Showing papers on "Government published in 2011"

Security, territory, population (Lectures at the College de France)

Abstract: The work depicts the course of the same name delivered by Michel Foucault at the College de France (1977-1978), where the author has developed the genealogy of a political knowledge centered on the mechanisms that enable to control people. "The government of the self and others" are questioned along a historical course that resulted in a "reason of State", whose rationality entailed in the construction of sets of knowledge and technologies of power, necessary for the growth of State forces. In explaining the problems that the Polizeiwissenschaft should control, he defined the role of the police as a guarantor of internal order and as a technique for controlling people, invested with specific knowledge, and which constitutes, along with the security and the political economy, what Foucault called biopolitics.

The Munro review of child protection: final report, a child-centred system

Abstract: In Part One of the Munro Review (published 3rd February 2011, ISBN 9780108510137), Professor Munro set out the approach and features of the child protection system that needed exploring in detail. This second part and final report sets out recommendations to reform the child protection system, specifically from being over-bureaucratised and concerned with compliance to one that keeps a focus on children. Some of the recommendations include: that the Government should remove the specific statutory requirement on local authorities for completing assessments within often artificial set timescales; that local services which work with children and families should be freed from unhelpful government targets; that there should be an introduction of a duty on all local services to coordinate an early offer of help to families who do not meet the criteria for social care services, to address problems before they escalate to child protection issues; that Ofsted inspections of children's services should add more weight to feedback from children and families; that experienced social workers should be kept on the frontline even when they become managers so that their experience and skills are not lost and that each local authority should designate a Principal Child and Family Social Worker to report the views and experiences of the front line to all levels of management. Professor Munro also states that individual recommendations should not be taken forward in isolation but that change needs to happen across the system

Emergency knowledge management and social media technologies: A case study of the 2010 Haitian earthquake

Abstract: The US response to the 2010 Haiti Earthquake was a large effort coordinated by three major agencies that worked in tandem with the Government of Haiti, the United Nations, and many countries from around the globe. Managing this response effort was a complex undertaking that relied extensively on knowledge management systems (KMS). For the first time, however, US government agencies employed social media technologies such as wikis and collaborative workspaces as the main knowledge sharing mechanisms. In this research we present a case study developed through action research of how these social media technologies were used, what influences they made on knowledge sharing, reuse, and decision-making, and how knowledge was effectively (and at times ineffectively) maintained in these systems. First-hand knowledge of the response is used, offering strategies for future deployment of social media and important research questions that remain regarding social media as knowledge management systems, particularly for disaster and emergency management.

Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology

Abstract: When Chris Dede from Harvard University visited the University of Illinois to deliver an address at the inauguration of the Ubiquitous Learning Institute [1] on 7 April 2010 [2], given that Dr Dede was a member of the National Education Technology Plan technical working group [3], we took the opportunity to plan a special issue of E-Learning and Digital Media devoted to a discussion of the national plan. To this end we invited contributions from a number of prominent scholars and invited Chris to organize a response from members of the working group to their comments and criticisms. As the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan notes in his letter to members of Congress that prefaces the report that America used to be the global leader in education completion rates for young people and now ranks ninth out of 36 developed nations. He argues it is essential therefore that it regains its leadership, enabling it to compete in the global economy. If anything, this message has become even more important in the intervening months as the effects of the recession have become widespread, with unemployment peaking at over 10% and a strong demand to control the burgeoning deficit through budget cuts to government services and welfare across the board. The Obama administration’s National Education Technology Plan, Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology, is presented as a means to ‘leverage the innovation and ingenuity’ required to improve student learning and to accelerate the adoption and use of effective technology practices in America’s schools. Duncan goes on to summarize the model of learning at the heart of the plan as follows:

Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision

Abstract: This report is one of four Steering Committee reports that provide performance data on the National Agreements related to healthcare, affordable housing, disability and Indigenous reform. A separate appendix provides additional contextual information to assist in interpreting the information in this report. This report was produced with the assistance of Australian, State and Territory Government departments and agencies, and a number of statistical bodies. The Steering Committee would like to record its appreciation for the efforts of all those involved in the development of this report.

