Despite the importance of rulemaking, it has been virtually ignored as a separate topic of study by political scientists. This is unfortunate, for the use or non-use of rulemaking as an alternative means of carrying out statutory mandates is significant for several reasons. The Federal Trade Commission's experience indicates that rulemaking is a more forceful and expedient way of implementing policy than proceeding without standards via the case-by-case approach. It is also fairer to those potentially affected by government policy. In spite of these advantages, however, the FTC and other agencies have often been reluctant to issue rules. This has often been due to political resistance by those who do not wish to be regulated, or by those who otherwise wish to alter policy as it is implemented. Given the use of rulemaking, the selection of specific rulemaking procedures can also be important. The FTC has been required by Congress to use trial-like procedures in arriving at final rules. This requirement was added to the Commission's enabling legislation in 1974 to ensure that agency decisions would be based on sound rationale. Whether or not the FTC's new procedures have achieved this goal, they have had other significant effects. They have forced the FTC to scrutinize rule premises more closely than in the past. If this has been a "good effect," however, the procedures have also imposed very considerable delay on agency decision making, and have limited the scope of agency policy to alternatives that can be justified with factual evidence. There is little doubt that regulated industry, which was instrumental in persuading Congress to impose new requirements, perceived that trial-like procedures would limit the FTC in these ways. Rulemaking and rulemaking procedure, as well as other administrative processes, can be usefully included in the study of policy making. The "causes" and "effects" of formal, institutional arrrangements can be dealt with empirically. Indeed, they should be, for as alternative modes of implementation they have important administrative and political effects.

The central research question addressed in this study is: why does Congress select an independent commission to administer some regulatory programs while for others it chooses a departmental agency? Systematic research on this question is notably absent despite the emphasis given organizational arrangements by executive branch reform efforts, specifically those proposed by the Brownlow Committee in 1937 and the Ash Council in 1971. The regulatory literature simply suggests that the commission form of organization is superior to alternative arrangements because it provides a greater degree of fairness, impartiality, expertise, and continuity of policy. This study argues that the belief in the superiority of the commission form of organization constitutes essentially a formal rationale for the choice of a commission and that it is instead political forces which lead to not only the creation of new agencies, but to their organizational arrangements as well. Moreover, this study offers three alternative explanations for the choice of an independent regulatory commission: legislative-executive rivalry, the disruption of traditional clientele ties, and partisan differences between the White House and Capitol Hill. Seven cases were selected for examination, four independent commissions: the FERC, the CFTC, the NRC, and the CPSC, and three departmental agencies: the OSHA, the FGIS, and the MSHA. In order to determine the relative strength of the three factors, the arguments of congressmen, administration officials, and interest group spokesmen were examined as they appeared in such sources as the Congressional Record, congressional committee hearings and reports, and various other government documents. For each of the seven agencies, the factors were then categorized as either strong, moderate, or weak. The research demonstrated that the choice of organizational arrangements is a complex decision; no single explanation emerged. Legislative-executive rivalry and the disruption of traditional clientele ties distinguished relatively well between the two types of regulatory agencies and both factors were either strong or moderate for all but one of the four commissions. Partisan differences, however, failed to distinguish between the commissions and agencies. It was moderately significant in six of the seven cases. . . . (Author's abstract exceeds stipulated maximum length. Discontinued here with permission of school.) UMI

Neighborhood planning involves American cities in a conflict of virtually irreconciable imperatives. Cities are both political bodies and corporate entities, of which land is the primary asset. By satisfying residents' demands for stability and protection, cities may inhibit the investment which supports their financial integrity. Since satisfaction of these dual imperatives requires the city to treat its land as both domicile and as commodity, the discipline of local land use planning is placed in an inherently ambiguous position. Neighborhood planning programs in thirty American central cities were examined. Four structrual features were held to influence program effectiveness: plan standing, the relation of the neighborhood plan to city-building instruments like zoning; group requirements, the formalization of community group powers and responsibilities; plan authorization, the level of authority granted an adopted neighborhood plan; and planning process, the formalization of planning procedures. An eight-part taxonomy was developed to describe the programs, and the eight program types were examined against prominent social and economic indicators and against state enabling legislation. While about half the sample cities tie their plans to city-building instruments, only a minority grant their plans the full force of law. Well-defined programs are related to growing city populations and moderately declining owner occupancy, however, cities with the most rapid population growth deny their plans the full force of law. Where states mandate that their cities have comprehensive plans and citizen participation procedures, cities often have well-defined neighborhood planning programs. The evidence suggests that as residents become increasingly demanding under the pressures of urban growth, well-defined neighborhood planning programs are granted as concessions by unwilling city governments, sometimes under compulsion from state legislation. Neighborhood groups and neighborhood plans invested with substantial weight in city-building decisions run counter to the financial interests of the city. This inherent antagonism, which is related to the historic dependency of the specialized residential neighborhood, can be resolved only by giving the central city neighborhood a productive function within the metropolitan ecology. This radical economic agenda points beyond current neighborhood planning methodology.

