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SOG News
News & Reports
SOG News - June 2000
News in brief
Mohammad Mohabbat Khan became a member of the Bangladesh Public
Service Commission in April 1999. This is a constitutional post
with a term of office of 5 years.
Guy Peters was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy
degree by the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Gothemberg Sweden, on 23 October 1999.
Anthony Perl has been awarded a large research grant by
the national granting council: Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council of Canada. The title of the project is 'Policy
learning in practice: Assessing the role of consultants in transport
policy innovation'. The project is for the period 4/99-3/02. More
information about the project can be found at:
http://www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/faculties/SS/POLI/RUPP/page6n.html
In the past few years Jonathan Boston has been doing research
connected with the New Zealand Political Change Project (of which
he is a member) based at Victoria University of Wellington. This
project is concerned with the behavioural, institutional and policy
consequences of the introduction of proportional representation.
He is also in the process of preparing a second edition of a book (with
colleagues) entitled 'Public Management: The New Zealand Model', published by Oxford University Press in 1996.
Glyn Davis, co-editor of the Australian Journal of Public
Administration wishes to advise SOG members of the new website:
http://www.blackwellpublishers.co.uk/asp/listofj.asp
Ulrich Klöti reports that the Political Science Department
in Zurich is starting a project which evaluates the effects of
New Public Management approaches in various cantons. People interested
in the project can contact Dr. Thomas Widmer at (thow@pwi.unizh.ch)
Philanthropy Australia has joined Michael Muetzelfeldt
and Sue Kenny from the Centre for Citizenship and Human Rights,
Deakin University, in a new project to develop and evaluate a
charter of governance and responsiveness for the philanthropic sector. This project aims to develop a charter reflecting the
needs and aspirations of Australian grant makers in light of international
practice. The project will use action research techniques to include
grant makers as full partners in the project. The researchers
will contribute knowledge of international practice, and will
facilitate focus groups and other exchanges so that grant makers
can assess current models, and develop and evaluate their own
charter. This two-year project is funded through the Commonwealth
Government's Strategic Partnerships with Industry Research
and Training (SPIRT) scheme. Philanthropy Australia is contributing
key components of the project as the partner organisation. For
further information, please contact Michael Muetzelfeldt at (muetzel@deakin.edu.au)
Mark Considine has received a large Australian Research Council (ARC) grant to study
'Welfare Citizenship and the Governance of
the Poor: A Comparison of Tough Love in Australia and California'.
Mark is also currently serving as Australasian Political Studies
Association President.
The editorship of the Australian Journal of Political Science
has been transferred, with effect from vol. 35, no. 1, March 2000,
to a new editorial team based in the School of Political and International
Studies at Flinders University. The new editor is Andrew Parkin,
who would welcome submission of articles from SOG members. All
article manuscripts are refereed through a double-blind reviewing process.
A new feature of the AusJPS will be a Commentaries section.
The intention is to provide reports analysing, from a political
science perspective, major events such as elections, referendums,
significant court decisions, political developments in Australia,
New Zealand, the Asia-Pacific region and the world, and other
matters of immediate interest to professional political scientists.
While these commentaries may be externally refereed via the same
process as applies to manuscripts intended for publication in
the Articles section, the editors in some cases will utilise an
internal refereeing process for commentaries where timely publication
is particularly important. SOG members are invited to contact
the Editor to discuss any ideas about prospective submissions.
Fax: (+61 8) 8201 5111.
Email: <ajps@flinders.edu.au>
- The AusJPS attempts to review all major books in political science, especially books written by political scientists based
in Australia and New Zealand and books particularly relevant
to Australia and New Zealand. SOG members may become aware of
books fitting these criteria which might not otherwise come to
the attention of the Journal's review editor, and are welcome
to make suggestions about books to review and to forward reviews.
It would be wise to check beforehand with the review editor,
John Summers.
Email: <ajps-books@flinders.edu.au>.
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SOG News - September 1999
News in brief
George Jones was awarded an OBE in the recent honours
list for services to the National Consumer Council of which I
was a member for 8 years and chair of its Public Services Committee
for six.
