Institutional Tensions Research Articles

Assessing the Risks of Risk Assessments: Institutional Tensions and Data Driven Judicial Decision-Making in U.S. Pretrial Hearings

Abstract Risk assessments, which are predictive technologies designed to augment organizational decision-making processes, are expanding globally. The use of risk assessments may lend legitimacy to official actors who routinely adjudicate highly consequential decisions alongside competing institutional pressures. But because these tools are laden with measurement errors, using them may also magnify institutional tensions and erode the legitimacy of official actors’ decision-making practices. In this article, I use interviews with judges in four large U.S. criminal courts to reveal how they strategically engaged with risk assessment scores to navigate tensions within and among different institutional logics. In pretrial hearings, judges selectively invoked risk scores to legitimate punitive sanctions that mitigated tensions from bureaucratic logics to process high caseloads with limited resources, legal logics to protect public safety and impose the least restrictive conditions, and political logics to follow the law while facing public scrutiny. I discuss the implications of these findings for future research on penal change and the uses of discretion in the age of big data.

The Effect of Institutional Voids, Informal Institutions, and Institutional Tension on Escaped-Based Internationalization from Developed Countries

ABSTRACT Literature on firm internationalization has predominantly examined host-country determinants while largely overlooking home-country environments. Existing theory on home-country institutional voids has been limited to emerging markets, positing that the absence of formal institutions influences organizational strategy. We extend this theory by incorporating developed market multinational enterprises, informal institutions, and institutional tension. We propose and find that a formal void related to labor laws is positively associated with internationalization, whereas an informal institution related to worker collectivism is negatively related to it. We also suggest, and partially find, that interaction between these conflicting forces mitigates their effects.

Research misconduct in China: towards an institutional analysis

Unethical research practices are prevalent in China, but little research has focused on the causes of these practices. Drawing on the criminology literature on organisational deviance, as well as the concept of cengceng jiama, which illustrates the increase of pressure in the process of policy implementation within a top-down bureaucratic hierarchy, this article develops an institutional analysis of research misconduct in Chinese universities. It examines both universities and the policy environment of Chinese universities as contexts for research misconduct. Specifically, this article focuses on China’s Double First-Class University Initiative and its impact on elite universities that respond to the policy by generating new incentive structures to promote research quality and productivity as well as granting faculties and departments greater flexibility in terms of setting high promotion criteria concerning research productivity. This generates enormous institutional tensions and strains, encouraging and sometimes even compelling individual researchers who wish to survive to decouple their daily research activities from ethical research norms. This article is written based on empirical data collected from three elite universities as well as a review of policy documents, universities’ internal documents, and news articles.

Integrated urban governance of COVID-19 interventions in Ghanaian cities: insight from marketplaces in Accra and Kumasi

ABSTRACT It is argued that cities require a specific mode of urban governance to provide an effective response to pandemics and disease outbreaks. This is conceptualized as integrated urban governance, which involves early intervention, strict enforcement, stakeholder collaboration, and the provision of social and economic support to vulnerable groups. Seeing through the perspective of “everyday urban governance” and case studies of three markets in Ghana, this article scrutinizes the responses and politics of infection control measures in marketplaces. It demonstrates that effective response to pandemics in Ghanaian cities is contingent on the three pillars of early intervention, strict enforcement, and stakeholder collaboration. Nevertheless, this article contends that urban governance is characterized by underlying institutional tensions, which have the tendency to reverse gains made. The repressive enforcement of the pandemic protocols, the contestation between state and market actors and the (in)visibility of informal groups as subjects of infection control are examples of those tensions. The article recommends, among others, the need for municipal authorities in African cities to integrate informal actors into formal planning and governance processes, and to prioritize regional planning strategies, while paying attention to the contextual constraints, to achieve resilience against future pandemics.

TEACHERS’ CULTURAL CHOICE CONSCIOUSNESS IN INTEGRATING LOCAL CULTURE INTO UNIVERSITY CURRICULUM RESEARCH-TAKE H UNIVERSITY AS AN EXAMPLE

Integrating local culture into the university curriculum reflects the curriculum development process of integrating teachers' professional knowledge and local knowledge and is also the process of teachers' cultural selection. In this process, cultural choice consciousness is the main factor that causes teachers to act on local cultural objects to achieve curriculum effectiveness. This article explores the formation process of teachers' cultural choice consciousness at H University that integrates local culture into the curriculum and concludes that the two dimensions of teachers' cultural choice consciousness are social sense and self-field and its eight influencing factors, including life experience perception and cultural identity, values, reflective criticality, text symbol diversity, subject power diversity, institutional tension, and discourse situation.

Gender and social class inequalities in higher education: intersectional reflections on a workshop experience.

