Showing papers on "Legislation published in 1998"

Pivotal Politics: A Theory of U.S. Lawmaking

Abstract: Politicians and pundits alike have complained that the divided governments of the last decades have led to a legislative gridlock. The author argues against this, advancing the theory that divided government actually has little effect on legislative productivity. Gridlock is in fact the order of the day, occurring even when the same party controls the legislative and executive branches. Anchored to real politics, the author argues that the pivotal vote on a piece of legislation is not the one that gives a bill simple majority, but the vote that allows its supporters to override a possible presidential veto. This theory of pivots also explains why, when bills are passed, winning coalitions usually are bipartisan and supermajority sized. Offering an account of when gridlock is overcome and showing that political parties are less important in legislative-executive politics than previously thought, this text offers a perspective on American lawmaking.

Country of My Skull

Abstract: The first free elections in South Africa's history were held in 1994. Within a year legislation was drafted to create a Truth and Reconcilliation Commission to establish a picture of the gross human rights violations committed between 1960 and 1993. It was to seek the truth and make it known to the public and to prevent these brutal events ever happening again. From 1996 and over the following two years South Africans were exposed almost daily to revelations about their traumatic past. Antije Krog's full account of the Commission's work using the testimonies of the oppressed and oppressors alike is a harrowing and haunting book in which the voices of ordinary people shape the course of history. WINNER OF SOUTH AFRICA'S SUNDAY TIMES ALAN PATON AWARD

Caps on Political Lobbying

Abstract: The cost of political campaigns in the U.S. has risen substantially in recent years. For example, real spending on congressional election campaigns doubled between 1976 and 1992 (Steven D. Levitt [1995]). There are many reasons why increased campaign spending might be socially harmful. First, increased spending means increased fund-raising, which may keep politicians from their legislative duties.1 Second, a lobbyist who makes a large campaign contribution may have undue influence on electoral outcomes, on the shaping of legislation, or on the outcome of regulatory proceedings.2 That is, the socially preferred candidate or legislation may not prevail. Likewise, a lobbyist involved in a regulatory matter or a competition for a government contract may benefit unduly from a legislator's intervention.3 Third, a perception that campaign contributions purchase influence may lead to increased tolerance of corruption in the private sector. A desire to control campaign spending has spawned many initiatives to limit both campaign contributions and spending, beginning with the passage of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA). Political Action Committees (PACs) can contribute at most $5,000 per election to a candidate, while individuals can contribute at most $1,000. (Restrictions have also been put on in- kind contributions, making it more difficult to circumvent these limits.)4 While direct restrictions on campaign spending have proven difficult to implement, recent initiatives aim to impose voluntary spending limits and stricter limits on contributions.5 Despite the existing legislation and the proposals to limit contributions, little is known about the impact of contribution limits on aggregate expenditures. While it is intuitively appealing that aggregate expenditures would drop, we challenge that intuition here. We study a lobbying game and show that a cap on individual lobbyists' expenditures may have the perverse effect of increasing aggregate expenditures and lowering total surplus. This result suggests that a cap on campaign contributions may increase aggregate contributions.6 The next section presents the model and describes the equilibrium when lobbyists are unconstrained. We then solve for the equilibrium when lobbyists face a cap on individual expenditures. When a cap constrains the high-valuation lobbyist, a lobbyist with a lower valuation for the political prize becomes relatively more aggressive. As a consequence, total lobbying expenditures may rise. Since the high-valuation lobbyist's probability of winning the prize drops, the cap reduces total surplus if private and social valuations coincide. Concluding remarks are contained in the final section.

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 ...

