Governance Institutions Research Articles

Sustainable Campus Operations in Higher Education Institutions: A Systematic Literature Review

This paper presents a systematic literature review (SLR) to provide a comprehensive understanding of higher education literature focusing on the implementation of sustainable campus operations. The implementation of on-campus sustainable operations represents a pivotal path for promoting sustainability in the higher education context. Nonetheless, only a scarce number of studies provide a comprehensive assessment of the existing literature on the topic of sustainable campus operations in higher education institutions (HEIs). Accordingly, our research intends to fill this gap. Our review identified 130 focal articles that were predominantly published in high-impact journals. Key themes identified in the literature include carbon neutrality, energy use, waste management, environmental management, and circular economy, with a notable emphasis on the interconnectedness of these topics. The review also highlights the critical role of institutional leadership, governance structures, stakeholder engagement, and technological innovation in driving sustainability on campuses. Despite the growing body of literature, research gaps were identified, including the need for more comparative studies, exploration of funding mechanisms, and improvements in data collection and reporting practices. This study underscores the importance of adopting a structured, holistic approach to campus sustainability in HEIs, which can inform policy development, enhance decision-making, and pave the way for more effective sustainability strategies.

Book Review: The Palgrave handbook of crisis leadership in higher education

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was working in a public university in Wuhan, China. As the global crisis unfolded, I saw firsthand how higher education institutions responded to unprecedented disruptions. With the urgent shift to emergency remote teaching, challenges in institutional governance, and widespread uncertainty of the pandemic’s trajectory, academic leaders and community faced enormous pressures. My own experience of being confined to China during this period afforded me a unique perspective on how institutions struggled to maintain educational continuity while managing the multifaceted challenges of the crisis (see Tang & Liu, 2022). These observations deepened my understanding of crisis leadership in higher education, especially as it pertains to institutional adaptability, resilience, and the strategic foresight required to lead our way through crises effectively. While crisis leadership can be viewed through many lenses, I find the framework proposed by the editorial team of The Palgrave Handbook of Crisis Leadership in Higher Education – Dr. Jürgen Rudolph, Dr. Joseph Crawford, Dr. Choon-Yin Sam, and Shannon Tan – particularly compelling; not mentioning that the editors are all multi-disciplinary experts and frontline academics in management, leadership, higher education policy and practices. They argue that crisis leadership in higher education is not always tied to formal titles or positions of authority. Instead, it revolves around the actions of individuals at every level – those who step up, influence, and inspire positive responses during times of crisis (Rudolph et al., 2024, pp. 7-8). Whether it was pivoting to online platforms overnight or supporting faculty and students through the emotional and logistical upheaval of lockdowns, the need for strategic, compassionate, and agile leadership became clear. At its core, true crisis leadership is about cultivating an environment where everyone feels empowered to contribute, creating a sense of psychological safety, and transcending the traditional boundaries of institutional hierarchies. It is within this framework that I approached this edited book. This timely volume addresses a broad range of crises – financial, political, environmental, and technological – and presents global case studies that offer critical insights into leadership strategies. As someone who has witnessed the direct impact of crises on higher education. I found the thematic structure of this handbook especially relevant. Each chapter rigorously explores the intersection between crisis leadership and institutional survival, demonstrating how crises like the COVID-19 pandemic or those brought upon by generative artificial intelligence (AI) serve not only as challenges but also as potential catalysts for innovation and systemic reform. In addition to the opening chapter, this handbook encompasses nine thematic chapters (Chapters 2-10) and 23 chapters that explore global case studies (Chapters 11-33) featuring some underrepresented countries or regions in the established literature such as Cambodia, Ghana, Papua New Guinea, and Uzbekistan. The topics that contributors have delved into are structured around leadership models, financial sustainability, digital transformation, social justice and equity, global and regional responses, and environmental sustainability. Due to its exhaustive content, this handbook would be of great interest to academic researchers, teaching practitioners, policy makers, institutional leaders as well as a broader international audience who seek a thorough and practical reference for future crisis handling in higher education.

United Nations, the Struggle for Gender Equity, and Queering Global Science.

