Modes Of Governance Research Articles

Dilemmas and Reflections of Officials Live Streaming in the Context of Rural Revitalization

Officials live streaming is a new exploration of rural revitalization based on the mode of rural e-commerce and grassroots governance. Officials as anchors have a certain political symbolic colour, which has a special added layer for them to drive the sales of agricultural products and handle political affairs online. Through analyzing the subjectivity and professionalism of officials anchors in live streaming practice, it is found that the coupling of officials live streaming and rural revitalization in practice often breeds the problem of subject trust in the identity of officials, the problem of media practice for the government to promote the implementation of rural revitalization strategy, and the problem of emerging discourse governance in cyberspace. For this reason, officials anchors need to consider weakening political symbols, visualizing personal IP, and promoting the normalization of live streaming, so as to promote the transformation of rural governance logic, rural governmental solutions, and rural products to increase income.

RECLAIMING THE LOST PARADISE: THE JAMMU AND KASHMIR REORGANISATION ACT AND INDIA’S NEW HISTORICAL NARRATIVE ON KASHMIR

Historical narratives and collective memory are relevant to claims regarding community, territory, and identity related to the Kashmir conflict. They have been central in shaping India's national imaginary and mobilizing support for New Delhi's policies in the region. The article analyzes how the topos of "paradise on earth" has informed the trajectories of Indian state narratives on Kashmir transforming, under the Modi government, into a call to action to recover and reclaim the lost paradise. The new discursive direction has been underpinned by a renewed interest in the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits-the Brahmin community native to the Kashmir valley-whose collective identity is deeply rooted in the history and socio-cultural distinctiveness of the region. The article thus situates the renewed political and public interest in the story of the Pandits' flight from Kashmir within a broader narrative of the state underlying the current phase of India's Kashmir policy. In this way, the article provides a perspective on how the trajectory of the Indian government's historical narratives about the region has informed the dynamics of conflict, occupation, and violence in the Kashmir Valley.

Exploring social processes in transformation: the case of a collaborative water partnership in South Africa

ABSTRACT We explore the social processes supporting transformation towards collaborative water governance in the uMngeni catchment, South Africa. Using Holling’s adaptive cycle as a heuristic of phases (conservation, release, reorganisation and exploitation) present during transformation of social-ecological systems, we consider the role of learning, power, agency and structure during each phase of the evolution of the uMngeni Ecological Infrastructure Partnership (UEIP). The UEIP is a partnership between government, research institutions, and civil society groups that facilitates broader and more collaborative participation in water management. During the conservation phase, strong control power and institutional structure (denoted by a hierarchical governance mode embodying control and regulation by the State) limited the introduction of new ideas and reinforced single-loop learning. The release phase was triggered by a shock which weakened control power and permitted the introduction of new ideas thereby enabling double-loop learning. The changing conditions gave rise to protean power (defined as results of practices of agile actors coping with uncertainty) which enhanced the agency of key actors who began to mobilise others in a rapid phase of re-organisation. Triple-loop learning was evident in the exploitation phase as new collaborative institutions, that were better able to accommodate innovative ideas, began to emerge. We found the adaptive cycle helpful for delineating phases of change, while the four multi-faceted processes of learning, power, agency and structure proved useful in illuminating dynamics of change. This understanding may help to inform actions to steer transformations towards more sustainable and collaborative water governance in South Africa and elsewhere.

On Strategic Emerging Industry Cluster Development in Anhui based on the Perspective of Global Value Chain

With the development of economic globalization, the role of strategic emerging industries embedded in global value chains (GVCs) as clusters to actively participate in the global industrial division of labor has become increasingly significant. The present situation and problems of strategic emerging industry clusters in Anhui are analyzed qualitatively from three aspects: dynamic mechanism, development mode and governance mode, and their status in GVC is inferred quantitatively by using GVC index. Secondly, Bengbu silicon-based new materials industry is used as an example for empirical research, and the GEM model and multiple linear regression model are used to build a data evaluation system and analyze the factors affecting the competitiveness of industrial clusters. Finally, we propose a scientific and reasonable upgrading path and policy suggestions based on GVC perspective, which can provide guidance and reference significance for promoting regional industrial economic development.

