bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
THE STATE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: A PROFESSIONAL HISTORY, 1970–1995
Authors: RHODES R. A. W. , DARGIE CHARLOTTE , MELVILLE ABIGAIL , TUTT BRIAN
Published: April 2007

This article surveys developments in the profession of public administration in Britain in the 1980s. It explores: publications by analysing the contents of the leading journal; research grants through an analysis of ESRC awards; teaching through a resume of recent CNAA reports; and employment through a secondary analysis of the Political Studies Association's survey of the political science profession. Where possible, I compare the results with the findings of equivalent surveys in the US. These several surveys support five conclusions.
ADMINISTRATIVE THEORY IN THE 1980s: A VIEWPOINT
Authors: DUNSIRE ANDREW
Published: April 2007

The last fifteen years or so saw a flourish and then the surprising collapse of implementation process theory and contingency theory. Despite the enormous popular (and international) impact of privatization in these years, there was oddly little British administrative research in that area, although other aspects of‘the Thatcherite Revolution’, especially‘the new public management’, cultural change, and the divestment of executive work by Whitehall departments, were well covered. Growth points were informational logic theory and institutional analysis, though British development of cultural theory was somewhat lacking. Emphasis which shifted from‘public administration’to‘public management’may shift again in the coming decade, to‘governance’.
PUBLIC LAW
Authors: DREWRY GAVIN
Published: April 2007

Traditionally, both the academic study and the practice of UK public administration have drawn very little inspiration from the discipline of public law. In contrast to most other European countries, in which public services are subject to extensive administrative‐legal codes, and in which administrative disputes fall under the jurisdiction of separate and specialized administrative courts, UK administrative law remains – recent reforms notwithstanding – significantly undeveloped. There is a marked contrast also with the United States, where the founding scholars of the discipline of public administration saw it as being firmly rooted in public law. There is no codified British constitution and no counterpart of the US Supreme Court; and there is no British counterpart of the US Administrative Procedure Act 1946. However, there are three factors which underline the urgent need in the UK for greater collaboration and convergence between the disciplines of public law and public administration: first, the accumulation in recent years of a substantial body of research‐based, academic literature on public law, which provides important insights into the changing landscape of UK public administration; secondly, the continuing development of machinery for the redress of citizens’grievances against the state – in particular, the substantial growth of judicial review proceedings and the development of ombudsman systems; thirdly, the continuing transformation of the agenda of UK law and politics by developments in the European Union.
FROM PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION TO PUBLIC MANAGEMENT: REASSESSING A REVOLUTION?
Authors: GRAY ANDREW , JENKINS BILL
Published: April 2007

Changes to the study of public administration tend to follow those in the practice of the administration of government. The recent shift to public management is characterized and assessed both as a practice and a field of study. The result has been less a revolution in paradigm than the emergence of a vision of government which competes with but does not supplant traditional public administration.
INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS
Authors: STOKER GERRY
Published: April 2007

The field of intergovernmental relations has been strongly affected by the considerable processes of upheaval and change that have been experienced within the British system of central‐local relations. Researchers have tried to understand these changes both at an empirical and theoretical level.

This article reviews four of the main perspectives on the changing nature of intergovernmental relations. The first perspective provides a historical and institutional analysis within the tradition of public administration. The second perspective draws on organizational theory. The third develops insights through rational choice analysis. The final perspective draws on neo‐Marxist influenced state theory. It can be concluded that in a search to understand the turmoil of recent years, students of intergovernmental relations have ranged far and wide in their theoretical concerns. The article closes with an assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of this approach.
COMPARATIVE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN BRITAIN
Authors: PAGE EDWARD C.
Published: April 2007

According to a strict definition, comparative public administration in Britain is relatively undeveloped. However, once the definition is relaxed it is possible to see that scholars in the British Isles make a substantial contribution to the field. This contribution can be examined under four headings; single country studies, juxtapositions, thematic comparisons and causal explanations. While causal explanation must remain as one major objective of comparative study, such explanations are problematic, and not only in Britain. At best they can only deal in establishing the strength of the evidence supporting plausible hypotheses rather than offer more direct tests of causality associated with statistical techniques. The way forward in comparative research is not to be found in a search for an overall theory, or the institutionalization of administrative data gathering. Intellectually interesting questions are more likely to provoke data collection than the other way around. A stronger dialogue between contemporary and past studies as well as a broadening range of countries covered might help generate the projects which provide the systematic comparative data that many commentators believe we lack.
SHIFTING SANDS: TEACHING PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN A CLIMATE OF CHANGE
Authors: GREENWOOD JOHN , EGGINS HEATHER
Published: April 2007

This article analyses influences which in recent decades have changed the way in which public administration has been taught in British higher education. Focusing mainly on the former polytechnics, the article argues that a curriculum shift away from the social sciences and towards management, and changes in the nature of the British public sector, have profoundly influenced approaches to teaching public administration. It suggests that learning strategies are closely related to debate about the nature of the discipline and its location within the academic spectrum. The article also raises questions about the extent to which public administration teachers in British universities are equipped to present the more applied and skills‐based teaching which has often been adopted in recent years, and the tensions which this might pose particularly in the‘new’universities with the increasing emphasis upon academic research.
EMERGING ISSUES IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Authors: HOOD CHRISTOPHER
Published: April 2007

