Showing papers on "Government published in 1998"

Governance as theory: five propositions

Abstract: Science in the Department of Government, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, G1 1XQ, UK, email: G.stokerK strathclyde.ac.uk His main research interests are in local government, urban politics, and cross-national policy transfer. Between 1992 and 1997 he was Director of the ESRC Local Governance Research Programme. He has authored or edited over a dozen books. His two most recent publications are: Rethinking Local Democracy, 1996 (edited with D. King) and The Privatisation of Urban Services in Europe, 1997 (edited with D. Lorrain). Governance as theory: five propositions

Measuring Citizen and Government Ideology in the American States, 1960-93

Abstract: We construct dynamic measures of the ideology of a state's citizens and political leaders, using the roll call voting scores of state congressional delegations, the outcomes of congressional elections, the partisan division of state legislatures, the party of the governor, and various assumptions regarding voters and state political elites. We establish the utility of our indicators for 1960-93 by (i) examining and, whenever possible, testing the assumptions on which they are based, (ii) assessing their reliability, (iii) assessing their convergent validity by correlating them with other ideology indicators, and (iv) appraising their construct validity by analyzing their predictive power within multivariate models from some of the best recent research in the state politics field. Strongly supportive results from each battery of tests indicate the validity of our annual, state-level measures of citizen and government ideology. Substantively, our measures reveal more temporal variation in state citizen ideology than is generally recognized.

Innovations in Performance Measurement: Trends and Research Implications

Abstract: The objective of this paper is to foster research on recent innovations in performance measurement by providing a rich description of emerging measurement practices and suggesting directions for future research. Using survey data collected by consulting firms and government organizations, we examine three measurement trends: (1) economic value measures, (2) non-financial performance measures and the balanced scorecard, and (3) performance measurement initiatives in government agencies. Existing research on these topics is reviewed and research opportunities are highlighted.

Clinical governance and the drive for quality improvement in the new NHS in England

Abstract: A commitment to deliver high quality care should be at the heart of everyday clinical practice. In the past many health professionals have watched as board agendas and management meetings have become dominated by financial issues and activity targets. The government's white paper on the NHS in England outlines a new style of NHS that will redress this imbalance.1 For the first time, all health organisations will have a statutory duty to seek quality improvement through clinical governance. In the future, well managed organisations will be those in which financial control, service performance, and clinical quality are fully integrated at every level. #### Summary points Clinical governance is to be the main vehicle for continuously improving the quality of patient care and developing the capacity of the NHS in England to maintain high standards (including dealing with poor professional performance) It requires an organisation-wide transformation; clinical leadership and positive organisational cultures are particularly important Local professional self regulation will be the key to dealing with the complex problems of poor performance among clinicians New approaches are needed to enable the recognition and replication of good clinical practice to ensure that lessons are reliably learned from failures in standards of care The new concept has echoes of corporate governance, an initiative originally aimed at redressing failed standards in the business world through the Cadbury report2 and later extended to public services (including the NHS). The resonance of the two terms is important, for if clinical governance is to be successful it must be underpinned by the same strengths as corporate governance: it must be rigorous in its application, organisation-wide in its emphasis, accountable in its delivery, developmental in its thrust, and positive in its connotations. The introduction of clinical governance, aimed as it is at improving the quality of clinical care at …

Innovations in Performance Measurement: Trends and Research Implications

Abstract: The objective of this paper is to foster research on recent innovations in performance measurement by providing a rich description of emerging measurement practices and suggesting directions for future research. Using survey data collected by consulting firms and government organizations, we examine three measurement trends: (1) economic value measures, (2) non-financial performance measures and the balanced scorecard, and (3) performance measurement initiatives in government agencies. Existing research on these topics is reviewed and research opportunities are highlighted.

The Quality of Goverment

Abstract: We investigate empirically the determinants of the quality of governments in a large cross-section of countries. We assess government performance using measures of government intervention, public sector efficiency, public good provision, size of government, and political freedom. We find that countries that are poor, close to the equator, ethnolinguistically heterogeneous, use French of socialist laws, or have high proportions of Catholics or Muslims exhibit inferior government performance. We also find that the larger governments tend to be the better performing ones. The importance of historical factors in explaining the variation in government performance across countries sheds light on the economic, political, and cultural theories of institutions.

Civic Education: What Makes Students Learn

Abstract: This study takes a look at what America's high school seniors know about government and politics and how they learn it. The authors develop a theoretical model to explain the cognitive process by which students learn about politics, and suggest changes in the style of civics teaching.