Canada lags behind other countries in the development of electronic health records. If Canada develops a pan-Canadian electronic health record (EHR) system, the quality of patient care can improve. A review of the literature lists potential benefits of EHRs such as improvements in medical research, a reduction in emergency room and diagnostic test wait times. Such a system will make medical records readily available to health care providers which will help them make informed critical decisions. Regardless of the benefits of such a system, there are legal and ethical implications hindering its development and implementation. The federal and provincial governments are at odds as to who is in charge of health care. Canadians need to be consulted on its implementation, and their concerns regarding privacy legislation addressed. Canada Health Infoway has undergone initiatives to create an interoperable EHR system in Canada with audit trails, smart card technology, etc. The benefits of such a system are seen in an analysis of Alberta that has created its own provincial EHR system. Case studies of both Alberta and the United Kingdom's EHR systems should be used as a foundation to begin developing Canada's national system. If Canada addresses the concerns surrounding the implementation of a national EHR system through policies with sanctions to deal with the ethical implications of such a system (informed consent, unlawful access, etc), then studies have shown that Canadians will support a pan-Canadian EHR system initiative. Before addressing ethical dilemmas, the governments must assume responsibility of who will develop and maintain this system. / Le Canada accuse un retard important par rapport à d'autres pays dans le développement de dossiers de santé électroniques. Si le Canada développe un système de dossier de santé électronique pancanadien (DSE), la qualité des soins patients peut s'améliorer. Une revue de la littérature décrit les avantages potentiels des DSEs tels que des améliorations de la recherche médicale, une réduction au niveau des temps d'attente en salle d'urgence et des tests diagnostiques. Un tel système facilitera la disponibilité des dossiers médicaux pour les fournisseurs de soins médicaux et les aideront à prendre des décisions critiques éclairées. Indépendamment des avantages d'un tel système, des implications sur le point de vue légal et éthique empêchent son développement et sa mise en œuvre. Les gouvernements fédéraux et provinciaux sont en désaccord quant à qui la responsabilité des soins médicaux incombe. Les Canadiens doivent être consultés sur la mise en œuvre de ce système et leurs préoccupations quant à la législation sur la vie privée doivent être adressées. Inforoute Santé du Canada a entrepris des démarches afin de créer un système de DSEs interopérable au Canada avec des protocoles d'audit, la technologie de carte à puce, etc. Une analyse de l'Alberta, qui a créé son propre système de DSE provincial, a permis de voir les bénéfices d'un tel système. Les études de cas portant sur les systèmes de DSEs de l'Alberta et du Royaume-Uni devraient être utilisées comme fondement afin de débuter le développement d'un système national au Canada. Les études ont démontré que les Canadiens supporteront l'initiative d'un système de DSE pancanadien si le Canada adresse les préoccupations entourant la mise en œuvre de ce système national par des mesures avec sanction afin de répondre aux implications éthiques que ce dernier pose (le consentement éclairé, l'accès illégal, etc.). Avant d'adresser les dilemmes éthiques que pose ce système, les gouvernements doivent assumer la responsabilité de décider qui développera et maintiendra ce système.