The European Court of Justice, National Governments, and Legal Integration in the European Union

Abstract: We develop a game theoretic model of the conditions under which the European Court of Justice can be expected to take “adverse judgments” against European Union member governments and when the governments are likely to abide by these decisions. The model generates three hypotheses. First, the greater the clarity of EU case law precedent, the lesser the likelihood that the Court will tailor its decisions to the anticipated reactions of member governments. Second, the greater the domestic costs of an ECJ ruling to a litigant government, the lesser the likelihood that the litigant government will abide by it (and hence the lesser the likelihood that the Court will make such a ruling). Third, the greater the activism of the ECJ and the larger the number of member governments adversely affected by it, the greater the likelihood that responses by litigant governments will move from individual noncompliance to coordinated retaliation through new legislation or treaty revisions. These hypotheses are tested against three broad lines of case law central to ECJ jurisprudence: bans on agricultural imports, application of principles of equal treatment of the sexes to occupational pensions, and state liability for violation of EU law. The empirical analysis supports our view that though influenced by legal precedent, the ECJ also takes into account the anticipated reactions of member governments.

Coping with Europe : the impact of British and German administrations on the implementation of EU environmental policy

Abstract: A central problem for improving the implementation effectiveness of European legislation lies in the impact of national administrative traditions. The dependence on national administrations for implementing European policies implies that the formal transposition and practical application of supranational policies are crucially influenced by administrative traditions prevalent in a certain policy field, which may differ substantially from country to country. Focusing on the implementation of EU environmental policy in Britain and Germany, it is the objective of this article to investigate the interplay of national administrative traditions and European policy implementation in closer detail. The main argument is that the extent to which administrative traditions affect implementation effectiveness is less dependent on the ‘real’ costs of adaptation than on the level of embeddedness of existing structures.

Devolution in the United Kingdom

Abstract: The issue of devolution has often been one for polemic rather than reasoned analysis. This work places recent developments in the United Kingdom in their historical context, examining political and constitutional aspects of devolution in Britain from Gladstone's espousal of Home Rule in 1886 right up to the 1998 legislation governing the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly. As well as considering what devolution will mean for Scotland and Wales, and how it will work in practice, Vernon Bogdanor discusses parallels with earlier devolution debates, giving special attention to the issue of Irish Home Rule which racked British politics from 1886 to 1914. He also examines the situation in Northern Ireland, which possessed its own Parliament from 1921 to 1972, providing an analysis of the 1998 Good Friday agreement. Devolution cuts across the boundaries of disciplines such as history, political science and law, and should be required reading for anyone who wants to understand the significance of one of the most important constitutional developments of our time. The book is therefore aimed at the interested general reader, as well as students of political science, the history of government and British politics.

Organized Interests and the Decision of Whom to Lobby in Congress

Abstract: In a departure from previous research, we focus on the dyadic relationship between lobbyists and committee members in the House of Representatives in order to test hypotheses about what factors shape the decisions of individual groups to lobby individual committee members. Our primary assumption is that organized interests seek to expand their supportive coalitions and affect the content and fate of bills referred to committees. In order to accomplish these goals, they give highest priority to lobbying their legislative allies in committee; allies may lobby other members of Congress on a group's behalf and shape legislation to conform with a group's preferences. But organizations with access to a strong resource base can move beyond their allies and work directly to expand support among undecided committee members and legislative opponents. Our empirical analysis provides evidence to support our expectations.

The Legal History of Special Education: What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been!

Abstract: Children and youth with disabilities have historically received unequal treatment in the public education system. In the early 20th century, the enactment of compulsory attendance laws in the states began to change the educational opportunities for these students. Opportunities for admittance to public schools were greater, but many students nevertheless did not receive an effective or appropriate education. Beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s, parents and advocates for students with disabilities began to use the courts in an attempt to force states to provide an equal educational opportunity for these students. These efforts were very successful and eventually led to the passage of federal legislation to ensure these rights. The purpose of this article is to examine the legal history of special education. We will examine these early efforts to ensure a free appropriate education for students with disabilities up to and including the enactment of the Individuals with Disabilities Education...