Urban governance and sustainable development: The effect of smart city on carbon emission in China

Most countries are facing the problem of how to improve the urban ecological environment for living and production through reasonable urban governance mode. Recently, smart cities have become a worldwide urban governance policy to solve the problem. By focusing on carbon emissions, this study uses a smart city pilot to systematically evaluate its impact on carbon emissions and explore the underlying mechanism. According to the difference-in-difference model, we find that smart cities significantly reduce carbon emissions. The main mechanisms are technological innovation and industrial structure upgrading. Our study provides empirical evidence for how developing countries achieve carbon emission reduction through smart cities and policy implications for transforming urban governance to achieve sustainable development.

Environmental justice and ecological civilization in the Pearl River Delta, China

ABSTRACT The central government of China aims to transform the Pearl River Delta (PRD) from a polluting and low value-added global factory to a sustainable region. The transformative vision of the PRD is underpinned by the ecological civilization concept. While ecological civilization represents a significant initiative in moving toward sustainable development, China’s top-down and command-and-control mode of environmental governance may fall short of addressing multi-dimensional and multi-scalar social and environmental justice issues of the PRD cities. The authors therefore suggest embracing the concept of environmental justice to enhance ecological civilization, with the aim of benefiting every stratum of society. The concept of environmental justice is multi-faceted, embracing recognition, procedural, distribution and compensatory justice at different geographical scales, often calling for institutional changes. Without environmental justice, a harmonious and sustainable PRD would not be possible. In recent years, China has made unprecedented institutional adjustments to deal with environmental issues, such as conducting annual “health screening” and five-yearly thorough evaluations to monitor conservation and development. To embrace environmental justice, legislative changes are required to recognize individual environmental rights through collective action and public participation, incorporating citizens’ inputs to the appraisal of cadres, and establishing intergovernmental institutionalized organizations.

Strategy for financing mode optimization in international trade supply chain based on deep learning model

Abstract With the development of economy and the advance of society, the quality of life of the masses has been improved to a certain extent. Meanwhile, new approaches have emerged in the financial industry, such as the supply chain mode. This paper modeled the coupling relationship of financial markets based on deep learning model and proposed the supply chain financing strategy of financial markets in different countries. The experimental results show that when the minimum value of supply chain finance is 0.5577, the loss risk has not reached the boundary of the effectiveness of the risk control standard. Therefore, this paper aims to systematically analyze the financing mode of international trade supply chain, comprehensively perfect the international trade governance mode, and thus realize the freedom of trade, and at the same time, provide new ideas for enterprises' financing difficulties, and probe into the ways of supply chain financing mode in improving enterprises' financing difficulties, so as to help solve the financing difficulties of a large number of enterprises and optimize the financing strategy of international trade.

The Disposal Mode of Maine’s Waste Governance

Maine’s materials management system is stuck in a disposal mode of waste governance. Despite significant investments in programs and policies designed to reduce the amount of waste the state buries each year, recent shocks and uncertainties have resulted in increased waste generation and disposal. This paper analyzes specific ways through which materials management in Maine has become locked in to a disposal mode of waste governance. We build a framework to help understand various forms of lock-in and how they might be unlocked. This framework is applied to the extended producer responsibility packaging law that is presently under the rule-making process in Maine, the first state to adopt such a policy in the United States.

Strengthening the Sustainable Development Goals through integration with human rights

This paper discusses the relationship between the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the long-standing human rights system of the United Nations. Thematically, these two modes of global governance strongly overlap. Several SDGs are in line with human rights obligations. At the same time, the SDGs and human rights are based on divergent logics and constructed very differently. After capturing the key characteristics of the two governance modes, this paper highlights the differences between the SDGs and human rights and introduces a novel conceptualisation to enhance our understanding of the relationship between rights-based and goal-based approaches. Against this backdrop, we assess this relationship and argue that human rights have the potential to strengthen and reinforce the SDGs. In particular, we sketch some future pathways to better integrate the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with existing human rights instruments to enhance accountability, review, and participation in decision-making in relation to the SDGs.

