Government Agenda Research Articles

Twin pillars: Financial literacy & financial inclusionevidence from Gujarat

India has been independent for more than 70 years now and in the recent times, the focus has strongly shifted to development policy along with financial reformation. Financial inclusion has therefore been on the agenda for the Central government as well as the Reserve Bank of India. For a nation to be financially inclusive, the population needs to be financially literate. A close reading of existing literature in this domain brings out that majority of the studies have been conducted on three variables - financial literacy, financial development and economic growth. In order to add to the existing body of research and knowledge, this paper is an attempt to inquire about the difference between ‘financial literacy’ and ‘financial awareness’ to be able to understand what can actually lead to ‘financial inclusion’ in the nation. Primary data has been collected from the urban individuals from two major cities of Gujarat and subsequent data analysis using statistical tools has been carried out.

Practice briefing: the increasing importance of biodiversity and nature-related issues in real estate

PurposeThe environmental, social and governance (ESG) agenda has taken on increased importance in the real estate sector in recent years. This paper assesses the increasing importance of biodiversity, nature-related issues and habitat in the ESG agenda for real estate and the impact of the introduction of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) guidelines and several European-based biodiversity initiatives that will shape biodiversity and nature-related risk management in real estate going forward. Strategies being used by the leading real estate players to deliver this important biodiversity and nature-related dimension of ESG are also identified.Design/methodology/approachThis research is based on a thorough understanding of the ESG environment in the real estate industry by the author. Best practice examples regarding biodiversity and nature in ESG and the use of the TNFD guidelines in the real estate sector are provided.FindingsNature-related risk management is increasingly important. Biodiversity and nature-related guidelines such as TNFD are important to capture biodiversity, nature and habitat issues in the ESG agenda in the real estate sector. These biodiversity guidelines will enable real estate players to be explicit in evaluating, addressing and disclosing their nature-related risks to their stakeholders and facilitating the effective delivery of nature-related risk management procedures. Several major real estate players have already given a commitment to delivering these TNFD guidelines and are developing best practice procedures to embed these TNFD guidelines for biodiversity, nature and habitat in their real estate decision-making. These biodiversity guidelines are expected to have an increasing impact in the real estate sector going forward.Practical implicationsESG is a key element in the real estate sector today, with net zero carbon strategies and climate change risk management being key dimensions going forward. This climate-related agenda is now being extended to a nature-related agenda, as the issues of biodiversity, nature and habitat are addressed. Guidelines such as TNFD are an important development that the real estate sector will need to embrace, with several leading real estate players already committing to TNFD in their real estate reporting and decision-making. The development of best practice procedures and suitable metrics for these nature-related guidelines will be key components for the fuller assessment of biodiversity, nature and habitat in the real estate space.Originality/valueThis paper is the first paper to specifically address the need for more focus on incorporating biodiversity and nature in ESG in the real estate industry, highlighted by the use of the TNFD guidelines and European-based biodiversity initiatives. Best practice examples from the real estate industry are assessed. This area of biodiversity, nature and TNFD will be a key issue for ESG in the real estate industry going forward.

Optimizing The Role Of Bumdes In Improving The Economy Of The Gelangsar Village Community

Introduction: The development of villages and underdeveloped areas has long been on the government's agenda as a national development goal because villages are a real target that must be prosperous and rural areas still dominate poverty in Indonesia. Objective: To optimize the role of BUMdes in improving the economy of the Gelangsar village community. Problem Formulation: How to optimize the role of Bumdes in improving the community's economy and what are the factors for the failure of Bumdes in improving the economy of the Gelangsar village community. Research Method: This research was conducted using descriptive qualitative methods. Results: It is undeniable that the existence of BUMDes has brought changes in the economic and social fields. BUMDes' contribution is mainly in the form of Village Original Income, where BUMDes net profits are allocated to Village income and the ability of BUMDes to develop and function as expected depends on the basic material and social assets (both tangible and intangible) owned. Conclusion: The existence of BUMDes brings significant changes in the economic and social fields. Shifts in social values and also changes in interaction patterns between citizens will occur. BUMDes provides an increase in Village Original Income, but this income cannot be felt directly by the community.