The research explores three related questions about the 'Next Steps' agency model and agencification processes in the UK central state between 1988 and 1998. First, how did the creation of agencies, or agencification, work in the period and was the reform a substantial change. Second, why was the reform adopted and did agencies bring about benefits in the delivery of services. Third, what is the likely course of future developments in the use of agencies. The first question is explored in Part One. The agency model is identified as a set of institutions, or structures, for delivering public services proposed by government actors who developed the 'Next Steps' reform. The UK central state made extensive use of the agency model in the period 1988 to 1998. Over the period, 155 agencies were created. By 1998, 65 per cent of civil servants worked in 138 agencies. The 'Next Steps' reform was predominately mitigated agencification, where there was already some separation of activities prior to the reform. This type of agencification accounted for 69 per cent of cases. There was pure agencification in 14 per cent of cases, in which the reform was an even more significant reorganisation; the case of the Benefits Agency was an example of this form of agency creation. However, in 14 per cent of cases, there was nominal change and the reform was largely a relabelling exercise. New function agencification was found in only 2 per cent of cases. The second question is explored in Part Two. The official justifications for the reform were fragmented and, at some points, inconsistent. The public interest model, based on official accounts, suggests that senior officials and politicians had the goals of delivering public services in an efficient and effective manner with maximum economy, expressed through minimising transaction costs associated with delivering services. Agencies promoted this goal in handling routine, executive activities rather than non-routine, policy activities. However, the public interest model does not seem to be consistent with disputes between parts of the central state, the bracketing of nominal changes with more significant ones under the overall 'Next Steps' reform banner, and use of the agency model for non-routine policy work were inconsistent with the model. The performance of agencies did not match all the expectations of the public interest model. The institutional rational choice approach, through Patrick Dunleavy's bureau-shaping model, makes a substantial contribution to understanding why the reform occurred. But the original model is inadequate for explaining the 'Next Steps' reform. The mark II bureau-shaping model overcomes the inadequacies of the original model and is an important theoretical advance. The model is supported by evidence about developments during the period. Senior officials in the departments saw their role primarily as policy work rather than the direct, hands on, management of executive activities. Entrepreneurial officials in the Cabinet Office Efficiency Unit had career incentives to come up with innovative organisational solutions to problems of public service delivery that were successfully implemented. They provided senior officials in departments with the agency model as a piece of bureau-shaping technology, enabling them to respond to politicians by passing on executive work to agencies. In departments with agencies, 70 per cent of senior officials ended up working in the parent department after the creation of agencies. The third question is explored in Part Three. The mark II bureau-shaping model suggests that bureau-shaping strategies will continue to be an important influence on reform in the future as will entrepreneurial officials in central units who have incentives to come up with new mechanisms for improving public services. The most likely future for most agencies appears to be continued use of the agency model with closure of implementation gaps. These developments are likely to be supplemented by additional mechanisms in agencies with moderate performance problems. In a few cases of very poor performance more radical changes are more likely. Partial dismantling of the agency model may occur in the Benefits Agency.

<p> Local governments in the United States have generally experienced fiscal distress in the past decade, due to the economic downturn, reduction in Federal and State aid, and rising costs for providing services partly due to pensions and healthcare. Many governments are worried about their long-term financial sustainability. </p><p> Professional organizations such as Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) have been recommending budgeting with a multi-year fiscal planning framework as a best practice, noting that it can assist local governments in understanding their fiscal outlook and in making budget decisions that strategically address their future fiscal issues and support their long-term strategic priorities. Internationally, Medium-Term Expenditure Frameworks (MTEFs) have been practiced by the central governments of 132 countries with empirical studies showing a positive impact on improving fiscal discipline, financial sustainability and allocative efficiency. (World Bank, 2013) However, limited studies exist on such practices among local governments in the United States. </p><p> This dissertation draws on existing literature on MTEFs, multi-year (revenue) projections, and financial sustainability to examine the factors that may affect the usefulness of multi-year fiscal planning to policy makers. A survey instrument, which serves as the primary data source for this research, was distributed to local governments. Five hundred and thirty-seven effective responses were collected from different types of local governments in 44 states. Statistical analysis was then conducted, using multiple regression and cumulative logistic regression, to evaluate the potential impact from different features of multi-year framework on its perceived usefulness as measured by survey respondents' ratings. In addition, panel data studies were employed on certain municipalities that use multi-year fiscal planning to study the impact of different features of this framework on nine fiscal health indicators. Five-year financial data from years 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2011 in the GFOA database was used to construct these fiscal health indicators developed largely based on a modified version of Brown's 10-point system (Brown, 1993). </p><p> The results contribute to a better understanding of the current status and practices of multi-year projections and fiscal planning used in local governments in the United States. It also helps shed light on whether implementing multi-year framework makes a positive impact on achieving different policy goals (e.g., fiscal health) and what factors affect its effectiveness or usefulness. </p><p> In particular, statistical analysis results suggest that several features of multi-year fiscal planning have a statistically significant positive impact on fiscal health and other budget goals. Identified factors include: the quality and content of projection material (e.g., whether strategies or options are included to address identified issues); the purpose of multi-year projections and fiscal planning (e.g., whether it targets at achieving certain fund balance levels); the timing of presenting multi-year projections results the legislative authority (which shows the connection between multi-year projections and the annual budget); the engagement of key stakeholders in developing multi-year projections and fiscal plans; the integration between multi-year fiscal planning and strategic planning; and the history or experience of using this policy tool. </p><p> These findings support the claims by researchers and practitioners that multi-year projections and fiscal planning can help improve a local government's fiscal health and promote other budget goals. In particular, it offers empirical evidence that certain features of the multi-year fiscal planning framework can affect its usefulness. This research fills a gap in existing literature and collects useful information that lay the groundwork for future research. </p>

