Comparative Study of Occupational Safety and Health Policy

Abstract: "This remarkable book...opens up new perspectives for the study of bureaucracy and the political institutions in which governmental bureaucracies are embedded.... This is one of those rare books that actually "compares" governments...rather than simply offering descriptive accounts of two or more regimes.... Not only are the differences [Kelman] observes between the United States and Sweden striking, they are also in a way counterintuitive."--James Q. WilsonThe book undertakes a comparative examination of two government agencies--the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in the United States and the "Arbetarskyddsverket" or Worker Protection Board (ASV) in Sweden--that have the same mission: the prevention and control of work-related accidents and diseases. By exploring the differences between the two agencies by reference to the societies in which they operate, the study also compares American and Swedish societies themselves. This comparison illuminates the development of "adversary institutions" in American society.Kelman contrasts the political environments of the two countries, noting that American unions are weaker than those of any other democratic industrial nation, while Sweden's are the strongest; that the United States alone among democratic industrial nations has no mass-based socialist or communist party, while in Sweden the socialists held power continuously from 1932 to 1976. And these differences are reflected in the attitudes of national leaders toward occupational safety and health. Thus, President Ford criticized OHSA as a dramatic example of "over-regulation," while Prime Minister Palme saw the fact that workers still risked life and health on the job as a dramatic example of "the failures of capitalism."Nevertheless, some of the author's key empirical findings could not have been predicted on the basis of these broad differences in political outlook. For example, Kelman finds that rulemaking decisions of the two agencies were quite similar and tended toward more rather than less protective alternatives; that OSHA was far more punitive with regard to compliance than ASV and far more concerned with controlling field inspectors; and that lawyers and the courts were "highly involved in both rulemaking and compliance in the United States and virtually uninvolved in Sweden." The book seeks to explain these findings.

Consumer Search and Public Policy

Abstract: Consumers acquire information from a variety of internal and external sources. Sources differ in their abilities to convey different kinds of information. This paper examines the implications of these sources for designing government information programs. It emphasizes the need to examine the effects of information disclosures in the total information environment.

Making Canadian Indian Policy: The Hidden Agenda 1968-1970

Abstract: The Trudeau government's White Paper on Indian policy issued in 1969 was a shock to members of the general public as well as the Indian population. Proposing to terminate all special rights, including the Indian Act, reserves, and treaties, it was diametrically opposed to what the Indians had been led to believe: that their rights would be honoured and that they would participate in shaping the policies that determined their future. The book looks inside the federal government in the early Trudeau years to see how that White Paper was formulated. The author examines ideologies held by major policy makers in the face of concepts of public participation and public servant activism -- two approaches to policy making closely coupled in Ottawa during the period. She reveals how the policy was developed behind close doors by a number of conflicting bureaucracies, in spite of the efforts of those who recommended Indian participation. The result was Indian militancy and mistrust, the very condition with the government hoped to dispel. The White Paper was shelved in 1970, but it left a powerful legacy. It continues to have an impact on government-Indian relations, as the Indians judge current policies and action on the basis of their memories. The author evaluates this impact and its implications for future governments with an eye to avoiding past errors. The book contributes to a greater understanding of government policy making. It demonstrates that personal aspirations and histories, individual philosophies, and political craftsmanship can dominate reason and logic in policy formation.

Formalized mentor relationships for management and executive development programs in the federal government

Abstract: This article examines mentor relationships in the public sector, with special attention to the role of formal mentoradvisor systems in management and executive development programs within the federal government. It draws on experience of three case studies of formal mentor systems, as well as other recent experience in the public and private sector.' The intent is to extract from this experience some major themes and lessons which can be used to facilitate the development of more effective mentor relationships. This topic is especially pertinent to federal managers in light of new initiatives in management and executive development that have resulted from the passage of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. Recent guidance from the Office of Personnel Management explicitly calls for the assignment of incumbent officials of the Senior Executive Service (SES) as formal mentors or advisors to each SES candidate selected to participate in agency executive development programs.2 While the guidance to agencies does not define specific roles and responsibilities for mentors, the general intent is that these individuals should provide counsel and support to SES candidates as they make the transition from mid-level manager or professional positions to senior level careers.

