Policies In Place Research Articles

Coordinative Europeanization as a response to crisis: what lessons from the RRF for future EU cohesion policy?

AbstractA considerable amount of literature has been devoted to analysing the genesis, rationale andmodus operandiof the NGEU and RRF. However, not much attention has been paid to the practical implications of the RRF, and potential lesson-drawing, for established EU policies. EU cohesion policy is particularly salient in this respect, given the RRF’s general objective of contributing to economic, social and territorial cohesion and the current discussions about the RRF serving as a model for future cohesion policy, to improve the policy’s effectiveness, rationalise spending in view of future enlargements and better tie EU funding with reforms. Starting with a comparison between the delivery arrangements of EU cohesion policy and of the RRF, the study identifies and tests four expectations about their timing and absorption, possible displacement effects, administrative burden, and the impacts to be achieved, and tackles the following research questions: is it realistic to expect the RRF and cohesion policy to work synergistically, given the diversity in their delivery arrangements? Is the RRF proving sufficiently effective and simple, to represent a good model for future EU cohesion policy? Could the coordinative Europeanization that is typical of the RRF be a viable decision-making and implementation mode beyond emergency?

When, at what speed, and how? Resilient transformation of the Vesdre river basin (Belgium) following the 2021 floods

BackgroundDual crises happen when an acute shock unfolds in the context of a creeping crisis. The July 2021 floods in the Vesdre river basin (Wallonia, Belgium) is a typical case of such dual crises in the context of climate change. This study is based on 16 semi-structured interviews (conducted in Spring 2023) with 10 mayors, 4 representatives of the Public Service of Wallonia, 1 person working for the federal government, and 4 project managers, coupled with a document analysis (n = 13). It investigates the temporal strategies that connect short and long-term considerations in the aftermath of this disaster (timing, futuring, pacing, cyclical adaptation, and determining time horizons), at two different governmental levels: river basin and municipal level.ResultsIn general, the window of opportunity to improve disaster resilience has been seized. Several studies were initiated by the Walloon region that shape the idea of an ideal future for the river basin and give recommendations for how to reach it. Unfortunately, those recommendations still come late compared to the temporal reality of the reconstruction process. Municipalities wish to strengthen disaster resilience as soon as possible, but they have to prioritize certain actions over others because of limited resources. The recommendations are considered flexible enough to adapt strategies to future contexts, but no monitoring and evaluation system for doing so has been implemented so far. In addition, clear policy agendas with transformational goals are scarce, and they diverge between the river basin and the municipalities. All these temporal strategies are shaped by elements of the institutional policy arrangement: resources, which affect them all, as well as actors, power, and formal rules, which affect some. These policy dimensions notably slow down the implementation of disaster resilience strategies and limit the determination of consensual time horizons.ConclusionsThe temporal strategies are passively shaped by the policy arrangement dimensions to a greater extent than actively chosen by the stakeholders. A structural transformation of the institutional policy arrangement is therefore needed to enable more coherent temporal strategies between different governance levels and to facilitate the consideration of long-term resilience during the recovery process from disasters.

Africanization of Developmental State Model: On Rwanda’s Industrial Policy and Institutional Arrangements

ABSTRACT We examine whether the Rwandan state’s choices emulate the East Asian model of developmental state. Our study unveils that Rwanda possesses a central developmental state feature—industrial policy with institutional arrangements—with an Africanization of the developmental state concept. We challenge opinions that oppose the replicability of this model outside East Asia by highlighting the importance of the cross-cutting feature of adaptation. Rwanda followed a flexible approach that allowed adjusting to its own context instead of sticking to a strict economic plan. The unique policy independence case of Rwanda raises questions about the possibility for other African nations to imitate its developmental experience.

