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The effect of transparency reforms on political decision making will be studied. According to some, transparency reforms have a positive effect by promoting public-spirited arguing instead of self-interested bargaining. Others however consider that transparency will push actors towards "distributive" rather than "integrative" bargaining, thus losing efficacy. A third hypothesis states that real decision making will leak from formal to non-formal (non-transparent) settings. Methodologically, observation of public versus closed meetings in the Council of Ministers & municipalities of Sweden & interviews will be employed. References. Adapted from the source document.

This study addressed some of the research gaps in the area of organizational politics by examining politics as a group-level construct, directly testing for the cross-level effects of various predictors, and providing insight into the nature of conflict processes involved in the development of politics. Data from 69 academic departments in six prominent Canadian universities provided support for the precursory role of conflict processes. Both intradepartmental task and relationship conflict were associated with political climate perceptions. Using the climate etiology literature, several multi-level antecedents (individual, departmental, disciplinary) of department-level politics were examined, but only individual-level role conflict emerged as a predictor. The non-significant effects of macro-level paradigm development and department rank heterogeneity are discussed in light of substantive and methodological factors.

The current state of relations between the Canadian government & aboriginal peoples in Canada is examined, focusing on psychological motivations behind Canadian people's behaviors toward the Native peoples. An overview of the legal impediments to indigenous persons' rights & the slow resolution of land disputes between Native peoples & the Canadian state is presented. Two cases illustrating the contentious state of Canadian-Native relations -- the state's use of the Canadian Armed Forces to overcome a Native blockade in Quebec & the Native lobbies against creating hydroelectric dams around James Bay -- are provided & subsequently used to document the psychological foundations of policies against Native peoples. It is contended that state policies attempt to dehumanize Native peoples in order to justify their disreputable treatment. J. Platt's (1973) notion of the social fence is recalled to explain bureaucrats' unwillingness to intervene on behalf of Canada's indigenous peoples. Several recommendations for eliminating the imposition of structural violence on Native peoples are offered, eg, establishing a higher authority. 1 Table, 1 Figure, 116 References. J. W. Parker