Pillars of Prosperity: The Political Economics of Development Clusters

Abstract: "Little else is required to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism, but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice; all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things." So wrote Adam Smith a quarter of a millennium ago. Using the tools of modern political economics and combining economic theory with a bird's-eye view of the data, this book reinterprets Smith's pillars of prosperity to explain the existence of development clusters--places that tend to combine effective state institutions, the absence of political violence, and high per-capita incomes. To achieve peace, the authors stress the avoidance of repressive government and civil conflict. Easy taxes, they argue, refers not to low taxes, but a tax system with widespread compliance that collects taxes at a reasonable cost from a broad base, like income. And a tolerable administration of justice is about legal infrastructure that can support the enforcement of contracts and property rights in line with the rule of law. The authors show that countries tend to enjoy all three pillars of prosperity when they have evolved cohesive political institutions that promote common interests, guaranteeing the provision of public goods. In line with much historical research, international conflict has also been an important force behind effective states by fostering common interests. The absence of common interests and/or cohesive political institutions can explain the existence of very different development clusters in fragile states that are plagued by poverty, violence, and weak state capacity.

Corporate social responsibility reporting in China: Symbol or substance?

Abstract: This study focuses on how and why firms strategically respond to government signals on appropriate corporate activity. We integrate institutional theory with research on corporate political strategy to develop a political dependence model that explains (a) how different types of dependency on the government lead firms to issue corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports and (b) how the risk of governmental monitoring affects the extent to which CSR reports are symbolic or substantive. First, we examine how firm characteristics reflecting dependence on the government—including private versus state ownership, executives serving on political councils, political legacy, and financial resources—affect the likelihood of firms issuing CSR reports. Second, we focus on the symbolic nature of CSR reporting and how variance in the risk of government monitoring through channels such as bureaucratic embeddedness and regional government institutional development influences the extent to which CSR communications are symbolically decoupled from substantive CSR activities. Our database includes all CSR reports issued by the approximately 1,600 publicly listed Chinese firms between 2006 and 2009. Our hypotheses are generally supported. The political perspective we develop contributes to organizational theory by showing that (a) government signaling is an important mechanism of political influence, (b) different types of dependency on the government expose firms to different types of legitimacy pressure, and (c) firms face a decoupling risk that makes them more likely to enact substantive CSR actions in situations in which they are likely to be monitored.

Self-organization in urban development: towards a new perspective on spatial planning

Abstract: To date, participatory spatial planning has produced disappointing results. We argue that one reason is that time and again participatory planning proposals remain controlled by public government, and that public government seems not to be very adaptive to initiatives that emerge from the dynamics of civil society itself. To find out why and how citizens could and would be motivated to contribute out of their own motivation to urban development, we propose turning the focus outside-in, instead of inside-out. In this article, we therefore introduce the notion of self-organization, referring to initiatives that originate in civil society itself, via autonomous community-based networks of citizens outside government control which participate in developing the 'urban fabric' too. We discuss some examples of self-organization and draw preliminary conclusions of the concept's usefulness for the theory and practice of spatial planning. © 2011 Taylor & Francis.