In 1999-2000 Al Roberts will be located at the Woodrow
Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC. My
e-mail address (roberta@qsilver.queensu.ca) will remain the same.
On 31 May John Rohr concluded my nine-month sojourn
as a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington where I
continued my research into comparing the relationship between
administrative institutions and constitutional regimes in several
countries. In March, he presented a paper entitled "Ethics,
Governance, and Constitutions: The Case of Baron Haussmann"
at the ethics conference organized by Richard Chapman at Durham
University. In July he will present "Dicey's Ghost and Administrative
Law" at a conference on "the Legacy of the Common Law"
sponsored by the International Political Science Association in
London.
Jürgen R. Grote, member of SOG since 1989 reports:
OBI (The Organization of Business Interests) is back on the agenda.
Volker Schneider (Konstanz University), Philippe C. Schmitter
(European University Institute, Florence) and Jürgen R. Grote
(Konstanz University) have prepared a research proposal on "The
Transformation of the Logic of Influence and the Logic of Membership
of Sectoral Peak Associations in the Context of Europeanization
and Internationalization". The project will be based and
coordinated at Konstanz University - at the faculty (Fakultät
für Verwaltungs-wissenschaft) of one of the founding fathers
of the corporatist approach and long-standing member of SOG, Gerhard
Lehmbruch. Also involved are Wolfgang Streeck (Max-Planck-Institute
for the Study of Society, Cologne) and Jelle Visser (Amsterdam
University). They hope to get started early in the year 2000 and
would welcome any suggestion and inquiry: Jürgen R. Grote,
Fakultät für Verwaltungswissenschaft, University of
Konstanz, Fach D 81, D - 78457 KOnstanz, Juergen.grote@uni-konstanz.de
Colin Campbell returns to Georgetown this month after
a year as a guest scholar at Brookings. He will remain University
Professor of Public Policy but, mercifully, has handed over the
Georgetown Public Policy Institute to Judith Feder who also assumes
the title "Dean of Public Policy." Colin's main project
during sabbatical has been a study of corporate strategic planning
in the US Air Force which he has conducted with Michael Barzelay
of LSE.
Fred Lazin recently returned from a study trip to several
universities in China. The Tokyo Foundation sponsored the visit.
Fred lectured on public policy in Israel and the United States
at Zhongshan, Chongquing, Yunnan and Fudan Universities. He also
met with several faculty members and students in the several political
science departments. Fred hopes to remain for a second year in
New York City. He can be reached at lazinf@worldnet.att, 888 Eighth
Ave apt 15p New York, NY 10019.
Joel D. Aberbach and Bert A. Rockman have completed
their project "In the Web of Politics: Three Decades of the
U.S. Federal Executive" and will publish the project outcome
in the near future.
Colin Campbell is organising a panel at the 2000 IPSA
conference assessing developments in the study of the structure
and organisation of government since the beginning of IPSA in
1949.
The University of Canberra, Australia, has founded a National
Institute for Governance. The Institute will facilitate a
multidisciplinary national (and international) network of governance
researchers and practitioners, their organisations and professional associations. The existing Centre for Research in Public Sector
Management is one of the Centres located within the Institute.
Further information about the Institute is available on its website:
http://governance.canberra.edu.au.
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SOG News - May 1998
Levine Book Prize 1997
In September 1988, the editorial board of Governance and SOG
established the annual Charles H. Levine Memorial Book Prize.
The award is to honor the best book in the fields of public policy
and administration published in the previous year according to
the following criteria:
a) it makes a contribution of considerable theoretical and/or
practical significance in the field of public policy and administration;
b) it takes an explicitely comparative perspective or produces
findings whose implications for comparative research are highly
significant; and
c) it appears in an accessible writing style and form so that
both scholars and practitioners might find it valuable to their
research/work.
An open call was published in Governance as well as generally
solicited from the SOG membership and the Governance editorial
board.
SOG is pleased to announce that the 1997 Levine Book Prize
has been awarded to:
The Key to the Asian Miracle: Making Shared Growth
Credible
by José Edgardos Campos and Hilton L. Root
(Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1996).