This article briefly examines five subfields of the public administration literature in the context of the major changes which have occurred in each of those fields since the 1940s. Major changes include: the alleged shift to‘globalization’affecting comparative public administration; the spread of‘economic rationalism’in policy analysis; the new wave of‘managerialism’affecting the study of the public service; the transformation of administrative technique by‘informatization’; and the rise of legal formalization in some fields redrawing the traditional boundary Unes between law and administration. For each of these subfields of public administration, three types of‘emerging issues’are identified. Some of the trends discussed ‐ particularly managerialization and juridification ‐ seem to be in tension with one another, suggesting alternative possible futures for public administration. Moreover, since many of the intellectual and doctrinal shifts seem to reflect a reaction against the shortcomings of an earlier orthodoxy, a counter‐reaction in the longer run cannot be ruled out.
THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF MANAGED COMPETITION IN THE NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE
Authors: RANADE WENDY
Published: April 2007

This article presents qualitative and survey evidence on the implementation of managed competition in the NHS. After outlining the economic analysis of quasi‐markets made by Le Grand and Bartlett, Part I argues that a framework derived from organization theory is a more fruitful way of analysing and understanding behaviour at local level. Part II describes the experience of implementation in four district health authorities, concentrating on the way key actors conceptualized market relations and the way market imperfections were addressed. Part III discusses the main reasons why implementation took the form it did and the factors shaping similar or dissimilar responses.
ORGANIZATIONAL STATUS AND PERFORMANCE: THE CASE OF THE SWEDISH PHARMACIES
Authors: ANDERSON STUART
Published: April 2007

In recent years, studies of the relationship between organizational status and success have focused largely on organizations transferring from the public to the private sectors: pharmacies in Sweden provide a case study of organizational status change in the reverse direction. Popular belief suggests progressive deterioration in the performance of an organization where ownership changes from owner‐manager to public corporation, market conditions change from competition to monopoly, and internal management becomes increasingly command orientated.

This article explores change in various performance and organizational variables in the National Corporation of Swedish Pharmacies, from its creation in 1971 until 1990. The corporation displays a high degree of stability amongst its senior management team, task specialization amongst employees is low, whilst standardization of working methods is high. Decentralization of authority has occurred over several years.

A review of several measures of success, including productivity, financial ratios and innovation, demonstrates substantial progress over the period, comparing favourably with other Swedish public sector organizations. It is concluded that public sector ownership and monopoly supply need not result in deteriorating performance and lack of innovation, provided that criteria for success are clearly stated and properly monitored.
A DEFENCE OF FREQUENT MINISTERIAL TURNOVER
Authors: ALDERMAN R.K.
Published: April 2007

The frequency with which British ministers are transferred between departments incurs considerable adverse comment. It is generally held to have a prejudicial effect upon government. However, much of the criticism is misdirected and predicated upon questionable assumptions. There are cogent (if rarely voiced) arguments in favour of relatively rapid ministerial turnover. Within departments short‐stay ministers are in a stronger position than conventional wisdom allows. At the cabinet level they are less likely to adopt a narrow, departmentally oriented approach at the expense of wider considerations. The party management function of ministerial reshuffles, though much disparaged, plays an essential part in effective government, promoting ministerial vitality and assisting in the achievement of the legislative programme. The preponderance of career politicians in the House of Commons accentuates the pressures for rapid ministerial turnover, the need for which is, paradoxically, further increased by the same party being in office for a prolonged period.
‘THE GREAT DOCK AND DOLE SWINDLE’: ACCOUNTING FOR THE COSTS AND BENEFITS OF PORT TRANSPORT DEREGULATION AND THE DOCK LABOUR COMPENSATION SCHEME*
Authors: TURNBULL PETER , WASS VICTORIA
Published: April 2007

Deregulation of the port transport industry was predicted to bring much needed jobs and investment to Britain's ailing dockland areas, lower prices for port users and consumers, and improved international competitiveness. These benefits were anticipated to far exceed any attendant costs. But the benefits have failed to materialize, largely because the government failed to appreciate the non‐competitive structure of the industry or the effects of the National Dock Labour Scheme on the economic performance of the ports, while the costs were substantially underestimated. Consequently, the costs of deregulation have exceeded the benefits. As in the past, current industrial policy has been dictated by the apparent‘labour problems’of the docks, but the new system of deregulation, founded on the mass redundancy of exregistered dockers and a re‐assertion of managerial prerogative, has exacerbated rather than resolved the underlying structural weaknesses of the industry. In particular, deregulation has ushered in a new era of casual employment on the docks. Unless, or until, public policy addresses these problems the costs of deregulation will continue to accumulate.
REPRESENTING CUSTOMERS’INTERESTS: THE CASE OF THE PRIVATIZED WATER INDUSTRY IN ENGLAND AND WALES
Authors: OGDEN STUART , ANDERSON FIONA
Published: April 2007