The State of the States: Performance-Based Budgeting Requirements in 47 out of 50

Abstract: The current wave of budgeting reform focuses on the performance of government agencies and programs and is reflected in state efforts to introduce performance-based budgeting (PBB). In the ideal, this budget system requires measurement of results, outcomes, and impacts. In an article titled "Managing Public Finances Like the Future Matters," King (1995) suggests several reasons for this renewed interest in budget reform, including: * Government must be driven by citizen desires and needs, not government rules and regulations. * Taxpayers will pay for results, not efforts. * Government must better communicate progress toward goals and objectives. Actual performance-based budgeting systems may have a variety of goals. For example, they may or may not require measurement of outcomes. They may support strategic planning or focus on measurement development. It is the goal of this article to find out how many states have adopted some version of performance-based budgeting. It remains for future research to see how well these reforms are accomplishing overall objectives and whether some forms of performance-based budgeting work better than others. We surveyed the 50 states to determine the existence of legislative or administrative initiatives requiring performance-based budgeting. We define performance-based budgeting as requiring strategic planning regarding agency mission, goals and objectives, and a process that requests quantifiable data that provides meaning information about program outcomes. Performance-based budgeting may also require an assessment of agency progress toward specified targets. Several recent pieces of research inventory the existence and use of performance measures in the states (National Association of State Budget Officers, 1995; Fountain, 1997; see also case analyses of local, state, and federal experience with performance measurement provided by ASPA's Government Accountability and Accomplishment Task Force, 1996). Findings from these studies do not describe the legal or administrative requirements for the states to conduct performance-based budgeting as defined above. Methodology This study is based on a literature view and a survey of state administrators. The survey of executive and legislative budget offices was conducted by telephone in 1996 and 1997. These budgeters were asked about legislation (in place or pending) that has performance-based requirements or administrative guidelines for the state. Responses were received from budgeters; (usually the director or deputy director of the budget office) in all 50 states. Those answering that legislation existed were asked to send or fax a copy. Those states that did not have any legislation, even pending, were asked if an executive order or other administrative, guidelines were in place regarding performance-based budgeting. We asked these budgeters to send us budget guidelines or instructions. We asked a number of follow-up questions, including the following: * Who is responsible fix implementing performance-based budgeting and specifically, operationalizing measures? * What is the time frame for implementing performance-based budgeting? * Are there incentives (or disincentives) that promote the use of performance-based budgeting? * What oversight capacity is provided by the legislation? In this article, we review performance-based budgeting legislative and/or administrative guidelines, for performance-based budgeting as well as incentives, disincentives, timelines, and reporting and process requirements on the part of state agencies, central budget bureaus, and newly established oversight offices. Our research is more inclusive than past efforts, for we examine both law and administrative requirements short of law. Findings from this research indicate that a significant portion of performance-based budgeting activities at the state level occur without legislation. …

The State and the Family: A Comparative Analysis of Family Policies in Industrialized Countries

Abstract: In a number of industrialized countries, on the assumption that fertility remains at or close to present levels, populations will start to decline, in some cases quite rapidly in the near to medium future. Many governments are alarmed by this prospect, especially since it goes hand in hand with a further and acute ageing of the population. From the fears in the 1930s about population and family decline, to the fears in the 1970s about over-population, and contemporary talk of 'family-friendly' policies, governments' attitudes towards and interventions in family policy have changed considerably. What is today referred to as family policy differs widely from the first forms of government support before the Second World War. This book argues that demographic changes have been a major force in bringing population and family issues on to the political agenda. The decline in fertility, the increase in divorce rates and lone-parenthood, and the entry of women into the labour force have all reduced the relevance of systems of state support aimed at traditional families. From this perspective, the author examines the changes that have affected families over the past 100 years, and the policies that have been adopted by different governments in response to these changes. Data from twenty-two industrialized countries are used to provide an original analysis of legislation, initiatives, and measures aimed at better supporting families. The book assembles arguments from demography, sociology, and economics to explain population policies, their origins and aims. It shows that despite major similarities across countries in the ways family policy has evolved, and in the ways governments have viewed and supported families, there are major dissimilarities shaped by country-specific events, ideologies, and circumstances. It concludes by drawing a typology of models of family policy bases on these inter-country differences.