E-Government Adoption Intention among Bangladeshi Citizens a Conceptual Model

The electronic government service delivery or e-government is included in any government agenda world over. Bangladesh is no different. Under the ‘Digital Bangladesh’ drive, Bangladesh government has taken huge initiatives to improve the infrastructure supporting e-government services in the country. However, the engagement of the citizens of Bangladesh in e-government services is yet to reach the expected levels. In the United Nations’ Electronic Government Development Index (EGDI) Bangladesh has made progress over the year. Nevertheless, in the E-Participation Index EPI, which indicates the citizens’ participation in the services, Bangladesh’s rank was never steady. This warrants for research to understand the factors affecting the Bangladeshi Citizens’ e-government adoption intention. The current research provides a study framework to investigate the factors influencing the Bangladeshi citizens’ e-government adoption intention. Based on the Unified Model of E-Government Adoption (UMEGA), the proposed framework captures the most crucial antecedent variables affecting behavioral intention. Additionally, by including Trust in Government (TIG) as a moderator in the framework, this study expands on the UMEGA framework. Moreover, the TIG moderator gives opportunity to understand the faith and trust of Bangladeshi citizens on their government, especially after the recent turmoil in the country. The proposed research framework would provide the government policy makers to investigate the relevant factors affecting the citizens’ perception towards e-government services. The service provider also can use the study findings based on this framework to design e-government services custom made for the behavioral status of Bangladeshi citizens. The proposed framework contributes to the literature by adding to the scholarly gap of e-government adoption intention specific studies. The TIG moderator in Bangladeshi context contributes to the literature to understand the citizens’ perspective on the trust they put in their government in developing nations.

Power relation and knowledge: linking Islamic education to socio-political reform in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Vision 2030, conveived by His Royal Highness Prince Muhammad bin Salman (MBS), represents a transformative initiative to foster openness and shift away from Wahhabism to establish a more moderate Islam. As part of this vision, the reform of the Islamic education curriculum plays a crucial role. This study examines the curriculum reform processes and strategies, focusing on Dirasat Islamiyah textbooks addressing inter-religious and intrareligious relations. Employing a qualitative approach and text analysis, the research applies Michel Foucault's theory of power-knowledge relations to analyze the state's role in shaping educational content. The findings reveal that the reformed curriculum seeks to construct and internalize ideologies that align the younger Saudi generation with the moderate Islam agenda of MBS's government, supporting Saudi Vision 2030. This study contributes to the theoretical discourse on power-knowledge dynamics by showcasing education's role in advancing state-driven ideological shifts during significant socio-political reforms.

Organizational restructuring, precarious employment and work intensification: Women managers’ experience of work under neoliberalism

In recent decades there has been a perceptible rise in employment precarity across professions, industries, institutions and economies, including for managerial grades. In this article the authors contend that this emanates from an implicit neoliberal governance agenda promoting deepening career uncertainty amidst transformative digital innovation and radical corporate restructuring. Among the effects of such changes have been managers experiencing longer working hours, greater work intensification and worsening work–life balance. The authors argue such effects have been particularly acute for women and notably under the institutional (economic, political and social) constraints of the coronavirus pandemic. Presenting quasi-longitudinal information from three qualitative studies (based on data collected variously in Japan, the UK and USA in 2002–2006, 2015–2019 and 2020–2021) the article considers not only women managers’ experiences of work since the millennium, but also their occupational prospects for the future. The authors conclude that under neoliberalism the enduring interaction of organizational restructuring, precarious employment and work intensification will continue to affect adversely the equilibrium between women managers’ personal lives and their professional work, given many confront increasing demands of corporate availability and work-related connectivity whilst simultaneously dealing with significant parenting and care responsibilities.

Continued increasing social inequality in mortality in Denmark - a nationwide register-based follow-up on previous mortality studies.

Social inequality in mortality has increased in many countries worldwide and does not appear to be levelling off. Denmark is no exception, and the latest developments are presented in this short communication. Trends in life expectancy and changes in the shape of the age-at-death distribution are calculated from nationwide register data on income and education linked to mortality data. Since 1987, the difference in life expectancy between the lowest and highest income quartiles has increased by 5.4 years for men and by 2.0 years for women. The difference in life expectancy (at age 30) between education groups has also increased. The latest developments indicate a decline in life expectancy for men and women in the lowest income quartile and with the shortest education. Reducing social inequality in health and mortality has been on the agenda for successive Danish governments for more than 20 years, but social inequality in life expectancy is still increasing.

