The Retreat of the State (Editorial)

Article originally published July 1987, Volume 18 Issue 3; original IDS editing is retained here. We are currently witnessing a global process of economic restructuring in both North and South, East and West. Though country contexts may differ, there is one strikingly common element: the criticism of statist modes of development and provision and the move towards greater use of market mechanisms in the delivery of goods and services. As the case studies covered in this Bulletin suggest, this reaction against statist forms of development is common to both Western Europe and the Third World. This similarity is hardly surprising given their economic interdependence, the activity of international disciplinary institutions such as the MF and the World Bank, and the historical link between the emergence of developmental states in the newly independent territories and the system of managed capitalism practised by their former colonial masters. Do the contributors to this Bulletin offer any ways forward for both theory and practice? Certain analytical points emerge which arc important guides to thinking about policy

Administrative Managers – A Critical Link

Institutional responses to changes in the higher education environment have caused movements in the roles and identities of administrative managers in UK universities. These shifts have highlighted the problem for individuals of balancing traditional public service considerations of administration with institutional innovation and development. Administrative managers find themselves not only acting as independent arbiters, giving impartial advice on the basis of professional expertise, but also becoming involved in political judgements about institutional futures. They increasingly undertake an interpretive function between the various communities of the university and its external partners. As the boundaries of the university have become more permeable, administrative and academic management have inter-digitated, and hybrid roles have developed. In undertaking increasingly complex functions, therefore, administrative managers play a critical role in linking the academic and executive arms of governance in the university

Chinese students in a UK business school: hearing the student voice in reflective teaching and learning practice.

This paper presents the outcomes of a study carried out in 2001-2002 with nine postgraduate students from China, enrolled on taught master's programmes in a UK university business school. The aims of the research were to explore the development of the students' orientations to learning during their year of study in the UK, and to explore how the researcher's interactions with the study group contributed to her professional reflections and influenced her academic practice. The main conclusions of the project were that participants' underlying approaches to learning did not change substantially over the year, owing to the culturally implicit nature of UK academic conventions and that they experienced high levels of emotional isolation and loneliness, which affected their academic confidence

Safety and efficacy of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine (AZD1222) against SARS-CoV-2: an interim analysis of four randomised controlled trials in Brazil, South Africa, and the UK

Background A safe and efficacious vaccine against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), if deployed with high coverage, could contribute to the control of the COVID-19 pandemic. We evaluated the safety and efficacy of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine in a pooled interim analysis of four trials. Methods This analysis includes data from four ongoing blinded, randomised, controlled trials done across the UK, Brazil, and South Africa. Participants aged 18 years and older were randomly assigned (1:1) to ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine or control (meningococcal group A, C, W, and Y conjugate vaccine or saline). Participants in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group received two doses containing 5 × 1010 viral particles (standard dose; SD/SD cohort); a subset in the UK trial received a half dose as their first dose (low dose) and a standard dose as their second dose (LD/SD cohort). The primary efficacy analysis included symptomatic COVID-19 in seronegative participants with a nucleic acid amplification test-positive swab more than 14 days after a second dose of vaccine. Participants were analysed according to treatment received, with data cutoff on Nov 4, 2020. Vaccine efficacy was calculated as 1 - relative risk derived from a robust Poisson regression model adjusted for age. Studies are registered at ISRCTN89951424 and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04324606, NCT04400838, and NCT04444674. Findings Between April 23 and Nov 4, 2020, 23 848 participants were enrolled and 11 636 participants (7548 in the UK, 4088 in Brazil) were included in the interim primary efficacy analysis. In participants who received two standard doses, vaccine efficacy was 62·1% (95% CI 41·0–75·7; 27 [0·6%] of 4440 in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group vs71 [1·6%] of 4455 in the control group) and in participants who received a low dose followed by a standard dose, efficacy was 90·0% (67·4–97·0; three [0·2%] of 1367 vs 30 [2·2%] of 1374; pinteraction=0·010). Overall vaccine efficacy across both groups was 70·4% (95·8% CI 54·8–80·6; 30 [0·5%] of 5807 vs 101 [1·7%] of 5829). From 21 days after the first dose, there were ten cases hospitalised for COVID-19, all in the control arm; two were classified as severe COVID-19, including one death. There were 74 341 person-months of safety follow-up (median 3·4 months, IQR 1·3–4·8): 175 severe adverse events occurred in 168 participants, 84 events in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group and 91 in the control group. Three events were classified as possibly related to a vaccine: one in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group, one in the control group, and one in a participant who remains masked to group allocation. Interpretation ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 has an acceptable safety profile and has been found to be efficacious against symptomatic COVID-19 in this interim analysis of ongoing clinical trials

Safety and efficacy of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine (AZD1222) against SARS-CoV-2: an interim analysis of four randomised controlled trials in Brazil, South Africa, and the UK.

