Suchergebnisse

The methods for change detection and management published in the scientific literature are often of empirical nature and are not suitable for the analysis of the particular situations, whereas local governments are a specific object of analysis. Furthermore, many scholars interpret the content of a strategic change quite differently. This shows that the methodology of strategic change analysis is not fully developed. Therefore, further issues of strategic change management, which would consider the specifics of an organization, are very important. The aim of the article is to discuss the specifics of the strategic changes in local governments (local government institutions), describe their types, and evaluate the operational changes. The paper presents the concept of strategic change and distinguishes the levels of strategic changes according to their importance for the local governments. It describes strategic changes in the local governments and their need on the political, organizational potential development, and action levels. The article evaluates the strategic changes in the local governments at the level of their activities. The local governments can implement the strategic changes on the political and action levels. They are not procedural, but oriented to activity. Organizational potential development and functional changes are more common at the local government institutions. These changes are procedural and can be strategic and operational. It is not possible to. [to full text]

1-23 ; International audience ; Mentre è ormai assodato - fin dal lavoro pionieristico di Pressman and Wildavsky del 1973 - che le istituzioni si trovano di norma nella condizione di non poter realizzare i progetti pubblici senza qualche forma di collaborazione o assistenza che proviene dall'esterno dell'arena politica, un tema che resta sostanzialmente meno esplorato nel panorama degli studi di policy è il ruolo che tali contributi assumono nella costruzione, piuttosto che nella mera realizzazione, delle stesse politiche. Come hanno spesso evidenziato le analisi empiriche infatti, i processi di policy-making sono densamente popolati da un certo range di attori non convenzionalmente etichettati come politici (fra questi imprese, organizzazioni non profit o religiose, associazioni, gruppi di cittadini, esperti, società di consulenza, sindacati.). Questi attori appaiono talvolta acquisire ed esercitare funzioni astrattamente attribuibili ai decisori pubblici, ed impiegare repertori di azione a tutti gli effetti politici.

This paper uses a regression discontinuity design to compare the incumbency advantage enjoyed by freshmen and non-freshmen incumbents. The results show that compared to freshmen incumbents that barely won the last election, non-freshmen incumbents that barely won get 2.3 percentage points more in the next election. Further results suggest that the ability to deter high quality challengers is an important source of that advantage. [Copyright Elsevier Ltd.]

• Opsomming: Sam Jaff was deel van 'n merkwaardige geslag entrepreneurs wat die klerebedryf in Suid-Afrika gevestig het. In 1931 vestig hy die vroueklerefabriek, Jaff and Company, in Johannesburg, wat vinnig in 'n familiebesigheid ontwikkel het. Die fabriek was die eerste wat met die massaproduksie van modieuse damesklere begin het. Tot in die 1980s bly Jaff and Company een van die grootste vervaardigers van damesklere en verskaf werk aan 2,300 werkers. Die maatskappy bly voortbestaan as 'n familiebesigheid en in 1980 besit die Jaff-familie nog steeds 60 persent van die aandele van die maatskappy. Eerstens skets hierdie artikel die politieke en ekonomiese agtergrond van die periode 1930 tot 1960, waartydens Jaff and Company geweldig gegroei het. Die agtergrond van die ontwikkeling van die damesklerebedryf gedurende die periode word ook geskets. Verder is die fokus op die groei van Jaff and Company gedurende die periode 1931 tot 1980 en op die maatskappy as 'n familiebesigheid, asook op Sam Jaff as entrepreneur en leier in die sakegemeenskap.

A review of NATO and the Warsaw Pact: Intrabloc Conflicts edited by Mary Ann Heiss and S. Victor Papacosma.

The dissertation argues for a conception of group rights based on Habermasian discourse theory, as an alternative to the dominant multicultural liberal approach to group rights, which treats group rights as instrumental to individual rights.

Eight years of municipal reform in Azerbaijan reflect a lack of social capital in communities. Without building social capital, achieving effectiveness of governance, as well as political stability and economic progress, in the country appears bleak.This paper seeks to study factors such as the set of informal values, tolerance, social trust, norms and networks of voluntary associations which contribute to social capital formation within the communities of Azerbaijan. As a way of exploring the problem, we have focused on one specific area of governance-the construction of infrastructural services (i.e. roads, housing and communal services, water supply, and sewerage) in Baku, the country's capital, and in Khachmaz and Masalli, both of which are districts of Azerbaijan. The aim is to highlight and clarify the effectiveness of municipal governments in different communities of Azerbaijan from the standpoint of civic engagement and its role in this process.

We verify the predictions of the theoretical literature on the relationship between political competition and economic performance, holding that, when the predominance of an ideological dimension creates a political rent, the party exploiting it selects lower quality politicians whose policy choices worsen economic performance. We examine the sample of 15 Italian Regions from 1980 to 2002 that exploits the institutional reforms of 1995 as an exogenous shock to pre-existing rents. We find evidence that higher political competition improves economic performance, through the choice of more efficiency-oriented policies. Adapted from the source document.

Using two different data sources--municipal level data and individual data--we consider several hitherto unexplored aspects of the relationship between voting technology and election outcomes. We distinguish between introductory and permanent effects of electronic voting, and between national and municipal elections. We test for a possible asymmetry between the effect of moving from paper ballots to electronic voting, and vice versa, and we control for polling station density. We find a positive but temporary effect of electronic voting on voter turnout, a negative effect on the fraction of residual votes, and no effect on the share of left wing parties. Adapted from the source document.