The research investigates the effects of the 1989-92 Public Service Renewal and 1995-1997 Reform of the State administrative reform programme on the ministerial field services. These reforms, through the processes of deconcentration and responsibilisation, delegated increased autonomy to the firld services in their operational management to enable them to improve their delivery of policy objectives. The primary research question was whether operational and institutional factors at field service level impeded or facilitated moves towards a more managerial logic of appropriateness as envisaged by the reform programmes. Through an institutional analysis of the French administrative reform process, a number of institutional and operational factors were identified that would determine the capacity of the field services to engage in the reform process. These factors included the concessions made by the reforms to the field services in budgetary and human resource management, the incentives for field service officials to participate and the extent to which both the field services and their central Ministries were able to adjust to the requirements of the reform. In addition, there were the conservative influences of the trade unions, the effects of budgetary cutbacks and the contextual backgrounds of the respective Ministries that were influences on the receptivity of the field service to change. Burgelman's 'Model of the Interaction of Strategic Behavior, Corporate Context and the Concept of Strategy' was used as the theeoretical framework through which the findings from the fieldwork investigations conducted in the Education, Agriculture and Infrastructure Ministries were interpreted. The theoretical framework was found to be applicable to the French administrative context through its articulation of those over their operations and to show greater initiative. Burgelman's criteria for autonomous strategic behaviour were, therefore, adapted to the French administrative reform context and utilised as a structural framework through which the research findings were presented. The establishment of whether the respective criterial had been met provided a means to identify those institutional and operational variables which influenced the capacity of the field services to exercise greater autonomy in their operational management. The explanatory insights of Burgelman's model show how the resilience of traditional institutional features and the effects of budgetary cutbacks minimised the impact of the Public Service Renewal and the Reform of the State programmes in those field services of the Education, Agriculture and Infrastructure Ministries where fieldwork was carried out. The conditions within the French administration were found to be more constraining on the organisational behaviour of officials than Burgelman's model, based on a large scale private sector organisation envisages. Burgelman's model was able to identify the organisational dynamics that constrain reform, but was not able to trace the source of these constraints into a wider social context. It was found that insights from sociological and rational choise institutionalist perspectives clarified the missing social elements of Burgelman's model. The final chapter examines how the organisational dynamics identified in the study could be used as the basis for a generalised framework.

