Governance Capacity Research Articles

The Relationship Between Governance Capacity and Business Performance: A Case Study of Vietnam’s Auto Auxiliary Industry

The purpose of this study was to assess the present business performance of Vietnam’s auto auxiliary industry. Another aim was to identify the factors, including organizational factors, internal capacities, and external networks, that positively and negatively impact the governance capacity of Vietnam’s auto auxiliary industry. Finally, the relationship between governance and business performance within the context of Vietnam’s auto auxiliary industry was examined in the study. The research methodology employed a comprehensive approach, combining Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) utilizing Smart-PLS 3.0, interviews conducted through the Delphi technique, and an exhaustive table study. Three hundred questionnaires were distributed, yielding 265 responses from diverse participants, including private enterprises, state-owned enterprises, joint-venture enterprises, and governmental bodies. The results of the study were that Governance Capacity mediated the relationship between organizational factors (Government Policies, Market Competition, Globalization and Supply Chains, Economic Conditions, Environmental and Sustainability Concerns, and Human Resources Expertise) and Business Performance within Vietnam’s auto auxiliary industry. The recommendations provided practical insights for industry stakeholders seeking to improve governance practices and optimize business performance within Vietnam’s auto auxiliary sector.

How digital government capabilities strengthen public sector workforce resilience

ABSTRACT Digital platforms are transforming the way public employees share knowledge, seek peer support, and stay connected. While these digital tools are believed to help employees navigate uncertainties, their impact often hinges on an individual’s digital literacy. This study analyses how the digital government capacity and social media competency may drive employee resilience. Based on survey data from public sector employees, the regression analysis show that strong digital skills and work-related use of social media are found to be instrumental for thriving as well as surviving amidst change. Public service motivation is found to be a significant contributor, which suggests the role of intrinsic purpose in adapting to challenges. These findings suggest the need for targeted digital training and motivation-driven strategies to cultivate a resilient workforce. This article offers recommendations that emphasize the integration of digital skills and employee’s well-being into human resource policy frameworks for public sector.

Implementation of Smart Government Through Digital Village Information System

This service aims to increase the capacity of the village government in implementing smart governance with OpenSID while empowering the community as service users. This service employed the Participatory Action Research (PAR) method. The stages of activities carried out to achieve the goal were socialization of the urgency of SID in realizing Smart Village Governance. The activity was continued with training on the importance of SID for the Muaro Singoan Village Government. The team also provided assistance and training to the Village Government in managing the Village Information System through SID. Finally, socialization was carried out to the Muaro Singoan Village community regarding the understanding of the use of SID in serving the community. The service employed evaluation of attitude, knowledge, mentality, skills, partnership and follow-up that are conducted two weeks after the activity took place. This service resulted in changes in the knowledge, attitudes, mentality and skills of village communities and officials in organizing village governance with digital SID.

Assessing Heterogeneity in Governance Outcome: Evidence from Local Government Institutional Capacity Self-Assessment (LISA) in Nepal

Local Government Institutional Capacity Self-Assessment (LISA) is a tool for local governments to evaluate their own performance in Nepal. A key strength of LISA is its self-evaluation approach, which assesses local government workflows and achievements to identify the strengths and weaknesses for improving governance and development delivery. It facilitates the critical analysis of periodic plans, financial management, and governance delivery while promoting the development of quantifiable indicators and enhancing local government capacity on a larger scale. It covers ten dimensions for the evaluation such as Governance Approach, Organization and Administration, Annual Budgeting and Planning Management, Financial Management, Public Service Delivery, Judicial Proceedings, Physical Infrastructure, Social Inclusion, Environment Protection and Disaster Management, and Collaboration and Coordination. Each dimension includes a set of major indicators and sub-indicators, with a total of 100 indicators cumulatively across all dimensions. It broadly encompasses accomplishments and evaluation methods through three distinct approaches: Totalitarian Approach, Procedural Order, and Quantitative Results. This study of evaluation approaches, multi-dimensional scope and LISA scores of 749 local governments (published by the ministry after Quality Assurance) for the Fiscal Year 2022/23 by Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) divulges the heterogeneity in local governance. The study results reveal that, through the three evaluation approaches, the ten categorized dimensions each contribute differently to governance outcomes. These variations highlight how each dimension's unique impact can influence overall performance. The direction and strength of their relationships can predict how changes in one area might impact another. The newly institutionalized governance framework, along with its assessment technique, serves as a valuable tool for promoting balanced regional development and improving local governance. By maintaining institutional bricolage, addressing the exit-voice dichotomy, and facilitating yardstick competition, this evaluation process effectively integrates diverse local needs and promotes the whole of the government. Thus, moving beyond a blanket approach, governing policies in Nepal must adopt targeted and tailored strategies that account for the diverse realities and heterogeneity in local governance outcomes.

