Nuclear Weapons: The Global and Popular Context of Policy

Book reviewed:
Lawrence S. Wittner. Toward Nuclear Abolition: A History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement , 1971 to the Present . Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2003. 491 pp. Notes, bibliography, index. $75.00 (cloth), $32.95 (paper).     

Universal Values and Win-Win Policy

This is a follow-up to the previous note in the spring 1995 issue of the Policy Studies Journal entitled “Win-Win Policy.” Its purpose is to provide further examples regarding the question, “What policy issues are worth providing examples for?”¹     

Environmental Values and Water Policy

The emergence of water markets has heralded the prospect of increased efficiency in the use of the resource for extractive purposes. However, water markets have not encompassed all elements of demand for the resource. Notably, demands for the environmental public goods provided by river flows have not been revealed in markets. State Governments have instituted regulations requiring ‘environmental flows’ to be quarantined from the market allocation process. This policy has triggered negative responses from irrigators and conservationists. Lobby groups have found that the process of determining environmental flows is a prospective site for rent seeking. To avoid policy being driven by rent seeking, information on the costs and benefits of environmental flows is useful. Whereas the costs of environmental flows are readily assessed through reference to market data on irrigators’ surpluses foregone, the benefits must be estimated through the use of non‐market, stated preference valuation techniques. These techniques — including contingent valuation and choice modelling — remain controversial. Some argue that they should not be used on ethical grounds. Others argue that they cannot be used on technical grounds. These arguments are discussed in this paper, using the context of the water policy debate. The evidence is that stated preference techniques are being used, and applications have been performed in Australia in the context of riverine health. However their use remains restricted relative to the scale of the Australian natural resource management task. Some possible explanations for this limited up‐take are provided along with some suggested ways forward.     

Policy by Doing: Formulation and Adoption of Policy through Government Leadership

Do government choices, rather than legislative policies (i.e., mandatory regulations or incentives), influence the choices private actors make? In this article we develop a concept of “policy by doing,” which examines the power of government actions as hortatory tools to encourage other community members to act. “Policy by doing” can be an attempt to shape outcomes by providing symbolic leadership, reducing uncertainty, creating market, and telegraphing actions. Empirical analysis of privately held green buildings in 591 U.S. cities from 2004 to 2010 suggests that when governments increase their own commitment to green building for their facilities; private actors will be more likely to build green. We find that the actions of local governments, rather than those of state or federal, exert the strongest substantive influence on private decision making. Our findings contribute to understanding how governments can augment existing policy regimes by modeling the behavior they hope to inspire in other actors.     

The Race Relations Policy of the First Wilson Government

This article seeks to explore the evolution of a race relationspolicy in the first period of the Wilson government. It is arguedthat Wilson adopted a triple approach. This included the followingcomponents: a tightening of immigration control to satisfy seniorfigures in his government who had been badly shaken by the Smerhwickelection result; a commitment to outlaw racial incitement which,it was hoped, would influence favourably Commonwealth and widerworld opinion; the introduction of race relations machineryto promote integration and reconciliation, advocated both bymore progressive elements in his own party and in the widerpolitical world. In 1965 he attempted to ensure that all theseapproaches were kept in balance and that the issue of race,rising up the political agenda in the early 1960s, ceased tocreate the prospect of dangerous disagreements with his mainpolitical opponents. In the short term he overcame a range ofchallenges and secured a political agenda in which issues concerningimmigration became less confrontational. After marginalizationof immigration issues in the 1966 election Jenkins had spaceto pursue the more liberal aspects of the policy. The exodusof East African Asians, together with Enoch Powell's determinationto use the lessons of Smethwick to exploit differences withthe Conservative leadership, ensured that Wilson's success was,however, short-lived.     

The Supreme Court as a Policy Arena: The Strategies and Tactics of State Attorneys General

Presently, state governments are more active and more successful in the U.S. Supreme Court than at any time since the New Deal. These rates of activity and success are a function of two coincident forces—the emergence of the Republican Court and the increased capacity of the states to pursue their policy goals aggressively before the High Bench. In this analysis, we seek to offer a better-defined portrait of the states' evolving advocacy in the Supreme Court. Using archival and survey data, we find that, as a group, the states are more capable Supreme Court litigators, that their perceptions of the Republican Court have encouraged them to increase their pursuit of policy goals through litigation, and that they are "procedurally rational"—i.e., their estimates of success enter into their decisions to engage the Court.     

