Showing papers on "Retrenchment published in 1994"

Dismantling the Welfare State?: Reagan, Thatcher and the Politics of Retrenchment

Abstract: Introduction: Conservatives and the Welfare State Part I. Analytical Foundations: 1. The logic of retrenchment 2. The context for retrenchment politics Part II. The Politics of Programmatic Retrenchment: 3. Retrenchment in a core sector: old age pensions 4. Retrenchment in a vulnerable sector: housing 5. Retrenchment in a residualized sector: income support Part III. The Embattled Welfare State: 6. Reagan, Thatcher and the welfare state 7. Social policy in an era of austerity.

Retrenchment: Cause of turnaround or consequence of decline?

Abstract: In a recent investigation of the turnaround attempts of 32 U.S. textile firms, Robbins and Pearce (1992) concluded that retrenchment is an integral component of successful recovery from decline. In this note we critique, replicate and provide an alternative explanation for their findings using data from the same sample of firms attempting turnarounds. Based on our analyses, we find that little evidence exists to support the assertion that retrenchment is integral to turnaround. We conclude by offering several recommendations for turnaround researchers.

Restructuring restructuring: postmodernity and the prospects for educational change

Abstract: This paper examines the concept, implications and dilemmas of school restructuring. The meanings of restructuring are confusing and complex. Restructuring can be a synonym for top‐down reform or ruthless retrenchment. Or it can point to the redefinition of power relationships in the classrooms, staffrooms and communities of schooling. The paper identifies four different dilemmas of restructuring within which these different possibilities are contained and analyses their implications for educational policy. The dilemmas are those of vision versus voice; trust in persons versus trust in processes; mandates of imposition versus menus of choice; and structural change versus cultural change.

Is local government revenue response to federal aid symmetrical? evidence from pennsylvania county governments in an era of retrenchment

Abstract: Previous empirical studies have made little attempt to test whether the fiscal response to intergovernmental aid is asymmetric. This paper tests the asymmetric response hypothesis for 66 Pennsylvan...

Retrenchment remains the foundation of business turnaround

Abstract: In the preceding article, Barker and Mone raised questions about the methodological adequacy of an article that we published in 1992 in this journal. After careful consideration of their ‘replication’ and reassessment of our work, we reached surprising conclusions. First. Barker and Mone failed to accurately represent many major elements of our study. Second, viewed independently, their conclusions can be attributed to unusual and selectively applied operational definitions, disregard for company-specific and industry contexts, and exclusive reliance on secondary data. Nevertheless, their results also add strong support for the emerging theory of a two-stage turnaround process involving retrenchment and recovery, as modeled by Robbins and Pearce (1992).

Postmodernism and Social Policy: A Great Leap Backwards?

Abstract: Postmodernism claims that the universalist themes of modern society (society-wide political ideologies, the nation-state, the theme of rational planning in government policy, the large-scale public or private sector bureaucracy) are obsolete, to be replaced by a plural interest in diversity and choice. These ideas have strong implications for both the theory of social policy, which typically stresses universal themes of inequality and privilege, and the practice of social policy, which relies on rational analysis to inform society-wide government provision. This article suggests that such an approach ignores the significance of market liberalism and the associated trends to inequality, privatisation, retrenchment and the regulation of the poorest groups. From this perspective, postmodernism functions as an ideological smoke-screen, preventing us from recognising some of the most important trends in modern social policy. It is unfortunate if, at a time when the results of increasing inequality are everywhere apparent, one of the dominant approaches in social science obscures the issue.

Four Years of the Ghana District Assemblies in Operation: Decentralization, Democratization and Administrative Performance

Abstract: Ghana's District Assemblies were created in 1989 as ‘integrated’ decentralised authorities, combining oversight of deconcentrated line Ministries with the revenue powers and functions of devolved democratic local government. The frequently invoked but little studied relationships among democratisation, decentralisation and changes in the performance of government institutions are analysed on the basis of two case-study Districts, defining performance as output effectiveness, responsiveness and process acceptability. Although development output did increase after democratisation, it remained inadequate and did not show any significantly closer responsiveness to popular needs. This was mainly because local accountability was undermined by continuing central control over staffing and finances, the clash with national policies of retrenchment and the continued power of central government agents. The communal, non-party basis of representation also had a perverse effect on the ability of elected representatives to enhance the legitimacy of local taxation, particularly as the system embodied an unresolved contradiction between notions of community based self-help and representative district government. One of the lessons of the Ghanaian experience is that genuine local autonomy in an agreed area-the basic condition for effective accountability-is better based on more modest, local-level authorities, leaving larger, expensive functions as well as supervision of a deconcentrated civil service to more powerful regional administrations.

