171 research outputs found
Distributed Expert Systems for Planners
Expert systems can increase the effectiveness of planning. Planning information can be exchanged through intelligent computer/communication aids. More effective knowledge- based management of planning projects is possible through the use of such aids in distributed networks. We discuss the potential and limitations of such networks.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68577/2/10.1177_107554708600800105.pd
A comparative framework: how broadly applicable is a 'rigorous' critical junctures framework?
The paper tests Hogan and Doyle's (2007, 2008) framework for examining critical junctures. This framework sought to incorporate the concept of ideational change in understanding critical junctures. Until its development, frameworks utilized in identifying critical junctures were subjective, seeking only to identify crisis, and subsequent policy changes, arguing that one invariably led to the other, as both occurred around the same time. Hogan and Doyle (2007, 2008) hypothesized ideational change as an intermediating variable in their framework, determining if, and when, a crisis leads to radical policy change. Here we test this framework on cases similar to, but different from, those employed in developing the exemplar. This will enable us determine whether the framework's relegation of ideational change to a condition of crisis holds, or, if ideational change has more importance than is ascribed to it by this framework. This will also enable us determined if the framework itself is robust, and fit for the purposes it was designed to perform â identifying the nature of policy change
Environmental governance in Croatia and Macedonia: institutional creation and evolution
The environment acquis are, by common consent, amongst the most technically and politically demanding that a state aspiring to EU membership must transpose. SEE states confront a major âgapâ between the policies and institutions they have and what they must achieve. Transposition requires the creation of policy networks involving a broad range of state and non-state actors. This paper examines the efforts of Croatia and Macedonia to adapt to EU environmental policy. Using social network analysis the paper focuses on institutional creation and evolution and argues that effective governance depends on the prior creation of effective hierarchies. Networks exist but capacities and capabilities are in short supply and this reinforces the centre and government over civil society
Assessing the Effects of Personal Characteristics and Context on U.S. House Speakersâ Leadership Styles, 1789-2006
Research on congressional leadership has been dominated in recent decades by contextual interpretations that see leadersâ behavior as best explained by the environment in which they seek to exercise leadershipâparticularly, the preference homogeneity and size of their party caucus. The role of agency is thus discounted, and leadersâ personal characteristics and leadership styles are underplayed. Focusing specifically on the speakers of the U.S. House of Representatives from the first to the 110th Congress, we construct measures of each speakerâs commitment to comity and leadership assertiveness. We find the scores reliable and then test the extent to which a speakerâs style is the product of both political context and personal characteristics. Regression estimates on speakersâ personal assertiveness scores provide robust support for a context-plus-personal characteristics explanation, whereas estimates of their comity scores show that speakersâ personal backgrounds trump context
The ineffectiveness of entrepreneurship policy:Is policy formulation to blame?
Entrepreneurship policy has been criticised for its lack of effectiveness. Some scholars, such as Scott Shane in this journal, have argued that it is âbadâ public policy. But this simply begs the question why the legislative process should generate bad policy? To answer this question this study examines the UKâs enterprise policy process in the 2009â2010 period. It suggests that a key factor for the ineffectiveness of policy is how it is formulated. This stage in the policy process is seldom visible to those outside of government departments and has been largely ignored by prior research. The application of institutional theory provides a detailed theoretical understanding of the actors and the process by which enterprise policy is formulated. We find that by opening up the âblack boxâ of enterprise policy formulation, the process is dominated by powerful actors who govern the process with their interests
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