Research about the experiences of underrepresented groups in higher education (HE) demonstrates the persistence of challenges, despite policies and institutional strategies to promote inclusion. Diversity and inclusion policies have been part of the HE agenda for several decades, yet most policies and interventions focus on (a) a given, isolated identity experience (e.g., based solely on gender, social class, or ethnicity) rather than more intersectional approaches to identity; and (b) top-down interventions that do not include participants insights in their design. In this paper, we report a case study of a workshop with students at an elite university that drew on an intersectional approach to social identities (IASI), specifically, looking at gender and social class. We explore three key themes: (a) the importance of group processes, (b) the use of visual techniques, and (c) the institutional tensions and the (de)politicisation of social psychology research. Reflecting on this case study we argue that approaches to identity and inclusion in HE can benefit from intersectionality beyond the use of multi and overlapping identity and social group categories. We argue that research in this space is not neutral and needs to acknowledge researchers' position about (a) inclusion and diversity, (b) perceptions of participants in research, and (c) the motivation and aims of institutions where the research is conducted. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of integrating an intersectional approach within social identity research in HE when focusing on underrepresented groups.

A Power Struggle Between the Curia and the Bishops of the 2015 Synod of Bishops. Who has the Right to interpret a Synod?

As the Catholic Church prepares and celebrates the 2023-2024 Synod of Bishops, there are still lessons to be learned from past Synods. For example, the balance of power between the institution that is the Synod of Bishops, and the role of the Roman Curia deserves more attention. In 2021, Johan Bonny, bishop of Antwerp, publicly voiced scathing criticism on the Responsum of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to a dubium regarding the blessing of the unions of persons of the same sex. In his criticism, Bonny referred to his own experience on the 2015 Synod of Bishops and asked the real synod to stand up. The bishop made it clear that he did not believe that the Synod was being given a real voice. Therefore, this paper examines the criticism of Bishop Bonny on the Responsum. I pay particular attention to possible institutional tensions between the Synod of Bishops and the Roman Curia. Furthermore, the analysis will point out that the criticism of Bonny cannot be taken lightly because it goes to the core of what the Church is and does. Subsequently, I will show how some tensions have already been partly solved by the new Apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium. Finally, I will also devote attention to whether this Responsum was an example of improper power balance and, if so, what this might mean for future Synods of Bishops, their interpretation, and implementation.

СОЦИАЛЬНЫЕ МОТИВЫ РАЗВИТИЯ СЕЛЬСКОХОЗЯЙСТВЕННОЙ КООПЕРАЦИИ

The emergence of new models of socially oriented cooperatives in the agrarian sector of the economy is a necessary condition for the realization of successful economic policy of the state, implemented in conditions of institutional tension. The cooperative movement in Russia has a unique multifaceted and at the same time complex character of functioning. With the powerful development of agricultural holdings, which act as the main drivers of agricultural production and export, small farmers face signifi cant problems in building a successful cooperative system. The purpose of the research, the results of which are presented in this article, is to develop a comprehensive approach to the study of social motives for the development of agricultural cooperation in the modern market environment in the context of its special role in the development of the agricultural industry, rural communities and rural areas. In the framework of this study, the factors constraining the development of cooperative associations were identifi ed, the model of values of new-type cooperatives was proposed, including the key role of leadership as the main driving force for the powerful development of agricultural cooperation. The factors of cooperative trust formation are identifi ed in order to increase motivation and encouragement to join these associations. The conclusions formulate the most signifi cant parameters of the new model of cooperative knowledge management, contributing to the sustainable development of the Russian cooperation in modern conditions, acceptable for its realization with the following parameters.

The Politics of the European Minimum Wage: Overcoming Ideological, Territorial and Institutional Conflicts in the EU Multi‐level Arena

AbstractUntil recently, the idea of a European minimum wage (EMW) policy had never taken concrete shape, due to the heterogeneity of national wage‐setting and collective bargaining institutions, uncertain EU competence on the matter, and widespread scepticism amongst political actors. In 2022, however, the EU adopted a directive on adequate minimum wages. How did this make it to the EU agenda, despite the many political, territorial and institutional tensions? What coalitions supported and opposed it? Based on a reconstruction of the policy process substantiated by an analysis of news media data and 14 interviews, this article investigates the multi‐level politics of the EMW. It shows that, despite enduring ‘euro‐social scepticism’ in northern Europe, the emergence of pro‐minimum wage coalitions in key member states and the increase of party‐competition dynamics at the EU level were crucial in overcoming the lines of conflict that had long hindered EU initiatives on minimum wage co‐ordination.

