Unpopular Decisions Research Articles

Preparing to be reviewed and the aftermath of review

Discusses the process of preparing for a review and suggests that preparation includes three stages: reading all available documents, talking and brainstorming with staff, and then writing the review document. Notes that the aftermath of the review is more difficult to handle, and that it is essential to debrief and to build on the findings of the review report via working parties and away days. Concludes that the preparation is usually the most helpful part of the exercise but that the report may give the library the opportunity to take unpopular decisions with the support of the review panel.

The Legitimacy of Transnational Legal Institutions: Compliance, Support, and the European Court of Justice

Theory: We use competing propositions from the literature on institutional legitimacy and compliance to trace the sources of acceptance of, or the propensity to comply with, judicial decisions. Hypotheses: Generally, institutions with a store of legitimacy are more successful at evoking acquiescence to their decisions. We expect willingness to accept an unpopular decision to be most prevalent among those who are strongly committed to the institution itself, who perceive the Court as using fair procedures to make its decisions, who are strongly attached to the rule of law, and who are neutral about the issue on which the Court has made a decision. Methods: Regression analysis of items from a survey of the mass publics in the twelve member-states of the European Union in fall 1992. Results: The European Court of Justice does not have an extensive store of good will among ordinary citizens of the European Union. Few people are willing to accept a Court of Justice decision they find objectionable. There is, however, a moderately strong relationship between legitimacy-i.e., diffuse support-and acceptance. Perceptions of procedural justice play little role in the process, although basic legal values (e.g., attitudes toward the rule of law) contribute to acceptance within some countries. In general, our research demonstrates that legitimacy is important for acceptance and probably for compliance; and that the European Court of Justice must tend to what may be an emerging shortfall of legitimacy for the high bench of the European Union.

The Democratic Deficit of the European Union: Towards Closer Cooperation between the European Parliament and the National Parliaments

During Recent Years, The Notion of The Democratic deficit has become, together with subsidiarity, or transparency, one of the most popdar subjects for conferences on European Union. While almost everyone seems to agree that a democratic deficit exists, it is far from certain that there is a general understanding of what is meant by it.The most radical meaning would be that the European Union (EU) as such is undemocratic and that its decision-making does not correspond to democratic norms. Quite often when national governments have to explain unpopular decisions of the EU, responsibility for these uncomfortable situations is attributed to a faceless monster, the ‘Brussels bureaucracy’. The assumption is that a very strong central authority exists which embodies the power of decision-making and that democratic accountability of this central authority either does not exist or at least is not sufficiently guaranteed. In other words, the EU institutional system does not comply with democratic norms. This is by far the most extreme definition of a democratic deficit.

Rebuilding Organisation Capacity in Uganda Under the National Resistance Movement

Eight years of reconciliation, policy reform, and economic recovery have now followed 20 years of dictatorship, corruption, civil war, and economic decline in Uganda. This stems from the interaction between a government which has created a benign environment for development, and donors who have provided generous support conditional on compliance with a standard package of structural adjustment policies involving changes in macro-economic management. These include the removal of price distortions on foreign exchange, capital, and essential commodities, improved fiscal and financial discipline, the reduction of marketing monopolies and state controls, and civil service reform. Government has set up participatory political structures at national and local levels, restored law and order, and taken many of the unpopular decisions required to enforce the changes demanded by adjustment policy.

Justifying controversial political decisions:Home style in the laboratory

Elected officials are not passive bystanders in the electoral process. Rather, they try to influence their constituents' perceptions of events through a variety of strategies, including explanations. Fenno's case studies reported inHome Style (1978) have yielded important insights into the explanations representatives provide to their constituents to account for unpopular or controversial decisions. This paper reports an experimental analysis of the effectiveness of two principled justifications taken from Fenno'sHome Style interviews: individualistic and communitarian appeals to conscience. We also present a theoretical framework for the anlaysis of political accounts, conceptualizing them as a type of persuasive communication. The impact of the two justifications on a number of important judgments is examined within this framework, including reactions to controversial policies, attributions of responsibility, perceptions of political character, and evaluations of public officials.

Inaugural Address

It is a matter of great pleasure and privilege for me to inaugurate the Eighth Annual General Meeting of the Pakistan Society of Development Economists and to address such a distinguished group of professional economists and policymakers. Many of you will recall Lord Keynes famous remark, "Every politician is a slave of some defunct economist". Perhaps the only way for a politician to escape that Keynesian trap is to remain an economist. That is what I am trying to do, but I have begun to realise that the principles of good economics cannot always be reconciled with the requirements of politics. Similarly, a Finance Minister cannot always be both popular and patriotic at the same time. Often he has to make a deliberate choice of taking unpopular decisions in the national interest.