Privatization has been one of the most important and controversial policy initiatives to emerge in the UK over the last decade. However, to date there has been little attempt to assess the impact of privatization on customers, despite the fact that much of the justification for the privatization of the public utilities was couched in terms of the benefits it would bring for customers. In the case of the water industry opportunities for competition are virtually non‐existent, and the ten regional water authorities were privatized with their monopoly position intact. Consequently customers’interests have been represented and protected through new regulatory arrangements operated by the Office of Water Services. The purpose of this article is to offer some provisional assessment of the effectiveness of these new regulatory arrangements. In doing so, the article regards the model of private sector consumer sovereignty as inappropriate given the continued absence of competitive arrangements for the representation of customers’interests against some of the criteria currently being discussed in the development of more consumer‐oriented approaches to the delivery of public services.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF EU EQUALITY POLICIES: BUREAUCRATIC EXPANSION ON BEHALF OF WOMEN?
Authors: MAZEY SONIA
Published: April 2007

This article critically evaluates the impact of European Community equal opportunities policies on behalf of women. It is argued that the European Commission, supported by the European Parliament, women's organizations and European Court rulings, has consciously sought to extend the scope of Community legislation and policies in this sector. The article highlights the various strategies used by the Commission in pursuit of this objective, including the cultivation by the Commission of a number of policy networks which are actively involved in the formulation and monitoring of EU equal opportunities policies. A central theme of the article is the growing opposition to further EC legislation in this sector among employers and some national governments. In this situation, the Commission has been forced to adopt alternative 'soft’policy instruments.
REDISCOVERING CITIZENSHIP: HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY REFLECTIONS
Authors: RAADSCHELDERS JOS C.N.
Published: April 2007

Our contemporary perception of participation is rather narrow, limited as it is to types of direct and indirect political participation. It is in this narrow perspective that governments’major problems nowadays are analysed: demand overload and declining citizen participation. The major solutions are thus found in reform of politics and government. Little or no attention is given to the potential of the citizenry in providing public services, since their contribution is mainly voluntary by nature. In this article I argue that a different perception of citizenship may well lead to different solutions of governments’current problems. In its true meaning, participation encompasses more than just public endorsement of political proposals. A comparison of historical and contemporary citizen participation serves to highlight the true problem of our times: the lack of reciprocity between government and citizen.
THE ENABLING STATE: THE ROLE OF MARKETS AND CONTRACTS
Authors: DEAKIN NICHOLAS , WALSH KIERON
Published: April 2007

Contracts have been a key element in the recent reform of British public services. Their introduction has formed part of a broader process of change in which the market structures and values have featured prominently. In practice, contracts have both brought benefits and presented problems. More particularly, greater organizational formality has raised some important issues – the role of trust and the form and practice of accountability prominent among them. Evidence from a recent esrc‐supported study shows that some services (the simpler ones) have generally gained from the reforms; but the evidence for more complex ones is equivocal at best.
TANGLED WEBS? MANAGING LOCAL MIXED ECONOMIES OF CARE
Authors: CHARLESWORTH JULIE , CLARKE JOHN , COCHRANE ALLAN
Published: April 2007

This article addresses two main issues about the emergent forms of social care provision in the development of a more mixed economy of welfare in Britain in the 1990s. The first concerns patterns of inter‐organizational relationship within local mixed economies of care, paying particular attention to the inter‐section of competitive and collaborative models of such relationships. The second concerns the emergence of a‘managerial mode of co‐ordination’as the dominant force in ordering intra‐ and inter‐organizational relationships in such mixed economies. The article draws on research conducted in two such local mixed economies of care and addresses some of the theoretical problems involved in trying to analyse these new patterns of relationship.
PUBLIC SECTOR PAY BARGAINING: COMPARABILITY, DECENTRALIZATION AND CONTROL
Authors: WHITE GEOFF
Published: April 2007

Public sector pay, as a key component of public expenditure, has been a major issue for government since the mid‐1970s. This article analyses public services pay bargaining since 1979 and examines the continuing tension between the control of public sector pay levels on the one hand and the wish to make pay levels more responsive to external market forces on the other.

The article concentrates on the changes in pay bargaining in the public services. It does not purport to provide a detailed economic analysis of the outcomes of the various phases in public sector pay policy, but does attempt to explain the process implications of the political contingencies and rationale driving government policy on pay determination. In particular it notes the resilience of national pay‐setting arrangements and pay comparability throughout most of the period under review, despite the political rhetoric, emphasizing the pragmatism of government policy. The latter section of the article reviews the current policy, with its emphasis on decentralized pay determination, and considers these new developments within the context of private sector collective bargaining theory.

The evidence from the private sector suggests that pay determination in the private sector is complex and that levels of bargaining relate to various factors. Decentralization is neither a panacea for poor performance nor necessarily problem free. Devolved pay determination can lead to problems of control over costs and, in the context of high levels of trade union organization, to pay‘leapfrogging’. The article concludes that there is a continuing contradiction between the role of the government as an employer, keen to devolve pay decisions to local level, and that of economic regulator with responsibility for the wider economy. This continuing tension indicates that decentralized pay bargaining in the public sector will be limited in its scope by some form of central government control.
TRANSFORMING SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION FOR THE TWENTY‐FIRST CENTURY: TOWARDS ONE‐STOP SERVICES AND THE CLIENT GROUP PRINCIPLE?
Authors: BELLAMY CHRISTINE
Published: April 2007

The creation of the new Social Security Benefits Agency in 1991 coincided with the final installation in local offices of the first Operational Strategy computer systems, which automated large parts of social security benefits administration. Since then the agency has refocused its strategic thinking towards a ten‐year development programme which is centred around plans for‘one‐stop’benefits delivery. The article shows why this programme is dependent on‘informatization’‐ the generation from, and application to, social security administration of new kinds of information, made possible by information and communications technologies (icts). It assesses the feasibility and implications of informatizing benefits administration and the likely effects of continuing pressures to reduce administrative costs. It argues that, whilst the agency will become more customer focused, the practical outcomes are likely to be two‐edged for claimants. At a policy level, informatization will reinforce political pressures to rationalize and target the benefits system, especially if information‐management problems are controlled by a shift to the client group principle.
VARIETIES OF NEW INSTITUTIONALISM: A CRITICAL APPRAISAL
Authors: LOWNPES VIVIEN
Published: April 2007

New institutionalist approaches reflect a common commitment to the significance of institutional arrangements and a common criticism of atomistic accounts of social processes. Beyond these core assumptions, new institutionalism is characterized by a great variety of positions, which are sometimes complementary and sometimes conflicting. The different positions can be captured in six‘vignettes’: the mythic institution, the efficient institution, the stable institution, the manipulated institution, the disaggregated institution, and the appropriate institution. The vignettes differ in the significance they accord to: formal and informal institutional rules; change and stability within institutions; and the role of rational action and norm‐governed behaviour in creating and sustaining institutions. The comparative critical assessment of the vignettes can provide the basis for a multi‐theoretic approach to the study of institutions and institutional change.
THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION: EXAMINING THE CONSULTATIVE PROCESS
Authors: WILSON DAVID J.
Published: April 2007

This article shows how a complex configuration of interests has shaped the work of the Local Government Commission for England (lgc). The article focuses upon the consultative processes associated with the work of the commission in Leicestershire and makes a dual contribution to our understanding of the emerging structure of English non‐metropolitan local government. First, it provides a detailed insight into the consultative exercises carried out by one local authority, Leicestershire County Council (lcc), and explores the strategies employed by that authority in order to secure an optimal outcome from the Local Government Commission. Second, it argues that organization theory, notably the inter‐organizational analysis applied by Leach in his work on the impact of the reorganization of local government in metropolitan Britain, offers the most pertinent theoretical framework for analysis. The article highlights the inadequacies of the consultation process around local government reorganization, showing that neither the efforts of the county council nor the commission itself stimulated a reasoned debate amongst the public. The review process did not capture people's imagination; nor did it stimulate genuine debate about the kind of local government we want. Essentially, what this article depicts is a picture of a pragmatic and brutal organizational battle in which there were losers as well as winners.
‘RATIONAL’SOCIAL REGULATION AND COMPLIANCE COST ASSESSMENT
Authors: FROUD JULIE , OGUS ANTHONY
Published: April 2007

Since 1985 the UK government has promoted the use of compliance cost assessment (CCA) in order to quantify the impact on business of proposed new regulations. The strategy has arisen in response to a perception that there has been a tendency to overregulate, and it currently forms part of a wider deregulation initiative. The paper reviews this development, contrasting it with the use of regulatory impact assessment in the US and examining the extent to which it encourages‘rational’social regulation. The authors conclude that, while the process of regulation may have become more informed as a result of the production of ccas, the exercise is narrowly focused. As a consequence, its role in improving the rationality of the legislative process is likely to be limited.
TOWARDS A BETTER PUBLIC LAW?
Authors: CRAM IAN , BELL JOHN
Published: April 2007

In the UK Constitution, the major weapon of judicial control over the exercise of governmental power is provided by the action for judicial review. This action serves to keep public bodies within the scope of the powers conferred on them by law. Prior to the present Law Commission inquiry into procedural aspects of judicial review, the matter was last examined in 1977 since when there have been significant changes in the ways in which governmental power is exercised and controlled. This article takes as its focus the Law Commission's Report No.226 Judicial Review and Statutory Appeals and examines specific proposals contained therein arguing that, underlying the reforms, there exists no coherent vision of the future role of public law. Instead, what is revealed is a confused cocktail of measures in which the tension between the legitimate needs of public administration and the opposing requirement that government act according to law remains unacknowledged and thereby unresolved. There is, moreover, a disappointing failure to evaluate the experience of public law procedures found in other jurisdictions. In response to these perceived deficiencies, the authors set out an alternative and principled account of judicial review, the central feature of which is to ensure that public power is subjected to an appropriate degree of judicial scrutiny. This alternative account is later used to inform arguments about specific reforms. In this regard, the valuable experience of other jurisdictions’public law procedures is also drawn upon.
ENVIRONMENTAL ADMINISTRATION IN SIX EUROPEAN STATES: SECULAR CONVERGENCE OR NATIONAL DISTINCTIVENESS?
Authors: WEALE ALBERT , PRIDHAM GEOFFREY , WILLIAMS ANDREA , PORTER MARTIN
Published: April 2007

