The National Competition Policy: A Study of the Policy Process and Network

In his recent work on the Australian political system, Ian Marsh argues that interest groups and issues movements should be treated as 'potential partners and collaborators with government' (1995, p. 1). He suggests that the traditional two-party system with its inherent reliance on adversarial relations may need to mutate to cope with the demands which stakeholders are placing on the policy process and a changing political culture. This paper examines evidence that collaborative and cooperative modes of interaction are developing in Australia as a feature in the strategies used by both government and non-government players.     

Bureaucratic Leverage over Policy Choice: Explaining the Dynamics of State-Level Reforms in Telecommunications Regulation

While state governments have enjoyed greater control over regulating local telephone service providers since 1984, movement toward efficiency-based policy reform (e.g., adoption of competitive markets) has proceeded slowly. We investigate this pattern by addressing how the degree of policy discretion held by state public utility commissions (PUCs) affects reform of local telephone exchange regulation. Using precise measures of both PUC discretion and state policy changes over time, we find that states with "stronger" PUCs (more policymaking authority) are significantly more likely to move toward efficiency-based policy regimes and away from traditional rate-of-return regimes. Greater PUC discretion systematically related to state adoption of efficiency-based reforms over time suggests that regulators are using updated information about policy impacts to inform their policymaking activities. Our findings contradict a common presumption that regulatory bureaucracies are simply motivated by a desire to increase their control over policymaking. Instead, state PUCs are a key source of telecommunications policy reform in the states.     

Institutions, Bureaucratic Decisions, and Policy Outcomes: State Insurance Solvency Regulation

Although over the past 2 decades several scholars have documented a link between institutional arrangements and policy choices, few studies have demonstrated how different institutional arrangements give rise to different policy outcomes. Further, although some studies have related bureaucratic resources to policy decisions, almost none have illustrated that the way state agencies actually deploy regulatory resources—policy outputs—significantly influences policy outcomes. Focusing specifically on the insurance industry in the United States, in this article we illustrate the impact of state regulatory activities on the solvency of firms in the insurance industry from 1987 to 1997, and in doing so we emphasize the differences between policy outputs and policy outcomes. In the case of policy outputs, for example, we find that elected insurance commissioners, divided state government, budgetary resources, and larger insurance sectors lead to more aggressive solvency examinations of insurers. In addition to examinations, however, we discern an important role for both regulatory and political institutions in subsequent insurer insolvencies.     

The Competition Criterion in British Merger Control Policy

The 1984 Tebbit Doctrine formalized competition as the watchword in British merger control, a highly discretionary system that encourages negotiation between firms and the government. The government has rarely invoked the full extent of its review powers over corporate mergers, even after the 1989 European Merger Control Regulation ceded some authority to Brussels. Is competition really a criterion influencing British merger control, or do institutional and personal biases direct the decision? This article reviews the rationale for merger control, outlines the structure of the British system, and analyzes merger activity and regulators' decisions from 1984–2000.     

Theories of and in the Policy Process

Like public administration before it, public policy has an uneasy place in the discipline of political science. The stress is most obvious in the distinction between theories that attempt to explain the policy process and theories that are useful to those who seek to operate within the policy process. Accommodating this stress within the disciplinary boundaries of political science poses a difficult challenge.     

E-mail Communication and the Policy Process in the State Legislature

E-mail has changed the policy process in state legislatures because political actors now have a new way to present their message to state legislators. What little research has been conducted on this topic examines e-mail communication generally and does not compare results by policy actor. Using an original survey of state legislators in eight states, we test for systematic effects of variables on general e-mail views and for effects specific to particular policy actors. We find that legislators have a nuanced approach to e-mail usage in the policy process with their assessment of its impact differing significantly for constituents, intermediary groups, and policy insiders. Only gender consistently shapes legislators' beliefs about e-mail with all groups, but institutional features, legislator characteristics, and legislator beliefs shape views on e-mail with different target groups. Clearly, legislators are attuned to the audience communicating via e-mail, and they value e-mail with each group differently.     

The Search for Policy Coordination: Ministerial and Bureaucratic Perceptions of Agency Amalgamations in a Federal Parliamentary System

The imperative to coordinate is strong, but the means remain contentious. One approach is to amalgamate agencies into a few large organizations, the other to encourage a diversity of policy options. Drawing on the federal amalgamations of departments in Australia since 1987, this paper reports that senior bureaucrats find more policy coordination benefits than costs from working in larger structures, while ministers report a loss of options and a risk of information overload.     

