This research project assesses the continued utility of Allison's three policy-making models in analyzing contemporary foreign policy problems. It also explores the effect of cultural considerations on Allison's concepts by delving into the unique themes of Japanese politics. The climate in which this policy decision is made is framed through a discussion of the strategic environment and Japanese defense policy following the Cold War and 9/11. The rational actor, organizational process, and bureaucratic politics models are applied to Japan's 2003 decision to field a missile defense system through a qualitative analysis of English-language secondary hard-copy and online sources. Some Japanese government materials are reviewed as well; the Japanese language, however, presented challenges to research. Despite the expectation that the rational actor model best describes the Japanese approach to missile defense, this project shows the true value of Allison's theories lies in their capacity to expose issues relevant to policy problems from varying perspectives. Japan's missile defense policy likely resulted from a combination of the three models, each influenced in varying degrees by the cultural aspects of Japanese politics. / Master of Arts

Since the millennium shift the Swedish public administration has, in a successive and significant way, been moving towards an electronic government. By analyzing policy goals formulated by the Swedish government, this essay aims to describe e-government as an administration model and subsequently answer the question if e-government challenges the traditional Swedish public administration. Based on three different ideal types; The bureaucratic model, The user-oriented model and New Public Management, this essay also aims to relate the policy goals of e-government to the ideal types. The analysis shows that the Swedish e-government is based on ideas which can be related to all three ideal types. While the analysis is not able to unequivocally answer the question if e-government challenges the traditional Swedish public administration, it yet indicates that, reversibly, the traditional Swedish public administration challenges e-government.

The passage of PRWORA in 1996 gave states the opportunity to engage in secondorder devolution (SOD), which allows local governments to exercise more discretionary power in the implementation of welfare policies. Currently 14 states have engaged in significant SOD, with a number of other states practicing SOD to a lesser degree. Given this trend in TANF administration, it is important to explore if and how SOD affects the implementation of TANF work sanctions and work-related policies. Opponents of welfare decentralization insist SOD may lead to a ‘race to the bottom’ in welfare generosity to avoid the immigration of the poor, the loss of business revenue, and financial burden due to fiscal relationship, while proponents of welfare decentralization insist that local governments better understand the needs of the poor and are therefore better able to provide more appropriate services to their welfare clients, thus improving program performance. Existing scholarship on SOD under TANF has focused on the increase in discretion to local government, and how this may enhance variation in policy outcomes or contribute to policy success or stringency across local jurisdictions (Cho et al. 2005 ; Fording, Soss and Schram 2007). However, these studies are limited by the fact that they examine a single state. To date there has been no systematic analysis of the impact of administrative structure on the implementation of welfare policy which compares centralized states with SOD states. In this dissertation, I conduct an analysis of the effects of SOD across the states by exploring how differences in administrative structure due to SOD affect different implementation outcomes. First, I examine the impact of SOD on the implementation of TANF work sanctions, using individual-level administrative data combined with county level data. Second, I examine the impact of SOD on TANF work sanctions, caseload decline, and several work-related TANF outcomes with state-level data. Multilevel analysis and OLS with panel corrected errors are applied for the analyses. Specifically, I test the conventional wisdom that success and punitiveness in policy implementation is enhanced in second-order devolution states, compared to centralized states, due to increased discretion granted to local governments in SOD states.

In my thesis I deal with examination of administrative demands of the tax system in the Czech Republic, causes thereof and possibilities of solution. For the reason of the thesis extent I examined only direct taxes although indirect taxes show the great potential to reach savings in administrative demands as well and general conclusions may be applied to them. The thesis is divided into four chapters. In chapter I. I define the term of administrative demands as a cause of inefficiency of tax collection system. I look for the causes in principles of the constitutional system of the Czech Republic and tax system, i.e. in its individual tax laws. For comparison I examine the issue also in other countries of the European Union and in Russia to get to know, how effectively tax systems in other states work. In chapter II. I analyze particular parameters of the tax system, such as registration procedures, filing of tax returns concerning individual taxes, additional payments of taxes and tax advance payments, communication with authorities, process of tax recovery, making controls. In chapter III. I propose solution arising from analysis made in previous chapters, which should decrease the administrative demands by various methods. My aim is to keep the same volume of collected taxes. In final chapter IV....

