Local Policy Implementation Research Articles

On the right track? An analysis of the implementation of oil and gas sector local content policies in Uganda

The main objective for oil-producing countries to implement Local Content Policies (LCPs) is to ensure that national citizens and the economy as a whole benefit sufficiently from their country’s resource wealth. Having discovered large quantities of oil and gas in the Albertine Graben in 2006, Uganda began introducing LCPs in 2008. Currently, little research has been conducted on how the implementation of Uganda’s LCPs has taken place and to what effect. To address this lacuna, this paper draws on Rhodes’ (2006) policy network theory to analyze and explain how different actors have translated the Ugandan LCP objectives into their approaches and activities. As part of this study, we conducted 57 semi-structured interviews with key informants. This primary data collection was complemented by an analysis of Uganda’s oil and gas policy documents and reports. Our analysis of LCPs implementation shows three different layers of policy interactions: i.e. discursive, power and operational networks. The analysis revealed that the interests and influence of actors determine how they interpret, (re)-negotiate and transpose the LCP requirements into their activities. To manage such interests and influence, we emphasize that it is crucial to pay more attention to how actors interpret and transpose the policy requirements.

ANTALYA + X = BARSELONA: HANGİ İKTİSAT POLİTİKALARI (X) UYGULANMALI?

Bu çalışmanın konusu ve amacı, Avrupa’nın en büyük turizm merkezlerinden olan Antalya’yı Barselona bağlamında incelemektir. Barselona’nın çıta olarak ele alınmasının nedeni, onun Antalya gibi Afro-Avrasya coğrafyasında bir köprü olması ve post-modern İpek Yolu’nda yer almasıdır. Barselona, İspanya’nın en zengin ikinci ve özerk Katalonya bölgesinin birinci şehri olarak dünyanın en gelişmiş şehirlerinden biri iken, Antalya ise sadece Türkiye’nin yerel sosyo-ekonomik ölçütlerine göre en gelişmiş beşinci şehridir. Ayrıca Barselona, küreselleşme ve finansallaşma düzeyine göre bir “alfa şehir” iken, Antalya ise henüz “beta” ya da “gama şehir” özelliğinde bile değildir. “3-T” (turizm-tarım-ticaret) ekonomisinden oluşan Antalya’nın Barselona gibi küresel bir alfa şehir olabilmesi ve Türkiye’de de sürdürülebilir şehircilikte model olabilmesi için üretim, ulaştırma, enerji, turizm gibi yaşamsal sektörlerde bazı radikal iktisadi politikaları (X) geliştirmeli ve ivedilikle uygulamalıdır. Örneğin: X1: “Biyoteknoloji” gibi yeni istihdam ve gelir alanları yaratılarak ve toplumsal cinsiyet adaleti duyarlılığı gösterilerek genç işsizlik oranı azaltılmalı. X2: Verimli tarımsal topraklar korunmalı ve turizmde katma değeri arttıracak şekilde “çiftlik turizmi” yaygınlaştırılmalıdır. X3: Güneş arzının bol olduğu şehirde elektrik enerjisi çeşitliliği ve verimliliğini arttırmak için çok sayıda ve büyük ölçekli “güneş santralleri” kurulmalıdır. X4: Turist akışı aşırı olduğu için şehirde ve bölgede karayolu güvenliğine ve hava trafiğine katkıda bulunmak amacıyla “hızlı tren” projesine geçilmelidir. X5: İç göçü ve çarpık inşaatçılığı sınırlandırmak ve kötü izlerini yok etmek üzere Avrupa-Akdeniz karma mimarisine dayalı “kentsel dönüşüm” proğramı hızlandırılmalıdır. Sözkonusu yerel iktisat politikaların uygulanmasından küresel değerler elde edecek ve bunları gelecek kuşağa miras bırakacak Antalya ile, dünyanın en yaşanabilir ve en yenilikçi şehirlerinden Barselona arasında “kardeş şehir” ilişkisi kurulmalıdır. Bu, ortak Akdeniz uygarlığına ve antik kentlere ev sahipliği yapmanın doğal bir gereğidir. Antalya açısından, yukarıdaki bilinmeyen X’leri “bilinir-görünür yapabilmek için toplumun ısrarlı talebi ve şehir yöneticilerinin de güçlü kararlılığı şarttır.Anahtar Kelimeler: Antalya Ekonomisi, Barselona, X İktisat PolitikalarıJEL Kodları: R58, R59, Z59

