The use of presidential executive orders to control the management and administration of the federal government

As long as governmental institutions have existed, efforts have been undertaken to reform them. This research examines a particular strategy, coercive controls, exercised through a particular instrument, executive orders, by a singular reformer, the president of the United States. The presidents studied- Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton-are those whose campaigns for office were characterized to varying degrees as against Washington bureaucracy and for executive reform. Executive order issuance is assessed through an examination of key factors for each president including political party affiliation, levels of political capital, and legislative experience. A classification typology is used to identify the topical dimensions and levels of coerciveness. The portrayal of the federal government is analyzed through examination of public, media, and presidential attention. The results show that executive orders are significant management tools for the president. Executive orders also represent an important component of the transition plans for incoming administrations. The findings indicate that overall, while executive orders have not increased in the aggregate, they are more intrusive and significant. When the factors of political party affiliation, political capital, and legislative experience are examined, it reveals a strong relationship between executive orders and previous executive experience, specifically presidents who served as a state governor prior to winning national election as president. Presidents Carter, Reagan, and Clinton (all former governors) have the highest percent of executive orders focusing on the federal bureaucracy. Additionally, the highest percent of forceful orders were issued by former governors (41.0%) as compared to their presidential counterparts who have not served as governors (19.9%). Secondly, political party affiliation is an important, but not significant, predictor for the use of executive orders. Thirdly, management strategies that provide the president with the greatest level of autonomy-executive orders redefine the concept of presidential power and autonomous action. Interviews of elite government officials and political observers support the idea that executive orders can provide the president with a successful management strategy, requiring less expenditure of political resources, less risk to political capital, and a way of achieving objectives without depending on an unresponsive Congress.

Federal-State-local relations: State and local officials. Hearings before a subcommittee of the Committee on Government Operations, House of Representatives, Eighty-fifth Congress, first session.

Hearings held Sept. 30, 1957-Jan. 28, 1958 in various cities.

Queensland government agency libraries review : literature review

Dr Gillian Hallam is project leader for the Queensland Government Agency Libraries Review. As an initial step in the project, a literature review was commissioned to guide the research activities and inform the development of options for potential future service delivery models for the Government agency libraries. The review presents an environmental scan and review of the professional and academic literature to consider a range of current perspectives on library and information services. Significant in this review is the focus on the specific issues and challenges impacting on contemporary government libraries and their staff. The review incorporates four key areas: current directions in government administration; trends in government library services; issues in contemporary special libraries; and the skills and competencies of special librarians. Rather than representing an exhaustive review, the research has primarily centred on recent journal articles, conference papers, reports and web resources. Commentary prepared by national and international library associations has also played a role informing this review, as does the relevant State and Federal government documentation and reporting.

Othering the Malay in Malaysia : a planned consequence of politics?

This paper examines the rise in the politicisation of Islam in Malaysia and links it to the othering of the Malaysian Malay. It is my argument that both were “conquering” tools of Malaysia’s “Father of Modernisation”, Mahathir Mohamad, devised to win the support of the Malay Muslim majority in Malaysia. The many awards bestowed on Mahathir obscure the fact that he was instrumental in the systematic erosion of the power and roles of state institutions, especially at the Federal government level. This includes the significant loss of the independence of the Malaysian judiciary. Whilst per capita income in Malaysia may well have increased eight times under his 22-year leadership, this paper asks why is it that the majority of the Malays remain the largest number among the poor and the more disenfranchised of ethnicities in the country? Why have Malay and Muslim women suffered such a rapid decreasing ability to access justice? This paper examines existing research on the social and political changes Malaysia has experienced with Islamisation and under Mahathir’s rule, as well as studies on Malayness, Malay nationalism and Muslim Malay identity formation. The paper elaborates the othering of a majority people, the Malays in Malaysia, and how this othering has brought forth a fast-growing political power in the name of a supremacist Islam, a puritanical Sunni and Malay Islam. Specific events in the rise and rule of Mahathir as Malaysia’s then Prime Minister are reviewed, such as the banning of The Malay Dilemma, and the split in the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) in 1987. Also examined is the varying emphasis between Muslim and race, and how during Mahathir’s rule, that strong misogynist and patriarchal attitudes took hold in Malay Muslim consciousness, a colonising consciousness that is othering the perceived cultural and genetic “impurities” within the Malay.