Occupational Restrictions and the Quality of Service Received: Some Evidence*

Abstract: Advocates of occupational licensing have been so successful with legislators that currently more than eighty occupations are licensed or restricted at some level of government. The majority of these occupations are licensed in most states with as many as sixty occupations licensed in a single state [7].' As of 1969, ten percent of U. S. national income originated in occupationally restricted labor markets.2 Licensed occupations hold a strategic position among all occupations in that they include all traditional professions and most skilled trades. Restrictions on number of practitioners are often imposed by such methods as licensing, limiting training facilities and imposition of union strictures. Occupational licensing regulation exists primarily at the state government level; however, significant restriction also occurs at national and municipal levels. The rationale of such regulation, at least as presented to legislative bodies, is that it raises the quality level of services for two explicit purposes. First occupational regulation provides a standard by which professional competence may be judged helping to avoid negative third party effects which may result from incompetent practitioners; for example, licensing of Certified Public Accountants is, in part, rationalized as protecting investors who must rely on the accuracy of financial information produced and verified by accountants who are neither selected by, nor responsible to, the investors. The second purpose of such regulation is to provide a higher standard of quality; consumers are believed to be unable or unwilling to correctly evaluate

Attitudes Toward Public Policy Alternatives to Reduce Air Pollution

Abstract: DAVID A. AAKER is the J. Gary Shansby Professor of Marketing Strategy at the University of California at Berkeley. RICHARD P. BAGOZZI is Associate Professor of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research into public concern with environmental quality has mainly attempted to identify the causes or determinants of this concern. Although there have been exceptions [Koenig 1975; Kinnear, Taylor, and Ahmed 1974], the evidence suggests that concern is associated with higher levels of education and socioeconomic status, younger age, urban residency, and nonminority membership (see, e.g., Erksine [1972]; Tognacci et al. [1972]). With respect to political orientation, the evidence indicates that Democrats, liberals, and those less politically alienated are more concerned with the environment (see, e.g., Tognacci et al. [1972]; Dunlap [1975]; Koenig [1975]; Buttel and Flinn [1978]). There is also evidence that concern is related to perceived consumer responsibility [Hummel, Levitt, and Loomis 1978] and perceived consumer effectiveness in influencing environmental quality [Kinnear, Taylor, and Ahmed 1974]. This article will attempt to extend this research stream in several directions. First, the study will focus upon a specific domain of concern: concern about air pollution. Past research has tended to use much broader constructs, such as concern about the overall environment, ecology, or pollution. When the constructs consist of multi-item scales, the individual items are often quite diverse (e.g., Weigel and Weigel [1978]). The problem with the use of such a general concern construct is that people can hold a variety of attitudes and beliefs toward the many components of the environment. If these components are combined, especially in an unspecified way, the meaning of, and attitudes toward, the resulting construct may be unstable. Second, and perhaps most important, the research will study not only the antecedents of concern but also the impact of concern and other constructs upon the advocacy of a set of public policy alternatives, such as closing freeways or adding additional pollution control equipment on automobiles. With few exceptions, previous research has been content to consider generalized concern as the sole dependent variable of interest. However, concern is more properly treated as an intervening variable. Inquiry should be extended to the link between concern and various public policy alternatives. The practical question is whether concern becomes translated into support for public policy alternatives that will be costly, inconvenient, or both. It is this link that is really important to an understanding of the process by which an issue such as pollution gets addressed in our system of government. Among the few studies that have looked beyond concern in order to investigate possible action that might be taken are several which use a "willingness to pay" construct (cf. National Wildlife Federation [1969,

Bumiputra and Pribumi: Economic Nationalism (Indiginism) in Malaysia and Indonesia

Abstract: A DIVISION OF Malaysian and Indonesian societies into indigenous and non-indigenous categories is expressed by the terms bumiputra/non-bumiputra and pribumi/non-pribumi, respectively. While it must be emphasized that national development policies are not entirely based on an indigenous/non-indigenous dichotomy, such a dichotomy has become increasingly conspicuous in development strategies in Malaysia and, to a lesser extent, Indonesia. The rationale for this dichotomization seems to be based on the following three premises: (1) The basis for the division lies in the belief that the indigenous nationals do not have a share in the national economies commensurate with their proportion of the population and their status as original inhabitants of their respective territories. (2) Therefore, government development policies should be oriented, in part, to redress this perceived economic imbalance by ensuring that the indigenous sector of the economy is encouraged to increase its participation. (3) It is believed that more equitable participation of the indigenous group in the private economic sector will help to promote political stability. The purpose of this article is to analyze the implications of these premises. We will not be concerned with arguing the economic relevance, expedience or applicability of government policy towards the indigenous sector. Our focus will provide what we feel to be a muchneeded analysis of the origins and development of the terms, with emphasis on how and why they have emerged as key contemporary politico-economic concepts.