NP17 Approaches to Enhancing Wellness Policy Implementation in Schools to Prevent Obesity: Implementation/Plans for Dissemination

Objective “Wellness Champions for Change” (WCC) aims to create health-promoting school environments by training teachers and student leaders (5th or 8th graders) to promote Local Wellness Policy (LWP) implementation. LWPs are school district documents outlining food/physical activity (PA) policies. This abstract describes data collection/intervention implementation at the mid-point of the funding period and plans for dissemination. Description Twenty-one schools (12 elementary/9 middle) serving low-income families in three school districts and 572 students (evaluation cohort) were recruited in grades 3/4 or 6/7 to be followed for 2 years. Schools were block randomized to: WCC-teachers+student leaders, WCC-teachers only, control. Student-level impact is assessed via measures of height/weight (BMI-for-age calculated), PA (accelerometry), and diet (Perceptions of Diet at School screener). Implementation of teacher/student leader curricula is tracked through attendance/activity logs, fidelity checklists, and participant interviews. Local, state, and national dissemination planning is led by a partnership of extension agents, state department of education representatives, eXtension COP members, and WCC wellness specialists/investigators. Evaluation Students were 43% male, 56.5% in elementary school, 45.8% overweight/obese, and averaged 15 minutes/day of moderate-vigorous PA at school (30 minutes/day overall). Most lunches were from the school cafeteria (50%) or home (34%). During lunch, 60% reported consuming a fruit and 37% a vegetable. Six schools completed the intervention year and are in a sustainability-planning year. Of these, all WCC-teachers schools (n = 4) attended training, three built active wellness teams, two focused on PA opportunities and two on promoting school meals/smart snacks. Student leaders (n = 2 schools) focused on included advocating for PA time/promoting healthy eating through social marketing. Fifteen schools are in the intervention year with implementation tracking ongoing. Conclusion and Implications At the mid-point of a five-year project, schools and students within three districts have been recruited/evaluated, with intervention implementation ongoing. Two additional districts will participate in future years. Dissemination plans include train-the-trainer modules, an online professional credit course for teachers, and distributing the manualized student leader curricula to schools with active teacher wellness teams. Funding 2016-68001-24927.

The everyday political economy of health: community health workers and the response to the 2015 Zika outbreak in Brazil

How is neoliberalism implicated in concrete health vulnerabilities? How do macro-level political economy, policy and institutions translate into everyday experiences? Drawing on Marxist, feminist and International Political Economy critiques of everyday life, the article advances an everyday political economy of health focused on four key components: power, agency, intersectionality and the mutual implication of the global and the local. These components enable a nuanced investigation of concrete experiences of health and disease, and of the local implementation of health policies in the context of neoliberalism. The framework is applied to the case of the 2015 public health response to Zika in Brazil, and specifically to the role of community health workers, close-to-community healthcare providers tasked with bridging the health system and vulnerable groups. The everyday practice of these workers, and their working conditions overwhelmingly characterized by precarity and low pay, reveal the presence of global neoliberal dynamics pertaining to the reconfiguration of the Brazilian state as healthcare provider in a context of encroaching austerity, privatization and narrowly-defined cost-efficiency. These dynamics impacted detrimentally upon the effectiveness of the Zika response.

