Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

From The Editor In Chief, Antulio J. Echevarria Ii

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Welcome to the Summer 2024 issue of Parameters. We open this issue with a special “In Memoriam” by General Charles A. Flynn, Commander US Army Pacific, honoring the life and legacies of our director and consummate colleague, Carol V. Evans. We dedicate this issue to her. General Flynn’s memoriam is followed by an In Focus commentary on China’s Belt and Road Initiative. We then feature three forums covering the Russia-Ukraine War, the Middle East, and Professional Development. This issue also contains special essays on the role of professional writing, the US Army War College’s Civil-Military Relations Center, …

Centropoly: The Structure Of Educational Failures In The U.S., Martha Bradley-Dorsey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

How did a country birthed in individual liberty and voluntary associations create just the opposite in its inflexible, layered, government-controlled public education system? Here, using public choice theory, I explain how near-sighted and unrelated reforms, often based in private motives, gave us what I call the public education centropoly – a hybrid government organization consisting of a set of monopolies layered beneath two additional government levels that especially fails disadvantaged students.

After defending the use of public choice theory (Chapter 1) and summarizing the U.S. public education system formation (Chapter 2), in Chapter 3 I examine the Elementary and Secondary …

Covid-19 Vaccine Rollout: A True Test Of The Bureaucracy, Laila El Baradei

Faculty Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Latino Inequity In The Illinois State Government: An Analysis Through The Polarities Of Democracy, Rebecca Sanchez

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractHispanics in Illinois make up 17.5 % of the population yet are disproportionately represented in state government, composing only 6.5 % of the workforce. Unequal representation deprives ethnic and underserved groups of participating in program and policy decisions that provide communities opportunities. Hispanic leaders have expressed their concerns and dissatisfaction to state legislators and actively requested equity in the state’s workforce. However, there were no studies that examined the perceptions of Hispanic community leaders in Illinois regarding solutions to address this disparity. To address this gap, a qualitative study using Benet’s polarities of democracy as the theoretical framework was conducted. …

“Insurance Doesn’T Care About The Patient”: An Institutional Ethnography Of The Influence Of Professional Autonomy On The Provision Care For Medicaid Dental Patients With Disabilities, Stephanie Lau

Theses and Dissertations

In terms of unmet needs for people with disabilities (PWD), dental care is number three behind residential care and employment (Fisher, 2012). Regardless of disability, oral healthcare traverses all disability diagnoses and can be a significant factor in quality of life (Deckler, 2011; Griffin et al., 2007; Norwood & Slayton, 2013). When attempting to secure oral healthcare, people with disabilities face many challenges, including lack of access, lack of provider education on proper care of PWD, and difficulty finding a willing dental provider (Deckler, 2011; Fisher, 2012; Kennedy, 2009).

The purpose of this study was to investigate professional practices and …

Bureaucracy, Civil Society And Ideology In Latin America, Grazielli Faria Zimmer Santos, Paula Chies Schommer

Gobernar: The Journal of Latin American Public Policy and Governance

This essay analyzes how political and ideological changes affect public bureaucracy and its relationship with civil society regarding different strategies of openness to participation. We suggest a theoretical-conceptual framework to discuss aspects of the political situation in Latin America. First, we discuss the changes that occurred over time, in the state-civil society relationship, which strengthen the latter and amplify a discourse for more participatory democracy. The focus is the role of the public bureaucracy in mediating the relations among the several actors in society, and we examine the way different political and ideological strands influence how open to participation the …

The Impact Of Contextual Political Factors On Personnel, Rulemaking, And Partisanship, Emily Moore

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The context in which an institution operates structures the way political actors respond to it. Broadly, this dissertation explores these contextual variables. The first chapter provides an overview of the arguments I will make in the dissertation and the results I find. The second chapter considers political context as it relates to excepted political appointees. I argue that presidents utilize Schedule C appointees more frequently in ideologically proximate agencies and when ideological conflict in the Senate is high. I show some evidence for these arguments using an original OPM dataset on Schedule C appointees from 1998 through 2013. The third …