BACKGROUND: A safe and efficacious vaccine against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), if deployed with high coverage, could contribute to the control of the COVID-19 pandemic. We evaluated the safety and efficacy of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine in a pooled interim analysis of four trials. METHODS: This analysis includes data from four ongoing blinded, randomised, controlled trials done across the UK, Brazil, and South Africa. Participants aged 18 years and older were randomly assigned (1:1) to ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine or control (meningococcal group A, C, W, and Y conjugate vaccine or saline). Participants in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group received two doses containing 5 × 1010 viral particles (standard dose; SD/SD cohort); a subset in the UK trial received a half dose as their first dose (low dose) and a standard dose as their second dose (LD/SD cohort). The primary efficacy analysis included symptomatic COVID-19 in seronegative participants with a nucleic acid amplification test-positive swab more than 14 days after a second dose of vaccine. Participants were analysed according to treatment received, with data cutoff on Nov 4, 2020. Vaccine efficacy was calculated as 1 - relative risk derived from a robust Poisson regression model adjusted for age. Studies are registered at ISRCTN89951424 and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04324606, NCT04400838, and NCT04444674. FINDINGS: Between April 23 and Nov 4, 2020, 23 848 participants were enrolled and 11 636 participants (7548 in the UK, 4088 in Brazil) were included in the interim primary efficacy analysis. In participants who received two standard doses, vaccine efficacy was 62·1% (95% CI 41·0-75·7; 27 [0·6%] of 4440 in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group vs71 [1·6%] of 4455 in the control group) and in participants who received a low dose followed by a standard dose, efficacy was 90·0% (67·4-97·0; three [0·2%] of 1367 vs 30 [2·2%] of 1374; pinteraction=0·010). Overall vaccine efficacy across both groups was 70·4% (95·8% CI 54·8-80·6; 30 [0·5%] of 5807 vs 101 [1·7%] of 5829). From 21 days after the first dose, there were ten cases hospitalised for COVID-19, all in the control arm; two were classified as severe COVID-19, including one death. There were 74 341 person-months of safety follow-up (median 3·4 months, IQR 1·3-4·8): 175 severe adverse events occurred in 168 participants, 84 events in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group and 91 in the control group. Three events were classified as possibly related to a vaccine: one in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group, one in the control group, and one in a participant who remains masked to group allocation. INTERPRETATION: ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 has an acceptable safety profile and has been found to be efficacious against symptomatic COVID-19 in this interim analysis of ongoing clinical trials. FUNDING: UK Research and Innovation, National Institutes for Health Research (NIHR), Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Lemann Foundation, Rede D'Or, Brava and Telles Foundation, NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Thames Valley and South Midland's NIHR Clinical Research Network, and AstraZeneca

The academic labour process: from collegiality and professionalism to managerialism and proletarianisation?

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Economists on the State

Summary Despite the entrenchment of the neoclassical paradigm within the discipline of economics, the subdiscipline of public sector economics and welfare economics chose to emphasise the problem of market failure, and saw a key role for the state in correcting these failures. In the last decade or so there has been a paradigm shift in this field of economics. Economists are increasingly concerned to praise the market; they highlight the problem of political failure; and they characterise governments as selfish, explaining their behaviour through public choice theory. This article is critical of this work as a basis for understanding politics. It argues that the method of science which it adopts, the assumptions which it applies, and the values which are integral to it all serve to limit the extent to which public choice theory — the economics of politics — can serve as the basis for making good sense of politics and political behaviour. Resumen Los economistas y el Estado Pese al fortalecimiento del paradigma neoclásico en la disciplina económica, las subdisciplinas economía del sector público y economía del bienestar enfatizaron el problema del fracaso del mercado y visualizaron un rol clave del Estado para corregir tales fallas. Aproximadamente en la última década se ha producido un cambio en este campo de la economía. Los economistas están crecientemente preocupados de exaltar el mercado, de destacar el problema de las fallas políticas y de caracterizar a los gobiernos como autosuficientes, explicando la conducta de éste mediante la teoría de la opción pública, liste artículo es crítico de tal trabajo como base de comprensión de la política. Argumenta que tanto el método científico adoptado como los supuestos y valores que lo integran limitan la extensión en la que la teoría de la opción pública — la economía de la política — puede servir de base para dar un buen sentido a la política y a la conducta política. Resumé Les Economistes sur l'Etat Malgré l'enracinement profond du paradigme néo?classique au sein des sciences économiques, la sous?discipline de l'économie du secteur publique et de la sécurité sociale a choisi de mettre l'accent sur l'échec du marché et a donné à l'état un rôle clé dans le redressement de ces erreurs. Durant les dix dernières années environ, il y a eu un changement de paradigme dans le domaine des sciences économiques. Les économistes sont de plus en plus soucieux de faire les louanges du marché. Ils soulignent le problème de l'échec politique: ils qualifient les gouvernements d'égoistes, et comme justifiant leurs attitudes par le biais de la théorie du choix publique. Cet article est une critique de ce travail, à considérer comme la base pour une compréhension des sciences politiques. Il soutient la thèse que la méthode scientifique qu'il a adopté, les suppositions que cela implique et les valeurs qu'il lui sont données intrinsèquement, ont pour effet de limiter la manière dont la théorie sur le choix publique petit être utilisée pour expliquer la politique et le comportement politique

The Deadly Dull Issue of University ""Administration""?:Good Governance Managerialiam and Organising Academic Work

This paper explores issues to do with the organisation of academic work in higher education in the U.K. When universities were well resourced elite institutions much internal university organisation involved little more than the limp administration of dull, steady state, routines. Tighter times in the 1980s encouraged the call for more efficient university management and in the 1990s the issue of good university governance has pushed to the fore. Efficient management and good governance are important but the nature of academic work and the professional sentiments of academic workers mean that management, bureaucracy and governance can only take universities so far in the organisation of teaching and research in turbulent times that call for change and entrepreneurship. “A refusal in the universities to give rational discussion of their administration a high priority must result either in tyranny mitigated by muddle or in time-wasting reduplication of effort.” (Lord Franks, University of Oxford: Report of Commission of Inquiry, 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966, vol. 1, para. 491.