European integration theory is currently in a stage of evolution in which the validity of the traditional theoretical approaches, neofunctionalism and neorealism is increasingly questioned as a consequence of their inability to explain and predict EU developments successfully. The two theories, longtime rivals derived from International Relations (IR) scholarship, are now challenged by an emergent critique grounded in comparative politics theory. Within the IR camp, attempts to bolster the orthodox theories through their synthesis have been unsuccessful. The neofunctionalist-neorealist rivalry continues unproductively despite the advent of a rival paradigm. John Peterson's framework of European Union (EU) decision making, the focal theory of this thesis, seeks to provide a means of marrying IR and comparative political concepts, but requires (and fails to make) a choice between the two IR theories in order to function. The aim of this thesis therefore, is to shed new light on the neofunctionalist-neorealist debate by applying literature to an analysis of the Committee of the Regions. This new EU body affords actors from subnational government their first formal rights in EU policy making, thereby significantly altering the range of actors involved in that process. In order to meet this objective, an original investigation of the Committee was undertaken. It involved research interviews with a series of key actors as well as analysis of the available literature, and concluded that the Committee is having a limited but identifiable impact on the EU policy. The thesis argues that neither neofunctionalism nor neorealism is able to encompass this due to their respective essential premises. It therefore proceeds to propose amendments to the Peterson framework, drawing on its advocacy of a composite model of EU decision making to advance a new framework. The latter harnesses insights obtained from confederal, multi level governance, policy network and new institutionalist theories, and thereby lends support to the burgeoning paradigm shift in favour of comparative politics.

The aim of this thesis is to explain recent developments in the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) infrastructure policy and their implications for European integration theory. It sets out to test the view that firstly, the ad hoc nature of the TEN-T programme leads to national governments reaffirming their role as key actors within the EU policymaking process. Secondly, the aspiration of the EU's sustainable mobility strategy is not implemented in practice at the national level. The thesis combines theories of European integration with a study of the EU day-to-day transport policy making process to show how the TEN-T programme fits into wider debates on sustainability and European integration generally. To achieve this objective the thesis examines the dichotomous debate that exists between intergovernmental and supranational theorists in their attempts to conceptualise the wider process of European integration. It argues that such approaches drawn from International Relations (IR) are sufficient tools to explain the EU system of governance. In order to characterise the EU transport policy-making process more effectively this thesis highlights the need to adopt a combination of tools from both IR and Comparative Politics (CP) schools of thought. The transport sector is examined within the thesis for the reason that it remains one of the few policy areas that can better illustrate the tension between intergovernmental and supranational approaches to European integration. In addition, the transport sector is of European significance as decades of unrestrained growth have heightened concerns about its ability to achieve sustainable mobility. Indeed, the TEN-T programme is offered as part of the solution to Europe's transport problems and as a means of promoting sustainable mobility within the EU. However, analysis of the TEN-T policy development reveals a set of obstacles to the implentation of a sustainable European transport infrastructure policy. The findings resulting from this research are firstly, contrary to the assumption that European transport policy is dominated by an integrationist strategy of the political centre in Europe: it is the national government that remains the key actor in the European transport infrastructure policy process. Secondly, based on the evidence presented within this thesis, the transport sector does not signify a marked shift towards multi-level governance. Thirdly, the absence of this power sharing framework can be used to explain the unsustainable direction of the current TEN-T policy.

The aim of the thesis is to gain insight into the contemporary system of urban governance through an analysis of multi-sectoral regeneration partnerships. It specifically seeks to contribute to an understanding of urban governance through an investigation of three inter-linked themes. These are firstly, the power relations that governance entails; secondly, the quality of the relationships between those involved, with particular regard to the existence (or otherwise) of trust; and, thirdly, the democratic implications of the system. Three conceptual lenses were developed to investigate those central concerns, the first drawing on insights from regime theory, the second employing the literature on social capital and the third utilising the principles of deliberative democratic theory. These lenses were applied both separately and holistically to concrete examples of three different types of multisectoral regeneration partnerships operating within the geographical location of Brighton and Hove. The purpose was firstly, to ascertain whether when viewing the partnerships holistically the exercise of power, the development of trust and the engendering of democracy were compatible with one another; secondly, to gauge whether success in one of those dimensions was to the detriment of one or more of the others; and thirdly, to examine how different types of partnerships dealt with those issues. From the case study it was found that the exercise of power, the development of trust and the engendering of democracy were difficult goals for all of the partnerships studied. It was also found those goals were incompatible with one another and that success in one was to the detriment of one or more of the others but that the different types of partnership dealt with those issues in different ways. These findings contribute to a fuller understanding of multi-sectoral regeneration partnerships in and of themselves and they also provide insights into the contemporary system of urban governance. For the practice of urban governance they indicate, for example, that policy makers may be faced with incommensurable goals. At a conceptual level the findings suggest the need for a holistic approach to the subject.