Intention Of Government Research Articles

Facing the Conundrum: How Useful Is the “Developmental State” Concept in South Africa?

AbstractDevelopmental states are often associated with high economic growth. Japan, South Korea, China and Brazil are all examples, most of which grew at phenomenal rates. The National Development Plan in South Africa sets out the intention of the South African government to transform the government into a “capable and developmental state able to intervene to correct our historical inequities …” However, what the South African government means by the term “developmental state” is not entirely clear. To help bring some clarity, this paper distinguishes between the East Asian developmental state and the Scandinavian developmentalist welfare state. The paper furthermore draws on Bernard and Boucher's distinction between a “social investment state” and a “transfer welfare state.” The former is a more precise description of the Scandinavian developmentalist welfare state. Subsequently, the paper discusses the applicability of the developmental state framework to South Africa. Specifically, it argues that the East Asian model neither is a model that would work in South Africa, nor is it a model that South Africa would wish to apply. South Africa currently resembles more a transfer welfare state than the Scandinavian–Brazilian social investment state. The social investment state, though, is closer to what South Africa needs.

Tra "buona sociabilità" e avanguardia patriottica. Censura teatrale e costruzione del consenso in età risorgimentale

Theatre and censorship are two cultural phenomens that during the age of Risorgimento acquire an ideological significance if you compare the two together. In Europe’s Ancien Regime the theatre was considered a «model of order and good sociability », a «virtuous school» where spectators were checked and controllable. But in the first half of the nineteenth century, the Italian theatre does not represent only a «sociability» check point; Opera and Melodrama were artistic forms capable of circulating the ideals of the Risorgimento. The importance that authorities attributed to censorship to check the public’s demonstrations that often accompanied theatrical performances was understandable. After the italian unification it attempted to reaffirm a censorship model inclined to entrust the theatre a social and educational role to control the people, that recalled more in content than in form, the intent of the divided government to entrust at shows and at architectural structures, where they were hosted, the task of contributing to popular education and public order.

Assessing Government Intentions for Australian Water Reform Using a Social Justice Framework

Concerns about justice are increasing as Australian governments continue to implement water reform, often facing hostility from stakeholders with conflicting interests. This article presents a social justice framework that can be used to analyze water reform from a justice perspective. The framework is a compilation of existing justice theories taken from the social psychology literature and is based on the components of distributive, procedural, and interactive justice. We applied the framework in a content analysis of eight key policy documents on water reform. Results show that Australian governments intend that justice be achieved across the distributive and procedural components, with distribution scoring highest and procedural concerns being most numerous. Justice in water reform is predominantly constructed as distribution according to need, with transparent, consistent, and accurate decision making as a second priority. The analysis shows that the framework is a useful tool for evaluating and developing policy using a justice perspective.

Thin Capitalization Ratios Come under Scrutiny

This article considers changes made to transfer pricing rules by the Tax Laws Amendment (Countering Tax Avoidance and Multinational Profit Shifting) Act No. 101 of 2013, as well as announced government intentions to change applicable thin capitalization ratios.

Understanding the parents of children with special needs: collaboration between health, social and education networks

In 2003, Quebec's Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) and the Ministry of Education, Recreation and Sports (MELS) concluded the Agreement for the complementarity of services between the health and social services network and the education network. The objectives of the current investigation were to evaluate the implementation of this Agreement and its impact upon renewal of practices and services, and to investigate the consequences for children with special needs and their families. The specific focus of this article is to describe parents' perspectives regarding the impact of this Agreement upon them and their children. Interviews were conducted with 56 parents of children with disabilities, social maladjustment or learning difficulties across the province of Quebec. Data were analysed using content analysis. Most parents were not directly aware of any contact between school staff and health or social professionals, although discussions might have been held without their knowledge. The intervention plans seemed to be the main vehicle through which some parents perceived collaboration to be occurring. For parents, the impact upon actual practices or collaborative work is either minimal or non-existent. School inclusion of children with special needs is a challenge for all societies. The Agreement illustrates the Quebec government's intent to promote an alliance between two complex networks and has the potential to greatly benefit children and their families. However, more concrete action is required in order to realize specific changes regarding work cohesion and service organization for these groups.

