Policy Issues Research Articles

Public Deliberation for Ethically Complex Policies: The Case of Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada.

Almost 50,000 people in Canada have had a medically assisted death since federal legislation was passed in 2016. Still, the debate about the permissibility of medical assistance in dying (MAiD) continues to rage. The central role of shared values and ethics in public policy making emphasizes the importance of engaging the public, particularly around heavily value-laden issues such as MAiD. Public deliberation, a mode of engagement that fosters sustained and reasoned discussion between participants, is well-suited to addressing such ethically contentious policy issues. In this paper, we review recent efforts to engage the public on assisted dying within and outside Canada and explain how public deliberation could contribute substantively to MAiD policy making.

Research on Urban Renewal Design in the Context of the Future Community Concept

As urbanization accelerates, traditional cities face numerous challenges such as aging infrastructure, limited community functions, and inadequate environmental sustainability. The concept of the "future community," as an innovative approach to urban development, emphasizes the application of smart technologies, enhanced community participation, eco-friendly designs, and diversified economic growth, providing a new direction for urban renewal. This study aims to explore the application of the future community concept in urban renewal design through a combination of literature review, case studies, and data analysis, systematically analyzing the core characteristics of future communities and their impact on urban renewal. The research selects typical urban renewal cases from both domestic and international contexts, constructs a relationship model between future communities and urban renewal, and proposes a series of design strategies such as participatory design, smart technology integration, sustainable green design, and mixed-use development. Comparative analysis reveals that the future community concept significantly improves social inclusiveness, technological application levels, and environmental sustainability, while also boosting economic vitality. The use of data tables further validates the effectiveness of these design strategies, providing empirical support for urban planning and design. The study concludes that while the future community concept offers important guidance for urban renewal, challenges such as technological, financial, and policy issues must still be overcome during implementation. Finally, the paper offers relevant policy recommendations and future research directions to provide theoretical and practical references for building more livable, intelligent, and sustainable urban communities.

A Framework for Implementation of Telemedicine

While there is wide implementation of telemedicine in developed economies, other countries lag behind. However, for more than a decade, some of these countries have recognized the potential benefits of information and communication technology (ICT) in the delivery of health care. There is an urgent need for an understanding of telemedicine implementation issues affecting various nations, as Telemedicine systems innovations and implementation initiatives are still in their early stages, albeit with a lot of struggles in these countries. The purpose of this study is to develop a framework for implementation of Telemedicine systems. The study considered both qualitative and quantitative data that was collected from hospitals in three counties within Kenya, and then finally, a framework for the implementation of telemedicine was proposed. The study provides some key insights into the implementation of Telemedicine systems in public hospitals and, to some extent, in private hospitals in Developing Countries. Having contextualized the implementation of telemedicine, the study concluded from the findings that Telemedicine implementation is an all-encompassing process that is predicated on policy and legislation issues, organizational issues, social and technological factors, and as such, for successful implementation, careful consideration of all these is fundamental

Securitization of local adaptation: Signs of riskification in a Dutch region

AbstractClimate change is increasing the frequency of extreme weather events and sea level rise, causing scholars to argue that it has become a security issue and that extraordinary measures are being legitimized by its perceived threat, referred to as securitization. Securitization of climate change has so far been studied predominantly in an international and occasionally national context. Little is known on how security dynamics play out on the local, subnational level. To address this knowledge gap, we investigated if and how adaptation to climate change (CCA) has been securitized for the water domain in a region in the Netherlands that is a CCA frontrunner: Dordrecht. Our case study comprised a detailed document analysis complemented with eight policymaker/expert interviews. In the discourses, actors and tools employed in the governance of CCA in Dordrecht we found signs of securitization in the form of riskification: risk terminology being used in CCA governance; greater involvement of risk and safety actors; and the development of new risk tools like risk and vulnerability analyses. However, securitization remains largely absent: CCA continues to be dealt with as a shared responsibility and as a cross‐sectoral policy issue to be integrated and mainstreamed to become the “new normal.”

Who (actually) gets the farm? Intergenerational farm succession in the United States

AbstractFarm succession is a central issue in agricultural policy. Yet although many studies explore succession planning, little is known about how farms are actually transferred. We provide the first population‐level evidence on intergenerational farm succession by linking US census records for millions of farmers' children in 1900 and 1910 to identify which children own and operate the family farm up to 40 years later. We first show that daughters are rarely successors. Using a within‐family identification strategy, we find that first‐born sons are slightly more likely than their younger brothers to be successors while their parents are working aged. However, birth order is not predictive of who receives the farm when parents are older or deceased. For later farm transfers, sons who were previously tenant farmers are much more likely than their brothers to be successors, possibly because they are better prepared. Fewer than one‐fifth of farmers transfer their farm to any son. Our study relies on rich historical data because current policy prevents the necessary data linkages for studying intergenerational farm succession. Providing a secure system for researchers to link modern agricultural data to population microdata, similar to what has been achieved with other data sources, would yield crucial insights into long‐term agricultural policy issues in the US.