Advancing collaborative social outcomes through place-based solutions—aligning policy and funding systems

Abstract More collaborative and human-centered approaches to tackle social problems of entrenched disadvantage have been introduced in many countries, including Australia, but with mixed results. Traditional programs that reinforce existing political and bureaucratic processes have been seen as blockers to collaborative modes of policymaking, governance, and delivery. Drawing on collaborative governance perspectives, this paper reports new research undertaken in conjunction with a not-for-profit organization (Collaboration for Impact) involved in supporting place-based collaborative community change efforts. Research findings, based on stakeholder perspectives, highlight not only the potential benefits of a more collaborative model (i.e., placed-based and community driven) but also the significant unresolved challenges for “backbone” coordination bodies, which have recently been established to achieve more “joined-up” policy, funding, and service delivery arrangements. The paper concludes by proposing a practice-driven focus on policy and funding systems, together with implications for policy learning and program design.

CONSERVATIVES OF THE KINGDOM OF POLAND IN 1914-1916

Since the birth of independent Poland in 1918, historians and publicists have been arguing about who deserves the main credit for this most signifi cant event in the modern history of the Polish nation. In the period between the world wars, the dispute for supremacy was fought between J. Piłsudski and R. Dmowski, in socialist Poland they were supplanted by the Russian October Revolution, but already in the 1980s the debate resumed with renewed vigor. Th e compromise solution proposed by Prof. S. Kieniewicz was not widely s upported. Since the 1990s, there has been a steady return to pre-war approaches to the problem. Th us, political forces other than the pilsudniks and national democrats, led by R. Dmowski, once again remain outside the fi eld of vision of the authors writing on this topic. Among them are conservatives of the Kingdom of Poland, through whose eff orts, from September 1917 to 14 November 1918, the construction of the state institutions of the Kingdom of Poland was underway with the consent of the Central Powers. Th e Kingdom was formed by the act of Emperors Wilhelm II Hohenzollern and Franz Joseph Habsburg of 5 November 1916. Th e contribution of the conservatives is clearly underestimated; moreover, they alone are accused of pursuing a conciliatory (Ugodian) policy towards the Russian, fi rst, and then the German and Austro-Hungarian authorities, although all other political parties in the Polish lands, with the exception of the social democrats of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania, also took conciliatory positions at the beginning of the 20th century. Moreover, it was these parties, which were united under the general name of “activists”, who responded to the manifesto of 5 November and sent their representatives to the Provisional State Council of the Polish Kingdom. Th e conservatives, on the other hand, took a wait-and-see attitude in November 1916 and refused political cooperation with the German and Austro-Hungarian occupation authorities until September 1917.

Вспышка ВИЧ-инфекции в конце 1980-х гг. на юго-востоке РСФСР: политика советского государства в борьбе с эпидемией (на материалах Калмыцкой АССР)

Introduction. The study provides a first insight into the official Soviet policy and anti-HIV nationwide arrangements (1985–1990), and reviews the 1988–1989 HIV outbreak in the southeast of the RSFSR. The paper’s chronological framework covers the era of dramatic political and socioeconomic changes and restructuring endeavors commonly referred to as ‘perestroika’. Goals. The study attempts a comprehensive analysis to identify some features of the policy pursued by Soviet executives and healthcare agencies in the face of the emerging HIV threat throughout the mid-to-late 1980s. The work focuses on the activities of government institutions, certain measures, preventive and anti-epidemic arrangements, as well as the efforts of a special commission for organizational and practical assistance to Soviet Kalmykia’s Ministry of Health. Materials and methods. The study rests on the fundamental principles of systemacity, objectivity, historicism and complexity that have proved instrumental in analyzing documentary sources and comparing the obtained materials; describing the development and changes in official HIV-related policy; examining social, political and economic shifts across the regions under consideration as integral to what was being experienced nationwide; articulating objective evaluations of the Soviet government’s policy pertaining to the epidemic. The article primarily investigates a variety of newly discovered documents from the National Archive of Kalmykia and State Archive of the Russian Federation. Results. The arrived HIV served an indicator that would test the strength of Soviet healthcare system, and the latter — like the whole country — was not ready to fight the ‘plague of the twentieth century’. The adopted anti-epidemic policy proved inefficient. Meanwhile, the limited access to research, established practices of secrecy, and incompetence of the country’s leadership had negative impacts on the struggle against the dangerous disease. The then changes did negatively affect such an important social sphere as healthcare, which led to a severe decline of what once had been a leading public health system of the world.