Professional Ethics and The Culture of Trust

Abstract: The cause of ethical failure in organisations often can be traced to their organisational culture and the failure on the part of the leadership to actively promote ethical ideals and practices. This is true of all types of organisations, including the professions, which in recent years have experienced ongoing ethical problems. The questions naturally arise: what sort of professional culture promotes ethical behaviour? How can it be implemented by a profession and engendered in the individual professional? The answers to these questions are of interest to business ethicists since the causes of ethical problems in business are often the same and the professions, as ethically challenged organisations, make useful and informative analogues for the measures to be adopted or avoided when the attempt is made to raise the ethical standards of business. Given this focus on the professions, it will be argued that the usual, direct attempts to control unethical behaviour by using codes of ethics, legislation and self-regulatory regimes, are not successful. The answer, it will be argued, lies in using an enforced self-regulation model that aims for ethics indirectly. Such a strategy seeks to develop a goal-orientated professional culture which is actively promoted by the leadership of the profession as well as the members. Specifically, the culture is one that seeks to promote trust in the profession and trustworthiness as a virtue exemplified in each individual. It will be argued that in order to develop a professional culture that cultivates trust a profession will need to develop certain institutions, programs and structures within the profession. I conclude by setting out a model of these trust-cultivating structures.

Closing the Gate: Race, Politics, and the Chinese Exclusion Act

Abstract: The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which barred practically all Chinese from American shores for ten years, was the first federal law that banned a group of immigrants solely on the basis of race or nationality. By changing America's traditional policy of open immigration, this landmark legislation set a precedent for future restrictions against Asian immigrants in the early 1900s and against Europeans in the 1920s. Tracing the origins of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Andrew Gyory presents a bold new interpretation of American politics during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age. Rather than directly confront such divisive problems as class conflict, economic depression, and rising unemployment, he contends, politicians sought a safe, nonideological solution to the nation's industrial crisis--and latched onto Chinese exclusion. Ignoring workers' demands for an end simply to imported contract labor, they claimed instead that working people would be better off if there were no Chinese immigrants. By playing the race card, Gyory argues, national politicians--not California, not organized labor, and not a general racist atmosphere--provided the motive force behind the era's most racist legislation. |Analyzes the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 from a national perspective. By playing the race card, national politicians--not California, not organized labor, and not a general racist atmosphere--were responsible for this law.

"They Think You Ain't Much of Nothing": The Social Construction of the Welfare Mother