The role of water quality for local environmental policy implementation

The objective of this study is to examine the role of surface water quality for the decisions by Swedish municipalities to adopt environmental targets and action plans, as well as allocating these decisions to a responsible authority. To this end, we assess how environmental, socioeconomic, and political factors, as well as the availability of environmental expertise, affect these municipal decisions. Questionnaire data from the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, in combination with environmental monitoring data and official statistics, are used for the econometric analysis. Results show that: (i) municipalities with bad water quality, greater coastal length, and higher income are more inclined to adopt local policies; (ii) collaboration with interest groups increases the likelihood of adopting local policies; and (iii) municipalities with high Center Party representation tend to set responsibility for environmental policy with the municipal council board.

Teachers’ Preference on the Local Policy Implementation of the Mother Tongue Based-Multilingual Education: An Assessment

This study specifically aims to know the teachers’ preference on the local policy implementation of the Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) among the selected teachers in the public and private schools in one of the cities in Zamboanga Peninsula. It is a mixed method employing a descriptive-exploratory research design participated by 33 early grade teachers who voluntarily participated in the study. To meet the research objectives, a survey checklist questionnaire with five-point likert scale was utilized as a research instrument for the quantitative data while the respondents’ answers in the Focus Group Discussion (FGD) served as the supporting statements (qualitative). Based on the data, the study concludes that most of the teachers preferred wherein they strongly agree to use the Chabacano language in teaching the Mother Tongue subject only and translate some words in Filipino whenever the children do not understand the concepts in Chabacano language. On the other hand, they are undecided whether Chabacano should be used as a medium of instruction in all subjects except for English and Filipino. The respondents’ preference on the implementation of the MTB-MLE absolutely concurs to the national guideline of the DepEd Order no. 74 Institutionalizing Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education which clearly states that “the mother tongue of the students shall be a medium of instruction to be used in the classroom”. Also, their preference in translating Chabacano words in Filipino also supports the Philippine constitution, article 14 section 7 which states that for purposes of communication and instruction, the official languages of the Philippines are Filipino and, until otherwise provided by law, English. The regional languages are the auxiliary official languages in the regions and shall serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein.

The role of city rankings in local public policy design: Urban competitiveness and economic press

The objective of this research is to identify the factors that determine the capacity of city rankings published in the economic press—particularly The Economist Intelligence Unit and AméricaEconomía—to not only trigger social dialogue about the ratings different territories attain but also to enrich the public debate on the “competitive city model” and influence the design and implementation of local public policies on the matter. The research method involved interviews with public officials responsible for the design and implementation of urban competitiveness policies in the following Mexican cities: Mexico City, Monterrey, Puebla, and Queretaro, all of which are listed in the rankings of the journals The Economist Intelligence Unit and AméricaEconomía. The field research included an interview with the editor responsible for conceptualizing, preparing, and publishing the first version of “The Best Cities to Do Business in Latin America” ranking of the journal AméricaEconomía. It also included a comparative analysis of city indexes from the theoretic and conceptual perspective of space of flows. The investigation was conducted between March and August 2017.

A Study on the Hindrance Factors of Local Landscape Policy Implementation - Using a Qualitative Research Technique -

