Who Institutionalizes Institutions? The Case of Paternity Establishment in the United States

Objective . Many researchers have cited the importance of institutional legacies to explain why legislators resist transferring tasks from one agency to another but leave undefined exactly what constitutes these legacies. This analysis concretely defines institutional legacies as organized interests who shape the range of options available for programmatic implementation. Methods . Using a pooled, time-series ordered probit model for the U.S. states from 1988 to 1995, this article focuses on the transition from court-based systems to administrative agencies in making paternity determinations. Results . Lawmakers are less likely to move to administrative systems in states where there are family courts, elected judges, and a large number of lawyers organized into the American Bar Association. The presence of women legislators, however, can mitigate these legacy effects and move the process of innovation onward. Conclusions . Institutional legacies are best conceptualized as strong, organized interests who resist relinquishing any part of their authority, even when confronted with more effective ways of achieving policy goals.     

Institutional evolution and abrupt change: Reforming the administration of social assistance in Finland

Historical institutionalist studies have explained institutional change as resulting from critical junctures that interrupt long periods of stability or from endogenous, incremental evolution. Building on these theories, discursive institutionalists have focused on the roles of agency, ideas and discourse as explainers of change. Combining these approaches, this article analyses Finland’s decision in 2014 to transfer the administration of basic social assistance from municipalities to the central government. This study demonstrates that institutional change can be both abrupt and evolutionary. Due to sudden, exceptional political circumstances, the decision in question was made quickly and under pressure, circumventing possible veto players. However, it was possible only because of the incremental, endogenous change that had occurred in the way in which social assistance was administered at the municipal level. It enabled a change in political discourse, which eroded the credibility of the ideational frames that policy actors had previously utilised to reject the centralised model.     

Overcoming Language Barriers in the Informed Consent Process: Regulatory and Compliance Issues with the Use of the “Short Form”

Language barriers in the informed consent process can be a significant impediment when recruiting non-English speaking subjects into clinical research studies. Regulatory guidelines indicate that the short form procedure be utilized in such circumstances. In this paper, we examine some of the ambiguities in the regulatory framework, the resulting need for institutional policy guidelines, and compliance issues with the short form process.     

Towards a Multi‐level Approach on Frontline Interactions in the Public Sector: Institutional Transformations and the Dynamics of Real‐time Interactions

This study develops a multi‐level approach on frontline interactions in the public sector. Previous research suggests that detailed analyses of frontline interactions are essential to our understanding of how welfare services take shape when policies and rules are applied and negotiated in individual cases. The dynamics and performances of real‐time interactions have, however, rarely been analyzed as such. This study shows how the methods developed in the field of Conversation Analysis can contribute to this research. Our multi‐level approach integrates analyses of the policy‐ and institutional transformations that shape conditions for frontline interactions; and analyses of how policies and rules are evoked, negotiated and reshaped in the turn‐by‐turn organization and performances of interaction. The approach is applied on an analysis of how rules regarding financial aid are applied in an authority highly affected by changes in welfare policy towards standardization and detailed regulations. The empirical case is the Swedish Board for Study Support. The empirical study includes analyses of documents, interviews and analyses of taped telephone conversations. The study shows how institutional arrangements of standardization, detailed regulations, monitoring and depersonalization, structure the frontline work and shape narrow frames for officials' discretion in interactions with clients. The study also shows how rules are invoked and negotiated in recurrent practices in the interaction: in the careful design of decisions; in the investigations of alternatives and exceptions from the rules in order to find solutions to the client's problems. The analyses of concrete interactional practices clearly indicate that also a rule‐governed work dominated by task discretion involves recurrent negotiations, flexibility and local policy‐making.     

Social policy and social order in East Asia: an evolutionary view

This study contrasts two varieties of comparative analysis: on one hand, researchers may look to explain the historical development of the East Asian welfare systems (EAWS) with an eye towards delineating some common trends, while on the other hand, they may seek to recognize the institutional features of these systems through the cross-regime comparisons. We discuss problems in the operation of these two approaches, instead choosing to employ contextual analysis to illuminate developments in social policy in EAWS. This study proposes to understand the policy model of these systems as a two-phase evolution in policy, thus providing a new foundational approach for the study of EAWS.     

