The Political and Economic Impact on the Development of Social Group Work in Taiwan

This article uses a political-economic lens to clarify the development of social group work in Taiwan. During the past 50 years, Taiwan has experienced a great economic and political transition. This article focuses on three different periods of time. Under the political repression of the 1950s and 1960s group activities were a means of social control. In the 1970s economic development evoked social changes that led to relaxed controls over civil organizations and political freedom. Community development and “Americanized” social work education marked the first step for social work with groups. During that period group work in Taiwan placed more emphasis on individual problems. In the 1980s political change brought the expansion of group work in Taiwan. An open political scene and flourishing social movements gave impetus to extension of various forms of group work in all kinds of situations. In particular social action and self-help groups played a critical role in the growth of the interests of people.     

Party Organization and the Political Success of the Communist Successor Parties

Objective . Although there has been much recent work done on party systems in the postcommunist world, there has been very little systematic comparative work that examines the relationship between the organizational development of political parties and political performance. The objective of this article is to empirically examine the relationship between party organization and the political success of 17 communist successor parties from 1993 to 2000. Methods . I propose a way of measuring party organizations based upon the degree of personnel overlap between the organs of the extraparliamentary party and the party in public office and the organizational density of political parties and relate these characteristics to the political success enjoyed by the communist successor parties. Results . In general, I find that the more the successor party was dominated by officeholders and less reliant on a mass membership for political support in the years immediately following the transition, the more successful the party was later. Conclusions . The interaction of party organization with the party's competitive environment was a better predictor of success than declines in the socioeconomic condition of the population, rises in popular "nostalgia" for the past, or openings created by political institutions.     

Putting experts in their place: Achieving policy impact as an outsider-academic in civil service reforms in Slovakia

This paper studies two processes of civil service reform in Slovakia during the period of 2014–2015 in order to reflect on the involvement of an ‘outsider-academic’ and her strategies to achieve policy impact. The context of such involvement are multi-level processes permeated by political interests and poor on evidence, which favour strategic interests, bargaining and political pressure and contestation (the mode of ‘powering’) and a mode of legal-based ‘puzzling’ as opposed to a conceptual, intellectual search for solutions friendly towards outside academics—and achieving only incremental results. We theorise on the success of these strategies (including helping serendipity, throwing ideas to see what sticks, mobilising allies, anchoring a non-binding concept, and finding and developing long-term connections) and sketch analogies and differences between the position of an outsider-academic and a policy entrepreneur. We rely on auto-ethnographic data and documentation of the work of the committees involved and their outputs.     

Protest militancy in the USSR: When does it work?

Recent studies of political protest suggest that militant tactics tend to produce greater concessions for aggrieved groups in hegemonies than in polyarchies. In hegemonic systems (such as the Soviet Union), political protest seems to be a two-player, regime-dissident power struggle in which the dissidents' best hope for success lies in overcoming regime force with their own force—disruption and damage. Protest militancy in hegemonies may work even better when militant tactics are combined with other protester power resources and when regime power resources are avoided. A study of 382 demonstrations in the Soviet Union confirms these propositions. Militancy does prove positively correlated with regime concessions under a wide variety of geographic, protest-group, and target characteristics. Yet protest militancy is even more effective under conditions of relative regime weakness and protester strength. The study concludes with some implications for the stability of hegemonic regimes.     

Attitudes Toward Worker Co-Operatives in Queensland

In many parts of the world, and in at least three states in Australia, the last decade has seen a resurgence of interest in worker co-operatives as a response to high levels of unemployment. Significant determinants of the degree of success of worker co-operatives are the attitudes of powerful people and organisations in the community. This study documents the attitudes of politicians and political parties, public servants, representatives from business, trade unions, churches and cooperatives in Queensland. Despite the history of co-operatives and the persistent efforts of some informal groups to work co-operatively in Queensland, no strong commitment to the concept of worker co-operatives was found. Attitudes might best be described as varying between disinterested and hostile. Those committed to the development of worker co-operatives in Queensland will have to engage these critical attitudes as part of any development process.     

