Pleads for a more complex conceptualization of the policy process that considers the factors of time, policy areas, level of government, and nation. Available from The American Academy of Political and Social Science, 3937 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19104; $15.00 annually. (Author/IRT)

This review of evaluation findings on Dutch government policy successes and failures points to the influence of political culture on policy effectiveness. Public policy goal attainment is more likely when the government acts purposively, on the basis of relevant information, with power, and with integration. (Author/BS)

Discusses the resettlement of Polish refugees in Austrian camps. Suggests that the Indochinese experience can help in Polish refugee resettlement, although the Polish situation is less complicated because the Western-oriented Poles are more readily assimilated and fewer in number than the Indochinese. (Author/MJL)

Discusses the interactions of career counseling and public policy; the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats related to such interactions; and selected strategic issues facing professional career counselors in the 21st century. (GCP)

This discussion of evaluations of mediation programs at seven sites and of shock incarceration and home arrest focuses on the similarities in the interpretations of alternative dispute-resolution programs to interpretations of alternatives to incarceration programs. The political construction of the two approaches, which are both designed to…

Introduces some of the key concepts and issues that face Canadian policymakers as they attempt to provide relevant and sensitive actions in support of families and individuals in families. Reviews the Quebec model, considered to be excellent for the development of humanly sensitive family policy. (Author/JOW)

Analyzes creation and implementation of Hong Kong's Target Oriented Curriculum (TOC), an education reform effort, in light of the country's transition to Chinese rule in 1997. Examines TOC's origins, its nature, means of implementation, and its impact. Discusses tension between "policy intent" and "policy actions," and…

Literacy education in Thailand has shifted emphasis over time. Under authoritarian nationalism in the 1940s-1950s, popular democracy was a focus. Work-oriented literacy programs in the 1970s emphasized broader community development. With the neoliberal state's move toward globalization in the 1990s, calls for further democratization of educational…

In 1999, the staff of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) of the Virginia General Assembly (the state legislature) completed a review of the Virginia Board of Medicine that found problems with the process used to regulate physicians and recommended major changes to a system that had remained relatively unchanged for almost…

This article examines what makes knowledge political in its derivation and uses, and what potential political functions it may serve. Emphasis is placed upon the idea that the consequences of political knowledge for a democracy are neither uniformly beneficent or malevolent; but depend upon how the knowledge is being used and by whom. (DE)

The use of polling is partly responsible for a change in the relationship between government and public opinion. There is a range of public opinion from little or no concern to very intense concern about an issue. Polls translate personal beliefs into collective public opinions, often losing the strong feelings at the one end and the moderate…

Many members of the educational community today believe that political pressures have a major effect on education policy and institutions. This paper discusses four barriers that impede teachers and administrators who must cope with these new political pressures. The four barriers include the problem of meanings and definitions, the lack of…

Planning (including educational planning) is by nature a political activity. Educational planning begins with, operates through, and ends with politics. Since politics is a crucial factor in determining the nature and effectiveness of a plan, to be efficient planners, management personnel and other planners should study politics and calculate the…

Examines three models of social science inputs to social policy formulation and argues that they are all inadequate, because they fail to account adequately for the nature of the policy process and the political environment. (Available from NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science, P. O. Box 9155, Rosslyn Station, Arlington, VA 22209; $19.00…

Concludes that in spite of the small number of black women office holders, they have been able to maneuver themselves to be on target when critical issues are of concern to their legislative districts. (Author/AM)