Unequal Economic Growth and Causes of War: An Empirical Study from a Global Perspective

The purpose of this article is to deeply explore the relationship between the imbalance of economic growth and the inducement of war, and make a systematic analysis by constructing an empirical model and combining historical data. In the part of theory and current situation analysis, this article discusses the theoretical basis of unbalanced economic growth in detail, and reveals the current situation of unbalanced global economic growth and its complex influencing mechanism. In the empirical research part, the relationship between the imbalance of economic growth and the probability of war is deeply explored by constructing a multi-level empirical model and using regression analysis. The results of data analysis show that the imbalance of economic growth has indeed significantly increased the risk of war, and this relationship is different among different types of countries. Based on the above research, this article draws the following conclusions: unbalanced economic growth is one of the important factors leading to war, and its influencing ways include resource competition, declining social cohesion and weakening political stability. In order to reduce the risk of war, this article puts forward some policy suggestions, such as promoting the balanced development of global economy, strengthening the balance of domestic economic growth, establishing an effective conflict prevention mechanism, and improving political stability and governance capacity.

Re-Imagining Transformative Strategies to End Minority Marginalization in Ethiopia

Abstract Since 1991, Ethiopia embarked on a journey to create an ethnically egalitarian state, aiming to rectify historical injustices and protect minority rights. Ironically, what was meant to be a beacon of equality has turned into a pervasive experience of minority marginalization. This stark reality underscores the failures of the existing legal and institutional frameworks. This article, therefore, critically examine the transformative strategies to end marginalization of minorities in Ethiopia. The study employed a qualitative research approach blending both primary and secondary data sources. The findings revealed that the failures of existing constitutional promises and institutional frameworks regarding the protection of minority rights, necessitating re-imaginations of transformative strategies. The study advocates for the progression of national and local minority rights institutions, the implementation of transitional justice measures, the instigation of electoral reforms, and the decentralization of power. Furthermore, the establishment of minority autonomous governance and the augmentation of local government capacity are recommended. Additionally, the formation of national minority councils, accentuating parliamentary endorsement for legislative reforms by minority representatives and public service reform is suggested to enhance minority employment opportunities. Lastly, the study recommended equal media access to promote the political participation and freedom of expression of marginalized minority groups.

The sovereign climate debt trap and natural disaster clauses

AbstractThe growing prevalence and magnitude of climate‐related natural disasters are perpetuating a climate debt trap in which recovery costs compound over time, progressively eroding the capacity of governments to obtain financing to respond to them. How can countries participating in global financial markets respond? This article focuses on natural disaster clauses in sovereign debt contracts, which enable a national government to temporarily suspend payments to its creditors when a natural disaster strikes the country. Natural disaster clauses are analyzed and critiqued as an example of contract innovation amidst ongoing debates about legal reform of the global financial system in response to climate change.

Evaluation of Rural Environmental Governance Efficiency and Influencing Factors in the Yangtze River Delta Region under the Goal of “Dual Carbon”

In the face of deteriorating ecological problems such as pollution from agricultural production, pollution from farmers' lives, and pollution from township industries in the Yangtze River Delta region, as well as the plight of an imperfect rural environmental governance system and insufficient governance capacity, there is an urgent need to set up a comprehensive assessment system for the efficiency of rural environmental governance, improve the rural environmental governance system, and modernize the capacity of environmental governance. This project will firstly sort out the research results of rural environmental governance at home and abroad, and systematically analyze the theory of rural environmental governance; secondly, analyze the spatial changes of environmental pollution in rural areas during different periods, and analyze the efficiency of environmental governance in the rural areas of the Yangtze River Delta in different dimensions; finally, analyze the influencing factors of the efficiency of rural environmental governance under the constraints of the target of “double carbon”, and analyze the factors of economic development, economic development, and the impacts on the efficiency of rural environmental governance. Finally, we analyze the influencing factors of rural environmental governance efficiency under the constraint of the “double carbon” goal, and analyze the impacts of economic development, policy formulation, villagers' motivation and other factors on rural environmental governance efficiency. The results of this study provide an important reference for further promoting the realization of the dual-carbon goal and scientific environmental governance in the Yangtze River Delta region, and also provide a strong case study and reference for environmental governance strategies in other regions.

Enhancing Government Capacity for Air Quality Management in the Philippines through Geospatial Technologies: A Case of Project AiRMoVE

Abstract. Air quality management is crucial in the Philippines due to its profound implications for public health, ecosystems, and sustainable development. Project AiRMoVE, short for the Ambient Air Remote Sensing, Modeling, and Visualization Environment project, aims to enhance air quality management through engineering solutions and geospatial technologies such as remote sensing (RS), geographic information systems (GIS) and numerical modeling. Implemented by the University of the Philippines Training Center for Applied Geodesy and Photogrammetry (UP TCAGP), Project AiRMoVE collaborates with key stakeholders to identify attainment and non-attainment areas in the National Capital Region (NCR) for air quality monitoring. This paper provides an overview of Project AiRMoVE's objectives, methodologies, and outcomes, emphasizing the significance of RS and GIS in revolutionizing air quality monitoring and management. It underscores a systematic approach adopted in enhancing government capacity for air quality management -- a combination of workshops, technical trainings, and stakeholders' forums.

Under the Perspective of Seeing Party Self-governance Exercised Fully and with Rigor: Research on High-quality Party Building Leading and Guaranteeing High-quality Cadre Team Construction

Abstract: The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC (the Communist Party of China is referred to as CPC in this paper) Central Committee stressed that the focus is on improving the Party's leadership and long-term governance capacity, innovate and improve the mode of leadership and governance, deepen reform of the system for Party building, and optimize the system for seeing party self-governance exercised fully and with rigor. This is a strong response to Xi Jinping's speech on July 1st that "it takes a good blacksmith to make good steel" and the report of The 20th CPC National Congress emphasized "the Party's self-revolution." It highlights the significance of full and rigorous Party self-governance and the value and orientation of building the ranks of party cadres. In the new era, to carry out the Party building in government organs and ensure the construction of cadres, this study focus on the "high-quality" under the "full and rigorous Party self-governance". That is, the historical starting point and the theoretical quality of the guiding ideology of Party building is "high-quality", and the "evaluation criteria" of Party building promotes the responsibility of The Times, the quality and ability.

Digitally Driven Urban Governance: Framework and Evaluation in China

With the rapid development of digital technology, the role of digitalisation in urban governance continues to emerge. Building a theoretical analysis framework and evaluation system of digitally driven urban governance has important theoretical and practical significance for stimulating the efficiency of digital technology tools and improving the energy level of urban digital governance. This paper aims to explore the mechanism of urban governance enabled by digital technology, innovatively change the previous thinking mode that only attaches importance to facility construction and e-government platforms, adopt ecological thinking, and comprehensively consider the role of “soft elements” such as strategic support, industrial support, the security environment, talent support, and the market environment. Then, the extreme value variance method and the coefficient of variation method are used to calculate the overall capacity and secondary index scores of each city, and the standard deviation of secondary index scores is used to represent the sub-environmental balance of the cross-sectional data of China’s provinces. In order to further explore which indicators restrict the improvement of China’s urban digital governance capacity, this study also constructs an obstacle degree model. The results show the following: (1) The overall capability of China’s digitally driven urban governance is low, with a total score of 27.25, indicating that China’s digitally driven urban governance is in its infancy. (2) There is a significant development imbalance among Chinese provinces, with Beijing ranking first with a score of 81.16, and Tibet, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Heilongjiang, and Ningxia scoring less than 13.30 points, ranking as the bottom 5 among the 31 provinces. (3) The shortcomings of talent support, industrial support, and the security environment restrict the improvement of the entire digital ecological governance ability.

What do the sustainable development goals reveal, and are they sufficient for sustainable development?

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015 represent the current perceptions of humans regarding understanding and monitoring development. Achieving all 17 goals simultaneously is unrealistic. Considering the interconnected nature of SDGs, identifying their critical dimensions, goals, indicators, and mutual relationships is necessary. In addition, with increasing reservations about the sustainability of SDGs, it is crucial to explore consistency across different dimensions to ensure policy coherence in maximizing synergies and minimizing trade-offs. Our study employed multiple factor analysis (MFA) and hierarchical clustering on principal components (HCPC) to investigate these issues and analyze the results based on the public value (PV) theory. The results indicated that the Human Development Index (HDI) and gross domestic product per capita (GDPP) constitute the first principal component (PC) and are determinants in differentiating country clusters. However, they contradict environmental indicators such as CO2 emissions per capita and ecological footprint gha per person (EFP) and have low synergy with the Happy Planet Index (HPI). Additionally, the relationships between income level, inequality, and environmental quality correspond to a combined Kuznets curve and an environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). Moreover, governance capacity has become increasingly crucial in sustainable development, particularly in the capability to prioritize different PVs in a timely and strategic manner. Finally, despite the novelty of EFP and HPI, they cannot reveal the entire development story. SDGs require embracing more such indicators to enrich the value bases of development and achieve a sustainable future.

Border fortification and legibility: Evidence from Afghanistan

AbstractStates often fortify their borders against militant threats. How do these efforts shape civilian welfare and perceptions in borderland communities? I conceptualize border fortification as a legibility‐building endeavor. By bolstering state reach in areas of weak historical penetration, fortification enhances the government's capacity for monitoring, administration, and control. Yet, expanding state authority also disrupts traditional cross‐border markets. A trade‐off between security and corruption emerges in consequence. I provide evidence for this theory in a difference‐in‐differences framework, combining administrative records on violence and representative data from a NATO‐commissioned survey fielded across Afghanistan. Fortification facilitates government information‐collection, improving security provision and fostering civilian reliance on state forces. Enhanced state capacity is countervailed by negative economic impacts. By disturbing the informal borderland economy, fortification fuels criminalization and local opposition. Civilians rely on illicit economic entrepreneurs to sustain traditional market access. Higher smuggling rents fuel official corruption and bribe‐taking. The findings point to a key dilemma inherent in border fortification strategies.

Brazilian Fiscal And Monetary Policy: Balancing Budgetary Rigidity And Economic Sustainability

Background: This study examines Brazil's fiscal framework, focusing on the rigidity imposed by revenue earmarking and its effects on public debt management and economic sustainability. The paper reviews the evolution of macroeconomic theories, from Keynesianism to monetarism, and their influence on Brazilian fiscal and monetary policy formulation. It explores rational expectations theory and its impact on policy efficacy, particularly under budgetary rigidity, while also assessing Keynesian and monetarist applications in the Brazilian context. Further, contemporary debates such as those surrounding the Phillips Curve are discussed, alongside an analysis of Brazil's fiscal and monetary policy instruments. An econometric analysis evaluates the relationship between public expenditure and GDP, with robustness checks applied to validate the model. The study concludes that achieving sustainable fiscal balance in Brazil may require structural reforms to increase budget flexibility, enabling more adaptive debt management and strategic investment. Comparative studies on flexible fiscal models in similar economies are recommended to expand these insights. Materials and Methods: This study uses a quantitative approach to examine the relationship between public expenditure and GDP in Brazil. Data on fiscal variables, including public debt, interest rates, inflation, and GDP, were sourced from government databases. A multiple regression model with a quadratic term for public expenditure was applied to capture non-linear effects. Diagnostic tests for heteroscedasticity, autocorrelation, and model specification were conducted to ensure robustness, providing a comprehensive framework for assessing the impacts of fiscal rigidity and public spending on economic growth. Results: The findings align with academic theory, showing a non-linear relationship where moderate public spending boosts GDP, but excessive spending has diminishing returns, consistent with Keynesian and neoclassical views. Control variables (public debt, interest rates, inflation) were not significant, supporting theories that these may have limited direct impact on short-term growth. Diagnostic tests confirmed the model's robustness. Conclusion: The study concludes that Brazil's high debt-to-GDP ratio, elevated current expenditures, and budgetary rigidity limit the government's capacity to expand public spending as an economic stimulus. This constraint aligns with classical and neoclassical perspectives, which do not endorse extensive state intervention. Such fiscal expansion would be unfeasible within a Keynesian framework due to high public debt and limited public resources. The econometric results corroborate these findings, revealing that while moderate public spending positively impacts GDP, excessive spending yields diminishing returns, reinforcing the argument against unchecked fiscal expansion. The insignificance of control variables, such as public debt, interest rates, and inflation, suggests the limited direct impact of additional fiscal stimulus on short-term growth under current conditions. The model's robustness supports the reliability of these insights, pointing to the need for fiscal reforms that enhance budget flexibility, enabling a balanced fiscal approach without further increasing public debt

Intergovernmental networks and local government capacity for disaster management in North Sumatra

The objective of this study is to examine the impact of decentralization on disaster management in North Sumatra Province. Specifically, it will analyze the intergovernmental networks, local government resilience, leadership, and communication within disaster management agencies. The study used a hybrid research approach, integrating qualitative and quantitative methodologies to investigate the connections between these factors and their influence on disaster response and mitigation. The study encompassed 144 personnel from diverse government tiers in North Sumatra and performed a meta-analysis on the implementation of disaster management. Intergovernmental networks were discovered to enhance collaboration in disaster management by eliminating regulatory gaps and efficiently allocating logistics. Nevertheless, local governments have obstacles as a result of limited resources and inadequate expertise, notwithstanding the progress made in infrastructure technology. The F test results reveal that leadership and communication have a substantial impact on the performance of BPBD personnel. The meta-assessment classifies its impact as extraordinarily high, suggesting comprehensive evaluation and successful achievement of goals in disaster management planning. Efficient cooperation among relevant parties is essential in handling calamities in North Sumatra. The government, commercial sector, NGOs, universities, and society have unique responsibilities. To improve effectiveness, governments should encourage private sector involvement, while institutions can increase their research contributions.

Can government digital transformation improve corporate energy efficiency in resource-based cities?

Corporations in resource-based cities have long faced unique challenges in achieving sustainable development. Digital government construction, a critical strategy for enhancing governance capacity through information technology, presents significant potential to improve corporate energy efficiency and foster sustainable growth. This study explores the impact of digital government construction on corporate energy efficiency in China's resource-based cities, utilizing data from listed companies. The findings are as follows: First, digital government construction significantly enhances corporate energy efficiency in resource-based cities, with this effect remaining robust across a series of robustness checks. Second, the extent of this beneficial effect varies with factors such as digital infrastructure level, environmental policy stringency, local financial constraints, and corporate ownership structure. Third, the improvement in energy efficiency is primarily driven by advances in technological innovation and reductions in non-productive expenditures. These findings underscore the pivotal role of digital government construction as an effective tool for enhancing energy efficiency and supporting sustainable development in resource-based cities.