The Role of Institutions and Industrial Policy: The Constraints of Industrial Development in Sabah

This article examines the role played by institutions in Sabah’s industrial development. Industrialisation is widely acknowledged as the key to pursuing structural change and attaining an economy-wide accumulation of capabilities because it involves capital-intensive activities that require investments in physical capital, human capital and technological advancement, all of which lead to the modernisation of the state’s economy. Thus, the configuration of a nation’s industrial policy is central to expanding and diversifying downstream activities. Nonetheless, effective industrial policy implementation depends on the role played by institutions that take elite policy actors into account when configuring economic interests and priorities. In the case of Sabah, although the state is rich in resources, the implementation of its industrial policy seems to have been impeded by certain factors. Political influence is embedded in existing institutions, and there are uneven power relations, patronage and rent-seeking behaviours. These have collectively constrained industrial policy arrangements and implementation. This study employs qualitative methods, gathering primary data via elite interviews and augmenting this with extensive secondary sources.

Public attitudes towards government’s role in unemployment provision in three East Asian countries

ABSTRACT Public support for unemployment provision is essential to provide political legitimacy for welfare policy arrangements and yet it is understudied in East Asian welfare states. In contrast with the proposed unfavourable attitudes towards welfare among East Asian countries from the developmental/productivist perspectives, the study suggests socio-demographic and ideological differences in public attitudes towards the role of government in unemployment provision within and across Japan, (South) Korea, and Taiwan, which differ in welfare production regime and extent of labour market dualization. Data from the 2016 Role of Government V survey of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) was analysed. Findings revealed lower levels of public support for unemployment provision in large firm-oriented welfare production regimes like Japan and Korea, though in which labour market outsiders such as women, younger people, and unemployed workers were more supportive than their counterparts. Despite cross-national attitudinal differences, higher levels of support were consistently found in the lowest-income groups across three East Asian countries. The study provides new evidence of diverse patterns of welfare attitudes regarding unemployment provision in the East Asian welfare regimes. It also presents the need of (un)employment protection among labour market outsiders and low-income groups within these countries.

The impact of geopolitical risk on sustainable markets: A quantile-time-frequency analysis

We examine the impact of Geopolitical Risk (GPR) on green, clean, and socially responsible markets by employing the newly proposed Wavelet Quantile Correlation, Cross-quantilogram and Causality-in-quantiles. Unlike earlier studies, we incorporate the GPR index to encompass the risk linked to conflict, acts of terrorism, and political tensions. In brief, our findings show that GPR emerges as a significant factor influencing market behavior, with distinct patterns observed across different time scales and trading horizons. Our results are beneficial for investors and portfolio managers to adopt more rational investment strategies and for policymakers to make appropriate policy arrangements.11Corresponding author: Ahmed H. Elsayed (ahmed.elsayed@uaeu.ac.ae)

Identifying proactive and reactive policy entrepreneurs in collaborative networks in flood risk management

A policy entrepreneur is a distinct political actor aiming to affect change. The theoretical narrative regarding policy entrepreneurs is underpinned by their commitment to a policy solution, the multi-dimensional strategies they use to promote that solution, and a suite of attributes and skills facilitating their actions. Policy entrepreneurs reveal themselves through their attempts to transform policy ideas into policy innovations and, hence, disrupt status quo policy arrangements. Indeed, policy entrepreneurs share sensibilities with entrepreneurs in the market, whose conceptualisation serves as a heuristic for their counterparts in policy and politics. The emphasis on change borne out of innovative solutions distinguishes policy entrepreneurs from many other actors who aim to maintain current institutional settings and power relations. The growing scholarship on policy entrepreneurship assumes intentionality as inherent to the policy entrepreneur and their actions, foregrounding the image of the tenacious political actor set on steering their a priori pet policy to a suitable problem. This article draws from the market theory on entrepreneurship, contrasting proactive policy entrepreneurship (entrepreneurship by opportunity) and reactive policy entrepreneurship (entrepreneurship by necessity). We conduct a comparative social network analysis of three municipalities in southern Sweden focused on flood risk mitigation. We demonstrate two different logics of policy entrepreneurship (as a result of seizing opportunities versus as a reaction to vertical pressure), and we explore the consequences for enhancing our understanding of policy entrepreneurship.