To what extent has environmental administration in Europe been shaped by common secular forces or by distinctive national contexts? Middle range theories of the policy process suggest competing answers to this question, with some implying the likelihood of convergence in administrative structures and others suggesting persistent national distinctiveness. Using data on Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK, we construct a measure of administrative concentration in each country. From this measure we assess the extent of convergence over time among the six nations. We argue that national context is a more important influence than common secular trends, and we identify in each state the political dynamics behind the national pattern. The symbolic role of administrative reorganization is thereby highlighted in the politics of environmental policy.
CENTRALIZATION, DECENTRALIZATION AND THE EUROPEAN UNION: THE DYNAMICS OF TRIADIC RELATIONSHIPS
Authors: JOHN PETER
Published: April 2007

The accession of the UK into the European Community in 1973 and the growth in power and competence of European institutions in subsequent years prompts a rethink of relationships between central and local governance. Rather than a dyadic process between two sets of bodies, the new triadic system is based on varying interactions between the three groups of actors at each level. The article develops six possible scenarios of new relationships which can be simplified into centralization, no change or decentralization. To appraise the nature of the changes, the article examines the operation of the European Regional Development Fund, the additionality controversy, lobbying over the 1994 reform of the structural funds and aspects of environmental regulation. Rather than one scenario dominating, the findings show several types of new relationships emerging.
REINVENTING LOCAL GOVERNMENT? SOME EVIDENCE ASSESSED
Authors: YOUNG KEN
Published: April 2007

Osborne and Gaebler's Reinventing Government offers a powerful image of a revolution in government. This article explores some of the assumptions of that seminal work as they relate to the nature of the change process. Parallels are drawn with the debate on the nineteenth‐century revolution in government, and Osborne and Gaebler's work is judged unlikely to survive the critical perspective of history. Their work may nonetheless be taken as providing a research agenda for the study of the recent extensive changes in British local government. To this end, the findings of the two major surveys of organizational change conducted by the Local Government Management Board are examined to see if such a revolution is indeed occurring. The conclusion is drawn that some, but by no means all, of Osborne and Gaebler's propositions are supported by this evidence, although their account of how change has come about is rejected.
ECONOMIC DISCOURSE AND THE MARKET: THE CASE OF COMMUNITY CARE
Authors: LUNT NEIL , MANNION RUSSELL , SMITH PETER
Published: April 2007

The UK government has introduced fundamental reforms into the provision of social care. The‘community care’programme, which was fully implemented in 1993, requires local authorities to assess the needs of potential users, to design an individual package of care that reflects those needs, and to purchase the package from a range of statutory, voluntary and private providers. Thus the new arrangement introduced a‘quasi‐market’in community care, along the lines of those already operating in other areas of the UK public sector, such as health and education. Hitherto, much analysis of the functioning of such markets has been conducted within a neo‐classical economic framework. This article examines the relevance to the complex new community care market of three alternative theoretical perspectives: the transaction costs literature, the Austrian school and the new economic sociology. It is concluded that, although neoclassical economic discourse has been influential in shaping policy, no single perspective can capture all the issues relevant to analysing the market in community care. Therefore, in evaluating the reforms, an eclectic theoretical approach will be required which draws upon a variety of economic discourses.
THE CHANGING TERRITORIAL OPERATING CODE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: EVIDENCE FROM NORTHERN IRELAND
Authors: CARMICHAEL PAUL
Published: April 2007

This article investigates the UK's changing territorial operating code. The core theme discussed is that recent trends are captured by the Dual Polity thesis but that the model is undesirable as a medium for territorial management. The contention is that, whilst the conditions which sustained the old Dual Polity of 1920‐70 as a credible territorial operating code had disappeared by 1979, the subsequent command code of the Thatcher era failed to subdue the Periphery or deliver stability and acquiesence in territorial management which the Centre craved. In response, the consequent upheavals of the 1980s encourage the Centre to fashion a new territorial code, approximating to the old Dual Polity. However, unlike its 1930 forbear, this recreated Dual Polity involves a sharply attenuated role for local government, leaving a system of sub‐central governance heavily populated with quangos and joint boards comparable to a new magistracy and demonstrating the worst aspects of Britain's own emerging democratic deficit. The article employs evidence from Northern Ireland as a model of the new Dual Polity in extremis, arguing that fresh thinking is required in policy‐making. The Centre has been willing to countenance innovative new structures for the management of its most intractable territorial problem (Northern Ireland). The article concludes that a similarly novel approach is required for the UK, based on a recognition of the inapplicability of outmoded forms of territorial management, the inescapable consequences of the UK's membership of the European Union, a reassessment of the role of each tier of government, and one which embraces the concept of subsidiarity.
PRIVATIZATION AS INDUSTRIAL POLICY: STATE WITHDRAWAL FROM THE BRITISH MOTOR INDUSTRY
Authors: MCLAUGHLIN ANDREW M. , MALONEY WILLIAM A.
Published: April 2007