The Politics and Legality of Prisoner Disenfranchisement in Australian Federal Elections

To remove the right of prisoners to vote does many things. … It signals that whatever the prisoner says is not of interest to those at the top, that you are not interested in talking to them or even listening to them, that you want to exclude them and that you have no interest in knowing about them. INTRODUCTION In June 2006, Australia passed legislation disenfranchising all prisoners serving full-time custodial sentences from voting in federal elections. This followed a succession of changes dating from 1983 that alternately extended and restricted the prisoner franchise. In 1989 and 1995, the Australian Labor Party (ALP) federal government prepared draft legislation removing any restrictions on prisoner voting rights in federal elections; the measures were defeated and withdrawn. With the 2006 legislation, the Howard Coalition government (composed of the Liberal and National parties) successfully achieved the total disenfranchisement it first sought in 1998. This chapter examines the politics and legality of the 2006 disenfranchisement. This will be approached, first, by briefly outlining the key provisions of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918, offering a short legislative history of prisoner franchise, and examining some of the key constitutional issues. Second, the 2006 disenfranchisement introduced in the Electoral and Referendum (Electoral Integrity and Other Measures) Act 2006 will be examined in greater detail, particularly in terms of the manner in which it was achieved and the arguments that were mobilized both in support of and against the change.

Digital technology and public apology : responses by Indigenous Australians to a government saying sorry

Australia has had two recent public apologies, one to the ‘ Stolen Generation’ of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians and the second to the ‘Forgotten Australians' – people who had been removed from their parents as children and institutionalized. Both acts occurred in time when there was no Internet and peoples’ stories took years to collect and decades for their weight to carry the public momentum required to gain a public apology. Now, in a digital age, the reports and the testimonies held within them are available for all to read on the Internet. We all now know what happened and formal public apologies ensued. Both public apologies also draw attention to an emerging intersection between digital technologies, personal historical stories and public apology. Research has identified the potential of digital narrative, such as digital storytelling3 and videoed oral histories to assist in the production of digital narratives that can help to present the multiple voices and viewpoints of those affected by these subjects co-creatively (Burgess et al, pp.152-153). Not all Australians however have access or the skills to use digital tools so as to benefit from these technologies ⎯ especially Indigenous Australians. While the Federal Government is committed to helping Australians enjoy digital confidence and digital media literacy skills, experience inclusive digital participation and benefit through online engagement (Department of Broadband, communications and the Digital Economy, 2009) there are many initiatives that can also be undertaken locally by State funded institutions, such as libraries to assist. This paper highlights the outcomes of recent empirical projects undertaken at the State Library of Queensland (SLQ) in particular focusing on digital initiatives in Family History practices by Indigenous users, and a digital story project in response to the public apology to the Stolen Generation instigated by SLQ.

Illuminative evaluation as a method applied to Australian Government policy borrowing and implementation in higher education

Any government deciding to invoke widespread change in its higher education sector through implementation of new policies impacts on every institution and all staff and students, often in both the time taken up and the heightened emotions caused. The central phenomenon that this study addresses is the process and consequences of policy changes in higher education in Australia. The aim of this article is to record the research design through the perspective (evaluation research), theoretical framework (program evaluation) and methods (content analysis, descriptive statistical analysis and bibliometric analysis) applied to the investigation of the 2003 federal government higher education reform package. This approach allows both the intended and unintended consequences arising from the policy implementation of three national initiatives focused on learning and teaching in higher education in Australia to surface. As a result, this program evaluation, also known in some disciplines as policy implementation analysis, will demonstrate the applicability of illuminative evaluation as a methodology and reinforce how program evaluation will assist and advise future government reform and policy implementation, and will serve as a legacy for future evaluative research.Any government deciding to invoke widespread change in its higher education sector through implementation of new policies impacts on every institution and all staff and students, often in both the time taken up and the heightened emotions caused. The central phenomenon that this study addresses is the process and consequences of policy changes in higher education in Australia. The aim of this article is to record the research design through the perspective (evaluation research), theoretical framework (program evaluation) and methods (content analysis, descriptive statistical analysis and bibliometric analysis) applied to the investigation of the 2003 federal government higher education reform package. This approach allows both the intended and unintended consequences arising from the policy implementation of three national initiatives focused on learning and teaching in higher education in Australia to surface. As a result, this program evaluation, also known in some disciplines as policy implementation analysis, will demonstrate the applicability of illuminative evaluation as a methodology and reinforce how program evaluation will assist and advise future government reform and policy implementation, and will serve as a legacy for future evaluative research.

