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Government spending in the United States and much of the rest of the developed world has increased dramatically since World War I. In 1910, combined federal, state, and local government [...]

An argument for the observed massive building boom in Tokyo, despite a prolonged economic slump and intensified private investment which lead to changes in building regulations is presented. The study highlighted both the centrality of land assets in Japan's developmental capitalism and the continuing importance of the distinctive institutional legacies of the developmental state in structuring Japanese urban governance.

We describe the increasing importance of UK Civil Government OR and explore possible reasons for its expansion. We consider the organization of OR in Departments using centralized and bedded-out models, and describe the work it does in terms of the areas it covers and the techniques it employs; we also describe some specific projects and discuss the general points that arise from them. We analyse the present state of Government OR in terms of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and conclude that the reality has advanced further than corresponding perceptions. doi: 10.1057/palgrave.jots.2602452 Keywords: government; practice of OR; history of OR

A study examining the effect of outsourcing of services by government on government's capacity to provide that service is presented. The study also analyzes the effect of such outsourcing on government's ability to manage the service delivery.

A study examining the state contingent claims is presented based on the UK horserace betting market. The effects of market ecology on the probabilities to overestimate or underestimate the state contingent claims are also discussed.

The article examines the cooperation that Clean Development Mechanism has been able to develop between government and private sectors of the global economy. Both sectors stand to gain from a symbiotic relationship as each sustains and supports the other.

Results of an innovative survey tool to track the flow of public resources to intended destinations is described and analyzed. A large public educational program in Uganda, a capitation grant to cover schools' nonwage expenditures that was financed and run by the central government is highlighted using district offices as distribution channels.

Public administration scholars often have focused on the relationship between elected and appointed officials. This study assesses the extent to which public administrators' relationships with elected officials conform to the three models that scholars have used to characterize that relationship: the orthodox politics-administration dichotomy, the modified dichotomy, and a partnership model In addition, the study seeks to determine whether demographic, structural, and experiential variables relate to respondents 'preference for each oft he three models. The data come from a mail survey of a random sample of U.S. local government managers. Using factor analysis, the study finds that managers identify with all three models, with the modified dichotomy model explaining the most variance among the managers and the orthodox dichotomy model the least. Salary, governing board size, private-sector experience, and gender relate positively and at significant levels to identification with the orthodox dichotomy model; public administration education and population relate negatively to this model Several experiential variables relate positively to the partnership model Public administration education relates negatively to identification with the partnership model The identification of local government managers with both the orthodox and the modified dichotomy models indicates a continuing emphasis on insulating administration from politics. That most managers posit a strong role for themselves in policy making by identifying with either the modified dichotomy or the partnership model indicates that these public administrators see themselves very differently from the image of the passive handwringer sometimes depicted by those who criticize or caricature bureaucracy. The dominant model espoused by contemporary public administration scholars, that of the partnership model, does have a strong empirical referent among practicing public administrators, indicating support for the potential strengths of blending politics and administration in policy development and administration., The relationship between elected and appointed officials constitutes an enduring and important issue both in democratic theory and in the practice and behavior of public administrators. Practitioners and scholars continue [...]

The Republican capture of the U.S. Congress following the 1994 midterm elections provides a unique opportunity to examine congressional control of the bureaucracy. Under the leadership of House Majority Whip Tom Delay (R-TX), Republicans waged an all-out assault on regulation reminiscent of the Reagan years. Toward that end, House leaders relied on a mix of control mechanisms including budget cuts and a variety of deck stacking strategies. While the bulk of the Republican regulatory agenda failed to pass, evidence from four federal agencies that were targeted by those efforts suggests that the congressional challenge had an immediate, if short-lived, effect. In each instance, there was an immediate decline in regulatory vigor that lasted in most cases just one or two years., There is now a considerable body of evidence, much of it guided by a principal-agent model, that suggests that public bureaucracies are much more responsive to political principals than previously [...]