Economic Restructuring, Coping Strategies and Social Change: Implications for Institutional Development in Africa

Abstract: Since the early 1980s, most African countries have experienced unsatisfactory rates of economic growth and profound changes in livelihood systems, which have affected the way their modern institutions function. However, when confronted with evidence of poor economic performance in countries undergoing adjustment, the international financial institutions often blame governments for their lack of political will in regulating the activities of bureaucrats and vested interests. They recommend policies aimed at restructuring public sector institutions through privatization, public expenditure cuts, retrenchment, new structures of incentives and decentralization. Despite efforts to implement these measures in a number of countries, the problems of low institutional capacity remain. Two key contradictions appear to explain why institutions have been largely ineffective in crisis economies in Africa: the growing contradiction between the interests of bureaucratic actors and the goals they are supposed to uphold; and the contradiction between the institutional set-up itself and what goes on in the wider society. To understand how these contradictions work, it is necessary to look more closely at the set of values and relationships that anchor institutions on social systems. The issues here are social compromise and cohesion; institutional socialization and loyalties; overarching sets of values; and political authority to enforce rules and regulations. The crises in these four areas of social relations, which are linked to the ways households and groups have coped with recession and restructuring, have altered Africa's state institutions so that it has become difficult to carry out meaningful development programmes and public sector reforms without addressing the social relations themselves.

College and University Budgeting: An Introduction for Faculty and Academic Administrators

Abstract: (1986). College and University Budgeting: An Introduction for Faculty and Academic Administrators. The Journal of Higher Education: Vol. 57, No. 4, pp. 456-458.

The Angel and the Beehive: THE MORMON STRUGGLE WITH ASSIMILATION

Abstract: "The past few decades have witnessed an increasing reaction of the Mormons against their own successful assimilation, " Armand Mauss writes in The Angel and the Beehive, "as though trying to recover some of the cultural tension and special identity associated with their earlier 'sect-like' history." This retrenchment among Mormons is the main theme of Mauss's book, which analyzes the last forty years of Mormon history from a sociological perspective. At the official ecclesiastical level, Mauss finds, the retrenchment can be seen in the greatly increased centralization of bureaucratic control and in renewed emphases on obedience to modern prophets, on genealogy and vicarious temple work, and on traditional family life; retrenchment is also apparent in extensive formal religious indoctrination by full-time professionals and in an increased sophistication and intensity of proselytizing. At what he refers to as "the folk or grassroots level, " Mauss finds that Mormons have generally been compliant with the retrenchment effort and are today at least as "religious" on most measures as they were in the 1960s. A sizable segment of the Mormon membership, Mauss asserts, has gone beyond "Mormon" retrenchment to express itself in a growing resort to Protestant fundamentalism, both in scriptural understanding and in intellectual style. The author calls on a wide array of sources in sociology and history to show that Mormons, who by mid-century had come a long way from their position as disreputable "outsiders" in a society dominated by the mainline religions, seem now to be adopting more conservative ways and seeking a return to a more sectarian posture.

Stubborn Hope: Religion, Politics, and Revolution in Central America

Abstract: Chronicling more than decade of war, revolution, and social change, Phillip Berryman offers a comprehensive analysis of the interplay between religion and politics in Central America. Concentrating on Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala, Berryman shows how, during the 1980s, each country became the setting for a profound drama of faith and oppression, revolution and retrenchment.

Urban America in Transformation: Perspectives on Urban Policy and Development

Abstract: PART ONE: URBAN DEVELOPMENT IN PERSPECTIVE The Ecological Perspective The Marxist Perspective Introducing an Interorganizational/Policy Perspective PART TWO: EVOLUTION AND ORGANIZATION OF THE URBAN POLICY SYSTEM The New Deal Creating an Urban Policy System Restructuring American Urbanism Suburbanization and Urban Renewal Cooperative Federalism and the War on Poverty Another Approach to Renewing the Urban Community New Federalism and the Reorganization of Urban Policy Federal Retrenchment and the Future of Urban Policy

The Changing Italian Welfare State

Abstract: Starting in 1990, a series of legislative measures have been re-shaping the Italian wel fare state, as judged by the aims behind the reforms of the 1970s, which had defined social rights in the field of social and health services. At the same time, these changes have been redefining the roles, rights and duties of the different actors involved: not only citizens, but also state, local government, service workers, trade unions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and families. Behind these changes lie financial constraints and increasing social dis satisfaction with the unfilfilled promises of the 1970s. However, the main legitimizing force has been the requirements of the Maastricht Treaty, in terms of national budget deficits. Rather than being a mere 'retrenchment' of the state, this process may be interpreted as an attempt to change the balance within the Ita lian welfare mix. As a consequence of these changes, both universalist social rights and particularist vested interests are being affected in c...