"Re-thinking" the influence of regulatory capture in the development of government regulation

On 30 March 2015 the Australian Federal Government launched its "Re-Think" initiative with the objective of achieving a better tax system which delivers taxes that are lower, simpler and fairer. The discussion paper released as part of the "Re:think" initiative is designed to start a national conversation on tax reform. However, inquiries into Australia's future tax system, subsequent reforms and the introduction of new taxes are nothing new. Unfortunately, recent history also demonstrates that reform initiatives arising from reviews of the Australian tax system are often deemed a failure. The most prominent of these failures in recent times is the Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT), which lasted a mere 16 months before its announced repeal. Using the established theoretic framework of regulatory capture to interpret publically observable data, the purpose of this article is to explain the failure of this arguably sound tax. It concludes that the MRRT legislation itself, through the capture by the mining companies, provided internal subsidization in the form of reduced tax and minimal or no rents. In doing so, it offers an opportunity to understand and learn from past experiences to ensure that recommendations coming out of the Re:think initiative do not suffer the same fate.

The political econmoy of state government debt : an analysis of constitutional limitations (1961-1990)

Over the past decade, scholarly interest concerning the use of limitations to constrain government spending and taxing has noticeably increased. The call for constitutional restrictions can be credited, in part, to Washington's apparent inability to legislate any significant reductions in government expenditures or in the size of the national debt. At the present time, the federal government is far from instituting any constitutional limitations on spending or borrowing; however, the states have incorporated many controls on revenues and expenditures, the oldest being strictures on full faith and credit borrowing. This dissertations examines the efficacy of these restrictions on borrowing across the states (excluding Alaska) for the period dating from 1961 to 1990 and also studies the limitations on taxing and spending synonymous with the Tax Revolt.

We include socio-economic information in our calculations to control for factors other than the institutional variables that affect state borrowing levels. Our results show that certain constitutional restrictions (in particular, the referendum requirement and the dollar debt limit) are more effective than others. The apparent ineffectiveness of other limitations, such as the flexible debt limit, seem related to the bindingness of the limitations in at least half of the cases. Other variables, such as crime rates, number of schoolage children, and state personal income do affect the levels of full faith and credit debt, but not as strongly as the limitations. While some degree of circumvention can be detected (the amount of full faith and credit debt does inversely affect the levels of nonguaranteed debt), it is so small when compared to the effectiveness of the constitutional restrictions that it is almost negligible. The examination of the tax revolt era limitations yielded quite similar conclusions, with the additional fact that constitutional restrictions appear more binding than statutory ones. Our research demonstrates that constitutional limitations on borrowing can be applied effectively to constrain excessive borrowing, but caution must be used. The efficacy of these restrictions decrease dramatically as the number of loopholes increase.

The federal photovoltaics commercialization program

The dissertation presents a political and economic history of the federal government's program to commercialize photovoltaic energy for terrestrial use. Chapter 1 is a detailed history of the program. Chapter 2 is a brief review of the Congressional roll call voting literature. Chapter 3 develops PV benefit measures at the state and Congressional district level necessary for an econometric analysis of PV roll call voting. Chapter 4 presents the econometric analysis.

Because PV power was considerably more expensive than conventional power, the program was designed to make PV a significant power source in the long term, emphasizing research and development, although sizeable amounts have been spent for procurement (direct government purchases and indirectly through tax credits). The decentralized R and D program pursued alternative approaches in parallel, with subsequent funding dependent on earlier progress. Funding rose rapidly in the 1970s before shrinking in the 1980s. Tax credits were introduced in 1978, with the last of the credits due to expire this year.

Major issues in the program have been the appropriate magnitude of demonstrations and government procurement, whether decentralized, residential use or centralized utility generation would first be economic, the role of storage in PV, and the role of PV in a utility's generation mix.