Abstract: KAREN SECCOMBE Portland State University DELORES JAMES University of Florida* KIMBERELY BATTLE WALTERS Azusa Pacific University* Welfare reform is in the forefront of the political and social agenda in the United States. This research examines the ways that women on welfare interpret welfare use. From in-depth interviews with 47 women who received cash assistance in 1995, we examined the theories behind their accounts of the stigmatizing of welfare recipients and why they, and other women, use the welfare system. Although the respondents tended to blame the social structure, the welfare system itself or fate for their own economic circumstances and welfare use, they often invoked popular and mainstream individualist and cultural "victim-blaming" theories to explain other women's reliance on the system. Many women believed popular constructions of the welfare mother as lazy and unmotivated and evaluated their own situation as distinctly different from the norm. The hegemony of the individual perspective is a strong and stubborn barrier to dealing constructively with poverty and welfare reform. I've had people who didn't know I was receiving assistance, and everything was just fine. But when people find out you're receiving assistance, it's like, why? Why did you get lazy all of the sudden? Leah, a 24-year-old mother Key Words: AFDC, inequality, policy, poverty; TANE welfare. Approximately 39 million people are poor in the U.S., according to recent data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census (1997a). Within this large segment of the population are the approximately 3.5 million families, mostly mothers and their dependent children who receive cash welfare assistance, which until recently was called Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). President Bill Clinton signed monumental welfare reform legislation, which became federal law on July 1, 1997. P.L.104-193 abolished the AFDC program and replaced it with a new program called Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). Turning many of the details of welfare law over to the states, it sets lifetime welfare payments at a maximum of 5 years, and the majority of adult recipients are required to work after 2 years. Twentyfive percent of recipients in each state must be working by the end of 1997. By the year 2002, 50% must be employed. Other changes under this reform include child-care assistance, at least 1 year of transitional Medicaid, the identification of the children's biological fathers, and the requirement that unmarried recipients who are minors must live at home and stay in school in order to receive benefits. AFDC and TANF are virtually synonymous with the word "welfare" in the minds of most people. In the larger sense of the word, "welfare" could also encompass schools, parks, police and fire protection, as the term, "welfare state," popular in most of Western Europe, implies. However, in the U.S. welfare generally brings to mind the cash assistance programs of AFDC and TANF, and therefore, "welfare," "AFDC," and "TANF" are used interchangeably here for ease of discussion. Although welfare was originally created to serve primarily White widows and their children, welfare's recipient base has shifted over the years to mostly divorced and never-married women with children. Many people think that cash programs provide benefits to a large number of never-married, young, African American women and their children, a stereotype that has undoubtedly contributed to the growing sentiment against welfare (Pivan & Cloward, 1993; Quadagno, 1994). Yet, African Americans constitute only 36% of recipients (U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Ways and Means, 1996). AFDC is criticized as an extravagant and costly program that is spiraling out of control and is responsible for a sizable component of our federal deficit, but it approximates only 1% of federal spending (Congressional Digest, 1995; U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Ways and Means, 1996). …

European Policies: The Impact of National Administrative Traditions

Abstract: This article assumes that a central problem for effective implementation of European legislation is the impact of national administrative traditions, since the formal and practical transformation of EU law rests mainly at the national level. The article investigates the interplay of national administrative traditions and European policy implementation. National administrative traditions prevalent in a policy field may differ from country to country. It is argued, that implementation effectiveness depends on the "institutional scope" of European adaptation pressure, which is not only affected by European requirements, but also by the embeddedness of the respective administrative traditions and national capacities for administrative reform. According to the degrees of adaptation pressure, different paths are distinguished, suggesting more or less effective implementation. I Introduction In recent years effective implementation of Community legislation has gained importance on the Commission's agenda. Indeed, increasing attention revealed a widespread implementation deficit in many areas (Commission 1996). Besides the limited resources of the Commission to enforce the implementation of EU policy in the member states, the main difficulty lies in the fact that, apart from competition and antidumping policy, effective implementation of EU legislation is highly dependent on the cooperation of member states, who decide on the necessary organisational, legal and institutional arrangements (Rehbinder and Stewart 1985, 137). This reliance on national administrations implies that the formal transposition and practical application of supranational policies is influenced by administrative traditions

Commission activism: subsuming telecommunications and electricity under European competition law

Abstract: Under European competition law the Commission has far-reaching competences. The article asks about the conditions under which the Commission may use these rights against the member states, focusing on the most powerful provision—the right of the Commission under Article 90 to issue directives by itself in those cases where member state governments have endowed undertakings with rights conflicting with the Treaty's rules. In European telecommunications policy the Commission has used this competence very successfully, with all liberalization directives being based on Article 90. But for European electricity policy the Commission has shrunk away from using these powers in favour of initiating Council legislation. The article analyses the conditions of the Commission's ability to act under European competition law in a multi-level framework, drawing on a principal-agent approach. It presents Article 90 as an example of governments regaining control over their agent.

The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA): Hydra-Headed Monster or Flexible Management Tool?

Abstract: A simple reading of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) suggests that this legislation is fairly straightforward and responds to many of the recommendations that have come from students of public management over the years Written in the language of the good government tradition, this legislation shares much with earlier reform efforts However, unlike past management reform initiatives, GPRA takes the form of legislation, not simply pronouncements from the executive branch Although the legislation was enacted in 1993, 1997 was the first year that its requirements actually came to life and the first year that its requirements for strategic plans as well as the first performance plans became tangible During the past few months, the Washington press (which is rarely interested in management issues) has focused unusual attention to the implementation of GPRA, reporting various pronouncements from the General Accounting Office (GAO), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the Republican leadership in Congress about the relative success or failure of federal agencies to comply with its initial requirements related to strategic planning Both the press accounts and the institutional response to the legislation indicate that there is a wide divergence of views about this management reform effort What appeared on first reading to be a fairly clear effort has emerged as a tangled set of expectations and experiences that reflect quite different and often competing views about the process This article attempts to explicate some of the reasons for this tangled reality by focusing on three elements of the still developing experience First, it provides some background on the legislation itself Second, it discusses the context in which the implementation is placed And third, it includes a preliminary analysis of the early experience with the requirements of GPRA This critique emphasizes the problems involved in implementing a government-wide management strategy; it is not focused on similar reform efforts that take place within specific agencies (Radin, 1997) The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) While the origins and implementation of the Clinton administration's National Performance Review (NPR) were located squarely in the political environment of the White House and enunciated via executive orders and presidential pleas, the life story of GPRA was much different The bill that emerged from the Congress and was signed by President Clinton in August 1993 had its origins in legislation introduced by Republican Senator William Roth in 1990 That legislation was referred to the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, which had hearings over a two-year period, modifying the original Roth legislation The House version of the legislation was not introduced until February 1993, after the 1992 presidential election With the blessing of the Democratic White House, the legislation sailed through with overwhelming bipartisan support(1) While the support for the legislation was broad, there was very little real debate over its provisions GPRA was framed in very general and often abstract terms; neither authorizing nor appropriations committees focused on the consequences of the process for particular policies or programs President Clinton's remarks upon signing the legislation on August 3, 1993 emphasized the importance of restoring the confidence of the American people in the federal government He commented: "The law simply requires that we chart a course for every endeavor that we take the people's money for, see how well we are progressing, tell the public how we are doing, stop the things that don't work, and never stop improving the things that we think are worth investing in" Enveloped in classic good government rhetoric, the legislation had support from almost all quarters It was difficult to be against a bill that sought to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of federal programs by establishing a system to set goals for program performance and to measure program results …

Transportation equity act for the 21st century (tea 21)

Abstract: On June 9, 1998, Association for Community Transportation (ACT) scored a major victory when President Clinton signed into law the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century. Known as TEA-21, this sweeping legislation completely changes the way employers will be able to provide commute benefits to their employees, and opens the doors to greater accessibility to TDM programs nationwide. The article provides highlights of the major provisions of TEA-21.

Poverty Alleviation: Is Economics Any Help? Lessons from the Grameen Bank Experience