Public Management and Administration: An Introduction

Abstract: An Era of Change The Traditional Model of Public Administration Public Management The Role of Government Public Enterprise Public Policy and Policy Analysis Strategic Management Personnel and Performance Management Financial Management E-government Managing External Constituencies Public Management in Developing Countries Accountability Conclusion: A New Paradigm?

Why people don't trust government

Abstract: Preface Introduction: The Decline of Confidence in Government Joseph S. Nye, Jr. PART ONE: The Scope and Performance of Government The Evolving Scope of Government Ernest R. May Measuring the Performance of Government Derek Bok Fall from Grace: The Public's Loss of Faith in Government Gary Orren PART TWO: The Menu of Explanations Is It Really the Economy Stupid? Robert Z. Lawrence Social and Cultural Causes of Dissatisfaction with U.S. Government Jane Manbridge The Polarization of American Parties and Mistrust of Government David C. King The Politics of Mistrust Richard E. Neustadt PART THREE: Data on Public Attitudes toward Governance Changing Attitudes in America Robert J. Blendon, John M. Benson, Richard Morin, Drew E. Altman, Mollyann Brodie, Mario Brossard, And Matt James Postmaterialist Values and the Erosion of Institutional Authority Ronald Inglehart Public Trust and Democracy in Japan Susan J. Pharr Conclusion: Reflections, Conjectures, and Puzzles Joseph S. Nye, Jr., and Philip D. Zelikow Notes Contributors Index

Getting Agencies to Work Together: The Practice and Theory of Managerial Craftsmanship

Abstract: Collaboration between government agencies, an old joke goes, is an unnatural act committed by nonconsenting adults. Eugene Bardach argues that today's opinion climate favoring more results-oriented government makes collaboration a lot more natural--though it is still far from easy. In this book, Bardach diagnoses the difficulties, explains how they are sometimes overcome, and offers practical ideas for public managers, advocates, and others interested in developing interagency collaborative networks. Bardach provides examples from diverse policy areas, including children, youth, and family services; welfare-to-work; antipollution enforcement; fire prevention; and ecosystem management.

More instruments and broader goals : moving toward the post Washington consensus

Abstract: I would like to discuss improvements in our understanding of economic development, in particular the emergence of what is sometimes called the ‘post-Washington Consensus’. My remarks elaborate on two themes. The first is that we have come to a better understanding of what makes markets work well. The Washington Consensus held that good economic performance required liberalized trade, macroeconomic stability and getting prices right (see Williamson, 1990). Once the government dealt with these issues -essentially, once the government ‘got out of the way’ — private markets would allocate resources efficiently and generate robust growth. To be sure, all of these are important for markets to work well: it is very difficult for investors to make good decisions when inflation is running at 100 per cent a year and highly variable. But the policies advanced by the Washington Consensus are not complete, and they are sometimes misguided. Making markets work requires more than just low inflation; it requires sound financial regulation, competition policy and policies to facilitate the transfer of technology and to encourage transparency, to cite some fundamental issues neglected by the Washington Consensus.

The New Meaning of Corporate Social Responsibility

Abstract: While many contemporary American corporations continue to exemplify high levels of corporate social responsibility, virtually all publicly held firms are finding themselves under growing pressure from the investment community to maximize shareholder value. As a result the interests of the firm's non-shareholder constituencies are being neglected. The government must step in and function as arbiter, enacting rules and regulations that define what we expect of corporations in the way of such things as working conditions, environmental protection, and job training. But since the political process constitutes the only remaining vehicle for the expression of non-shareholder stakeholders, if corporate managers wish to be free to maximize shareholder value, it is inappropriate for them to also participate in shaping public policy.