Roll call voting on solar energy (all votes analyzed occurred from 1975-1980) was influenced in a cross-sectional sense by all the influences predicted: party and ideology, local economic benefits of the technology, local PV federal spending and manufacturing, and appropriations committee membership. The cross-sectional results for ideology are consistent with the strongly ideological character of solar energy politics and the timing of funding increases and decreases discussed in Chapter 1. Local PV spending and manufacturing was less significant than ideology or the economic benefits of the technology. Because time series analysis of the votes was not possible, it is not possible to test the role of economic benefits to the nation as a whole.

Análise do nível de aderência do modelo conceitual do sistema de custos às teorias da contabilidade de custo: experiência no governo federal para configuração e implantação do sistema de informações de custos - SIC

Este estudo expõe os objetivos, as diretrizes, o modelo conceitual e o processo desenvolvido para a implantação do Sistema de Informações de Custos do Governo Federal (SIC), descrevendo e explicando o marco conceitual e suas principais características, a abordagem em três dimensões (conceitual, tecnológica e cultural), as razões para os procedimentos adotados na sua construção, trabalhando a correspondência entre os conceitos da contabilidade governamental e da contabilidade de custos. O trabalho teve como proposta identificar e apresentar a configuração do sistema de informações de custos (SIC) a ser adotado pelo Brasil no âmbito da Administração Pública Federal como uma solução conciliatória junto aos atores envolvidos, e analisar e revelar o nível de aderência do SIC às teorias da Contabilidade de Custos, para tal fim foi desenvolvida a pesquisa exploratóriodescritiva, socorrendo-se em pesquisas bibliográfica e documental; na coleta de informações aplicando as técnicas de entrevista e observação direta intensiva; e na análise dos dados levantados, a técnica de análise de conteúdo. A importância do SIC é enfatizada como elemento de mensuração de custos, de melhoria da qualidade do gasto público e de vetor indutor da construção da mentalidade de custos na Administração Pública Federal que, poderá vir a ser o grande salto da administração patrimonial e burocrática para a administração gerencial.

O orçamento público federal e a garantia de prioridade absoluta de crianças e adolescentes nas políticas públicas

Essa pesquisa objetiva verificar a garantia de prioridade absoluta de crianças e adolescentes nas políticas públicas do governo federal. Para tanto, resgata o processo de criação dos novos direitos de crianças e adolescentes, que se origina na Assembléia Nacional Constituinte (ANC) 1987-1988, perpassa a discussão da comunidade internacional para a criação da Convenção sobre os Direitos da Criança (CDC) e resulta em uma legislação nacional, o Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente (ECA), sob a égide da Doutrina da Proteção Integral. Essa legislação reflete os novos direitos de crianças e adolescentes brasileiros como cidadãos e cidadãs, titulares de direitos especiais por sua condição peculiar de desenvolvimento e compõe os critérios de garantia, defesa e promoção de seus direitos humanos. Esse estudo também traz informações sobre a desigualdade social brasileira para inferir que o investimento em políticas públicas para infância e adolescência é um dos mecanismos para promover desenvolvimento sustentável, construir bases para uma sociedade mais justa e igualitária e que, quando aliadas a políticas de transferências de renda, oportunizam condições sólidas para reduzir o grau de desigualdade social, com efetiva melhora da qualidade de vida da população. A prioridade absoluta foi estimada a partir de um método de apuração do Orçamento Criança e Adolescente (OCA) que filtra as políticas orçamentárias voltadas ao público infanto-adolescente, nos termos do ECA, por critérios de exclusividade e direcionamento. Os resultados indicam que, apesar das melhoras recentes em indicadores socioeconômicos e na qualidade de vida da população brasileira, ainda falta um longo caminho para o respeito ao princípio da prioridade absoluta de crianças e adolescentes nas políticas públicas do governo federal, pois os recursos públicos da União estão à mercê do pagamento dos juros, encargos e amortizações da dívida pública. Com isso, as políticas sociais ficam mantidas em segundo plano, e sua arrecadação tem caráter regressivo, baseada em tributos indiretos, no que o financiamento das políticas públicas é feito pela população mais pobre, majoritariamente, justamente a que mais demanda as políticas públicas sociais.

