Policy Cohesion Research Articles

An Analysis of Turkey's and BRICS’ Voting Cohesion in the UN General Assembly during 2002–2014

AbstractThis paper attempts to analyze the voting behavior of Turkey in the UN General Assembly between 2002 and 2014 in comparison with those of the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) countries by using selected reference groups of India, Brazil, South Africa (IBSA), EU, permanent members of the UN Security Council (P5) and the Western group of P5 (USA, UK, France) with the help of a two layered methodology. In doing so, this paper, with a two‐layered quantitative and qualitative methodological model, empirically tests Turkey's voting alignments and cohesion scores in the UN General Assembly to provide a comparative perspective on the degree of foreign policy cohesion among Turkey and its BRICS peers by comparing the group and pair‐wise ‘cohesion’ results. Finally, this paper will qualitatively analyze and discuss Turkey's exceptional voting behaviors and alignments with both the Western group of P5 and the BRICS to understand the nature of the international issues leading to convergences or divisions between Turkey and the BRICS and to demonstrate Turkey's in‐between and dual foreign policy role in international affairs.

Policy cohesion and adjustment strategy in the application of the National Pricing Schedules for Medical Services (2012 Edition)

Interpreted in the paper are the National Pricing for Medical Services(2012 Edition, the Schedules for short)and the policy cohesion, cautions in implementation and adjustment strategies.The authors analyzed the following: 1.Strict observation of the 9 360 ultimate items in the 2012 edition without any breakdown; 2.Pricing by mainstream and mainstream methods in consideration of local specifics; 3.Correct understanding of the services and pricing in view of local specifics; 4.Scientific and reasonable pricing of the services, with due considerations for financial burden of the patients especially those poverty stricken; 5.Correct communication of the service pricing adjustment extents; 6.Building of medical consumables inventory for provincial management of such consumables.These provide references for the localities in implementation of the 2012 edition. Key words: National Pricing Schedule for Medical Services; Application; Policies cohesion; Adjustment; Strategy

Candidate selection methods and policy cohesion in parties

The method of candidate selection used by parties can influence a number of outcomes related to party organization and representation. In the past decade, Japan’s political parties have increasingly experimented with an ‘open recruitment’ system for selecting new candidates for national elections, but the degree of centralization in the process varies by party. We use candidate and voter survey data to assess whether the new system of recruitment has resulted in intraparty differences in the policy positions of candidates, and their distance from party supporters and the median voter. We find evidence that the new candidate selection method has resulted in the nomination of more centrist and urban-inclined candidates, an indication of greater responsiveness to voters, and that they exhibit higher levels of policy cohesion than their counterparts selected through traditional methods. However, these differences depend on the degree of party centralization in the process.

Social policy and social cohesion in Greece under conditions of economic crisis, Bank of Greece, Athens 2012

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China, Russia, and the Foreign Policy of the SCO

Having celebrated its tenth anniversary in 201 1, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) can be said to have risen rapidly to a position of prominence in the world of regional organizations. Part of the reason for this is found in the successful political marketing of the organization, a process which has seen the member states openly promote their ambition to develop a strong Asian bloc based on both wider and deeper cooperation. As was made clear by the 2001 Declaration on the Establishment of the SCO, this ambition includes the development within the organization of a culture of cooperation on the most important international and regional problems. lA high level of agreement on aims and modalities among the members of the group - a precondition for close foreign policy cooperation - will indicate that they may more readily form a united policy front and thus find it easier to have an impact on their surrounding environment. Conversely, a low level of agreement will indicate that they will find it relatively difficult to stand together shoulder-to-shoulder and to achieve the ambitions outlined in the Declaration.Assessing SCO CohesionWhat follows is an assessment of the actual level of foreign policy cohesion within the membership circle. This includes most importantly the six current full members: China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan (the founders in 1996 of the Shanghai Five, the predecessor of the SCO), and Uzbekistan, which joined the SCO at the founding meeting in 200 1.2 To this group I add the original four observer states - Mongolia (which joined in 2004) as well as India, Iran, and Pakistan (all of which joined in 2005) - as these are the most likely candidates for future full membership.3I measure the level of foreign policy cohesion within the SCO by analyzing the voting records of the ten member and observer states in the United Nations General Assembly. The voting record of each state is seen as a proxy for its foreign policy behavior. These types of studies date back to the 1950s, making this a well-tried and oft-used methodology which can help provide us with quantifiable information as we speculate about the possible changes in the foreign policy of a single state or in the relationship between two or more states.4The ToolboxThe data set used in this analysis is the voting records of the SCO member and observer states, all of which are freely available on the United Nations website.5 In order to present a fuller picture of the development of foreign policy in these respective states I expand the temporal basis by using data from General Assembly Sessions 47 through 65, beginning in September 1992 and ending in July 2011. This means that I include data reaching back before the establishment of the SCO and even the Shanghai Five. Within this time span, I extracted data from every second session, giving me data from a total of ten different sessions.The data collection methodology was based on three basic principles.6 First, I only used votes on resolutions passed (thereby excluding resolutions that were rejected as well as parts of resolutions). Second, from this data set I included only roll call (recorded) votes. These two principles combined result in a pool of more than 700 recorded votes. These votes form the basis for the following analysis. The third and final principle is to treat absenteeism as abstention. On each of the more than 700 votes, the SCO member or observer states had the choice of voting Yes or No, or abstaining. A fourth option, however, is to simply choose to be absent - that is, not take part in the voting altogether.Faced with the challenge of absenteeism, some researchers simply throw out all cases with less than full participation by all the objects of analysis.7 However, as Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan all had high levels of absenteeism in several sessions, this clearly would not work in this study. …