ON THE ISSUE OF PATRIOTISM AND UPBRINGING THROUGH CIVIC EDUCATION

We consider the educational management methods aimed at developing patriotic citizens as respecting the roots and core culture of the Mongolian people. It is focused on cultivating a strong sense of valuing one’s country, developing individuals who dedicate their intellect, passion, talent, knowledge, and strength to the sustainable development and progress of their nation. This includes a desire for ambition, courage, perseverance, and behaviors that embody what it means to be a 'Mongolian.' Furthermore, to enhance the guarantee of the country's independence and ensure sustainable development, nationwide campaigns are being implemented with the goal of fostering patriotism and education through national programs such as 'Patriotic Mongolian' and 'Fostering Patriotic Views Among Children and Youth. Education is not only knowledge, it is explained by the integrated concept of upbringing, development and morals. Moral education is included in civic education, and based on the development of patriotism, the importance of "New Era" education policy and the participation of the state and the people has been considered. Materials and Methodology: Sections related to the concept of national security, Mongolia's Defense Law, Laws on Education, and the government's agenda were compared. The management methods, possibilities, and future direction of the problem of cultivating patriotism and upbringing through civic education were clarified from its internal basis and reasons.

Early Mamluk scholarship in the Islamic State’s magazine

ABSTRACT This paper traces out all the references to classical Islamic scholarship with the Islamic State’s flagship, English-language magazine. It finds that more than one-third of these relate to one man and two of his students, living in Damascus during the early part of the fourteenth century. This, it is argued, can be explained in four ways. Firstly, the Islamic State uses their work as a basis for its own governance agenda, especially its search for legitimacy and authority. Secondly, it points to their struggles against the authorities of the day as grounds for its more general call-to-arms, notably its focus on recruitment. Thirdly, the Islamic State develops a wider narrative of diachronic comparison to ‘Mongolise’ its opponents and place itself at the vanguard of opposition to Western hegemony more broadly, and to its military policy in the Middle East in particular. Fourthly, it uses the internal divisions of the tumultuous early Mamluk period as a basis for the separatist claim that lies at the heart of the putative Caliphate’s strategy.

Public Sector Corporate Social Investments in Namibia: The Case of the Mobile Telecommunications Company

A bias in research has seen studies focus mostly on corporate social investments (CSIs) in the private sector. The current study aims to provide an alternative perspective to the traditional association of CSIs with private sector organisations by including public sector entities such as public enterprises (PEs), using the case of the Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC) in Namibia. A qualitative research method and a single case study research design focusing on MTC was used, and data were analysed through themes and deductive reasoning. The major findings of this study show that MTC is exemplary in practicing CSI in Namibia’s public sector. MTC has various impactful socio-economic and environmental focus areas of CSI, which contribute to the development agenda of the Namibian government. The issue of CSI in the public sector is intriguing and could be usefully explored in further research, particularly from a developing country perspective. It is now possible to conclude that PEs can also be dominant players in the CSI sphere, particularly from a public sector perspective. The findings in this study make important contributions to the literature by providing a public sector institutional perspective of CSI that is different from the traditional view that mostly associates CSIs with the private sector.

Talking Green on social media: An exploratory study of online environmental communication in Greece

Traditional news media have long been the primary source of information on environmental issues, influencing public perceptions and shaping discourse on ecological sustainability. Media representations play a central role in forming public opinion, especially on climate change, which has become a highly politicized and polarized topic, both offline and online. Political ideologies, economic interests, and government agendas significantly shape how the public discusses and responds to strategies for addressing climate change. This study focuses on the most engaging environmental content posted on social media and explores whether climate change is the dominant topic in these discussions. It also examines which actors (e.g., politicians, institutions, citizens) and sources (legacy media or alternative media) are featured in the most popular content. The aim is to identify the factors that drive user engagement on platforms like Facebook, Twitter (now X), and YouTube, and to investigate how social media users contribute to the plurality and diversity of voices shaping the discussions on environmental issues. The study considers whether these platforms support the democratic potential of public debate. Over a three-month period (Sept.–Nov. 2021), the study monitored social media and compared non-professional user’s posts with professional content from legacy media. The findings show that institutional actors dominate the online debate on environmental issues and climate change. Facebook engagement largely revolves around content from organizations and politicians, while Twitter users refer to organizational sources. On YouTube, however, local and regional media content is more prominent. This is surprising since surveys suggest that Greeks mistrust legacy media and prefer social media for information, viewing traditional outlets as corrupt and biased towards the dominant class.

