Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Editors' Introduction - 21st Century Public Management: Environmentalism And E-Government, Andrew I.E. Ewoh, Tony Carrizales

Andrew I.E. Ewoh

The Journal of Public Management and Social Policy, in completing its sixteenth volume, looks to continue bringing together a collection of articles and research that review polices and cases underscoring the area of public management and social policy throughout the United States and around the world. This issue’s contributors provide contemporary analyses of public management and social policies in areas ranging from the fiscal benefits of developing "green" buildings to the organizational life cycle of environmental justice groups. Topics covered in this issue also include the areas of e-government and public contracting. Overall, the issue brings together four general articles …

A State-In-Society Approach To The Nonprofit Sector: Welfare Services In Japan, Mary Alice Haddad

Mary Alice Haddad

This article uses the case of Japan to advocate for a new theoretical approach to the study of the nonprofit sector. In particular, it examines how theoretical models based on the European and North American experiences have difficulty explaining the relationship between the nonprofit sector and the state in Japan, and argues that a state-in-society approach is better suited to explaining complex state–society relations in diverse cultural contexts. It does this by examining the evolution of social welfare service provision in Japan. This article is motivated to explain an apparent paradox: Japan’s recent efforts toward greater government decentralization and privatization …

Linking Environmental Justice And Pollution Prevention: Livable Communities And Cleaner Production, Robert Gottlieb

Robert Gottlieb

No abstract provided.

The Stirrings Of A New Progressive Movement Can Be Heard, Peter Dreier, Robert Gottlieb

Robert Gottlieb

No abstract provided.

Re-Envisioning The La River: A Program Of Community And Ecological Revitalization, Robert B. Gottlieb, Andrea M. Azuma, Brooke Gaw, Amanda L. Shaffer

Robert Gottlieb

No abstract provided.

A Road As A Route And Place: The Evolution And Transformation Of The Arroyo Seco Parkway, Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Robert Gottlieb

Robert Gottlieb

No abstract provided.

Connecting The Parks To The Community And The Community To The Parks, Andrea M. Azuma, Robert B. Gottlieb, Mark Vallianatos, Jessica K. Gudmundson, Amanda L. Shaffer, Peter Dreier

Robert Gottlieb

No abstract provided.

The Asean-Isis Network: Interpretative Communities, Informal Diplomacy And Discourses Of Region, Diane Stone

Diane L Stone

A network of think tanks–the ASEAN-Institutes of Strategic and International Studies and their researchers–have played a proactive and sometimes influential role in regional debates on Asian economic integration and security cooperation through informal diplomacy. This paper contributes to the literature on knowledge utilisation, specifically debates on the role of policy research institutes in policy making. Paying attention to the debates and research on economic and security cooperation which preceded attempts at institutionalisation drives analytical attention to scholars, think tanks and others in the ‘interpretive community’ who were engaged in a long term learning activity to shape domestic and regional

Privatization As A Strategy In The United Kingdom, United States, And Beyond,”, Brian J. Glenn

Brian J. Glenn

No abstract provided.

Do State Policies Constrain Local Actors? The Impact Of English Only Laws On Language Instruction In Public Schools, Melissa Marschall, Elizabeth Rigby, Jasmine Jenkins

Elizabeth Rigby

This study examines how instrumental and symbolic messages embedded in state law shape the practices of ‘street-level’ bureaucrats. Specifically, we investigate whether passage of state-level English Only laws influences the way English language learners are instructed in local public schools. Using data on state English Only laws from 1987-2004 and school-level data from the National Center for Educational Statistics, we find that instrumental aspects of English Only laws serve to constrain, but not eliminate, schools’ use of bilingual instruction, while those sending only symbolic messages are less constraining. Further, when state laws are vague in scope, adherence to the English …

Direct Democracy And Minority Rights: Same-Sex Marriage Bans In The American States, Daniel Lewis

Daniel Lewis

Objectives: A common critique of direct democracy posits that minority rights are endangered by citizen legislative institutions. By allowing citizens to directly create public policy, these institutions avoid the filtering mechanisms of representative democracy that provide a check on the power of the majority. Empirical research, however, has produced conflicting results that leave the question of direct democracy's effect on minority rights open to debate. This article seeks to empirically test this critique using a comparative, dynamic approach.

Methods: I examine the diffusion of same-sex marriage bans in the United States using event-history analysis, comparing direct-democracy states to non-direct-democracy states. …

Bypassing The Representational Filter? Minority Rights Policies Under Direct Democracy Institutions, Daniel Lewis

Daniel Lewis

One common critique of direct democracy posits that minority rights are endangered by institutions like ballot initiatives and referenda. Empirical research testing this claim, however, has produced conflicting results that leave the question of direct democracy’s effect on minority rights open to debate. This study extends previous research by providing a more direct test of this criticism—it compares anti-minority policy proposals from direct democracy states to similar proposals from states without direct democracy institutions. The author examines both ballot proposals and traditional legislative bills to account for both the direct and indirect effects of direct democracy. Analyzing anti-minority proposals from …

The Chimera Of Europe’S Normative Power In East Asia: A Constructivist Analysis, Salvador Santino F. Regilme Jr.