Policy positioning in the European Parliament

Party politics in the European Parliament (EP) consists of competition between transnational party groups, each consisting of multiple national member parties from the 27 member states of the European Union (EU). Identifying the policy space that these parties inhabit and their ideological positions is both practically and conceptually challenging. In this article we characterize this policy competition by tracking EP political groups from three separate, original expert surveys taken in 2004, 2007 and 2010. We look at the relative positioning of the groups on multiple dimensions of policy, as well as changes in party group policy since 2004. Additionally, we characterize the policy cohesion of party groups by examining the relative positions of each group’s constituent parties, using independent national-level expert surveys. The results reinforce previous findings that EP party groups occupy the entire range of the left–right spectrum and, moreover, that their national party makeup consists of parties that are broadly cohesive in terms of their policy locations.

Failed Fantasies of Cohesion: Retrieving Positives from the Stalled Dream of Whole-of-Government Cultural Policy

Failed Fantasies of Cohesion: Retrieving Positives from the Stalled Dream of Whole-of-Government Cultural Policy

Discipline, Electoral Rules and Defection in the Bundestag, 1983–94

This article examines how party discipline and legislators' individual policy goals induced by electoral rules influence the likelihood of defections from the party line in the Bundestag. Using a new indicator based on legislators' explanations of their voting behaviour we find strong evidence that discipline, not policy cohesiveness alone, drives party unity. In particular, the allocation of offices by the party leadership significantly affects legislators' propensity to defect from the position of their party. First, holding an executive office reduces legislators' probability to defect by approximately 19 per cent. Second, parliamentary office also reduces legislators' probability to defect, although the effect is smaller. District legislators are not generally more prone to defect, but their propensity to defect increases if electoral competition increases.

A take on Tooke

Modernising Medical Careers1 seemed benign enough at first; indeed, Sir John Tooke, in his foreword to the Inquiry report,2 refers to ‘an honest attempt to accelerate training’. However, the MTAS debacle was symptomatic of widespread cellular disorganization within NHS workforce planning for doctors, many of whom came to view MMC as a malignant process. It is to Tooke's lasting credit that he adopted the widest possible brief2 and successfully combined independence of vision with building consensus. A comprehensive and cohesive package of recommendations emerged after wide consultation on interim proposals. Only some of these are to be enacted. Reflecting on the Secretary of State's response to the Tooke report,3 it is difficult not to share Sir John's view that postgraduate medical education and training is no subject for procrastination. His plea, following his diligent collation of available evidence, is now for decisiveness: ‘In medicine it is sometimes necessary to take decisions in the absence of optimal evidence in the interest of high quality outcomes.’4 He is right – parking many of the issues with the NHS ‘Next Stage Review’ could impact adversely on future training, and ultimately on patient care, if policy cohesiveness becomes a victim of politicians' cherry-picking. Some benefit will derive from the inquiry's solid workable proposals for mechanisms of consultation, decision-making and accountability in relation to medical education. The Secretary of State must now be accountable for delivering the processes to stabilize and enhance the future training of doctors. The level of detailed, coherent thinking that the inquiry team delivered should make this an easier task than some previous scrambles to roll out NHS policy in the wake of soundbites. There are big disappointments in the ministerial response. Tooke's new commissioning body for higher specialist training – NHS Medical Education England (NHS:MEE) – looks likely to be kicked into the long grass. Weasel-words around the recommendation requiring ‘very careful consideration to ensure that decisions are informed by evidence and evaluation before DH responds fully’ are worthy of sceptical enquiry about political motives. The minister puts faith in the ability of the MMC England Programme Board to bring order out of chaos in the planning and governance of education and training. This contrasts with the view of the Academy of Medical Sciences that there was a need for an arms-length co-ordinating body to act as ‘honest broker’, and agree a coherent, co-ordinated approach to medical education.5 If existing processes fail to re-engage those who have been disillusioned by MMC failures, then ministerial fence-sitting will be seen to be costly. Consistent partnership working between deanery fiefdoms, fifty-seven specialties, seventeen Colleges and numerous other interested bodies has so far been elusive. As to the specifics of Tooke's new thinking, much that was welcomed by the profession has been sidelined by Department of Health. Medical Schools Council (MSC) reported ‘strong and universal support’ amongst medical schools for uncoupling F1 from F2.6 The idea was that newly qualified graduates, emerging from their fully linked-in medical schools, would commence life as Provisionally Registered Doctors, their workplace-based learning for the first year being a continuum of the curriculum of their medical school. Alan Johnson's failure to adopt this proposal means that medical students forego the gain in assured placements and connected learning. They face prolongation of the uncertainty over their future lives. Likewise, the broadly welcomed concept of incorporating F2 into Core Speciality Training is on the minister's wait-and-see list. Another missed opportunity is the failure to commit expeditiously to the five-year general practice training programme, which had been strongly supported. The ministerial responses to the specific Tooke proposals to develop the postgraduate training structure are so hedged around with circuitous further steps that it is doubtful that many will see the light of day. My take is that the final recommendations of the Tooke Inquiry were worthy of adopting as a cohesive package, rather than tinkering at the edges. Given the extent of consultation that the Tooke team managed, it is unlikely that the Department of Health could come up with anything much better. Is there a hidden agenda here? Could deferring to the NHS Next Stage Review impede rather than facilitate change? Applicants per training post are mounting in 2008 and trainees will continue to face an uncertain future until we get a better thought-out system in place. The longer the delay before implementation, the more problems will mount, given that NHS bodies thrive on indecision and planning blights.