How did restorative justice get onto the government agenda, and why does its implementation differ? A multiple streams approach

How did restorative justice get onto the government agenda, and why does its implementation differ? A multiple streams approach Restorative justice has resulted from a paradigm shift in the way criminal conflicts are dealt with. It involves achieving the pacification of the conflict while meeting the needs of victims, offenders and society, through dialogue. This article applies the multiple streams framework (MSF) to analyse how and why restorative justice got onto the government agenda in Western European countries. It also applies the novel theoretical adaptation of the MSF to analyse why restorative justice implementation is uneven across Western European countries and even within countries. The study shows that the generalised dissatisfaction of citizens with the traditional criminal justice system, their empowerment and the performance of policy entrepreneurs constituted a favourable context for restorative justice to get onto the government agenda. The findings underline that the MSF provides a useful lens through which to examine the complexity and dynamics of restorative justice policymaking and implementation processes.

Tackling Modern Slavery or Worsening Vulnerability? UK’s Modern Slavery Agenda in Nigeria

Nigeria is said to be one of the largest source countries for victims of modern slavery in the UK (Throughout this paper, I use the terms ‘modern slavery’, ‘slavery’ and ‘human trafficking’ loosely and interchangeably to refer to extreme exploitation as often described in many international documents as well as in the UK’s MSA which is the focus of this paper). Thus, the UK government has often lauded its partnership with the Nigerian government in tackling the problem of modern slavery, often presented as a problem of irregular migration. At the same time, legal migration channels into the UK are increasingly being tightened, and Nigerians are among those who suffer the consequences of such. This paper reviews the UK government policies, partnerships and activities in Nigeria in the light of the Modern Slavery Act. It argues that the emphasis on deterring migration and sex trafficking has meant that the UK government agenda is being promoted to the detriment of key structural factors contributing to other dimensions of vulnerability and exploitation in Nigeria.

Local Climate Governance: Towards more Interactive Practices and Settings?

AbstractWhile environmental challenges are high on the public agenda, they have raised many questions concerning the ability of society and politics to cope with them. In liberal democracies, they challenge the traditional interplay between the state, business sector, and the various forces of civil society. Relating to the concepts of a more interactive and collaborative governance agenda, this study focuses on the local level of climate governance in municipalities and urban politics. It is based on material, documents, and interviews with representatives of public administration and civil society from seven major towns in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Our findings show progress in local governance, driven by municipal climate action plans, the recognition of climate action as a cross-cutting issue, and the influence of national and federal policies and programmes. The study identifies four main forms of revitalising and institutionalising intermediation across sectors: (1) public participation through various formats meant to give citizens a voice; (2) stakeholder involvement for co-designing measures and plans by partners and opponents most affected; (3) strategies of influencing public opinion and the prevailing discourse on climate politics; and (4) forms of co-production in policy implementation. While the impact of these forms of conflict management, bridge-building, or even cooperation may vary, they altogether define the nature of local interactive governance and its capacities for promoting sustainable development and democracy.

Securitized trust: on the multiple guises of the UK policy agenda during the Covid-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT Against the backdrop of the uncertainty that characterized the COVID-19 pandemic, trust emerged as a key term employed by public officials and policymakers in the UK to represent the existence or dissolution of state–society relationships. Despite its ubiquity, trust remained ambiguous in its precise meaning and multiple in its usage. Through an analysis of key policy documents published since the onset of the pandemic, we look beyond the definition of trust to explore its various roles in the UK policymaking at the national level. Drawing on the work of Vivien Schmidt (2008, 2010), we bring attention to the relationship between the cognitive (or instrumental) and normative (or valued-based) functions of trust in contradicting domains of community and security. We argue that the multiplicity of trust in policy discourse creates a false unity across conflictual domains of the government agenda, obfuscating the workings of an increasingly austere state. ‘Securitized trust’, we propose, is produced when the language of trust is mobilized through policies that work to enforce compliance with government agendas, to monitor organizing at the community level, to manage personal data, and to enhance policing.

Impact of Conditional Cash Transfer Program on Household Welfare in Southern Ethiopia: A matching estimator approach

Cash transfers (CTs) are now high on the agenda of most governments in low- and middle-income countries. Chronic food insecurity is one of the problems that has plagued millions of Ethiopians for centuries. This study evaluated the impact of participation in the conditional cash transfer (CCT) component of the PSNP (Public Works or PW) on household welfare in Karat Zuria District, Konso Zone, Southern Ethiopia. The cross-sectional survey data was gathered from 244 sample households, which were taken from beneficiary and control groups by using a multistage sampling procedure. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to evaluate the program's impact on livestock holdings and total income. The result obtained from logit regression indicated that participation in a conditional cash transfer program was negatively influenced by access to credit and cultivated land size, whereas it was positively influenced by shock experience and an iron-roofed house. The econometrics model result shows that, as compared to control households, the program intervention increased the beneficiary households’ livestock holding (measured in TLU) by 24.8 percent (0.53 TLU) and total income by 33 percent (1705.095 ETB), respectively. This study demonstrated how the program had a considerable impact on household livestock holdings and total income.