The distinctive feature of industrial policy towards the motor industry in the 1980s was the transformation in government policy from one of subsidizing bl to active encouragement of Japanese inward investment. This article focuses on the key events of the bl privatization and illustrates how the changing nature of the government's relationship with bl and the motor industry was a fundamental influence on policy change. It also examines the utility of policy network models in accounting for policy outcomes in a highly politicized policy environment.
REINVENTING THE AMERICAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: REFORM REDUX OR REAL CHANGE?
Authors: INGRAHAM PATRICIA W.
Published: April 2007

Reinventing government in the United States is the most recent of several efforts to reform public organizations and management. A cornerstone of the Clinton Administration's agenda for change, reinvention is proceeding on several levels. One is that of political symbolism and rhetoric: reduce waste, eliminate unnecessary programmes, and improve efficiency. Another level is found in the reinvention laboratories created throughout the federal government. Here the focus is on quality, customer service, streamlining processes and procedures, and eliminating unnecessary rules and regulations. A third level is found in policy and system changes; here the emphasis is on examining broad functions, decentralizing major activities, and providing legislative support for necessary changes.

Implementation of reinvention activities has been decentralized and loosely monitored. Many of the initiatives in the reinvention laboratories are difficult to track and analyse; changes at this level do appear, however, to be extensive and diverse. Broader legislative changes have not been so extensive and the Clinton Administration has been slow to introduce key legislative packages. The role of Congress is unclear.

Despite uneven progress and failure to ask key policy and implementation questions, reinvention is creating significant change in the federal government. The outcome of those changes and the long‐term future of reinvention depend on the continued commitment of the members of the public service, as well as much clearer political support and will.
MODELLING BUREAUCRACY: THE CASE OF THE AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL BUDGET SECTOR 1982‐1992
Authors: DOLLERY BRIAN , HAMBURGER PETER
Published: April 2007

A substantial literature exists on the economic analysis of bureaucracy, which includes formal models of bureaucratic behaviour by Niskanen (1971) and Dunleavy (1991). This article develops hypotheses from those models about changes in size of bureaux over time and tests them against data on the Australian federal budget sector in 1982–83 and 1991–92. The models predict that bureaucrats usually will be able to influence the size or structure of their bureaux in line with their personal preferences. However, the Australian data suggest that the extent of such influence may be less than is assumed in either model and that the preferences of politicians are more influential than the models allow. One conclusion is that, if bureaucracy is to be modelled, a principal‐agent approach will have more to offer than the neo‐classical maximizing framework adopted by Niskanen in particular. A further conclusion, at odds with those of Niskanen and weakening his case for wholesale privatization, is that bureaucratic dysfunctions may be amenable to reform of the political and bureaucratic rules and systems.
RAPID RURAL APPRAISAL: ITS USE AND VALUE FOR HEALTH PLANNERS AND MANAGERS
Authors: RIFKIN SUSAN B.
Published: April 2007

Rapid appraisals have proliferated in the field of health in the past decade because of their perceived promise of obtaining information for planning and managing programmes cheaply and quickly. This article examines one type of appraisal, Rapid Rural Appraisal (rra) in order to assess the contribution of this approach. The background to its development is described, highlighting the relevance to primary health care (phc). Its two essential characteristics – qualitative inquiry and community participation are noted. The approach is examined, the techniques described and case studies which have used the approach are presented. The strengths and weaknesses of the approach based on these examples are assessed. The article concludes that the rra approach should not be seen merely as an approach to get information for the planning process but rather as an integral part of the process itself. Its contribution is to improve the quality of the information planners obtain and to develop plans of action by using qualitative inquiry and involving the community in this process.
PETTY BUREAUCRACY AND WOOLLYMINDED LIBERALISM? THE CHANGING ETHOS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICERS
Authors: PRATCHETT LAWRENCE , WINGFIELD MELVIN
Published: April 2007

Most discussions of the public service ethos (pse) have offered polemical accounts of how recent reforms have eroded the distinguishing values of public servants without ever defining this ethos or considering its relationship to other aspects of the public sector. This article considers the deeper and more structural implications of the pse by characterizing it as a political institution that shares the features of‘new institutionalism’. It concentrates upon the pse as it manifests itself in local government and uses case studies of four authorities to analyse the extent to which external changes are altering the fundamental values of the ethos. In using the‘new institutionalist’perspective it argues that the pse, a vital institution of the UK polity, has been resistant to external pressures for change. Hence, to be successful, public sector reform must take into account the interdependent relationship between the pse and other political institutions.
DEMOCRACY, PARTICIPATION AND RESPONSIVENESS: A CASE STUDY OF RELATIONS BETWEEN THE IVORIAN COMMUNES AND THEIR CITIZENS
Authors: CROOK RICHARD
Published: April 2007