The G7, International Terrorism and Domestic Politics: Modeling Policy Cohesion in Response to Systemic Disturbance

This work probes the variability in G7 cohesion in response to relatively new disturbances in the international system. Using a domestic politics model, we argue that G7 cohesion weakens in the face of international terrorism in the context of variable domestic consequences to common foreign policy responses to this systemic disturbance. We compare the predictions from our model with predictions stemming from neorealist and liberal/institutionalist explanations. We find that, consistent with the domestic politics explanation, G7 foreign policy cohesion declines as internal terrorism increases.

The IMF and the Indonesian crisis

Given the strong performance and resilience of the Indonesian economy over the previous three decades, the depth and duration of the 1997–98 crisis was unexpected. The IMF's initial policy prescription was in keeping with the nature of the crisis—characterised by a reversal of foreign capital inflows, interacting with a weak domestic financial sector. But this prescription would work only if there was a quick restoration of market confidence. This was not achieved, and indeed public disputation over the elements of policy undermined confidence. Additional policy elements were needed that would address the capital outflows more directly and resolve the banking collapse. There was a loss of policy cohesion between the Fund and the Indonesian authorities, and among the authorities themselves. Before alternative policies could be put in place, the political dimension became paramount.

Building Competitiveness and Cohesion: The Role of New Housebuilding in Central Scotland's Cities

This paper begins by mapping out the ways in which new private housebuilding may impinge on two of the key themes of contemporary urban policy, economic competitiveness and social cohesion. It then examines aspects of this relationship in more depth, drawing on evidence from Central Scotland. First, it considers the pattern of new housing provision in two adjacent city regions. Second, it examines buyers' choice of new housing per se and between higher density, urban locations versus lower density suburban locations for new housing. Third, it looks at the role of new building in promoting social cohesion/integration. A mixture of sources of evidence are drawn on, particularly surveys of residents of selected new housing schemes and existing neighbourhoods in Central Scotland, but also linked analyses of planning and market data. The conclusions draw attention to the significant role of new housebuilding in supporting city competitiveness and regeneration, at the same time as its rather uneven contribution to sustainability and balanced communities becomes apparent. This leads to some positive pointers for policy while recognising the inherent conflicts between different dimensions of social cohesion.

Agent heterogeneity and consensual decision making on the Federal Open Market Committee

The consensual aspects of decision making are essential for understanding policy made by administrative organizations that take the form of a commision or board. Consensual decision making reflects the degree of policy cohesion exhibited by high-level officials within administrative organizations. It is proposed here that this type of behavior may differ between heterogeneous agents. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the Federal Reserve System serves as a salient setting for testing these propositions in a time series context. The empirical results indicate that major intra-institutional differences exist between Board of Governor (BOG) and Regional Bank President (RBP) members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) regarding consensual behavior. In terms of policy decision making, the econometric evidence clearly demonstrates that the consensual behavior of these agents are fundamentally different from one another. This in turn has important implications for the study of other commission and board policy making bodies that consist of agents who are not all homogeneous.