1910년대 일본의 재만 조선인 회유와 유교 지도자의 귀국

The dynamics of Korean Confucian movement found in colonial Korea in the late 1910s and early 1920s were the result of the rapid response of domestic confucian intellectual groups to domestic and international situations, but it was also the result of the return of the Confucian leaders. After returning home, they revitalized the Confucian community by urging the conservative Confucian intellectuals to participate in the independence movement and leading the establishment of Confucian organizations.
 The return of the Confucian leaders was closely related to the Japanese government’s conciliatory policy. In August 1918, Suenaga Misao, a ronin of Japan, and Jang Woo-geun, a pro-Japanese Korean, wrote ‘an opinion on the conciliation and unification of Koreans abroad’ together and proposed a conciliation for Korean leaders in Manchuria, China, through observation groups. In fact, between 1919 and 1920, Maeng Bo-soon, Lee Sang-gyu, and Jeong An-rip, who had participated in the Observation Group to Yeosun and Dalian or had often met with Japanese officials and exchanged opinions, returned home, and became a new leading group of the Confucian movement in 1920s.

Water Governance in Tanzania – A Synthesis of Legal and Institutional Frameworks for Groundwater Management in the Upper Great Ruaha River Catchment

The importance of groundwater resources in buffering the effects of climate change on water scarcity and security is highly acknowledged worldwide. However, groundwater development and use can only be sustainable with a more robust policy and institutional arrangements related to water governance. The purpose of this study was to analyse the legal framework of water resource development and management in order to contribute in identifying policy constraints to sustainable groundwater resource development and management in Tanzania. The paper used information from literature reviews and data collected through qualitative methods using a case study of Usangu Plains in the Upper Great Ruaha River Catchment in Tanzania. The findings reveal that water governance institutional frameworks are well structured to provide guidelines on how water as a basic human resource can be utilised and properly managed, but most importantly, these institutional arrangements place disproportionate emphasis on groundwater. Attaining sustainable groundwater development and use requires new disclosures and narratives in water policy and law, integrating both surface and groundwater resources. The weaknesses identified in groundwater governance need to be taken on Board once, the existing water institutional frameworks open to perfection for sustainable utilisation of groundwater resources

Analisis Kebijakan Desentralisasi Politik Dalam Mewujudkan Daerah Otonomi Baru di Seram Utara Kabupaten Maluku Tengah

The research entitled Analysis of Political Decentralization Abominations in Creating a New Autonomous Region in North Maluku Central Horrors, uses a qualitative descriptive method to describe how Decentralised Political Policy creates a new autonomous region in the Middle Maluku North Horror. The study uses conciliation policy theory, the theory of political decentralization, and regional autonomy as well as the theories of political authority, using indicators of the authority of local governments in making political decisions, strategic formulation of planning of regional development programmes, and budget accommodation in budgeting. Increased public service and empowerment of the community, as well as public participation, and prospects for the development of the North Horrors Region.The results of the survey showed that the various political decisions implemented by the Government of India in the framework of regional development were political decisions related to the development of indigenous villages or administrative villages, political decisions relating to the construction of new villages in order to promote regional development and political decisions involving local governments and the DPRD in the context of emergency development and rural development. Furthermore, in connection with the planning strategy of various regional construction programmes implemented by the Regional Planning Agency, the aim is to prevent inter-emergency arrangements and in order to improve the well-being of the people in the various districts of disaster that exist in the Central Maluku.