试论日本古代国家官僚制度

五位以上的有位贵族依据"官位相当制",在官僚机构内部担任高官,并在服制即朝服和礼服方面与六位以下官人相区别。有位贵族在政治、经济、法律和受教育方面具有很大的特权,享有一系列的优惠待遇。官人的出身资格大体分为五位以上官人的子孙的荫子孙、六、七、八位官人之子的位子和除此之外的白丁三种。荫位制,是五位以上的有位贵族子孙的主要出身之路。日本的学校与官吏出身制度的联系不是很密切,日本的学校的功能与其说是培养任用官吏的机构,不如说是在培养专家的同时,以使五位以上贵族子孙广泛了解经学为目的的一种经学传播机构。     

Competition and Cooperation in Industrial Clusters: The Implications for Public Policy

Alfred Marshall believed that, while the benefits of clusters resulted from cooperation between firms, competition was an important driving force. In contrast, contemporary theories of clusters place most emphasis on collective action. This article seeks to distinguish processes of competition and cooperation within clusters, through a critical reading of different theoretical approaches. This distinction has important implications for the scale and nature of public policy. An emphasis on competitive processes implies a more macro-economic role for public agencies in seeking to raise investment in innovation while the fostering of cooperation implies measures to support decentralized public-private research collaborations.     

战时日本对外决策机制探析

战时日本对外政策制定主要分为两种决策运作模式：临机性合议决策模式和内面性指导决策模式。在前的运作过程中,陆、海军、外务省,都不具有对外政策的最终决定权,他们对外交的影响力,一般被限制在辅弼或辅翼的职责范围内。然而各派的政策主张还是借助御前会议、大本营政府联络会议或四(五)相会议的平台,在反复折冲的和议中,彼此包容地存在下来;在后的运作过程中,天皇通过直接的幕后指示或元老、宫内大臣的襄助,贯彻了自己的政策理念,体现了作为国家最高决策的权威,从而达到了以“亲临”的名义,实现“亲政”最大化的目的。     

再論唐代的使職和職事官——李建墓碑墓誌的啓示

本文認爲:在唐代,舉凡沒有官品的實職官位,都是使職,如史館史官、知制誥等。由於沒有官品,使職常以"他官充某職"的方式來委任。使職的特徵,主要有三:(一)使職與掌權者之間有一種信任,有一定的"私"關係;(二)使職的權力和享有的好處,遠多於類似職位的職事官,以致職事官以爲使職"侵奪"了職事官原本的權益;(三)使職常不載於正規的政典和職官志,乃正常現象。本文還認爲:使職遠遠早於正規的職事官制,在人類最簡單的"遊羣"(band)組織階段就已形成,乃人類最本能的發明之一。到了帝制時代,當掌權者發覺正規職事官無效率時,重新委派使職來替代職事官,以致在唐後半期,使職取代了超過一半以上的職事官。這是一種"革新",是推動唐代官制演化的一大動力。     

The Decentralization Process of Rural Development Policy in Greece

This study aims at critically assessing the decentralization process of rural policy-making and delivery in Greece. Drawing upon a case study of the farm modernization scheme, research findings indicate that despite remarkable decentralization efforts, rural development in Greece seems to maintain its primarily state-emanated design and implementation. Long-standing top-down and sectoral orientation in the formulation of this policy still holds. Apart from the redistribution of responsibilities and the multiplication of competent authorities, a genuine delegation of competencies and resources is needed, coupled with a renewed awareness of integrated policies from the actors involved at all administrative levels.     

Punctuated Equilibrium and Bureaucratic Autonomy in American City Governments

Several recent applications of Punctuated Equilibrium Theory (PET) have yielded compelling findings linking institutional design and change distributions, yet, much more work needs to be done to understand institutional arrangements that make punctuated processes more or less likely. In responding to the recent call for more research on unraveling particular mechanisms through which bureaucracy moderates the odds of policy punctuations, this research explores the potential of bureaucratic expertise and professionalism in fostering rational decision making, and thus the stability in change dynamics. One important feature of urban government receives close attention: the position by professionalized, trained bureaucrats in municipalities (city manager and chief administrative officer) and the effects of their discretion on altering municipal budgetary change distributions. Analysis of a novel dataset of fiscal policy changes, charter and census information of city governments in the State of Michigan, 2005–11, suggests city governments, on average, produce change patterns that conform to the expectations of PET; more importantly, it reveals that heightened levels of managerial discretion can have a significant implication for helping cities experience less abrupt, punctuated budget changes. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of these results for PET, policy change dynamics, and the design of city-governing institutions.