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Political Pressures (political + pressure)
Selected AbstractsPENSION REFORM, POLITICAL PRESSURE AND PUBLIC CHOICE , THE CASE OF FRANCEECONOMIC AFFAIRS, Issue 4 2008Laura Thompson An ageing population and generous public sector pensions have put significant pressure on the funding of the French pension system making a reduction in the scope of state pension schemes imperative. Yet, as public-choice theory would predict, lobbying by interest groups has made reform difficult to achieve. [source] Transnational Advocacy Networks and Affirmative Action for Dalits in IndiaDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 2 2008Jens Lerche ABSTRACT In India, movements and parties representing the lowest ranking dalit caste groups have followed different strategies in their struggle against social, economic and cultural discrimination. In this article, a new dalit movement making use of a ,transnational advocacy network strategy' will be compared to a more ,classical'dalit political party. The main policy target for the new movement is an extension of existing affirmative action policies, while the dalit BSP party focuses more on emancipatory issues. Based on an analysis of the impacts of the BSP and of the new movement at the grassroots level, it is argued that the achievements of the new movement are tempered by the fact that in order to make use of international discourses and political pressure, the movement has had to develop a strategy and policy proposals compatible with existing mainstream neoliberal discourses. This depoliticizes the policies, and hence makes them of less importance strategically. It is argued that this is likely to be a difficulty for transnational advocacy networks in general. [source] Early Socio-political and Environmental Consequences of the Prestige Oil Spill in GaliciaDISASTERS, Issue 3 2003J.D. García Pérez The controversial form in which the oil industry is run has once more caused a huge disaster , this one affecting the Galician coastal environment and economy. Oil-spill clean-up operations have been managed in Europe with some success but with considerable economic, environmental and social costs. The oil industry often avoids fully or even partially compensating those affected. The lack of both political will and political power has let the culprit (the oil industry) off the hook. This paper considers the spill of the Prestige to assess whether the balance of power between affected people and the oil industry can be changed. The paper examines the growing awareness of environmental issues among ordinary people in Spain, through the massive involvement of volunteers concerned with the damage done to the environment and to the livelihoods of fishing communities in Galicia. To understand these growing public concerns and the strength of opinion, the paper examines the details of the decisions taken by the central Spanish and local governments and the way these have informed the clean-up operations, the character of the oil companies involved and the feeling of impotence in the face of such disasters. The conclusion here is that the operations of the oil industry should be tightly regulated through EU legislation, and that this can come about as a result of organised political pressure from those affected by the oil spill, from the mass of volunteers, as well as from public opinion at large. [source] Strategic Political Participation and RedistributionECONOMICS & POLITICS, Issue 1 2002Toke Skovsgaard Aidt The purpose of this paper is to study formation of support and opposition to redistribution. We analyze a society with two groups of citizens and a government. The government distributes income from one group to the other in response to political pressure. The interaction between the groups is modeled as a two-stage game. In stage 1, the groups decide if they want to be politically active. In stage 2, the active group or groups seek influence on the direction and size of the transfer. We demonstrate that supporters of redistribution are always politically active but that opposition is often absent. Moreover, when opposition is absent there is a strong tendency for underdissipation of the transfer, while political competition typically leads to overdissipation. [source] ,Aus so prosaischen Dingen wie Kartoffeln, Straßen, Traktoren werden poetische Dinge!': Brecht, Sinn und Form, and Strittmatter's KatzgrabenGERMAN LIFE AND LETTERS, Issue 1 2003Matthew Philpotts This article takes as its starting,point an essay written by Bertolt Brecht in praise of the GDR playwright Erwin Strittmatter and his Socialist Realist drama, Katzgraben, which was staged by the Berliner Ensemble in May 1953. Published in the late summer of 1953 in Sinn und Form, this rather neglected essay is of significance because Brecht adopts in it a highly orthodox GDR position at a time when he was otherwise making dissenting interventions in GDR cultural politics. Publication of the essay, at a time when political pressure on Brecht had eased, is evidence that his interest in Strittmatter's play was not merely a short,term tactical manoeuvre to placate the SED regime. Rather, it was part of a consistent belief in the necessity of demonstrating what Brecht perceived to be the genuine achievements of the GDR. The events of 17 June, and the fascist mindset which Brecht saw underlying them, only served to reinforce this necessity in his mind. Brecht's pre,occupation with Katzgraben has a broader significance in highlighting the tendency in Brecht criticism to over,privilege tactical explanations for his behaviour in the GDR and in demonstrating that his cultural,political dissent was vitiated all the time by consistent ideological