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This essay explores two contrasting paradigms of collective action in the context of some observed anomalies in the development of the welfare states, focussing on private interest mod& of public expenditure growth versus models emphasising social choice and the degree of congruence between the political responsiveness of interest groups to the public expenditure crisis since the early 1970s, and the assumptions underpinning these models on political behaviour in the mixed economies. A bifurcation of the political system, resulting from the development of systems of functional interests representation alongside parliamentary and representative government, gives rise to a potential for strong governments to maintain regime support because of, rather than despite, the political fragmentation of majorities.

Vanished are the days when American foreign policy belonged exclusively to American diplomats. Today, diplomacy must be based solidly on the support, or at least the acquiescence, of the Congress, as well as public opinion. Capitol Hill is not "the enemy," as too many Foreign Service officers have tended to believe. Senators and representatives are busy men, "generalists" by necessity, who need information and assistance. Congress itself badly needs reform; but that cannot excuse the State Department from an intensified effort to explain what it is doing, and how its decisions are being reached. The Department must be persistent, sympathetic, and imaginative, bringing to bear the skills with which its officers analyze situations abroad. The Secretary of State should demand that all of his officers view policy-making through the eyes of the President. Senior men should not only keep in close touch with the key committee members in their own areas, but should obtain and consider legislative views as an indispensable part of their work. The Congressional Relations Bureau must be ably led and strongly staffed, though probably not enlarged to any great degree. These efforts will not lead to complete agreement all the time, of course; but American diplomacy is much too important to let slip the prospect of greater unity and in-depth support at home for what it is doing around the world.

The authors present an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) case study used to uncover the meaning-making system of professional identity development experienced by a graduate student completing a two-semester school counseling internship. The intern engaged in critical self-reflections as weekly vloggings, which are single-turn video monologs. The rigor of IPA allowed the researchers to explore the intern's personal reflexivity as a space between what the intern was doing and his process of becoming a professional. The super-ordinate theme that emerged from the analysis in this case study was connecting the dots. . . it's all about the kids. Findings from this research have implications in higher education and professional studies for creating a transformative learning environment and engaging individuals in the professional identity development process.

AbstractGroundwater research in the Texas High Plains (THP), where production agriculture depends on the Ogallala aquifer, has been conducted by economists, hydrologists and environmental scientists, each focusing on disciplinary aspects of water use, including conservation cost, level of conservation achieved, long‐term aquifer sustainability and water quality degradation. Due to paucity of data, economists often make stringent and unrealistic assumptions concerning the uniformity of aquifer characteristics, land use and water use practices. To address modelling sensitivity to the assumption that aquifer characteristics are homogeneous we develop an integrated regional water policy model for the THP that links a groundwater hydrology model with a dynamic economic optimization model. We compare baseline water use projections provided by a stand‐alone normative economic model to those provided by an integrated economic and hydrologic model that controls for spatial variability in aquifer characteristics. Findings suggest the stand‐alone economic model generally overstates baseline economic returns to water and the water use level compared to the integrated model. The integrated modelling framework controls for the impact spatially heterogeneous aquifer characteristics have on the optimal use of limited groundwater supplies. Improved county‐level estimates for expected baseline economic returns to, and water use by irrigated agriculture over time enhances the ability of water policy‐makers to more precisely model the economic cost and water savings of proposed water conservation policies because policy cost‐effectiveness is normally measured relative to the baseline condition.