A Cognitive Anatomy of Political Trust and Respective Bases: Evidence from a Two‐City Survey inChina

Building on contemporary research on social cognition and psychology, trust, political representation and accountability, and candidate evaluation, this article proposes to decompose political trust into two cognitively distinct but related components for examination: competence versus intention evaluations. This article further argues that people's evaluations of their government's competence and intention in governance can have distinct bases due to the varying accessibility of pertinent information. Using valid instruments from a unique sampling survey in twoChinese cities in 2005, this article tests the validity of this cognitive scheme. Empirical evidence shows that (1) the surveyedChinese urban residents effectively differentiated between their central government's competence and intention in governance: on average, they had a quite positive assessment of the central government's intention to serve its people, despite their relatively pessimistic views of its competence to deliver good governance; (2) theChinese urbanites did consult different sources of information and heuristics when evaluating their central government's competence and intention, respectively.

Is the Environment Getting Its Fair Share? An Analysis of the Australian Water Reform Process Using a Social Justice Framework

Australia is currently undergoing fundamental and far-reaching reforms in water management that have been prompted by wide-spread environmental degradation caused by past water management practices. This paper is an extract of a wider study that explores how governments incorporate social justice into water reform policies and how that effort is perceived by non-government stakeholders. Using a comprehensive Social Justice Framework, we used a mixed methods approach that combines a quantitative content analysis of key water reform documents with a qualitative semistructured interview process to identify and analyse three principles of social justice that apply to the environment as a water stakeholder: need as a distributive justice principle, representativeness and accuracy as procedural justice principles. We found that the environment is identified as a legitimate water stakeholder whose needs are meant to be assured through the water reform process. However, the environment suffers from a crisis of identity. Other water stakeholders claim to speak for the environment but say different things. Thus, due to a diversity of voices, strong government intention to satisfy environmental needs is diluted in practice. Furthermore, the prerogative to define and measure environmental needs through science, while deemed to be fair and objective, leads to unintended consequences that complicate management and disenfranchise less scientifically capable stakeholders. Overall, we believe that the formal recognition of the environment as a stakeholder in water reform is a significant forward step but its crisis of identity must be resolved before the environment can fully utilise its new role as a stakeholder.

Health system strengthening in Myanmar during political reforms: perspectives from international agencies

Myanmar has undergone a remarkable political transformation in the last 2 years, with its leadership voluntarily transitioning from an isolated military regime to a quasi-civilian government intent on re-engaging with the international community. Decades of underinvestment have left the country underdeveloped with a fragile health system and poor health outcomes. International aid agencies have found engagement with the Myanmar government difficult but this is changing rapidly and it is opportune to consider how Myanmar can engage with the global health system strengthening (HSS) agenda. Nineteen semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were conducted with representatives from international agencies working in Myanmar to capture their perspectives on HSS following political reform. They explored their perceptions of HSS and the opportunities for implementation. Participants reported challenges in engaging with government, reflecting the disharmony between actors, economic sanctions and barriers to service delivery due to health system weaknesses and bureaucracy. Weaknesses included human resources, data and medical products/infrastructure and logistical challenges. Agencies had mixed views of health system finance and governance, identifying problems and also some positive aspects. There is little consensus on how HSS should be approached in Myanmar, but much interest in collaborating to achieve it. Despite myriad challenges and concerns, participants were generally positive about the recent political changes, and remain optimistic as they engage in HSS activities with the government.

Enfoque na política de atendimento à criança e ao adolescente: orçamento público federal e análise dos planos plurianuais