assent. [source] Rethinking arts marketing in a changing cultural policy contextINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NONPROFIT & VOLUNTARY SECTOR MARKETING, Issue 3 2005Hye-Kyung LeeArticle first published online: 19 AUG 200 This paper investigates recent changes in British cultural policy and their implications for arts marketing. It first points out the decisive role of the policy in shaping the environment of the nonprofit arts and argues that arts marketing developed as an organisational strategy within the context of marketisation policy since the 1980s. This is followed by an analysis of the current cultural policy, where ,social impacts' of the arts are highly emphasised and state intervention intensifies. Through a case study, it is demonstrated that nonprofit arts organisations are adapting to the new environment by rapidly expanding programmes for educational and social purposes while implicitly resisting top-down political pressure. The paper raises the question of whether the arts marketing framework can reflect the new reality of arts management. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Uncertainty propagation in a London flood simulationJOURNAL OF FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2009B.W. Golding Abstract Following recent costly flood events in the United Kingdom, there is considerable societal and political pressure to reduce flooding and improve warnings. In response to this, the Flood Risk Management Research Consortium (FRMRC) has been created to investigate the potential of several areas of existing research to be brought into operational use. In this paper, the estimation of flood impact and probability is analysed and illustrated with examples from a simulated forecast of a Thames Estuary flood event carried out at a FRMRC workshop. The forecast modelling chain consisted of meteorology, storm surge, estuary hydrodynamics, defence failure and inundation. The workshop concluded that end-to-end propagation of probability was feasible in an integrated real-time flood forecasting system, and that the basis of such a system had been demonstrated. [source] Suspect Police Officers Investigated by Former Police Officers: Good Idea, Bad Idea?LAW & POLICY, Issue 4 2001Sergio Herzog Up to 1992, all illegal use-of-force complaints against police officers in Israel were handled internally by the police department. In 1992, following public and political pressure, an external civilian board was established to handle such cases. In this framework, investigations of suspect police officers are conducted by former police officers. In this study, investigators' and suspects' personal and organizational characteristics were examined, as well as their attitudes to the civilian board and the manifestation of police violence. In general, the two groups were found to differ significantly on both levels. The employment of former police officers with high professional qualities seems to have some advantages in this investigative situation. [source] The Internal Israeli Conflict: The Past, Present, and Future of the Jewish West Bank and Gaza SettlementsNEGOTIATION JOURNAL, Issue 2 2005Robert Mnookin On October 14 and 15, 2004, just days before the Israeli government submitted to the Knesset a draft legislation to authorize the evacuation of Jewish settlers from Gaza Strip and some settlements on the West Bank, a two-day conference titled "Past, Present, and Future of the Jewish West Bank and Gaza Settlements: The Internal Israeli Conflict" was held at Harvard Law School. The conference was sponsored by the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the United States Institute of Peace. This interdisciplinary conference's six panels, whose proceedings are summarized in the series of articles that follow, explored the religious, ideological, psychological, political, legal, and international dimensions of the conflict. Presenters included former and current Israeli and American government officials, experts on resettlement policies and compensation mechanisms, and scholars from a variety of disciplines. While presentation topics covered a range of issues relating to the settlements, three broad themes arose from the conference. First, participants agreed that it is important, if not fundamental, to understand the perspectives of the national religious settlers who are the driving force behind the settlement movement. Exploring the settlers' diverse interests, fears, and identities is necessary in order to see why relocation is so threatening to them. The Israeli government can lessen opposition to withdrawal by showing the settlers empathy and reassurance, but only if government officials first achieve a true understanding of the settlers' concerns. Participants also argued that a reframing of the relocation in ideological terms could be another critical component of a solution to this problem. It may be necessary for the leaders of the settlement movement to develop a new narrative or modify the existing one in order to legitimize their relocation. Part of this narrative will involve the concept of "a greater good", the government must reassure the settlers that their sacrifice is for a higher cause. Several participants noted that Israel needs to show the settlers "tough love." When the relocations begin, many expect that there will be violence and that disturbing images will be broadcast throughout Israel and around the world. Internal disruption could put the government led by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his Likud party coalition in jeopardy. The government must not waver in the face of this crisis, conference participants argued. In fact, the threat of violent and disruptive resistance by settlers and their allies