Salvador Santino Jr. F Regilme

Utilising constructivism this work analyses the contemporary relational complexities of East Asia vis-à-vis the European Union (EU). Mindful of the social constructivist themes of identity and interests, it is argued that there are fundamental difficulties found in these interregional relations, which must be urgently addressed. The EU continues to be under-valued and misunderstood in the eyes of the East Asian public; despite the relatively strong economic and political engagement of the Union. With the emergence of China as a global actor, Europe must reinforce its political capital amidst the failures of the EU to reconcile its policy inconsistencies juxtaposed with …

Challenges To Integration Of State And Regional Greenhouse Gas Programs, Elizabeth Marie Lokey

Elizabeth Lokey Aldrich

No abstract provided.

Challenges Of Reporting On Corrections, Jeffrey Ian Ross Ph.D.

Jeffrey Ian Ross Ph.D.

No abstract provided.

Beyond Competing Theories Of The Hidden Economy, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Purpose – This paper aims to evaluate critically the validity of rival theorisations of the hidden economy that variously read this sphere as a leftover from a previous era, a by-product of a new emergent form of capitalism, a complement to formal employment or an alternative to the formal economy. Until now, the common tendency among economic theorists has been to either universally privilege one theorisation over others, or to represent each theory as valid in different places. Design/methodology/approach – To evaluate their validity to the city of Moscow, a survey is reported involving 313 face-to-face interviews with inhabitants conducted …

Evaluating The Nature Of The Relationship Between Informal Entrepreneurship And The Formal Economy In Rural Communities, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

This paper evaluates critically the different theorizations of the nature of the relationship between informal entrepreneurship and the formal economy, which variously depict informal entrepreneurship as a leftover from a previous era, a survival practice for those excluded from the formal economy, and a complement or an alternative to participation in the formal economy. Reporting evidence from 350 face-to-face interviews in English rural communities, no single theorization is found to be universally applicable. Instead, all are shown to be valid in relation to different forms of informal entrepreneurship, and only by combining them is it feasible to achieve a finer-grained, …

The Illusion Of Capitalism In Contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa: A Case Study Of The Gambia, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Purpose – This paper aims to evaluate critically the meta-narrative that there is no alternative to capitalism. Building upon an emerging body of post-structuralist thought that has begun deconstructing this discourse in relation to western economies and post-Soviet societies, this paper further extends this critique to Sub-Saharan Africa by investigating the degree to which people in the Gambia rely on the capitalist market economy for their livelihood. Reporting the results of 80 household face-to-face interviews (involving over 500 people), the finding is that only a small minority of households in contemporary Gambian society rely on the formal market economy alone …

Rethinking The Nature Of Community Economies: Some Lessons From Post-Soviet Ukraine, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

This paper contributes to a small but growing body of thought that has questioned the hegemony of capitalism by revealing the persistence of multifarious economic practices in everyday community economies. To further advance this school of thought, first, a conceptual framework is developed to map the diverse economic practices used by communities and second, this is applied through a survey of 600 households in Ukraine. The outcome is to reveal that just as multifarious economic practices prevailed under state socialism, the same applies in societies in transition to capitalism, suggesting that there are alternative futures for community economies beyond market …

Women Entrepreneurs In The Indian Informal Sector, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Purpose – Studies on women entrepreneurs either view women through a structuralist lens, as marginalised populations engaged in low-quality work, or through a neo-liberal lens, as engaged in relatively higher quality endeavour more as a rational choice. The aim of this paper is to evaluate critically these explanations in relation to women entrepreneurs in the informal sector in India. Design/methodology/approach – To evaluate the contrasting explanations of structuralist and new liberal approaches, questionnaire surveys were conducted in two phases, namely 2007 and 2010, over a period of several months. The sample design was stratified random and the sample was taken …

On Equality: The Anti-Interference Principle, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

This Essay introduces the “Anti-Interference Principle” – a new term on the meaning of equality, or at least one not yet so-named in the equality lexicon – as a necessary foundation for achieving the goal of true equality. Equality has a long-standing place in the discussion of politics and jurisprudence and remains a struggle of definition today. Rather than rehash the mass of scholarship, this Essay seeks to summarize the general equality concept, and propose that the legal discourse on equality center on a requirement that governmental power must protect and respect equal treatment and opportunity, unconstrained, not equal outcomes. …