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Efforts to implement the Government Performance and Results Act have brought about comprehensive discussions between Congress and government agencies. Prior to the passage of this bill, the legislative and executive branches were virtually ignorant of the issues faced by the other branch. As legislators became responsible for reviewing the performance of administrative agencies, it became a necessity for them to be knowledgeable about the mission and procedures of these agencies. The dialogues between the two branches illuminated the areas that needs improvement., The Government Performance and Results Act has produced an added side benefit: Congress and the agencies are working more closely together. The relations between the legislative and executive branches have [...]

This paper summarizes findings from applications of the Agency Cultural Competence Checklist in three human service agencies. This checklist was developed on the basis of published literature and culture-specific agencies were chosen to document checklist findings in settings known to be culturally competent. As anticipated, all three agencies were culturally competent in attitudes, although the range of services differed. This paper provides some baseline data for using the checklist in mainstream agencies in which predominantly Euro-American providers serve minority populations.

Harold Seidman has called interagency committees 'the crabgrass in the garden of government.' They are universally condemned, but efforts to extirpate them seldom succeed, for new committees grow in their [...]

Philip K. Howard's 'The Death of Common Sense' and Justice Stephen Breyer's 'Breaking the Vicious Circle: Toward Effective Risk Regulation' offer comments on the ways which modern government performs its duties. Although both Howard and Breyer express confidence in government, they believe that it lacks the mind to make reasonable decisions, which ultimately produces irrational results. They suggest that bureaucrats be given more flexibility in decision making to deal effectively with issues addressed by modern regulation.

The abilities of national administrative agencies in Sweden and the United States to function effectively are influenced by their responses to three major phenomena: 1) growth in the responsibilities of government; 2) decentralization; and, 3) privatization. This paper delineates how these phenomena have affected the development of national administrative organizations in these two countries. Implications for administering national agencies in increasingly complex interorganizational environments are discussed.

The 'Next Steps' initiative in UK's public sector managerial reform includes the establishment of Agencies. The formation of Agencies is also part of the development of public sector performance evaluation, which was prompted by the Financial Management Initiative. A study has been done to evaluate the role of performance indicators (PIs) in the Next Steps initiative. The PIs in the business plans of the four Agencies created by the Dept of Social Security have been analyzed. The results indicate that Next Steps is fostering a more serious regard for PIs.

Reformation of the public service sector in the Czech Republic requires a comprehensive approach that will encompass changes within the central and local governments. New sets of rules must be drafted that will definitively define the jurisdiction of each public administration unit. Moreover, new policies on personnel selection and management must also be established to ensure the effective delivery of public services.

Is performance monitoring in public programs feasible and worthwhile? Joseph S. Wholey and Harry P. Hatry argue that it is and support their thesis with examples from a range of national, state, and local governments. After addressing some of the barriers to effective performance monitoring, they call for actions that would increase its use at all levels of government.

Administrative control systems for marketing practices are the primary means by which unfair marketing practices may be regulated. Government authorities need a sufficient legal basis to exert some degree of control over existing market practices. Administrative controls can increase the general awareness of consumer problems as well as emplace a consumer protection system. This can significantly contribute to the development of laws.

Papers included in this special issue of Environment and Planning A share a commitment to understanding regulation as a social practice. In general, they suggest that the |real' significance of regulation is only made apparent in distinct geographical and economic contexts. Although different in subject matter these papers are about how regulation is institutionally organized, and the origins of regulation in theory and in the exigencies of past and present circumstances. Here, the logic behind this kind of analytical commitment is explicated through a discussion of the notion of |real' regulation in the US context. Emphasis is on the administrative practices of the modern state, eschewing idealism for an appreciation of the significance of institutional cultures of regulation. These arguments are briefly illustrated by reference to the administrative mechanisms used to regulate labor-management relations and corporations' pension obligations in particular. The preoccupation in this paper is with the formalities of regulation. As such, the paper is a manifesto for a way of studying regulation in the spatial sciences which builds upon related literature in administrative law.