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The author examines how risks are assessed & managed in today's world, focusing on posing & answering three questions about risk management -- the 'risk game.' -- These questions include, (1) why is risk regulation diffuse & fragmented, (2) why is it difficulty to establish accountability, & (3) why does the process often seem to produce adverse effects? In the process of addressing these questions, the author identifies how the 'blame game' shapes the 'risk game'. The 'blame game' refers to the strategies -- presentational, policy, &/or agency -- used by politicians or other public officials to avoid or limit the amount of blame. Tables, Figures, References. D. Miller

It is commonly hoped that technological innovation will sustain development and obviate the need for extensive socioeconomic change. Historically, free markets have increased the quantity of technological innovation, which has in turn enhanced economic growth. This article shows that market selection probably will not produce the technological innovation required to sustain development. Social structures and habitual practices also inhibit technological change, and market choices of technology could prevent ecologically efficient technological innovations. Only political direction of science and technology will optimize the contribution of technology to sustainable development. However, there is no theory or experience to act as a guide to policymaking. In addition, in the medium to long term, technology is indeterminate, selected by local process perturbations. This article suggests some policy directions for science and technology and argues that models borrowed from the life sciences may permit more effective government direction of the technology system.

This article critically examines the argument that mainstream social science research should play a greater role in public administration inquiry than it has. Drawing in significant part on the ideas of the late Isaiah Berlin, it is argued here that the deterministic view of human action that is offered by such research is not very useful to public administration practice and, if overemphasized, may even pose dangers to our values of human freedom and responsibility.

"Over the past decade there have been extraordinary advances towards drought risk reduction with the development of new water-conserving technologies, and new tools for planning, vulnerability and impact assessment, mitigation, and policy. Drought and Water Crises: Integrating Science, Management, and Policy, Second Edition comprehensively captures this evolving progress as it discusses drought management in the light of present risks, global climate change and public policy actions. This new edition emphasizes the paradigm shift from managing disasters to managing risk, reflecting the global emphasis that has evolved in recent years, a new focus that shines light on preparedness strategies and the tools and methods that are essential in drought risk reduction. The book provides additional relevant case studies that integrate this new approach and discusses examples applied in both developed and developing countries."--Provided by publisher.

Intro -- Educational Internationalisation: Academic Voices and Public Policy -- TABLE OF CONTENTS -- Acknowledgments -- 1. Educational Internationalisation: Academic Voices and Public Policy -- 2. Changing University Policies, Structures and Cultures: Global Research Partnerships and Academic Experiences in Canada, China, Russia and the USA -- 3. Internationalization and the Changing Thai Academic Profession -- 4. The Academic Profession in Finland: Coping with Academic Duties and Societal Challenges -- 5. The Bologna Policy Forum: The Temptation to Act on Non-European Higher Education Systems -- 6. Adapting to a New European Philosophy of (University) Education: Conscious Cooking (with Science) and Transversal Competences for Chemistry Majors -- 7. Framing European Higher Education Internationalization: An Institutional Logics Approach -- 8. Child's Rights and Preschool Education in Latin America: Progress, Limitation and Challenges -- 9. Teacher Education Reformed: Internationalisation of New Academic Formats and the Persistence of Old Issues in South America -- 10. Roma in Europe: Policies and Roma Voices: Exploring and Comparing the Voices of Roma People Expressed on Three Roma Advocacy Webpages -- Contributors.