The Problem of Bureaucratic Government

Abstract: IT IS BY NOW almost trite to say that bureaucracy and administration are an increasingly significant if not the most significant feature of modern policy-making. Journalists and political candidates of almost all political persuasions find the public bureaucracy a convenient whipping boy to explain all varieties of social problems. Academic writers have been concerned with bureaucracy, although not unvaringly opposed to its increasing importance in policy-making. Their approaches have ranged from the theorists of post-industrial society who have welcomed the rational, technocratic decision-making processes of the bureaucracy as a means of saving them from a more fearsome ill politics to those who, like the journalists, go to great lengths to provide "proof" of the inadequacies of bureaucratic decision-making in government.' Somewhere between those two extreme views has been found the majority of students of public administration, gleeful over the increasing importance of public bureaucracy, but apprehensive over the weakness of their own models for explaining the policymaking role being assumed.2 Great imprecision has characterized both academic and popular attempts to analyze bureaucracy. One author has pointed to at

Britain's inner cities

Abstract: PART ONE: INNER-URBAN POLICY: THE CONTEXT The Origins of British Inner-Urban Policy Why Were Urban Experiments Initiated? The Major Urban Experiments The Urban Experiments and Models of Deprivation The Urban Context The Political Environment The Cities and Socio-Demographic Change Urban Economic Change The Urban Financial Context Conclusions PART TWO: BRITISH INNER-URBAN POLICY, 1977-9 The Labour Government and Inner-City Policy, 1977-9 The 1977 White Paper: Policy for the Inner Cities The New Urban Programme The Partnerships The Glasgow Eastern Area Renewal (GEAR) Project Industrial Improvement Areas The Labour Government and Inner-City Policy, 1977-9 Conservative Inner-Urban Policy after 1979 The Search for Co-Ordination Co-Ordination after 1979 City Action Teams and Task Forces Other Co-Ordinating Projects Co-Ordination in Inner-City Policy Conservative Inner-Urban Policy after 1979 Liberalization and Enterprise Enterprise Zones Freeports Simplified Planning Zones Liberalization and the Cities Conservative Inner-Urban Policy after 1979 Urban Development Urban Development Initiatives Urban Development Corporations and Their Alternatives Alternative Strategies towards Urban Regeneration Inner-Urban Policy The Role of Local Government Local-Government Intervention The Historical and Institutional Context Local-Authority Economic Initiatives Local Economic Development Debates and Tensions Local Economic Development Non-Governmental Institutions and Inner-Urban Policy Trade-Union Initiatives Co-Operatives and Community Enterprise Private-Sector Initiatives and Urban Regeneration PART THREE: INNER-URBAN POLICY: EVALUATION, EXPLANATION AND REFORM Inner-Urban Policy Overview and Critique Inner-Urban Policy Organization, Structure and Operation Inner-City Intervention Policy Outcomes Inner-Urban Policy Towards an Explanation Policy Analysis and Inner-Urban Policy Ideology and Inner-Urban Policy Inner-City Policy Towards Reform Urban Policy A New Direction Institutional Change and Urban Policy Ideology, Politics and Urban Policy

Saudi Arabia in the 1980s: Foreign Policy, Security, and Oil

Abstract: This book examines the foreign relations, politics, and government of Saudi Arabia during the 1980s.

Politics is for people

Abstract: If we are to enhance the quality of life, a bold new approach to politics is needed that takes into consideration the economic realities of the 1980s. Shirley Williams, a founder of the new British Social Democratic Party, former Labourite and government minister, outlines her blueprint for action in this forthright and intelligent book. Traditional institutions in both capitalist and communist systems are cracking under the stresses of advanced industrialism, Williams contends. The sturdy structures once responsible for economic abundance, emergent class interests, and political responses are now in disrepair. Even the impressive postwar economic and social achievements are jeopardized by scarce energy and the unmet educational needs of high technology. Policymakers and citizens in the West can no longer assume that full employment, or a wide range of social services, or good industrial relations are achievable unless there is a quantum leap in our political thinking. What Williams wants and is working toward is a government that is limited, accountable, and able to be superseded when it forfeits popular support. The welfare state, furthermore, needs to be reformed to allow for more participation. She calls for the devolution of power and decentralization in government, big business, and unions. In three sweeping proposals, she suggests a ten year plan to bring the welfare state into the future, a Marshall Plan to assist the Third World, and greater disarmament after a period of successful detente. Williams' words ring with harsh truths and tangible needs. She challenges us with her own declaration of intent: "The old politics is dying. The battle to decide what the new politics will be like is just beginning. It is possible, just possible, that it will be a politics for people."

