Suchergebnisse

This article outlines a strategy for the evaluation of a development partnership within the EU 'EQUAL' programme. A new aspect of the EQUAL programme is the grouping of projects within thematic or geographical partnerships. This facilitates the establishment of stronger links between learning at intra-project, inter-project and programme level, in a way that was not the case in previous EU employment programmes. It provides the opportunity to address the problem of external validity (also known as transferability or generalizability), which has long been an intractable aspect of evaluation. In particular, it has been difficult to generate inter-project and policy-level learning in innovative programmes of heterogeneous projects, because learning has been strongly context-bounded. The approach of cluster evaluation has offered a methodology for bridging the gap between case-based learning and policy-level learning. The approach is suitable for thematic programmes of innovative and heterogeneous interventions in field settings with multiple objectives and diverse participants. It favours communicative learning processes among programme participants, using interactive and dialogue-focused techniques. The article reviews these issues and outlines the strategy adopted in the evaluation of a development partnership within the EU EQUAL programme in Germany.

How do countries settle disputes in the shadow of the law? Even in the presence of legalized dispute settlement, countries still rely on diplomatic channels to resolve conflicts. But it can be difficult to assess diplomacy's impact on dispute resolution because those channels tend to be opaque. We present both an original theory of the impact of diplomacy on dispute resolution and a novel measure of diplomacy. If countries with close or, conversely, distant relationships use legal channels for dispute resolution, diplomacy will have little impact on dispute settlement; resorting to legal recourse among friends or adversaries likely means that the dispute is intractable. However, diplomacy can increase the chances of settlement between countries with moderate levels of affinity. We test this argument using a protocol-based proxy for diplomatic interactions—gifts given at the occasion of meetings between diplomatic counterparts—that would otherwise be difficult to observe. Using the case of the United States and its disputes in the World Trade Organization, we find support for our argument. This suggests that even when countries resort to legalized methods of dispute settlement, bilateral dealmaking still plays an important role.

It is widely lamented that lame‐duck presidents are do‐nothing presidents. But systematic studies of these periods focus almost exclusively on domestic policy, ignoring the implications for foreign affairs. In this article, I argue that presidents are no less ambitious at the end of their time in office and the desire to cement their historical legacies can even make them more so. However, this ambition is checked by a substantial increase in the constraints imposed by other political actors—most notably Congress. This mismatch between incentives and opportunity pushes presidents toward foreign policy, where meaningful achievements are still possible due to greater presidential autonomy. The result is an increase in diplomacy, and international agreements, and use of force.

This article demonstrates that the probability of an international crisis involving the United States declines as a presidential administration gains time in office. This finding invalidates three widely held theories about the relationship between the American democratic cycle and foreign policy that (1) there might be a honeymoon period immediately following election in which new presidents are unlikely to become involved in foreign crises, (2) presidents might systematically use the ``rally round the flag'' effect to bolster their electoral prospects, or that more generally, (3) foreign policy might be primarily tied to the democratic constraints of the electoral cycle. This finding also stands in partial contrast to recent work suggesting that, globally, leadership experience does not influence the likelihood of a militarized interstate dispute, while leader age does. The differing conclusions are the result of both the unique American case and the differing formulations of conflict.

Nach einer Umfrage des IFO-Instituts von 2002 schätzen sich nur 18% der deutschen Unternehmen als nachhaltigkeitsorientiert ein. Dagegen ist nachhaltiges Wirtschaften auf politischer Ebene mittlerweile eine allgemein akzeptierte Zielvorstellung und gewinnt für die Wissenschaft und den Consulting-Sektor zunehmend an Bedeutung. In der Unternehmensberatung und in der praxisorientierten Forschung werden neue Instrumente der Personal- und Organisationsentwicklung erarbeitet, die das Leitbild nachhaltiges Wirtschaften in der Unternehmenspraxis konkretisieren und sowohl auf strategischer als auch auf operativer Ebene einsetzbar sind. In vielen der 16 in diesem Band vorgestellten Instrumente werden dabei bestehende Management-Tools um Nachhaltigkeitsdimensionen erweitert.Um die Verbreitung der entwickelten Instrumente in den Mainstream der Betriebspraxis zu erreichen, müssen über die erfolgreiche Umsetzung im Rahmen von Modellprojekten hinaus Strategien formuliert werden, wie der Bekanntheitsgrad zu steigern ist, wie Hemmnisse der Entscheidungsträger überwunden werden können und wie Unternehmen auch ohne intensive wissenschaftliche Begleitung eine erfolgreiche Anwendung realisieren können. Entscheidend zur Beantwortung der Wirksamkeit der Anwendung von Instrumenten ist der Punkt, an dem sich modellhaft angestoßene Prozesse in den betrieblichen Alltag integrieren. Die sechs dokumentierten Fallbeispiele in diesem Band tragen hier zur Klarheit bei. Eindeutig ist, dass es sich um längerfristige Prozesse handelt, die, sollen sie nachhaltig sein, einer kontinuierlichen Pflege durch Akteure im Unternehmen bedürfen und nicht dauerhaft auf Impulse von externen Beratern angewiesen sein können. Das zeigt die anregende Diskussion im Rahmen des von der Hans Böckler Stiftung in Kooperation mit dem Klaus Novy Institut durchgeführten Workshops, die in dem vorliegenden Band dokumentiert und damit dem interessierten Fachpublikum zugänglich gemacht wird.

Evaluators designing evaluation studies that are responsive to the interests of the different stakeholding audiences have to cope with conflicts and constraints from the very beginning of their work. This article describes a tool for a stakeholder-orientated evaluation approach which combines Nominal Group Techniques and the Moderation Method. The tool is presented in a detailed scenario for an evaluation design context. The paper concludes with an assessment of the utility and areas of application of the RENOMO instrument.