Herbert H Werlin
Biographic Data
| ID | 76215 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Herbert H Werlin |
| GIVEN NAMES | Herbert H |
| FAMILY NAME | Werlin |
| SIGNATURE | WERLIN H H |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Maryland, College Park |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 110 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 27 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1972 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Doing for Political Science What Darwin Did for Biology
This essay begins with a comparison of Mumbai and Shanghai, using the recent 2012 book on slum conditions in Mumbai by Katherine Boo, but suggesting that an analysis of public administration (PA) in essential in this regard. Unfortunately, PA is a neglected field in the social sciences. Partly this may be due to doubts about the usefulness of PA, along the lines suggested by a 2004 book by Francis Fukuyama: why, for example, what works in one pla…
The Case for Democracy: Remaining Questions
Michael Mandelbaum’s Democracy’s Good Name: The Rise and Risks of the World’s Most Popular Form of Government (2007) provides a valuable analysis of the success of democracy in the modern world but fails to adequately deal with remaining questions having to do with: (i) the definition of democracy; (ii) the linkage between democracy and economic development and (iii) the importance of public administration. Political Elasticity (PE) theory is use…
The Evolution of Political Power in Political Development
To understand political science, we must understand political power. Our misunder-standing of political power is especially problematic for those concerned with comparative politics.Political Elasticity (PE) theory, including the concepts of ‘quality of power’ and ‘political software’, is used to examine and clarify such dichotomies as: (i) transitive and intransitive power; (ii) hard and soft forms of power; and (iii) power as a resource and pow…
Corruption and Foreign Aid in Africa
Waste Not
Globalization and Governance: The Experience of Mexico
Helping Poor Countries: A Critique of the World Bank
Poor Nations, Rich Nations: A Theory of Governance
This article argues that the difference between poor countries and rich countries has to do with governance rather than resources. In emphasizing the importance of public administration in explaining economic success and failure, the author examines three general theories of governance (organizational, cultural, and structural‐functional) presented in Ferrel Heady's textbook in comparative administration. Political elasticity theory is introduced…
Political Science: Hard Science, Soft Science, Primitive Science
The interesting symposium, “Shaking Things Up? Thoughts about the Future of Political Science,” that appeared in the June 2002 issue shows a division among political scientists regarding the extent to which political science should be considered a “hard” or “soft” science. Those who believe that political science can and/or must become a hard science insist that we attempt to quantify political words, separate independent from dependent variables…
Linking Public Administration to Comparative Politics
I magine students of comparative politics giving their professors the following examination questions:1. Why is it that autocratic governments are sometimes more effective in promoting development than their more democratic counterparts?2. Why is it that More Developed Countries (MDCs) are both more centralized and more decentralized than Less Developed Countries (LDCs)?3. Why is it that corruption is devastating for poor countries, but not rich …
The Concept of Secondary Corruption
The Slum Upgrading Myth
The World Bank's slum upgrading approach, used for the first generation of its urban development projects during the 1970s and 1980s, was considerably influenced by the writing of John F. C. Turner. Turner minimised the role of government, limiting it to providing essential environmental improvements and public services, thereby allowing squatters and/or slum-dwellers to improve gradually their living conditions. While early evaluations of slum u…
Comparative Solid Waste Management: The Technical Assistance Implications
While Tokyo may have the best solid waste management system in the world, Lagos's system has been largely unsuccessful. To explain the difference between the Japanese success in this regard and the corresponding Nigerian failure requires an analysis of political factors which tend to be ignored in the technical cooperation literature. Using political elasticity theory, a distinction is made between "political hardware" and "political software." T…
A Primary/Secondary Democracy Distinction