can be part of the solution, not just the problem. The government and relocation supporters can use this extremism to justify decisive measures and to redefine the problem for the broader population to convince them that the stability of the country is at stake. Another major conclusion of conference participants was that, while the Israeli settlement issue has unique features, there is much to be learned from comparative analysis. Other countries have dealt with settlement situations, and their experiences offer invaluable lessons. In particular, participants contrasted Israel's settlements in Gaza and the West Bank with French settlements in Algeria and English settlements in Ireland. Some pointed to the French withdrawal from Algeria, which was politically painful but ultimately successful, as an example of "tough love" that Israel should follow. Finally, the involvement of third parties to help solve this conflict is indispensable. Participants noted that while much of Israel feels alienated from the European Union and the United Nations, the Israeli government is highly sensitive to the concerns of the United States, as evidenced by Sharon's decision to show the Gaza withdrawal plan to the U.S. government before he had even raised it with his cabinet and the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. International participation could help legitimize withdrawal and reduce Israeli responsibility for Gaza's future. Third parties can apply political pressure to encourage an accountable and responsible Palestinian leadership. They may also be called upon to provide some sort of financial aid. The participants acknowledged the complexity of the settlement problem and recognized that easy solutions do not exist. Yet, if the Israeli government works toward understanding the settlers' perspectives, learns from comparative analysis, and involves third parties appropriately, the likelihood of a successful outcome increases greatly. [source] Basmati Rice: Geographical Indication or Mis-IndicationTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 2 2006Harsh V. Chandola Indian farmers may not understand the Lockean or the Hegelian justification for intellectual property. Neither do they understand the politics (realpolitik) of the negotiations of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Many of them had no idea that in September 2003 their fate might have been decided in the Cancun Ministerial meeting of World Trade Organization (WTO) member countries. But they do understand simple economics, i.e. if the American company which has registered a patent for basmati rice continues to sell rice as American-style basmati rice, it may hurt their exports. If the Indian Government had a key to the past, they would have definitely renegotiated-TRIPS to protect $350 million export market of basmati rice. Even if we opprobrium TRIPS and characterize it as an instrument of exploitation used by developed countries to protect their own interest, the fact of the matter is, there is no escape from it. Withdrawing from TRIPS entails too many implications for the Indian economy, and it would be cynical to suggest such an idea. Developing and least developed countries have fallen to the economic and political pressure of the Developed countries, and the former group of countries will never be able to convince the latter to renegotiate TRIPS to bring a balance to it, even if their call is eloquent, justified and reflects reality. It would be like knocking on the lid of a coffin: knock, as much as you like, you will not wake him. Post-Cancun (WTO Ministerial Meeting), it is vital for the Indian Government to formulate strategies to protect its interest in TRIPS. The strategy should focus on the options available within the TRIPS framework. We might have lost advantage in the field of patents to western pharmaceutical companies, but if a proper strategy is formulated we will be able to protect our basmati exports. [source] Urban-biased Policies and the Increasing Rural,Urban Expenditure Gap in Vietnam in the 1990sASIAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL, Issue 2 2010Eric Fesselmeyer O15; O18 There was a significant and widening rural,urban gap during the economic boom in Vietnam in the 1990s. Using an econometric decomposition, we find that differences in individual characteristics such as education, ethnicity and age are the primary explanation for this widening gap, whereas differences in the returns to these characteristics are the primary explanation for the increase in the gap at higher percentiles. We then argue that government investment policies and the manipulation of price incentives were important factors behind the gap. In particular, we argue that government policies created some benefit to urban dwellers at the expense of rural areas, lending support to Lipton's urban-bias hypothesis, which states that government, under strong political pressure from the urban population, directs resources from rural to urban areas without consideration of efficiency or equity. [source] The Politics of Social Harmony: Ruling Strategy and Health Care Policy in Hu's ChinaASIAN POLITICS AND POLICY, Issue 2 2009Bin Yu This study seeks to explain the causes of social welfare policy change in a single-party authoritarian system. Using the evolution of Chinese health care policy as an example, it discerns why the Hu Jintao administration opted for a compensation-oriented welfare policy paradigm in the absence of adequate interest articulation and apparent electoral accountability, despite the virtual collapse of the Chinese social welfare system during the 1990s. I explore the hypothesis that a high level of political pressure, coupled with a high degree of economic openness, drove