A Constitution of Democratic Experimentalism

Abstract: In this Article, Professors Dorf and Sabel identify a new form of government, democratic experimentalism, in which power is decentralized to enable citizens and other actors to utilize their local knowledge to fit solutions to their individual circumstances, but in which regional and national coordinating bodies require actors to share their knowledge with others facing similar problems. This information pooling, informed by the example of novel kinds of coordination within and among private firms, both increases the efficiency of public administration by encouraging mutual learning among its parts and heightens its accountability through participation of citizens in the decisions that affect them.In democratic experimentalism, subnational units of government are broadly free to set goals and to choose the means to attain them. Regulatory agencies set and ensure compliance with national objectives by means of bestpractice performance standards based on information that regulated entities provide in return for the freedom to experiment with solutions they prefer. The authors argue that this type of self-government is currently emerging in settings as diverse as the regulation of nuclear power plants, community policing, procurement of sophisticated military hardware, environmental regulation, and child-protective services.The Article claims further that a shift towards democratic experimentalism holds out the promise of reducing the distance between, on the one hand, the Madisonian ideal of a limited government assured by a complex division of powers and, on the other hand, the governmental reality characteristic of the New Deal synthesis, in which an all-powerful Congress delegates much of its authority to expert agencies that are checked by the courts when they infringe individual rights, but are otherwise assumed to act in the public interest. Professors Dorf and Sabel argue that the combination of decentralization and mutual monitoring intrinsic to democratic experimentalism better protects the constitutional ideal than do doctrines offederalism and the separation of powers, so at odds with current circumstances, that courts recognize the futility of applying them consistently in practice by limiting themselves to fitful declarations of their validity in principle.

The Scottish government

Abstract: Dear Colleague 10 April 2015 PAY AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICE Addressees REMUNERATION OF:  HOSPITAL MEDICAL AND DENTAL STAFF;  DOCTORS AND DENTISTS IN PUBLIC HEALTH MEDICINE AND THE COMMUNITY HEALTH SERVICE;  PUBLIC DENTAL SERVICE STAFF;  DENTAL TRAINING GRADES;  ASSOCIATE ADVISERS/ASSISTANT DIRECTORS;  DIRECTORS OF POSTGRADUATE GENERAL AND DENTAL PRACTICE EDUCATION (CRUMP);  GP SPECIALTY REGISTRARS IN GENERAL PRACTICE. For action

The Myth of the Powerless State: Governing the Economy in a Global Era

Abstract: Preface. 1. The State is Dead. Long Live the State. Introduction. The Phenomenon of a State Deniala . Scope of the Argument. The Book in Outline. 2. The Sources of State Capacity. . Introduction. The Problem of State Capacity. Approaches to State Capacity. Conclusion. 3. Transformative Capacity in Evolution: East Asian Developmental States. Introduction. Institutions and Economic Performance. Institutional Capacities for Industrial Transformation. The Changing Basis of State Capacity. Forms and Dynamics of Governed Interdependence. Conclusion: State a Powera in East Asia. 4. Limits of the Distributive State: Swedish Model or Global Economy? . Introduction. Distributive State Capacity. The Model Unravels: External Pressures?. Undermining from Within. The Limits of a Distributive Strategy. Explanations of the Swedish Strategy. Conclusion. 5. Dualistic States: Germany in the Japanese Mirror. Introduction. The German Case: How a Developmentala is the State?. The State in the Rise of German Industrial Power. Geopolitical Submergence of Transformative Capacity. Private--Sector Governance: A State--informed System of Coordination. Postwar Developmentalism: Innovation Without Change. Reconstituting Transformative Capacity. Dual Capabilities and National Prosperity. How a Distributivea is the Japanese State?. Conclusion. 6. The Limits of Globalization. Introduction. What does a Globalizationa Mean?. The Question of Novelty. The Question of Magnitude. The Question of Distribution. The Question of Mobility. 7. The Myth of the Powerless State. The Extent of Government Powerlessness. Convergence Versus Varieties of State Capacity. Adaptivity of the State. The State as Victim of Midwife of a Globalizationa . The Emergence of a Catalytica States. Conclusion. Notes. Bibliography. Index.

A Constitution of Democratic Experimentalism

Abstract: In this Article, Professors Dorf and Sabel identify a new form of government, democratic experimentalism, in which power is decentralized to enable citizens and other actors to utilize their local knowledge to fit solutions to their individual circumstances, but in which regional and national coordinating bodies require actors to share their knowledge with others facing similar problems. This information pooling, informed by the example of novel kinds of coordination within and among private firms, both increases the efficiency of public administration by encouraging mutual learning among its parts and heightens its accountability through participation of citizens in the decisions that affect them.In democratic experimentalism, subnational units of government are broadly free to set goals and to choose the means to attain them. Regulatory agencies set and ensure compliance with national objectives by means of bestpractice performance standards based on information that regulated entities provide in return for the freedom to experiment with solutions they prefer. The authors argue that this type of self-government is currently emerging in settings as diverse as the regulation of nuclear power plants, community policing, procurement of sophisticated military hardware, environmental regulation, and child-protective services.The Article claims further that a shift towards democratic experimentalism holds out the promise of reducing the distance between, on the one hand, the Madisonian ideal of a limited government assured by a complex division of powers and, on the other hand, the governmental reality characteristic of the New Deal synthesis, in which an all-powerful Congress delegates much of its authority to expert agencies that are checked by the courts when they infringe individual rights, but are otherwise assumed to act in the public interest. Professors Dorf and Sabel argue that the combination of decentralization and mutual monitoring intrinsic to democratic experimentalism better protects the constitutional ideal than do doctrines offederalism and the separation of powers, so at odds with current circumstances, that courts recognize the futility of applying them consistently in practice by limiting themselves to fitful declarations of their validity in principle.