ELECTIONS IN DEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES ARE OPEN, WELL-PUBLICIZED EVENTS. BUT PRECEDING THE GLAMOUR OF MODERN ELECTION CAMPAIGNS AND THE DRAMA OF ELECTION-NIGHT BROADCASTS THERE IS PROCESS WHICH USUALLY RECEIVES LITTLE ATTENTION OR PUBLICITY. POLITICAL PARTIES, WHICH DOMINATE ELECTIONS, CHOOSE THEIR CANDIDATES. IN A FEW POLITICAL SYSTEMS THE IMPORTANCE OF CANDIDATE SELECTION IS RECOGNIZED TO THE EXTENT THAT RULES ABOUT IT HAVE BEEN INCORPORATED INTO ELECTION LAW. THE MOST OBVIOUS EXAMPLE OF THIS IS THE UNITED STATES WHERE MANY STATES HAVE PRIMARY ELECTIONS IN ORDER TO REMOVE THE POWER OF SELECTION FROM PARTY CAUCUSES. IN MOST SYSTEMS, HOWEVER, AS IN BRITAIN, THE PROCESSES OF CANDIDATE SELECTION ARE PURELY PRIVATE AND INTERNAL TO THE PARTIES. IN THE MAJOR BRITISH PARTIES THE SELECTION OF PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATES IS DECENTRALIZED. CANDIDATES ARE CHOSEN BY LOCAL COMMITTEES OF PARTY MEMBERS IN THE CONSTITUENCIES. ALL ASPIRING MPS FROM THE HUMBLEST BACKBENCHER TO POTENTIAL PRIME MINISTER MUST FIRST BE LOCALLY SELECTED AS A CANDIDATE. LOCAL SELECTORS THUS ACT AS GATEKEEPERS CONTROLLING RECRUITMENT TO ELITE POSITIONS. BY THEIR CHOICES THEY EFFECTIVELY DETERMINE THE RANGE OF ABILITIES, SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS AND IDEOLOGICAL VIEWPOINTS PRESENT IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.

The article investigates the multidimensional features of the public opinion influence on forming and realization of the foreign-policy activity of the country. The interdisciplinary approach, that connected work from sociology, law, political science and international relations, was used. On the basis of historical method, it was succeeded to extrapolate the received practices of the ХXth century as for taking into account of public idea on modern international events, a system method defined the state as a subject of international relations, taking into account the separate role of its institutes, a comparative method allowed to distinguish the features of influence of citizens on state decisions in the different political modes, and behaviorism allowed to distinguish the terms of change of the citizens' behavior, society in relation to a foreign policy. The realized analysis of the scientific approaches of realism and liberalism defined the historical epochs of their forming and basic tendencies of taking into account or ignoringthe citizens' moods at the level of the public policy in relation to the short-term and strategic tasks of power in its international cooperation. The groups of countries were certain, where they are most represented. It has been found that, the delineation of manipulative constituent of forming the public opinion became the important conclusion of the research by means of mass-media, by specially democratic countries, in relation to the most essential events as intruding in the other country, coalition participating in international conflicts, intervention, membership in intergovernmental organizations and others like that. Thereafter, it was well proven that the public opinion is the important process of the legitimacy of the foreign-policy activity of the state both inside the state and in cooperating with international players.

Front -- CONTENTS -- Introduction: The relevance of public choice for constitutional political economy -- Positive constitutional economics: A survey -- Toward a new constitution for a future country* -- The balanced budget amendment: Clarifying the arguments -- The prohibition-repeal amendments: A natural experiment in interest group influence* -- Choosing free trade without amending the U.S. Constitution* -- On the (relative) unimportance of a balanced budget* -- Public choice in a federal system -- Subsidiarity and ecologically based taxation: A European constitutional perspective

The main contribution of this paper is to prove that in EU Directives and Recommendations, human dignity is not an elusive concept but rather a regulatory restraint in European public policies on biotechnology, particularly through the influence of the European Group of Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE). ; peer-reviewed

Can economic growth increase public debt? Previous studies on the debt-growth nexus focused on the effects of debt on growth. We present an opposite perspective by showing that growth can reinforce deficit spending. A political economy model of endogenous public debt indicates that the underlying cause is political short-sightedness induced by reelection prospects. Reelection yields accountability but at the same time shortens incumbents' time horizon, giving rise to political myopia and the ensuing budget deficit bias. Our model shows that economic growth exacerbates this undesirable effect of reelection. We test the model's predictions using a panel of U.S. states over the period 1963-2007. Our identification strategy rests on constitutionally-entrenched differences in gubernatorial term limits that provide plausibly exogenous cross-state variation in political time horizon, and aggregate national TFP shocks that are exogenous to individual states. Our more conservative estimates indicate that over a course of five years, a one standard deviation positive TFP shock induces an increase of approximately $494 in real per capita public debt in politically myopic states.