5.3 Corporate-style management5.4 Success on targeted preventative output; 5.5 Improved outcome; 6. Continental case: Amsterdam; 6.1 Specialised policy; 6.2 Intense and exclusive structures; 6.3 Games of management; 6.4 High risk targeted output; 6.5 Varying outcomes; 7. Comparative analysis of empirical findings; 7.1 Variation in governance arrangements; 7.2 Variation in the quality of outputs and outcomes; 7.3 Testing three hypotheses; 8. Conclusion and discussion; 8.1 Answer to the central question; 8.2 Theoretical implications; 8.3 Practical implications.
Objectives: In The Netherlands, school health care policy is decentralized to the municipalities and their Municipal Health Services (MHS) in 1990. Since then, an increasing diversity in school health care policy developed, which is is ill-understood, concerning the development of evidence-based public health. Methods: Case-study design in 4 MHS-regions. Documents and half-structured interviews are used as data sources. The analysis of the data is both qualitative and quantitative. Results: Many actors try to influence the policy process: MHS-internal actors like management and professionals as well as external actors like local health care providers, other municipal services, the municipalities and schools. Evidence is found of the use of scientific knowledge: 'body of knowledge' information as well as evidence from new research, of both local and (inter)national origin, mainly medical, but also social science research. Mainly School Health management and -professionals use scientific knowledge as a resource to influence the policy process. Other actors try to influence the policy process by using other resources like formal power, money or 'initiative'. The use of scientific knowledge is related to a combined (medical) scientific en political frame of reference. Conclusions: Policy formation in local public health takes place in a network of actors with mutual power-dependency-relations, using different resoures to influence the process. 'Evidence based public health' can be promoted by regarding evidence from scientific research as a resource in attempts to influence the policy formation process and the implementation of the outcomes of this process.
This is a next, annual installment in a series, published regularly since 1978, of overviews of Belgian politics in a given year. This 2004 overview discusses the main topics & issues that preoccupied the government of Guy Verhofstadt, formed in a three-party coalition -- Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten ([VLD] Flemish Liberals and Democrats), Socialistische Partij Anders ([SP.A] Socialist Party Differently), & Sociaal, Progressief, Internationaal, Regionalistisch, Integraal-democratisch en Toekomstgericht ([Spirit]Social, Progressive, International, Regional, Integral-Democratic, and Future Justice) -- following the national election in May 2003: (1) immigrants' voting rights, (2) the controversy over Zaventem airport expansion requested by the German shipping company DHL, (3) redistricting/splitting of the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde electoral district, (4) unemployment compensation, family policy, tax restructuring, & other social & fiscal issues pertaining to the 2005 budget, (5) environmental policy, (6) the implications of the regional & EU elections of 13 June 2004, (7) public safety & defense matters, (8) regional government/jurisdiction & civil service reforms & other matters of home policy, & (9) internal party politics. Z. Dubiel
Public Administration; Social Sciences - Het huidige stelsel is sterk geënt op het model waarbij het gehele gezinsinkomen wordt verdiend door één kostwinner met een volledige baan. Dit model boet aan belang in en daarnaast kan de overheid geen volledige werkgelegenheid waarborgen. Dit vraagt om een stelsel waarin de band tussen uitkering en arbeid losser is dan nu. De sociale zekerheid wordt thans vooral gefinancierd door heffingen op arbeid, waardoor de relatieve prijzen van arbeidsintensieve goederen en diensten zijn gestegen, zodat de vraag naar deze producten nadelig wordt beïnvloed en verschuiving van formele naar informele productie in de hand wordt gewerkt. De werkgelegenheid neemt hierdoor af. De WRR komt met een aantal voorstellen.
The thesis is a qualitative social scientific study of the Dutch political discourse on multi-ethnic society between 1977 and 1995. The central questions are: 1. Have the Dutch political parties' views on minority policy generally changed between 1977 and 1995, and, if so, in what direction? 2. Was in the first half of the nineties more disagreement on this topic than in the eighties? 3. What exactly are the differences of opinion between the parties on the topic of integration of minorities? The research proceeds upon the theoretical assumption that three concepts - including their counterparts - play a central role in the political discourse on the multi-ethnic society: socio-cultural diversity (or homogeneity), socio-economic equality (or inequality), and political-juridical unity (or fragmentation). It is assumed that the perspectives on multi-ethnic society will be seen to differ in the political parties' interpretation and application of these concepts. The object of the research is approached in two ways. First the attitudes towards multi-ethnic society and minority policy are investigated for each political party separately. Next, the viewpoints of the parties are contextualized by examining the standpoints of the parliamentary groups of the parties in parliamentary debates on important government documents concerning minority policy. In addition the reactions of major minority organisations on these government documents are analyzed. A short answer to the first question is, that in general the viewpoints of the major political parties has shifted from a preference for a multicultural and group-oriented policy of emancipation in the eighties, to a preference for a more obligatory and individual-oriented policy of socio-economic integration in the nineties. An reply to the second question is, that in the political discourse under scrutiny, the consensus between the main political parties about the minority policy has increased rather than decreased. In order to answer the third question, in the conclusion a classification is made of the political parties' perspectives on integration that stresses the socio-economic, the socio-cultural and the political-juridical dimensions.
Changes in the post-WWII organization & structure of the Belgian political party system are discussed, focusing on the emergence of the welfare state. The prevalent trend of subcontracting social services to private firms, under the general direction of the sponsoring parties, is noted. The linguistic fractionalization of the major parties, the dynamics among the Catholic majority concentrated in Flanders, the socialist opposition centered chiefly in Wallonia, & the "balance" liberal parties are examined. Shifts in party identification & function, eg, toward clientelism & a dominant role in public policy formulation, are detailed, along with the role of TV in disseminating party propaganda. The declining role of party volunteers & grassroots activism is also discussed. Modified HA.