Advocacy for disabled children and young people: benefits and dilemmas

Recent policy has emphasized the need for advocacy services for children and young people, developments that have gone hand‐in‐hand with greater levels of participation of young people in decision‐making. Advocacy for disabled young people is especially important, as they are a particular vulnerable group and have, traditionally, been even more excluded from decisions about matters affecting their lives. This paper reports the findings, as they relate to disabled young people, from a study that investigated the role of advocacy for looked‐after children and children in need. The paper highlights some of the benefits of advocacy for disabled children, the dilemmas facing advocates between advocating and acting in someone's ‘best interests’, identifying the client and the boundaries between advocacy and social work. It argues that time given to establish a close relationship with a disabled child or young person is crucial if advocacy is to be effective and participation in decisions affecting their lives a reality.     

Environmental politics and the changing context of interest group organization

Olson's seminal work, The Logic of Collective Action, holds that rational choice militates against the formation or at least success of collective interests unless such groups offer sufficient selective benefits. A number of scholars, however, have come to argue that changes in the very nature of interest groups, their patterns of organization, and their funding have rendered aspects of Olson's model obsolete. This study attempts to provide empirical support for Olson's critics by examining a case of interest group mobilization and organization involving the extremely polarized policy conflict over old growth forests in Oregon's Siskiyou National Forest. What this study found in this case was that: (1) environmental interests still managed to readily and vigorously organize into manifest groups, (2) the existence of patron-funding and coalition groups undermined the ability of selective incentives to account for such organization, and (3) the very modest incentives that environmental groups offered do not adequately explain the degree and depth of this organization. This study speculates that the pluralist idea of a shared perception of common interests and/or threats offers a more persuasive explanation for group organization in the politics of the Siskiyou.     

组织动员、行动策略与机会结构——业主集体行动结果的影响因素分析

本文从组织动员、行动策略和机会结构三个维度出发,基于发生在1999-2012年的中国191个业主维权案例,系统考察了纠纷类型、参与人数、维权方式、业主组织和政府反应五个因素对业主集体维权结果的影响。研究发现,在涉及政府部门的行政型纠纷和混合型纠纷中,业主不易维权成功;动员一定数量的业主有助于集体维权成功,但并不意味着动员人数越多,成功可能性越大;不同维权方式及其组合会影响维权结果,非制度化的激进行为并不利于业主实现其利益诉求;真正代表业主利益且能有效运作的业主组织可以显著提高业主维权成功的可能性;政府的行政失当行为(包括不当干预和行政不作为)大大增加了业主维权的难度。这些发现在一定程度上揭示了当前中国强国家-弱社会的现状。     

Facing the Future: America's Post-multiculturalist Trajectory

America's multicultural struggles are now relatively dated. The policies about which multicultural‐type struggles now occur are quite modest (compared, for instance, with the much more extensive measures implemented in Canada and Australia). The reforms of the 1960s not only heralded unexpected consequences (such as the growth of the Asian and Latino populations) but were unavoidable if the US polity was to satisfy the basic criteria of democracy. These civil rights reforms and connected public policy measures, such as affirmative action or multicultural educational curricula, shape US politics—but in a way which interacts more genuinely with the country's vast diversity of peoples. Group‐based divisions are deep and enduring but they are expressed in an individualist political culture whose political institutions are responsive to individualist‐based demands, even when these demands are expressed through group loyalties.     