Dismantling the Welfare State?: The logic of retrenchment

Abstract: The next two chapters provide a framework for the study of retrenchment, setting the stage for a detailed examination of the Reagan and Thatcher records. To be persuasive, accounts of welfare state change must combine microscopic and macroscopic analysis. They must consider both the goals and incentives of the central political actors and how the institutional rules of the game and the distribution of political resources structure their choices. This chapter outlines the peculiar nature of retrenchment as a political project. For politicians eager to win reelection, seeking cutbacks in social programs raises considerable risks. Such cutbacks impose concentrated costs in return for diffuse benefits, and there is substantial reason to believe that concentrated interests possess marked advantages in political conflicts. To make matters even more difficult, retrenchment advocates must contend with an imbalance in voters' reactions to losses and gains; transfers of resources tend to induce more resentment from losers than gratitude from winners. An understanding of retrenchment politics must start from an appreciation of this distinctive political problem. This chapter will focus on the nature of this distinctiveness and the strategic options available to retrenchment advocates that may make their problems more tractable. The following chapter will consider how the broader context – patterns of interest-group representation, institutional structures, and preexisting policy designs – influences the prospects for implementing these strategies. As a preface, however, I discuss the concept of retrenchment itself. This is crucial, because fuzzy conceptions of retrenchment have encouraged confusion about exactly what has happened to these welfare states.

Declining Revenues and Increasing Enrollments: Strategies for Coping.

Abstract: The results of a national survey found declining state support and increasing enrollment common in community colleges. The decline in state funding has prompted institutions to seek more funding fr...

Restructuring Initiatives in Public Higher Education: Institutional Response to Financial Constraints.

Abstract: DOCUMENT RESUME

Women and the Great Retrenchment: The Political Economy of Gender in the 1980s

Abstract: Policy analysts and scholars are only now beginning the serious task of sifting through the debris of the 1980s to chronicle the impacts of policy changes and to evaluate the policies as well as the policymakers. The 1980s will no doubt be remembered as having produced the worst recession since the Great Depression and perhaps, more generally, as a period of economic retrenchment [Dugger 1992]. While many segments of society were affected by the restructuring inherent in Reaganomics, the impact on women merits special attention, particularly in light of demographic changes in voting behavior. It has long been understood that discernable differences exist between women and men on issues, party identification, and candidate selection. Women tend to favor less military spending and more government spending on social services, to more often identify with the Democratic party, and to vote for Democratic candidates over Republican candidates [Matlack 1987; Shapiro and Mahajan 1986; Zipp and Plutzer 1985]. In the 1980s, however, women's participation rates exceeded those of men for the first time in U.S. history. Women

Supports for Community-Based Mental Health Care An Optimistic Review of Federal Legislation

Abstract: For 50 years, federal legislation has been a key force in shaping the delivery of public mental health services. The Community Mental Health Services Act of 1963 and its amendments, in conjunction with advances in treatment, philosophy of care, and mental health law, are often credited with being a major factor in deinstitutionalization and the rise of community-based services. Community-based care has for some time been clearly articulated as a desired national goal (Chandler, 1991; Talbott, 1985). In spite of an ambitious vision, however, the community mental health movement and community support programs in the 1970s and 1980s, called the third and fourth "cycles of reform" by Morrissey and Goldman (1984), have been associated with periods of "exaggerated expectations" as well as pessimism, akin to earlier cycles of reform such as "moral treatment" and mental hygiene. The consensus among policy analysts (Brown, 1985; Foley & Sharftstein, 1983) is that the much-analyzed and disappointing results of deinstitutionalization and community mental health services are, at least in part, related to the period of retrenchment and even reversal of the federal leadership and support ushered in by the Reagan administration. However, there is evidence that in spite of the inaction on the part of recent Republican leadership in advancing community-based mental health care, cumulative gains have been made, largely because of the family and consumer movements and legislation they helped to create. Although predictions of impact should not be overstated, there is now good reason to be hopeful about the potential of federal legislation to once again move the mental health service delivery system forward. This article reviews, describes, and summarizes federal legislation initiatives that have provided support for a system of community-based care for adults with mental illness. Through this legislation, the federal government has fulfilled its revised roles, predicted 10 years ago by Andrulis and Mazade (1983), to determine the "pace and direction" of the service system, allowing the states to assume more responsibility for actual services components. Admittedly, legislative mandates and incentives are merely one force that facilitates movement toward a community-based system of care. Today, in addition to the strong advocacy movements and the historical commitment, well-controlled cost-effectiveness research and other factors serve as facilitating forces to community-based care (Bentley, 1994). However, formidable restraining forces exist as well: the employment security concerns of state hospital employees, inpatient care funding incentives, the long-term-care concerns of families, public fear and discrimination, a continued lack of sufficient funding for a truly adequate array of services, and ongoing state and federal battles over authority. These barriers, in essence, support continuation of the status quo--the underfunding of services and supports in communities to people with mental illness and the overreliance on inpatient solutions. Nevertheless it is important to consider how a range of federal legislative initiatives over the past 10 years support community-based care. DEFINITION OF COMMUNITY-BASED CARE Community-based care refers to a system in which the community, not a facility, is major locus of care for mentally ill people. Care includes the availability not only of outpatient mental health treatment, but also of other needed resources such as housing, employment, and recreation. The community, often through the community mental health center (CMHC), may be seen as having the ultimate responsibility and authority for an individual's care. The goal is to provide a continuum of services and supports that is flexible, tailored, coordinated, and most importantly consumer- and family-oriented (National Institute of Mental Health, 1987). A useful philosophical approach is to view the community as a nontoxic environment. …