UN Women is the United Nations "entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women". UN Women is an example of the institutions of global governance that followed the gender turn in women's rights over the past 2 decades. This opinion commentary unpacks a brief history of UN Women, and the ongoing disparities in gender diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in science, engineering, and medicine, not to mention in science communication, with the aim to shed light on the adverse impacts of gender essentialism and gender binary. First, I argue that another world and liberatory structural change are indeed possible by resisting and refusing empty platitudes for band-aid solutions, disingenuous pleasantries and cultures of scheming for professional ladder-climbing that cloak the systemic causes-of-causes and sustain DEI inequities. Second, I argue for systems thinking and reflexive change in research cultures through queering global science, and rethinking everyday hegemonic assumptions and the prevailing blind spots in sex, gender, science, and society. Third, queer theory is not limited to studies of gender and sexuality. When used as a verb, "queering," its meaning broadens so as to mean critical examination of the unchecked assumptions and norms in a given field of scholarly inquiry. The DEI inequities in science, engineering, and medicine are real, harmful to individuals and communities in the present historical moment, and undermine intergenerational justice, not to mention hinder science and innovation. Going forward in the current decade amid uncertainty and polycrisis in world affairs and global democracy, the systemic gaps in gender equity in everyday laboratory life and on the streets ought to be remedied for global science and planetary health to be just, responsible, democratic, and innovative.

Governance in Higher Education Institutions - Algeria as a Model

The effectiveness of governance has become increasingly important in the case of higher education institutions in the Arab region. Higher education institutions face various challenges that threaten the crisis of education quality and the credibility of existing institutions, and various international rankings reveal a loss of institutional integrity, including recurring issues related to fraud and corruption in higher education. To address these challenges, many higher education institutions are focusing their attention on the quality of internal governance, as this has become a serious issue related to the importance and legitimacy of institutions. In this research, we will conduct a study of how to develop governance in university institutions in the Arab world and the obstacles they face. We will highlight a study on Algerian universities.

Impact of Corruption on Public Investment Outcomes in Nigeria

Corruption remains a significant barrier to public investment in Nigeria, particularly for large-scale projects. This study aims to examine the impact of corruption on public investment outcomes across varying levels of investment with time series data covering 1986 to 2023. Using simultaneous quantile regression, the analysis captures both the direct effect of corruption and its interactions with macroeconomic variables, including GDP per capita, inflation, government effectiveness, political instability, and foreign direct investment (FDI). The results demonstrate that corruption consistently reduces public investment, with the negative impact intensifying at higher quantiles. Interaction terms reveal that government effectiveness mitigates the harmful effects of corruption, while political instability exacerbates them for smaller projects but plays a more complex role in larger ones. Inflation and FDI further amplify corruption's negative effects, particularly in medium and large-scale projects. The study concludes that larger public investments are especially vulnerable to corruption, which emphasises the need for stronger institutional frameworks and governance reforms to enhance transparency and accountability in public sector investment. Lastly, macroeconomic stability and improved political conditions are crucial to enhancing public investment outcomes, particularly in large-scale projects.

International institutions in global tax governance

International institutions in global tax governance

Analysis of the concerted development plan to improve user satisfaction in a local government in Arequipa

The study examines the Joint Development Plan (PDC) of José Luis Bustamante y Rivero district (2011-2021), a strategic document designed to guide the community’s integral and sustainable growth. Based on a situational analysis, four strategic axes are identified: social development, economic productivity, urban-environmental management, and institutional governance. However, the PDC shows limitations in addressing global megatrends such as digital transformation, environmental sustainability, and climate resilience. This work suggests updating the PDC by incorporating digital technologies to optimize municipal management, climate adaptation strategies, and urban sustainability measures. It also recommends using SMART indicators and fostering multisectoral partnerships to enhance its impact. Aligning the PDC with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and trends like digitization and renewable energy would enable more effective and future-oriented planning. These changes would position the district as a model of inclusive, resilient, and sustainable development.

Universities towards sustainable development - a review of Polish schools' approaches to the formulation of SD strategies

Universities have an important role to play in the process of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in its 2015 Declaration, which specifically addresses their contribution in the areas of education, research and social impact. The main objective of the article is to review the approaches of Polish higher education institutions (HEIs) to the formulation of sustainable development strategies by reference to their position in international rankings. The study focused on three international rankings: UI GreenMetric, THE Impact Rankings and QS World University Rankings: Sustainability. The methodology used included literature review and critique, analysis of documents and other source materials, descriptive analysis and comparative analysis. The paper contributes to deepening and advancing the academic debate on the role of universities in achieving the SDGs and improving institutional governance to accelerate progress towards their implementation.