The awakening of the sleeping giant? An examination of the role of Ethnicity in the 2006 immigrant rights protests

Since the 1960s many have referred to the Latino community in the U.S. as a “Sleeping Giant.” Recent events including the 2012 presidential election demonstrate that Hispanics are engaged in social and political activism and we posit that this activism can be traced back to the 2006 immigrant rights demonstrations. However, this activism has yielded little success in terms of policy change. Using survey data gathered during a symposium on political activism and civic engagement in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex we employ regression models to examine the factors that influence the perceptions of Latino political activism and its impact. Our results demonstrate that ethnicity played a key role in how the marches were perceived. Further, we find that different variables drive perceptions about the marches for Hispanics and Caucasians, respectively. We conclude the study by discussing the impact of ethnicity in perceptions of political activism.     

Strategic administration of nonprofit human service organizations: a model for executive success in turbulent times

Rapid and unprecedented changes in our modern society have created extremely turbulent environments for nonprofit human service organizations. These changes threaten to transform the very nature of our business in ways difficult to predict and prepare for. The author examines the collective views of 21 purposely sampled executive directors in the city of Baltimore, Maryland on the future of the nonprofit human services sector. In 1 hour face-to-face interviews, subjects were asked to respond to three questions. What major trends will impact the nonprofit sector in the near future? What potential impact do you see these trends having on the nonprofit sector? What strategies would you recommend that executive directors take today to ensure success of their organization in the future? Narrative responses to each question were aggregated, organized into dominant views, and summarized. Subjects identified a host of social, political, economic, and technological trends that will have major effects on the future of the nonprofit sector. Subjects recommend a variety of tactics for helping an agency respond successfully to these forces. These tactics emphasize three critical areas of strategic administration: planning, management, and leadership.     

Youth Political Development: An Introduction

Research on political socialization during the 1950s focused on early precursors of political attitudes and treated children as rather passive participants in the process. A second wave of research in the 1960s considered youth a force creating social change and held that the transition between adolescence and adulthood was a period uniquely suited to examining political issues. Developmental research during the past two decades has emphasized lifelong plasticity and the importance of the sociohistorical contexts in which children grow up. This change in views of development has occurred at a time when populations in all societies are becoming more diverse and when there have been dramatic economic and sociopolitical upheavals throughout the world. Thus there is a renewed importance for research on the political development of young people and the potential for examining this topic in increasingly meaningful ways. This issue highlights a new generation of research in this domain, paying particular attention to international and comparative work and to those studies that bring a fresh and developmental approach.     

The political activities of social workers in the context of changing roles and political transition in Hong Kong

The article reports on a fourth study on the political participation of social workers based on a methodology developed by Gray and Collett van Rooyen (2000). Thus far studies have been conducted in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The present study examined the political activities of social workers in Hong Kong. It begins with a review of the politicisation of Hong Kong's social workers, tracing developments from the 1960s onwards. It then examines the literature on political participation in social work, particularly various typologies of political activity, in order to add to theory relating to this important aspect of social-work practice. Thereafter, it outlines the conceptual framework and methodology used in the study, the results of which provide the basis for the discussion of the political activities of social workers in Hong Kong. It ends with an in-depth discussion of the implications of the findings for the political role of social workers in Hong Kong's changing political context.     

Business Mobilization and Public Policy in the U.S. States*

Objective. The goal of this study is to examine how the political mobilization of business interests influences aggregate public policy outputs in the states. We examine the relationship between business mobilization and general state policy liberalism, as well as policy that we term state “business policy climate.” Methods. We construct a measure of the “business policy climate” from a number of tax and regulatory indicators in the states and examine whether business influences it and policy liberalism using ordinary least squares regression. Results. The analysis shows that business mobilization does not influence general policy liberalism but is a significant influence on a state's business policy climate. Specifically, the dominance of a state's campaign finance system by business interests makes policy more favorable toward business. Conclusions. The extent of business mobilization in a state is an important influence on public policy outputs but is constrained by the activities of other political actors such as unions.     

