Governmental Steering Research Articles

Research on the design of narrative space construction: a case study of the revitalization project of the Macau Lychee Bowl Shipyard

ABSTRACT This study investigates the revitalization project of the Macao Lychee Bowl Shipyard, an industrial heritage site, aiming to uncover the expressive mechanism of narrativity within public spaces and thereby forge a fresh understanding of contemporary narrative space creation. Employing qualitative research methods such as participatory observation, spatial photography, literature review, and historical data gathering, the study unveils practical approaches for crafting narrative spaces in design research. These encompass multiple aspects, including the preservation and innovation of heritage value, the integration of social issues, user engagement, symbolism and expressiveness, non-verbal narratives, cultural and skill reproduction. The findings reveal that through governmental steering, project strategizing, community involvement, design competitions, and educational initiatives, the Lychee Bowl Shipyard has undergone a successful transformation into a versatile public space. This endeavor not only ensures the preservation of industrial heritage but also rejuvenates the site’s charm and cultural dynamism. The study offers a suite of strategies and practical avenues grounded in narrative space creation for the revitalization of industrial heritage, serving as a guiding beacon for heritage conservation, urban development, and communal engagement.

Building integrated primary health care: the role of the government in China and Thailand

ABSTRACT While the importance of primary health care (PHC) as a foundation for a strong healthcare system is widely accepted, the policies needed to achieve it remain deeply controversial. Some proponents call for a greater role for market and user choice in expanding and strengthening PHC, whereas others recommend a greater role for the government in directing its development. The objective of this paper is to assess these arguments by comparing the experience of China and Thailand in strengthening PHC. We find that tight government steering of the healthcare system in Thailand has produced better integration and eventually outcomes than the more decentralized and competitive system in China. The Chinese government’s massive administrative and fiscal efforts to strengthen PHC have been undermined by systemic barriers in the wider health system, notably fee-for-service and out-of-pocket financing that distort the incentives of healthcare providers. A key conclusion to emerge from the analysis is that central stewardship and steering accompanied by appropriate incentives to promote integration are critical to building effective primary health care.

Government steering and government disruption: co-operation between government and municipal actors in a state-initiated school improvement programme from the municipal actors’ perspective

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the co-operation between the Swedish National Agency for Education and school actors at the municipal level, examined from the latter’s perspective, within the context of a state-initiated school improvement programme, namely Co-operation for the Best School Possible (CBS). Co-operation between different levels of the school system is a neglected but essential aspect to analyse in a decentralised system such as Sweden’s, which is showing signs of re-centralisation. Empirically, the article is based on interviews with local actors in a small municipality participating in CBS. The interviews were part of a case study, and the analysis was guided by the theory of soft governance, Vedung’s concepts of sticks, carrots, and sermons as policy instruments, and Weick’s concept of sensemaking. Sensemaking, evident in the case study as a retrospective communicative notion, was employed to capture the local actors’ stories of how they perceived CBS. The connection with past experiences also played a part in their sensemaking since a clear history exists and was noted between the state and municipal levels. In conclusion, the analysis shows that CBS used sticks, carrots and sermons to steer municipal school actors towards the right path as regards school improvement.

Are evaluative bibliometrics neoliberal? A historical and theoretical problematization

In this article, we problematize the notion that the continuously growing use of bibliometric evaluation can be effectively explained by ‘neoliberal’ ideology. A prerequisite for our analysis is an understanding of neoliberalism as both denoting a more limited set of concrete principles for the organization of society (the narrow interpretation) or as a hegemonic ideology (the broad interpretation). This conceptual framework, as well as brief history of evaluative bibliometrics, provides an analytical framing for our approach, in which four national research evaluation systems are compared: Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. On basis of an analysis of the rationales for implementing these systems, as well as their specific design, we discuss the existence or non-existence of neoliberal motivations and rationales. Overall, we find that a relatively homogeneous academic landscape, with a high degree of centralization and government steering, appears to be a common feature for countries implementing national evaluation systems relying on bibliometrics. Such characteristics, we argue, may not be inductively understood as neoliberal but as indications of national states displaying strong political steering of its research system. Consequently, if used without further clarification, ‘neoliberalism’ is a concept too broad and diluted to be useful when analyzing the development of research evaluation and bibliometric measures in the past half a century.

Adapting to Socio-Environmental Change: Institutional Analysis of the Adaptive Capacity of Interacting Formal and Informal Cooperative Water Governance

Much of the world’s agricultural lands are projected to face hydrologic and climatic changes that will lead to water scarcity and corresponding food insecurity. The emergent response of complex social-ecological systems to change requires rapid response and tailored solutions. Top-down responses without room for local self-organization may fail to implement effective solutions, yet self-organization alone may be too slow to respond in a period of rapid change and may lack the accountability necessary in the management of a public resource such as water. This research relies on concepts of governing complexity to assess the role of local self-organization nested within formal institutions in developing adaptive solutions to conflict involving irrigated agriculture in Idaho’s Upper Snake River Basin. While formal institutions have provided a framework, steering, and resources for local action, the organization of water users dependent on the resource plays a large role in the ability of the region to adapt to water supply disturbances, highlighting the importance of local capacity within an umbrella of governmental steering to respond to rising water resources issues in semi-arid regions.

What are public development banks and development financing institutions ? ——qualification criteria, stylized facts and development trends

Public development banks and development financing institutions are experiencing renaissance worldwide, but systematic academic research is patchy. The bottleneck mainly boils down to the lack of data, which has constrained the meaningful research on the rationales of establishing PDBs and DFIs and reasons for their successes and failures. To fill the gap, we aim to answer the fundamental question of “what PDBs and DFIs are” by proposing five qualification criteria, i.e., being a stand-alone entity, using the fund-reflow-seeking financial instruments as main products and services; funding sources going beyond the periodic budgetary transfers; the proactive public policy orientation, and government steering of their corporate strategy. Furthermore, we have systematically identified over 500 PDBs and DFIs that meet the five qualification criteria worldwide. Based on the first-hand data collection, we present the stylized facts (including ownership structure, official mandate, geographical scope of operation, asset size, and income groups) and development trends of worldwide PDBs and DFIs. We hope that this first global database on PDBs and DFIs can lay the foundation for the original academic and policy research.

Housing for Refugees in Sweden: Top-Down Governance and its Local Reactions

In this article, we investigate local level reactions to the top-down state steering for the housing of refugees in Sweden. We especially reflect on events after the increased refugee reception in Sweden in 2015 and the introduction of a Settlement Act in 2016 which made it mandatory for municipalities to receive a specific number of refugees and organise accommodation. This has resulted in a wide array of housing situations for refugees concerning standard, costs and temporary solutions. A multi-level governance framework from on central government steering perspective is applied. We argue that the modified legislation can be understood as a change in governance throughout the years — from persuasion to economic incentives and, finally, to coercive methods. Sweden is a country that has distinguished itself as one refraining from particularity and continuing to work towards equality between newcomers and citizens. In relation to recent legal and political developments, we identify a change — a paradoxical change, as governance for the more-equal reception of refugees in Sweden seems to lead to increased inequalities for refugees on the local level.

Public Rental Housing Governance in Urban China: Essence, Mechanisms and Measurement

Recently, Chinese Public Rental Housing (PRH) provision has witnessed a shift from ‘government’ to ‘governance’: policy making shifted from government steering to mixed forms involving government, market and civic actors to pursue effective and fair policies. In the meantime, this new-era PRH governance is credited with mixed results. However, the existing studies fail to describe the mechanisms underlying this new-era governance of PRH with the rising involvement of market actors and those in civil society and whether the new-era governance is considered to be effective, achieving the objective of stability. Therefore, this PhD research aims to fill the two research gaps through building a better understanding of the PRH governance in the current Chinese context and evaluating PRH governance. To fulfil this aim, this dissertation is underpinned by a theoretical foundation from the governance perspective and adopts a mixedmethod approach with quantitative and qualitative data in the study of Chinese PRH provision. The dissertation reveals the essence of the current Chinese PRH governance by bringing forth a governance model and shows the structures and mechanisms for non-governmental actors to play a role in the governance of PRH. The dissertation also shows the perceived governance outcomes from tenants’ perspective and demonstrates two main governance challenges of Inclusionary Housing, a newly introduced instrument adopted in the Chinese PRH governance. Based on the results, this PhD research theoretically and empirically contributes to the h ture.

Public Rental Housing Governance in Urban China

Recently, Chinese Public Rental Housing (PRH) provision has witnessed a shift from ‘government’ to ‘governance’: policy making shifted from government steering to mixed forms involving government, market and civic actors to pursue effective and fair policies. In the meantime, this new-era PRH governance is credited with mixed results. However, the existing studies fail to describe the mechanisms underlying this new-era governance of PRH with the rising involvement of market actors and those in civil society and whether the new-era governance is considered to be effective, achieving the objective of stability. Therefore, this PhD research aims to fill the two research gaps through building a better understanding of the PRH governance in the current Chinese context and evaluating PRH governance. To fulfil this aim, this dissertation is underpinned by a theoretical foundation from the governance perspective and adopts a mixedmethod approach with quantitative and qualitative data in the study of Chinese PRH provision. The dissertation reveals the essence of the current Chinese PRH governance by bringing forth a governance model and shows the structures and mechanisms for non-governmental actors to play a role in the governance of PRH. The dissertation also shows the perceived governance outcomes from tenants’ perspective and demonstrates two main governance challenges of Inclusionary Housing, a newly introduced instrument adopted in the Chinese PRH governance. Based on the results, this PhD research theoretically and empirically contributes to the housing governance literature.

Public Rental Housing Governance in Urban China

Recently, Chinese Public Rental Housing (PRH) provision has witnessed a shift from ‘government’ to ‘governance’: policy making shifted from government steering to mixed forms involving government, market and civic actors to pursue effective and fair policies. In the meantime, this new-era PRH governance is credited with mixed results. However, the existing studies fail to describe the mechanisms underlying this new-era governance of PRH with the rising involvement of market actors and those in civil society and whether the new-era governance is considered to be effective, achieving the objective of stability. Therefore, this PhD research aims to fill the two research gaps through building a better understanding of the PRH governance in the current Chinese context and evaluating PRH governance. To fulfil this aim, this dissertation is underpinned by a theoretical foundation from the governance perspective and adopts a mixedmethod approach with quantitative and qualitative data in the study of Chinese PRH provision. The dissertation reveals the essence of the current Chinese PRH governance by bringing forth a governance model and shows the structures and mechanisms for non-governmental actors to play a role in the governance of PRH. The dissertation also shows the perceived governance outcomes from tenants’ perspective and demonstrates two main governance challenges of Inclusionary Housing, a newly introduced instrument adopted in the Chinese PRH governance. Based on the results, this PhD research theoretically and empirically contributes to the housing governance literature.

Agency control or autonomy? Government steering of Swedish government agencies 2003–2017

A central claim of the NPM doctrine is that public sector organizations will deliver better quality and improve efficiency if managers are given more autonomy in managerial and operational decisions. At the same time the idea is to keep managers under close control, which has led to the introduction of result-control instruments. This balancing strategy is referred to as the paradox of autonomization. There is, however, still scarce knowledge on whether and how the proposed balancing techniques work. Using a unique database on Swedish government agencies this article aims to mitigate this deficiency (N = 1752). A balancing strategy is mainly confirmed, since higher managerial and structural autonomy are balanced with more external results control by government. We show that governments’ attempts at more managerial approaches to public service provision in reality add new ex post controls without reducing the old ones. However, policy and financial autonomy are not balanced by increased results control – these dimensions diminish when controlling for budget size. This study is an answer to a general call for more objective measures for evaluating bureaucratic autonomy.

Influence as the key to consent? Swedish director generals’ perceptions of reporting requirements

Purpose Performance measurements have become a prominent part of government steering of public agencies. At the same time, they are increasingly criticized for creating heavy administrative burdens. The purpose of this paper is to argue that consent on part of the heads of agencies is vital for making performance measurement an efficient tool for not only control but also organizational learning. Design/methodology/approach The paper reports a survey with a nearly total sample of Swedish Director Generals. Findings Findings suggest that Director Generals who feel that they are able to influence the goals and indicators of their agencies are significantly more willing to consent to the government’s reporting requirements. Originality/value The paper suggests that a more encompassing, interactive and participatory process might increase agency consent with reporting requirements.

From policy community to issue networks: Implementing social sustainability in a Swedish urban development programme

In this article a “sustainable urban development” programme in Sweden (Delegation for Sustainable Cities, 2008–2012) is analysed, with a particular focus on the social dimension, and in the light of a commonly held assumption of a general shift in politics over time “from government to governance”. However, on closer examination the programme comes out as something quite different. Taking “policy community” as our conceptual point of departure the article first portrays how post-war housing policy in Sweden was implemented jointly by a potent central government, strong local governments, public housing companies and major interest organisations. The Delegation for Sustainable Cities, on the other hand, was launched as “a national arena for sustainable urban development” with a multifaceted mission, including the production and dissemination of knowledge through best practice; the promotion of multi-actor dialogue and coordination; and the use and export of green technology. Implementation of the programme was delegated to a small number of projects in selected housing districts. In relation to the narrative “from government to governance”, the Delegation for Sustainable Cities rather indicates the opposite, i.e. government steering by a combination of structural non-intervention, rhetorical flair and selective fragmentation into project-bound issue networks. The sustainability discourse thus turned out to be a perfect umbrella for the fragmented implementation structure of the Delegation for Sustainable Cities programme. Instead of a tight, multi-level, national governance structure (policy community) we thus have a case of governing at some distance by a combination of what in recent literature have been labelled the Regulatory State and the Networked Polity.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES FOR STATE‐OWNED ENTERPRISES AS A MEANS TO MITIGATE POLITICAL INTERFERENCE: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF TWO SWISS STATE‐OWNED ENTERPRISES

ABSTRACTWhen governments act as owners of state‐owned enterprises (SOEs), they are both principal and agent at the same time. The literature on steering SOEs has mainly focused on the government as the principal that must control SOEs. However, the government is also an agent, vis‐à‐vis the parliament, because democratic constitutions stipulate some form of parliamentary oversight of the government. This oversight includes checks on how the government steers SOEs. However, this oversight function gives the parliament the power and opportunity to interfere into steering SOEs, which may lead to parliamentary interventions that are not coherent with governmental steering. We draw on principal–agent literature and public‐accountability literature to show that arbitrary and hands‐on parliamentary interference pose problems for steering SOEs. We analyze whether strategic objectives for SOEs, as recommended by public corporate governance guidelines, are appropriate to minimize parliamentary interference. We hypothesize that the Swiss government avoids or mitigates parliamentary interference by mid‐term strategic objectives for SOEs, which counteract short‐term parliamentary requests. We find that the Swiss government uses mid‐term strategic objectives, particularly financial ones, to reject parliamentary demands for more intervention into SOE activities.

Legislating Patient Representation: A Comparison Between Austrian and German Regulations on Self-Help Organizations as Patient Representatives

Governments are increasingly inviting patient organizations (POs) to participate in healthcare policymaking. Byinviting POs that claim to represent patients, representation comes into being. However, little is known about the circumstances under which governments accept POs as patient representatives. Based on the analysis of relevant legislation, this article investigates the criteria that self-help organizations (SHOs), a special type of PO, must fulfil in order to be accepted as patient representatives by governments in Austria and Germany. Thereby, it aims to contribute to the discussion on the role of governments in steering SHOs. There are different degrees of regulation (very little in Austria, more in Germany). Governments in both countries not only formulate explicit criteria for SHOs with respect to patient representation but also guide SHOs representing patients through implicit criteria for associations. We discuss the findings against concepts of responsiveness, authorization, and accountability. Our findings indicate that governmental steering is not negative per se as indicated by previous research but-depending on legislative criteria-can promote transparency and democratic quality in patient representation.