The New Governance and the Tools of Public Action: An Introduction

Abstract: In economic life the possibilities for rational social action, for planning, for reform--in short, for solving problems--depend not upon our choice among mythical grand alternatives but largely upon choice among particular social techniques ... techniques and not "isms" are the kernel of rational social action in the Western world. (1) Far-reaching developments in the global economy have us revisiting basic questions about government: what its role should be, what it can and cannot do, and how best to do it. (2) INTRODUCTION: THE REVOLUTION THAT NO ONE NOTICED A fundamental re-thinking is currently underway throughout the world about how to cope with public problems. (3) Stimulated by popular frustrations with the cost and effectiveness of government programs and by a new-found faith in liberal economic theories, serious questions are being raised about the capabilities, and even the motivations, of public-sector institutions. Long a staple of American political discourse, such questioning has spread to other parts of the world as well, unleashing an extraordinary torrent of reform. (4) As a consequence, governments from the United States and Canada to Malaysia and New Zealand are being challenged to reinvent, downsize, privatize, devolve, decentralize, deregulate and de-layer themselves, subject themselves to performance tests, and contract themselves out. Underlying much of this reform surge is a set of theories that portrays government agencies as tightly structured hierarchies insulated from market forces and from effective citizen pressure and therefore free to serve the personal and institutional interests of bureaucrats instead. (5) Even defenders of government among the reformers argue that we are saddled with the wrong kinds of governments at the present time, industrial-era governments "with their sluggish, centralized bureaucracies, their preoccupation with rules and regulations, and their hierarchical chains of command." (6) Largely overlooked in these accounts, however, is the extent to which the structure of modern government already embodies many of the features that these reforms seek to implement. In point of fact, a technological revolution has taken place in the operation of the public sector over the past fifty years both in the United States and, increasingly, in other parts of the world; but it is a revolution that few people recognize. The heart of this revolution has been a fundamental transformation not just in the scope and scale of government action, but in its basic forms. A massive proliferation has occurred in the tools of public action, in the instruments or means used to address public problems. Where earlier government activity was largely restricted to the direct delivery of goods or services by government bureaucrats, it now embraces a dizzying array of loans, loan guarantees, grants, contracts, social regulation, economic regulation, insurance, tax expenditures, vouchers, and much more. What makes this development particularly significant is that each of these tools has its own operating procedures, its own skill requirements, its own delivery mechanism, indeed its own "political economy." Each therefore imparts its own "twist" to the operation of the programs that embody it. Loan guarantees, for example, rely on commercial banks to extend assisted credit to qualified borrowers. In the process, commercial lending officers become the implementing agents of government lending programs. Since private bankers have their own world-view, their own decision rules, and their own priorities, left to their own devices they likely will produce programs that differ markedly from those that would result from direct government lending, not to mention outright government grants. Perhaps most importantly, like loan guarantees, many of these "newer" tools share an important common feature: they are highly indirect. They rely heavily on a wide assortment of "third parties"--commercial banks, private hospitals, social service agencies, industrial corporations, universities, day-care centers, other levels of government, financiers, construction firms, and many more--to deliver publicly financed services and pursue authorized public purposes. …

Oxford handbook of climate change and society

Abstract: PART I: INTRODUCTION PART II: THE CHALLENGE AND ITS HISTORY PART III: SCIENCE, SOCIETY, AND PUBLIC OPINION PART IV: SOCIAL IMPACTS PART V: SECURITY PART VI: JUSTICE PART VII: PUBLICS AND MOVEMENTS PART VIII: GOVERNMENT RESPONSES PART IX: POLICY INSTRUMENTS PART X: PRODUCERS AND CONSUMERS PART XI: GLOBAL GOVERNANCE PART XII: RECONSTRUCTION

Speculative Urbanism and the Making of the Next World City

Abstract: This article explores the process of making Bangalore, India into a ‘world city’ by focusing on specific world-city projects, the parastatal government agencies managing them, the explosive IT industry as the putative engine behind this world-city making, and the inter-urban dynamics across world cities such as Dubai and Singapore. Most of these activities are linked to the highly remunerative challenge of transforming rural economies into urban real estate. Land speculation and active dispossession of those working and living in the rural periphery, on land upon which the new world-city projects are being built, is the main business of government today in Bangalore. This article suggests that this temporary ‘state of exception’, with both its attendant suspensions of civil and human rights as well as their institutionalization into government practices, reflects a shift into new forms of ‘speculative’ government, economy, urbanism and citizenship.

Decentralization and Governance

Abstract: The most important theoretical argument concerning decentralization is that it can improve governance by making government more accountable and responsive to the governed. Improving governance is also central to the motivations of real-world reformers, who bear risks and costs in the interest of devolution. But the literature has mostly focused instead on policy-relevant outcomes, such as education and health services, public investment, and fiscal deficits. This paper examines how decentralization affects governance, in particular how it might increase political competition, improve public accountability, reduce political instability, and impose incentive-compatible limits on government power, but also threaten fiscal sustainability.

Policy learning and policy failure in sustainable tourism governance: from first- and second-order to third-order change?

Abstract: Sustainable tourism presents a paradox. At one level sustainable tourism is a success given the concept's diffusion among industry, government, academics and policy actors. Yet, it is simultaneously a policy failure given the continued growth in the environmental impacts of tourism in absolute terms. This paper analyses sustainable tourism, and the governance systems for sustainable tourism, via the concepts of policy learning and failure. The tractability of sustainable tourism policy problems is identified. Policy learning is discussed in instrumental, conceptual/paradigmatic and political learning/strategic terms. Although policy failure should encourage learning with respect to sustainable tourism this has only related to first- and second-order change which focus on changes to indicators and settings rather than the dominant policy paradigm. This is despite the dominant paradigm of “balanced” sustainable development that promotes economic growth failing on a number of indicators. A reason for this ma...