Beyond Ellis Island: Unpacking the Negativity Around Contemporary Migration

The year 2024 is the 100th anniversary of the end of Ellis Island as the welcoming gateway to and for millions of international migrants to the United States. It is also a presidential election year in the same country, where migrants and migration are lambasted, even as the economy cannot have enough of them. This behaviour pattern is not unique. By focusing mainly on the United States, this paper proposes a set of inter-related explanations as to why immigration can become – and persist in being seen – as a negative policy issue in the public eye. First, anti-immigration rhetoric is adopted as a rallying call by at least one mainstream political party. Second, the country’s migration policies are enacted via executive order; and thus, they unwittingly become a proxy scorecard of alleged government inefficiency and incompetence, which, in turn, are projected as risks to national security. Third, in countries with either a relatively short history of independence, or with strong nativist cultures, nourished by a discourse of identity, patriotism, and a proto-ethnic sense of ‘the nation’, immigrants are seen to pose an existential threat; at best, any migrants have an obligation to ‘fit in’ via assimilation into their host community.

Considerations on citizen participation in the development of public policies: insights from a Habermasian perspective

The Habermasian theory has the potential to help understand government initiatives aimed at implementing actions in the public interest with social participation. It provides an epistemic framework for understanding the coherence, comprehensiveness, and sustainability of government decisions and actions. The objective of this analysis was to examine the fundamental concepts of Habermasian thought and its strengths in understanding public policies. Additionally, a proposed analytical framework of public policy with Habermasian categories is presented. A documentary-analytical methodology was used, involving the review, analysis, systematization, and interpretation of books, scientific articles, and theses related to the central themes of the study. The results indicate that the theory of communicative action, the notions of public sphere, and deliberative procedure enable the creation of mechanisms and spaces for debate and social participation in the management of public policies, legitimizing the normative system in a democratic rule of law. In conclusion, it is established that the use of analytical categories from Habermasian thought, when contextualized, contributes to the practice of social management in addressing public policy issues of collective interest.

Building a pathway to stability: strategies for overcoming the Architect's registration crisis in Nigeria

The Architect's registration crisis in Nigeria for eight straight years (2015–2023) has significantly impacted the architectural profession, creating a pressing need for effective solutions to restore stability and ensure a sustainable future. This research investigated the challenges and consequences the crisis has caused the architectural profession in Nigeria and potential strategies for resolving the situation. The study relied on thirty-four (34) structured interviews with Provisionally Stage II registered architects and fully registered architects from different parts of Nigeria and a literature review involving a thorough analysis to identify key issues and challenges related to the Architect's registration crisis in Nigeria. Findings reveal the major factors contributing to the registration crisis include institutional issues, legislative and policy issues, power-mongering, and personality battles within professional associations and the regulatory body. Some of the proposed solutions involve strengthening accreditation standards and monitoring, addressing issues about the HND degree holders, advocating for fair registration practices, fostering collaboration and professionalism, overcoming internal issues and power struggles within professional associations and regulatory bodies, and the study proposed a framework for the registration of architects in different cadres. Ultimately, this research provided valuable insights for policymakers, professional bodies, and stakeholders. By identifying viable pathways to resolution, this study paves the way for a sustainable future for the architectural profession in Nigeria, ensuring its continued growth in the built environment.

Technology for advancing behavioral health integration: implications for behavioral health practice and policy.

Behavioral health integration (BHI) encompasses the integration of general health, mental health, and substance use care. BHI has promise for healthcare improvement, yet several challenges limit its uptake and successful implementation. Translational Behavioral Medicine published the Continuum-Based Framework by Goldman et al., 2020 to create comprehensive guidance for BHI within primary care settings. Technology can help advance BHI and provide evidence to support it. This commentary describes challenges and illustrative use cases in which technology solutions help organizations achieve BHI through the Continuum-Based Framework domains. Two rounds of semi-structured interviews with field leaders, practice sites, and technology stakeholders identified key barriers in BHI amenable to technology solutions, applications of technologies, and how they facilitate BHI. Findings showed that technology can facilitate the implementation and scaling of BHI by reducing care fragmentation and improving patient engagement, accountability and financial sustainability, provider experience and support, and equitable access to culturally competent care. Continued efforts by stakeholders to address legacy policy and implementation issues (e.g. incentives, investment, privacy, and workforce) are needed to optimize the impact of technology on BHI.