Truth behind the rumours.

The honeymoon's over for Health Secretary Virginia Bottomley. Like her predecessors Messrs Waldegrave and Clarke, she's found herself in the firing line of some very unpopular decisions.

Institutional Legitimacy, Procedural Justice, and Compliance with Supreme Court Decisions: A Question of Causality

In their essay, Tom Tyler and Ken Rasinski take issue with my analysis of legitimacy and procedural justice. Although my article covered a fair number of different issues, their critique focuses on one particular conclusion. I argued that citizen perceptions of procedural fairness by the U.S. Supreme Court contributed little to the willingness of citizens to comply with unpopular court decisions. Instead, compliance (or acquiescence) was most likely when citizens accorded high levels of diffuse support to the Supreme Court. That is, those who viewed the Supreme Court as a more legitimate institution were more likely to accede to an unpopular decision. I concluded (1989:489): “Thus there is some evidence that the legitimacy of the Court, at least as reflected in levels of diffuse support, affects compliance with unpopular decisons. No such evidence exists for perceptions of procedural justice.”

Avoiding Blame: An Experimental Investigation of Political Excuses and Justifications

Success and even survival in politics frequently depends on the ability of politicians and public officials to extricate themselves from various types of predicaments. Indeed, politicians are particularly adept at extricating themselves, with a wide range of explanations at their disposal to avoid blame for unpopular actions and decisions. However, there has been little systematic research on the effectiveness of various political blame-avoidance strategies. This Note has two purposes. First, a typology of blame-avoidance strategies, or accounts, is developed. Second, the results of an experiment examine the effectiveness of these various accounts in enhancing evaluations of a hypothetical public official are reported.

Understandings of Justice: Institutional Legitimacy, Procedural Justice, and Political Tolerance

This research examines the linkages among institutional legitimacy, perceptions of procedural justice, and voluntary compliance with unpopular institutional decisions within the context of political intolerance and repression. Several questions are addressed, including: To what degree do judicial decisions contribute to the acceptance of unpopular political decisions? Do court decisions have a greater power to legitimize than the decisions of other political institutions? Are courts perceived as more procedurally fair than other political institutions? Do perceptions of procedural fairness—be it in a court or legislative institution—contribute to the efficacy of institutional decisions? The basic hypothesis of this research is that to the extent that an institution employs fair decisionmaking procedures, it is viewed as legitimate and citizens are more likely to comply with its decisions, even when they are unpopular. Based on an analysis of national survey data, I conclude that, although perceptions of institutional procedure have little impact on compliance, institutional legitimacy does seem to have some effect. The United States Supreme Court in particular seems to have some ability to elicit acceptance of public policies that are unpopular with the mass public. This effect is greatest among opinion leaders. I conclude with some observations about how these findings fit with the growing literature on procedural justice and with some thoughts about the implications of the findings for the protection of democratic liberty.

Automatic government: the politics of indexation

One of the most dramatic and least studied policy changes of the past twenty years is the increased use of indexing automatic adjustments for inflation in federal programs. Currently, programs comprising more than one-third of the federal budget have indexing provisions. The growth of indexing is all the more remarkable since it appears to conflict with the electoral interests of most politicians. Without indexing, legislators can vote for popular increases in social security benefits, federal pay, and other programs during election years and claim credit with their constituents for doing so. Indexing tends to keep such votes off the agenda. Why would politicians renounce these credit-claiming opportunities instead of embracing them? R. Kent Weaver examines the reasons for the growth of indexing in federal programs and its consequences for current policy. He focuses on indexing debates in six policy areas: social security, food stamps, congressional pay, dairy price supports, the minimum wage, and federal income tax brackets. Weaver argues that to understand indexation policy and policymaking in general we must broaden our understanding of policymakers' motivations. They have often given up opportunities to claim credit because they are even more concerned with avoiding blame for unpopular decisions and outcomes. Politicians' efforts to avoid blame for unpopular actions not only have determined whether indexing proposals were adopted, but have also shaped the effects of indexing on programs where it was adopted. Weaver shows that the effects of indexing have varied substantially across programs, and he suggests guidelines for the future use of indexing in federal programs.

A year of rapid slide-culture in health centres: novelty wears off.