Políticas públicas para mulheres: estudo de uma experiência no âmbito do governo federal do Brasil (2003-2010)

Esta dissertação tem como objetivo a investigação sobre a criação da Secretaria Especial de Políticas para Mulheres em 2003. Este organismo institucional surgiu a partir da vitória do Partido dos Trabalhadores para a Presidência da República através da candidatura de Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Os atores envolvidos na concretização desta iniciativa e os fatores que levaram este governo a colocar em sua agenda central o combate às desigualdades sociais entre homens e mulheres é o interesse central tratado. A existência desta experiência é precedida por outra modalidade institucional, o Conselho Nacional de Direitos da Mulher, criado em 1985. As duas iniciativas são diferentes e são elaboradas em contextos e épocas diversas. Estas variações de propostas de institucionalização via Estado de políticas públicas para mulheres retrata uma característica do movimento feminista brasileiro que é seu caráter amplo e diverso. Com a convivência de setores com pautas e demandas diferenciadas, este movimento também mostra sua diversidade através das propostas institucionais. Do ponto de vista metodológico, foi utilizada a técnica das entrevistas semi-estruturadas com feministas que participaram da elaboração da Secretaria Especial de Políticas para Mulheres. Também foram utilizados livros, artigos e documentos considerados relevantes a partir do material das entrevistas. O perfil destas mulheres era de militantes ligadas ao Partido dos Trabalhadores, visto que foi a vitória deste partido para a Presidência da República que permitiu a concretização desta instituição. Todas as entrevistadas participaram historicamente da luta feminista desde aproximadamente as décadas de 1970 e 1980, sempre inseridas e dialogando com as propostas de governo do PT. Este estudo contribui para o esclarecimento deste episódio da história da institucionalização estatal das demandas do movimento feminista e para o fornecimento de mais ferramentas para o debate da importância que as políticas públicas e o Estado possuem no combate às desigualdades sociais entre homens e mulheres. A ideia de que a igualdade de gênero deve ser promovida dentro do Estado, a partir de suas ações e seus profissionais e, assim, trabalhada na sociedade como um todo é fundamental para que situações de inequidade sejam combatidas.

O emprego do Sistema de Informação de Custos do Governo Federal no âmbito da Marinha do Brasil

O desenvolvimento dos meios de comunicação e seu fortalecimento dentro de nossa sociedade, infelizmente, vem nos revelando fatos que estão se tornando rotineiros, como por exemplo a negligência e o descaso cometidos por administradores públicos no desempenho de suas funções. A má utilização do erário público por gestores descompromissados impactam negativamente na imagem do Estado, obrigando-o à ações como a ampliação de sua arrecadação e o investimento em sistemas que promovam maior eficiência, economicidade e transparência na execução da despesa pública. Uma das soluções apresentadas pelo Governo para minimizar esta problemática é o Sistema de Informação de Custos do Governo Federal (SIC), uma ferramenta que tem por objetivo subsidiar decisões governamentais e organizacionais, conduzindo o Estado à alocação mais eficiente do gasto público. Dentro deste contexto, o objetivo desta pesquisa consiste em avaliar o uso do Sistema de Informação de Custos do Governo Federal na produção de informações gerenciais dentro da atual política de gestão de custos da Marinha do Brasil. Para tal, esta pesquisa classificada como aplicada, descritiva e qualitativa, depreendeu um estudo bibliográfico e documental, debruçando-se sobre a literatura existente, relatórios emitidos pelo sistema SIC e documentos da sistemática OMPS. Destarte o fato de que apenas as OMPS-I/C/H da Marinha do Brasil (MB), o que representa 26 Unidades Gestoras (UG) no universo de 151 do Órgão Comando da Marinha, possuem acompanhamento contínuo de suas gestões com base em custos, o resultado desta pesquisa se limita à estas Organizações, não se estendendo às demais Unidades da Força Naval. Os resultados obtidos mostram que o Sistema de Informação de Custos do Governo Federal deixou de evidenciar custos considerados relevantes no atual processo de avaliação econômico-financeira das OMPS-I/C/H, indicando que o mesmo não atende as necessidades da Diretoria de Finanças da Marinha na produção de informações gerenciais destinadas à Alta Administração Naval. Entretanto, o sistema SIC traz uma grande contribuição para a Marinha do Brasil ao expandir o emprego da gestão de custo como ferramenta de controle gerencial às demais 127 UG da MB, não inseridas na sistemática OMPS.

Avaliação da efetividade dos principais cursos FIC Pronatec do Instituto Federal de Santa Catarina : benchmarking com cursos técnicos de longa duração

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Planaltina, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Gestão Pública, Mestrado Profissional em Gestão Pública, 2016.