Just as sportsmanship is essential for competitive sports, statesmanship is necessary for competitive democracy. This obvious assertion, which I followed with a distinction between primary and secondary democracy, was greeted with some misunderstanding when it was presented at a 1993 American Political Science Association workshop on democratization headed by Gabriel Almond. Because this distinction appears to be controversial, let me defend it h…
Politics versus culture: Which is stronger
Revisiting Corruption: With a New Definition
Ghana and South Korea: Explaining Development Disparities An Essay in Honor of Carl Rosberg
This article attempts to explain the reasons for the widening economic disparities between Ghana and South Korea from a 1957 level of near equal per-capita income. It builds upon the writing of Carl Rosberg, suggesting the need to go beyond for the factors stressed in the 1982 Jackson/Rosberg book: socialism, clientelism, and authoritarianism. In addition to an analysis of policy selection and orientation, three case studies are presented compari…
From an LDC to an MDC: Lessons for American Public Administration
Political Culture and Political Change
In "A Culturalist Theory of Political Change" in the September 1988 issue of thisReview,Harry Eckstein argued that "a cogent, potentially powerful theory of political change can be derived from culturalist premises." But Herbert Werlin finds Eckstein's effort to accommodate culture theory to political change unsatisfactory. Werlin argues that politics in the sense of political engineering, rather than cultural changes, mainly accounts for transfo…
Contingency Theory: The Wrong Door
The Theory of Political Elasticity: Clarifying Concepts in Micro/Macro Administration
Political systems are most effective when authority is widely dispersed without diminishing the ultimate responsibility of top leadership for results. Administrative effectiveness depends upon the capacity and willingness of leaders to delegate operational responsibility to subordinates without reducing supervisory prerogatives and correctional potential. Insofar as leaders must rely upon nonpersuasive forms of power (e.g., coercion, corruption, …
Governing an African City: A Study of Nairobi
Governing an African City: A Study of Nairobi
Governing an African City: A Study of Nairobi
The Informal Sector: The Implications of the Ilo's Study of Kenya
In the fall of 1972 the International Labor Organization published Employment, Incomes and Equality: A Strategy for Increasing Productive Employment in Kenya. While this study has general implications for employment policies in underdeveloped countries, it is especially relevant for urban problems. We will here examine the extent to which the ILO's proposals for handling problems arising in the “informal sector,” within which hawkers and squatter…
The Slum Upgrading Myth
The World Bank's slum upgrading approach, used for the first generation of its urban development projects during the 1970s and 1980s, was considerably influenced by the writing of John F. C. Turner. Turner minimised the role of government, limiting it to providing essential environmental improvements and public services, thereby allowing squatters and/or slum-dwellers to improve gradually their living conditions. While early evaluations of slum u…
Ghana and South Korea: Explaining Development Disparities An Essay in Honor of Carl Rosberg
This article attempts to explain the reasons for the widening economic disparities between Ghana and South Korea from a 1957 level of near equal per-capita income. It builds upon the writing of Carl Rosberg, suggesting the need to go beyond for the factors stressed in the 1982 Jackson/Rosberg book: socialism, clientelism, and authoritarianism. In addition to an analysis of policy selection and orientation, three case studies are presented compari…
The Roots of Corruption-the Ghanaian Enquiry
In March 1970 Mr Justice P. D. Anin was named by the Ghanaian Presidential Commission, acting on the advice of the Prime Minister, to head a five-man Commission of Enquiry into Bribery and Corruption. Not only was it authorised 'to study the area, prevalence, and methods of bribery and corruption in Ghanaian society', but also to determine whether there were factors in the society which contributed to this. 'As a people, do we frown upon and resi…
Political Culture and Political Change
In "A Culturalist Theory of Political Change" in the September 1988 issue of thisReview,Harry Eckstein argued that "a cogent, potentially powerful theory of political change can be derived from culturalist premises." But Herbert Werlin finds Eckstein's effort to accommodate culture theory to political change unsatisfactory. Werlin argues that politics in the sense of political engineering, rather than cultural changes, mainly accounts for transfo…
The Consequences of Corruption: The Ghanaian Experience
