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Participation in collaborative advocacy organizations is one of the most common advocacy tactics pursued by nonprofit organizations. However, field-level dynamics and norms around collaboration may be changing with the growth of public-private intermediary organizations. Using a lens that brings together theories of structuration and institutional entrepreneurship, this research investigates (a) how intermediary organizations structure advocacy opportunities and institutionalize new advocacy practices at the field level, and (b) how member organizations interpret those opportunities and practices. Qualitative findings from a regional homeless services policy field demonstrate that intermediary organizations gain members and thus, power, based on their position in the policy field and through their ability to connect members to valuable government contacts. In this field, participation in public-private intermediary organizations has surpassed involvement in traditional advocacy coalitions as providers are motivated to meet organizational legitimacy goals as much as advocacy goals.

AbstractThis introductory paper summarizes the policy context, methodological approach, and key results from the set of papers contained in this special edition derived from a FAO-led project on seed sourcing in local markets and its farm-level impacts. The introduction provides the conceptual framework used in the papers for considering the relationship between sourcing seed from market and rural household decision-making as well as the effects this has on two key farm outcomes: on-farm diversity and household welfare. Approaches for data collection and study site selection are described, with a focus on how methodological issues were addressed in the different studies. Lastly, the paper summarizes the results of the individual papers and draws broad conclusions and policy implications for promoting the sustainable utilization of crop genetic resources through increasing market access and in a manner that supports agricultural production.

The argument advanced in this article is that EU policies helped to trigger the so-called Arab Spring, not by intention but by default. This contention is advanced through an examination of four strands of EU policy towards those countries designated as Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPCs) under the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership Programme (EMP) and the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), namely: trade and economic development, political reform, the 'peace process', and regional security (including migration control). What emerges is that the EU has not just departed from its own normative principles and aspirations for Arab reform in some instances, but that the EU has consistently prioritized European security interests over 'shared prosperity' and democracy promotion in the Mediterranean. The net result is a set of structured, institutionalized and securitized relationships which will be difficult to reconfigure and will not help Arab reformers attain their goals. (International Affairs (Oxford) / SWP)

This article explores the environmental policy in New York State. Science is significant as a driver of environmental policy, but public opinion is even more important. The story of the New York State's water supply is dominated by the historic quest to supply water to New York City. The State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) has been the most fertile source of environmental litigation in New York State courts. New York's solid waste expenditures have soared as it has had to pay commercial landfills and incinerators to take waste that had previously been cheaply dumped at Fresh Kills. New York began the modern era as a vigorous and innovative leader in environmental protection measures, but since the early 1990s, the paralyzing partisanship in the legislature and inconsistent leadership in the governor's office have moved the state considerably further back in the national pack on many environmental issues.

The added theoretical value of this research is to bridge the gap between two different theoretical traditions that rarely engage with each other, but that have great potential to generate new theoretical as well as empirical insights. In doing so, we offer new concepts and an original theoretical framework for understanding the role of public administrations and their capacity for addressing conflicts in different democratic contexts. The programme also adds a practical value as it will transfer knowledge and expertise concerning tools for how public administrations and civil servants in conflictual settings can move beyond societal exclusion and conflict to craft policy solutions and generate democratic capacity for long term sustainability. These research based policy recommendations may assist practitioners within public administration and could have an important impact on the works of local administrations and thereby citizens' lives in various democratic settings. Adapted from the source document.

This article focuses on stratification beliefs and racial policy opinions among white and black Americans who differ in religious preference. First, it summarizes earlier research on white conservative Protestants and outlines characterizations of Black Protestant church congregants. It then reports patterns of stratification beliefs and racial policy opinions among blacks and whites varying in religious preference who responded to the 1996 through 2006 General Social Surveys. Comparisons across twelve race-by-religion categories did not provide persuasive evidence that white conservative Protestants are uniquely conservative in their stratification beliefs, once background characteristics are controlled, nor was the Black Protestant group distinctive. Compared to blacks, whites were less inclined to structuralist explanations of racial inequality, slightly more inclined to individualist explanations, and consistently more negative about policies and programs to aid blacks. What is more, white Christians were more racially conservative in all these ways than non-Christian whites.

This paper explores the relative role of aggregate demand and supply shocks in affecting the output level and inflation rate in a low-income country vulnerable to various economic shocks. The study uses Bangladesh data, and following Cover et al (2006), employs a modification of the Blanchard-Quah (BQ) approach, in which the two shocks are allowed to be correlated. Strong evidence is found for the hypothesis that aggregate demand and supply shocks are interrelated in Bangladesh. For the case in which causality is assumed to be running from demand to supply shocks, it was found that an independent supply shock plays significant role for fluctuations in inflation, which was absent in the standard BQ model. The results suggest that a tightening of monetary policy may lead to an adverse effect on the long-run growth potential and some supply-side policies may be required to supplement contractionary monetary policy in combating inflation in Bangladesh.