the Chinese Communist Party to alter its ruling strategy, a political paradigm that best ensures its monopoly on political power and consequently produces distinct implications for public policy outputs. This study suggests that authoritarian regimes can and do compensate the citizenry under certain circumstances. Further, it also reveals a self-adaptation process initiated by a single-party authoritarian system. [source] COLONIALISM AND LONG-RUN GROWTH IN AUSTRALIA: AN EXAMINATION OF INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE IN VICTORIA'S WATER SECTOR DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURYAUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW, Issue 3 2008Edwyna Harris colonialism; democracy; economic growth; institutional efficiency; water rights Institutional change in water rights in the nineteenth century Australian colony of Victoria raised institutional efficiency, which contributed to long-run economic growth. High-quality human capital and the extension of voting rights (franchise) were crucial for efficient institutional change in the water sector. Quality human capital (literacy) appeared to increase the rural population's awareness of the economic impact of the existing structure of water rights that may have constrained growth in the agricultural sector and reduced investment incentives. Extension of the franchise allowed the rural population to exert political pressure for enactment of change in water rights, which resulted in efficiency-enhancing policies and efficient institutions. The findings show these two factors were more important than Victoria's British colonial heritage in determining whether growth-enhancing institutional change took place. [source] Noninvasive Stress and Reproductive Measures of Social and Ecological Pressures in Free-Ranging African ElephantsCONSERVATION BIOLOGY, Issue 4 2001C. A. H. Foley This, coupled with political pressures to delist the elephant, has created a need for noninvasive physiological measures that can quantify the long-term effects of past mortality patterns of this long-lived species. We collected fresh fecal samples from 16 female elephants in three different groups over 23 months at Tarangire National Park, Tanzania, and analyzed them for fecal progesterone and cortisol metabolites. Social and ecological measures were collected concurrently. Fecal progesterone metabolite measures corresponded significantly with stage of gestation, and appear to be able to confirm pregnancy in female elephants from as early as 3 months of gestation. We found that progesterone metabolite concentrations were significantly lower during the dry season than during the wet season after controlling for stage of gestation. Fecal cortisol metabolite concentrations showed the opposite seasonal pattern, being significantly higher in the dry season and inversely correlated with rainfall across seasons. Fecal cortisol metabolite concentrations also increased with group size and were correlated positively with dominance rank in the largest group. Our results suggest that measures of progesterone and cortisol metabolites in feces provide indices of reproductive function and physiological stress that can quantify both natural and human disturbances in African elephants. These measures are ideally suited for monitoring the long-term effects of social disruption from poaching and a variety of other management concerns. Resumen: Debido a la cacería furtiva, la población de elefante africano ( Loxodonta africana) declinó en un 60%, principalmente adultos, entre 1979 y 1988. Esto, aunado a presiones políticas para eliminar al elefante de las listas de especies en peligro, ha creado la necesidad de medidas fisiológicas no invasivas que puedan cuantificar efectos a largo plazo de patrones de mortalidad en el pasado de esta especie longeva. Recolectamos muestras fecales de 16 elefantes hembras en tres grupos diferentes en el Parque Nacional Tarangire, Tanzania a lo largo de 23 meses, y las analizamos para detectar metabolitos de progesterona fecal y de cortisol. Al mismo tiempo se recolectaron medidas sociales y ecológicas. Las medidas de metabolitos de progesterona fecal correspondieron significativamente con la etapa de gestación, y parecen permitir la confirmación de preñez en elefantes hembras tan temprano como a los tres meses de gestación. Las concentraciones de metabolitos de progesterona fueron significativamente menores durante la época de sequía que en la de lluvias después de controlar para la etapa de gestación. Las concentraciones de metabolitos de cortisol fecal mostraron un patrón estacional opuesto, siendo significativamente más altas en la época de sequía e inversamente correlacionados con la precipitación en todas las estaciones. Las concentraciones de metabolitos de cortisol fecal también incrementaron con el tamaño del grupo y se correlacionaron positivamente con el rango de dominancia en el grupo más grande. Nuestros resultados sugieren que las medidas de metabolitos de progesterona y cortisol en las heces proporcionan índices de la función reproductiva y del estrés fisiológico que puede cuantificar perturbaciones, tanto naturales como humanas, en elefantes africanos. Estas medidas son idealmente adecuadas para monitorear efectos a largo plazo de la disrupción social por la cacería furtiva y así como una variedad de aspectos del manejo. [source] POLITICAL MONETARY CYCLES UNDER ALTERNATIVE INSTITUTIONS: THE INDEPENDENT TREASURY AND THE FEDERAL RESERVEECONOMICS & POLITICS, Issue 3 2005Jac C. Heckelman The theory of opportunistic political business cycles predicts incumbent politicians will alter their economic policies to spur short-run growth to attract additional votes for the upcoming election. There has