Women,Legal Aid and Social Inclusion

This article examines access to legal aid for women in light of the Australian government's social inclusion agenda. It is notable that the government's image of social citizenship does not include the ability to invoke and enforce legal rights, and that discourses of social exclusion have paid relatively little attention to gendered patterns of exclusion. The article reports on a study of applications for and refusals of legal aid for family law, domestic violence and anti‐discrimination matters by socially excluded women in Queensland. It demonstrates the variety of ways in which Legal Aid Queensland's grants process operated to further exclude and marginalise these women. It argues that effective access to legal aid is an important element of social inclusion, but that this goal cannot be achieved by reliance on the tools of New Public Management.     

From protests to litigation to YouTube: A longitudinal case study of strategic lobby tactic choice for the Buffalo Field Campaign

Interest group scholars have long explored under what circumstances interest groups choose lobby tactics to influence policy. While most studies focus on well-funded national interest groups, this study uses a newly formed interest group, Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC), in order to qualitatively analyze changes in lobby tactic choice from its inception and empirically assess these changes with traditional measures of lobby choice. Additionally, this study employs an innovative methodology by proposing a new typology of lobby strategy and using the interest group's political narratives as the data source. Thus, the research questions addressed in this study are: (1) does the BFC evolve over a ten year period in terms of lobby typologies and if so, how?; (2) qualitatively, what are these lobby activities?; and (3) how does choice of lobby typology relate to age of the group, issue saliency, financial resources, and external political context? The results indicate that BFC has gone through three distinct lobbying stages since its inception from indirect-unconventional to direct-conventional to indirect-conventional. Significantly correlated with these stages are age, financial resources, and governing coalition; interestingly, there are no statistically significant associations between lobby tactic choice and issue salience or external political context measured in the number of bison deaths. The implications of the findings for the study of other interest groups are explored.     

THE FUTURE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES ON THE MAINSTREAM POLITICAL AGENDA

The purpose of this paper is to identify some of the factors that have contributed to he well documented decline of the environment as a significant policy concern on he mainstream political agenda. On the basis of interviews with environmental ***ctivists, such factors would appear to include the hardening of the Australian Labor ***arty and concomitant softening of the Liberal Party to movement pressure; the increased institutionalised access of movement elites to decision‐making forums; the changed issue focus of some environmental organisations; and a shift in the movement's campaign tactics.     

Building a movement from scratch: environmental groups in the Czech Republic

The Czech Republic’s transition from communist authoritarianism to parliamentary democracy offers a useful case study of the relationship between environmentalism and democracy. More specifically, this study explores the dynamics of environmental group organization in the Czech Republic from 1989 to the present as a way to reflect upon political scientist Robert Paehlke’s contention that the pluralist democracy enhances the environmental movement and vice versa (1989; 1990; 1998). What is found is that while environmental mobilization and organization did indeed increase in the post-1989 democratic era, the movement still has some serious weaknesses and has suffered from abrupt shifts in public support. Thus, while Paehlke’s thesis is essentially supported by the Czech case, we can also see that it certainly takes much more than the mere existence of a democratic context for a vibrant and influential environmental movement to form and maintain itself. Using the U.S. environmental movement for comparative purposes, this study finds that although some important strides have been made, structural, procedural, economic and sociocultural factors have all played key roles in limiting the success of Czech environmental groups.     

PUBLIC CONSULTATION AND JUVENILE JUSTICE REFORM: A QUEENSLAND CASE STUDY

The paper examines critically the relationship between the rhetoric and reality of the then Queensland Government's consultation procedures in relation to the 1992 Juvenile Justice Bill. It is argued that although the State Government viewed consultation as central to the process of social policy reform, the steps adopted to achieve this in the case of the Juvenile Justice Bill were regarded widely as inadequate in a number of important respects. We contend that such shortcomings were generated by a number of interconnected factors, not least being the Queensland Government's hasty attempt to appease public concern over juvenile crime, and the absence of a practise model to implement it's stated aims of public consultation. This in turn served to enhance the political legitimacy of the Labor Government in the period prior to its re-election in September 1992.