The development of a strict methodology of observation and analysis in social science has always met with resistance. In the current debate on this topic in the United States two positions can be... Show moreThe development of a strict methodology of observation and analysis in social science has always met with resistance. In the current debate on this topic in the United States two positions can be distinguished. There are the ’theorists’, who find their inspiration in the work of recent philosophers such as Marcuse and Sartre; they rate the formation of a political theory as a first priority. And there are the ’behaviorists’, whose first care is for scientific method. This contrast is reviewed on the basis of the document Political science at Berkeley, which was published anonimously by a group of students. The criticism of these students can be summarized under the headings ’commitment and ’relevance’. As far as commitment is concerned the critics reproach the behaviorists for not taking stands in important contemporary moral issues, and for identifying with the status quo. The author argues that what leads to acceptance of and identification with the existing political order, is not behaviorist methodology as such, but rather the mood of die behaviorists. As far as ’relevance’ is concerned, the critics are impatient with the futile detail analysis and data collecting of the behaviorists. The behaviorists’ use of a strict methodology of explanation by generalisation, leads to a reduction of the scope of analysis. And then only the ’easy’ aspects (’easy’ to quantify, ’easy’ to collect, etc.) are analyzed, and discontinuous developments are neglected. The author argues that the lack of a dynamic theory of the political process is an impediment indeed for political science, but that, again, behaviorism as such cannot he accused of being ’conservative’ or ’conformistic’: the refutation of race theories for example was rather a radical undertaking. It is concluded that for the time being it is not necessary to lay other hounds on political science than those that follow from the claims of rational debate and intellectual honesty. Show less
Any organization can be described in terms of internal and external functioning. There are clear connections between the two, and these connections become the more apparent in cases of rapid... Show moreAny organization can be described in terms of internal and external functioning. There are clear connections between the two, and these connections become the more apparent in cases of rapid structural change. Hence structural changes within organizations can be tackled, sociologically, By analyzing these dynamic interrelationships. In this article an effort is made to study the foreign service from this point of view. Diplomatic organizations exercise some political functions; part of these political functions are policy-functions. As far as these are concerned, a distinction can be made between information, persuasion and advising (functions). Due to a number of external factors (such as improvement of communications, rise in the number of states, growth of the importance of multilateral negotiating activities, etc.) some shifts occur in the importance of these functions as a whole — as compared with those of competing organizations — as well as in the relative strength of each of them. At the same time some important changes in the internal functioning of diplomatic organizations manifest themselves. Allmost all foreign services are subject in several ways to a process of internal differentiation. These processes have to be examined carefully in order to be able to understand some problems the foreign service is faced with nowadays. Part of these problems have a temporary nature and can he understood as ’resistances to change’; another part however, can be expected to have a more permanent character. All in all, these problems can be described in terms of ’basic dilemmas’ facing the organization as well as the profession. As such, three ’dilemmas’ are mentioned here, and they are indicated as conflicts between ’elite orientation’ versus ’structure orientation’ (Galtung), ’generalism’ versus ’specialist orientation’, and ’bureaucratism’ ' versus ’intermediarism’. Each of these three dichotomies is described in detail; these descriptions served as the main purpose of this study. At the end of the study a number of relations between organizational differentiation (types of speciahsts, types of career expectations, educational backgrounds etc.) and divergences of professional orientations are indicated, hypothetically. It is suggested that almost all diplomatic organisations may be described in terms of these three basic dilemmas. Show less
The position of a country in the General Assembly is defined as the whole of formal utterances of that country in the General Assembly in terms of pro or contra something or somebody. While ... Show moreThe position of a country in the General Assembly is defined as the whole of formal utterances of that country in the General Assembly in terms of pro or contra something or somebody. While ’position’ as such shows how pro or contra a country is, it is argued that it makes more sense to compare the position of one country with the positions of other countries. In the General Assembly a country can sponsor, speak or vote. It is argued that the best way to determine the position of a country is by using roll calls. The implications of selecting a number of roll calls for analysis — as is usually done — are discussed; the author defends his view that no selection should take place and that all roll calls should be used for the analysis. Another problem discussed is how to select a panel of countries. This selection depends upon the question studied, and on this basis the author indicates which countries should be represented in the panel, in order to study the position of the Netherlands with regard to the apartheid question. As to the problem of quantifying voting behavior, two techniques are distinguished, i.e. that of Alker and Russett (World Politics in the General Assembly, New Haven etc., 1965), and that of Lijphart ('The Analysis of Bloc Voting in the General Assembly: A Critique and a Proposal’, American Political Science Review, 57 (1963) and others who compare the percentual agreement between pairs of states. The implications of both techniques are discussed. The apartheid question is discussed against te background of these methodological studies. Of all countriesin the General Assembly to take a position on this question, the Western countries most approximated the South African position. The Netherlands took a middle-of-the-road position, showing more agreement with South Africa than for instance Denmark, Italy and the United States, and showing less agreement than Belgium, France and Great Britain. Show less
A comparison is made of the average age and length of membership of members of parliament in 1965 and 1967. Average age has decreased in the Second Chamber (table 1) and increased in the First... Show moreA comparison is made of the average age and length of membership of members of parliament in 1965 and 1967. Average age has decreased in the Second Chamber (table 1) and increased in the First Chamber (table 5). Table 2 and 6 give subdivisions by party and agegroups for the Second resp. the First Chamber. Average length of membership has decreased in the Second Chamber (table 3, subvisions in table 4) and has increased in the First Chamber (table 7, subdivisions in table 8). Show less