본 연구의 목적은 지역경관관리를 위한 정책추진에 있어 저해요인을 체계적으로 정립하여 실행력 개선을 위한 기초자료로 활용하고자 하는데 있다. 연구방법은 먼저, 지자체 경관정책 및 사업담당자 10명을 대상으로 심층면담 조사를 실시하여 각 지역별 경관 정책 개선을 위한 추진과정에 대해 의견을 수집하였다. 다음으로, 질적 연구데이터의 분석 소프트웨어인 Nvivo를 활용하여 저해요인을 체계적으로 분석하였다. 분석결과, 사업추진 주체가 가장 중요한 요인이었고, 다음으로 사업절차, 사업담당자의 전문성, 사후관리, 이해관계자 갈등 순이었다. 사업추진 주체의 경우 사업추진의 공공성 부족과 사업추진주체(주민)의 역량 부족이 가장 큰 저해요인으로 나타났고, 그 외 인력(사무장) 부족, 이해관계자 간 협력체계 미흡, 사업추진의 컨트롤타워 부재, 사업의 지속적 운영 한계 등이 구체적 저해요인으로 나타났다. 다음으로, 사업절차의 경우 사업지침 가이드라인이 미비한 것이 가장 큰 문제로 지적되었고, 사업지침 및 절차의 자율성, 마을특성의 반영이 미흡한 점이 저해 요인으로 나타났다. 셋째, 사업담당자의 전문성에 대해서는 담당자 업무와 전문분야의 불일치가 가장 큰 저해요인으로 나타났고, 다음으로 업무단계가 분리되어 있는 점이 저해요인으로 나타났다. 특히, 담당자 업무와 전문분야의 불일치(16%)는 키워드 분류 시 가장 많이 언급된 사항으로 분석되었다. 넷째, 사후관리의 경우 시설물 유지·관리 미흡과 관리주체(마을)의 자발성 결여가 구체적 저해요인으로 나타났다. 마지막으로 이해관계자 갈등의 경우 토지매입, 주민들의 잦은 의견 변경, 예산이 구체적 저해요인으로 나타났다. 본 연구는 지역경관 관리의 효율성 증진을 위해 지역경관 정책의 실제 운영자를 대상으로 정책 실행의 저해요인에 대한 실증적 근거를 마련하고, 경관분야의 질적 연구를 위한 새로운 방법을 제시하는데 의의가 있겠다.

Local Alcohol Policy Implementation in Scotland: Understanding the Role of Accountability within Licensing.

Scotland has been ambitious in its policy and legislative efforts to tackle alcohol-related harm, efforts which include the innovative feature of a ‘public health objective’ within local alcohol licensing. However, the persistence of alcohol-related harms and inequalities requires further examination of both the overarching Scottish alcohol strategy and its specific implementation. A qualitative case study was undertaken to explore how alcohol policy is implemented locally in Scotland, with data generated from (i) documentary analysis of 12 relevant policies, legislation, and guidance documents; and (ii) a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 54 alcohol policy implementers in three Scottish localities and nine national-level stakeholders. The data suggest there is a tension between the intentions of licensing legislation and the way it is enacted in practice, and that accountability emerges as an important factor for understanding why this occurs. In particular, there are a lack of accountability mechanisms acting upon Scottish Licensing Boards to ensure they contribute to the public health goals of the Scottish alcohol strategy. From a public health perspective, this has perpetuated a system in which Licensing Boards continue to act with autonomy from the rest of the alcohol policy implementation system, creating a challenge to the achievement of public health goals. Alcohol policy in Scotland is likely to fall short of intended goals as long as the tension between licensing legislation and enacted licensing practices remains.

The dilemmatic study of local policy implementation towards Bali Aga traditional village in culture conservation

Unlike traditional village of Bali Aga, Tenganan Pegringsingan Village has a unique culture inherited from its ancestors. To strengthen its resilience, then local policies have been established which are passed down from generation to generation. The fundamental challenge is maintaining the existence of culture to face the globalization era. The description of this article is based on information through observation, interviews with community leaders and cultural observers of the Tenganan Pegringsingan Village. Not all cultures can be preserved due to the demands of tolerance from the influence of the social dynamics which have emerged lately. Finally, the local policy in preserving the culture of Tenganan Pegringsingan village has a dilemma, on the one hand, it maintains the mandate of its ancestors, but on the other hand, it cannot avoid the social dynamics due to the globalization era, so that there are some cultures undergoing change.