Beyond democracy? Towards a post-democratic vision of governance

This essay explores elements of a solution to the crisis of the current degrading of contemporary democracies through populism. It does this through arguing that the political transition from kingship to democracy has neglected important resources that are once again required for governance in the contemporary era. In recovering these resources of a vocational mandate, a teleological orientation and an exemplary witness, I conclude that together with developing new approaches to the cultivation of leaders, through critically adapting the ancient insights of Plato’s formation of political leaders, we can open up currently unrealised potential for moving beyond the blockages of secular democracies as exemplified by the rise of charismatic demagogues. Employing the model of the Deuteronomic King, I illustrate how a religiously informed institution of governance can preserve the positives of the secular modern democratic experiments and move beyond them in a post-democratic model of governance. This vision is motivated by a kenotic teleology of love that is anchored in both the person and the institution of the exemplary model of the leader.

International evidence: Supreme Audit Institution oversight and government governance roles in achieving Sustainable Development Goal 1

Poverty reduction is both a key goal and a prerequisite for sustainable development, requiring improved oversight and governance for lasting impact. This study examines the role of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI) oversight and effective government governance in achieving the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1, which focuses on poverty alleviation. This study integrates government governance, SAI oversight, and economic indicators to offer new insights into the factors influencing SDG 1 for poverty alleviation. Using multiple linear regression on data from 116 UN member countries in 2021, this study analyzes the impact of SAI oversight and government governance quality on SDG 1. Gross domestic product (GDP) and gross national income (GNI) serve as control variables to evaluate their role in poverty reduction. The findings indicate that stronger SAI oversight and improved governance significantly contribute to poverty reduction efforts aligning with SDG 1. Economic factors, including larger GDP and country classification (developed vs. developing), also show positive effects, highlighting the role of resources and governance capacity in poverty alleviation. Strengthening SAI oversight and government governance is essential to accelerate SDG 1 achievement, with theoretical and practical policy implications. Economic resources, such as GDP and GNI, are also critical in supporting sustainable poverty reduction.

Navigating the economic tightrope: Exploring governance, public debt, and their influence on South Africa’s capital formation

This paper explores the interconnected dynamics between governance, public debt, and domestic investment (also known as gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) in South Africa). It also highlights domestic investment as a key driver of economic growth, noting a consistent decline in investment since the country’s democratic transition in 1994. Moreover, this downward trend is exacerbated by excessive public debt, poor governance, and increased economic risks, discouraging domestic and foreign investments. The analysis incorporates two theoretical perspectives: endogenous growth theory, which stresses the significance of local capital investment and innovation, and institutional governance theory, which focuses on the role of governance in promoting economic development. The study reveals that poor governance, rising debt, and high economic risks have impeded GFCF and economic stability. By utilizing quantitative data from 1995 to 2023, the research concludes that reducing public debt, improving governance, and minimizing economic risk are critical to revitalizing domestic investment in South Africa. These findings suggest that policy reforms centered on good governance, effective debt management, and economic stabilization can stimulate investment, promote growth, and address the country’s economic challenges. This study offers insights into how governance and fiscal policies shape investment and capital formation in a developing nation, providing valuable guidance for policymakers and stakeholders working towards sustainable economic growth in South Africa.

The Legal Framework for Corporate Governance Under Saudi Law and United States Law

Objective: This study aims to conduct a comparative analysis of the legal frameworks of corporate governance in Saudi Arabia and the United States of America. Theoretical Framework: The study's theoretical framework is based on institutional theory, and the research addresses the regulatory rules and formal structures of corporate governance. Method: The qualitative methodology adopted for the study is a comparative case study approach where relevant laws and regulations are reviewed as academic literature in both countries. Results: The findings highlight that although Saudi Arabia and the United States have established a legal framework for corporate governance, their approaches differ significantly. These differences are manifested in regulatory mechanisms, institutional structures, and implementation strategies. Research Implications: The implications of this study are to improve the understanding of how national legal systems shape corporate governance practices; Offering insights into the complex interactions between institutional environments and governance mechanisms. Originality/Value: This research provides a refined comparative perspective that corporate governance reduces corruption, helps achieve justice, protects a company’s financial resources, and creates attractive investment opportunities.