Este artigo analisa o planejamento governamental, expresso no PPA, e busca conhecer o que vem sendo planejado para a Política de Atendimento à Crianças e Adolescentes, partindo do pressuposto da prioridade absoluta contida no Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente, possibilitando o controle do que está sendo planejado e a exigência de sua execução. O objetivo analisar os Planos Plurianual (PPA), referentes aos anos de 2004 a 2007 e de 2008 a 2011 do Governo Federal, tendo como escopo identificar como a política de atendimento a criança e ao adolescente vem sendo tratada no planejamento governamental. Para a realização da pesquisa optou-se por uma abordagem que permite articular a pesquisa de base quantitativa e qualitativa, numa perspectiva de integração dos dados. Foi realizada, uma pesquisa bibliográfica sobre orçamento público, em seguida foi utilizada também a pesquisa documental, dos documentos públicos referentes ao orçamento federal. Os resultados apresentados por este artigo foi que nos Planos Plurianuais de 2004 a 2007 e 2008 a 2011 constatou-se o enfoque na criança e no adolescente, prioritariamente, nas Políticas de Assistência Social e de Educação, sendo que na Área de Educação o enfoque é maior nos dois Planos, apresentando desta forma as intenções governamentais referentes a este segmento e a forma como será atendida. Não há em ambos os Planos um atendimento diferencial e prioritário à criança e ao adolescente, todavia estes aparecem inclusos por meio de programas direcionados à Educação Básica e Programas de Transferência de Renda vinculados a Assistência Social

How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism but Silences Collective Expression

We offer the first large scale, multiple source analysis of the outcome of what may be the most extensive effort to selectively censor human expression ever implemented. To do this, we have devised a system to locate, download, and analyze the content of millions of social media posts originating from nearly 1,400 different social media services all over China before the Chinese government is able to find, evaluate, and censor (i.e., remove from the Internet) the subset they deem objectionable. Using modern computer-assisted text analytic methods that we adapt to and validate in the Chinese language, we compare the substantive content of posts censored to those not censored over time in each of 85 topic areas. Contrary to previous understandings, posts with negative, even vitriolic, criticism of the state, its leaders, and its policies are not more likely to be censored. Instead, we show that the censorship program is aimed at curtailing collective action by silencing comments that represent, reinforce, or spur social mobilization, regardless of content. Censorship is oriented toward attempting to forestall collective activities that are occurring now or may occur in the future—and, as such, seem to clearly expose government intent.

Can Individual Over-indebtedness Be Prevented by Limiting Current Account Overdrafts in Croatia?

The minister of finance on February 19th 2013 announced the Government's intention to prevent excessive borrowing by citizens in the form of huge current account overdrafts . Can such good intentions really come true and what would be their expected effects be?

Corruption and the Challenges of Good Governance in the Nigerian Public Sector

The role of the public service in achieving good governance cannot be underestimated. This can be gleaned from the central role it plays in the formulation and implementation of policies designed for the development of the society. In Nigeria, the role of public service has come under severe criticisms within the context of the gap that exists between its anticipated role and its actual output in guiding the society along the course leading to the desired goal as a result of corruption. This article observes that the fact that Nigeria is still grappling with the problems of bad governance goes to show the level of non-accountability and ever present manifestation of crude corruption that is open, naked, undisguised and yet legally untameable because of the system. The article also reveals that many of the anti-corruption efforts are part of the liberal reforms that are based on the assumption that corruption is an individual act or personal misuse of public office for private gain. It points out that as laudable as the intentions of government in putting in place institutions and laws meant to curb corruption, the enforcement of these laws has left much to be desired. In fact, the various reform efforts of the Nigerian government are of limited value because they fail to take into account much of the dynamics that support corruption in the country. Thus, people now regard the law as paper tigers, meant only to the enforced when breached by low-level public officers. While successive administrations have taken partially successful steps to control corruption, these efforts have not fundamentally undermined the supporting environmentfor corruption in the country. The article therefore recommends the need for greater transparency in the management of public funds by the public office holders as well as the need for political will and commitment from governments at Federal, State and Local, including bureaucracies at various levels of governance in the country. The article concludes that there is a need to transform social values as well as state institutions that work as enabling environments for corruption. The also has enormous responsibility in controlling corruption and restoring the hope to the citizenry goodgovernance. Unless good governance is in place with accountability carefully observed, sustainable development cannot be realized.