The Selection Committee judged that the book deserved special
merit for both its topicality and for being an excellent example
of how economists and political scientists can successfully pursue
empirical institutional economics. The book highlights that while
Asian nations may have faltered in the eyes of many political
scientists and economists, they have, in fact, developed an unflagging
aptitude for team work. A mutual sense of purpose has, the authors
show, enabled leaders to elicit from citizens support even for
painful and potential unpopular decisions.
Any reader of Governance/SOG may nominate a book for consideration
by the Selection Committee. Letters with a copy of the book should
be sent to Patricia Ingraham, Chairman, Levine Prize Selection
Committee, Governance, Maxwell School, Syracuse University, 400
M Eggers Hall, Syracuse NY 13244-1090. Nominations for the Levine
Book Prize 1998 closed 1 May 1998.
News in Brief
- Mark Considine has returned to the University of Melbourne
from a successful secondment to a research fellowship at Deakin
University. He is currently involved in a four-nation study of
'new governance' dynamics, markets and networks in the social
policy field.
- Guy Peters is being awarded the honorary degree as Doctor
of Administrative Science from the University of Vaasa (Finland)
in June.
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SOG News - July 1997
Appointments
The new co-editors for the journal Governance have finally
been confirmed. They are Bert A. Rockman (University of Pittsburgh)
and John Pierre (University of Strathclyde). They will commence
their duties in this position from September of this year and
hold it for an initial period of three years.
The SOG Executive Board was appointed at the Executive Board
and General Meeting held in Beersheva earlier this year. Joel
Aberbach (University of California, Los Angeles) and Ulrich Klöti
(University of Zurich) were re-elected as co-chairs, and John
Halligan (University of Canberra) was elected Secretary/Treasurer.
Developing Swiss Political Science
Until the mid-eighties, political science was underdeveloped
in Switzerland. Except for Geneva, no significant department existed.
In the German speaking part of the country, research and teaching
were carried out under conditions marked by the absence of a critical
mass.
In 1985 the presidents of four social science associations
(educational science, psychology, sociology, political science)
came together and started an initiative to improve the situation
in Swiss social sciences. They created the group SOWI (for Sozialwissenschaften)
and ordered a basic report for each discipline. On this basis,
and at the invitation of the Swiss Science Council (SSC, an advisory
board to the federal government) ten international experts from
seven countries then prepared a report on the strengths and weaknesses
of social scientific research, identifying opportunities for developing
existing research potential.
Meanwhile, the situation has changed quite considerably. The
federal parliament decided to set up a priority program with a
volume of 25 million Swiss Francs (20 million US Dollars) in order
to develop Swiss social sciences. The money is invested in research,
in a program for permanent monitoring of social developments (together
with the Federal Bureau of Statistics), and institutional measures
like graduate training programs (Graduiertenkollegs, following
the German example). The responsibility for the priority program
lies with the National Research Foundation, which has ordered
a group of experts to run it.
The most important step forward has been made in political
science. In Berne and in Zurich, the discipline can be studied
as a major now. The number of professorial chairs has tripled
in German speaking Switzerland. A "Swiss Political Science
Review" has been created. The membership in the Swiss Political
Science Association has doubled and is now over 1,000 persons.
Young political scientists have reached important positions in
public administration, business, and in the media.
For the participating observer it has been quite astonishing
to see what can be done in a few years, in a small and conservative
country, and in a situation of financial crisis. When I met my
three colleagues in 1985 to start our initiative, I could not
imagine that 12 years later I would find myself as a member of
the National Research Foundation responsible for a large priority
program in the social sciences. Unfortunately, the new responsibilities
are coupled with hard work. I hope that my colleagues will understand
that I have to miss some of the great SOG conferences for this
reason.
Ulrich Klöti
UCLA'S CAPPP
SOG member Joel Aberbach is currently the director of the UCLA
Center for American Politics and Public Policy (CAPPP). From its
inception, the Center has been committed to promoting significant
research on American politics and public policy; to developing
programs to educate students in the political process of the US;
and to provide ideas, scholarships and knowledge to policy makers
and other interested publics.