In March 1996, Vice-President Gore unveiled a plan to 'dramatically change' parts of the federal bureaucracy by converting them into 'performance-based organizations,' or PBO's PBO's would be given more freedom in operations and held accountable for the achievement of specified results. While the PBO plan may improve effectiveness in some parts of the federal government, claims about its significance have been overstated, and it will encounter serious challenges in implementation. The PBO model is not likely to be applied widely. The paper also assesses the significance of the PBO proposal as apart of a larger battle to preserve the administrative capabilities of the federal government. Finally, it is argued that the proposal is evidence of the increasing internationalization of the 'reinventing government' movement. The weakness of the PBO plan reflects some of the weaknesses of the larger international reform movement., In March 1996, Vice-President Gore announced a new initiative that would dramatically change the way federal agencies provide services to the public. Gore's proposal is to establish many service delivery [...]

What impact will the current attempts to reinvent government have? Is this effort doomed--like the planning, programming, budgeting system and zero-based budgeting--to be replaced before it has achieved its promise, or will it accomplish the desired change? An examination of the underlying structures that give rise to action suggests that myriad 'structural conflicts' point to continued oscillation between goals and ultimately to disappointing results. Another type of structure, however, is designed to lead toward resolution, rather than oscillation. Through the use of appropriate strategies, managers may be able to establish a more effective structure and achieve the change they seek., Government is in the throes of reinvention. Managers proceed through results-based strategic planning, 'vision' processes, and other such means to identify innovative ways to provide services. Then they attempt to [...]

Ever since the emergence of the politics-administration dichotomy, public administrationists and political scientists have grappled with the question of whether career servants participate, or ought to participate, in high-level decision [...]

Calls to unburden the federal manager of gratuitous and counterproductive regulatory constraints governing personnel, budget, and procurement decisionmaking go back at least a decade. They are a staple of the [...]

WHEN THINKING about the new challenges we face, we must do more than look abroad. We have to take a closer look at ourselves--and ask the fundamental question of whether […]

In this paper we review u from a UK perspective u how the UK government and its policy process have adapted to European integration. Has adaptation been a quiet revolution, a step-change, or both? In exploring this question we draw upon the conceptual literature of Europeanization. We employ it to shed light on the longer-term pattern of UK adaptation as well as to put into context the domestic changes currently under way. Our argument is that a step-change is under way in the Europeanization of the UK government. However, at the end of the paper we will reflect on how this development remains over-shadowed by broader circumstances: the continued weak public support for the EU and the divisions which emerged with key EU partners from the UK's policy over Iraq.

This analysis focuses on the relationship between supranational regulatory policy and national administrative change. We argue that the potential for change and cross-national convergence varies with the particular governance pattern employed, namely coercion, competition and communication. We identify the behavioural rationalities that guide the national bureaucratic responses and point to certain paradoxes with regard to the extent and direction of change.

A key requirement of the countries of central and eastern Europe (CEECs) that wish to join the EU is that they develop the administrative capacity to implement effectively the acquis communautaire. The 'twinning' programme is designed to assist in this process. Drawing on experiences in Romania, and linking these to debates on Europeanization, this article argues that the success of twinning to date is related to the design of the programme, institutional fluidity and politicization within central administration, the individual agency and the reform commitment of those hosting twinning projects.

This article examines the Europeanization of public administration in the Nordic countries, and explores the changes in central administration due to EU and European Economic Area (EEA)membership. The focus is on Sweden and Finland, which have recently joined the European Union, and Norway and Iceland, whose participation in European integration is based on the EEA agreement. The database is a survey conducted in all ministerial departments and directorates in the Nordic countries. There are significant differences in the adaptation patterns between EU members and EEA members, but also important differences between countries with the same form of affiliation to the EU. The adaptation pattern of the EEA member ship of Norway and Iceland seems to follow a somewhat different path. To understand this, we have to add structural factors such as the size of the public administration. The institutional context of the domestic administrative tradition and strategy also has to be taken into account.

Westminster government is again coming up with a new concept of 'super councils'. The implications of these larger councils are discussed and the objective of national government for suggesting such a consolidation of smaller councils is analyzed.