Horst Oertel and the Russell Sage Institute of Pathology: Impacts on vital statistics and the origins of the short-lived heyday of autopsies in America.

Horst Oertel was an early 20th century pathologist who began his career as an instructor of clinical pathology at the New York University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College in 1899. In 1903, he was appointed pathologist for City Hospital, an institution for indigent patients on New York City's Blackwell's Island. In 1907, Oertel became the first director of the Russell Sage Institute of Pathology, a unique new blended public-private entity based at City Hospital, that was named after a wealthy benefactor. The Institute was established to utilize the Island's indigent population to perform anatomical pathology research on diseases of aging. Oertel and the Institute thrived until 1911, when a newly-appointed New York City bureaucrat seeking patronage and graft began meddling in the Institute's governance. After press coverage of a vitriolic one-week-long exchange of charges and counter-charges between the Institute's Board of Directors and the bureaucrat, the Institute imploded. While these events meant that the Institute's tenure on Blackwell's Island would soon be coming to an end, Oertel continued to work and submit articles from the Institute throughout 1912. In May 1913, he published "The Inaccuracy of American Mortality Statistics" in American Underwriter, a bombshell article documenting low autopsy rates and high clinical diagnostic error rates at Bellevue Hospital during 1912. This, along with similar studies by Richard Cabot at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, highlighted fundamental problems in hospital care and medical education across America. Simultaneously, Oertel led the Public Health, Hospital and Budget Committee of the New York Academy of Medicine which reported that, in a selected series of large American hospitals, the autopsy percentage when compared to the number of deaths was one-eighth the rates in Canada, Great Britain, Austria, and Germany. This paper addresses how American autopsy rates skyrocketed and then plummeted again during the mid-20th century.

Varieties of platform capitalism? Competition, regime types and the diversity of food delivery platforms across Europe and North America

Abstract This article challenges the idea of platform capitalism, that digital platforms implement a uniform model based on a self-employed labor force. Expanding on empirical evidence of a diversity of platform models, we theorize expectations about platform diversity from competition and comparative capitalism research. Using a unique cross-national dataset of leading food delivery platforms in 32 countries across North America and Europe, we compare platform models and competitive relations across national institutional regimes. Our analyses uncover a considerable diversity of platform models across Europe, in contrast to a clear uniformity in North America. We also find that the use of self-employment varies across and within large multinational corporations and is most prevalent in countries of the lightly regulated regime type. Our results call for an economic sociology perspective on the platform economy that integrates a general concept of platforms but allows for diversity stemming from competition and different national regimes.

State Fragility and the Resurgence of Military Coups in West-Africa

State fragility and coups in Franco-phone West Africa constitute a worrisome political issue caused by weak leadership, instability, poverty, corruption, weak governance institutions, insurgency and terrorism, kidnapping and banditry, border porosity and high rates of military coup. The paper analysed the causes and consequences of military takeovers in West Africa and the role of regional organizations in curbing them. Secondary materials were used for data analysis. The paper concludes that the brazen-faced and audacious French imperialism in West Africa has contributed to the ongoing instability and insecurity in the subregion; creating a fertile ground for coup resurgence, which was driven by military leaders seeking to gain control and exploit the resources of the region for their own benefit. The paper thus suggests that as soon as the polity is stabilized, political power should be returned to the people in the affected States.

State Fragility and the Resurgence of Military Coups in West-Africa

State fragility and coups in Franco-phone West Africa constitute a worrisome political issue caused by weak leadership, instability, poverty, corruption, weak governance institutions, insurgency and terrorism, kidnapping and banditry, border porosity and high rates of military coup. The paper analysed the causes and consequences of military takeovers in West Africa and the role of regional organizations in curbing them. Secondary materials were used for data analysis. The paper concludes that the brazen-faced and audacious French imperialism in West Africa has contributed to the ongoing instability and insecurity in the subregion; creating a fertile ground for coup resurgence, which was driven by military leaders seeking to gain control and exploit the resources of the region for their own benefit. The paper thus suggests that as soon as the polity is stabilized, political power should be returned to the people in the affected States.

