Avoiding Blame—A Comprehensive Framework and the Australian Home Insulation Program Fiasco

It is widely acknowledged in the literature that the study of blame avoidance behavior (BAB) exhibited by public officials is scattered and unconcentrated, and that, for the most part, it neglects both contextual factors and comparative research. These deficits inhibit the production of the kind of generalized findings necessary to better understand potential consequences for the policy process and the workings of political systems. We address these deficits by developing a framework that takes stock of blame avoidance research, clarifies the explanatory potential of contextual factors, and allows for a systematic context‐sensitive cross‐case analysis. For illustrative purposes, the framework is applied to the Home Insulation Program in Australia as a critical case. This case reveals the explanatory potential of contextual factors for the understanding of BAB and the consequences thereof. We conclude by stating the advantages of our framework and explain how it can be used for comparative research.     

Rhetoric of economic rationality: The foundation of Norwegian transport planning

Planners often present their recommendations as the result of a rational choice process. The appeal to rationality ranks among the planners’ most prominent rhetorical practices. National level Norwegian transport plans convey the impression that environmental problems can be solved by rational economic allocation. Apparent harmony between potentially conflicting goals simplifies the image of society and facilitates the formulation of a consistent and thus convincing policy. The idyllic account of the relationship between economic efficiency and environmental protection is therefore an effectual rhetorical move. Furthermore, the equilibrium solutions of neoclassical economics make it seem like no special interests are favoured at the expense of others. Finding planning solutions seems to be a question of balancing the utilities and costs of small adjustments, purportedly without involving power relations in any explicit way. Hence, the rhetoric of economic rationality serves to present politics as virtually apolitical, transforming it into expert solutions defended by academic jargon which the public is expected to accept rather than digest.     

Planning Analysis and Political Steering with New Public Management

Interviews with members of the Norwegian national assembly's Standing Committee for Transport and Communications were conducted in 1995, 1997, 2001 and 2004. The politicians were asked about the usefulness of analytic input that planners contribute to national plans, first the Norwegian Road and Road Traffic Plan and later the National Transport Plan. Questions related to steering, coordination, delegation and the inclusiveness of the planning process were also posed. Changes in the politicians' attitudes to types of analytic planning input are outlined. Furthermore, the last round of interviews sheds light on the apparent paradox that parliamentarians accept delegation of highway investment decisions despite their profound scepticism regarding the cost–benefit analyses and impact calculations that are essential to management by objectives and results (MBOR), which was to give them continued political control despite delegation. Another conundrum is the parliamentarians' willingness to renounce the right to decide over most highway projects, even if these were seen as politically important, in order to obtain a strategic overview which they have been unable to use for changing the priorities set by the Government. The political concentration on strategic steering, the concomitant delegation, and MBOR are central components of New Public Management.     

Planners' Role: Torn between Dialogical Ideals and Neo-liberal Realities

Planners are inclined to be in favour of public involvement and open processes and opposed to manipulation and lenient control of developers. The hypothesis here is that the attitudes of the typical Nordic planner, in particular, are much closer to communicative planning theory than to New Public Management. The planner role is currently under cross pressure from conflicting values and expectations held by educators and part of the professional community influenced by communicative planning theory on the one hand, and politicians and administrators promoting New Public Management on the other hand. However, patches of common ground are also identified and analysed, in particular the concern for user influence, service quality, and client satisfaction.     

The Stalk that Supports the Flower: Orang Rimba Kinship,Marriage and Gender in Jambi Sumatra

This article examines Orang Rimba kinship, marriage and gender relations in the Bukit Duabelas region of Jambi, Sumatra. Orang Rimba social organization, its terms and concepts, primary kinship relations, use of botanic metaphor and key structural contrasts demonstrate their ties to Malay and Austronesian‐speaking peoples throughout the region. The manner in which these concepts are applied is very different, and is arranged in a way to fit their unique way of life in the forests. Some of the broader differences relate to their mobile economy, small and dispersed camps, and asymmetrical relations of affinity, which take place in the context of egalitarian social relations. This results in a set of social relationships not unlike many of the bride service societies throughout the world. Orang Rimba women have great rights over forest resources, yet are restrained in their interactions with men and outsiders by rigid gender relations.