Public administration in an age of austerity:the future of the discipline

Reflecting changes in the nature of governance, some have questioned whether Public Administration is now an historical anachronism. While a legitimate debate exists between sceptics and optimists, this special issue demonstrates grounds for optimism by indicating the continuing diversity and adaptability of the field of Public Administration. In this introduction, we first sketch the variety of intellectual traditions which comprise the field of modern Public Administration. We then consider institutional challenges facing the subject given considerable pressures towards disciplinary fragmentation, and ideological challenges arising from a new distrust of public provision in the UK. Despite these challenges, Public Administration continues to provide a framework to analyse the practice of government and governance, governing institutions and traditions, and their wider sociological context. It can also directly inform policy reform - even if this endeavour can have its own pitfalls and pratfalls for the 'engaged' academic. We further suggest that, rather than lacking theoretical rigour, new approaches are developing that recognise the structural and political nature of the determinants of public administration. Finally, we highlight the richness of modern comparative work in Public Administration. Researchers can usefully look beyond the Atlantic relationship for theoretical enhancement and also consider more seriously the recursive and complex nature of international pressures on public administration. © The Author(s) 2012 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

What is the public value of government action? Towards a (new) pragmatic approach to values questions in public endeavours

There has been a resurgence of interest in values in recent public administration research, based on two distinct arguments. For different reasons, neither approach is likely to secure a robust normative basis for public endeavours. These reasons are assessed, using an alternative body of theory rooted in contemporary social theory that we term, 'new pragmatism'. New pragmatic ideas are deployed to critique the divorce of values from facts; the abstraction of values from concrete situations; the anthropocentric foundation to social choice; the poorly developed understanding of the process of governance, with its inherent pluralism; and the seeming reluctance to articulate principles of political discourse. © 2010 The Authors. Public Administration © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Citizen, customer, partner:engaging the public in public management

Book review: CITIZEN, CUSTOMER, PARTNER: ENGAGING THE PUBLIC IN PUBLIC MANAGEMENT John Clayton Thomas M.E. Sharpe, 2012, 242 pp., £24.99 (hb), ISBN: 978–0765627209.

Analysis of common attacks in public-key cryptosystems based on low-density parity-check codes

The security and reliability of a class of public-key cryptosystems against attacks by unauthorized parties, who had acquired partial knowledge of one or more of the private key components and/or of the message, were discussed. The standard statistical mechanical methods of dealing with diluted spin systems with replica symmetric considerations were analyzed. The dynamical transition which defined decryption success in practical situation was studied. The phase diagrams which showed the dynamical threshold as a function of the partial acquired knowledge of the private key were also presented.

Stakeholder communication and the internet in UK electricity companies

This paper is located within the corporate social reporting and stakeholder management literature. It is concerned with the use of the Internet as a way of communicating with stakeholders and the extent to which this communication is or is not two-way. The evidence from the electricity industry in the UK is that the Internet is used but this use is selective and there is little true dialogue. It appears that the Internet provides an opportunity for greater corporate accountability in the future but whether this potential will be fulfilled is as yet unclear. Further research of a longitudinal nature is required to see how the Internet and more specifically corporate social or stakeholder reporting develops over time.

"Making it all normal": the role of the Internet in problematic pregnancy

Women are actively encouraged to educate themselves about pregnancy from formal sources (e.g., information leaflets, antenatal classes, books). In addition, informal stories of pregnancy and birth are routinely told between women. However, increased prenatal testing means that more fetuses are diagnosed with abnormalities, shifting the information requirements during pregnancy. Traditional sources of information cannot cover all possible outcomes, and the Internet is beginning to fill this gap. In this article, we draw from interviews about experiences of antenatal screening and pregnancy to explore how the Internet provides a unique resource for problematic pregnancies. It allows access to information about rarer conditions beyond standard pregnancy texts, as well as personal narratives about conditions. Learning how others have coped or are coping in similar situations can help alleviate feelings of isolation, and also places women back in a familiar territory of shared pregnancy narratives.