Creating and evaluating a foreign language area in an early childhood setting

ABSTRACTDespite the growing tendency to introduce a foreign language in early years settings, little guidance is provided for practitioners in government steering documents or in the published literature. This article aims to bridge this gap by presenting a study which considers the importance of deploying the holistic approaches used in early years settings when introducing a foreign language. It focuses particularly on the creation and evaluation of a foreign language area as a strategy to help strike a balance between structured teacher-led instruction and the free play and interaction essential at this stage. The results of an interpretative qualitative study with a group of 4-year-olds show a positive correlation between the language used in the teacher-led sessions and children’s interactions during free play in the newly created learning area. The results will be of interest to all practitioners aiming to introduce a foreign language in early years settings.

Accommodating project-based professionals in higher education institutions in Japan

ABSTRACTIn the shifting environment of higher education, characterised by financial constraints, institutional competition and governmental steering, universities adopt a new stream of missions. In Japan, internationalisation and the acquisition of a global outlook have become a key strategy. The trend is endorsed through competitive public funding schemes, based on the belief that competition fosters so-called world-class universities. These schemes necessitate not only internationalisation of curriculum and research but also a wide range of projects and programs, which require talents that may not be readily found in the existing cadres of university workers. This empirical research assesses experiences and perceptions of project-based professionals in Japanese universities. It found unique ways in which ‘Specially appointed academic staff’ are given project and administrative responsibilities but with limited access to environment and/or support system for research. Discussions focus on impacts of such appointment on their academic career and explore how these institutional projects may be handled in regards to university organisation.

Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center: The First 25 Years

Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center: The First 25 Years

Modelo canónico, problemas fundamentales y gobernanza urbana

<p class="p1">Las literaturas de la gobernanza han generado categorías con diversos grados de utilidad para entender el gobierno, incluyendo el de las ciudades. Sin embargo, el término tiene tantos significados y es usado tan inconsistentemente que sus aportes son difíciles de sistematizar, obstaculizando la generación de teorías pertinentes y buenas prácticas. Para ponderarlas adecuadamente, es indispensable considerar los problemas fundamentales que comparten tales literaturas. El artículo argumenta que la cooperación, la auto-organización, la rendición de cuentas, el timoneo efectivo y la interdisciplinariedad se encuentran en el centro de la gobernanza y en la raíz de muchos problemas urbanos.</p><p class="p1">Recibido: 25/06/2017 • Aceptado: 31/08/2017</p>

The impact of urban form on commuting in large Chinese cities

Studies on cities in Europe and the United States have demonstrated that travel behaviour is influenced by urban form. Based on these findings policies steering the shape of cities have been proposed to reduce urban transport emissions and limit congestion. Such policies can also be relevant for the rapidly growing and motorising Chinese cities. Yet, empirical evidence on the relationships between urban form and car usage is scarce for the specific Chinese context that is characterised by high densities, fast development and strong government steering. Using novel crowd-sourced datasets we study the impact of several urban form variables (city size, urban density, land-use mix, polycentricity and spatial clustering) on the cost of commuting expressed in time and distance. The results show that city size and spatial clustering are important determinants of commuting: large cities without clear clusters of businesses and other facilities have longer average commuting times and distances. Increased prosperity also adds to longer and lengthier commutes. Spatial planning measures that maintain or reinforce high-density clusters can help limiting commuting distance and time. Current sprawled urban development may have long-term, negative consequences for the accessibility and liveability of Chinese cities and could hamper their economic potential.