Children and Print Visual Culture During the Chilean Popular Unity Government

This article analyses the visual figuration of children during the Chilean Popular Unity government (1970–1973) in a diverse archive of photographs, posters, album covers, magazines, and comics. First, it reads the realist representation of children in photography, which emphasises the dramatics of poverty as a form of establishing a photographic “civil contract” (Azoulay, The Civil Contract of Photography, 2008). Second, it interprets posters and texts concerning the Allende government’s Plan de Leche (Milk Plan) as an affirmative biopolitics. It concludes by showing that the children on illustrated posters are the idealised version of childhood projected by adults as a way of imagining a coming community.     

Public Contest through the Popular Media: The Mining Industry's Advertising War against the Australian Labor Government

This article explores the ‘mining tax ad war of 2010’, which contributed to the removal of a first-term Labor prime minister and shaped Australia's Minerals Resource Rent Tax. In particular, it examines the uses, ethics and consequences of advocacy advertising, which is an under-explored aspect of communication power. The article identifies advocacy advertising as an increasingly prevalent technique used by corporations and lobby groups to influence public policy in Australia. In conclusion, the article focuses on the regulatory environment for such campaigns and the areas of future research that might help to safeguard democratic practices.

本文讨论了2010年的矿税广告战,该战把第一任期的工党领袖拉下了马,并造就了澳大利亚矿产资源租赁税。作者特别分析了广告宣传作为一种没太被研究的通讯权力的用途、伦理和结果。本文指出广告宣传日益成为公司和游说集团用以影响澳大利亚公共政策的流行工具。作者最后集中讨论了这类竞争的管制环境,以及有助于保护民主实践的未来研究领域。     

“道义外交”与国民政府对日外交策略

1934年底开始被中、日两国政府提倡,而在1935年上半年盛行一时的中日“亲善外交”(或称“道义外交”),在当时即扑朔迷离。此后研究大多对其持否定态度。本从外交策略的角度,阐述了国民政府在“道义外交”实施前所面临的外交困境以及国民政府为改变中日外交状况而实施“道义外交”的策略思路;对日本外务部门和关东军对“道义外交”的不同回应也进行了分析;对国民政府由于“道义外交”开展而面临日本军部和外务省两方面压力的状况作了描述。指出,从外交策略上看,不能排除它是国民政府对日外交政策和策略的一种主动积极的调整,而不能将其完全视为本质性的卖国外交政策和策略。但是,它的实施和失败,既使国民政府的外交重新陷于了被动,也使国民政府的民族代表性遭到质疑。     

简论苏联政府对其境内犹太人的政策和态度

随着十月革命的胜利，俄国犹太人的历史掀开了新的一页。苏联建立后，列宁的民族平等理论更是给了犹太人以极大的鼓舞。但是，由于根深蒂固的反犹传统的影响，苏联犹太人并没有完全享受平等，歧视与迫害时有发生。从列宁时代到戈尔巴乔夫时期，随着国家领导人的更替，苏联政府的对犹政策和态度也发生了微妙的变化，而这些变化无论是对境内犹太人还是苏联社会都产生了连锁反应。     

日本政府推进信息化发展的政策措施

日本政府为改变信息化相对落后的状态，在新世纪初制定《IT基本战略》，决定实施IT立国战略，2005年把日本建设成为世界上最先进的IT国家。为此，日本政府以制定《IT基本法》、实施IT立国战略为中心，通过e-Japan战略、IT新改革战略、IT新改革战略政策纲要和e-Japan重点计划等，积极采取了推进信息化发展的战略和政策措施。在此基础上，日本政府又提出《u-Japan构想》，争取在2010年建设无所不在的网络社会，以消除数字鸿沟，使地方也能够充分利用IT基础设施，有信息均等和机会均等的公平上网环境，以建设充满活力的地方，实现城市和地方的协调发展。     

Policy Diffusion and Strategies for Promoting Policy Change: Evidence From California Local Gun Control Ordinances

Recent research efforts on policy innovation and diffusion largely have focused upon policymaking at the state government level. In this article we seek to develop an understanding of the ways momentum for policy change can be generated among receptive local governments. We use gun control policymaking within California to illustrate how local government characteristics, the presence of regional associations, and the establishment of interest groups may lead to policy development and diffusion. We also identify linkages between interest groups, focusing events, and the successful use of a new image of gun violence as a public health problem, yielding insights into strategies that may be used successfully to promote policy change.