Currency boards,depoliticization and macroeconomic stability: the political economy of institutional complementarities*

This article analyzes the potential for institutional design to depoliticize macroeconomic policy-making by examining currency board arrangements. It develops a novel argument to understand the effects of institutional design based on institutional complementarities. This argument highlights that the functioning of a given institution is conditioned by the broader institutional context. The article contrasts this framework with two common approaches – here termed the institutional design and the epiphenomenalism views – and argues that the centrality of institutional complementarities can account for the mixed record of currency boards. The most important complementarities of a currency board are with fiscal, labor market and informal institutions, which are important prerequisites for successful currency boards. By drawing on recent advances in the study of depoliticization, we show how these institutions contribute to governmental, societal and discursive depoliticization. This argument is evaluated by examining three case studies of currency boards – Argentina, Estonia and Lithuania. The article also explores some broader implications of this analysis for understanding the depoliticization of economic policy.     

The compliance challenge: Implications for social security in the People's Republic of China

Abstract   Discussion of social security compliance in developing societies has mainly focused on systemic administrative and operational issues. The article argues that analysis of compliance calls also for frameworks which draw lessons from nation-specific policy circumstances and comparisons of social protection regime types. Using such an approach, it also examines social security compliance in the context of China. Four considerations are found to be central to improved compliance: the sustainability of economic growth; trust in social institutions and regulations; the differing social values inherent in regime types; and institutional inertia accumulated in China's existing policy path.     

Trust and health in Eastern Europe: Conceptions of a new society

Little attention has been paid to why trends and levels of mortality and morbidity differ in Eastern Europe and few studies have addressed people's own perceptions of their new political system – perceptions which per se may be important for social development. The aim of the present study was to analyse the extent to which trust and economic circumstances affect self‐rated health in Poland, Estonia and Russia and how much health differences between the countries can be explained by these factors. A better economy and higher trust were related to better individual health, while economic factors seemed most important for inter‐country differences. It is probable that both institutional factors and individual perceptions contribute to people's well‐being, but in terms of social policy, an improved welfare system may be the most effective way forward.     

权力的嵌入性分析——国有资产重组下的企业结盟

本文对企业行动者之间的权力关系、策略互动及其所嵌入的社会网络与制度环境提供了一个解释框架。文章运用组织决策学派的“权力”概念,对国有资产重组下的国有资产经营公司与民企联盟的结盟进行了分析。在 “嵌入性”概念的基础上,作者认为,作为结盟前提的权力嵌入于社会网络之中,并且嵌入于中国市场化改革与政体连续性的制度背景之中,因此给权力关系与结盟带来了不确定性。文章试图把“权力”带回企业结盟分析的中心,在理论上对格兰诺维特的社会网络嵌入与倪志伟的制度嵌入进行综合,提出应洞察行动者所嵌入的社会网络以及更为广泛的制度因素对企业行动者的影响。     

Organization and Supply of Long‐term Care Services for the Elderly: A Bird's‐eye View of Old and New EU Member States

This article provides an overview of the organization of formal long‐term care (LTC) systems for the elderly in ten old and 11 new EU member states (MS). Generally, we find that the main responsibility for regulating LTC services is centralized in half of these countries, whereas in the remaining countries, this responsibility is typically shared between authorities at the central level and those at the regional or local levels in both institutional and home‐based care. Responsibilities for planning LTC capacities are jointly met by central and non‐central authorities in most countries. Access to publicly financed services is rarely means tested, and most countries have implemented legal entitlements conditional on needs. In virtually all countries, access to institutional care is subject to cost sharing, which also applies to home‐based care in most countries. The relative importance of institutional LTC relative to home‐based LTC services differs significantly across Europe. Although old MS appear to be experiencing some degree of convergence, institutional capacity levels still span a wide range. Considerable diversity may also be observed in the national public–private mix in the provision of LTC services. Lastly, free choice between public and private providers exists in the vast majority of these countries. This overview provides vital insights into the differences and similarities in the organization of LTC systems across Europe, especially between old and new MS, while also contributing valuable insight into previously neglected topics, thus broadening the knowledge base of international experience for mutual learning.     