A neglected legacy

PurposeAlthough research on the impacts of the Olympic Games on Athens addressed the impact of the Games on economy, generic tourism, and urban restructuring, there has not been given to date attention on the prospects for sport tourism development in Athens as a result of hosting the Olympics, especially if it is considered that the construction of Olympic facilities was legitimized by the government's intention to use them for sport. To address this omission, the purpose of this study is to draw attention to examining the challenges and potential of post‐Olympic Athens to exploit its Olympic legacy for the development of sport tourism.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative approach was employed by conducting nine semi‐structured interviews with Athens’ tourism/administrative officials and analyzing them in line with pertinent literature.FindingsResults show that the city's tourism officials respond with ad‐hoc policies in their effort to capitalize on Athens’ Olympic legacy. Consequently, Athens’ potential is constrained by the absence of a comprehensive tourism policy aimed at enriching and diversifying the city's post‐Olympic tourism product. In this context, the study shows that there is limited awareness by the city's tourism administration for sport tourism development and for establishing appropriate coordination mechanisms, which could foster mutually beneficial links between sport and tourism stakeholders. This leaves unexploited the potential for utilizing effectively Athens’ Olympic facilities and destination capitals in developing a competitive sport tourism product mix.Research limitations/implicationsA limitation of the study is that it examines Athens’ sport tourism prospects through the lens of tourism policy. Future studies are needed to examine also sport policy. On a broader level, it is suggested that future research should extend the focus on the study of post‐event leverage to find the best means for fostering post‐Games Olympic tourism from a sustainability perspective.Practical implicationsTo redress post‐Olympic Athens’ inertia and associated structural problems that affect its tourism policy, the study presents a framework for the strategic planning and sustainable development of sport tourism in Athens.Originality/valueThe study by examining Athens’ neglected legacy for sport tourism, attempts to synthesize a common ground for sport and tourism development in Olympic cities. This inquiry suggests the need for a broader planning and leveraging framework to extend the study of Olympic tourism in the post‐Games period as it relates to the use of Olympic legacy and post‐Olympic assets, which can, in turn, reveal the conditions for synergistic development of sport and tourism. Also, such an examination may shed light on what and how can be corrected in order to mitigate the sources and consequences of problems, while providing lessons for future Olympic cities. Finally, by focusing on sport tourism as it is induced by the Olympics knowledge can be advanced on how to effectively leverage the Olympic legacy and develop sustainable post‐Olympic tourism products.

Implementing change: staff experiences of changes to prison mental healthcare in England and Wales.

Stemming from substantial criticism during the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, the UK government and HM Prison Service developed a number of policies and protocols aimed at improving the state of prison mental healthcare. While it is difficult to fault the purpose of the government's intentions, criticism has continued relating to problems with the implementation of government led change within the prison system. Existing research leads people to question whether policies are being implemented as intended; and if not, why not? The only clear way to answer these questions is to ask those involved in the actual implementation of these recommendations within the prison service. This paper aims to answer these questions. This paper documents findings from a national survey of senior mental healthcare staff working in prisons in England and Wales. Staff were surveyed about their views on the implementation of recommendations from recent key government documents, their perceptions of prison mental healthcare versus community mental healthcare, and their views on the relationship between HM Prison Service and the National Health Service. While many staff report improvements in prison mental healthcare, many have struggled with the implementation of new ways of working and the findings here suggest there is still some way to go towards providing offenders in prison with effective and appropriate care. Where effective ways of implementing change were identified, these are discussed. Listening to the experiences of the staff involved in prison healthcare has helped identify where implementation of changes could be improved and thus highlights where support might best be targeted in future.

The Question of an Armenian Revolution and the Radicalization of the Committee of Union and Progress toward the Armenian Genocide

Hilmar Kaiser, one of the first German historians to work on the Armenian Genocide and one who has often written about it as a historical fact, is now trying to dilute that history. In his latest article, which consciously avoids use of the term genocide, Kaiser seeks to portray Mehmed Djemal Pasha, a member of the Young Turk triumvirate ruling the Ottoman Empire during World War I, as an individual resisting the genocidal policies of his co-conspirators within the Committee of Union and Progress. Kaiser claims to employ Ottoman documents to demonstrate that the initial intention of the Turkish government was to relocate the Ottoman Armenians for military reasons, although he admits that they posed no imminent danger to the state. Kaiser indicates that the first “relocations” of Armenians took place in areas controlled by Djemal and were initiated by him, then goes on to claim that even though the infamous death camp of Deir-es-Zor was located within his sphere of power, he, in reality, protected the Arme...