Institutional Tension Within a Country and Foreign Subsidiary’s Response (WITHDRAWN)

Institutional Tension Within a Country and Foreign Subsidiary’s Response (WITHDRAWN)

Drawing the line: Opening up and closing down the siting of a high voltage transmission route in the Netherlands

This paper describes the decision-making process regarding the siting of a high voltage transmission line in the southern part of the Netherlands by TenneT, the Transmission System Operator responsible for the electricity infrastructure. TenneT started this siting process by deploying conventional decision-making procedures, which have the tendency centrally to pre-scope, and select the technical, spatial and societal characteristics of such projects. Following the resistance of activist groups and local authorities, a new siting process was set up based on community engagement (CE) and the upfront involvement of local stakeholders, so to include new frames and perspectives and by reconsidering the workings of standard procedures. With that, TenneT opened up decision-making processes. In our paper, we will identify the practical and institutional tensions and challenges that emerged from these attempts to ‘open up’. The work is based on an ‘inside out’ description of the case: one of the researchers undertook an ethnographic study of the siting process, while the employees of TenneT directly involved in the siting process have been invited as co-authors, so to add details and the reflections of practitioners.

Framing the pandemic: Multiplying “crises” in Dutch healthcare governance during the emerging COVID-19 pandemic

In this paper we explore the impact of the emerging COVID-19 pandemic on the governance of healthcare in the Netherlands. In doing so, we re-examine the idea that a crisis necessarily leads to processes of transition and change by focusing on crisis as a specific language of organizing collective action instead. Framing a situation as a crisis of a particular kind allows for specific problem definitions, concurrent solutions and the inclusion and exclusion of stakeholders. Using this perspective, we examine the dynamics and institutional tensions involved in governing healthcare during the pandemic.We make use of multi-sited ethnographic research into the Dutch healthcare crisis organization as it responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on decision-making at the regional level. We tracked our participants through successive waves of the pandemic between March 2020 and August 2021 and identified three dominant framings of the pandemic-as-crisis: a crisis of scarcity, a crisis of postponed care and a crisis of acute care coordination. In this paper, we discuss the implications of these framings in terms of the institutional tensions that arose in governing healthcare during the pandemic: between centralized, top-down crisis management and local, bottom-up work; between informal and formal work; and between existing institutional logics.

Tackling (Not Only) Air Pollution: Cross-sectional Tensions behind State-led Energy Retrofit Program in Poland

According to the World Health Organization, 36 out of the 50 most polluted cities in the EU in 2018 were in Poland. In response to public pressure and supranational obligations, the state-led, household-oriented energy retrofit Clean Air Priority Program (CAPP) was launched in 2018. We investigate how the Polish state, local actors, and market organizations within this program dynamically compete and cooperate to enforce their agendas. Using in-depth interviews, secondary sources, and applying the Policy Arrangements Approach (PAA), we explore discursive and institutional tensions between central and local, as well as public and private actors’ objectives which fostered and complemented the rationale of the program’s air quality with ‘low-carbon’ policy goals. We highlight that pressure from grassroots groups, external power, and leadership can overcome differences in priority agendas by borrowing elements of stakeholders’ norms and discourses.

Socioscientific issues in science exhibitions: examining contributions of the informal science education sector

This paper examines how a particular subset of informal science education settings — science exhibitions — embraces contemporary socioscientific issues (SSI) and fosters public engagement with them. A qualitative cross-case analysis of two SSI exhibitions about teen pregnancy (Brazil) and sustainability (Canada) was conducted. It revealed complex issues around operational funding, and institutional tensions related to the nature, balance, and relevance of the topics displayed. The analysis unravelled opportunities for SSI exhibits to engage with contextualized and situated knowledge; articulate the deficit model with other models of science communication; and consider visitors as agents of change.

COVID-19 pandemic and local executive-opposition institutional relations: a survey analysis

ABSTRACTLocal governments were on the front line in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. They also had to rethink their action mode and carry out a swift digital transition. These changes affected the performance of local democracy, in particular, the nature of Local Executive-Opposition Institutional Relations (LEOIR). Using new survey data on the perceptions of local elected representatives, we run an ordered probit regression model to understand the perceived effect of exceptional measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic on LEOIR in the Portuguese context. The results show, through the lenses of local key informants, that the Executive’s capacity to explain to its constituents the exceptional measures adopted and its formal duty to communicate these decisions to the Municipal Assembly have aggravated the conflictual nature of LEOIR. This study contributes to local governance research by elucidating how accountability and communication practices can soothe or aggravate Executive-Opposition institutional tensions in extraordinary times.