Strategies of Administrative Control and Contextual Constraints in a Less-Developed Country: The Case of Egyptian Public Enterprise

Abstract: Access to 31 state-owned organizations engaged in a variety of industries in Egypt enables the function of work organizations in a less-developed country to be examined. The utilization of public enterprises by government in political and developmental strategies has a considerable impact upon their form and authority. They are shown to be highly structured and highly centralized (using Aston measures) in a way similar to organizations in other socialist and developing countries. In addition, size and techno logy together appear to exert a bureaucratizing effect.

The Determinants of Federal Grants

Abstract: Federal government grants are given to state and local governments for a number of reasons, but in many cases the primary motivation is redistributional. Certain areas may be plagued with unusually severe unemployment, or a large number of families with dependent children qualifying for public assistance, or they may simply be so poor that their tax bases are not large enough to provide normal public services without unusually high tax rates. Because of the nature of these problems, an area with one problem of this sort would be likely to have many such problems. States and localities having problems of this sort would probably send their governmental officials to the Federal government to seek assistance. As one writer noted, "Determining the total available for disbursement, allocation formulas, and the acceptance of project applications are the subjects of intense political lobbying-in recent years, in fact, this scramble for grants has reached such a level that now many states and cities maintain Washington offices simply to lobby for, expedite, and keep track of Federal grants."' The Federal government has been cooperative, both by directly providing additional revenue to smaller governments through revenue sharing, and by providing grants for such things as public assistance programs, economic opportunity grants, and manpower training programs. The rationale for these programs is to redistribute revenue to those areas with the greatest relative need, but there is some question as to whether the actual distribution of grants has been a function of relative need, or whether political considerations have interferred with that goal. The purpose of this paper is to examine the criteria by which Federal government grants are actually distributed.2 Because of the nature of this study, only certain types of grants will be considered here. The grants examined in this study all have as their rationale some criterion of economic need. Thus, if the grants are being administered according to their stated rationale, the larg-

The Dynamics of Business-Government Relations

Abstract: This work represents an important advance in the study of the interrelationships between business and U.S. foreign policy. Focusing on a single aspect of this broad field—the growth of industrial exports—William H. Becker demonstrates the complexity of business interests and behavior, of the bureaucratic and political forces at work in Congress and the Departments of Commerce and State, and of the interplay between business and governmental practices and concerns. In so doing, he provides the first full analysis of the industrial, political, and bureaucratic context in which the U.S. became a major exporter of industrial products.

Representing Women: The Transition From Social Movement To Interest Group:

Abstract: T HE CHALLENGE posed by new social movements and the response of the political system are dynamic aspects of American policy formation which have been neglected by most political scientists. Yet, interaction between movements and the government has frequently resulted in extending the range of political debate in the United States as well as introducing new and innovative policy alternatives. Social movements raise serious questions outside normal government channels, often concerning subjects which are not being treated as topics of political concern. The response of the government to demands by movements often results in expanding the areas of government interest and involvement.1 For example, in the 1960s and 1970s the United States government, responding to the demands of the black civil rights movement, the environmental movement and the women's movement, involved itself in areas of policy such as integrating the schools, eliminating sexism in job recruitment and monitoring environmental impacts, which were previously considered beyond the scope of federal responsibility. Yet despite the ease with which one can identify social movements that have introduced important new elements to American politics, little attention has generally been paid to the process by which social movements are incorporated into the political system. What factors determine the success or failure of movements that try to gain access to the political system? This study examines factors which allowed one movement the women's movement to make this breakthrough. It compares these factors with what is known about other movements active in the same period. The importance of such an inquiry is suggested by sociological research that delineates the distinctive characteristics of social movements.2 This re-