Abstract: Monsoons, floods, cyclones and tornadoes are natural disasters that, throughout history have consistently been linked to life and death in Bangladesh. Is there something wrong with Bangladesh? It appears to be a country existing only to shuttle from one disaster to the next. Yet, it would be incorrect to argue that Bangladesh is simply a victim at the mercy of the whims of nature. A cyclone at 235 kilometers per hour or a tidal surge of 12 to 18 feet in a country where people are wealthy enough to build stable homes, and governments resourceful enough to build protective systems and strong embankments, will not cause human misery on the magnitude seen in Bangladesh. It is poverty that pushes countless poor Bangladeshis to seek their livelihood in increasingly risky areas of the country. While natural disasters do wreak havoc among the poor in Bangladesh and many other developing nations all over the world, they do not cause poverty. Abject poverty is a creation of mankind, not of nature. The reason there is so much poverty in the world is that we have never correctly addressed it as an issue. The starting point for most economic theories was an investigation into the causes of the wealth of nations. Only supplementary theories were created to look at the poverty of nations. This led to the creation of concepts, institutions, legislation and political programs befitting those theories. In traditional economics literature, poverty on the micro-level was seen within this framework. It was perceived to be caused by the failure of an individual to find a job, either due to his or her lack of skills or education (what is commonly referred to as "human capital"), or due to a lack demand for labor. The way to increase the demand for labor was to apply macroeconomic measures that increased overall economic growth. In addition, improving access to basic education and vocational training was seen as a means of addressing the issue of deficient human capital. In this paper, I will argue that this approach to poverty reduction at the macro-level is inadequate. The primary causes of poverty are not lack of human capital or lack of demand for labor. Lack of demand for labor is only a symptom, not a cause, of poverty. Poverty is caused by our inadequate understanding of human capabilities and by our failure to create enabling theoretical frameworks, concepts, institutions and policies to support those capabilities. My main argument is that economics as we know it is not only unhelpful in getting the poor out of poverty; it may even be a hindrance. In this paper, I would like to explore those institutions that perpetuate poverty, share my experiences with an effective poverty alleviation institution, and present my thoughts on the future of poverty alleviation. Before addressing these points, however, I would like to provide a useful framework to define the concept of "the poor" more concretely DEFINING THE POOR The inability to reach the poorest of the poor is a problem that plagues most poverty alleviation programs. As Gresham's Law(1) reminds us, if the poor and non-poor are combined within a single program, the non-poor will always drive out the poor. To be effective, the delivery system must be designed and operated exclusively for the poor. That requires a strict definition of who the poor are--there is no room for conceptual vagueness. Quite frequently in the development literature, one will encounter the words "rural" and "poor" being used virtually interchangeably Another common practice is to speak about the "small" or "marginal" farmer, as if these were synonymous with "the poor." In reality, "the poor" may or may not include small and marginal farmers. This is fundamentally dependent upon the economic make-up of a particular country. For example, in Bangladesh, half the population is landless, and poorer than the small and marginal farmers. The tendency of policymakers to identify a particular occupational group, such as farmers, artisans or small-scale producers, as representing the totality of the poor is equally misleading. …

Euthanasia and Law in the Netherlands

Abstract: The Netherlands is the only country in the world in which euthanasia, under narrow-defined circumstances, is legally permissible. Considerable attention has been paid over a number of years to the problem of regulating it and information has been systematically collected concerning actual practice. Therefore the Dutch experience is of interest not only to the Dutch, but to anyone who is considering wether or not to make euthanasia a legal practice. This book is written for a reader without specific knowledge of law. The central focus of the book is on Dutch law pertaining to euthanansia, but it also considers the moral and legal principles that have played a role in the Dutch debate, the available evidence bearing on actual practice and on the effectiveness of legal control. It ends with some reflections on the problem of the 'slippery slope' and the question whether the Dutch experience is 'exportable'. It includes translations of the relevant legislation (including proposed reforms) and of three leading cases. This title is available in the OAPEN Library - http://www.oapen.org.

Prostitution as violence against women: Ngo stonewalling in beijing and elsewhere

Abstract: International policies and legislation increasingly omit prostitution per se from the category of violence against women. Various governmental and non-governmental groups make efforts to distinguish and thus to legitimize certain practices of sexual exploitation, drawing distinctions, for example, between forced and free prostitution. These efforts culminated in lobbying for what would be finally included in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action that emerged from the Fourth World Women’s Conference in Beijing. This article addresses these efforts; the NGOs who advocate such distinctions; and the consequences of revising the harm done to women in prostitution into a consenting act.

Abstract Judicial Review, Legislative Bargaining, and Policy Compromise:

Abstract: The constitutions of many parliamentary democracies provide for abstract judicial review, a proceeding that allows a specified parliamentary minority to initiate judicial review against legislation in the absence of a concrete case. The paper analyzes the impact that this proceeding has on legislative bargaining, using a simple game-theoretic model. The main conclusion is that the most important effects of abstract review are indirect and anticipatory. Furthermore, abstract review results in more moderate legislative proposals than would be expected in its absence. In this sense, it promotes what Lijphart has called `consensus democracy'. Finally, the model reveals that such moderation depends on the degree of judicial deference towards the legislature. Surprisingly, a court that is not deferential will be appealed to less than a deferential court, even though its influence on policy is larger.

