How losers can turn into winners in disputatious public policy: a heuristic for prospective herestheticians

The study of heresthetic is a quest to explain how potential political losers might become winners. Local Government amalgamation is invariably a controversial and hotly contested political decision. It thus represents the ideal context to locate a pedagogical discussion regarding how clever herestheticians might act to bring about unlikely political success. Specifically, we extend the heresthetic literature by drawing attention to the costs (opportunity, contingency and legacy costs) inherent to various strategies, the need to carefully evaluate the heresthetic potential of different dimensions according to which amalgamations might be argued, and the importance of ensuring that the rhetorical seasoning is appropriate. This leads us to propose a heuristic that we argue has the potential to turn losers into winners on the vexed matter of local government amalgamations. We conclude by considering the implications of our heuristic for both prospective herestheticians in other public policy areas and for the wider heresthetic research agenda.     

FUNNELS AS INDICATORS OF STORAGE ACTIVITIES IN THE IRON II SOUTHERN LEVANT

Although literally hundreds of houses have been excavated in the southern Levant, it is not easy to use them to study past spatial activities. While modern excavations allow high‐resolution reconstructions, due to the costs involved only a limited number of houses are excavated nowadays in their entirety; the recording of the hundreds of houses excavated until the 1960s was partial and much of the material (e.g. botanical remains, bones, charred material, etc.) was not even collected. Some of the older reports recorded the distribution of macro‐artefacts, mainly pottery, and a concentration of storage vessels, for example, may indicate that a room was used for storage. The products stored, however, cannot usually be determined. This article suggests that the volumes and forms of funnels may indicate whether they funnelled dry products, liquids or precious fluids, and can therefore be used to identify specialized activities even from reports of older excavations, when other lines of evidence are lacking.     

Comparative policy agendas: a review essay

ABSTRACT

The two books that are investigated in this review essay consider new ways to explain policy processes by focusing on a spectrum of methodological approaches, theories, time periods and political systems. The first book examined investigates policy change in Australia and considers for the first time how relevant the Policy Agendas Project (PAP) is for the Australian political system. A recent contribution to the Comparative Agendas Project (CAP), the second book reviewed is a collection of comparative studies applying different methodologies and theories to analyse CAP datasets with the view to exploring how policy changes in a variety of political systems. Together these books showcase the best of PAP/CAP’s qualities to provide a common platform for cross-comparative policy change studies and standalone country-specific studies. These books are also an indispensable resource for Australian political scientists interested in the unique policy change dynamics in Australia.     

From subjects to authors – reconnecting community organisations to their core practice

ABSTRACT

The widely observed erosion of the policy capacity of governments and their public services is mirrored by decay in the practice and program capacity of community organisations. This capacity once depended on the practical expertise of a values-driven workforce employed in organisations focused on a social purpose. Governments relied upon this core competency to inform their approach to investment, program design and the delivery of community services, but this has changed. Social purpose in community service organisations have been frustrated by a preoccupation with funding models, procurement approaches and contract details at the expense of the delivery of outcomes. It has resulted in community organisations becoming subjects of service delivery rather than authors of it. The paper frames these dilemmas and provides a theoretical framework for community organisations to reposition from subjects to authors in the system. The paper takes the form of a reflective assessment from a practice perspective.     

Doorway Orientation, Settlement Planning and Cosmology in Ancient Israel During Iron Age II

An examination of Iron Age buildings and settlements in ancient Israel indicates that a large number of them were oriented toward the east, while the west was extremely under-represented. An examination of various climatic and functional considerations does not seem to explain the phenomenon. Many ethnographic studies, however, have demonstrated the strong influence that cosmological principles can have on the planning of buildings and settlements, and that in many cases the east is preferred. In the present study, however, we have additional information. The common Biblical Hebrew word for east is qedma (forward), while the west is ahora (backward). Additional words for these directions indicate that the east had a good connotation while the west had a bad one. Thus, the archaeological pattern, along with language and texts (which are used as a substitute for human informants), seem to give an important insight into some of the cosmological principles of the ancient Israelites.