Abstract This paper examines the optimal appreciation path of an undervalued currency in the presence of speculative capital inflows that are endogenously affected by the appreciation path. A central bank decides its appreciation policy based on three costs: (i) misalignment costs associated with the gap between the actual and long‐run equilibrium exchange rates, (ii) short‐term adjustment costs due to resource reallocation, and (iii) capital losses due to speculative capital inflows. Our model finds (1) when speculators face no liquidity shocks, the central bank tends to appreciate the currency quickly to discourage speculative capital; (2) when speculators face liquidity shocks, the central bank optimally pre‐commits to a slower appreciation path, and the appreciation takes the longest time when the probability of liquidity shocks takes intermediate values; (3) the central bank tends to appreciate the currency more quickly when it conducts discretionary policy.

This paper presents a new mechanism through which monetary policy rules affect inflation persistence. When assuming that price reset hazard functions are not constant, backward-looking dynamics emerge in the NKPC. This new mechanism makes the traditional demand channel of monetary transmission have a long-lasting effect on inflation dynamics. The Calvo model fails to convey this insight, because its constant hazard function leads those important backward-looking dynamics to be canceled out. I first analytically show how it works in a simple setup, and then solve a log-linearized model numerically around positive trend inflation. With realistic calibration of trend inflation and the monetary policy rule, the model can account for the pattern of changes in inflation persistence observed in the post-wwii U.S. data. In addition, with increasing hazard functions, the 'Taylor principle' is sufficient to guarantee the determinate equilibrium even under extremely high trend inflation.

Decision-making processes during Norway's membership of the UNSC 2001-2002 are the empirical focus of this article. Based on anthropological fieldwork in the period, I discuss why it was necessary for practice and informal processes to be included when international organizations were being studied, but also how Norwegian UN policy was determined during the period. Furthermore, I show how formal structures are a marginalization of practical realities and how informal processes overlap formal structures on the way to consensus being achieved between member states in the UNSC. I investigate how this overlap has implications for policy-making in small states such as Norway when represented in international organizations like the UNSC. It is important to examine how formal instructions are being interpreted, adapted and reformulated through practice and informal action, and, when studying these effects, to illuminate the power relations in international politics. Adapted from the source document.

Literature that is not peer-reviewed and distributed through a publisher is known as 'grey'. As it is used to inform policy and practice we reviewed the grey literature concerning emotional well-being in people with sight loss. We consulted and searched the websites of UK voluntary organizations, and scanned reference lists of previous reviews for reports available from 2001 to 2008. We summarized 24 studies in two sections: observations that assessed psychosocial well-being or demand for support services ( n = 15); and evaluations of interventions that aimed to improve emotional well-being ( n = 9). Observations showed that people with sight loss can report low emotional well-being, but their statistical and clinical significance requires testing. Interventions showed promise for counselling but also require further evaluation. We encourage service providers and researchers to collaborate and produce high quality research to more persuasively inform policy and practice.

AbstractSeveral authors have described the usefulness of participatory system dynamics approaches in environmental decision‐making processes, particularly in supporting problem scoping and policy analysis. This paper explores how these approaches may be expanded to provide a coherent, deliberative platform, which structures Integrated Sustainability Assessments (ISA) of policy proposals. The proposed ISA framework forms a five‐stage feedback and learning process including scoping, visioning, model building, simulation/assessment and monitoring. We discuss these elements considering a set of best practice principles for participation in environmental assessment and decision making. Subsequently, we lay out a roadmap for implementing and testing the framework. We conclude that participatory modelling has a strong potential for supporting ISA processes. It allows stakeholders to build alternative policies, to reflect on their long‐term dynamics, and to gain insights on the interrelationships underlying persistent sustainability problems. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

AbstractDisaster risk reduction (DRR) policies and strategies are well established within the international development community, being utilised at the grassroots level to address all forms of hazards. An exacerbation and increase in meteorological hazards has in part been attributed to climate change. Climate change also contributes to noticeable seasonal fluctuations that severely affect natural resource based livelihoods. In response, a need in development policy has been identified to address climate change at the community level by helping those most affected through 'climate change adaptation' (CCA) strategies. This paper explores the differences—or, rather, the similarities—between DRR and CCA through analysing climate‐related DRR in Papua New Guinea (PNG) within the context of wider development policies. Ways forward are identified for international development policy supporting all forms of risk reduction through integrating DRR and CCA strategies. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.