Examines regional cooperation among Japan, Russia, and China led by local actors concerned with economic development, beginning in the 1980s. As an example of non-state actors cooperating in international affairs.
Abstract: This article draws attention to the nature of the political process promoting economic interdependence among the regions surrounding the Japan Sea. At least in the case of Japan, the process is being carried forward by local authorities (prefectural and municipal governments) and other local actors. To explain this local initiative in international economic cooperation, the article refers to international systemic factors, such as the end of the cold war and globalization, as well as to national factors, i.e., the inability of Tokyo to meet the development demands of localities in the Japan Sea prefectures. At any rate, local initiative, and the gradual progress being made in this economic cooperation process, are at variance with the normal facts associated with Japan's economic cooperation activity in the postwar period. Economic cooperation has been dominated by the agendas of the central government bureaucracies and big businesses based in Tokyo. The article raises the possibility that what we see in Japan Sea cooperation may be the leading edge of change: the emergence of a new level of cooperation activity where local governments and regional interests set cooperation agendas in dialog with their overseas counterparts. The article then explores some of the implications of such a development for current debates in international relations and comparative politics.
The article aims at reviewing emerging structural factors in Japan's domestic and international affairs that are driving change in Japan's economic co-operation activities in East Asia. It draws attention to the nature of the political process promoting economic interdependence among the regions surrounding the Japan Sea. (DÜI-Sen)
This article is an examination of failures in implementing intergovernmental programs. The programs were failures in the sense that actions to implement programs were delayed far beyond the expected dates of completion. Two such failures in cities implementing two different programs (wastewater management and Section 8 housing programs) are contrasted with one instance of success (in Section 8 housing). If a Sharkansky's discussion of political and policy routines is found to be a useful explanation of the different results. When local government routines must be broken to comply with the goals and objectives of federal programs, local actors will do all they can to resist the federal program. This finding demonstrates the importance of varying local political environments in explaining varying patterns of implementation of federal programs.
The article deals with a central problem of labour market policy in the then Federal Republic of Germany (and in other countries): how to bring different policy levels with their special programmes and the many local actors together to develop programmes against unemployment appropriate to their locality. While facing the financial dilemma of falling tax receipts and rising expenditures due to economic crisis and restructuring and while central government prefers non-decisions, local authorities are obliged to make use of the 'resources of coordination' such as financial resources and programmes, for example different policies and their associated implementation measures, and of local actors. Using the examples of Bremen, Hanover, Dortmund and Munich the article shows which factors and political processes determine the particular local policies to combat unemployment. The article was written in Spring 1991.
Deals with a central problem of labour market policy: how to bring different policy levels with their special programmes and the many local actors together to develop programmes against unemployment appropriate to their locality. Shows which factors and political processes determine the particular local policies to combat unemployment. (Abstract amended)
Blacks comprise about 13% of the national population but hold less than 1.5% of all elective offices nationwide. Black individuals and organisations were at the forefront in moving housing onto the national agenda during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Considers the role of local actors in 3 cases of fair housing policy in Cleveland and Ohio. (SJK)
Too frequently policy makers in Washington or Moscow see local or regional issues in southern Africa solely through their own, often distorted, lenses. And seen exclusively in ideological, or alternatively East-West or Cold War terms, they view their interests as inherently antagonistic. The old African maxim popular among non-aligned leaders in the early 1960's is apropos: "When the bull elephants fight, the grass gets trampled." Yet, unlike two elephants contesting clashing claims to territory of or sexual supremacy, southern Africa is not the territory of either of the super powers. Nor does Angola belong to other regional powers, notably South Africa. Although such states may have "interests" there. Angola is not their's to shape.
In: Bulletin of peace proposals: to motivate research, to inspire future oriented thinking, to promote activities for peace, Band 18, Heft 4, S. 591-601
Human resources managers must be prepared to respond to numerous issues that result from the anticipated increase in the elderly population in the United States. Their decisions must reflect an understanding of the key actors in the process, including the diverse interest groups, Congress, the executive branch, and state and local governments. In making these decisions, they must also recognize the stringent limitations on available financial resources, the crowded policy agenda facing policymakers, the existence of substantial differences among the elderly over the content of public policy, and the negative perceptions held by many younger citizens about the elderly. Taken together, these factors suggest that proposals that threaten existing senior citizen benefits probably will be resisted fiercely, and that proposals for new programs as well as those to expand existing programs will face severe obstacles before enactment.
The international relations (IR) and common-pool resource (CPR) literatures disagree on the impact of increasing numbers of actors on collective action. They also disagree on the impact of actor heterogeneity. These differences can be understood in terms of the endogeneity of institutions, exemplified here by membership rules. The number and variety of actors need not be an exogenous aspect of a collective-action problem but rather may be determined as part of the institutional rules. Successful CPRs regulate their membership either through exclusion or by enforcing contributions. In some cases this is supported by nesting in external institutions, in other cases enforcement is decentralized and in yet other cases collective action is achieved through locally centralized arrangements. This latter category suggests a much richer range of possible institutional solutions than is found in standard IR conceptions of anarchy or hierarchy. In terms of the various types of actor heterogeneity discussed in the paper, it suggests a need for better understanding of the role of `community' in supporting collective action at both the local and international levels.
Over 10 to 15 years, an organizational fragmentation of Scandinavian local government has come about by the introduction of neighbourhood councils, user-governed public service institutions, contracting out of services and experimental, particularized state grants to the localities. Consequently, users come into focus, territorial democracy is challenged, and new forms of inter-governmental relations abound. This calls for alternatives to the traditional analysis of local government with less emphasis on formal organizational analysis and more on governance and inter-organizational links. There are indications that contrary to aspirations, the influence of professionals is not reduced by the changes and consequently increased user influence is not given, but there is a need for more analysis along the lines suggested. (European Journal of Political Research / FUB)