In order to fulfil these aims, the Center runs a number of
programs. It awards Faculty Research Fellowships for the duration
of one academic year to ladder academics for the assistance of
initiating, conducting or completing research on political and
policy processes and the institutions of the US. Other projects
the Center runs include the sponsorship of various speakers throughout
the year in the both its UCLA and Washington DC Centers; running
an email discussion list; and holding the meetings of the American
Politics Reading Group.
The Center runs two graduate programs: Graduate TA Position
in CAPPP Washington, and the Graduate Program in Minority Politics.
The Centre also holds a "Quarter in Washington Program"
for a limited number of its students. This project combines work
experience with independent research and study in the federal
capital.
Further details about the Center and its programs can be found
at http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/issr/cappp/index.html
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SOG News - December 1996
Appointments
The search committee, formed by the SOG Executive Board, has
officially appointed the next pair of co-editors of Governance.
They will be Bert A. Rockman, University of Pittsburg and Jon
Pierre, University of Gothenburg. Their terms commence in September,
1997. Their initial period will be for up to three years. The
co-editors have been requested by the search committee to provide
a statement of their plans for the management of the journal,
for consideration of the Board at its next meeting.
A Widening of Focus for SOG?
Newsletter Development
Although the items under these headings in the last Newsletter
did not attract furious response, some interest was expressed
at the Canberra meeting of the Executive Board. Because of shortness
of time, however, the Chair adjourned the discussion of new items
until the next Board meeting in the Negev in February. So there
is still time for the views of members to be expressed -- initially
to the Secretariat.
New and Unexpected Career Development
Demitar Mircev - Real World SOG: Structuring and Organising Government
in Macedonia
As things turned out, the 1989 Ljubljana SOG Conference, which
was hosted by Demitar Mircev, occurred in the twilight of the
Yugoslav Nation. Soon after that conference, Mircev returned to
his native Macedonia, and became actively involved in the work
of nation building on what was called down there -- 'The Macedonian
Spring'. As Vice-Rector of Skopje University and as advisor to
the founding father of Macedonia -- President Kiro Gligoron --
Miro served on a three man expert committee which, in a hectic
six weeks in 1991 drafted the new nation's constitution. He is
now the Macedonian ambassador to the Holy See and to Slovenia.
Although he has in recent years been immersed in the world
of political practice, Mircev remains committed to our academic
discipline. For example, during his work on constitution making,
he was able to draw on interpretations of the experience of no
fewer than fourteen nations. He continues to participate in IPSA
conferences whenever circumstances permit, and is currently working
on a book on the disintegration of Yugoslavia.
If current plans come to fruition SOG members will be able
to renew their friendships with Demitar Mircev at a 1998 conference
in Skopje.
A research program on the changing Europe
Over the last few years, the political landscape in Europe
has changed dramatically. This applies to the relationships between
Eastern and Western Europe as well as to those between regional
and centralised forces. These changes are stronger and more comprehensive
than ever before in peace time.
Advanced Research on the Europeanisation of the Nation-state,
or ARENA, a Norwegian Research Council program based at the University
of Oslo under the directorship of SOG member Johan Olsen, is studying
these changes. Arguing that the nation-state has been the cornerstone
of the European political order, and that now the nation-state
is under pressure from above by increased European integration,
and from below by increasing local and regional consciousness,
ARENA's primary objective is to build up empirical and theory-based
knowledge on these political transformations, with particular
focus on the effects that these changes have on the nation-state.
Launched in 1994 as a long-term research program, ARENA aims
to describe and analyse the change process at local, national
and European levels. To do this, ARENA is developing new theories
and new concepts that embrace several subject areas and methods
of approach. ARENA has formulated four main research areas in
the program's first phase. Some researchers look at institutions
and institutional change, while another group looks at changes
in cultural foundations. A third area of study is historical development
and exploring changes over time, and a fourth perspective is to
integrate problems from the three other areas in order to investigate
the normative aspects of the change process. Given that its task
is to develop insights into the fundamental processes that transform
and reproduce existing institutions, ARENA demands a critical
view of prevailing theory, concepts and classifications in the
existing literature, and requires cooperation between different
academic traditions within the social sciences and humanities.
(For details on ARENA publications go to Publications. For further information about
ARENA go to ARENA
WebSite)
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