The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act: Climate policy as economic crisis response

ABSTRACT In August 2022, the US Congress surprisingly adopted the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which included an ambitious package of decarbonization policies. Drawing on political economy perspectives and document analysis, this article explains the policy process that shaped the IRA. The policymaking process of the IRA is explored through an analytical framework adapted to the polarized political situation in the US, where traditional lawmaking strategies like seeking bipartisan compromise or conventional use of legislative procedures are largely defunct. The analysis shows how the economic shocks induced by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war generated a window of opportunity for a strengthened pro-climate interest coalition to employ novel policy ideas and creative institutional governance to instigate the enactment of the IRA. The combination of decarbonization policies in the IRA embodied a compromise policy package that all Democrats in Congress could accept, although its durability in a polarized legislature remains uncertain.

Institutional dynamics and governance structures in shaping CSR, social entrepreneurship, and private equity investment

This study examines how governance structures and institutional dynamics influence corporate social responsibility (CSR) and social entrepreneurship disclosures within the context of Saudi Arabia, particularly under the Vision 2030 initiative. Using a sample of 108 non-financial Saudi companies with 324 annual reports, we applied Legitimacy Theory to explore how companies respond to social expectations and pressures in an emerging market. Our findings reveal that governance structures, particularly board characteristics and CEO financial education, significantly impact CSR disclosure and social entrepreneurship practices. The results suggest that aligning governance with CSR expectations fosters a more sustainable and socially responsive corporate landscape, especially in emerging markets like Saudi Arabia. These insights underscore the need for policies that support transparency and social engagement, driving responsible corporate behavior.

Armed Forces’ Role in the Higher Education Governance: Quest for Enhancing Human Resources Development in Bangladesh

The Bangladesh Armed Forces frequently participate in nation-building initiatives, such as infrastructure development, disaster relief, and humanitarian assistance. They strive to introduce innovative technology, medicine, and logistics for wider applications and contribute to advancements in various sectors. They have expanded beyond their traditional defence roles to actively engage in education, establishing public and private universities, medical colleges and affiliated educational and training institutions. This study examines the role of the Bangladesh Armed Forces in higher education governance and its contribution to the national human resources development. It employs a qualitative research approach based on secondary data to explore the Armed Forces' capacity in higher education governance. The study finds how the Armed Forces governed higher education institutions are contributing to enhancing access to quality education, fostering leadership and professional development of the graduates, and stressing their impact on technological, medical, business, and strategic fields. Bangladesh Armed Forces play a pivotal role in promoting innovation, discipline, and academic excellence by ensuring efficiency in the governance of higher education institutions. The study also highlights the Armed Forces' capability to achieve their educational objectives, which align with the national demand for quality human resources and contribute significantly to national development. As an exploratory study, the research provides a foundation for further investigation, with future research recommended to adopt empirical and quantitative approaches to validate and expand upon the findings presented.

Urban climate experiments: Governance tensions and opportunities for justice

Urban climate experiments are considered as key vehicles for testing and materialising alternative futures. Yet, the capacity of experiments to be transformative and to go in the direction of greater justice is far from evident. While the debate on experimental governance hints at transformative challenges of urban experiments, scope of this paper is to make such challenges explicit, observing how they can constrain but also enable experiments in contributing to more socio-ecologically just change. To achieve that, this paper frames transformative challenges of urban experiments as critical governance tensions. The concept of tension illuminates the dialectics between limits to transformative action on the one hand, and opportunities to enhance scopes of action on the other. By analysing and connecting among each other key strands of debate on experimental governance, the paper identifies three main types of tensions characterising the governance of urban climate experiments, that is, socio-material, organisational and institutional (governance tensions). The analysis of the tensions is further developed by embedding a socio-ecological justice lens. Indeed, drawing insights from literature on urban climate justice, the paper shows how key dimensions of justice – namely distributive, procedural, recognition and restorative justice – run transversal to the three types of tensions. As a result, by experiencing and learning from governance tensions urban climate experiments can envision opportunities to better embed justice in their governing practices.