The Collateral Effects Of Representation : Three Essays Evaluating Representative Bureaucracy In Practice, Ashley Miller Alteri

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation evaluates representative bureaucracy, a public management theory that has been embraced by public management scholars and implicitly embraced by practitioners through the use of diversity hiring initiatives. The theory of representative bureaucracy posits that a bureaucracy will function better if the administrative arm of government, in addition to its political one, is representative of the public. This representativeness is achieved if the bureaucrat shares a common identity with the group or groups they are meant to represent. The three papers within this dissertation provide an analysis of how this theory translates into practice. Specifically, these papers examine the …

Closed Primary, Exposed Preferences: Idaho's Primary System And The Bureaucratic Dilemma, Matthew Ryan May

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The ability to elect representatives is one of the most fundamental rights citizens of the United States of America possess, but the expression of that right looks very different from state to state. A state’s primary system determines not only who participates in an election, but under what circumstances. When a state shifts from one primary system to another, it produces a period of uncertainty, as the electorate must acclimate to new rules and their attendant consequences. Among those who must adjust to the new rules are public state employees—the bureaucracy. When a shift necessitates and introduces a partisan …

The History, Means, And Effects Of Structural Surveillance, Jeffrey L. Vagle

All Faculty Scholarship

The focus on the technology of surveillance, while important, has had the unfortunate side effect of obscuring the study of surveillance generally, and tends to minimize the exploration of other, less technical means of surveillance that are both ubiquitous and self-reinforcing—what I refer to as structural surveillance— and their effects on marginalized and disenfranchised populations. This Article proposes a theoretical framework for the study of structural surveillance which will act as a foundation for follow-on research in its effects on political participation.

Assessing Access To Social Services In Emerging Systems: A Conceptual Approach, Steven G. Anderson, Meirong Liu, Xiang Gao

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

There has been considerable concern about systemic factors that serve as access barriers for vulnerable groups in need of services, but conceptual and empirical work related to such issues have been limited. This article presents a new conceptual approach for considering and assessing access, which we call the “Funnel Framework”. The framework is explicated abstractly, and is illustrated with use of the U.S. child care subsidy system. We argue that the framework can usefully guide the analysis of access to any social benefit system, and can be helpful to administrators and program developers as they design and implement benefit systems.

The Modern Administrative State: Why We Have ‘Big Government’ And How To Run And Reform Bureaucratic Organizations, Sean Y. Sakaguchi

CMC Senior Theses

This work asserts that bureaucratic organization is not only an inevitable part of the modern administrative state, but that a high quality bureaucracy within a strongly empowered executive branch is an ideal mechanism for running government in the modern era. Beginning with a philosophical inquiry into the purpose of American government as we understand it today, this paper responds to criticisms of the role of expanded government and develops a framework for evaluating the quality of differing government structures. Following an evaluation of the current debate surrounding bureaucracies (from both proponents and critics), this thesis outlines the lessons and principles …

Agenda-Setting In The Regulatory State: Theory And Evidence, Cary Coglianese, Daniel E. Walters

All Faculty Scholarship

Government officials who run administrative agencies must make countless decisions every day about what issues and work to prioritize. These agenda-setting decisions hold enormous implications for the shape of law and public policy, but they have received remarkably little attention by either administrative law scholars or social scientists who study the bureaucracy. Existing research offers few insights about the institutions, norms, and inputs that shape and constrain agency discretion over their agendas or about the strategies that officials employ in choosing to elevate certain issues while putting others on the back burner. In this article, we advance the study of …

Discovering The Servant In Fire And Emergency Services Leaders: A Grounded Theory, Eric J. Russell Edd, Rodger E. Broome Phd, Rhiannon Prince Bs, Nrp