The Political Economy of Industrial Policy

We examine the ways in which political realities shape industrial policy through the lens of modern political economy. We consider two broad “governance constraints”: (1) the political forces that shape how industrial policy is chosen and (2) the ways in which state capacity affects implementation. The framework of modern political economy suggests that government failure is not a necessary feature of industrial policy; rather, it is more likely to fail when countries pursue industrial policies beyond their governance capacity constraints. As such, our political economy of industrial policy is not fatalist. Instead, it enables policymakers to constructively confront challenges.

Institutional Capacity of Ukrainian Governments: Issues of Efficiency and Legitimacy

The article analyzes the effectiveness and legitimacy (which are interrelated) of Ukrainian governments in 2014–2024 and identifies the regulatory and legal traps that create an acute deficit of their institutional capacity. The author emphasizes that the crises of institutional capacity of governments in modern consolidated democracies and in Ukraine, which is still being formed as a democracy, have different origins. The basic determinant of the "democratic backslide" of liberal democracies is the departure of governments from egalitarian practices. In Ukraine, the deficiencies in the capacity of governments are due to the "embedding" of regulatory and legal "traps" in the Constitution of Ukraine of 1996, which have been destroying the system of power distribution inherent in democratic political regimes for 30 years, making it difficult for governments and parliaments to demonstrate their own subjectivity and creating conditions for influential informal institutions (e. g., oligarchs) to participate in politics. The researcher argues that the regulatory and legal traps that disable Ukrainian governments and lead to the formation of a government product of mediocre quality (for example, the reforms of 2014–2021) are the dual management structure of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (both the Prime Minister and the President have grounds for this). Lack of effective and balanced relations between the government and the parliament, which regulates the practice of semi-accepted governments, and a mechanism for resolving government crises. The article argues that the process of Ukraine’s accession to the EU gives a new impetus to the dismantling of post-Soviet institutionalism that began in 2014. This process becomes especially dramatic in the first year of full-scale war (from 2022 onwards), when the beginning of the dismantling of post-Soviet institutions overlapped with the need to maintain the country’s governability during the war. The author hopes that the need to "bring" Ukrainian institutions and their inherent practices to the EU level gives reasonable expectations for the formation of a legal framework in our country that will modernize Ukrainian institutions (and governments, above all). It is important, according to the researcher, to propose an approach to reform that would be a synthesis of both updating the legal framework governing the government and introducing instrumental changes that would form a new institutional culture.

A review of research literature related to the modernization of social governance

With the emergence of new situations in China's economic development, the overall domestic and international situation has become complex and volatile. The risks and contradictions affecting social harmony and stability are increasing, making the task of social governance more arduous and onerous. The modernization of social governance at the municipal level is not only an inherent part of the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity, but also a positive response to economic development and social changes during the social transformation period. This article systematically reviews relevant literature on the modernization of social governance, laying a foundation for in-depth research on the modernization of social governance.

An analytical framework to examine power in sustainable energy decision-making in cities

Urban areas are emerging as “strategic sites” in the ongoing sustainable energy (SE) transitions. This has rekindled the importance of urban governments in initiating this transition urgently, a departure from the actors managing more mainstream centralized energy governance. However, while there is a growing international and academic interest in urban energy transitions, the political presence of cities in the global clean energy landscape remains largely underwhelming. Scholars studying urban energy transitions or governance have often pointed toward the lack of material and knowledge capacities of the urban governments as the key barrier for their muted actions. I argue that decision-making by urban governments with respect to clean energy adoption needs deeper inspection wherein aspects such as capacity, or the lack of it, are symptoms of underlying power contestations and conflicts that are negotiated in multi-level governance systems. The scholarship of power captures the ideas of contestation, control, and acquiescence, going beyond the ideas of cooperation prevalent in multilevel governance. In this article, I juxtapose these with concepts from multi-level governance and socio-technical studies to offer an analytical framework for understanding energy decision-making by city governments. The framework presented in this article attempts to capture both direct and indirect forms of power, their operationalization, and manifestation in constituting identities, actual decisions (and indecisions) as well as the conditions of decision-making. I also use the framework to understand the role of power in sustainable energy decision-making in three cities in India as an illustration of possible application of the framework.