Government as a Platform

Abstract: ods for harnessing the creativity of people in groups, and in the process has created powerful business models that are reshaping our economy. As the Web has undermined old media and software companies, it has demonstrated the enormous power of a new approach, often referred to as Web 2.0. In a nutshell: the secret to the success of bellwethers like Google, Amazon, eBay, Craigslist, Wikipedia, Facebook, and Twitter is that each of these sites, in its own way, has learned to harness the power of its users to add value to—no, more than that, to co-create—its offerings. Now, a new generation has come of age with the Web, and it is committed to using its lessons of creativity and collaboration to address challenges facing our country and the world. Meanwhile, with the proliferation of issues and not enough resources to address them all, many government leaders recognize the opportunities Web 2.0 technologies provide not just to help them get elected, but to help them do a better job. By analogy, many are calling this movement Government 2.0. What the heck does that mean?

Open data: An International comparison of strategies

Abstract: Ever more governments around the world are defining and implementing ``open data'' strategies in order to increase transparency, participation and/or government efficiency. The commonly accepted premise underlying these strategies is that the publishing of government data in a reusable format can strengthen citizen engagement and yield new innovative businesses. However, as these open data strategies are relatively new, evidence of this expected impact is still limited. Important questions currently debated are: What is an appropriate open data strategy for governments? Why are some governments succeeding in opening up their databases and others struggling? How can open data policies contribute to increase citizens' trust and participation in government and provide an economic spur? In an inquiry for the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, TNO (the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research)1 examined the open data strategies in five countries and gathered anecdotal evidence of its key features, barriers and drivers for progress and effects.2 In this article we will give a brief overview of the research results and define key challenges for effective open data policy. Two of the main conclusions are that sound evidence of the precise effects is lacking (e.g. economic, social and democratic effects) and that the acquisition of more knowledge could strengthen a well-informed debate, remove governments' reluctance to invest in open data strategies and help them to develop an effective policy.

The Quality of Government: Corruption, Social Trust, and Inequality in International Perspective

Abstract: The relationship between government, virtue, and wealth has held a special fascination since Aristotle, and the importance of each frames policy debates today in both developed and developing countries. While it's clear that low-quality government institutions have tremendous negative effects on the health and wealth of societies, the criteria for good governance remain far from clear. In this pathbreaking book, leading political scientist Bo Rothstein provides a theoretical foundation for empirical analysis on the connection between the quality of government and important economic, political, and social outcomes. Focusing on the effects of government policies, he argues that unpredictable actions constitute a severe impediment to economic growth and development - and that a basic characteristic of quality government is impartiality in the exercise of power. This is borne out by cross-sectional analyses, experimental studies, and in-depth historical investigations. Timely and topical, "The Quality of Government" tackles such issues as political legitimacy, social capital, and corruption.

The Nature of Credit Constraints and Human Capital

Abstract: We develop a human capital model with borrowing constraints explicitly derived from government student loan (GSL) programs and private lending under limited commitment. The model helps explain the persistent strong positive correlation between ability and schooling in the U.S., as well as the rising importance of family income for college attendance. It also explains the increasing share of undergraduates borrowing the GSL maximum and the rise in student borrowing from private lenders. Our framework ofiers new insights regarding the interaction of government and private lending as well as the responsiveness of private credit to economic and policy changes.

Trust in Government

Abstract: Part of the difficulty in pinning down trust in government may stem not only from the amorphous characteristics of trust but also from the equally vague characteristics of government. Accordingly, systematized approaches to understanding trust in government are likely to be incomplete if they are only applied to trust and not government as well. This study attempts to build upon existing attempts to pin down characteristics of trust in government by deconstructing the terms trust and government and assessing the relationships among the various components within South Korea. To analyze the determinants of trust in governments, the present research performs multiple regression analyses of The Social Trust Public Opinion Survey (2004) focusing on the current trust level across society, market, institution, and government. Our findings indicate that the significance of different determinants of trust varies by area of government. These findings add to existing literature in the field as they imply assessments of trust in government are better made when they address specific offices or branches of the government.

Industrial policy in the twenty-first century

Abstract: Industrial policy has attracted considerable controversy in the development context. This paper makes a case for a pragmatic and limited approach to interventions as a means of stimulating industrialization in the context of current and future challenges facing newly industrializing economies. It begins with a simple definition of industrial policy, a brief survey of the theoretical case, and a taxonomy of different possible interventions. Recent empirical evidence on the role of industrialization in development is examined, whilst considering how far government policy per se has contributed to manufacturing success. Finally, a series of key issues for today’s industrializing economies that industrial policy needs to address are highlighted.