Journal Article The Consequences of Corruption: The Ghanaian Experience Get access Herbert H. Werlin Herbert H. Werlin University of Maryland Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quarterly, Volume 88, Issue 1, March 1973, Pages 71–85, https://doi.org/10.2307/2148649 Published: 15 March 1973
The Informal Sector: The Implications of the Ilo's Study of Kenya
In the fall of 1972 the International Labor Organization published Employment, Incomes and Equality: A Strategy for Increasing Productive Employment in Kenya. While this study has general implications for employment policies in underdeveloped countries, it is especially relevant for urban problems. We will here examine the extent to which the ILO's proposals for handling problems arising in the “informal sector,” within which hawkers and squatter…
Revisiting Corruption: With a New Definition
Corruption and Foreign Aid in Africa
Helping Poor Countries: A Critique of the World Bank
Linking Public Administration to Comparative Politics
I magine students of comparative politics giving their professors the following examination questions:1. Why is it that autocratic governments are sometimes more effective in promoting development than their more democratic counterparts?2. Why is it that More Developed Countries (MDCs) are both more centralized and more decentralized than Less Developed Countries (LDCs)?3. Why is it that corruption is devastating for poor countries, but not rich …
The Theory of Political Elasticity: Clarifying Concepts in Micro/Macro Administration
Political systems are most effective when authority is widely dispersed without diminishing the ultimate responsibility of top leadership for results. Administrative effectiveness depends upon the capacity and willingness of leaders to delegate operational responsibility to subordinates without reducing supervisory prerogatives and correctional potential. Insofar as leaders must rely upon nonpersuasive forms of power (e.g., coercion, corruption, …
Globalization and Governance: The Experience of Mexico
Political Science: Hard Science, Soft Science, Primitive Science
The interesting symposium, “Shaking Things Up? Thoughts about the Future of Political Science,” that appeared in the June 2002 issue shows a division among political scientists regarding the extent to which political science should be considered a “hard” or “soft” science. Those who believe that political science can and/or must become a hard science insist that we attempt to quantify political words, separate independent from dependent variables…
The Roots of Corruption-the Ghanaian Enquiry
In March 1970 Mr Justice P. D. Anin was named by the Ghanaian Presidential Commission, acting on the advice of the Prime Minister, to head a five-man Commission of Enquiry into Bribery and Corruption. Not only was it authorised 'to study the area, prevalence, and methods of bribery and corruption in Ghanaian society', but also to determine whether there were factors in the society which contributed to this. 'As a people, do we frown upon and resi…
The Consequences of Corruption: The Ghanaian Experience
Journal Article The Consequences of Corruption: The Ghanaian Experience Get access Herbert H. Werlin Herbert H. Werlin University of Maryland Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quarterly, Volume 88, Issue 1, March 1973, Pages 71–85, https://doi.org/10.2307/2148649 Published: 15 March 1973
The Informal Sector: The Implications of the Ilo's Study of Kenya
In the fall of 1972 the International Labor Organization published Employment, Incomes and Equality: A Strategy for Increasing Productive Employment in Kenya. While this study has general implications for employment policies in underdeveloped countries, it is especially relevant for urban problems. We will here examine the extent to which the ILO's proposals for handling problems arising in the “informal sector,” within which hawkers and squatter…
Governing an African City: A Study of Nairobi
Governing an African City: A Study of Nairobi
Governing an African City: A Study of Nairobi
The Theory of Political Elasticity: Clarifying Concepts in Micro/Macro Administration
Political systems are most effective when authority is widely dispersed without diminishing the ultimate responsibility of top leadership for results. Administrative effectiveness depends upon the capacity and willingness of leaders to delegate operational responsibility to subordinates without reducing supervisory prerogatives and correctional potential. Insofar as leaders must rely upon nonpersuasive forms of power (e.g., coercion, corruption, …
Contingency Theory: The Wrong Door
From an LDC to an MDC: Lessons for American Public Administration
Political Culture and Political Change