Feminism and Global Governance: Investigating the Role of Women in Peace-Building, Human Rights, and Global Development

The study is centered on the relationship between feminism and global governance with emphasis being placed on the role of women in peace-building, human rights and the global development. The study takes a critical look into the radical feminism theory of patriarchy in relations to how it explains and promotes women involvement in significant spheres of governance while further showcasing the remarkable outcome that have been achieved with the involvement women in helms of authority. The study highlights the contributions of women in peace processes with special emphasis being placed on the contribution of Liberian Women after the end of their second Civil war under the governance of President Sirleaf which showcases their unique approaches to conflict resolution and reconciliation. Several advocacy efforts which were led by women were identified to have resulted in societal and policy changes that propels gender equality and fairness. More so, the study examines the impact on global development of women led initiative which have proven effective in addressing the individual needs of women while further ensuring long term economic stability and a sense of community. The integration of feminism perspective into the agenda of global governance is vital towards achieving gender equality, justice and a peaceful world.

The politics of medical expertise and substance control: WHO consultants for addiction rehabilitation and pharmacy education in Thailand and India during the Cold War.

This paper explores the role of World Health Organization (WHO) medical experts in ambitious projects for substance control during the Cold War in Thailand and India. The circumstances surrounding opium production in these two nations were very different, as were the reasons for requesting expert assistance from the United Nations. Whereas the Thai military regime was concerned with controlling illicit traffic to secure its borders, the Indian government wanted to direct its opium raw materials towards domestic pharmaceutical production. Overlapping and sometimes competing agendas of country governments and international agencies converged upon each project, complicating the consultants' work and requiring careful navigation. In both cases, medicine as a science concerned with human health and well-being was subordinated to more pressing agendas. At the same time, the article argues that WHO consultants left an important impact, though not necessarily due to their skills and training in medicine. Instead, they provided exemplars of sound governance and delivery of public health in a politically stable and economically developed country.

Crisis as inflection point in the urban governance of domestic migration in India: a policy frames analysis

The exodus of millions of domestic migrants from Indian cities during COVID-19 highlighted the failure of urban governance to address their vulnerabilities and reconfirmed that migrant integration is an intractable policy problem, where actors take oppositional and irresolvable positions. Drawing on frame analysis, which outlines agenda-setting aspects of complex policy issues, this paper explores the ideas, perceptions and beliefs of diverse governance actors – politicians, bureaucrats and civil society members – and questions whether the COVID-19 migrant crisis generated new directions in the urban governance of migration. Results show that the COVID-19 crisis generated framing contests around the role of cities in migrant inclusion that shaped new governance agendas regarding improving urban services and welfare delivery. However, owing to a persistent belief in rural sedentarism, COVID-19 failed to act as a tipping point for definitive policy towards improved urban governance of migration. The findings suggest that deeper analysis of policy frames can enrich literature on the governance of domestic migration and encourage theoretical convergences between domestic and international migration.

Slum upgrading and participation: Insights from a marginalized neighbourhood in Buenos Aires

This paper rethinks participation in slum upgrading beyond a well-established dichotomy of “top-down” and “bottom-up” processes and instead proposes a relational and strategic approach to urban transformation. Based on qualitative research with a small informal settlement, Barrio Saldías, in Buenos Aires, that fell off the city government's agenda, this paper explores the role of participation in promoting upgrading from the margins. It argues that Saldías differs from instances of community-led upgrading due to the central role of party brokers and political representatives (especially from the local state) alongside residents, all of whom participate together in a political climate dominated by the discourses of citizen participation and slum upgrading. Rather than collapsing these experiences into the logic of clientelism, participation is centred as the articulatory logic based on a shared desire and commitment to transforming urban space, towards multiple political ends. Participatory upgrading in Saldías exceeds the narrow focus of project-centric approaches and draws on a wider trajectory of participation in Buenos Aires. It demonstrates this through an analysis of three moments of participatory upgrading in Saldías.