Democracy building and the link between public trust and corruption perception: Comparative analysis before and after the Armenian Velvet Revolution in 2018

ABSTRACT Eastern European post-communist countries inherited pervasive corruption after the breakup of the USSR. Public trust was the crucial factor in tackling corruption and democracy building in these countries. This article takes Armenia as a case to study the antecedents and evolution of trust in Eastern European post-communist countries that went through a government coup in the 21st century. By comparing the corruption situation in Armenia before and after the Velvet Revolution 2018, we scrutinise how trust was and is critical to combating corruption and democracy building. We argue that in transition governments, one can distinguish two sources of creating public trust. The first wave generates when the government is newly established, and people trust the leader and his persona. Arguably, in this stage, the level of trust generated is based on expectations. The second wave of trust comes with the government’s actual performance, measured partly based on corruption perception.

About Governance of Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System. The Case of Bulgaria. Part III

This paper is the third part of our attempt to examine the governance, efficiency, and development of the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System (AKIS) in Bulgaria based on a project related to mechanisms and the modes of agrarian governance in Bulgaria. The research continues with the expert assessment on governance of AKIS in Bulgaria and the SWOT analysis regarding development strategy and intervention needs providing recommendations and actionable steps to address the identified weaknesses and enhance the effectiveness, efficiency, and inclusiveness of the AKIS governance. It is emphasizing the approaches of comparative data and institutional analysis, gap analysis, SWOT, strategic orientation, experts’ assessments to identify actors and relations, state and trends in development, assess strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, formulate adequate strategy, and specify overall and public intervention needs of AKIS in the country.

Multilevel governance of energy transitions in Europe: Addressing wicked problems of coordination, justice, and power in energy policy

AbstractConcerns about energy transition and policies to achieve a clean energy Europe are omnipresent in all European discourses. A transformation dynamic has captured all European states, whereby the extent, scope, and direction of this transition vary between different (EU member‑) states and political levels (European, national, federal, local). Likewise, governance dynamics and policies vary between the different European governance and regulatory systems. This Special Issue aims to take stock and discuss approaches in governance and policy research to assess, analyse and evaluate this variance from a theoretical, methodological, and empirical perspective. Of particular interest are recourses to investigate concepts describing and analysing the formation of new policy fields. Within the framework of the Special Issue, the role of specific architectures in which the energy transformation in Europe is embedded (e.g., federalism and multi-level structures, institutional constellations of actors, multi-sector networks, etc.) are analysed to explain the energy transition policies and their transformative properties. Linking the empirical results back to basic research concepts and relating the results to the existing approaches in policy and governance research facilitates a better understanding of the energy transition as a classic and/or new transformation policy.

Stakeholder Perceptions of Landscape Justice in the Case of Atlantic Salmon Fishing in Northern Finland

Atlantic salmon fishing in northern Fennoscandia is part of controversial ecological, sociocultural, legal, and political questions. This paper presents a study of landscape justice as perceived by stakeholders who practice, manage, and govern traditional, household, and recreational salmon fishing on northern Finland’s border rivers, Tornio (Torne) and Teno (Tana). The concept of landscape justice is analysed through the lens of distributive, substantive, procedural, and recognition forms of justice. The data are based on semi-structured stakeholder interviews (N = 15). A qualitative content analysis of the data based on the forms of justice reveals that salmon are associated with diverse environmental, economic, and sociocultural values of the landscape. The study results show the current state governance mode of salmon fishing causes landscape injustice manifesting, in particular, as an unequal distribution of risks and benefits regarding fishing governance and its challenges. There is unclear legislation for Tornio. Landscape justice is violated by regulations causing unclear case law for Teno on the ownership of land or water and related fishing restrictions, as well as a lack of possibilities for local tourist entrepreneurs and household fishermen to participate in decision making. Governmental decisions are mainly based on the overall ecological status of salmon populations at the expense of local variations or the recognition and systemic evaluation of sociocultural and local economic values of the landscape. The results indicate a need for national and cross-border policy decisions to include sociocultural and economic aspects of Atlantic salmon fishing to guide movement towards more just environmental governance.