Policy pathways to reduce disproportionate burdens in tuna fisheries

AbstractThe United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement requires states to recognise the special requirements of developing countries and to ensure that conservation and management measures do not place a disproportionate burden on developing countries. The aim of this article is to assess what policy arrangements are required to reduce the identified disproportionate burden. We developed a policy pathway that would allow members of tuna regional fisheries management organisations (tRFMOs) to strengthen their efforts to meet their duty to share conservation burdens more equitably. This pathway consists of policy options that were developed by using policy analysis, which is an innovative approach that provides actionable outcomes that can be used by tRFMO member states. Despite the global attention to reducing disproportionate conservation burdens, developing states are still suffering. The results of this article provide novel and timely policy options that have the potential to reduce the conservation burden carried by developing states.

Has the Establishment of High-Tech Zones Improved Urban Economic Resilience? Evidence from Prefecture-Level Cities in China

The establishment of high-tech zones in China represents a significant policy tool aimed at fostering urban scientific and technological innovation while ensuring steady and sustainable economic growth. Using high-tech zones as a quasi-natural experiment and 233 prefecture-level cities in China from 1990 to 2021 as a research sample, this article constructs a difference-in-difference model to test the impact of high-tech zones on urban economic resilience. Our findings reveal several key insights. First, high-tech zones play a crucial role in enhancing urban economic resilience, which is robust across multiple tests. Second, there is significant variation in the influence of high-tech zones on urban economic resilience. Large cities, cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YEB), and eastern cities are more affected than other cities. Third, improving urban innovation ability and optimizing resource allocation are important ways through which high-tech zones influence urban economic resilience. These findings contribute significantly to the evaluation of the high-tech zones policy and form empirical evidence of the policy arrangements’ regional-level impact on economic resilience.

Crises of the welfare state, resilience, and pessimism of the intellect

AbstractThe crises faced by welfare states have now endured for significantly longer than the counter‐period of stability, calm and cooperation between the 1940s and 1970s. Systemic crisis of welfare states tied to the contradictions of capitalism, and the exogenous crises for the welfare state that have afflicted its expansion have, however, been met by faith in its resilience evidenced in its economic functions and popularity. We question the basis for optimism by examining the ‘state of the welfare state’ in the context of the social goals envisaged in the 1940s and the extent to which these are evidenced in contemporary social policy arrangements. We present a case for more ‘pessimism of the intellect’ in assessing welfare futures to better underpin welfare state scholars' tendency towards ‘optimism of the will’.

Energy justice: Lessons from offshore wind farm siting conflicts in South Korea

Given the growing salience of energy transition conflicts, policymakers need better tools to explain, prevent, and resolve them. The concept of energy justice highlights the normative direction of the energy system, and therefore, we examined the offshore wind farm siting conflict in Yeonggwang-gun, South Korea, through the lens of energy justice. In this study, we interviewed representatives of local stakeholder groups relevant to offshore wind farms and conducted text-mining analysis to extract the primary opinions of stakeholders. Through text-analysis, four primary factors were identified and discussed in relation to energy justice: gillnet fishing, consultation with the fishing village cooperative, damage by private developers, and a government-led conditional agreement. This mixed-method approach showed that the voices of fishing communities correlate with the four tenets of energy justice—distributional, procedural, recognition, and restorative justice. We discuss how recognition and restorative justice explain energy transition conflict under inadequate policy arrangements in South Korea, where little has been investigated in energy justice literature. By filling the gaps in energy transition conflict, we suggest inclusive policy strategies, revisiting the meaning and utility of participatory planning, scoping methods for Environmental and Social Impact Assessments, and just transition.

Carbon and ecosystem service markets in rangelands and grazing systems are a wicked problem: multi-stakeholder partnership or roundtable as a vehicle forward?