Les recherches portent sur la transmission des savoirs au sein des universités allemandes à l’époque moderne : il s’agit d’une tentative pour comprendre la manière dont le modèle universitaire germanique, dans le monde luthérien, a emprunté une voie spécifique au moment décisif de la confessionnalisation et de la territorialisation, c’est-à-dire à l’heure où les fractures confessionnelles s’enracinent dans la durée, tandis que la Guerre de Trente ans et l’humanisme ont bouleversé les conditions de la pratique savante. L’étude entend examiner l’évolution des savoirs et de leur transmission en lien avec le contexte social : elle analyse l’évolution des disciplines dans le cadre des chaires des facultés, mais aussi les pratiques des groupes concernés. Parmi les nombreuses universités allemandes de l’époque, celle de Helmstedt retient plus spécialement l’attention. Grâce aux catalogues de cours et aux comptes-rendus manuscrits des professeurs, l’université située dans le duché de Brunswick offre la possibilité de réconcilier histoire des sciences, politique et sociologie. / This research is about the transmission of knowledges within german universities in the early modern period : it attempts to understand the way the german academic model followed a specific path, in the lutheran world, in the decisive moment of confessionalization and territorialization, when confessional dislocation took root and the Thirty Year’s War and humanism turned the scholarly practice conditions upside down. This study intends to examine the evolution of knowledges and its transmission in connection with the social context : it analyzes the evolution of the disciplines within the framework of faculty chairs, but also the practices of the groups concerned by this. Among the many german universities of this period, Helmstedt commands attention. Thanks to class catalogues and handwritten accounts by the teachers, the university located in the Duchy of Brunswick allows the possibility to reconcile the history of sciences with politics and sociology.

<p>This dissertation examines the last thirty years of internal reforms in the Swedish Government Offices. Analysis of the evolution of personnel politics, the formation of one agency and the attempts to introduce a collective activity planning model, show that the immediate problems of the early 1970’s – an over dimensioned staff, territory battles and unclear division of responsibility for personnel and organisation – remains to this day, notwithstanding the many reforms to approach them. One principal explanation behind this is that the key players for successful reorganisations – the politicians – do hardly ever partake. Instead, and on the basis of the perspective of bureaucratic politics, this dissertation demonstrates that the internal development of the Government Offices should be explained as the result of struggles between different bureaucratic actors, with diverse views on problems and their solutions, and with various prospects and strengths to affect the outcome. Due to the choice of politicians to leave this policy field open to bureaucratic politics, the policy is essentially shaped and decided within a bureaucratic context. The dissertation ends in a conclusion that there is an almost constant bureaucratic battle behind internal organisation of the Government Offices, a conflict where tradition, values and strong bureaucratic actors play an important part, and where institutional change is exceptional, since the preserving powers in these processes have the upper hand. But politicians can change – in spite of these traditions, values and bureaucratic agents – if they have the determination. The theoretical aim of this dissertation, through a critical assessment of the bureaucratic politics perspective – an evaluation motivated by the empirical data and inspired by two challenging and related theoretic models; sociological and historical institutionalism – is to display the qualities and shortcomings of the bureaucratic politics model, to develop and improve the original model of bureaucratic politics, and making it more expedient for future studies of institutional change in central political organisations.</p>

This dissertation examines the last thirty years of internal reforms in the Swedish Government Offices. Analysis of the evolution of personnel politics, the formation of one agency and the attempts to introduce a collective activity planning model, show that the immediate problems of the early 1970’s – an over dimensioned staff, territory battles and unclear division of responsibility for personnel and organisation – remains to this day, notwithstanding the many reforms to approach them. One principal explanation behind this is that the key players for successful reorganisations – the politicians – do hardly ever partake. Instead, and on the basis of the perspective of bureaucratic politics, this dissertation demonstrates that the internal development of the Government Offices should be explained as the result of struggles between different bureaucratic actors, with diverse views on problems and their solutions, and with various prospects and strengths to affect the outcome. Due to the choice of politicians to leave this policy field open to bureaucratic politics, the policy is essentially shaped and decided within a bureaucratic context. The dissertation ends in a conclusion that there is an almost constant bureaucratic battle behind internal organisation of the Government Offices, a conflict where tradition, values and strong bureaucratic actors play an important part, and where institutional change is exceptional, since the preserving powers in these processes have the upper hand. But politicians can change – in spite of these traditions, values and bureaucratic agents – if they have the determination. The theoretical aim of this dissertation, through a critical assessment of the bureaucratic politics perspective – an evaluation motivated by the empirical data and inspired by two challenging and related theoretic models; sociological and historical institutionalism – is to display the qualities and shortcomings of the bureaucratic politics model, to develop and improve the original model of bureaucratic politics, and making it more expedient for future studies of institutional change in central political organisations.