Return to work after workplace injury: Injured workers,insurers and employers

Returning injured workers to work is a central object of contemporary workers’ compensation systems. Injured workers’ interactions with insurers and employers are critical to achievement of timely and sustainable return to work outcomes. This article explores the interactions of injured workers with insurers and employers through analysis of their perceptions and experiences. The focus is on experiences with the NSW Workers Compensation scheme since 2012. To frame this analysis, the article proposes a model mapping these interactions, the relationships involved, the health, social and vocational consequences, and the return to work outcomes. The research found not only that the NSW Workers’ compensation system is failing to deliver a timely and durable return to work for many injured workers, but also that, for many, problematic and often pathogenic interactions with employers and insurers are resulting in exacerbated and secondary injuries and negative social and vocational consequences.     

The Revenge of History – The Institutional Roots of Post‐Communist Family Policy in the Czech Republic,Hungary and Poland

The authors combine historical and sociological institutional analysis to show that despite the political and socio‐economic transformation in 1990s, the institutional development during and before the communist era provides the best explanation for current childcare policies in Central Europe. While most authors have concentrated on policy changes that have taken place in the region since 1989, this article concentrates on the historical roots of these policies and shows that today's policies are highly influenced by a certain dynamics that had already emerged under communist rule. It shows that a historical institutional approach, which analyses the ‘gendered logic of appropriateness’ and policy legacies at various critical junctures, can explain why family policies in Central Europe had already begun to differ during the communist era, why these main differences continue and why even the changes that have taken place follow logically from historical‐institutional developments.     

Causes and Consequences of Unexpected Educational Transitions in Switzerland

The present study examines transition patterns of Swiss secondary and tertiary school students. Switzerland's highly canalized education system allows us to test how tracking affects person–environment fit of students for students who choose a normative versus unexpected downward transition pattern. In addition, we investigate how self-efficacy expectations and personal values affect an unexpected transition choice. Results indicate that students with strong expectancies and personal values can oppose institutional norms and chart their own academic course; however, these students are less likely to perceive a good fit between their own interests and competencies and institutional demands after the transition. Our findings underscore the importance of developmentally appropriate educational environments and systems permeable enough to adapt to developing students' changing interests .     

The Group-in-Institution as the Unit of Attention

All social workers in America are keenly aware of the continuing thrust towards de-institutionalizalion. They are equally familiar with the promotion of the community's responsibility for the so-called deviant populations in our society. Many may not be so aware, however, of a paradoxical trend that is occurring simultaneously. The use made by these populations of a great variety of residential facilities is on the increase. Nevertheless, indications are that these facilities are being used differently to achieve quite different aims now than in the past. For example, periods of admission to institutions are shorter and more frequent. Temporary admissions for many are often arranged to give some relief to their family members or other caregivers. Further, two different types of institutionalized populations are emerging as: (a) those who become socialized to the institution because of repeated or long-term admissions, and (b) those who become dependent on the institutions almost immediately upon their admission to it. Thus, if institutions are to become more than merely custodial services, these trends forecast the need for a more differentiated practice by the social workers who work in them (Anthony & Farkas, 1982; Mercier, 1986; Toews & Barnes, 1986). This paper asserts that group practice with individuals residing in institutions contributes significantly to the constructive use they make of institutional services. Not only does the group provide a therapeutic milieu to its members for the resolution of psychosocial problems through interactions within the group. The group is also a powerful influence on the institutional environment of the group, as well as on the external community of each of its individual members. It is further contended that there are special competencies inherent in this kind of practice with groups whose members reside in institutions. Thus the impact of institutional services on members and staff is explored in order to identify the salient practice issues. In the light of these issues the external influence of the group is conceptualized. This conceptualization is then tested against the realities of practice with groups in two contrasting institutional contexts.     

