Showing papers on "Public policy published in 1993"

National Innovation Systems: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract: This anthology examines national systems of technical innovation An introductory chapter provides an overview of the principal topics in current discussion of industrial and technology policy Innovation is defined as the processes by which firms master and put into practice product designs and manufacturing processes that are new to them A wide range of factors, organizations, and policies influence the capabilities of a nation's firms to innovate Technology and pure science are distinguished, and the social institutions that play a role in innovation are examined These include industrial and government research laboratories, research universities, and industrial policy agencies These institutions provide the core for the analyses of national innovation systems Individual chapters are devoted to six large high-income countries (France, Italy, Japan, the US, the UK, and West Germany), four smaller high-income countries (Australia, Canada, Denmark, and Sweden), and five lower income countries (Argentina, Brazil, Israel, Korea, and Taiwan) Each chapter is a detailed description of each country's structure and behavior in the development of product and process technologies, and catalogues the innovation strategies of each country, covering topics including historical analysis of technological development, breakdown of industries, and investigation of these institutions in terms of R&D expenditures and their influence Differences in the innovative patterns include size and resource endowments, national security considerations, and historical and social beliefs Factors leading to effective innovative performance include strong core competencies, high-quality education and training, and stable and facilitative economic and trade policies A final retrospective chapter compares and contrasts the various innovation systems It assesses whether identifying an innovation system is useful, considers whether national institutions matter when commerce and technology are becoming transnational, and reflects on the future of national systems in such a world (TNM)

Agendas and instability in American politics

Abstract: When "Agendas and Instability in American Politics" appeared fifteen years ago, offering a profoundly original account of how policy issues rise and fall on the national agenda, the "Journal of Politics" predicted that it would 'become a landmark study of public policy making and American politics'. That prediction proved true, and in this long-awaited second edition, Frank R. Baumgartner and Bryan D. Jones refine their influential argument and expand it to illuminate the workings of democracies beyond the United States. The authors retain all the substance of their contention that short-term, single-issue analysis cast public policy too narrowly as the result of cozy and dependable arrangements among politicians, interest groups, and the media. Baumgartner and Jones provide a different interpretation by taking the long view of several issues - including nuclear energy, urban affairs, smoking, and auto safety - to demonstrate that bursts of rapid, unpredictable policy change punctuate the patterns of stability more frequently associated with government. Featuring a new introduction and two additional chapters, this updated edition ensures that their findings will remain a touchstone of policy studies for many years to come.

Policy Change And Learning: An Advocacy Coalition Approach

Abstract: * The Study of Public Policy Processes Hank C Jenkins-Smith and Paul A Sabatier The Advocacy Coalition Framework * Policy Change over a Decade or More P A Sabatier * The Dynamics of Policy-Oriented Learning H C Jenkins-Smith and P A Sabatier Qualitative Case Studies Of Policy Change And Learning * An Advocacy Coalition Approach to Change in Canadian Education Hanne B Mawhinney * Competing Advocacy Coalitions, Policy Evolution, and Airline Deregulation Anthony E Brown and Joseph Stewart Jr * California Water Politics: Explaining Policy Change in a Cognitively Polarized Subsystem John F Munro * Managing Technological Change in Federal Communications Policy: The Role of Industry Advisory Groups Richard P Barke Quantitative Analyses Of Policy Change * The Politics of Offshore Energy: Empirically Testing the Advocacy Coalition Framework H C Jenkins-Smith and Gilbert K St Clair * From Vague Consensus to Clearly Differentiated Coalitions: Environmental Policy at Lake Tahoe, 19641985 P A Sabatier and Anne M Brasher Conclusion * The Advocacy Coalition Framework: Assessment, Revisions, and Implications for Scholars and Practitioners P A Sabatier and H C Jenkins-Smith Methodological Appendix * Measuring Longitudinal Change in Elite Beliefs Using Content Analysis of Public Documents H C Jenkins-Smith and P A Sabatier *

Protecting soldiers and mothers : the political origins of social policy in the United States

Abstract: It is generally believed that the United States lagged behind the countries of Western Europe in developing modern social policies. But, as Theda Skocpol shows in this historical analysis, the United States actually pioneered generous social spending for many of its elderly, disabled and dependent citizens. During the late 19th century, competitive party politics in American democracy led to the rapid expansion of benefits for Union Civil War veterans and their families. Some Americans hoped to expand veterans' benefits into pensions for all of the needy elderly and social insurance for workingmen and their families. But such hopes went against the logic of political reform in the Progressive era. Generous social spending faded along with the Civil War generation. Instead, the U.S. nearly became a unique maternalist welfare state as the federal government and more than 40 states enacted social spending, labour regulations, and health education programmes to assist American mothers and children. As Skocpol shows, many of these policies were enacted even before American women were granted the right to vote. Banned from electoral politics, they turned their energies to creating huge, nation-spanning federations of women's clubs, which collaborated with reform-minded professional women to spur legislative action across the country. Blending original historical research with political analysis, Skocpol shows how governmental institutions, electoral rules, political parties and earlier public policies combined to determine both the opportunities and the limits within which social policies were devised and changed by reformers and politically active social groups over the course of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Social Construction of Target Populations: Implications for Politics and Policy.