Democratic discrepancies in urban sustainable development

AbstractCities are critical for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Their urban sustainable development (USD) plans and policies cover a wide range of issues, such as biodiversity protection, transportation or poverty reduction. Yet, such policy-making may lack democratic legitimacy if these policies are out of step with the demands and concerns of residents. Considering this, the present study compares residents’ preferences about USD policy issues with the priorities set out in existing USD policy plans. We scrutinized the preferences of 5,800 residents across eight European cities through the application of survey experiments and simultaneously examined 166 existing USD policy plans from these cities and compared them with the survey results. Our findings indicate an on average high acceptance of USD (72.61%) but with substantial democratic discrepancies: while USD policy plans predominantly prioritize issues, such as biodiversity, education and transportation, residents expressed preferences for issues linked to their essential and everyday needs, such as cost of living, public health and poverty. These democratic discrepancies between residents’ priorities and the content of USD policy plans highlight the necessity of securing basic human needs as integral aspects of USD to foster a more profound and democratically supported urban socio-ecological sustainability transformation.

History of housing policy’s formation and development in Ukraine

The purpose of this article is to reveal specific features of the history of the formation and development of housing policy in Ukraine from the ХІХ century to the present time has been researched. Obtaining research results became possible due to the application of general philosophical and special methods of scientific cognition. The factors that influenced the development of housing policy have been established. It has been clarified that the problem of providing housing historically was initially considered as the problem of an individual person, and only later – one of the issues of the state policy. Such key stages of the development of housing policy as the initiation of housing policy in the ХІХ century, the development of housing policy after the First and Second World Wars, modern challenges of housing policy have been analyzed. It has been emphasized that international standards and recommendations for the formation of housing policy were formed at the beginning of the ХХ century. It has been established that there was a large-scale reconstruction of the housing stock and the construction of typical multi-apartment buildings after the end of the Second World War. It has been emphasized that Ukraine's housing policy after obtaining independence in 1991 had undergone significant changes. It was confirmed by the massive privatization of housing by Ukrainian citizens and the growth of the share of the private housing stock. The authors have offered own periodization of the stages for the formation and development of housing policy in Ukraine, starting from the ХІХ century and up to nowadays. The importance of the historical approach for further development of housing policy, taking into account economic, social and political aspects, has been emphasized.

Beware the Black Widow at Claim Time: A Report of Three Cases.

Moral hazard is well known to life insurance underwriters and medical directors to increase the risk of adverse consequences to insured individuals. The underwriting investigation of proposed insureds at time of policy issue is done to ensure no likely moral hazard exists. However, not all situations involving moral hazard may be identified at time of underwriting and policy issue, and may only be identified at time of claim. Three cases that were underwritten for life expectancies in legal matters are described here as examples of moral hazard identified at time of severe injury and/or death. All three of these cases involved a woman who manipulated her male partner into situations that increased the man's risk of severe injury and/or death to the woman's financial benefit. Such "black widows" made a great deal of effort over an extensive period of time to ensure that the moral hazard set up for their male partners resulted in a substantial financial windfall through litigation. The moral hazard set up by a black widow thus can be considered by the life insurance industry as sufficiently anti-selective and speculative to deny a claim at any time after policy issue.

Equivalence Framing and the Construction of Advocacy Messages

ABSTRACTAlternative messages that present logically equivalent information, often referred to as equivalence frames, have been shown to influence readers' opinions on public issues. While equivalence framing has been studied in the context of issue advocacy, exhibiting pervasive effects across domains of decision‐making, little attention has been paid to whether the general public is able to choose these equivalence frames based on the goal of persuasion. Given that framing effects have important implications on democratic decision‐making, this paper reports on experiments that manipulate the strategic goal of policy advocacy (i.e., supporting alternative policy proposals) and ask respondents to select between equivalence frames to enhance the persuasive power of the advocacy toward the specified goal. Findings across three issue topics suggest that for the general adult population, only a small proportion of people were able to select equivalence frames based on the goal of persuasion with most people failing to do so. Also, a follow‐up study with a university student sample showed that familiarity with one equivalence frame over the other was a more consistent predictor of equivalence frame use than the goal of advocacy in communicating policy issues.