From co-operative to competitive localism? The changing balance between equity and efficiency in local government under the Conservative / Liberal Democrat coalition

This paper considers whether there has been a shift in the balance between equity and efficiency in respect of decentralised public policy in England since the election of the Conservative / Liberal Democrat coalition in 2010. Drawing on the literature on policy decentralisation and fiscal federalism from both Political Science and Economics, reasons are discussed why a trade-off between equity and efficiency might be expected. The context of English local government then outlined, and consideration is then given to four areas of policy: business rate localisation, the ‘New Homes Bonus’, council tax benefit and social housing, and regional economic development. In each case, some shift in the balance away from concern with equity towards one with efficiency is discerned: whether or not this is desirable will prove a matter of political and moral, as well as scientific judgement.

Reconstructing the past? Low German and the creating of regional identity in public language display

This article deals with language contact between a dominant standard language -German - and a lesser-used variety - Low German - in a situation in which the minoritised language is threatened by language shift and language loss. It analyses the application of Low German in forms of public language display and the selfpresentation of the community in tourism brochures, focusing on bilingual linguistic practices on the one hand and on underlying discourses on the other. It reveals that top-down and bottom-up approaches to implementing Low German in public language display show a remarkable homogeneity, thus creating a regional 'brand'. The article asks whether a raised level of visibility will in itself guarantee better chances for linguistic maintenance and survival of the threatened language. © 2011 Taylor & Francis.

Time and professional work in public sector organisations: an examination of four occupational groups in education and medicine

The aim of this thesis is to examine the experience of time of four professional occupational groups working in public sector organisations and the factors affecting this experience. The literature on time and work is examined to delineate the key parameters of research in this area. A broad organisation behaviour approach to the experience of time and work is developed in which individual, occupational, organisational and socio-political factors are inter-related. The experience of secondary school teachers, further education lecturers, general medical practitioners and hosoital consultants is then examined. Multiple methods of data collection are used: open-ended interviews, a questionnaire survey and the analysis of key documents relating to the institutional settings in which the four groups work. The research aims to develop our knowledge of working time by considering the dimensions of the experience of time at work, the contexts in wlhich this experience is generated and the constraints these contexts give rIse to. By developing our understanding of time as a key feature of work experience we also extend our knowledge of organisation behaviour in general. In conclusion a model of the factors relating the experience of time to the negotiation of time at work is presented.

Contesting Europe's Eastern Rim:cultural identities in public discourse

Since 1989, Europe's eastern rim has been in constant flux. This collection focuses on how political and economic transformations have triggered redefinitions of cultural identity. Using discursive modes of identity construction (deconstruction, reconstruction, reformulation, and invention) the book focuses on the creation of opposition to old and new outsidersA" and insidersA" in Europe. The linguistic study of discourse elements in connection with an exploration of the significance of metaphors in anchoring individual and collective identity is innovative and allows for a unique analysis of public discourse in Europe.

Reflecting on time, timing and timeliness in public sector supply networks

Despite recent research on time (e.g. Hedaa & Törnroos, 2001), consideration of the time dimension in data collection, analysis and interpretation in research in supply networks is, to date, still limited. Drawing on a body of literature from organization studies, and empirical findings from a six-year action research programme and a related study of network learning, we reflect on time, timing and timeliness in interorganizational networks. The empirical setting is supply networks in the English health sector wherein we identify and elaborate various issues of time, within the case and in terms of research process. Our analysis is wide-ranging and multi-level, from the global (e.g. identifying the notion of life cycles) to the particular (e.g. different cycle times in supply, such as daily for deliveries and yearly for contracts). We discuss the ‘speeding up’ of inter-organizational ‘e’ time and tensions with other time demands. In closing the paper, we relate our conclusions to the future conduct of the research programme and supply research more generally, and to the practice of managing supply (in) networks.