A New Face for the Profession.

Abstract: buzz word in higher education was "retrenchment" The next year, the word was "restructure/5 This year the word is "re-engineer/5 With retrenchment, a faculty member might get laid off; with reengineering, faculty are de-recruited If the words describing the fate of faculty have become increasingly jargonized and euphemistic, the words describing the extent of the proposed change have become increasingly comprehensive Retrenchment restructuring re-engineering The first step implied cutting some of the parts away from the whole; the second implied shuffling those parts in new ways; but the third implies a redesign that uses new parts to build a different machine

Class, politics and historical ‘revisionism’

Abstract: Eugenio F. Biagini, Liberty, Retrenchment and Reform: Popular Liberalism in the Age of Gladstone, 1860–1880 (1992), xii + 476 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, £45.00). Eugenio F. Biagini and Alastair J. Reid (eds), Currents of Radicalism: Popular Radicalism, Organized Labour and Party Politics in Britain, 1850–1914 (1991), xi + 305 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, £27.50).

Measuring equity preferences: a longitudinal analysis.

Abstract: INTRODUCTIONCONCEPTUAL AND MEASUREMENT ISSUESAs retrenchment and proposals for reallocating public service benefits (and costs) enter the political agenda of elected officials, administrators and a cross section of residents, and the magnitude of differences between our society's "haves and have nots" widens, the issue of fair or equitable service allocation grows in importance (Beatley, 1988; Lucy, 1988; Phillips, 1990). Presently many scholars of urban affairs focus their attention upon concerns of political economy or return on public investment, failing to meaningfully examine the fair allocation of public services (Jones, 1989). In doing so, these urban researchers have neglected to examine the larger issue of social equity in favor of addressing the more pragmatic topics like efficiency and effectiveness (Frederickson, 1990). The literature and research that address equitable urban service delivery have generally been conceptual in nature (Hero, 1986). Jones' (1989) inciteful critique of urban research highlighted these shortcomings and underscored the need for more longitudinal research efforts and scholarly work to progressively develop a theoretical base and improve our understanding of urban governance.Precise measurement of service distribution patterns and budget allotments provides a quantitative basis for inferring the distributional consequences of government's actions. However, this approach does not reflect the intentions or will of those involved in the public decision making process, nor do such post hoc approaches adequately reflect the political and policy process (Hero, 1986). In the complex area of public sector decision making many approaches have been taken to explain policy development and budget execution. For example, Dahl's classic work Who Governs? (1961) examined the power and political influence of elites, Seley (1983) discussed the role of elected officials, and marketers like Crompton and Lamb (1986) advocated a greater reliance on the current preferences of clientele. However, the social equity goals held by elected officials, practicing professionals, and the general population are ultimately the foundation of governance. As equity based policy evaluation tools gain sophistication, public administrators will be better able to assess the normative service allocation preferences of their constituents. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that valid and reliable measures of social equity perceptions may be possible.THE VENUE OF URBAN SERVICE DISTRIBUTION AND ALLOCATION: RECREATION AND PARKSThe most valid milieu in which to study the phenomenon of urban service allocation is to select a public service that incorporates the broadest range of equity options (Sharp, 1990). Studies of the equitable distribution of public leisure services have been completed by relatively few researchers. Gold (1974), Mladenka and Hill (1977), Jones (1980), and Farnham (1981) made important early contributions to the understanding of equitable park and recreation service allocation. More recently notable contributions have been made by Mladenka (1985, 1989) and Wicks & Crompton (1986, 1987, 1989, 1990). Mladenka compared the socio-political characteristics of Chicago's wards to single output measures of service such as acres of parks and quantities of amenities and found that no systematic differences in the level of park service provision existed between social groups. Mladenka's research convincingly supported Lineberry's (1977) hypothesis of "unpatterned inequalities," and his more recent longitudinal analysis added a new dimension to the understanding of service allocation. He suggested that racially biased allocation practices are decreasing in some instances, and may now be rejected as a significant predictor of unequitable service distribution.Wicks and Crompton's work focused on the normative attitudes of fair service allocation held by residents, administrators and elected officials for park and recreation programs. …