not been much emphasis on the possibility of historical political business cycles prior to the Keynesian Revolution. No study has yet undertaken a systematic approach to testing for policy cycles during this period. Our study will bridge this gap by considering cycles in monetary policy for the periods of 1879,1914 until the start of Fed operations, and 1914,1932 until abandonment of the gold standard. To properly test for political cycles, it is necessary to develop reaction functions for the Treasury and compare against the reaction function later held by the Fed. This also reveals that creation of an independent monetary authority to be insulated from political pressures changed the manner in which policy was directed, aside from political issues. The evidence is not consistent, however, with monetary cycles closely tied to electoral concerns. [source] States, Social Policies and Globalisations Arguing on the Right Terrain?IDS BULLETIN, Issue 4 2000Mick Moore Summaries The debate about future social policies in OECD countries is framed in the light of rich country concerns, notably of a ,welfare state at risk'. Because globalisation processes can plausibly be presented as a major source of threat, there is a temptation to generalise the analysis globally, and to assume that social policy issues in poor countries are fundamentally the same as in OECD states. The debate about the future of social policy in poor countries should not be framed in terms of OECD concerns. Three more specific points underpin this general argument: (a) Economic globalisation is not necessarily a threat. There are good historical reasons for believing that it may create political pressures to extend as well as to shrink social provision in poor countries; (b) There is a fundamental problem of state incapacity in much of the poor world that makes many OECD-based arguments about the proper role of the state appear redundant. Greater state capacity will itself lead to more effective social policies; and (c) It makes little sense for poor countries to resist, on grounds of potential adverse impacts on social policy, the trends toward the adoption of either New Public Management practices or the broader shift from ,positive' to regulatory states. Whatever changes occur in the architecture of poor states, more effective regulation will remain an urgent need. [source] Sollbruchstelle: Deep Uncertainty and the Design of Monetary InstitutionsINTERNATIONAL FINANCE, Issue 3 2000Susanne LohmannArticle first published online: 16 DEC 200 Sollbruchstelle: this German engineering term translates as ,part that is supposed to break down'. It stands for that part of a machine that is deliberately designed to be weaker, and less costly, than other parts of the machine so that it, rather than the more expensive parts, takes the hit when the machine comes under stress. A breakdown thus comes with little collateral damage and is fixed quickly and at low cost. ?,?,This paper applies the idea of Sollbruchstelle to the design of fiat monetary institutions. Well-designed institutions are credibly committed to follow a sound monetary policy. But they are also flexible in the face of deep uncertainty. They respond to novel economic and social developments as well as shifting understandings of the way the macroeconomy works. When necessary, they accommodate political pressures, renege on promises, and change their institutional stripes. As they become obsolete, they go gently into that good night , and if they must break down, they do so forgivingly. [source] Intermunicipal health care consortia in Brazil: strategic behavior, incentives and sustainabilityINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEALTH PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2006Luciana Teixeira Abstract This article studies strategic behavior in municipal health care consortia where neighboring municipalities form a partnership to supply high-complexity health care. Each municipality partially funds the organization. Depending on the partnership contract, a free rider problem may jeopardize the organization. A municipality will default its payments if it can still benefit from the services, especially when political pressures for competing expenditure arise. The main result is that the partnership sustainability depends on punishment mechanisms to a defaulting member, the gains from joint provision of services and the overall economic environment. Possible solutions to the incentive problem are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Welfare Reform in America: A Clash of Politics and ResearchJOURNAL OF SOCIAL ISSUES, Issue 4 2000Diana M. Zuckerman The 1996 welfare reform law radically changed welfare as we knew it, after many years of debate and concerns across the ideological spectrum. Research should have provided essential information to revise the program, but instead, research was used as an ideological weapon to support conflicting points of view. President Clinton promised to end welfare as we know it but his welfare reform plan was superceded by the election of a Republican majority of the House and Senate in 1994. The resulting welfare bill included key elements from the Republican Contract with America. The purpose of this article is to describe how political pressures resulted in a dramatic change in law, despite doomsday predictions and almost no solid information about the law's likely impact. [source] Fragmentation of Power and the Emergence of an Effective Judiciary in Mexico, 1994,2002LATIN AMERICAN POLITICS AND SOCIETY, Issue 1 2007Julio Ríos-Figueroa ABSTRACT Legal reforms that make judges independent from political pressures and empower them with judicial review do not make an effective judiciary. Something has