Although the concepts of carbon and ecosystem service markets gained traction in the literature in the early 1990s, they have only recently (since the early 2000s) become a reality in Australia. The past decade has seen the appearance of markets for carbon sequestration (and avoiding land-clearing), most of which have occurred in rangeland environments. There has been research in recent decades focusing on the barriers and opportunities for the uptake of such carbon and ecosystem service markets at the landholder level. However, there is limited research into how the policy, institutional and governance arrangements may be affecting the effective and efficient development of cohesive carbon and ecosystem service markets in the Australian rangelands that could result in genuine and enduring environmental, social and community outcomes. Using in-depth interviews with 34 diverse stakeholders, we identified many inter-related themes that provided clear insight into aspects of these markets in Australia. Complexity was the most prominent and overarching theme. The markets operate on multiple levels across state, national and international jurisdictions, leading to confusion for landholders and other stakeholders. The type and number of groups and stakeholders in these systems add to the perceived complexity, with convoluted lines of responsibility, jurisdictional appropriateness, regulation, financial investment, and oversight. There is currently a lack of transparency within these markets, resulting in reduced trust and engagement. We deduce that carbon and ecosystem services markets are, in fact, a wicked policy problem, but have not yet been framed as such. We suggest a multi-stakeholder partnership or roundtable approach be used to tackle the symptoms of the wicked problem associated with carbon and eco-system service markets, which may help in reducing some of the complexities, perverse outcomes and stakeholder trust issues identified in this research.

The Actualization of the Value of Religious Moderation Islamic Perspective of Wasatiyah in the Subject of Akidah Aqhlak in MA Al Musdariyah, Cimahi City, West Java

For Indonesians, diversity is believed to be destiny. He was not asked, but a gift from God Who Created, not to be bargained but to be taken for granted. Indonesia is a country with ethnic, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and religious diversity that is almost unmatched in the world. In addition to the six religions that are most widely embraced by the community, there are hundreds or even thousands of tribes, regional languages and scripts, as well as local beliefs in Indonesia. Indonesia in the course of the nation's history has faced various alarming religious radicalism movements, so that they can be weakened from time to time from one government to government. Religious moderation is reflected in national commitments that uphold diversity, tolerance that respects differences of faith, rejection of all forms of violence in the name of religion, and acceptance and accommodation of cultural wealth and traditions that exist in society. The world of education becomes an agent of the State in the process of forming a paradigm of thinking and behaving of the future generation of the nation. The spirit of religious moderation is widely open to its application in the world of education, especially in the context of learning and socializing school residents. Madrasah Aliyah is a reflection of the implementation of the spirit of religious moderation in the educational environment which can be applied to school policy arrangements and in the classroom, namely learning. Based on this, it is necessary to study the concept of attitudes that can formulate in real and detail about behavior, how and what is the suitability of the concept of religious moderation, the perspective of Wasatiyah Islam in the teaching and learning process in the classroom. Researchers will examine the complementary linearity of the spirit of religious moderation in learning practices and can be a general standard of attitude that reflects religious observance, state obedience without leaving the culture of society.
 

Impact of 2015 Earthquake on the Shifts in Internal and International Relations of Nepal

The devastation generated by the 2015 Nepal Gorkha earthquake greatly affected the country’s politics and security, impacting the lives of around 8 million individuals with 9000 recorded deaths, more than 22 thousand injured. Thousands of private houses, public building, cultural heritages and critical infrastructures were damaged. More than 30 districts of Nepal felt the surmounting consequences of the terrible aftershocks. The aim of the paper is to evaluate the shifts within the domestic discourse in Nepal’s political happenings and also to look at the role of global actors in the humanitarian efforts in the country, filling the gaps left by state actors in the kerfuffle. The Constitution and the call for assistance by the central government were important in guaranteeing a certain kind of post-disaster stability and restoring as well as uplifting public morale and belief in the state systems. Adopting a qualitative method, through an analytical lens the study looked at the overall impact of the quake on Nepal’s politics and the trends of bilateral, regional and global assistance, focusing on the major donor agencies and the role of Nepal’s neighbouring states. There were several new developments and outlooks with regards to both state interests and the framework of disaster response. The paper also recognizes the importance of regional integration either by means of institutional instruments or through some other measure alongside a cohesive internal policy arrangement amongst the parties for future strategies aiming at effective disaster reduction and response.