Agents of Change: The Role of Public Managers in Public Policy

Our article outlines a number of ways that theories of public management can contribute to the work of public policy scholars. We first outline some of the ways in which public managers have been incorporated into previous work on public policy, and the limitations faced by previous treatments. We then discuss the role that public management plays in the policy process, with a specific focus on managerial quality, networking, and performance evaluation.     

Squatting among the neandertals: A problem in the behavioral interpretation of skeletal morphology

The analysis of the Neandertal and Skhul hominid metric and non-metric lower limb variations which have been considered indicative of squatting suggests that squatting was a common position of repose among these Pleistocene hominids. Although the total morphological pattern of the Neandertals supports this conclusion, few of the variations commonly associated with squatting provide conclusive evidence of previous habitual squatting. It is necessary to consider each variation with reference to its etiology and its association in the total morphological pattern before deriving similar behavioral interpretations from the skeletal morphology.     

HISTORIANS AND THEIR SOURCES

This study analyses the development of the use of unpublished source material in Swedish doctoral theses in history, 1959–2015. The results show that the proportion of theses which rely on such materials has dropped in relation to the level that existed up to and including the year 2007. From having dropped below 90% only twice during the time period 1959–2007, the average for the years 2008–2015 is 77%. There are several explanations as to why this decline in use of unpublished source material has occurred. An initial explanation is that more doctoral theses are now published within the subdiscipline of historical science, in which, for example, history didactics and uses of history are included. History didactics and uses of history have gained more ground within the overall field of historical research during the last 10 years. The next-to-lowest figures are found in the category history of ideas, culture, and opinion history; a category which during the time period 2008–2015 remained at a fairly constant share of the total number of doctoral defences in history in Sweden in relation to the situation at the beginning of the 2000s.     

Echoes in the Grand Canyon: Public Catastrophes and Technologies of Control in American Aviation

A series of dramatic mid‐air collisions during the late 1950s caused the United States to embark on a reconstruction of its air traffic control system. In pursuit of the concept of ‘positive control’ over all aircraft, the Federal Aviation Agency modified and deployed military technologies under orders to eliminate these highly public catastrophes. In the process, it curtailed one of flight's great dreams, freedom of the skies, imposing technological and procedural requirements on fliers wanting access to urban airspace. Resistance from private fliers produced modification of some of the agency's plans, causing it to adapt its planned airspace structures to permit private fliers limited access without having to submit to the control system.