Athafnafólk í opinberri stefnumótun á óvissutímum: Hvernig hugmyndin um notendastýrða persónulega aðstoð varð að veruleika á Íslandi

Þessi rannsókn leitast við að útskýra tímamótaákvörðun í þjónustu við fatlað fólk á Íslandi. Opinber stefnumótun hefur löngum einkennst af hægfara breytingum, sem gerast í smáum skrefum. Stundum bregður þó svo við að meiriháttar breytingar verða og stefnumál, sem verið hefur baráttumál hagsmunahópa um margra ára skeið, ná fram að ganga. Dagskrárkenningar leitast við að útskýra meiriháttar stefnubreytingar með því m.a. að beina athyglinni að því hvernig og hvers vegna tiltekin málefni koma til kasta stjórnvalda á hverju tíma. Bandaríski stjórnmálafræðingurinn, John W. Kingdon, setti fyrst fram kenningu sína um straumana þrjá og glugga tækifæranna fyrir rúmum 30 árum. Nýlegar rannsóknir evrópskra stjórnmálafræðinga halda því nú fram að nálgun Kingdons geti varpað ljósi á það hvernig það pólitíska kerfi sem stefnumótunin fer fram í virkar og hvernig hegðun og aðferðir þátttakenda í ferlinu hafa áhrif. Í þessari eigindlegu rannsókn er skoðað hvernig hugmyndin um notendastýrða persónulega aðstoð (NPA) varð að veruleika á Íslandi. Rannsóknin byggir á fyrirliggjandi gögnum og viðtölum við lykilfólk um þá framvindu mála sem leiddi til ákvörðunar um að innleiða NPA hér á landi. Rannsóknin lýsir því hvernig og undir hvaða kringumstæðum NPA komst á dagskrá stjórnvalda. Niðurstöðurnar sýna hvernig breytingar á verkaskiptingu milli ríkis og sveitarfélaga gáfu tækifæri fyrir nýja hugmyndafræði sem nýttist bæði notendum, viðskiptahagsmunum og pólitískum hagsmunum. Niðurstöðurnar benda til þess að þar hafi ekki aðeins verið réttur maður á réttum stað á réttum tíma, heldur varpa þær fræðilegu ljósi á það hvað einkennir athafnafólk í opinberri stefnumótun og hvernig og hvers vegna það skiptir máli á óvissutímum í stjórnmálum.

An Applied Research Partnership to Improve The Children’s Behavioral Health System Of Care

Objective and ApproachThis session describes a doctoral student-led process to align research, policy, and practice partners around the use of integrated data to address a policy priority—the mounting youth mental health crisis. The project partners engaged in a five-year governance process to leverage integrated administrative data from a large health and human service agency in one U.S. state. Qualitative field notes—collected while conducting quantitative analyses and engaging partners—were analyzed to document a realistic timeline and process for ethical, actionable research using cross-sector data. ResultsFive key lessons for partnership-engaged research emerged, emphasizing the importance of adapting to changes in project themes, leveraging strong partnership to address data quality concerns, nurturing existing and new relationships, balancing data access and data privacy, and supplementing administrative data with contextual data. ConclusionsThough engaging deeply with partners takes substantial time and energy, there are benefits to researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and most importantly, residents whose data are represented. Furthermore, building pathways to legally and ethically access integrated data can promote the efficient, strategic use of data for social policy research, and ultimately, be leveraged to support evidence-based policymaking in an ever-changing world. ImplicationsThis session underscores the value of forming applied research partnerships and building legal and ethical pathways to access integrated data when tackling complex social policy issues.

Using linked data to inform multidimensional real-world issues: Canadian examples

Issues at the top of global and national policy agendas, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate emergency, and energy and cost of living crises, are illustrating the interconnectivity of the economy, society, and the environment. Moreover, it is clear, that impacts of these issues are not uniformly felt across societies. Greater granularity of information is required to address inequalities. As a result, policy makers are taking a more holistic view of issues to address the interlinkages across domains. This is driving the demand for Statistics Canada to provide statistical insights that address these cross-cutting policy issues and provide more granular information across multiple domains. Linked data are necessary for understanding the interrelated nature of these issues and the scope of their impact. For example, recent Canadian research based on linked data has shown that COVID-19 led to changes in work arrangements that have implications for public transit use and greenhouse gas emissions. The employer-employee linked administrative data augmented with a further linkage to census data provide opportunities for Canadian researchers to produce multidimensional insights on a portrait of racialized groups and immigrants including refugees’ presence in the Canadian economy, their sociodemographic characteristics, and their performance over time relative to other Canadians, particularly post the COVID pandemic. Rapid growth in data availability for research also poses new challenges ranging from technical issues needed for the feasibility of data linkage to stewardship issues related to governance, access, and oversight. The presentation will also discuss the lessons learned and reflections from the Canadian experiences.