Affordable housing policy development: public official perspectives

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the factors affecting the implementation of affordable housing policies in two Chinese municipal governments. Since 2010, the Chinese government has enforced an ambitious plan to adopt affordable housing provisions accompanying a series of urbanization programs. Furthermore, the policy implementation at the local level has led to various outcomes but has been scarcely investigated. The views of policy implementation from local officials are crucial in the context of intergovernmental relations. Therefore, it is important to examine the views of local public officials on the development status and challenges in the context of Chinese intergovernmental relations.Design/methodology/approachThis paper verifies which factors exert significant impacts on the willingness of local officials to adapt affordable housing policies by using the logistic regression model and marginal effect estimation. With original data from the fieldwork surveys of city administrators, the measures incorporated local characteristics as well as the intergovernmental support from the central government in two selected megacities, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.FindingsThere are significant differences in local investment between the selected cities. Intergovernmental support from the central government, city development strategies, implementation perceptions of local governments and land supply, all significantly impact the selection of an affordable housing program and its overall implementation.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ understanding, this study would be one of the first to empirically explore the view of municipal public officials on affordable housing policy in China. This paper provides an empirical analysis from municipal public officials on the local implementation of affordable housing policies in China. As the outcome of housing policies actually depends on the implementation willingness of public officials and the overall performance of local governments, this explorative study would benefit the future development of China’s affordable housing policy.

Being Ethical in a Context with Limited Ethics Oversight: A Study on Flooding Risk Management by Local Governments in India

This case describes and reflects on ethical questions that we faced as we obtained permission to conduct research on local government policy implementation processes in India, which has no legal guidelines or REBs for ethical oversight of social science research. We focus on questions of voluntary consent and exposure to unintended risks, where, in this case, staff in local governments might feel coerced to participate based on the institutional permission to conduct research granted by their superiors.

Educators’ construction of mainstreaming policy for English learners: a decision-making theory perspective

Increasingly across the U.S. and other industrialized democracies, teachers take dual classroom roles as both content and English language educators. Nevertheless, research on how educators actually understand and implement mainstreaming language education policies at the school and district level are sparse. This paper contributes a unique process-oriented longitudinal perspective on how educators at the local level in one small rural U.S. school district greeted a new mainstreaming English language education policy. The article applies an institutional “decision-making theory” framework that focuses on teachers as de facto local policymakers. It considers how educators vied with one another to (re)construct a usable history of and rationale for district language education policy that influenced educators’ collective sense of its fairness and appropriateness. The study also documents how teachers’ sense-making and moral judgments regarding their own and colleagues’ professional roles and identities were wielded in policy interpretation and implementation. Finally, the paper examines how the mainstreaming policy continually evolved as administrators at various levels of the school district hierarchy negotiated conflicting goals, and as teachers in each school improvised differing professional relationships and roles. In all, the paper finds that the meaning and form of mainstreaming language education policies are constantly reinstantiated by educators at the local level, and thus that local implementation of language education policies, and what “mainstreaming” means in English learner education, merit more careful scrutiny.

Wellness Committee Status and Local Wellness Policy Implementation Over Time

Local Wellness Policies are school-district documents containing guidelines for schools to promote nutrition/physical activity. In cross-sectional studies, schools with wellness committees are more likely to implement Local Wellness Policies. This prospective cohort study examines associations between wellness committee status over time and change in Local Wellness Policy implementation using a biennial, statewide survey. School administrators completed surveys following the 2012-2013 (Wave I) and 2014-2015 (Wave II) school years, including a 17-item Local Wellness Policy implementation scale. Four wellness committee status categories included established (both Waves, 35%); new (Wave II only, 22%); discontinued (Wave I only, 13%); and never (neither Wave, 30%). Linear mixed models conducted in 2017-2018 compared LWP implementation change across status groups, accounting for clustering and school characteristics. Of 1,333 schools, 701 had Wave I data (53%); 748 Wave II (56%); and 441 both (33%). Schools were 69% elementary, 56% suburban, and 35% and 28% had majority (≥75%) African American/Hispanic or low-income student body, respectively. At Wave I, schools with wellness committees (established/discontinued groups) had higher Local Wellness Policy implementation (mean=32.0, SD=11.5, and mean=28.3, SD=11.4, respectively) compared with schools without committees (never/new: mean=15.4, SD=10.7 and mean=17.6, SD=11.4, respectively, F=64.9, p≤0.001). Over time, never and established groups maintained low and high Local Wellness Policy implementation, respectively. Compared with never, new committees increased implementation by 9.9 points (SE=1.8, p<0.001), and discontinued committees decreased by 11.2 (SE=2.1, p<0.001). Forming and maintaining wellness committees encourages Local Wellness Policy implementation and should be a recommended strategy for school wellness promotion.