Citizens and the state

Abstract: Fears that representative democracy in western Europe is in crisis are examined on the basis of trends in mass attitudes over the past two or three decades. The evidence suggests not crisis but a changing relationship between citizens and the state. This change poses a democratic transformation in the countries of Western Europe. Series Description This set of five volumes is an exhaustive study of beliefs in government in post-war Europe. Based upon an extensive collection of survey evidence, the results challenge widely argued theories of mass opinion, and much scholarly writing about citizen attitudes towards government and politics. The series arises from a research project sponsored by the European Science Foundation Series ISBN: 0-19-961880-1

The independent inquiry into inequalities in health: Is welcome, but its recommendations are too cautious and vague

Abstract: News p 1471 Twenty years ago the secretary of state for social services of the last Labour government appointed Sir Douglas Black to chair a working group to review information on inequalities in health and suggest policy and research that should follow from this review.1 The report appeared in 1980 and received a cold reception from the new Conservative government.2 The climate for the reception of the Black report's successor—the independent inquiry into inequalities in health, chaired by Sir Donald Acheson and published this week3—is hopefully different. How do its findings and recommendations compare? For 17 years of Conservative government the Labour party made political capital out of the non-implementation of the recommendations of the Black report. The announcement before the 1997 election that, if elected, Labour would commission an independent review into inequalities in health was therefore welcome.4 When launching the inquiry in July 1997 the minister for public health criticised the health strategy of the previous administration for “its excessive emphasis on lifestyle issues” which “cast the responsibility back on to the individual.”5 Given the history of the Black report—released with no press release and only 260 copies—the commitment to publish the new report was encouraging, as was the statement that “its conclusions, based on evidence, will contribute to the development of a new strategy for health.”3 The review's terms of reference, however, included the stipulation that it must …

Curriculum Reform in South Africa: A Critical Analysis of Outcomes-based Education.

Abstract: Since South Africa's first national democratic elections in 1994, the Government of National Unity has issued several curriculum‐related reforms intended to democratise education and eliminate ineq...

Global Public Policy: Governing without Government?

Abstract: During the last decade "globalization" has become a fashion among policymakers and academics alike. Not one day passes during which the term is not being invoked to legitimize a policy decision, promote a policy prescription, or explain a policy outcome. Despite its frequent use, however, little is known about globalization and its effects. In this pathbreaking new book, Wolfgang Reinicke provides an in-depth analysis of economic globalization and examines its implications for public policy. National responses, as suggested on both ends of the political spectrum in the United States and elsewhere, are often flawed. Global public policy--not world government, but a mixed approach to global management in which states, corporations, NGOs, regional and international organizations, and coalitions cooperate--provides an alternative and promising framework. Using four case studies--global banking, money laundering, dual-use export controls, and trade in chemical precursors--the book develops the concept of global public policy and shows how its principles have the potential to improve the capacities of policymakers to deal with the challenges of the 21st century.

The Strength of a Weak State: The Rights Revolution and the Rise of Human Resources Management Divisions

Abstract: Since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, federal policy has revolutionized employment rights. Equal employment opportunity law, occupational safety and health legislation, and fringe benefits regulation were designed to create employee rights to equal protection, to health and safety, and to the benefits employers promise. In event‐history analyses of data from 279 organizations, this research finds that these legal changes stimulated organizations to create personnel, antidiscrimination, safety, and benefits departments to manage compliance. Yet as institutionalization proceeded, middle managers came to disassociate these new offices from policy and to justify them in purely economic terms, as part of the new human resources management paradigm. This pattern is typical in the United States, where the Constitution symbolizes government rule of industry as illegitimate. It may help to explain the long absence of a theory of the state in organizational analysis and to explain a conundrum noted by ...