La reforma tributaria de 1957 en las Cortes franquistas

This article discusses the tax reform of 1957 with a fresh perspective, using the original minutes of the Special Commission on Tax Reform and Budget for the biennium 1958-1959. It analyses, therefore, the legislative process in the organic “Parliament” of the regime of general Franco, allowing conclusions about the formation of fiscal policy in the Franco dictatorship. This approach shows the difficulties in approving tax reforms without taking into account the preferences of corporate and interested parties revealed by members of Parliament, despite the restrictive regulations for their political initiative.Consequently, the tax reform of 1957 responded to the Government's intention to rationalize fiscal policy (rearranging public expenditure and modifying income) and implement, from the Treasury, a policy of stabilization, but the final product was mediated by the demands made in the Parliamentary Special Committee.

Impact of the Government Funding Reforms on the Teaching and Learning of Malaysian Public Universities

The Malaysian Government intention to implement the higher education reforms is observable in the implementation of National Higher Education Strategic Plan beyond 2020 in 2007. This plan emphasises on improving the research and teaching in higher education in accordance with the government objectives. Parallel to the introduction of this plan, the government has also initiated the funding reforms which are currently implemented on the public universities. Therefore, this paper will discuss the impact of Malaysian higher education reforms with emphasis on teaching and learning in Malaysian public universities.

Policing economic crime in Russia: from Soviet planned economy to privatization

Gilles Favarel-Garrigues. Policing Economic Crime in Russia: From Soviet Planned Economy to Privatization. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011. 304 pp. Index. $60.00, cloth.This book examines the evolution of penal policy and the policing of in Russia between 1965 and 1995. It is an unorthodox, but fruitful, choice of time period. These thirty years represent an understudied slice of Russian history, marked by the stagnation, slowdown, and breakup of the Soviet system. Toward the end of the period, the Soviet Union was dissolved and Russia experienced a chaotic transformation of its social and political institutions. The author examines two questions. First, how were the funds allocated to the fight against economic crime actually used? Second, were the law enforcement agencies unable to control the rapidly changing forms of criminality in those years, or were they simply fitting in with the government's intention of fostering a re-birth of private enterprise?The author explores the intersection of morality, social norms, legal institutions, economic resources, and ideology, referring to a wide range of Western and Russian literature. His argument rests on a solid foundation of archival material, painstakingly gathered over several years, and data from a number of qualitative in-depth interviews. Favarel-Garrigues's qualitative research strategy is justified by the elusive nature of criminality and, of course, by his stated purpose: to analyze the changing nature of the policing of economic crime in a country where the understanding of economic behaviour has been distorted by Marxist-Leninist ideology. In the Soviet Union, criminality was perceived as a waning bourgeois phenomenon. However, reality did not conform to the ideological postulates. Some police officers felt that they were expected to clamp down on ordinary citizens who were simply striving to make a better life for themselves. individuals were driven to economic criminality, realizing that the only way to achieve economic improvement was to operate in the shadows of the official planned economy. All non-planned economic activities were despised by Soviet officialdom, as an Interior Ministry Report from 1961, quoted by Favarel-Garrigues, indicates:A resident of Sverdlovsk, aged fifty, unemployed and living in a detached house, who constructed a hothouse with lighting and a water supply on his plot of land in order to grow food and sell it in the market. …

Editorial: Health Professional Regulation

Editorial: Health Professional Regulation

Partisan Effects on Welfare State Retrenchment: Empirical Evidence from a Measurement of Government Intentions

AbstractThe effect of partisanship is disputed in the literature on welfare state retrenchment. The ‘new politics’ school argues that partisan conflicts are irrelevant to the understanding of retrenchment, but the second generation of retrenchment research concludes that such conflicts are still important. We engage in this debate by introducing a new empirical approach. Our method provides a necessary but currently missing link in the second generation of retrenchment studies which theorize on the input side of welfare state reform but conduct empirical studies on the output side. Our empirical approach entails a new type of data, compiled on the basis of content analysis of adopted laws, and we analyze the intentions pursued by incumbent governments in social policy‐making. Based on an empirical study, we find partisan effects in programmes protecting against social risks that are disproportionally distributed among social strata.