Rodger E. Broome

This qualitative grounded theory designed study identified perceptions of leaders and leadership from the perspective of mid-level fire and emergency services officers. The findings from this study discovered a possible pathway for instilling the philosophy of servant leadership into the fire and emergency services. The study took place at a large metropolitan fire and emergency services agency in the Western United States. The 15 participants in the study were affiliated, uniformed and sworn, mid-level fire and emergency services officers. The literature used to form this study, identified negative issues associated with current leadership practices within the fire and emergency services …

Economics-Based Environmentalism In The Fourth Generation Of Environmental Law, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

Environmental protection and economic concerns are not mutually exclusive. This article explores some of the issues of economic analysis that might arise as we approach the fourth generation of environmental law. It explains ways that economic analysis can be employed to generate the best environmental rules, including measures under what this article terms as "economics-based environmentalism." Economics-based environmentalism contends that the advantages of using economic principles within a “polycentric toolbox” of environmental law come from the benefits available in private ordering, markets, property rights, liability regimes and incentives structures that will better protect the environment than alternatives like state-based interventionist, …

Book Review: Policing And The Poetics Of Everyday Life., Rodger E. Broome Phd

Rodger E. Broome

Policing and the poetics of everyday life. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2008. 256 pp. ISBN 978-0-252-03371-1 (cloth). $42.00. Policing and the Poetics of Everyday Life is a hermeneutical-aesthetic analysis within a human scientific approach of modern policing in the United States. It is an important study of police-citizen encounters informed by hermeneutic aesthetic thought and the author’s professional experience as a veteran with a Seattle area police department in Washington, USA.

Whites And The Active Representation Of Racial Minority Interests, Maykao Y. Hang

School of Business Student Theses and Dissertations

This study explored personal and organizational factors that contribute to White public administrators actively representing the interests of racial minority minorities. Data collection comprised of 15 semi-structured interviews. The average age was 54, and the length of service was 3-33 years. Subjects were asked about their personal background, what it means to be White, and work experiences in local county government.

Personal factors found were racial consciousness, major life events, and significant relationships with people of color. Organizational factors included a diverse and inclusive work environment, bureaucracy, legal and compliance issues, and supervisor support. Findings included that Whites did not …

Service Satisfaction, Competence And Caring: Examining The Influence Of Experience With The Public Bureaucracy On Citizen Attitudes Of Trust In Government, Lauren Kriston Harding

Doctoral Dissertations

Examining the relationship among government performance, service satisfaction and trust in government advocated by the New Public Management, this research contributes to a better understanding of the performance-trust hypothesis and its assumptions. This study evaluates the satisfaction link of the performance-trust hypothesis, investigating influences on service satisfaction and how these translate into trust. In particular, two implicit assumptions of the performance-trust hypothesis are explored. First, citizen experience with public services is examined as a measure of specific support for government. Second, the role of citizen interactions with the bureaucracy is assessed, specifically identifying the influence of citizen attitudes toward public …

Operation New Dawn: Rhetoric Or Real Policy Change?, Josiah Thomas Barrett

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Scholars have long explored questions concerning presidential foreign policy decision making as well as military performance in conducting operations. Studies have covered a wide variety of topics, including the organizational dynamics of the military bureaucracy, the effectiveness of military operations, how presidential rhetorical strategies influence the public agenda in foreign affairs, and, in turn, how public opinion influences presidential foreign policy decision-making. Despite these advances, there remains a notable gap in the literature with respect to the relationship between presidential foreign policy objectives and military bureaucratic responsiveness. In particular, when presidents use rhetoric to introduce key shifts in foreign policy …