to fill the gap between institutional design and effectiveness. When the executive and legislative powers react to an objectionable judicial decision, the judiciary may be weak and deferential; but coordination difficulties between the elected branches can loosen the constraints on courts. This article argues that the fragmentation of political power can enable a judiciary to rule against power holders' interests without being systematically challenged or ignored. This argument is tested with an analysis of the Mexican Supreme Court decisions against the PRI on constitutional cases from 1994 to 2002. The probability of the court's voting against the PRI increased as the PRI lost the majority in the Chamber of Deputies in 1997 and the presidency in 2000. [source] Explaining Corporate Environmental Performance: How Does Regulation Matter?LAW & SOCIETY REVIEW, Issue 1 2003Robert A. Kagan How and to what extent does regulation matter in shaping corporate behavior? How important is it compared to other incentives and mechanisms of social control, and how does it interact with those mechanisms? How might we explain variation in corporate responses to law and other external pressures? This article addresses these questions through an study of environmental performance in 14 pulp and paper manufacturing mills in Australia, New Zealand, British Columbia, and the states of Washington and Georgia in the United States. Over the last three decades, we find tightening regulatory requirements and intensifying political pressures have brought about large improvements and considerable convergence in environmental performance by pulp manufacturers, most of which have gone "beyond compliance" in several ways. But regulation does not account for remaining differences in environmental performance across facilities. Rather, "social license" pressures (particularly from local communities and environmental activists) and corporate environmental management style prod some firms toward better performance compliance than others. At the same time, economic pressures impose limits on "beyond performance" investments. In producing large gains in environmental performance, however, regulation still matters greatly, but less as a system of hierarchically imposed, uniformly enforced rules than as a coordinative mechanism, routinely interacting with market pressures, local and national environmental activists, and the culture of corporate management in generating environmental improvement while narrowing the spread between corporate leaders and laggards. [source] Late Twentieth Century Congressional Leaders as Shapers of and Hostages to Political Context: Gingrich, Hastert, and LottPOLITICS & POLICY, Issue 2 2002John E. Owens Most contemporary explanations of congressional leadership postulate a version of contextual theory that typically places greatest emphasis on the strength of party and downplays the personal skills of individual leaders. By analyzing the leadership of just three recent individuals,Gingrich, Hastert, and Lott,this essay demonstrates the extent to which these leaders' different styles, skills, and characteristics interacted with changing political contexts and strategic environments to impact political and policy outcomes. Context matters, but so does leadership skill. Most graphically, Gingrich,a rare transforming leader in Burns' typology,demonstrates the importance of the right person and the right conditions being in place at the same time and the ability of an individual imaginative leader to intervene exogenously to have a significant effect on policy outcomes. Yet the essay also demonstrates that even where leaders adopt more conventional transactional styles, as Hastert and Lott did, the skill and success with which they juggle political pressures emanating from different, often conflicting, contexts,skills in context,also matters. [source] Bauxite Mining Restoration by Alcoa World Alumina Australia in Western Australia: Social, Political, Historical, and Environmental ContextsRESTORATION ECOLOGY, Issue 2007John H. Gardner Abstract Alcoa World Alumina Australia mines bauxite under lease agreements with the Government of Western Australia. The leases lie in the Darling Range to the east of Perth, the capital and major population center. In addition to bauxite and other mineral ores, the Darling Range is a major potable water source and harbors a species-rich forest dominated by Jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata), a significant commercial timber. Conservation and recreation are important land uses in the region. Social and political pressures have led to stringent governmental requirements for restoration. In addition, a summer drought period, a soil deficient in most nutrients, water management challenges, an introduced disease, caused by Phytophthora cinnamomi Rands, and a post-mining ecosystem that must be conducive to the prescribed burning management of the region pose significant challenges to successful restoration. Alcoa presently mines and restores approximately 550 ha per annum. Although the "footprint" at the end of the life of the mining operations represents only about 4% of the total forest estate, Alcoa is committed to restoring the forest values of the region of all lands impacted by mining. The major objective of restoration is to enhance or maintain forest values by restoring habitat and structural characteristics of the native forest environment. Completion criteria for Alcoa's mine restoration have been developed. The original Alcoa mine at Jarrahdale has been rehabilitated, and in 2005, a 975-ha area received a "certificate of completion" and was returned to the management control of the State of Western Australia. [source] Public finance and the