"Policy Horizons and Parliamentary Government" introduces a new hypothesis concerning the formation and survival of coalition governments in Western European parliamentary democracies, the policy horizon hypothesis. Although the hypothesis itself is very simple, it implies a fundamental change in our understanding of how parliamentary systems function in the absence of a majority party. The book finds support for the hypothesis in a wide array of evidence, including findings based on a new survey of experts in West European political systems.

Hope or Despair? asks what promotes and what holds back student learning in Pakistan's government-sponsored primary schools. Using a national sample of schools, students, teachers, and supervisors, it shows how learning is affected by student background, teachers and teaching, school supervision, facilities, and innovation. It is the first book to use achievement tests based on the national curriculum to show influences on learning in the primary schools of an entire developing country. The study also explores why some students complete primary school and others do not. The overall quality of education in Pakistan's government primary schools is low, but student learning rises with the teacher's formal education and with certain teaching practices. Student social class, a strong influence on learning in the United States, makes little difference in Pakistan. Whether the teacher is male or female has no relationship to learning in science, but it does affect achievement in mathematics. Neither supervision nor school facilities are related to achievement. This unique study will be of great interest to those concerned with schooling effectiveness in developing countries as well as to economists, sociologists, and political scientists interested in human resources in those countries.

This book introduces a new hypothesis concerning the formation and survival of coalition governments in Western European parliamentary democracies, the policy horizon hypothesis. The book finds support for the hypothesis in a wide array of evidence, including findings based on a new survey of experts in West European political systems.

This paperback edition of an established text aims to deliver key information on social research methods in developing countries. It deals with the particular problems of carrying out social surveys and censuses in the Third World, which differ significantly from research in Western Europe or North America.; This book makes the difference clear, particularly in the areas of research design, sampling, data collection and the social context of research. The contributors are social scientists from a range of disciplines in 12 countries, all with firsthand practical experience of research in Asia, Africa or Latin America. They provide a guide to the pitfalls and possiblities of empirical research and pay attention to methodological marriages and to ethical and political problems. The formulation and implementation of policies for development depends on information as much as on social ideals or political objectives. This volume offers an account of social research methods and practice which facilitate the effective collection and productive use of accurate information.; The book is designed to appeal to students and teachers in development studies, sociology, economics, geography, political science and social statistics, and in applied fields such as planning, agricultural economics, education, health, housing and social welfare. It is also aimed at research workers in government, academic institutes and the voluntary sector in the Third World.

Based mainly on State Department materials, but addressing generic problems of organizational politics as well, this book provides a fresh, intelligent, and lively account of bureaucratic behavior.