Abstract: We argue that the social construction of target populations is an important, albeit overlooked, political phenomenon that should take its place in the study of public policy by political scientists. The theory contends that social constructions influence the policy agenda and the selection of policy tools, as well as the rationales that legitimate policy choices. Constructions become embedded in policy as messages that are absorbed by citizens and affect their orientations and participation. The theory is important because it helps explain why some groups are advantaged more than others independently of traditional notions of political power and how policy designs reinforce or alter such advantages. An understanding of social constructions of target populations augments conventional hypotheses about the dynamics of policy change, the determination of beneficiaries and losers, the reasons for differing levels and types of participation among target groups, and the role of policy in democracy.

When Effect Becomes Cause: Policy Feedback and Political Change

Abstract: As governmental activity has expanded, scholars have been increasingly inclined to suggest that the structure of public policies has an important influence on patterns of political change. Yet research on policy feedback is mostly anecdotal, and there has so far been little attempt to develop more general hypotheses about the conditions under which policies produce politics. Drawing on recent research, this article suggests that feedback occurs through two main mechanisms. Policies generate resources and incentives for political actors, and they provide those actors with information and cues that encourage particular interpretations of the political world. These mechanisms operate in a variety of ways, but have significant effects on government elites, interest groups, and mass publics. By investigating how policies influence different actors through these distinctive mechanisms, the article outlines a research agenda for moving from the current focus on illustrative case studies to the investigation of broader propositions about how and when policies are likely to be politically consequential.

Modern Governance: New Government-Society Interactions

Abstract: Social-Political Governance - Jan Kooiman Introduction PART ONE: CONCEPTUALIZATIONS Governing Failures and the Problem of Governability - Renate Mayntz Some Comments on a Theoretical Paradigm Modes of Governance - Andrew Dunsire Governance and Governability - Jan Kooiman Using Complexity, Dynamics and Diversity PART TWO: PREDICAMENTS Lost Opportunity - Fr[ac]ed[ac]eric Royall The Case of Labour Market Management in the Republic of Ireland Public Policy Planning and the Problem of Governance - Kirsti Stenvall The Question of Education in Finland Women's Emancipation as a Question of Governance - Marijke Prins Actors, Institutions and the Room for Manoeuvre PART THREE: EXPERIENCES The Governance of Data Protection - Charles Raab Environmental Regulation of Business - Martijn van Vliet Options and Constraints for Communicative Governance Public-Private Partnership - Vincent Kouwenhoven A Model for the Management of Public-Private Cooperation Dynamics and Room for Manoeuvre in Governance - Mich[gr]ele Breuillard The Channel Tunnel Decision in France and Britain Governance between Legitimacy and Efficiency - Geert Bouckaert Citizen Participation in the Belgian Fire Services Governance in Interaction - Herman Aquina and Hans Bekke Public Tasks and Private Organisations PART FOUR: PROSPECTS FOR REFORM Public Management from Imitation to Innovation - Les Metcalfe Complexity, Governance and Dynamics - Walter Kickert Conceptual Explorations of Public Network Management Governance and the Problem of Representation in Public Administration - Ky[um]osti Pekonen The Case of Finland Modes of Governance and Administrative Change - Torben Beck J[/]orgensen PART FIVE: EVALUATIONS The Governance of Education - Roger Duclaud-Williams Britain and France Findings, Speculations and Recommendations - Jan Kooiman

Lesson-drawing in Public Policy: A Guide to Learning Across Time and Space

Abstract: "Lesson-drawing in Public Policy" introduces readers to a novel way of thinking about the familiar problems of public policy. It sets out the crucial questions that must be asked in order to draw logical and empirically sound conclusions from observing experiences in the past, or in other places.

Institutional Incentives And Sustainable Development: Infrastructure Policies In Perspective

Abstract: * Introduction Paul A. Sabatier. * The Role of Infrastructure in Development * The Problem of Sustainable Infrastructure * Individuals, Incentives, and Transaction Costs * Provision and Production of Rural Infrastructure * Evaluating Institutional Performance * Analyzing Institutional Arrangements * Centralized Institutional Arrangements * Decentralized Institutional Arrangements * Polycentric Institutional Arrangements * Implications of an Institutional Approach to Sustainable Development

Equal Opportunity Law and the Construction of Internal Labor Markets

Abstract: Internal labor markets have been explained with efficiency and control arguments; however, retrospective event-history data from 279 organizations suggest that federal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) law was the force behind the spread of formal promotion mechanisms after 1964. The findings highlight the way in which American public policy, with its broad outcome-oriented guidelines for organizations, stimulates managers to experiment with compliance mechanisms with an eye to judicial sanction. In response to EEO legislation and case law, personnel managers devised and diffused employment practices that treat all classes of workers as ambitious and achievement oriented in the process of formalizing and rationalizing promotion decisions.