This study of the new Ivorian communes created in 1985 investigates the hypothesis that democratization of local government will lead to an improvement in governmental performance, particularly in its‘responsiveness’dimension. It was found that although electoral participation had increased since 1985, other forms of popular engagement with the communes were low, and relationships of accountability and consultation between elected representatives and their electorates were also poorly developed. Responsiveness, defined as congruence between popular preferences and the actual policies and outputs of the communes, was generally low. It is concluded that whilst increased participation enhanced the capacity to be responsive, its impact was mediated through institutional and societal factors such as the role of the mayor, the electoral system, public expectations, continued financial and fiscal centralization and the inevitable limits on the resources and functions of the communes.
Books on International Economic Affairs
Authors: Harris Stuart
Published: April 2007

THE COMMODITIES DEBATE: ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL FACTORS

COMMODITY CONFLICT: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF INTERNATIONAL COMMODITY NEGOTIATIONS

THE FUTURE OF NONFUEL MINERALS

THE ECONOMICS OF OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS SUPPLIES

FREEDOM IN CONSTITUTIONAL CONTRACT: PERSPECTIVES OF A POLITICAL ECONOMIST

THE NEED FOR INTERNATIONAL RESERVES AND CREDIT FACILITIES

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY ISSUES AND DEVELOPMENT POLICIES

BRETTON WOODS: BIRTH OF A MONETARY SYSTEM

URANIUM, NUCLEAR POWER AND CANADA‐US ENERGY RELATIONS

STABILITY AND INFLATION

ADJUSTMENT, TRADE AND GROWTH IN DEVELOPED AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

GROWTH, TRADE AND STRUCTURAL CHANGE IN AN OPEN AUSTRALIAN ECONOMY

THE FINANCING OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

FOREIGN INVESTMENT, TRANS‐NATIONALS AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

INDUSTRIAL PRICING BEHAVIOUR AND DEVALUATION

ISSUES AND PROSPECTS FOR THE NEW INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ORDER

TRADE NEGOTIATIONS IN THE TOKYO ROUND: A QUANTITATIVE ASSESSMENT

UNSKILLED LABOUR FOR DEVELOPMENT: ITS ECONOMIC COST
Open Letters to Governments — British arid German Style
Authors: Nicolaides Eri
Published: April 2007

On 30 March last, 364 of the United Kingdom'sacademic economists, roughly a quarter of those who teach economics in British universities, gave the media something not too taxing to talk and write about. They published an open letter to the British Government. Fifty five of the 60 members of the economics faculty at Cambridge University signed the letter. The full text read as follows.
Prohibitively High Textile Tariffs of Developing Countries
Authors: Neundörfer Konrad
Published: April 2007

In view of the negotiations on the extension of the Arrangement Regarding International Trade in Textiles, usually referred to as the Multi‐fibre Arrangement (MFA), I would like to comment, on behalf of the Confederation of Textile Industries in the Federal Republic of Germany (Gesamttextil), on the study for the Trade Policy Research Centre by Donald B. Keesing and Martin Wolf, Textile Quotas against Developing Countries.
The Cancun Summit and the NIEO Proposals
Authors: Donges Juergen B. , Grubel Herbert G.
Published: April 2007

THE WORLD ECONOMIC ORDER: PAST AND PROSPECTS, edited by Sven Grassman

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC DISORDER: ESSA YS IN NORTH‐SOUTH RELATIONS, by Gerald K. Helleiner

DU CONGO AU ZAÏRE 1960–1980: ESSAI DE BILAN, by A. Huybrechts, V. Y. Mudibme, L. Peeters, J. Vanderlinden, D. Van Der Steen and B. Verhaegen (Brussels: Centre de recherche et d'information socio‐politiques [CRISP], 1980) 420 pp., paperback 800 Belgian francs.

POLICIES FOR INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, edited by John Cody, Helen Hughes and David Wall

TOURISM: PASSPORT TO DEVELOPMENT?, edited by Emanuel de Kadt

WHAT UNEMPLOYMENT MEANS, by Adrian Sinfield

THE WORKLESS STATE, edited by Brian Showler and Adrian Sinfield

WALTER LIPPMANN AND THE AMERICAN CENTURY, by Ronald Steel

EEC AND THE THIRD WORLD: A SURVEY, edited by Christopher Stevens

THE ECONOMIC THEORY OF THE STATE, by David K. Whynes and Roger A. Bowles, with a Foreword by Alan Peacock

EAST EUROPEAN INTEGRATION AND EAST‐WEST TRADE, edited by Paul Marer and John Michael Montias

MONETARISM OR PROSPERITY?. by Bryan Gould, John Mills and Shaun Stewart, with a Foreword by Peter Shore

REVERSING ECONOMIC DECLINE, by John C. Carrington and George T. Edwards

THE MULTINATIONAL MOTOR INDUSTRY, by George Maxcy and Erik Lundberg
The Twilight of Domestic Economic Policies
Authors: Blackhurst Richard
Published: April 2007

twilight… partial darkness; (fig.) gradual decay or destruction of something once glorious …t. state hysterical state of unawareness of external realities

i

—Annual Report, Bank for International Settlements, Basle, June 1981, p. 25

—World Economic Outlook, International Monetary Fund, Washington, June 1981, pp. 8–9

