Siobhan O'Sullivan

Quasi-Markets and Service Delivery Flexibility Following a Decade of Employment Assistance Reform in Australia

In 1998, we were witnessing major changes in frontline social service delivery across the OECD and this was theorised as the emergence of a post-Fordist welfare state. Changes in public management thinking, known as New Public Management (NPM), informed this shift, as did public choice theory. A1998 study of Australias then partially privatised employment assistance sector provided an ideal place to test the impact of such changes upon actual service delivery. The study concluded that frontline staff behaviour did not meet all the expectations of a post-Fordist welfare state and NPM, although some signs of specialisation, flexibility and networking were certainly evident (Considine, 1999). Ten years on, in 2008, frontline staff working in Australias now fully privatised employment sector participated in a repeat study. These survey data showed convergent behaviour on the part of the different types of employment agencies and evidence that flexibility had decreased. In fact, in the ten years between the two studies there was a marked increase in the level of routinisation and standardisation on the frontline. This suggests that the sector did not achieve the enhanced levels of flexibility so often identified as a desirable outcome of reform. Rather, agencies adopted more conservative practices over time in response to more detailed external regulation and more exacting internal business methods.

Advocating for animals equally from within a liberal paradigm

Abstract Orthodox liberal thought rejects the notion that (some) non-human animals should be allocated justice on the same basis as humans. Extending human protection to animals would break down the human/animal divide. It would also have the effect of rendering many current animal uses morally illegitimate. However, the application of one set of standards to humans and another to animals is not the only way in which current animal protection trends harm animals. Even within the group ‘non-human animal’, different standards are applied. Inconsistencies mean that animal protection legislation safeguards some animals more strongly than others. Given that, this article asserts that if animal protection theorists wish to advocate positively on behalf of animals, without offending those who subscribe to a mainstream liberal point of view, a way forward is to address inconsistencies between different types of animals, and not challenge inconsistencies between humans and animals.

New public management and welfare-to-work in Australia: Comparing the reform agendas of the ALP and the Coalition

Since the 1990s, the adoption of new public management (NPM) as a management philosophy has translated into multiple waves of reform in the employment services sector in Australia, namely Working Nation (1994–96), Job Network (JN: 1996–2009) and Job Services Australia (JSA: 2009–present). Each wave has sought to improve the preceding policy. In this article, we examine changes implemented during the Rudd/Gillard Labor governments. Using government policy documents and survey data from frontline employment services staff, we compare JSA to JN against five benchmarks. Our data indicate that JSA has generated modest improvement. JSA is also a system with less emphasis on strong forms of sanctioning. Our combined data suggest that policy actors operating under NPM conditions are indeed able to influence specific aspects of frontline practice, but they must spend great effort to do so and must accept new imperfections as a consequence. 1990年代以来，新型公共管理被作为一种管理哲学而被接受。这导致了就业服务部门的数次改革浪潮，即工作国（1994—96）、工作网（1996—2009）、澳大利亚工作服务（2009至今）。每波浪潮都力图改良此前的政策。本文考察了陆克文/吉拉德工党执政时期的变革。作者根据政府的政策文件、一线就业服务机构员工的调查数据等等，在五个基准点上将澳大利亚工作服务与工作网做了对比。根据我们的资料，澳大利亚工作服务这个系统带来的改进最小，也不大注重强有力的制裁。我们认为，实施新型公共管理的政策制定方的确能影响一线实践的某些方面，但他们还要花大力气，还要接受往后新的不圆满。

The Promises and Pitfalls of Prime Provider Models in Service Delivery: The Next Phase of Reform in Australia?

At a time of fiscal restraint and reductions in the size of the public sector, governments in Australia are exploring new approaches to delivering public services. One model receiving attention is the prime provider approach. This is an approach where government contracts a lead or prime provider who in turn organizes and manages a group of sub-contractors. In prime provider approaches, non-government organizations take on a quasi-government role and this brings a new complexity into the relationships between the various actors involved in developing and delivering public services. This article provides an overview of prime provider approaches and, drawing on the limited research to date, poses questions that we view as being critical to the current debate. The aim is to provoke further discussion on the potential impact of prime provider approaches.

World poverty, animal minds and the ethics of veterinary expenditure

In this paper we make an argument for limiting veterinary expenditure on companion animals. The argument combines two principles: the obligation to give and the self-consciousness requirement. In line with the former, we ought to give money to organisations helping to alleviate preventable suffering and death in developing countries; the latter states that it is only intrinsically wrong to painlessly kill an individual that is self-conscious. Combined, the two principles inform an argument along the following lines: rather than spending inordinate amounts of money on veterinary care when a companion animal is sick or injured, it is better to give the money to an aid organisation and painlessly kill the animal.

