PAR Preview ▪ Issue 5 ▪ March 2012
PAR Preview is a monthly newsletter that calls attention to forthcoming articles in PAR.
PAR Preview provides brief summaries of content now available digitally in Early View,
Wiley's online publication system.
Research Article
Assessing the effectiveness of administrative reform in new democracies
Milena I. Neshkova (Florida International University) and Tatiana Kostadinova (Florida International University) examine the effectiveness of administrative reform in new democracies in Central and Eastern Europe by analyzing its impacts on government transparency and foreign direct investment. An empirical investigation of six postcommunist countries in Central and Eastern Europe indicates that reform of the civil service directed toward more professionalism and less political intrusion reduces public sector corruption. Once reform is adopted, administrations become more effective at attracting foreign investors. Neshkova and Kostadinova argue that even when adopted late in the transition process, reform can still produce positive outcomes. Link to PAR Early View
Commentary on this article by Gary J. Reid is available in Early View. Link to PAR Early View
International experiences in high-speed rail and lessons for the U.S. policy makers
Daniel Albalate (University of Barcelona) and Germà Bel (University of Barcelona) investigate the high-speed passenger rail (HSR) projects implemented to date around the world and propose general lessons for policy makers and managers in the United States. Based on the European and Japanese cases of HSR network development, the authors identify key factors that influence decision making and the success of HSR projects. Specifically, the effects of HSR on mobility, the environment, the economy, and urban centers are examined. Albalate and Bel suggest that HSR projects must be devoted to solving traffic congestion between large cities and that political or administrative objectives would lead to the economic failure of the project. Link to PAR Early View
Commentary on this article by Adie Tomer (Brookings Institution) is available in Early View. Link to PAR Early View
Resource tangibility and network structure in a publicly funded network
Keith G. Provan (University of Arizona) and Kun Huang (University of New Mexico) explore the impacts of different types of resources on the structure of a publicly funded network and the stability of network structures over time as a network moves from a period of early development to greater maturity. Through a longitudinal examination of a publicly funded health and human services network, the authors find that network organizations are linked to each other extensively when resources being exchanged are less tangible and more knowledge-based and that these relationships are not centralized but are diffused throughout the network. The patterns of stability of network relationships over time differ across resource-based subnetworks. Link to PAR Early View
A framework for assessing power in collaborative governance processes
Jill M. Purdy (University of Washington Tacoma) presents a framework for assessing power and how power is used in cross-sector collaborative governance processes. The three sources of power held by participants in collaborative processes (formal authority, resources, and discursive legitimacy) and the three arenas for power use (the participants, the process design, and the content of collaborative governance processes) are described. Drawing upon the power framework, the author analyzes a case study of the collaborative process used by the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Purdy asserts that assessing power can provide tools for managing power disparities among participants and strategies that participants can use to participate more fully in collaborative governance processes. Link to PAR Early View
Publicness dispositions and publicly responsible behavior of private organizations
Stephanie Moulton (The Ohio State University) investigates how diverse regulative, economic, normative, and cultural influences combine to enable or constrain publicly responsible behavior of private mortgage lenders. Managing private organizations toward public objectives necessitates a clear understanding of what motivates private firms to behave in publicly responsible ways. Based on semi-structured interviews with private lending agents participating in a public mortgage program, the author identifies four different publicness dispositions that contribute to publicly responsible behavior: pecuniary, traditional, altruistic, and opportunistic. Moulton finds that even in the same policy context, firms vary in their strategic and institutionalized responses to political authority depending on publicness dispositions. Link to PAR Early View
Book Reviews
Keynes and Hayek: Clash of the economic titans
William Tankersley (University of West Florida) reviews Keynes Hayek: The Clash That Defined Modern Economics by Nicholas Wapshott (2011). In the book, Wapshott attempts to address the central question in political economy today regarding the conflicting economic notions of free markets and government intervention by reviewing personal interactions and professional discussions between Keynes and Hayek. This book, writes Tankersley, provides in-depth historical foundation for understanding the current debate over the role of government in the market. Link to PAR Early View
Promoting social equity in public administration
Richard Greggory Johnson III (University of San Francisco) reviews Justice for All: Promoting Social Equity in Public Administration edited by Norman J. Johnson and James H. Svara (2009). This book illustrates the context and history of social equity in the United States and addresses the need for social equity in public organizations and the leadership required for progress to occur. Johnson emphasizes that this book makes a strong contribution to both the social equity and public administration literatures, and social equity needs more attention from researchers and practitioners. Link to PAR Early View
Public Administration Review is published by Wiley on behalf of the
American Society for Public Administration.
Editor-in-Chief: James L. Perry ▪ Managing Editor: Michael McGuire
Indiana University, School of Public and Environmental Affairs
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