Simulating Human Behavior for Understanding and Managing Environmental Resource Use

Computer simulation allows for the experimental study of dynamic interactions between human behavior and complex environmental systems. Behavioral determinants and processes as identified in social-scientific theory may be formalized in simulated agents to obtain a better understanding of man–environment interactions and of policy measures aimed at managing these interactions. A number of exemplary agent-based simulation studies is discussed to demonstrate how simulations can be used to identify behavioral determinants and processes underlying environmental problems, and to explore the possible effects of policy strategies. Finally, we highlight how agent-based simulation may contribute to our understanding of the dynamics of environmental resources, and how to manage them in a sustainable way.     

Trans-organizational management: the new frontier for social work administrators

This paper has presented a basic thesis: we cannot rely on institutional rearrangement as our primary vehicle of systemic change. By doing so, we would be repeating the mistakes of the 1960s by instituting changes that will not result in fundamental and log term improvements to societal human services systems. Change can only flow from recognition that there are two types of management that must co-exist: institutional and trans-organizational. In public and nonprofit social work agencies, the former is almost the sole focus of administrative knowledge and skills. Slowly, all the human services (Jaeger, Kaluzny & Magruder-Habib, 1987) are beginning to concentrate on trans-organizational systemic arrangements. Increasingly, social work administrators are acquiring knowledge++ and ability in trans-organizational management. It is a prerequisite for the fundamental systemic changes required by the new demographics of the next decade and the next century.     

黑龙江省新型工业化道路的战略选择

文章从走新型工业化道路的角度分析了黑龙江省的现实问题、潜在优势 ,比较“两种”工业化道路的本质区别 ,指出黑龙江省能否抓住国家振兴东北这一难得的历史机遇 ,关键在于走出一条不同于过去的新型工业化道路。要结合省情选择走新型工业化道路的路径 ,充分发掘比较优势 ,培养竞争优势 ,加快进行体制创新、机制创新和结构调整     

Social Security in a Rapidly Changing Environment: The Case of the Post-communist Transformation

Overcoming the economic crisis and implementing institutional change in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union has been greatly facilitated by a pre-existing social security network—although adaptations to the new circumstances have been necessary. This paper offers a review of these adjustments and the various strategies that have been employed for mitigating losses in income and in social cohesion with the market reforms. The paper shows how countries first expanded, then curtailed their social programmes, and have started moving away from collective to individualized solutions, not only in the economic but also in the social field. Although this thrust promises many advantages, such as greater personal responsibility and system transparency, several population groups—typically those that fail to form a powerful interest group—risk being left behind by the reform process. The paper concludes that these experiences from the region offer valuable lessons for social programmes assisted by international exchanges that aim to counter the negative impacts of rapid economic and institutional change increasingly a worldwide phenomenon.     

中等国家与全球多边治理

尽管中等国家的概念内涵存在争议,但是它们在国际社会中的地位、利益、共有观念和认同等使其成为塑造全球多边治理的重要力量。中等国家可根据不同情势,灵活选择个体主义、社会交往及制度主义方式中的一种或多种,旨在实现全球多边治理的系列目标和努力提升它们在国际舞台上的话语权和影响力。从现实层面来看,多边主义是中等国家在准确定位自身能力之后而形成的"利他"与"利己"彼此交错的优先选择,但这种选择面临着巨大的挑战。     

Social policy and poverty in post-totalitarian Europe

This article attempts to compare the social policy models of the west with social policies in post-totalitarian central and eastern Europe. It is argued that historical roots as well as recent developments make post-Communist social policy similar to the two major models in the west: the institutional redistributive model and the industrial achievement or performance model. The present problems of mass unemployment and growing poverty cannot be solved without a major reform of social policy, including state intervention and control. The residual social safety net and a strong market orientation are unlikely to be able to reduce poverty and unemployment. However, it is also argued that the strong role of the state and organized labour in both of these European welfare systems creates an obstacle to the future of social policy in the countries of central and eastern Europe. The state is viewed with great scepticism and organized mass social movements are weak in most of these countries. It will take time to develop such agents that can support the development of state social policy, and it may not even be accepted that the route of interventionist state welfare characteristic of western Europe is desirable.