Bureaucracy And The U.S. Response To Mass Atrocity, Gregory Brazeal

Gregory Brazeal

The U.S. response to mass atrocity has followed a predictable pattern of disbelief, rationalization, evasion, and retrospective expressions of regret. The pattern is consistent enough that we should be skeptical of chalking up the United States’ failures solely to a shifting array of isolated historical contingencies, from post-Vietnam fatigue in the case of the Khmer Rouge to the Clinton administration’s recoil against humanitarian interventions after Somalia. It is implausible to suggest that the United States would have acted to mitigate or end mass atrocities but for the specific historical contingencies that happen to accompany each outbreak of violence. This essay …

Instituições, Trabalho E Pessoas, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

Os especialistas em doenças terminais sabem que ninguém tem saudades, quando abandona a vida, do trabalho que não fez. Tem saudades sim do tempo que não passou com familiares e amigos. A sociedade contemporânea, e algumas instituições "totais" estão a potenciar até ao expoente demencial a exploração e a despersonalização dos trabalhadores, designadamente proletarizando técnicos superiores e técnicos pensantes que, sem ócio criativo, deixarão de criar. É uma crise civilizacional, nada menos.

Black Tuesday And Graying The Legitimacy Line For Governmental Intervention: When Tomorrow Is Just A Future Yesterday, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

Black Tuesday in October 1929 marked a major crisis in American history. As we face current economic woes, it is appropriate to recall not only the event but also reflect on how it altered the legal landscape and the change it precipitated in the acceptance of governmental intervention into the marketplace. Perceived or real crises can cause us to dance between free markets and regulatory power. Much like the events of 1929, current financial concerns have led to new, unprecedented governmental intervention into the private sector. This Article seeks caution, on the basis of history, arguing that fear and crisis …

The Rhetoric And Reality Of Regulatory Reform, Cary Coglianese

All Faculty Scholarship

In January 2007, President George W. Bush stirred up widespread controversy by issuing amendments to an executive order on regulatory review adopted initially by President Clinton. The Bush amendments variously require agencies to issue written regulatory problem statements, assign gate-keeping responsibilities to Regulatory Policy Officers within each agency, and undertake analytic reviews before adopting certain kinds of guidance documents. Both legal scholars and policy advocates charge that the Bush amendments place significant new burdens on administrative agencies and will delay the issuance of important new regulatory policies. This paper challenges the rhetorical claims of obstructionism that have emerged in response …

Much Ado About Nothing?, Cary Coglianese

All Faculty Scholarship

Policy scholars and decision makers should be careful before concluding that President Bush's recent Executive Order 13422 will result in "paralysis by analysis." That lament has been heard about other changes to rule making procedures over the last seven decades, yet steady increases in the cost and volume of federal regulations during that time period clearly indicate that paralysis has yet to set in. Administrative procedures are embedded within a complex web of politics, institutions, and organizational behavior. Within that web, procedures are but one factor influencing government agencies.

Managerial Reforms Within The United States Government, Jacqueline Michelle Townsend

Theses Digitization Project

This research project examines Presidential and Congressional attempts to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the United States government. It describes prior reform efforts and then focuses on President George W. Bush's management agenda.

Trends. Personnel Security In An Age Of Terrorism With Global Reach, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Trends article discusses what an appropriate level of commitment to a security bureaucracy might look like.

Sharing Public Land Decision Making: The Quincy Library Group Experience [Includes First Three Items From Appendix A], Michael B. Jackson

Challenging Federal Ownership and Management: Public Lands and Public Benefits (October 11-13)

25 pages (includes illustrations).

Contains 1 reference.

Includes first three items from Appendix A.

Access To Capital And Technical Assistance, Richard J. Ward

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article summarizes and analyzes the views of select leaders in business, labor, banking, the government, and academia with regard to the constraints, obstacles, and recommendations to achieve economic growth in Massachusetts. The role of the state government in addressing these issues receives special attention. Access to capital and technical assistance had been regarded by many as the key constraint, particularly during the recession of the early 1990s. The author analyzes inconvenient government systems, bottlenecks, and bureaucracy as throttling the flow of capital to small-business entrepreneurs. The analysis concludes, however, that unless the state cum federal government finds ways to …