The truth of some conceptions concerning bureaucratic behaviour is tested in the wartime situation (1940-1945) in the Netherlands, when the bureaucracy was thrown hack on its own responsibility and... Show moreThe truth of some conceptions concerning bureaucratic behaviour is tested in the wartime situation (1940-1945) in the Netherlands, when the bureaucracy was thrown hack on its own responsibility and initiative, since its political superiors had left the country. Three questions are asked: 1) What was the share of the bureaucracy in forcing Dutch citizens to work for the Germans (conscription of labour or ’Arbeitseinsatz*)?; 2) How can we explain this bureaucratic behaviour?; 3) Can we justify this behaviour? Many civil servants were dissatisfied with pre-war liberal unemployment policy. The absence of the political leaders provided them with an opportunity to implement their cherished full employment plans. In doing so, they helped to lay the organizational and administrative basis of the Arbeitseinsatz, which gradually became unacceptable both from a legal and from a moral point of view. Factors accounting for this bureaucratic behaviour are: the human tendency to be concerned with the solution of problems of the past; the lack of experience with similar situations; the bureaucratic characteristics of depolitization, specialization, stress on law and order (’business should be as usual’), fear of the novel, hierarchical thinking and lack of personal involvement in the results of decisions; the social isolation and resulting political isolations of the higher bureaucrats; the absence of any systematic approach to the problems of co-operation with the German occupiers. The supposition is made, that the absence of traditional political leadership and the lack of contact with and acceptance of political forces in Dutch society, resulted in strengthening the German influence on the administrative apparatus. This hypothesis is confirmed by the outcome of decisions which were influenced by local government officials (Mayors), who were in fact accepted as a relevant political force. Now that many facts are known, the role of bureaucracy in the conscription of labour cannot he justified. But should officials have acted differently not knowing at the time many of the relevant facts and outcomes? Two aspects of this question are dealt with: 1) Working together with the Germans seemed to give German administration a quality of legitimacy and weakened the forces of the people (political-psychological effect); 2) During the war legal responsibility for controversial decisions was frequently passed on from one official to another; the present writer thinks that in cases where elementary legal principles are violated, moral responsibility for the mere execution of unacceptable decisions cannot be avoided in this way Show less
Part I: General Observations is mainly devoted to a discussion of several features of a constitution which very likely have a bearing on the exercise by the courts of their power to strike down... Show morePart I: General Observations is mainly devoted to a discussion of several features of a constitution which very likely have a bearing on the exercise by the courts of their power to strike down acts of the legislature. First it is argued that the absence of a written constitution does not necessarily rule out the possibility of judicial review. But as today almost all countries do have written constitutions and because in England, the most notable exception, judicial review of Acts of Parliament does not exist, the article is subsequently confined to review of legislation in terms of written constitutions. (1-1) Subsequently, the operative quality of constitutional documents, their contents and wording, and their inner consistency are discussed as some of the factors which may ultimately determine the actual operation of judicial review. (1-2) It is then argued that although presumably the rigidity or flexibility of a constitution plays a role in the practice of judicial review, it is extremely hard to identify that role. (1-3) As to another traditional classification of constitutions, that into federal and unitary, the contention that federalism necessarily implies judical review of federal legislation is rejected. There is a brief discussion of the role of the American Supreme Court as an umpire of the federal system. (1-4) Next the ambiguity of the doctrine of separation of powers is demonstrated, and it is emphasized that no easy conclusions follow from it. (1-5) Finally there is a brief comment on the changing function of certain modern legislation in the light of its possible impact on judicial review. (1-6) Part II: Judicial Review in the U.S.A. does not deal with the constitutionality of judicial review, but takes it for granted in the form in which it has developed in America, to wit as judicial supremacy. (II-1) In a discussion of the scope of judicial review, neutrality in constitutional adjudication is considered an object which will never be completely attained, however much it should be pursued. (II-2) As to the democratic character of judicial review it is maintained that the system of checks and balances, which enables Congress and the President to bring a hostile Court into line, together with the statesmanship usually displayed by the members of the Supreme Court, has prevented the latter from operating as an undemocratic force. (IT3) The concluding pages deal with the relatively neglected area of the legal consequences of judicial invalidation. After some introductory remarks (II-4), the question is raised whether judicial invalidation operates as a repeal, and a distinction is then made between two different kinds of rulings of unconstitutionality: as applied or in toto. Only as to the latter kind of ruling can there be any question of its being equal to a repeal. (II-5) This distinction is further elaborated (II-6) and it is shown how it ties in with the so-called standing problem. (II7). Show less
The concept of ’robustness’ of scales in cross-cultural comparison is introduced and used in a comparison of the properties of the well-known scale of ’sense of political efficacy for American and... Show moreThe concept of ’robustness’ of scales in cross-cultural comparison is introduced and used in a comparison of the properties of the well-known scale of ’sense of political efficacy for American and Dutch data. The same scale properties are compared across several cultural subgroupings within the United States. On the basis of a version of Guttman type scale analysis applied by the author, an improved scale possessing some degree of cross-cultural robustness is constructed. A type of «-alp construction, devised by the author, was used for the construction of an extended scale for use in the Netherlands. Finally the paper presents this new Dutch scale of political efficacy, consisting of nine items Show less