Equal Opportunity Law and the Construction of Internal Labor Markets

Abstract: Internal labor markets have been explained with efficiency and control arguments; however, retrospective event-history data from 279 organizations suggest that federal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) law was the force behind the spread of formal promotion mechanisms after 1964. The findings highlight the way in which American public policy, with its broad outcome-oriented guidelines for organizations, stimulates managers to experiment with compliance mechanisms with and eye to judicial sanction. In response to EEO legislation and case law, personnel managers devised and diffused employment practices that treat all classes of workers as ambitious and achievement oriented in the process of formalizing and rationalizing promotion decisions.

Education and public policy in Australia

Abstract: This book summarises and analyses the major issues in Australian education policy today: the relationship between education and work; the reform of higher education and vocational training; outputs and resources; class sizes; the role of government and the public-private debate in schooling It also examines the main economic theories about education, including human capital theory and free market theory, and finds them seriously inadequate as a basis for policy The author argues that economic rationalism has installed a free market agenda at the heart of public education policy, with deep consequences for the academic and democratic development of Australia's citizens

The Public Sector: Concepts, Models and Approaches

Abstract: Introduction Public Institutions and Interests Demarcation of the Public Sector Concepts of Bureaucracy Public Policy Models Implementation Models Models of Public Regulation The Logic of Public Sector Reform Public Management, Leadership and Privatization The Management State versus the Administrative State The Public Choice Approach The New Institutionalism Efficiency, Effectiveness and Evaluation Institutions and Efficiency in the Public Sector Ethics and Normative Policy Models New Public Management The Basic Ideas Conclusion What Are the Policy Sciences?

Families of nations : patterns of public policy in Western democracies

Abstract: Part 1 Economic policy and social protection: changing course in economic policy - the English-speaking nations in the 1980s the politics of price stability - why the German-speaking nations are different worlds of welfare and families of nations Part 2 The Politics of labour supply: coping with economic crisis - labour supply as a policy instrument gendered labour force participation Part 3 Families and families of nations: the politics of childhood - the rights of children in modern times why divorce rates differ - law, religious belief and modernity conclusion - beyond the lonely nation state

Do Parties Make a Difference? Parties and the Size of Government in Liberal Democracies*

Abstract: The paper attempts to determine whether parties of the left, when in government, spend more than parties of the right. It first reviews the theoretical literature and concludes that parties are likely to make a difference, but only a modest one. It then reviews previous empirical studies, which come out with conflicting results. It finally proposes a study that covers 15 liberal democracies over a period of 28 years, from 1960 to 1987, and combines longitudinal, cross-sectional, and pooled designs. The analysis shows that parties of the left do spend a little more than parties of the right. The difference, however, emerges only for majority governments whose party composition remains unchanged over a number of years, an indication that it takes time for parties to affect total spending. A quarter of a century ago, Dye (1966) concluded that policy variations in the United States ought to be attributed essentially to economic factors, political variables proving to be largely uninfluential. This was a most disturbing result for the political science discipline, whose relevance, it would seem, depends on the substantive importance of the phenomena it examines. Ten years later, Wilenski's (1975) study of the welfare state came to similar conclusions: the root cause of the level of welfare expenditure in a country is economic growth, and the mechanism that translates economic change into public policy is demographic rather than political. Enlightened political scientists knew it could not be so, and a counterattack was mounted. The case was made that politics matters, and refined analyses vindicated the revisionist view (Castles and McKinlay 1979; Castles 1982). This paper is about the most cherished of all political variables, the parties. Political scientists typically view parties as fulfilling an essential role in democracy (Epstein 1983). A strong party system is considered as a necessary condition for an adequate representation of interests and opinions (Birch 1971). Our objective is to determine whether it matters

Ideas, interests, and American trade policy

Abstract: Professor Judith Goldstein, a political scientist, has made an important contribution to the emerging literature on "International Political Economy." Her deceptively short book addresses two related themes: First, she wishes to explore "...the anomaly of concurrent, contradictory forms of trade policy in the United States"(1). In particular, she is interested in the simultaneous defense and expansion of the ideas of "laissez-faire" and "reciprocity" in American trade policy. The second, broader, issue is about the role of ideas in public policy:

The policy process in the modern state

Abstract: *Policy and Policy Analysis *The Role of the State *How the State Operates - The Bureaucratic Model and Some Modern Alternatives *Decision-Making Models *Towards Implementation Theory *The Contribution of the Study of Organisations to the Study of the Policy Process *Bureaucrats and Professionals in the Policy Process *Discretion in the Policy Process *Conclusion

The Economics of Earnings

Abstract: The Economics of Earnings analyses the wages that people earn, the jobs they do, and the labour market laws and rules within which they operate. Moving away from the conventional emphasis on point-in-time one-period decisions, it stresses informed worker choice over the life-cycle - the human capital approach. Within this framework, the book synthesises research results so as to point the way to better labour market policies. Government policy is often directed towards labour market issues such as education subsidies, training programmes, health and safety laws, and employment protection laws. By using models based on informed worker choice - the supply side - this book will assist concerned individuals in government, industry and academic study to evaluate and improve labour market policies and practices.

Skills for Productivity: Vocational Education and Training in Developing Countries

Abstract: This study discusses the need for developing countries to improve economic productivity. It draws on lessons from successful country experiences with skills training to develop an approach to the development of public training policies. The authors suggest that improving the job skills of the work force in developing countries is necessary if they are to compete in today's economic climate. The book is written for policymakers, academic and professional advisers, training professionals, and the staff of international agencies supporting economic and social development. A flexible, trained workforce can greatly improve economic efficiency and appropriate policies can greatly improve efficiency and equity of skills development. The main focus of the study is on programs offered by private and public preemployment vocational and technical schools and vocational training centers. The study provides options for public policy and strategies for reform.

Contestable categories and public opinion

Abstract: The social world is a kaleidoscope of potential realities, which can be readily evoked by altering the ways in which observations are framed and categorized. Classification schemes are therefore central to political maneuver and political persuasion. Typically, they are driven by the dominant elite's ideology and prejudice rather than by rigorous analysis or the aspiration to solve social problems. This article provides examples of common questionable categorizations of government policies and contestable metaphors used for public figures.

Government by the Market?: The Politics of Public Choice

Abstract: Recent decades have seen the study of politics invaded by economic theories, methods and techniques. This book gives a concise, non- technical account of these 'public choice' theories and examines their influence upon government policies in English-speaking countries. Issues covered include slimming the state, privatising welfare and re- structuring government. Final chapters offer an alternative view of the basis of good government. This book offers a unique survey and critique of the ideas and influence of an important branch of political thought and it links with market theories. It is vital reading for students of both politics and economics.

The Governance of the European Union: A New Institutionalist Approach*

Abstract: The analysis of European integration has tended to use a toolkit drawn from international relations. But since the revival of integration in the mid-1980s, the governance of the European Community and European Union has increasingly come to resemble that of a multi-tiered state. Accordingly, this article analyzes the governance of the European Union from a comparative public policy perspective. Using new or historical institutionalism, three levels are considered. In the first part, attention is focused on the EU's institutions and the available instruments of governance. The second part examines the analysis of governance at the policy-specific or sub-system level, and puts forward an approach based on governance regimes. The final part considers the institutional roots of the persistent, regulatory character of governance in the European Union.

Problem Definition, Agenda Access, and Policy Choice

Abstract: Problem definition is fundamental to public policy making, intertwined as it is with the political process throughout the activities of issue initiation, program design, and legislative enactment. Yet problem definition remains in immature analytic construct, productive of only a modest amount of scholarship that is lacking a coherent shared framework. Seeking to address this deficiency, this article systematically examines the origins, elements, and consequences of problem definition, relating this discussion to previous literature in the area, current policymaking developments, and future research needs.

Age differences in consumers' search for information: Public policy implications.

Abstract: We investigated whether consumers in their sixties (or older) can use nutritional information as accurately as younger consumers in a pair of studies, the first conducted in a supermarket setting, the second in a laboratory. Both studies indicate that, when shoppers are instructed to select a cereal according to specific nutritional criteria, elderly subjects are less likely than younger subjects to search intensely and to select an appropriate cereal. In the laboratory setting, however, the age-related differences diminished when subjects wrote down all the nutritional information acquired during their search. Age-related changes in information-processing ability may explain the findings. Implications for public policy are discussed.

Rape. Scope, impact, interventions, and public policy responses.

Abstract: There are many ways for women to be victimized by strangers and by people they know, but rape is the crime women fear most. The research on the frequency, psychological aftereffects, somatic consequences, and immediate as well as delayed interventions for rape is reviewed; a brief consensus of the literature within each of these areas is developed; and the implications of the research for public policy are considered. Among the suggested policy responses are improvements in the databases on rape frequency, increased attention to measurement, a higher priority for teaching about rape in the education of health care providers, increased funding and technical assistance to rape crisis centers, and more diversity of interventions and research on their effects.