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AbstractThis article reports on a two‐phase study of government relations (GR) units in large corporations. Data were collected on the backgrounds of GR unit managers, the assessments of these managers of the impact and influence of the unit, the roles assigned to the GR unit, and the impediments facing GR unit managers. It was found that the GR unit plays only a minor and increasingly less important role in the government relation activities of large firms in Canada. It was also found that the roles of the unit are much more diverse than has been observed previously and the GR unit staff often work with others, both inside and outside the firm, in a team approach. It was concluded that the key challenge for the GR executive is to define and publicize clearly inside the firm the unit's exact role and the expertise that the unit offers.RésuméCet article porte sur une étude en deux phases faite sur les départements de relations gouvernementales (RG) dans les grandes compagnies. Des données furent recueillies sur les antécédents des directeurs des départements RG, les évaluations de ces directeurs sur l'impact et l'influence du département, les rôles attribués au département RG et les obstacles aurquels font face les directeurs de ces départements. Nous avons découvert que le département RG ne joue qu'un rôle minimal et de moins en moins important dans les activités du relations gouvernementales des grandes firmes canadiennes. Nous avons aussi observé que les rôles du département sont beaucoup plus diversifiés que nous le pensions et que les employés du département RG souvent travaillent en équipes avec d'autres employés tant à l'intérieur qu'à l'extérieur de la firme. Nous avons conclu que le défi majeur pour le cadre d'un département RG est de clarifier et de publiciser davantage à l'intérnele rôle précis et l'expertise que le département a à offrir.

During the summer of 1993, Kay Todd, President Elect of the American Association of Law Libraries, named a special task force to review the Association's government relations activities, presenting it with a goal of achieving a better coordination of such activities. The charges to the Task Force on AALL's Government Relations Activities and the processes that the Task Force utilized in fulfilling these charges are outlined in the final and interim reports of the Task Force, which follow this introduction. The Interim Report of the Task Force was submitted to the AALL Executive Board prior to its April 1994 meeting for information purposes only. The Final Report, issued on June 21, 1994, outlined nine recommendations relating to AALL's government relations activities. This report was considered by the Executive Board at its July 7-8, 1994, meetings. This introduction details the Executive Board's actions on the nine recommendations of the Final Report. It is followed by the text of the Final Report, as submitted to the AALL Board but with added footnote information to facilitate access to material cited in the Report. The Interim Report is included as an appendix to the Final Report.

Due to its endurance, the Mexican political system is a highly interesting case study. This article analyzes the relations between the government and the ruling party, the well-known Institutional Revolutionary Party. Among other issues, it examines the patterns of recruitment, the clientelistic networks, and the decision-making processes. The study concludes with a series of observations on the future of the relations between the government and the ruling party in Mexico.

There is a tendency in the literature on business‐government relations in Canada to divide the post‐war era into two periods: that of elite accommodation comprising the 1950s and 1960s, and that of "mutual misunderstanding" beginning in 1968. This article argues that before this periodization thesis is accepted, we must acknowledge that the nature of business‐government relations is such that they will often be tension‐filled. Expectations of continuous harmony are unrealistic. Moreover, at any one time relations between business and government will vary widely in terms of form, substance, and the degree of mutual understanding. The article outlines the content of the periodization thesis and draws on 102 interviews with federal public servants at a variety of ranks and in a number of departments to examine its basic tenets. This research indicates that, contrary to the periodization thesis, relations between business persons and bureaucrats are close and often characterized by a sense of mutual dependency. Many bureaucrats depend heavily on business for the information needed to do their jobs, and very few are willing to undertake changes to existing policy without business support. Differences do exist among bureaucrats and the final section of the article identifies three policy types and outlines the style and form of business‐government relationships that bureaucrats in regulatory, distributional, and state management bureaus maintain. The article concludes with some general observations about business and government in advanced capitalist systems, drawing particular attention to the contradictory responsibilities of the state in these systems and arguing that those few expressions of state autonomy detected in the research are entirely in keeping with the nature of the state in capitalist systems.RésuméIl existe une tendance dans les textes qui traitent des relations entre l'Etat et le secteur privé au Canada de diviser l'après‐guerre en deux périodes; la période d'ac‐commodation de l'élite au cours des années 50 et 60 et la période de "méscntente mutuelle" qui a commencé en 1968. Cet article revendique qu'avant d'accepter cette thèse des périodes, nous devons accepter que la nature des relations entre le secteur privé et le secteur public rend inévitables les tensions. Des attentes d'harmonie continuelle ne sont pas réalistes. De plus, selon le moment, ces relations varient selon leur forme, leur contenu ct le degré d'entente mutuelle. Le présent article décrit le contenu de la thèse des périodes et utilise 102 entrevues effectuécs auprès des fonctionnaires fédéraux de différents niveaux et affectés à des services divers pour en examiner les fondements. Cette recherche indique que, contrairement à la thèse des périodes, les relations entre les hommes d'affaires et les bureaucrates sont étroites et souvent caractérisées par un sentiment de dépendance mutuelle. Plusieurs bureaucrates dépendent du secteur privé pour obtenir les renseignements nécessaires pour faire leur travail et très peu d'entre eux sont prêts à opérer des changements dans les politiques existantes sans l'appui du secteur privé. Il existe toutefois des différences chez les bureaucrates et la dernière portion de l'article identific trois types de politiques et décrit le style de rapports entre l' Etat et le secteur privé que maintiennent les bureaucrates dans les agences de réglementation, de distribution et de gestion gouvernmentale.L'article se termine sur des observations générales concernant le secteur privé et le gouvernement dans un système capitaliste, et porte une attention particulière sur les responsabilités contradictoires de l'Etat dans un tel système et note que les quelques expressions d'autonomie de la part de l'Etat décelées dans la recherche correspondent entièrement à la nature de l'Etat dans un système capitaliste.

AbstractAll over the world, we see trends of increasing interaction between governments and the third sector. Is this the "start of a beautiful friendship" or are they already "too close for comfort"? This article argues that the nature of these complex relationships is poorly understood and often simplified. It proposes a four‐C framework based on institutional interests and preferences for policy ends and means—cooperation in the case of similar ends and similar means, confrontation in the case of dissimilar ends and dissimilar means, complementarity in the case of similar ends but dissimilar means, and co‐optation in the case of dissimilar ends but similar means.