Contracting-out welfare services : comparing national policy designs for unemployment assistance

List of Contributors vii Introduction: Contracting ]out Welfare Services: Comparing National Policy Designs for Unemployment Assistance 1 Mark Considine and Siobhan O Sullivan 1 Local Worlds of Marketization Employment Policies in Germany, Italy and the UK Compared 11 Katharina Zimmermann, Patrizia Aurich, Paolo R. Graziano and Vanesa Fuertes 2 Varieties of Market Competition in Public Employment Services A Comparison of the Emergence and Evolution of the New System in Australia, the Netherlands and Belgium 33 Ludo Struyven 3 Governance, Boards of Directors and the Impact of Contracting on Not-for-profits Organizations An Australian Study 55 Mark Considine, Siobhan O Sullivan and Phuc Nguyen 4 Quasi-markets and the Delivery of Activation A Frontline Perspective 75 Rik van Berkel 5 Conditionality and the Financing of Employment Services Implications for the Social Divisions of Work and Welfare 91 Isabel Shutes and Rebecca Taylor 6 Support for All in the UK Work Programme? Differential Payments, Same Old Problem 109 James Rees, Adam Whitworth and Elle Carter 7 Broken Hierarchies, Quasi-markets and Supported Networks A Governance Experiment in the Second Tier of Germany s Public Employment Service 129 Matthias Knuth 8 The Public Accountability of Privatized Activation The Case of Israel 151 Avishai Benish Index 167

Chinese animal protection laws and the globalisation of welfare norms

This paper examines Chinas emerging animal anti-cruelty law and the extent to which it meets established animal welfare norms or not. Features that render the draft laws distinctly Chinese include the restrictive interpretation of cruelty as deliberate abuse, stringent pet control stipulations, and compromises on the consumption of dogs and cats. Meanwhile, the draft laws also reflect the Western experience. Animals are categorised according to their use; the ‘unnecessary suffering’ concept is the central philosophical tenet; and the enactment of the law will certainly result from strategic, pragmatic compromise. We conclude that 200 years of animal protection policy-making, the involvement of policy elites in drafting the Chinese laws, and the globalisation of trade, have made it difficult for China to do anything other than develop an animal protection regime broadly consistent with what exists in the West, although some unique Chinese features can also be identified in the proposed laws.

Whaling in Japan: power, politics and diplomacy

chapters to argue that while African governments are very actively encouraging land grabbing and the associated agro-investments, attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) in an unregulated and unsupervised manner could distort local markets and prove detrimental to social development and wellbeing. The second half of the book presents an interesting mix of case studies (Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Ghana), exposing the reader to an in-depth discussion of the threats facing local communities in these countries as land grabbing escalates across the African continent. Chapter 6 on Tanzania stands out, as it offers an intriguing example of how a European energy company held in high esteem for its vision on sustainability could plan its activities in Africa in a socially and environmentally irresponsible manner. Chapter 7 on Zimbabwe also makes an interesting read, given that country’s chaotic 2000 land reform programme. In terms of framing, the authors view land grabbing as a reincarnation of the historical exploitation of Africa as a source of raw materials (p. 176). Nevertheless, they acknowledge that Africa is in urgent need of investment in many areas (economic, social, infrastructure) and recognise the fact that rural livelihoods could be improved if agro-investing companies have a carefully articulated social responsibility strategy. Parts of chapter 5 on Ethiopia, but especially chapter 8 on Northern Ghana, provide examples of how biofuels could be successfully embedded within rural livelihoods, through the creation of employment opportunities or the provision of clean and affordable household energy. Even though the authors have a clearly expressed stand on land grabbing, the fact that they draw attention to the other side of the picture is undoubtedly one of the book’s greatest strengths. Overall, this insightful book is written in accessible language and addresses issues relating to Africa that are just starting to be thoroughly researched. It will surely appeal to readers with an interest in developmental issues and energy politics, as well as in biofuels and food governance. I would especially urge those looking at the European Union and its recently adopted sustainability criteria on biofuels to include this book on their reading list.

The animal rights debate: abolition or regulation?

Before reading Gary L. Francione and Robert Garner’s co-authored book The Animal Rights Debate: Abolition or Regulation? I would have described my own academic outlook as more closely aligned to Garner’s. After reading their book I feel precisely the same way. I found nothing in The Animal Rights Debate that changed my mind on a single key issue. The book is divided into three parts: Francione states his case for abolition; Garner responds in defence of, what Francione calls, ‘new welfarism’ and, Garner terms, ‘animal protection’; then they debate key issues back and forth. Underpinning Francione’s contribution is a belief in the importance of repudiating the property status of nonhuman animals and not appeasing the community by supporting animal welfare measures that do not challenge that private property paradigm. Garner by comparison seeks to demonstrate ways in which incremental animal protection reform might be beneficial to nonhuman animals. Very few scholars working in the field will be unfamiliar with either Francione or Garner. It is therefore a real treat to see them publish together. Both authors are masters of their craft and both come to us with decades of experience in arguing their position. This book was much anticipated and it delivers on expectations. But the authors’ wealth of experience comes at a price; specialists in the field are unlikely to find a huge amount of new scholarship in The Animal Rights Debate, although there should be enough to sustain most readers. Despite Francione having stated his case for abolition with great clarity in numerous earlier publications, there are a couple of new insights to be gleamed from his opening argument. Overall, I found that Garner’s contribution contains more original scholarship and new insight, but it too includes arguments with which I was already very familiar. However, the joy of this book is to be found in the to-and-fro between intellectual heavyweights. It also comes from the convenience of having many of the details of this important debate presented in an accessible, single volume. Environmental Politics Vol. 21, No. 3, May 2012, 532–543