Politicised at Home but not in Council: The European Coordination of Social Security Systems

After seven years of negotiations, the European Parliament and the Council have yet to agree on the reform of one of the most essential regulations facilitating cross-border worker mobility in the EU: the Coordination of Social Security Systems (EC 883/2004). The lack of agreement remains puzzling, as all negotiating partners are generally in favour of the reform. Similar proposals on social policy, such as the Posting of Workers Directive or the Minimum-wage Directive, were also challenging to achieve but could be agreed upon. This article tests whether “unpolitics”—a destructive approach by populist governments in the Council to undermine EU policymaking—is the reason for the persisting deadlock on the file. The central finding of this article is that the interplay of populism and the status of member states as sending or receiving workers shape unpolitical behaviour. Contrary to expectations, unpolitics is largely absent in the behaviour of populist and non-populist governments. Unpolitical behaviour does not promise high gains for the populist governments from Central and Eastern Europe because these member states send workers. The smooth functioning of the freedom of workers is essential for them and their national discourses do not discuss the freedom of movement in the context of welfare chauvinism. Welfare chauvinism is much stronger in countries that receive workers, however, populists were not in power in these member states and therefore there was no unpolitical behaviour. The findings show that unpolitical behaviour is not used by mainstream governments, not even when it would seem likely from the nature of the policy issue. This article highlights that the probability of unpolitical behavior is influenced not only by the nature of the policy issue itself but also by domestic institutional and structural factors, as well as the national discourse.

Capping Study Permits: Evaluating the Impact of International Students on Real Rent Growth in Canada

Housing affordability has become a critical policy issue in Canada as shelter costs have dramatically increased. This study examines the impact of international students on the growth of real rents in Canadian census metropolitan areas (CMAs) from 2004 to 2018. Using study permit data as a proxy for international student numbers, we establish a causal link between the influx of international students and real rent growth. To address endogeneity and control for CMA-specific factors, we employ an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) model and a shift-share instrument. Our OLS estimates suggest that international student growth accounts for 1.15 percent of real rent growth. Further, using a two-stage least-squares (2SLS) model for robustness, we find that a 1 percent increase in per capita study permit growth (“dppr”) leads to a 1.31 percent increase in real rent growth (“grr”). These findings are significant for policy discussions on housing affordability and the potential impact of the 2024 study permit cap.

Do populists escalate international disputes?

Abstract Among the potentially most consequential effects of populism is its impact on countries' international conflict behaviour. However, empirical evidence about populists' approach to international disputes is inconclusive. We develop a theoretical framework focused on mobilization and personalization, which we argue are particularly relevant characteristics of populist foreign policy-making. We hypothesize that, on a conflict–cooperation continuum, a country's approach to a bilateral dispute will become more conflictive under a populist government if that dispute is strongly used for domestic political mobilization, and if decision-making on that issue is highly personalized. Conversely, foreign policy will not become more conflictive in cases of weak mobilization and personalization. We carry out in-depth qualitative within-case comparisons of non-populist and populist governments' policies in Bolivia (2002–2019), India (2004–2022), and the Philippines (2010–2022), focusing on two selected bilateral disputes per country. Drawing on a broad range of sources, including 71 expert interviews conducted in the three countries, we find that populists in power escalate international disputes if they strongly use foreign policy issues for domestic mobilization and, at the same time, strongly personalize decision-making. This finding nuances existing assessments about the effect of populism on foreign policy change.

On the Way to Net Zero Emissions. Can Environmental Tax be the Game Changer? The Vise Grad Group Evidence

Today, protecting the environment is a top issue for global policy. In essence, the literature has identified several macroeconomic problems as factors in environmental deterioration. The purpose of the investigation was to explore environmental deterioration (EVD) and energy consumption (ENC) by Vise grad regions. Environmental taxes (ENTX) and carbon taxes have been proving to be a significant factor in carbon mitigation. The analysis was carried out for the period 1994-2021, employing the fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS). The empirical evaluation indicates that ENC had a positive while ENTX had a negative nexus with EVD for the Vise grad nations. Similarly, the moderating role of ENTX*ENC – EVD exhibited an inverse affiliation. In the long run, the dependence on non-renewable energy appreciates EVD. However, effective policy implementation of ENTX will lead to quality of the environment. The empirical results have shown that ENTX can be employed to control the demand and utilization of coal, gas, and nuclear in the Vise grad regions. This research offers policymakers and government organizations in these areas a reference point for their investments in more eco-friendly technology, human capital, urbanization, trade openness, and appropriate environmental levies to demonstrate the quality of the environment.