Environmental Methods Review: Retooling Impact Assessment for the New Century

Abstract: : During the 1960s, there was an upsurge of concern among advanced industrialized nations over Unforeseen adverse effects of technological innovation. The concern led to adoption of methods for estimating and forecasting the impacts of technology and development on public health and safety, social and economic stability, and the environment. Among these were technology assessment, risk assessment, cost benefit analysis, and environmental impact assessment. In the United States, the assessment of the effects of public projects or proposals having a major foreseeable impact on the environment became statutory law under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. This statute, and the methods it stimulated, has possibly had the greatest international impact of any American legislation.

Past, Present, and Future Roles of Child Protective Services.

Abstract: Contemporary social issues typically spring from historical roots, and, as this article points out, that is particularly true of the effort to find a balanced, fair, and helpful way of responding to child abuse and neglect. This article examines how today's child protective services system evolved from a past of almshouses, orphan trains, anticruelty societies, and legislation establishing the protection of children as a government function. The author finds that the history of child protection in the United States is marked by a continuing, unresolved tension between the aim of rescuing children from abusive homes and that of strengthening the care their families can provide. Against that backdrop, this article explains the structure of the typical child protective services (CPS) agency (the unit within a broader public child welfare department that focuses on abuse and neglect) and outlines the roles in child protection that are played by the police, the courts, private and public social service agencies, and the community at large. According to the author's analysis, the fundamental challenges facing CPS can be captured in two questions regarding appropriate boundaries for the agency: Which situations require the agency's intervention? And how can the broader resources of the community be mobilized in the effort to protect children?

Ageing and generational conflicts : a reply to Sarah Irwin

Abstract: In response to Sarah Irwin, the article develops a conflict model of inter-generational exchanges and treats generation as a neglected dimension of social stratification theory and research. Against Irwin's focus on individual attitudes from survey data towards intra-familial co-operation between generations, the article draws on public policy on dependency, legislation on retirement, superannuation and pensions, and stereotypes of the elderly to study inter-generational inequalities. Employing Pierre Bourdieu's distinction between cultural and economic capital, it considers the formation of generations around political events, shared culture and strategic advantage. Generational conflict is structurally organized around the tensions between early retirement, age-related competency, legislation on ageism, and youth unemployment. Given rapid and radical changes to the labour market, generational cohesion is an important dimension therefore of strategies of social closure.

Academic Mission Statements: An Exercise in Negotiation

Abstract: English educational legislation in the 1980s and early 1990s occasioned major reforms in the funding and management of post-compulsory educational institutions. Out went largely autonomous Universities, Polytechnics answerable for their actions to local government, and independent Colleges of Higher Education; in came Higher Education Funding Councils and Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs). After legislation in 1992, all were able to call themselves universities. Driving this redefinition of educational realities was a view that higher education had been too long `provider centred' rather than `customer centred', that it had to expand and change to take fully into account the new needs of industry, business and the professions. It had to become a more responsible user of public funds, to demonstrate it was capable of managing them effectively and efficiently, and provide value for money. Higher education had to become `business like'. This article examines one facet of the transformation through which...

Operations of Unfettered Labor Markets: Exit and Voice in American Labor Markets at the Turn of the Century

Abstract: The American economy at the turn of the century offers an excellent opportunity to study the functioning of relatively unregulated labor markets. The essay surveys the economic history literature to determine how well labor markets operated in the early 1900s. After examining the mobility of workers, the integration of geographically dispersed labor markets, and a case study of the extent of employer monopsony, we examine the extent to which workers received compensating differentials for workplace disamenities and the extent to which competition among employers reduced discrimination. During this period institutions like the company town, company union, and share cropping developed. These institutions are re-examined to determine the extent to which they were exploitative or helped resolve problems with transactions costs. Finally, reformers pushed for legislation during the progressive era to correct perceived market failures. We examine the impact of progressive legislation and discuss the political economy of its passage.