The impact of corruption and local content policy in on firm performance: Evidence from Kazakhstan

Many governments of both resource-rich and resource-poor countries have recently started to use local content policies as a tool in their industrial policies. However, careless implementation of local content policies can lead to corrupt practices and threaten firm performance. Using the World Bank Enterprise Survey of 933 Kazakhstani firms in 2009 and 2013, we study the effect of corruption on employment and sales growth and the role that explicit local content policy plays in this relationship. Our findings demonstrate that corruption has “a greasing the wheels effects”, facilitating employment growth and sales growth in Kazakhstani firms. In case of securing a government contract, corruption will have a larger effect on sales growth than on job growth. This study provides insights and implications for contract law and industrial policy in Kazakhstan.

Land system evolution of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau under various development strategies

Land use and land cover (LULC) is one of the most representative criteria used to evaluate the global environment and terrestrial ecosystem change. LULC plays an important role in the ecological and environmental protection of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP), which is a unique geographical location. The LULC of the QTP has undergone drastic changes during the past few decades due to local planning and policy implementation. Projects such as reforestation and grassland restoration are exerting pressure on land resources and may affect future land use patterns considerably. Current assessments of future land use changes rarely focus on the multiple demands for commodities and services. This study employed the CLUMondo model to predict future land use change trajectories for the period 2010–2030 under three different scenarios. The results indicate that land system changes varied notably under different land management strategies and exhibited large locational discrepancies. Moreover, future land system changes are mainly demonstrated in the form of management intensification under all three scenarios. High demand for livestock in the TREND scenario leads to grassland expansion as well, resulting in corresponding increase in the grassland cover density. Additionally, the expansion of forest area under the FOREST scenario suggests that caution should be exercised during afforestation in the QTP. The results of this study can guide and support future land-use planning, management, and policy formulation in the QTP.

Assessment of clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients with and without sepsis in intensive care units of a tertiary hospital.

ABSTRACTObjective To describe the clinical and epidemiological features of patients with and without sepsis at critical care units of a public hospital.Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out from May 2012 to April 2013. Clinical and laboratory data of patients with and without sepsis in the intensive care units were reviewed of medical records.Results We evaluated 466 patients, 58% were men, median age was 40 years, and 146 (31%) of them were diagnosed with sepsis. The overall mortality was 20% being significantly higher for patients with sepsis (39%). The factors associated with intensive care unit mortality were the presence of sepsis (OR: 6.1, 95%CI: 3.7-10.5), age (OR: 3.6, 95%CI: 1.4-7.2), and length of hospital stay (OR: 0.96, 95%CI: 0.94-0.98). Pulmonary (49%) and intra-abdominal (20%) infections were most commonly identified sites, and coagulase-negative staphylococci and enteric Gram negative bacilli the most frequent (66%) pathogens isolated.Conclusion Although the impact of sepsis on mortality is related to patients’ clinical and epidemiological characteristics, a critical evaluation of these data is important since they will allow the direct implementation of local policies for managing this serious public health problem.