The ecological accountability reform and corporate investment efficiency: Evidence from a policy shock

The ecological accountability reform is an emerging environmental regulatory tool used by transition economies to correct failures and deviations in the traditional central-local environmental governance mode. This paper applies the propensity score matching with difference-in-differences method to test the impact of the central environmental inspection, an ecological accountability mechanism, on the investment efficiency of enterprises. The results reveal that the central environmental inspection can improve the corporate investment efficiency by resisting the urge to over-investment. Furthermore, this policy can improve corporate investment efficiency by dual functions of the incentive effect of increasing R&D investment and the pushback effect of financial risk. After a series of robustness checks, the results remained reliable. Heterogeneity tests show that the effect gradually appears in regions that implemented policy lately or with re-inspection, indicating the necessity of establishing a long-term mechanism. What's more, the positive effect of the central environmental inspection on corporate investment efficiency will be more significant in SOEs, large companies, and companies in provinces with weak environmental regulations. To achieve carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, this paper provides implications for improving collaborative governance system of local environmental protection and strengthening the linkage of environmental regulation and enterprise investment.

Signal effect of government regulations on ride-hailing drivers’ intention to mobile-based transportation platform governance: Evidence from China

The emergence of the ride-hailing economy has brought many benefits to society but has also presented several unprecedented governance challenges. To address the latter, a cooperative governance mode joined by multiple agents has been suggested as a potential regulatory paradigm for shared platforms. However, how government regulation affects governance participation intentions among different stakeholders remains unclear. To shed light on this issue, this study examines how ride-hailing drivers of China perceive government regulation and regulatory events and how this perception affects their intentions to participate in governance. The methodology involves two stages: interviews with 30 ride-hailing drivers and questionnaires completed by 375 drivers, followed by an empirical analysis. Results indicate that perceived government regulation and perceived values significantly influence governance participation intentions among ride-hailing drivers. Additionally, government regulatory events and positive network externality have a partial moderating effect on this relationship. These findings suggest that while external regulatory environment and regulatory return can increase governance participation intentions, they are insufficient to support co-governance. To effectively realize co-governance, governments must overcome the state-centrism bias that treats informal subjects (stakeholders) in platform governance as passive “participants” or “recipients.” This scenario can be achieved by advancing policy and issuing deliberation mechanisms that increase the formal position of drivers in platform governance, thus sending a signal to drivers that they are valued participants in the governance process.

Protect or punish debtors? Policymaker discourse on the state’s role in personal debt governance

ABSTRACT Personal debt is a device increasing one’s agency but embedded within moral and legal frameworks that constructs people as individualised financial subjects. This article aims to enrich research on the state role in (subject) financialisation through a focus on personal debt governance modes as constructed in policymaker discourse on the state role in personal debt regulation. Our argument is contextualised in the Czech Republic, where, in 2021, 10 per cent of the adult population faced legal debt enforcement, significantly disrupting their economic situation. Through an analysis of 84 parliamentary debate transcripts and 32 regulatory impact assessment documents related to consumer credit and debt relief laws, we illustrate the ambivalence and complexity of debt governance and state roles. Although two main state roles were enacted – punitive and protective – the policymaker discourse forms a continuum of sorts, blending various moral logics, ascribing multiple responsibilities (individual, state and private actors) and intensively negotiating the category of debtor deservingness. We argue that by accenting financial education as a tool to solve perceived market failures (predatory lending), the financialised logic and structures are reaffirmed, albeit leaving certain discursive spaces for renegotiation and potential resistance against such state functions.