Usage of rapid slide-culture for streptococci was observed in health centres one year after its introduction and first evaluation. The proportion of culture sore-throat patients returned to the original 55% level after an initial period of enthusiasm. The proportion of antibiotic prescriptions remained unchanged at 40%, and rationality of treatment did not increase. Doctors' decisions were based mostly on clinical assessment, while patients' opinions were unpopular decision aids. Evaluation of new tests should extend beyond specificity and sensitivity to their effect on diagnostic and treatment decisions in actual working environments. An observation done shortly after a method has been introduced may be biased by the enthusiasm for novelty, which could be called the "honey-moon effect".

ON THE MAKING OF UNPOPULAR DECISIONS: A TYPOLOGY AND SOME EVIDENCE

ON THE MAKING OF UNPOPULAR DECISIONS: A TYPOLOGY AND SOME EVIDENCE

Citizen Input and Professional Responsibility

Input to planning desicions comes from many sources, including public meetings and citizen opinion surveys. Often data from such sources are in conflict with each other as well as at odds with professional recommendations, and planners and public officials must evaluate the veracity of dif ferent inputs. This article illustrates how citizen input can vary depending upon the method used to obtain it, discusses the reasons for these differences, and sug gests factors that must be considered when using citizen input in practice and when educating planning students. The article holds that planners have an obliga tion to face up to tough, possibly unpop ular planning decisions that cannot be derived by averaging out citizen opinion.

Politique agricole et résultats électoraux en milieu agricole au Québec

Politique agricole et résultats électoraux en milieu agricole au QuébecThe purpose of this article is to assess the degree to which the agricultural policy of the Quebec government influences the provincial vote in rural areas. More precisely, does the pro-government vote shift as a result of the short-term economic impact of agricultural policy? This general hypothesis is broken down into four specific hypotheses. The unit of analysis is the agricultural locality, that is, one in which at least 50 per cent of the population lives on a farm. The analysis bears on the voting shifts in the elections of I960, 1962, 1966, 1970 and 1973.Two of the hypotheses are clearly invalid. The other two are confirmed for the election of 1966 but not for the election of 1973. The agricultural policy of the provincial government seems, therefore, to have an electoral impact only under certain conditions. It becomes clear that only policy changes effected a short time before an election, and that involve programmes with a highly visible economic impact, can strongly influence the vote.In addition, we find that the pro-government vote varies according to the very short-term rise and fall in the price of the main product found in each locality. The federal policy of price support for agricultural products is equally a voting determinant in certain elections; in fact, some unpopular decisions of the federal government are turned against the provincial government. In summary, electoral results are strongly influenced by very short-term economic circumstances, whether the government is responsible for them or not.

The Realities and Ethics of Desegregation

THE SUPREME COURT DECISION of May 17, 1954 which unanimously declared that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional has provoked widespread discussion of practically every aspect of Negro-white relations in the United States. Some of the most important topics include the enforceability of an unpopular decision; the nature and susceptibility to cure of race prejudice; intermarriage; the morals, economic status and intelligence of Negroes; the capacity of Negro teachers; the police powers of states; methods of evading or nullifying the Supreme Court decision; gradualism versus the fellswoop; the political and international implications of the decision; the ethics of segregation. One hears again the famous dictum of William Graham Sumner that Stateways cannot change folkways. That is to say that it is futile for government to seek through judicial, legislative or executive means to overcome deeply rooted attitudes and behavior. Like most dicta, this one is too sweeping. The failure of prohibition is the classic example to justify it. A law to prohibit smoking or to require intermarriage of persons of different races, religions and cultures would similarly fail. On the other hand, the civil rights law of Ohio, after having been violated for many years, is now being enforced in many parts of the state. The Supreme Court decision, Smith v. Allwright, I944, has resulted in a wider use of the suffrage by Southern Negroes than at any time since Reconstruction despite the threat that, if the

Fighting rate increases by the recall

National Municipal ReviewVolume 11, Issue 7 p. 212-213 Article Fighting rate increases by the recall J. D. Barnett, J. D. Barnett In academikc discussions it used ot be often asserted that judicial officers might be recalled for making correct but unpopular decisions. Now at last we have acase similar to it.Search for more papers by this author J. D. Barnett, J. D. Barnett In academikc discussions it used ot be often asserted that judicial officers might be recalled for making correct but unpopular decisions. Now at last we have acase similar to it.Search for more papers by this author First published: July 1922 https://doi.org/10.1002/ncr.4110110708AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume11, Issue7July 1922Pages 212-213 RelatedInformation