Beyond putting women on the agenda

Gender representation in government appointments has been lamentable, policy cohesion problematic and the women's movement incoherent, concludes Thuli Madonsela in her analysis of government structures between the elections and the end of 1994. She challenges the Government and the women S movement to act swiftly and decisively

Opinion Structure Among New Democratic Party Activists: A Comparison with Liberals and Conservatives

AbstractThere is substantial disagreement over the extent to which political parties in Canada can be distinguished on ideological grounds. Research on mass publics has usually concluded that ideology plays only a modest role in structuring orientations towards parties. However, a growing body of survey data on party activists suggests a greater degree of ideological clarity and policy cohesiveness. This note extends earlier research by Blake, Johnston and Perlin on Liberal and Conservative convention delegates and compares them with delegates to the 1987 federal New Democratic party convention. Survey data on convention delegates suggest that political activists array themselves in a relatively consistent manner across a range of issues in ways that are compatible with a left/right ideological typology. Our findings also suggest that New Democrats display the greatest consensus and ideological distinctiveness of the three parties studied.

Clique Formation in a Regional Health Planning Agency

This paper presents findings on the pattern of social relations among consumers and providers in a health planning agency in the United States. The data consisted of a survey of policy-making members of the planning body that yielded background information about respondents, their views on a range of social and health policy issues, and sociometric data. Cliques within the organization appeared to be influenced by the organizational “careers” of individuals. These data suggest that policy cohesion may be a more important factor for clique formation than social ties. The significance of the findings is that interdependency may be the hallmark of health planning decision-making. Those who “act” on a particular issue may well constitute a decision network at that point in time.

The efforts of the Truman administration to resolve the Arab‐Israeli conflict

A basic and virtually unquestioned assumption of the Truman administration was that economic aid could induce desired political results. The Marshall Plan stands out in this respect, but the favourable combination of enlighted self-interest and positive recipient motivation was not always to be found. In the Middle East, where the problem was to initiate economic development (unlike the European problem of recovery from war and financial dislocation), the political difficulties were unyielding and frustrating. Nevertheless the administration went to considerable lengths to prepare economic inducements which would be sufficiently attractive to create 'conditions favorable for a settlement'.' This approach was the hallmark of the New Deal inheritance, and was based on an optimistic view of society typical of the Democratic Party. As a tactic for dealing with Middle East conflicts, it provided a basis for a shrewd disengagement from political stalemate. The Truman administration realized nonetheless that a prime ingredient was necessary some willingness on the part of the recipients to accept responsibility for the refugee situation created by the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Responsible and cooperative attitudes, however, were submerged beneath strong political emotions. The Saudi monarch Ibn Saud was paranoid in his fear of being surrounded by Hashemite enemies on the thrones of Iraq and Jordan. Egypt was profoundly suspicious of the British connections of the Hashemites, and of Abdullah's 'Greater Syria' ambitions which included the desire to annex Central Palestine. At the same time, the Iraq-Jordan rift intensified with the agitation for the unity of Iraq and Syria. Cutting across the rivalries and opposing ideological movements of the Arab world was a view of the new Jewish state as an alien intrusion rather than as a gallant testimony of creative survival. While in Israel itself, the fundamental commitment was to unlimited Jewish immigration despite its threat to blot out the country's prospects of economic viability. The Truman administration tried to convince the Arabs of American friendship, while at the same time working for a solution of the conflict. But sectarian misunderstanding was inherent in the situation. American support for Israel's application for membership of the United Nations, which was approved in May 1949, was resented. For its part, Israel accused the State Department of pro-Arab bias and saw its chief support in the White House. In turn, the executive denied that policy was determined on two different levels,2 and strove for a coherent and balanced approach. In response to misunderstandings about its intentions, and to maintain policy cohesiveness across a range of distant outposts, the State Department convened a meeting of Chiefs of Mission in the Near East at the end of

63 Chapters: Chapter Policy and Review Board Provides Cohesion

63 Chapters: Chapter Policy and Review Board Provides Cohesion

61 Chapters: Chapter Policy and Review Board Provides Cohesion

With 61 diversified chapters in metropolitan centers throughout the United States and Canada, some cohesion and adherence to common objectives is necessary. For this reason, a Chapter Policy and Review Board was established. It consists of ten members, eight regular and two from the Board. Two are appointed each year to serve four-year terms. All members of this group are past presidents of chapters of various sizes, so that all types of chapters are represented. The Board studies and recommends future policy, as well as reviews and recommends action in connection with existing policy which affects chapters. The Board of Directors considers these recommendations very seriously, and rarely acts in opposition to them.