National Socio-economic Development Research Articles

Implementing Public Health Policies in Rural Thailand

Bureaucrats with multiple superiors often encounter difficulty in implementing policies initiated from higher-level officials. When there is a lack of policy-making co-ordination among the superior bureaucrats, the result can be conflicting and excessive policy demands made on the subordinate implementors. Problems caused by such demands are likely to affect adversely the work performance of these subordinates. As noted in a previous study, it is difficult to achieve policy co ordination among the superiors because of the political nature of the provincial bureaucracy of the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH).1 Public health officials within each province form political cliques which compete with each other for power and influence. At the same time, the work of superiors, both at the district and provincial levels, are functionally differentiated. Each superior has a tendency to over emphasize the significance of his work at the expense of others. Con sequently, each superior usually demands that subordinates at health centres give first priority to his functional area. In recent years, the MOPH has often changed its policy goals and guidelines. This has created a situation of policy ambiguity. Many superiors and subordinates alike do not comprehend the new policies originating in Bangkok. They are not certain what the policy priorities are, and sometimes do not take these policies seriously because they know from experience that the MOPH will soon initiate a new set. Recently, the MOPH made another major policy change. Accord ing to the Fifth National Public Health Plan, and in accordance with the Fifth National Socio-Economic Development Plan of Thailand (1982-86), the new overall objective of the MOPH is to promote primary health-care throughout the country. The target is to improve the health conditions of the poor in rural areas. This article will address the possible implications of this new

Toward Peace in the World of Business through International Criminal Justice

In response to the concerns of the world community over the interlockings between the abuse of economic and political power and its potential negative effect on national socio-economic development efforts, the United Nations has undertaken several major strategic programs. The recent Sixth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders focused on this topic, with a global strategy beginning to emerge. Yet that strategy could be on a collision course with the policies of the new American administration. The author reasons that support for an international control strategy is in the best interests of the United States and other Western nations, that it need not collide with a laissez-faire domestic policy, and that it provides an alternative to violent acts of aggression and other non-negotiated mechanisms for achieving world economic justice.

Political Socialization and National Development: Some Hypotheses and Data

W X HAT was once a trickle of research on political learning has turned into a veritable flood as the study of political socialization has become an attractive intellectual investment in the profession. At the conceptual level the literature raises important questions about the relevance of the socialization process to the maintenance and change of political systems.1 Most empirical research, however, has focused on the United States. It is only comparatively recently that scholars have devoted their attention to the systematic study of socialization processes in other political cultures. The Civic Culture which examined citizen socialization from the perspective of several socialization agents is probably still the single most important comparative work in the literature.2 Nor has recent research shed much light on the nagging questions that students of national development have been asking about the link between socialization and levels of socioeconomic development. Building on the earlier work of Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba, we will examine within a single model the relative, truncated influence of different socialization agencies across several nations. It postulates that cross-cultural difference in the relative influence of socialization agents is a function of differences in national socioeconomic development. We raise questions, offer hypotheses and present partial answers. We do not wish to lure anyone into a false dialogue over the truth of our partial tests. Rather we believe that this grouping of questions and hypotheses will ultimately prove more useful than the partial tests.

Methodological Prerequisites For Population Forecasting

The long-range prospects for the nation's socioeconomic development naturally attract the attention of our society. As noted in the Report of the Central Committee of the CPSU to the Twenty-Fourth Party Congress, "We see with increasing frequency that the realization of the key economic and sociopolitical tasks requires a much longer time than five years. This gives rise to the question of long-range planning of the development of the national economy based on forecasts of the growth of the nation's population and of the needs of the national economy, and progress in science and technology." (1) As we see, the forecasting of population growth is cited as a key prerequisite to long-range planning.

2. National Socioeconomic Development and Democracy. A note on the Political Role of the Police

2. National Socioeconomic Development and Democracy. A note on the Political Role of the Police

Economic-Mathematical Methods in Planning and Management

The Twenty- Fourth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union confirmed the Directives on the five-year plan for the development of the USSR national economy in 1971-1975 and set new grandiose tasks for the building of the material-technical base of communism in our country. The Ninth Five-Year Plan heralds a qualitatively new stage in the nation's socioeconomic development.

2. National Socioeconomic Development and Democracy. A note on the Political Role of the Police

2. National Socioeconomic Development and Democracy. A note on the Political Role of the Police

Methodology on regional planning of personal health services. A case study: Sweden.

The methods used by health planners in Sweden to regionalize personal health services are presented. In the first part, the methodology used to estimate future demand is described, and special mention is made of the consumption unit index, by which health planners estimate the effect of demographic development upon demand for personal health services. The resources required to meet this demand for each regional level are also defined, as well as the methods by which that functional distribution is reached. In the second part, the methods used to determine the size of a region as well as the geographic distribution of resources is presented. These methods, which take into account the national and local demographic and socioeconomic development, consider accessibility to the regional center as the determinant variable to decide among different place alternatives for these centers. According to a cost-efficiency approach, measuring efficiency in terms of accessibility, the chosen alternative is the one which minimizes aggregate traveling times and costs.