The Fall of Robespierre: 24 Hours in Revolutionary Paris, by Colin Jones

It is a great irony that the Library of Congress has catalogued this book under ‘Robespierre’ and ‘the Reign of Terror’. In his innovative study, Colin Jones argues that, on the contrary, Robespierre should be decentred in the story of his own political demise on 9 Thermidor (27 July 1794), and that the Thermidorian-spun narrative that the Terror concluded with his execution is inaccurate. In lieu of these frameworks, Jones offers a compelling third perspective to explain the momentous day. He highlights a constellation of institutional tensions (including those among sectional committees, the Commune, the National Convention, National Guard troops, artillery command chains, police branches and spy networks); long-term changes in political culture (including the rise of legalism, a growing suspicion of celebrity and the decline of sans-culotte influence); and a city-wide cast of characters with highly localised understandings of the journée (including militia troops, protesting workers, press owners and judges, among others).

Denkmalpflege zwischen System und Gesellschaft. Vielfalt denkmalpflegerischer Prozesse in der DDR (1952–1975)

East German architectural preservation does not have a good reputation. Too often, the history of heritage management in the GDR is recalled as a story of lost treasures and razed monuments, all sacrificed to the Socialist Unity Party (SED)’s alienating and ugly schemes for urban renewal. Less well understood are the individuals and institutions who worked to preserve the GDR’s wide architectural inheritance, often in the face of regime indifference, and sometimes with impressive results to show for it. But to understand how these individuals and institutions acted, what drove them, and what restricted them in their work, we require a big-picture approach that draws together all of the political, the technical and the cultural dimensions of East German preservation. This is the purpose underlying Franziska Klemstein’s detailed new work, Denkmalpflege zwischen System und Gesellschaft. Originating in a doctoral dissertation at the Technische Universität Berlin, Denkmalpflege zwischen System und Gesellschaft interrogates the political ideals, institutional tensions and key personalities that shaped preservation practices in East Germany between 1952, when the GDR adopted a new preservation ‘decree’, and 1975, the ‘European Year of Architectural Heritage’, in which the GDR finally adopted a formal law to govern all preservation activities. Klemstein frames her study around five working hypotheses: first, that East German preservation practices were complex and multifaceted; second, that personal networks were an essential factor in preservation successes in the GDR; third, that the many problems encountered when harmonizing preservation activities with the demands of dialectical materialism impelled a ‘search for international exchange and comparative values’ (Vergleichswerten); fourth, that monument preservation was seen as a ‘task for all of society’ (gesamtgesellschaftliche Aufgabe) in the GDR; and finally, that its affinity with Heimatschutz led to preservation being instrumentalized for ideological purposes.

The Art of Masked Advocacy: The Care of the Self of Gay College Men Living with HIV

This arts-based narrative in/queer/y explores the subjectivity of gay college men living with HIV through the stories and art of two participants. Despite their significantly different lives, the two men shared a subjectivity that was also reflected in the lives of other participants. Care of the self reflects Foucault's search for a way of life that resisted normalizing discourses of identity and served as our conceptual framework. Homophobic AIDS discourse, which manifested as institutional silence about the presence of students living with HIV on college campuses, and homonormative discourses of gay respectability created an environment of contempt. This environment resulted in a care of the self style we call the art of masked advocacy. This art involved advocating for themselves and other students living with HIV while attempting to mitigate contempt. Combating institutional silence and other forms of contempt for gay men living with HIV creates individual and institutional tensions, which we explore.

The short life of the European Super League: a case study on institutional tensions in sport industries

ABSTRACT Rationale The paper examines which themes drove the collective action of football fans against the project of a European SuperLeague in 2021. Design Two unique datasets on the Twitter discourse about the Super League project were retrieved. Themes were analyzed using methods of inductive content analyses. Legitimacy gains and losses were measured using a dictionary approach. Findings Supporters invoked a logic of autotelism insisting on maintaining sporting merit and a logic of identity claiming fan ownership of clubs. However, the fan protests might primarily reinforce the status quo and not inspire a fundamental reform. Practical implications Institutional tensions within European football are likely to persist. Given strong supporter preferences for the institutional status quo, European football clubs appear to be trapped in disequilibrium economics, which should discourage profit-oriented investors. Research contribution Regarding institutional theory, the findings suggest that a strong stakeholder preference for institutional complexity represents a decisive barrier for institutional entrepreneurs trying to shift dominant logics.

Common Purpose

The relationship between performance and curation has shift ed. A new attitude of fluid and pragmatic alliance has evolved as the sense of an essential antagonism between performance and curation recedes and the two fields discover a shared focus on aspects of social engagement and agency. This article considers an Australian socially engaged art project, the Kandos School of Cultural Adaptation (KSCA), which meshes curatorial and artistic practices in its efforts to reimagine and reanimate the future of a small country town. Employing a wide range of strategies, KSCA works closely with the local community to facilitate collective memory, reflection and social and environmental transformation. Deliberately avoiding traditional lines of artistic and institutional tension, KSCA employs an impure and inclusive approach that is emblematic of emerging forms of activist contemporary art.