IMPLEMENTASI KEBIJAKAN PEMERINTAH DAERAH TENTANG PENYELENGGARAAN KETENAGAKERJAAN DALAM PROGRAM BADAN PENYELENGGARA JAMINAN SOSIAL (BPJS) DI KOTA CIMAHI

The research title is "Local Government Policies on Manpower Implementation in the Social Security Administering Body (BPJS) Program in Cimahi City". The research problem is not yet optimistic of the Regional Government Policy on Manpower Implementation in the BPJS Program in Cimahi City, seen from the many workers who have not registered for BPJS in Cimahi City. The identification of the problem of How Local Government Policies on Manpower Implementation in the BPJS Program in Cimahi City. The purpose of this research is to describe and analyze the Local Government Policies on Manpower Implementation in the BPJS Program in Cimahi City. The research method used is descriptive method with a qualitative approach. Data collection techniques through library research and data field studies (observation and interviews). The data analysis technique starts from data reduction, data presentation and at the final stage by drawing conclusions. The sampling technique was done purposively. The results of this study indicate that the implementation of local government policies on the implementation of manpower in Cimahi City has been optimal. This can be seen from the following dimensions; (1) fairly clear policy size and objectives, (2) well-established communication between policy implementers, (3) fairly firm and good characteristics of implementing agencies in managing policy target data, (4) an appropriate socio-economic environment . However, there are some things that are still not optimal. This is because, in terms of the quality of human resources, it is good, but the quantity of existing resources needs to be increased so that the implementation of policies regarding the implementation of manpower in the BPJS program can run more effectively because the quantity of available resources is not comparable to the number of companies in Cimahi City which must be handled Then there is still a lack of accountability and government responsibility towards policy targets, namely the company that feels burdened by the BPJS fees that must be paid for its employees.

El rol del ámbito local en la adopción del mainstreaming de género en políticas de empleo

Employment policies have been extensively studied from a gender perspective. Yet studies in local arenas have been scarce. The study suggests a framework to check the adoption of a gender mainstreaming focus in local employment policies and highlights outcomes regarding the relationship between gender issues and local government policy implementation. Using both quantitative (survey) - qualitative (case study) research techniques, data gathered from 198 Spanish middle size towns have been analyzed.This research underlines the shortfalls of local employment policies and the limitations of the local authorities’ role. It also demonstrates that local governments use to take after the policy-making of higher level public administrations such as regional or central governments. As it is shown, within the framework of a multilevel policy, local governments do not use to play a particular role, therefore breaking down any potential advantage gained from proximity to users. Conclusions of the study might contribute to a better design of these policies in the current post-crisis scenario.

Compliance and Conflict of Value in Public Policy Implementation: Comparison between the New Order and the Reformation Era

This research aims to examine differences in the relationship of bureaucratic and political officials during the New Order (Soeharto’s era) and the Reformation (post-Soeharto) era within the arena of public policy implementation. This is a matter of importance given that there is a change in relations between the two from integration in the New Order to bureaucratic impartiality in the Reformation Era. This study attempts to answer the question: How were the relations of bureaucratic and political officials in the implementation of local level public policy during the New Order and the Reformation Era? A qualitative research has been conducted in Tegal Municipality using the following data collection techniques: interview, focus group discussion, documentation, and observation. Tegal Municipality was selected as the study location because of the unique relationship shown between the mayor and the bureaucracy. Its uniqueness lies in the emergence of bureaucratic officials who dare to oppose political officials, based on their convictions that bureaucratic/public values should be maintained even if it means having to be in direct conflict with political officials. This research indicates that the relationship between bureaucratic and political officials in the arena of local level policy implementation during the New Order was characterized as being full of pressure and compliance, whereas during the Reformation Era bureaucrats have the audacity to hinder policy implementation. Such audacity to thwart policies is considered to have developed from a stance that aims to protect public budget and values in policies. The occurring conflict of values here demonstrates a dichotomy of political and bureaucratic officials that is different from the prevailing definition of politics-administration dichotomy introduced at the onset of Public Administration studies.