—OECD Observer, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris, July 1981, p. 13
Saudi Arabia's Confidence in Tackling Real Problems
Authors: Wilton Sir John
Published: April 2007

THE HOUSE OF SAUD, by David Holden and Richard Johns

SAUDI ARABIA: THE RUSH T O DEVELOPMENT, by Raga'ei El Mallakh
Realities and Double Standards in Relations with Japan
Authors: Lehmann Jean‐Pierre
Published: April 2007

JAPANS ECONOMIC POLICY, by G. C. Allen

TRADE PROBLEMS BETWEEN JAPAN AND WESTERN EUROPE, by Masamichi Hanabusa

JAPAN'S ECONOMIC AID, by Alan Rix

JAPAN'S OPTIONS FOR THE 1980s. by Radha Sinha

ENERGY POLICY IN PERSPECTIVE: TODAY'S PROBLEMS, Y ESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS

BRITAIN IN EUROPE, edited by William Wallace

HARMONISATION IN THE EEC, edited by Carol Cosgrove Twitchett

MULTINATIONALS FROM DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, edited by Krishna Kumar and Maxwell G. McLeod

EUROPE UNDER STRESS, by Yao‐su Hu

BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY, by Lester R. Brown

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES IN THE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY, by Sanjaya Lall

BEYOND INDUSTRIALIZATION: ASCENDANCY OF THE GLOBAL SERVICE ECONOMY, by Ronald Kent Shelp

INTERNATIONAL PRODUCTION AND THE MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISE, by John H. Dunning

INSIDE THE MULTINATIONALS, by Alan M. Rugman

FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL POLICY FOR THE 1980s, edited by D. Gale Johnson

THE JAPANESE CHALLENGE TO US INDUSTRY, by Jack Baranson

FLEXIBLE EXCHANGE RATES AND INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS, by John M. Blin, Stuart I. Greenbaum and Donald P Jacobs

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF IN‐ DUSTRIAL POLICY, by Wyn Grant

US FOREIGN POLICY AND THE THIRD WORLD: AGENDA 1982, by Roger D. Hansen et al.
Optimal Development Policies: Lessons from Experience
Authors: Tinbergen Jan
Published: April 2007

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: THEORY, POLICY AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, by I.M.D. Little

THE POVERTY OF ‘DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS', by Deepak Lal, Hobart Paperback No. 16

THE THEORY AND EXPERIENCE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, Essays in Honour of Sir W. Arthur Lewis, edited by Mark Gersovitz, Carlos F. Diaz‐Alejandro, Gustav Ranis and Mark R. Rosenzweig
On the Consequences of Muddling Through the Debt Crisis
Authors: Dornbusch Rudiger
Published: April 2007

‘The history of investment in South America throughout the last century has been one of confidence followed by disillusionment, of borrowing cycles followed by widespread defaults and of a series of alternating repudiations and recognitions of external debts…The ability of the most creditworthy governments to avoid default must necessarily be impaired if any considerable part of the nominal value of loans has not, in fact, been put to the use for which it was intended’—The Problem of International Investment, Report by a Study Group of Members of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, London (1937)
Reindustrialisation of Western Economies — Is it Desirable or Feasible?
Authors: Hirsch Seev
Published: April 2007

THE NEXT AMERICAN FRONTIER

RENEWING AMERICAN INDUSTRY

THE REINDUSTRIALZATION OF AMERICA
The Return of the Reciprocitarians — US Trade Policy Today
Authors: Rhagwati Jagdish N. , Irwin Douglas A.
Published: April 2007

‘We are always willing to be trade partners, but never trade patsies’— President Ronald Reagan, State of the Union Message, Washington, 1987
Case for Evaluating Protection in an Economy‐wide Perspective
Authors: Laird Samuel , Sampson Gary P.
Published: April 2007

‘Whether protectionism spreads, imposing major harm on the world economy, depends on three factors: the costs and benefits of trade for domestic political actors; these actors’ access to and control over the process of government; and the extent to which international commitments and obligations to trade policy are viewed as binding by national governments’

—Costs and Benefits of Protection (Paris: OECD Secretariat, 1985)
Evangelical Economist Condemns Debt
Authors: Abbott George C.
Published: April 2007

Tim Congdon, The Debt Threat (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1988) 246 pp., hardcover £25.00, paperback £7.95.
Whither the Twain Shall Meet
Authors: Josling T.E.
Published: April 2007

Susan Strange, States and Markets: an Introduction to International Political Economy (London: Pinter, 1988) 263 pp., hardcover £22.00, paperback £8.95.
Simplicity is a Many Splendoured Thing
Authors: Greenaway David
Published: April 2007

W.M. Corden, Protection, Growth and Trade (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1985) 331 pp., £40.00.
Exploring the Mysteries of the East
Authors: Samonis Valdas
Published: April 2007

Franklyn D. Holzman, The Economies of Soviet Bloc Trade and Finance (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1987) 226 pp., $36.50.