Aid and the political economy of policy change

Abstract: This volume looks at the effectiveness of conditionality in structural adjustment programmes. Tony Killick charts the emergence of conditionality, and challenges the widely held assumption that it is a co-operative process, arguing that in fact it tends to be coercive and detrimental to development objectives. Through detailed case studies of twenty one recipient countries, he explores the key issues of: * ownership * role of agencies * government objectives and the effects of policy. The conclusion is that conditionality has been counterproductive to price stability, economic growth and investment.

Corruption and government size: A disaggregated analysis

Abstract: Using annual state-level data over 1983–1987, this paper examines the effect of government size on corruption by public officials by including both demand and supply side incentives for engaging in corrupt practices. Our objectives are twofold. First, we assess the relationship between the incidence of corruption and overall measures of the size of the federal government and the state-local sector in each state. Second, we explore what kinds of government activities are more likely to be successful in deterring abuse of public office. Our results are generally supportive of Becker's “crime and punishment” model. Regarding the primary focus of the paper, our results show that government size, in particular spending by state governments, does indeed have a strong positive influence on corruption.

Governing in the Information Age

Abstract: Contexts for governing in the information age re-engineering the government machine - new technologies and organizational change forging high-tech public services the search for renewal - citizenship and democracy in the information age wiring up for the information age - telecommunications and public services understanding the information polity.

Insecure Property Rights and Government Ownership of Firms

Abstract: We develop a theory of the ownership of firms in an environment without secure property rights against state encroachment. "Private ownership" leads to excessive revenue hiding and "state ownership" (i.e., national government ownership) fails to provide incentives for managers and local governments in a credible way. Because "local government ownership" integrates local government activities and business activities, local government may better serve the interests of the national government, and thus local government ownership may credibly limit state predation, increase local public goods provision, and reduce costly revenue hiding. We use our theory to interpret the relative success of local government-owned firms during China's transition to a market economy.

Bringing the Public Back In: Should Sociologists Consider the Impact of Public Opinion on Public Policy?

Abstract: The struggle for democracy, central to Western politics for hundreds ofyears, is predicated upon the belief that democratic institutions give citizens considerable power over their government. Whether this belief is correct is a key question in the study of democratic politics. This article argues that this question is neglected by sociologists who examine the determinants of public policy; they neither address theories of democratic responsiveness nor assess the impact of public opinion on public policy. This neglect is problematic for two reasons: there is much evidence that public opinion strongly influences public policy, and there is reason to believe that adding public opinion to sociologists' empirical analyses of policy change would undermine some of their conclusions about the influence of otherfactors. Two ways of responding to these findings are presented. It has been 350 years since the struggle for representative democracy began during the English Revolution. It was then that the Levellers first articulated many ideas still central to democratic thought: that government should be subject to the people; that the rights of citizens should be protected by a written constitution; and that among these rights should be the right to vote, equality before the law, freedom of speech, legal representation, and the right to remain silent during judicial proceedings.'

An Epidemic of Education Policy: (what) can we learn from each other?

Abstract: Education policy is in a state of change across the industralized countries. Governments everywhere are re-examining many aspects of the provision of schooling. This paper examines the extent to which countries and their subjurisdictions (such as states in the US or provinces in Canada) are learning from each other about the nature of change and reform in education. It draws on formal policy documents and published policy literature in Canada, the US and Britain and on my experience as a government official in education as well as through visits to and extensive contact with colleagues in the other two countries. I conclude that mutual learning is not necessarily a good description of the movement of policies and suggest that analogies to disease and epidemics may be a useful way of thinking about what is happening.

Governing Irrigation Systems in Nepal: Institutions, Infrastructure, and Collective Action

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How Dramatically Did Women’s Suffrage Change the Size and Scope of Government?

Abstract: This paper examines the growth of government during this century as a result of giving women the right to vote. Using cross-sectional time-series data for 1870 to 1940, we examine state government expenditures and revenue as well as voting by U.S. House and Senate state delegations and the passage of a wide range of different state laws. Suffrage coincided with immediate increases in state government expenditures and revenue and more liberal voting patterns for federal representatives, and these effects continued growing over time as more women took advantage of the franchise. Contrary to many recent suggestions, the gender gap is not something that has arisen since the 1970s, and it helps explain why American government started growing when it did.