In "A Culturalist Theory of Political Change" in the September 1988 issue of thisReview,Harry Eckstein argued that "a cogent, potentially powerful theory of political change can be derived from culturalist premises." But Herbert Werlin finds Eckstein's effort to accommodate culture theory to political change unsatisfactory. Werlin argues that politics in the sense of political engineering, rather than cultural changes, mainly accounts for transfo…
A Primary/Secondary Democracy Distinction
Just as sportsmanship is essential for competitive sports, statesmanship is necessary for competitive democracy. This obvious assertion, which I followed with a distinction between primary and secondary democracy, was greeted with some misunderstanding when it was presented at a 1993 American Political Science Association workshop on democratization headed by Gabriel Almond. Because this distinction appears to be controversial, let me defend it h…
Politics versus culture: Which is stronger
Revisiting Corruption: With a New Definition
Ghana and South Korea: Explaining Development Disparities An Essay in Honor of Carl Rosberg
This article attempts to explain the reasons for the widening economic disparities between Ghana and South Korea from a 1957 level of near equal per-capita income. It builds upon the writing of Carl Rosberg, suggesting the need to go beyond for the factors stressed in the 1982 Jackson/Rosberg book: socialism, clientelism, and authoritarianism. In addition to an analysis of policy selection and orientation, three case studies are presented compari…
Comparative Solid Waste Management: The Technical Assistance Implications
While Tokyo may have the best solid waste management system in the world, Lagos's system has been largely unsuccessful. To explain the difference between the Japanese success in this regard and the corresponding Nigerian failure requires an analysis of political factors which tend to be ignored in the technical cooperation literature. Using political elasticity theory, a distinction is made between "political hardware" and "political software." T…
The Slum Upgrading Myth
The World Bank's slum upgrading approach, used for the first generation of its urban development projects during the 1970s and 1980s, was considerably influenced by the writing of John F. C. Turner. Turner minimised the role of government, limiting it to providing essential environmental improvements and public services, thereby allowing squatters and/or slum-dwellers to improve gradually their living conditions. While early evaluations of slum u…
Linking Public Administration to Comparative Politics
I magine students of comparative politics giving their professors the following examination questions:1. Why is it that autocratic governments are sometimes more effective in promoting development than their more democratic counterparts?2. Why is it that More Developed Countries (MDCs) are both more centralized and more decentralized than Less Developed Countries (LDCs)?3. Why is it that corruption is devastating for poor countries, but not rich …
The Concept of Secondary Corruption
Political Science: Hard Science, Soft Science, Primitive Science
The interesting symposium, “Shaking Things Up? Thoughts about the Future of Political Science,” that appeared in the June 2002 issue shows a division among political scientists regarding the extent to which political science should be considered a “hard” or “soft” science. Those who believe that political science can and/or must become a hard science insist that we attempt to quantify political words, separate independent from dependent variables…
Globalization and Governance: The Experience of Mexico
Helping Poor Countries: A Critique of the World Bank
Poor Nations, Rich Nations: A Theory of Governance
This article argues that the difference between poor countries and rich countries has to do with governance rather than resources. In emphasizing the importance of public administration in explaining economic success and failure, the author examines three general theories of governance (organizational, cultural, and structural‐functional) presented in Ferrel Heady's textbook in comparative administration. Political elasticity theory is introduced…
Corruption and Foreign Aid in Africa
Waste Not
The Evolution of Political Power in Political Development
To understand political science, we must understand political power. Our misunder-standing of political power is especially problematic for those concerned with comparative politics.Political Elasticity (PE) theory, including the concepts of ‘quality of power’ and ‘political software’, is used to examine and clarify such dichotomies as: (i) transitive and intransitive power; (ii) hard and soft forms of power; and (iii) power as a resource and pow…
Political science (27 works) · Law (16 works) · Politics (16 works) · Sociology (16 works) · Economics (13 works) · Law (11 works) · Political economy (9 works) · Development economics (8 works) · Language change (7 works) · Public Administration (7 works)