Search results

STUDIES OF COMPARATIVE EXECUTIVES HAVE TRADITIONALLY BEEN CONTENT TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN PRIME MINISTERIAL AND PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEMS, AND MORE SPECIFICALLY, BETWEEN THE POWERS OF THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT AND THE BRITISH PRIME MINISTER. HOWEVER, THIS DICHOTOMY OVERLOOKS THE DEGREE OF VARIATION WITHIN PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEMS, AND ESPECIALLY THE MORE COMMON EXISTENCE OF COALITION, RATHER THAN SINGLE-PARTY, GOVERNMENT. IN ORDER TO ILLUSTRATE THE LIMITATIONS OF THE TRADITIONAL PRESIDENTIALPRIME MINISTERIAL DICHOTOMY THAT FREQUENTLY APPEAR IN POLITICAL SCIENCE TEXTBOOKS, THIS ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS THE PARTICULARLY GERMAN FORM OF PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT IN WHICH THE GERMAN CHANCELLOR PLAYS A UNIQUE ROLE IN THE POLITICAL SYSTEM.

THE GERMAN FEDERAL EXECUTIVE CLEARLY DOMINATES THE POLICY MAKING PROCESS. TO EXAMINE THE FUNCTIONING OF THE CHANCELLORY UNDER DIFFERENT CHANCELLORS THIS ARTICLE EMPLOYS AN APPROACH WHICH OFFERS CRITERIA FOR COMPARISON. FOR THAT PURPOSE THIS STUDY ADOPTS THE CONCEPT OF INSTITUTIONALIZATION, DEFINED AS THE DEGREE TO WHICH A POLITICAL BODY EXHIBITS REGULAR PATTERNS OF BEHAVIOR. INSTITUTIONALIZATION NECESSARILY FOCUSES ON VARIATIONS IN ORGANIZATION AND FUNCTION, AND OFFERS CRITERIA FOR MEASURING THESE VARIATIONS. THIS STUDY WILL USE ROGER GILMOUR'S APPLICATION OF THE CONCEPT. GILMOUR OFFERS FOUR CRITERIA WITH WHICH TO MEASURE INSTITUTIONALIZATION: ORGANIZATIONAL COMPLEXITY, BOUNDARIES, SYMBOLIC ATTACHMENT, AND ROUTINIZATION AND ROLE DEVELOPMENT (1975). BEFORE THE CHANCELLORY IS ANALYZED THE ARTICLE FIRST TAKES A LOOK AT THE CHANCELLOR HIMSELF, AND HIS GOALS IN OFFICE. AS THIS STUDY WILL REVEAL, AN ORGANIC LINK EXISTS BETWEEN THE CHANCELLOR'S POLICY GOALS AND LEADERSHIP STYLE AND THE ORGANIZATION AND EFFECTIVENESS OF THE CHANCELLORY.

This article presents suggestions and proved effective strategies for determining the eligibility of, conducting diagnostic workups for, and providing vocational rehabilitation services to deaf-blind individuals. It emphasizes that the optimal rehabilitation process for such clients begins before the clients transfer from educational programs.

The concept of ecosystem services has gained a strong political profile during the last 15 years. However, there is no specific EU policy devoted to the governing of ecosystem services. This article shows that the ecosystem services concept is already embedded in recent EU (environmentally-related) policies, such as the Biodiversity Strategy 2020 and the Invasive Alien Species Regulation. A review of 12 policies shows that, overall, the coherence between existing policies and the ecosystem services concept is moderate. Policies showing very high coherence are confined to the policy arenas that address natural ecosystems, forestry, or agriculture. Given the sectoral nature of most EU policies and the limited options for revision in the near future, opportunities for improving coherence are mostly expected in improving the integration of the ecosystem services concept in the implementation of existing EU policies at national and regional levels.

Scenario-based approaches provide decision makers with accessible storylines of potential future changes. The parameterisation of such storylines as input variables for integrated assessment models allows using models as a test bed for assessing the effects of alternative land use policy options in different scenarios. However, the potential of this kind of policy-screening analysis can be further improved by assessing the institutional compatibility of the policy options under review. The aim of this paper is to explore the added value of combining institutions-oriented policy analyses with scenario-modelling approaches for improved assessments of EU land use policy options. We describe an expert-based, stepwise process to combine four scenario storylines and two integrated assessment model approaches (CLIMSAVE & IMAGE-GLOBIO) with a procedure for institutional compatibility assessment. Among the subsidies we assessed were those for technology-driven intensification of agricultural production, which would contribute to decreasing demand for cropland across a range of scenarios. In regionalised policy designs, they also contribute to ecological effectiveness, and higher costs of governing. Subsidies to promote biomass production can have negative effects on ecosystems including land conversion, conversion of grassland into cropland as well as conversion of natural forests into managed forests. These effects can to some extent be mitigated by careful policy design which considers the institutional context and features cross-sectoral coordination. An integrated Ecosystem Services Framework policy could accommodate regionalised policy designs and cross-sectoral coordination, however, it can operate only under specific circumstances and needs particular efforts. Rural development approaches are another alternative which feature expansion of cropland by means of a large-scale, bottom-up transformation based on voluntary changes in behaviour, flexibility, participation, and local and regional collaboration. Apart ...

The promise that ecosystem service assessments will contribute to better decision-making is not yet proven. We analyse how knowledge on ecosystem services is actually used to inform land and water management in 22 case studies covering different social-ecological systems in European and Latin American countries. None of the case studies reported instrumental use of knowledge in a sense that ecosystem service knowledge would have served as. an impartial arbiter between policy options. Yet, in most cases, there was some evidence of conceptual learning as a result of close interaction between researchers, practitioners and stakeholders. We observed several factors that constrained knowledge uptake, including competing interests and political agendas, scientific disputes, professional norms and competencies, and lack of vertical and horizontal integration. Ecosystem knowledge played a small role particularly in those planning and policy-making situations where it challenged established interests and the current distribution of benefits from ecosystems. The factors that facilitated knowledge use included application of transparent participatory methods, social capital, policy champions and clear synergies between ecosystem services and human well-being. The results are aligned with previous studies which have emphasized the importance of building local capacity, ownership and trust for the long-term success of ecosystem service research.

In October, 1985, discussions were held in Santiago in regard to the possibility of organizing a minerals industry conference in Chile in November, 1986, under the auspices of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy and in association with other bodies and organizations. I, in turn, was asked to chair the Organizing Committee and at our first meeting in London in November, 1985, we realized how little time we had if we were to meet the date proposed. In the event, thanks to considerable support from the Organizing Committee and others, coupled with the very good response from authors, we were able to put together a programme on a variety of topics, with some particular emphasis on operations in South America, and with special reference to Chile, that we regard as attractive. This is the first conference to have been organized by the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy in Chile, but it is intended that it should initiate a series to be held in Latin American countries. Chile has a long and healthy mining tradition and it is fitting, therefore, that it should have been chosen for the first such conference.