optimal speed of transition,THE ECONOMICS OF TRANSITION, Issue 3 2003Micael Castanheira Abstract We develop a general equilibrium model that jointly considers the influence of capital accumulation constraints and of labour market frictions on the process of transition. We endogenize the economic and budgetary costs of different government policies and show that, early in transition, governments ought to subsidize state firms. Provided that intertemporal commitment is feasible, this policy limits the initial output fall, which relaxes capital accumulation constraints, accelerates transition, and increases welfare. Moreover, by resorting to indirect , instead of direct , taxes, governments can bring the path of transition closer to the first best. Yet, political pressures may induce a policy of suboptimal subsidization. [source] The Struggle over Employee Benefits: The Role of Labor in Influencing Modern Health PolicyTHE MILBANK QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2003David Rosner Health care policy has often been described as the work of political actors seeking to benefit the larger community or a particular group of individuals. In 20th-century America, those actors worked in a historical context shaped by demographic and political pressures created during a period of rapid industrial change. Whereas scholars have placed the emergence of European social welfare in such a larger frame, their analysis of movements for health insurance in the United States has largely ignored the need for a frame. If anything, their studies have focused on the lack of a radical political working-class movement in this country as an explanation for the absence of national or compulsory health insurance. Indeed, this absence has dominated analyses of the failure of health policy reform in this country, which generally ignore even these passing historical allusions to the role of class in shaping health policy. Explanations of why health care reform failed during the Clinton administration cited the lack of coverage for millions of Americans but rarely alluded to the active role of labor or other working-class groups in shaping the existing health care system. After organized labor failed to institute national health insurance in the mid-twentieth century, its influence on health care policy diminished even further. This article proposes an alternative interpretation of the development of health care policy in the United States, by examining the association of health policy with the relationships between employers and employees. The social welfare and health insurance systems that resulted were a direct outcome of the pressures brought by organized and unorganized labor movements. The greater dependency created by industrial and demographic changes, conflicts between labor and capital over the political meaning of disease and accidents, and attempts by the political system to mitigate the impending social crisis all helped determine new health policy options. [source] University Accounting Programs and Professional Accountancy Training: Can UK Pragmatism Inform the Australian Debate?AUSTRALIAN ACCOUNTING REVIEW, Issue 3 2009Ruth King Professional accountancy training and academic accounting programs in the United Kingdom (UK) have remained resolutely separate, despite attempts at partial integration through a system of accreditation and exemptions. This is in contrast with the situation in some other countries, notably the United States (US) and until recently Australia. This paper identifies some historical reasons for their having developed in this way and for their continuing distinctiveness. We conclude that the approach is both workable and adaptable, albeit idiosyncratic, with changes occurring over time that reflect the shifting sands of market and political pressures. With six recognised accounting bodies in the UK, this ability to respond to change is important and we surmise that it would take some fundamental shift in circumstance, such as a move towards European standardisation, for a different model to prevail in the UK. [source] The strategic leadership of complex practice: opportunities and challengesCHILD ABUSE REVIEW, Issue 5 2010Tony Morrison Abstract This paper addresses the issue of how strategic-level partnerships, such as Local Safeguarding Children Boards, know about and learn from practice. The death of Baby Peter in Haringey exposed the dangers of reliance on numerical performance data alone to inform leaders about the true state of practice. The drivers for, and impact of, regulatory, media and political pressures on front-line practice and partnership behaviour are discussed with reference to the rise of organisational risk management and ,rule-based' responses (Munro, 2009). These are exacerbated by an overload of negative data about child protection systems which results in contagious ,attention cascades' which lead to over-simplification of complex issues and the rush to quick-fix solutions. This results in compliance-based responses designed to avoid ,blame', based on individualistic analyses of complex situations. Under these conditions, ,learning', such as from serious case reviews, can become regressive (how to avoid future culpability) rather than progressive (how to improve knowledge skills and practice). It is argued that understanding and improving practice require strategic partnerships to have engaged with front-line staff in order to access practice narratives as well as performance numbers, and to achieve an accurate and systemic analysis of the state of practice and how it can be improved. This calls for collective forms of knowing and reflecting and the paper concludes by describing examples. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||