Šiame darbe aptariant socialinių ir ekonominių struktūrų ypatumus pagrindinė analizė sutelkiama ties esminiu – savireguliacijos - principu. Pasitelkus socializmo, istoricizmo, psichologizmo, racionalizmo, biurokratinės ir verslinės tvarkos teorijas analizuojama kaip savireguliacijos mechanizmo principas veikia įvairiose visuomenės struktūrose. Aptariant bendrus šių teorijų bruožus siekiama atskleisti ir bendrus jų principus bei prigimtį. Kiekvienos teorijos mechanizmas funkcionuojantis pagal savus dėsnius tarnauja vienai ar kitai tvarkai. Vienos teorijos yra sureguliuojančios, t.y., jos būtinos ten, kur netinka savireguliacinė tvarka, o kitos yra spontaniškos prigimties ir joms negalioja su-tvarkymo mechanizmas. Centralizuoto valdymo siekis yra sukontroliuoti bendros tvarkos principų laikymąsi. Egzistuoja prieštara ir perskyra tarp centralizuoto valdymo ir saviregualicijos – savivaldos principų. Tie būdai, kurie tinka susireguliuojančiai tvarkai palaikyti, negali būti pritaikomi ir reguliuojančioje tvarkoje, todėl viena tvarka negali būti pakeista kitu tų pačių reikalų tvarkymo būdu. Savireguliacinis mechanizmas yra būdingas toms tvarkoms, kurioms negalioja su-reguliuojančios tvarkos būdas, tačiau tuo pačiu šios tvarkos visada yra koegzistuojančiame santykyje. Kai viena tvarka įgyja kitos tvarkos bruožų ji praranda savo esmines funkcijas. Iracionalumo principu paremtos teorijos priskiria vienai tvarkai kitos tvarkos bruožus. Šiame darbe aptariama socialinių ir ekonominių... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / In this paper, in which the structure of the social and the economic aspects are being discussed, the main analysis is based on the fundamental principal of self-regulation. Using theories of socialism, historicism, psichologism, rationalism, bureaucratic and business order the analysis of how the mechanism of self-regulation behaves in different social is being proceeded. In order to find out about the nature and the features of these theories, several discussions are being processed. Each single feature of a theory is dependant on some orders. Some theories are controlling which means they are required when self-regulation order is not appropriate. The others have spontaneous nature and no rules of the controlling mechanism can be applied to them. The purpose of centralist order is to control the following of the rules of the main order. There are the face off and distinction between the principles of centralist order and self-regulation (self-control). The methods that can be applied to the self-controlling order can never be applied to the controlling order and because of that, one order can not be replaced to another. Self-regulation mechanism is inherent to the orders to which the controlling order can not be applied. But at the same time, these two orders are always in a co-existent relationship. When one of them takes over some features from another, it loses its’ key functions. Theories based on the principal of irrationalism attribute the features of one order... [to full text]

In this study, I examine the factors that influence school districts’ commitment to implement ESL (English as a Second Language) education in compliance with the federal Bilingual Education Act of 1968. To explain variation in implementation effort, I focus on several features of the local implementation environment, including the role of Latino descriptive representation. Utilizing data on all public school districts in Texas, I employ a Heckman two-stage estimation procedure that accounts for factors that influence school districts’ decisions to implement bilingual education programs as well as factors that affect the amount of resources school districts are willing to allocate towards bilingual education. The results indicate that Latino school board and teacher representation play a positive and statistically significant role in determining: 1) whether school districts implement bilingual education programs; and 2) the level of expenditures and teacher positions allocated towards bilingual education. Thus, policy implementation outcomes translate into substantive representation.

The present interview seeks to give some points of view about the reform of Competency regulation. In that line, the interviewee give us his general opinion about the reform, the main contribution to the matter and those aspects that were missed, focusing his opinion on anti-competitive practice and negative regulation of anticompetitive practices. / La presente entrevista busca dar algunos puntos de vista respecto a la reforma a la Ley de Competencia. En esa línea, el entrevistado nos da su opinión general sobre la reforma, los aportes que brinda y aquellos aspectos que considera faltaron regularse, centrando su opinión en aquellos temas de combate de prácticas anticompetitivas y control de regulaciones anticompetitivas.