Analysis of Islamic Law Accommodation In National Law during the Era of Democratic Transition Government 2001-2004

This paper aims to analyze the position of Islamic law in the national legal system during the democratic transition (2001-2004), which was led by Megawati Sukarnoputri. Although she and the supporting party she led (PDIP) are often associated with secularism (at least considered insensitive to the problems of Muslims), during her reign from 2001 to 2004 several regulations were born that accommodated the interests of Muslims in the form of laws. This study uses a normative research method with primary-based secondary data sources. This study found that of the 126 laws that were legislated during the 2001-2004 transitional government, fourteen of them had intersections with the interests of Muslims which were accommodated in two patterns; first, formalist accommodation where the law strengthened the enactment of Islamic law for Muslims in Indonesia, such as Law No. 18 of 2001 concerning Special Autonomy for the Province of NAD; Law No. 18 of 2003 concerning Advocates, and so on. Second, accommodation in the form of substantive laws that are in line with Maqashid Shari'ah or at least do not contradict Islamic teachings as illustrated in Law No. 20 of 2001 concerning Amendments to Law No. 31 of 1999 concerning Corruption, Law No. 30 of 2002 concerning the Corruption Commission, Law No. 23 of 2002 concerning Child Protection, and others.

A Two-Stage Hybrid Model for Determining the Scopes and Priorities of Joint Air Pollution Control

Due to the spillover nature of air pollution, the territorial separate governance mode is ineffective in combating pollution, making Joint Prevention and Control of Air Pollution (JPCAP) among multiple regions the only viable option. However, determining the appropriate scopes and priorities for JPCAP is known to be a challenging and significant issue. To address this, we propose a new two-stage hybrid model. In the first stage, making use of long-term, wide area monitoring data provided by the air pollution monitoring network, we propose a new method for subdividing large regions into sub-regions by using data mining techniques. In the second stage, we propose a comprehensive decision-making framework to evaluate the priorities of JPCAP sub-regions from three different perspectives, namely, the impact of a sub-region on the pollution level of the entire target region, as well as the urgency and elasticity of sub-regional air pollution control. A case study is conducted on 27 cities of the Yangtze River Delta region of China. The case study demonstrates the validity and practicality of the proposed two-stage hybrid model. This work provides a viable tool for the effective implementation of air pollution control in China and other regions of the world.

Paradoxes of Transformative Social Innovation: From Critical Awareness towards Strategies of Inquiry

Society is transforming through a whirlpool of innovations. This includes technological as well as social innovations, i.e. changes in social relations involving new ways of doing, organizing, framing and knowing. Especially the potentials for transformative social innovation (TSI) are gaining the interest of progressive political actors and critical scholars. Occurring in the form of new modes of governance and alternative ways of working and living together, TSI involves the challenging, altering or replacing of dominant institutions. As documented in various strands of critical social inquiry and innovation research, TSI praxis is pervaded with contradictions, anomalies and paradoxes. This methodological contribution addresses the challenge that tends to remain: How to elaborate this general critical awareness into more operational ‘strategies of inquiry’? The paper discusses paradoxes of a) system reproduction, b) temporality, and c) reality construction. Identifying distinct kinds of contradictions and distinct empirical phenomena, this differentiation also calls attention to the associated differences between realist, processual and constructivist research philosophies. Gathering the empirical analyses, theoretical interpretations and methodological advances that have been made on these paradoxes, this contribution opens up the scope for critical and practically relevant innovation research: It is important to bridge the divide between rigorous but sterile methodological know-how, and critical-reflexive theorizing that lacks operational insights.

The struggle for water in rural Paraguay: a ‘perverse confluence’ analysis of subversive participation

In March 1999, the people of Paraguay found themselves at an historical crossroads. At the national level and in rural communities, the legacy of the 35-year Stroessner dictatorship continued to limit the ability of democratic actors to make social and political change in the country. The old one-party rule of the Colorados confronted by international and local pressure for transformation, led to a political crisis that challenged both neoliberal development policies and the lingering authoritarian populism of the dictatorship. This essay explores a municipal infrastructure and water project sponsored by the Paraguayan government, the Peace Corps and the Inter-American Development Bank, in which the joint effort revealed tensions between emergent forms of democratisation and the goals of campesinos and their allies in the Catholic Church. Struggles for improved quality of life through infrastructure development intertwined with neoliberal modes of governance and efforts to overcome years of local authoritarian rule. Local communities sought a more active role in governing their affairs, which led to the successful implementation of Juntas de Saneamiento or ‘sanitation councils’.