The Soviet Prefects: The Local Party Organs in Industrial Decision Making. By Jerry F. Hough. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1969. Pp. 416. $12.50.)

1970 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 204-205
Author(s):  
Karl W. Ryavec
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Harvard University ◽  
Local Party

To Hell with the Cell: The Case for Immersive Statecraft Education

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arvid Bell ◽  
Alexander Bollfrass
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Real World ◽  
Control Cell ◽  
Harvard University ◽  
Simulation Design ◽  
Deep Uncertainty ◽  
Effective Training ◽  
Training And Research ◽  
Negotiation Simulation ◽  
New Framework

Abstract Current wargaming techniques are effective training and research instruments for military scenarios with fixed tools and boundaries on the problem. Control cells composed of officiants adjudicating and evaluating moves enforce these boundaries. Real-world crises, however, unfold in several dimensions in a chaotic context, a condition requiring decision-making under deep uncertainty. In this article, we assess how pedagogical exercises can be designed to effectively capture this level of complexity and describe a new framework for developing deeply immersive exercises. We propose a method for designing crisis environments that are dynamic, deep, and decentralized (3D). These obviate the need for a control cell and enhance the usefulness of exercises in preparing military and policy practitioners by better replicating real-world decision-making dynamics. This paper presents the application of this 3D method, which integrates findings from wargame and negotiation simulation design into immersive crisis exercises. We share observations from the research, design, and execution of “Red Horizon,” an immersive crisis exercise held three times at Harvard University with senior civilian and military participants from multiple countries. It further explores connections to contemporary trends in international relations scholarship.

A Look at the Intelligence Establishment

Worldview ◽  
1971 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 17-19
Author(s):  
Paul W. Blackstock
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
National Security ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Original Work ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Harvard University ◽  
Intelligence Community ◽  
Intelligence System ◽  
Vanderbilt University

Under a new title, The Intelligence Establishment (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1970), Professor Harry Howe Ransom of Vanderbilt University has thoroughly revised and up-dated his original work, Central Intelligence and National Security, which first appeared in 1958. The result is a highly readable, well-informed survey of the intelligence community (including a new chapter on the British intelligence system), plus penetrating essays on the nature of intelligence, its relationship to national policy and decision-making, surveillance by Congress, and the related problems of administration and executive control.

scholarly journals The Vlaams Belang: A Mass Party of the 21st Century

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 275-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Sijstermans
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Party System ◽  
Party Organisation ◽  
Important Player ◽  
Social Media Tools ◽  
Party Members ◽  
Local Party

Throughout its 40-year history, the Vlaams Belang (VB, Flemish Interest) has established itself as an important player within the Belgian party system, albeit with significant electoral fluctuations. In 2019, it became the second largest party in Flanders. The party developed and maintained a mass-party organisation by investing significantly in local party branches and in a rigid vertically articulated structure. It relies heavily on social media, particularly Facebook, to communicate to supporters beyond the more limited group of party members. Using both modern and traditional tools, VB representatives aim to create communities of supporters bonded to the party, facilitating dissemination of the party’s messages. Despite this investment in a grassroots organisation, the VB’s decision-making remains highly centralised. Social media and local branches allow informal consideration of members’ views, but the party has not created significant mechanisms for internal democracy. While it is often claimed that political parties have moved away from the “mass-party” model, this article demonstrates that the VB still maintains characteristics of the mass party, albeit with a modern twist. New social media tools facilitate attempts to foster communities and disseminate party messages among a wider group of supporters, both formal members and more informal sympathisers.

The Soviet Prefects: The Local Party Organs in Industrial Decision-Making.

1972 ◽  
Vol 87 (1) ◽  
pp. 140
Author(s):  
Alec Nove ◽  
Jerry F. Hough
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Local Party

An Empirical Study on the Impact of Individual Local Political Elites and Decision-Making Collective on Educational Fiscal Expenditure in China

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 961-985
Author(s):  
Ru Cai ◽  
Xinping Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Change Of Variables ◽  
Democratic Centralism ◽  
Fiscal Expenditure ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Local Party

Under the current decentralization system in China, individual characteristics of the local political elites and collective characteristics of the standing committees of the local party have an impact on local education fiscal policy. Yet published research on the similarities and differences between the collective influence of the Standing committee and the individual influence of the political elite are lacking. To address this gap in the literature, our study discussed the impact of local political elites represented by the mayor and the secretary and the collective of standing committees of the local party on education fiscal expenditure. We construct multiple regression models and analyze the R2 Change of variables is based on the cross-sectional data from 2015 of 283 prefecture-level administrative units in China. We find that both political elites and the standing committees have significant impacts on fiscal expenditure in education, and that the influence of the latter is greater than that of the former. The effect of individual characteristics and collective characteristics on education fiscal expenditure is not completely consistent across prefectures. China's prefectural governments implement China's unique principle of democratic centralism when they make decisions on local spending for education and the collective decision-making under the leadership of the committee plays an important role in education fiscal expenditure. Based on this, we put forward policy suggestions to further develop the principle of democratic centralism and to optimize optimizing the local government education supply and evaluation mechanism.

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