The Submerged State: How Invisible Government Policies Undermine American Democracy

Abstract: "Keep your government hands off my Medicare!" Such comments spotlight a central question animating Suzanne Mettler's provocative and timely book: why are many Americans unaware of government social benefits and so hostile to them in principle, even though they receive them? The Obama administration has been criticized for its inability to convey how much it has accomplished for ordinary citizens. Mettler argues that this difficulty is not merely a failure of communication; rather it is endemic to the formidable presence of the "submerged state." In recent decades, federal policy makers have increasingly shunned the outright disbursing of benefits to individuals and families and favored instead less visible and more indirect incentives and subsidies, from tax breaks to payments for services to private companies. These submerged policies, Mettler shows, obscure the role of government and exaggerate that of the market. As a result, citizens are unaware not only of the benefits they receive, but of the massive advantages given to powerful interests, such as insurance companies and the financial industry. Mettler analyzes three Obama reforms - student aid, tax relief, and health care - to reveal the submerged state and its consequences, demonstrating how structurally difficult it is to enact policy reforms. She concludes with recommendations for reform to help make hidden policies more visible and governance more comprehensible to all Americans. The sad truth is that many American citizens do not know how major social programs work - or even whether they benefit from them. Suzanne Mettler's important new book will bring government policies back to the surface and encourage citizens to reclaim their voice in the political process.

Engaging for success: enhancing performance through employee engagement, a report to Government

Abstract: Printed in the UK on recycled paper containing a minimum of 75% post consumer waste. The text in this document may be reproduced free of charge in any format or medium providing it is reproduced accurately and not used in a misleading context. The material must be acknowledged as Crown copyright and the title of the document specified. Where we have identified any third party material you will need to obtain permission from the parties concerned. The views expressed in this report are the authors' and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department or the Government. The authors are not responsible for any third party material. Original material for the case studies has been supplied by the organisations themselves and were chosen to reflect a range of sectors of the UK economy, but do not constitute a representative sample. This timely Report sets out for the first time the evidence that underpins what we all know intuitively, which is that only organisations that truly engage and inspire their employees produce world class levels of innovation, productivity and performance. The lessons that flow from that evidence can and should shape the way leaders and managers in both the private and public sectors think about the people who work for them. They should also shape the way employees approach their jobs and careers. A recession might seem an unusual time for such reflection – in fact, the opposite is the case. Because Britain's economic recovery and its competitive strengths in a global economy will be built on strong, innovative companies and confident employees, there has never been a more important time to think about employee engagement in Britain. This report helps take forward that debate. It sets out what government can do to help promote an understanding of just how much greater employee engagement can help improve innovation, performance and productivity across the economy. It launches a challenge that my department will take forward in the months ahead. 1 Introduction 1 We were asked by the then Secretary of State for Business in the autumn of 2008 to take an in-depth look at employee engagement and to report on its potential benefits for companies, organisations and individual employees. When the new Secretary of State, Lord Mandelson, met us in the spring, as the recession was biting, he encouraged us to examine in particular whether a wider take up of engagement approaches …

The Coalition Programme: A New Vision for Britain or Politics as Usual?

Abstract: The Coalition programme includes restructuring public provision through reforms and cuts which will take public spending in the Britain below that in the US. This article explores whether the Coalition agenda is best understood as a new approach to Britain's deep-seated economic short-comings or simply as the normal politics of gaining and retaining power. It analyses the current government's programme, identifies the common features across the range of policies and discusses how they are likely to develop as they encounter set-backs.

Aggravating the Resource Curse: Decentralisation, Mining and Conflict in Peru

Abstract: In the early part of this decade, at the beginning of the recent international commodity price boom, Peru adopted major components of the new ‘localist’ policy paradigm for the management of natural resources. A large fraction of revenues were transferred to the subnational governments in the mining areas. Additionally, the government encouraged mining companies to assume a more active role locally. The results have been disappointing. Statistical and fieldwork evidence shows that these policies have exacerbated local political conflicts. The new ‘localist’ policy paradigm is unlikely to be effective when, as in contemporary Peru, national political institutions are not supportive.