Devolved school management: the ‘new deal’ in Scottish education

Abstract: This paper is concerned with the management of public expenditure in the welfare state. It refers in particular to education. Faced with fiscal overload, the government is seeking to curb expenditure in such a way that both professionals and parents come to be complicit in that very endeavour, even though it may have adverse consequences for some of them. In order to illustrate this argument, the example of the self‐managing school is given, with reference to Scotland. The government's case rests on a rhetoric of choice and ownership, and is unsupported either by educational theory or by most of the extant research. The policy marks a profound change in the management of consent in Scottish education, substituting the concept of a professional partnership for that of a business partnership ‐ in sum, a ‘new deal’.

A Portfolio Theory of Policy Subsystems

Abstract: During the Reagan period4 the resilience and adaptability of domestic policy subsystems were subjected to the most severe test in recent history. Our explanation for the resilience and durability of these subsystems is based on the argument that the key actors in the subsystem adopt strategies that are mutually supportive of each other's needs and provide protection for the entire subsystem during periods of retrenchment. The thesis developed in this article focuses in particular on the role that agencies play in building and maintaining strong subsystem relationships. We argue that agencies pursue two main objectives to help reinforce subsystem relationships: (1) the maximization of the number of congressional districts that are benefited by the portfolio of programs administered by the agency and (2) the minimization of the collective action problems of the interest groups whose members benefit from their programs. Preliminary data relating to these arguments are presented for the 1983-1989 period. We f...

The Status of Programs for High Ability Students. Collaborative Research Study 94306.

Abstract: The Program Status Research Study (Purcell, 1993), sponsored by The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, was designed to examine the status of local programs for students with high abilities and the reasons to which educators and key personnel attributed the status of these programs. The study was completed in a purposive sample of 19 states, divided into four groups according to economic health (i.e., good, poor) and the existence or nonexistence of a state mandate to provide program services. This descriptive ex post facto research was completed in two phases. Phase I, a mail survey to more than 2,900 local personnel that yielded a response rate of over 54%, was designed to assess the status of programs for students with high abilities and the reasons attributed by local personnel to the status of their programs. Phase II, interviews with key personnel (the state director of gifted education, the president of the state advocacy organization, a school superintendent, a chairperson of a local board of education) was designed to triangulate the findings from Phase I. Results from Phase I indicated that programs in states with mandates and in good economic health are "intact" and "expanded," while programs in all other groups are being "threatened," "reduced," and "eliminated" in high numbers. The majority of respondents from states with mandates to provide services to students with high abilities and who reported programs as intact or expanded attributed the status to the existence of a state mandate and advocacy efforts. Almost half of the respondents from states without mandates and reporting their status as reduced, threatened, or eliminated attributed this status to a decline in state and local funds. Additionally, respondents indicated that approximately 75% of students with high abilities in grades three to eight receive program services, that 50% of students in grades one to two and nine to twelve receive similar services, and that program services for students Pre-K to K were almost nonexistent. Results from key personnel in Phase II of the research triangulated the findings from Phase I. Advocacy efforts were most frequently associated by key personnel with programs that were intact or expanding, and reductions in funding were associated with programs experiencing jeopardy.

Concerns about Innovations in the Workplace

Abstract: Examines the concerns profiles of 243 front‐line managers within Telecom Australia who were engaged in implementing two related innovations: (a) a new service policy called “Fix‐It‐First‐Time” and (b) a change in the functional role of front‐line managers. Results were considered to be broadly consistent with a developmental and stage model of concerns. However, the importance of concerns for this sample of workers was different from that suggested by previous research. The impact of innovations on colleagues, on clients and on their job security was paramount in this group, reflecting the fact that innovations occurred within a period of major retrenchment and redundancy. Results also confirmed a higher order structuring of concerns which occurs in the workplace and which goes beyond the original seven stages to encompass broadly defined personal concerns and impact concerns of the innovation. The implications of these findings are examined briefly in terms of an emerging critique of change management mo...