Variedades y variaciones de capitalismo en la periferia. América latina y el este asiático reconsiderados

"El artículo propone un marco analítico alternativo al enfoque institucional de variedades de capitalismo para comprender la divergente emergencia y dinamismo industrial entre el Este Asiático y América Latina en el denominado Sur Global. El carácter alternativo se fundamenta en el distanciamiento del tratamiento nacionalista metodológico y focalizado en las complementariedades institucionales identificadas en países desarrollados -propio de este enfoque-, para considerar las características que identifican a países en contextos periféricos, y los cambios temporales y espaciales en estos. Se introduce las nociones de ""núcleo de acumulación"" y ""núcleo de implicación estatal"" como herramientas teóricas alternativas que consideran tal condición periférica -y sus cambios-, entendiendo los procesos de acumulación y los Estados que conforman las macro-regiones analizadas en una relación dialéctica e ínter-penetrante con permisividades externas y viabilidades internas.

Elected Mayors: Leading Locally?

The directly elected executive mayor was introduced to England a decade ago. Drawing inspiration from European and American experience, the elected mayor appealed to both New Labour and Conservative commentators in offering a solution to perceived problems of local leadership. There was a shared view that governance of local areas was failing and that elected mayors were the answer. The first local referendums were held in 2001. Most have continued to reject the idea of the elected mayor. During 2012, the coalition government initiated 10 further mayoral referendums in England's largest cities but only one, Bristol, opted for an elected mayor. Overall, there is no evidence of widespread public support, yet the prospect of more mayors - with enhanced powers - remains firmly on the policy agenda. Drawing from a decade of research, this paper considers reasons for the persistence of the mayoral experiment, the importance of local factors in the few areas where mayors hold office and the link to current policy debates. Using the authors' analytical leadership grid, this paper links the governmental, governance and allegiance roles of mayors to the problematic nature of local leadership. It then draws tentative conclusions about the strange case of the elected mayor in England

Not saying, not doing: Convergences, contingencies and causal mechanisms of state reform and decentralisation in Hollande’s France

Are States in contemporary Europe subject to new forms of convergence under the impact of economic crisis, enhanced European steering and international monitoring? Or is the evolution of governance (national and sub-national) driven fundamentally by diverging, mainly domestic pressures? Drawing on extensive new data, the article combines analysis of the State Modernisation and Decentralisation reform programmes of the Hollande–Ayrault administration, drawing comparisons where appropriate with the previous Sarkozy regime. The limits of President Hollande’s anti-Sarkozy method were demonstrated in the first 2 years; framing state reform and decentralisation in negative terms prevented the emergence of a coherent legitimising discourse. The empirical data is interpreted with reference to a comparative ‘States of Convergence’ framework, which is conceptualised as a heuristic device for analysing variation between places, countries and policy fields. The article concludes that the forces of hard convergence are gaining ground, as economic, epistemic and European pressures continually challenge the forces of institutional inertia

Organizing risk: organization and management theory for the risk society

Risk has become a crucial part of organizing, affecting a wide range of organizations in all sectors. We identify, review and integrate diverse literatures relevant to organizing risk, building on an existing framework that describes how risk is organized in three ‘modes’ – prospectively, in real-time, and retrospectively. We then identify three critical issues in the existing literature: its fragmented nature; its neglect of the tensions associated with each of the modes; and its tendency to assume that the meaning of an object in relation to risk is singular and stable. We provide a series of new insights with regard to each of these issues. First, we develop the concept of a risk cycle that shows how organizations engage with all three modes and transition between them over time. Second, we explain why the tensions have been largely ignored and show how studies using a risk work perspective can provide further insights into them. Third, we develop the concept of risk translation to highlight the ways in the meanings of risks can be transformed and to identify the political consequences of such translations. We conclude the paper with a research agenda to elaborate these insights and ideas further

Social Assistance in Developing Countries Database Version 5.0

The Social Assistance in Developing Countries Database is a user-friendly tool that provides summary information on social assistance interventions in developing countries. It provides a summary of the evidence available on the effectiveness of social assistance interventions in developing countries. It focuses on programmes seeking to combine the reduction and mitigation of poverty, with strengthening and facilitating household investments capable of preventing poverty and securing development in the longer term. The inclusion of programmes is on the basis of the availability of information on design features, evaluation, size, scope, or significance. Version 5 of the database updates information on existing programmes and incorporates information on pilot social assistance programmes in Latin America, Asia and Africa. It also adopts a new typology that distinguishes between social assistance programmes providing pure income transfers; programmes that provide transfers plus interventions aimed at human, financial, or physical asset accumulation; and integrated poverty reduction programmes. This new typology has, in our view, several advantages. It is a more flexible, and more accurate, template with which to identify key programme features. It provides a good entry point into the conceptual underpinnings of social assistance programmes

From the ‘neurotic’ to the ‘rationalising’ state: Risk and the limits of governance

Rothstein H, Borraz O, Huber M. From the ‘neurotic’ to the ‘rationalising’ state: Risk and the limits of governance. In: Meyer CO, de Franco C, eds. Forecasting, Warning, and Transnational Risks: Is Prevention Possible?. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan; 2011: 187-207

Local leadership and decision making A study of France, Germany, the United States and Britain

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:95/11836 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Local leadership and decision making A study of France, Germany, the United States and Britain

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:95/27816 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo