Public Policy Issues Research Articles

Sleep health across the life cycle: an unmet and neglected public health priority

Abstract The presentation will set the stage on the central role of sleep health across the life cycle. Despite the large body of evidence on the importance of poor sleep behaviors as a modifiable risk factor for several adverse health outcomes, sleep health is still an unmet and neglected issue in public health policy, especially in the European context. Sleep problems are widespread and potentially affect everyone, from childhood to adult age. In addition, sleep health disparities represent a major source of health inequities across marginalized and high-risk population subgroups, such us people from low socio-economic status, women, refugees and immigrants, shift workers, people living with physical and mental illness. There is an urgent need to promote evidence-based health promotion and public health policy to enhance sleep health both in the general population and high-risk subgroups.

An Exploration on Success and Failure of Cooperatives and Microfinance

Cooperatives and microfinances are regarded as a vehicle of development. The history of cooperatives and microfinance development is relatively short which dates back to the 1970s. With the assistance of cooperatives and microfinances, households can expand opportunities for income generation. Small size of loan, group savings, small-scale entrepreneurs, diversified utilization and simple and flexible terms and conditions on credit are the determining characteristics of microfinance and cooperatives. Basically this study is based on the review of past studies and research documents and has tried to collect detail information regarding the history, success and failure of microfinance and cooperatives. It covers the information of advanced countries as well as developing countries like Nepal. In course of research, the study found that cooperatives and microfinance have contributed too many households including backward people, women and marginalized groups. It has assisted to poverty eradication, inequality reduction, women empowerment, unemployment reduction which all result to economic development. These outcomes lead to the success of cooperatives and microfinance whereas public policy issues, fraud of the management team, lack of accountability, unproductive use of cooperatives and microfinance lead towards its failure. On the basis of the findings, it can be concluded that there is rapidly expanding number and size of cooperatives and microfinance institutions in many parts of the world, and in course of time these are moving towards commercial sector rather than being oriented to backward people.

On Population and the International Order

AbstractThis essay expores demographic effects on the international order over the postwar decades and potentially through the next half‐century. Such effects derive from the relative sizes of populations and labor forces among states, contrasts in age distributions (resulting from the regionally staggered timing of fertility decline), and high levels of international migration, fueled by economic disparities and civil conflict. In coming decades, differential population growth and aging—in some states, entrenchment of population decline—will shift the global distribution of labor away from East Asia and Europe and toward South and West Asia and especially Africa. Short‐range migration may be pressed by environmental change; longer‐range migration toward rich countries, much of it illicit and already an intractable public policy issue in many of them, will face increased societal resistance and stronger efforts to police entry. The future international order will see a states system with the Global North further demographically marginalized; India as an emerging economic‐demographic superpower, joining a fast‐aging China and plausibly a less internationally engaged United States; and a demographically dominant Africa with as yet a wholly unclear place in the global political economy. Although not part of standard demographic projections, there are extreme global warming scenarios and other disaster eventualities that could be radically transformative of this order.

Міжнародні боргові метрики в контексті фінансування "зеленого" порядку денного

The article summarizes the public debt policy issues in the context of financing climate change measures, and suggests priorities and mechanisms of fiscal, debt and sectoral policies to ensure sufficient financing of the green agenda. Authors have emphasized the trilemma between achieving climate goals, maintaining fiscal sustainability, and ensuring political capacity. It has been found that even under favorable external financial conditions, climate-vulnerable countries face a constant premium to the cost of borrowing. As a result, developing countries with high levels of debt and climate vulnerability are caught in a vicious circle of growing investment needs for climate- sustainable structural transformation and significant dependence on increasingly expensive debt financing, which leads to a combination of deteriorating debt sustainability and insufficient funding for climate change challenges. Authors argue for a comprehensive multilateral policy aimed at reforming the international debt architecture and increasing the amount of available financing for climate change adaptation under a government-led framework. Achieving common goals requires a carefully calibrated combination of climate change mitigation instruments based on enhanced domestic revenue mobilization, in particular through carbon pricing, more efficient spending on transfers, green subsidies and investments, and regulatory measures. Authors propose a comprehensive approach to implementing climate change mitigation policies, including the implementation of a fiscal strategy, sectoral policies to prevent climate change, and stimulating private investment. Emphasized the importance of developing further tools for incorporating climate policy into debt sustainability analysis.

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.

Trading one problem for two: The case against tobacco bans.

The past two decades have seen growing calls for the "tobacco endgame." Its advocates are united by their commitment to two ideas. First, tobacco-related harms represent a catastrophic health emergency, and second, current tobacco-control approaches are an inadequate response to the scale of that emergency. To endgame advocates, tobacco policy should have more ambitious goals than merely "controlling" tobacco. Instead, it should aim to bring about a smoke-free world. While a range of different policies are included under the umbrella of the "tobacco endgame," the most radical proposal is for a complete ban on tobacco. Its advocates argue that in addition to improving global public health, an effective ban on tobacco would also promote overall autonomy and would have important egalitarian benefits. This article critically examines these arguments for a tobacco ban. I argue that they rely on idealizing assumptions about the likely effects of a ban. Because an effective ban would require robust enforcement to control the illegal market in tobacco, it would be more likely to undermine autonomy and equality than it would be to promote them. By relying on idealizing assumptions and ignoring the likely consequences of a tobacco ban, advocates of a ban obscure, rather than clarify, both the policy debate and the ethical stakes. I conclude by considering the ways that idealizing assumptions should-and should not-play a role in debates about ethical issues in public policy.

Spatiotemporal heterogeneity of the association between socioeconomic development and health policy attention: a geographically and temporally weighted regression modeling study in China.

Health policy attention (HPA) refers to the extent of attention given by governments to health issues in public policy and is generally influenced by socioeconomic development. This study aimed to examine the spatiotemporal heterogeneity and clustering of the associations between socioeconomic factors and HPA. Longitudinal study. This study examined the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of the association between public and provincial government attention, economic development, and demographic transition and HPA by using geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR). Word2Vec machine learning technology was utilized to calculate HPA data in 323 cities and independent variable data was collected in each city in China over the period of 2018-2021. The results showed that there is a substantial overall rise in HPA levels throughout China following the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the GTWR results revealed significant spatiotemporal heterogeneity in the associations between HPA and public and provincial government attention, economic development, and demographic transition, particularly in the context of COVID-19. The impact of provincial government attention on HPA decreased from the capital of the political center outward, while the impact of public financial investment decreased in less developed cities during the pandemic. It was only cities with high levels of aging are more likely to receive greater HPA. The finding highlighted the remarkable spatial and temporal variations in the associations between the variables and HPA across different regions in China, emphasizing the need for region-specific policies to strengthen the focus on health by municipal governments.

INTERSECTIONALITY AND THE PUBLIC POLICY PROCESS - THE COST OF BEING "IN-BETWEEN" FOR WOMEN AND OLDER PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

The aim of the article is to show, using the example of women and seniors with disabilities, how being "between" various policies/ministries/interest groups increases the risk of being omitted in the process of creating and implementing public policy. In the text, we start from the public policy process and indicate how its individual users can influence policy agendas, and then discuss the challenges of being both a person with a disability and a woman or a senior citizen. We also emphasize the importance of the weaknesses of a given environment and the issue of identity in activist efforts. Finally, we put forward the thesis that a potential solution to the problem of being overlooked may be to strengthen activities aimed at mainstreaming women's and disability issues in public policy.

Consultative Authoritarianism in Central Asia

Consultative authoritarianism is associated with regimes that provide mechanisms for citizens’ voice on public policy issues. The existing research considers the implementation of this concept through two mechanisms: civil society working in partnership with the state and public consultation channels that provide opportunities for citizens to influence government decision-making. This study examines consultative authoritarianism in Central Asia. Using a case study of Kazakhstan, a ‘softer’ authoritarian state, we investigate whether the operationalisation of this model fulfils the claims made for it. Through qualitative data gathered from key stakeholders, the study finds mixed evidence of success: there is greater political space for civil society but public consultation mechanisms have limited impact. It is unlikely that either of these changes is sufficient to address the frustrations of citizens and forestall random demonstrations and political protests, which, in turn, may lead to violent repression by the state.

Sourcing public policy: organisation publishing in Wikipedia

ABSTRACT Organisations across multiple sectors are prolific publishers in a range of genres including research reports, policy briefs, fact sheets, datasets and much more. Sometimes referred to as grey literature, these publications play a critical role in the circulation of research and ideas on public policy and public interest issues, yet they are often overlooked as part of the research publishing system, including on Wikipedia and Wikimedia. One of the cornerstones of Wikipedia is its reliance on citations from reliable sources, however little is known about the way in which organisation-produced and disseminated publications are understood and used as sources on Wikimedia platforms. This article reviews the literature and analyses available data on the sources used on English Wikipedia and what it can tell us about the extent to which policy reports from organisations are cited and the issues that arise with evaluating their reliability. We then provide a case study of a project underway by the Analysis & Policy Observatory (APO), a digital library of policy reports based in Australia, which aims to improve the presence of high-quality policy and research material and coverage of policy issues on Wikipedia.

Locus of Control, Social Capital and Transport Poverty1*

Transport poverty is a major public policy issue in many countries. However, evidence on the factors that influence transport poverty is relatively scant. We contribute to the debate on the factors that influence transport poverty by being the first to examine how locus of control (LoC) influences transport poverty. Using 15 waves of panel data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey, we find evidence to suggest that LoC influences transport poverty. Specifically, we find that being more internal on LoC is associated with a lower probability of being transport poor. This finding is robust to a suite of sensitivity and robustness checks, including different constructs of transport poverty, alternative measures of LoC, the use of an out‐of‐sample supplementary dataset and different estimation approaches. We find that social capital is an important factor that mediates the relationship between LoC and transport poverty.

Public Policy and Governance Issues in Multi-Ethnic Society: The Predicaments of Policy Agenda Setting in Nigeria

It is an indisputable fact that Nigeria is a multi-lingual, multi-ethnic, and multi-religious country. It is also widely recognized that the country has an abundance of material and human resources due to its diverse population. But what was once seen and considered as a blessing has turned into a serious problem for governance and politics in Nigeria. This is because the determination of ethnic entrepreneurs to invoke the common consciousness shared by individuals who identify with a specific ethnic or religious group lies at the heart of a lot of governance and policy challenges in the country. Symbolic ethnic pluralism has been an element in conflictual group relations whenever there is socioeconomic and political competition in the country. The objective of this paper is to examine how public policy agenda-setting and ethnoreligious consciousness intersect in Nigeria. The study used a qualitative approach, collecting data from the author’s observations as well as a comprehensive analysis of the body of existing literature. The findings imply that the overlapping roles of power, perception, potency, and proximity in political mobilization and policy-making in Nigeria have an impact on the intersection of ethnicity and religion as well as the reduction of complex geostrategic and historical conflicts to ethnic strife. The study recommended that the country’s current institutional arrangements and social norms be drastically altered.

Time poverty, health and health-related behaviours in a Southern European city: a gender issue

BackgroundDespite its growing interest, time poverty is a neglected issue in public health analysis and policies. The objectives of this study were: (1) to analyse gender differences in paid, unpaid...

Who Do the Socially Mobile Vote For? A Longitudinal Analysis of Intergenerational Mobility and Political Preferences

Social mobility has become a key public policy issue across the Western world. But who do the upwardly and downwardly mobile vote for? Does their voting behaviour remain the same as their peers in their social origin class, or does it quickly assimilate to mimic the behaviour of others at their social destination? This article presents new, longitudinal evidence on this issue, documenting how the link between social origin, destination and political voting behaviour varies during adult life. We find individuals who move up the social ladder are more likely to vote Conservative than individuals who remain in the same social class as their parents. Overall, an individual’s social origin and social destination seem to be equally important for how they vote. Yet we find no evidence that social mobility is associated with political voting preferences per se; rather upwardly mobile individuals’ greater propensity to vote for the Conservatives is driven by the joint impact of their social origin and destination.

Public trust in regulatory agencies and support for policies on agricultural gene drive

AbstractPublic trust in government agencies plays an important role in the formation of public opinion about public policy issues. However, the association between public trust in regulatory agencies and public support for policy development in emergent biotechnologies such as gene drive is not well understood. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are tasked with coordinating and regulating biotechnology. Drawing on past literature, this study examines how public trust in these federal agencies is associated with public opinion on various options for gene drive policy. Using data from a nationally representative public opinion survey (n = 1220) conducted in 2021, our statistical analyses show that respondents who report higher levels of trust in regulatory agencies are more likely to support policy proposals that promote gene drive research and ultimately, may lead to regulatory policies that allow gene drive to be researched and employed to manage agricultural pests, establishing a pathway for scientists, developers, producers, and consumers alike to realize the benefits of this technology.

Coercive impoliteness and blame avoidance in government communication

As government officeholders face criticism for misconduct or policy failures, they are tempted to communicate in self-defensive ways. In this paper, I draw attention to how strategic blame avoidance in government may involve coercive impoliteness, that is, the use of expressions that attack the face of (potential) critics with an aim of forcing them to withhold their (future) criticism. Taking a discourse-historical approach to political rhetoric, I present illustrative examples of institutional government messaging from the United States, the United Kingdom, Estonia, and Russia to demonstrate how these face attacks may be accomplished in subtle ways, such as via sarcasm or mock politeness. I discuss the ethical implications of the uses of coercive impoliteness in government communication for democratic debates over public policy issues. The paper contributes to the study of political blame games, language aggression, and incivility in (digitally) mediated contexts.

The Role of Social Interaction in Improving the Quality of Islamic Religious Education Learning

This research aims to investigate and understand the role of social interaction in improving the quality of Islamic Religious Education learning. This research will explore how social interactions in the classroom context can influence the effectiveness of Islamic religious learning. Apart from that, this research also aims to identify effective social interaction strategies that can be used to improve the quality of Islamic Religious Education learning in Islamic secondary schools. This research uses a qualitative approach with a case study design at Sabilurrosyad Islamic High School Malang, selecting three classes as case units (classes X, XI, and XII). Data was collected through in-depth interviews with teachers and students, as well as direct observations in classrooms to record social interactions between students and Islamic Religious Education teachers. The research location focused on classrooms at the school. The purposive sampling method was used to select research participants. The research findings indicate that instructional models such as group investigation, role-playing, and jurisprudential learning positively impact social interaction and students' understanding of PAI material. The group investigation model allows students to collaborate in identifying and exploring social and moral issues, while role-playing enables students to interact in real-life situations relevant to religious values. Furthermore, jurisprudential learning allows students to understand and integrate religious values in formulating solutions to relevant public policy issues. The role of teachers as facilitators, mentors, academic counselors, and support providers is crucial in facilitating effective social interaction in PAI classes. Support systems, including comprehensive library facilities and access to external school references, are crucial in supporting quality interactive learning. In conclusion, social interaction in the classroom significantly enhances the quality of PAI learning, and instructional approaches that encourage active interaction between students and teachers can shape a better and more accurate understanding of religious teachings.

Implications of pesticide use regulation on soil sustainability in Uganda

Reducing pesticide use has become a goal shared by several countries, Uganda inclusive and a major issue in public policies since the adverse impacts of pesticides on environmental media such as soil and on human health have been clearly demonstrated. The main environmental concerns related to pesticides are soil, water pollution and damage to non-target organisms including plants, birds, wildlife, fish and crops. On one hand, pesticides can control pests and diseases, and increase agricultural productivity, which is essential for food security and economic development. However, the positive effects have proven to be short-lived. Moreover, the indiscriminate and injudicious use of pesticides without proper regulation and awareness, more so by small-scale farmers, can lead to detrimental effects on soil health and long-term sustainability. The challenge is exacerbated by pesticides that can persist in the environment and accumulate in the soil over time, leading to soil degradation. Accordingly, regulation of pesticide use then becomes more critical if the adverse effects of pesticide use are to be mitigated. Indeed, Uganda recognizes the importance of sustainable agricultural practices and the need to regulate pesticide use to protect soil health and ensure long-term agricultural productivity. This is manifested in the existing regulatory framework on pesticide use, although challenges and threats to soil sustainability still abound especially from the highly fragmented and sectoral-based approaches. This paper examines the implications of pesticide use regulation on soil sustainability in Uganda, a country heavily reliant on agriculture for food security and economic growth. Suggestions are proffered on some interventions that align with soil sustainability.

Арбитражный скандал, интрига и расследование: комментарий к решению Высокого суда Англии и Уэльса по делу P&I Developments Limited vs Republic of Nigeria

The English court’s decision, which was published last year on 23 October, is described not merely as precedential but as historic in its impact. This decision is impactful not merely because it released the Nigerian state (the respondent in the arbitral award that was set aside by the English court) from the burden of paying a lion’s share of its forex reserves to a little known offshore entity, but also because this is perhaps the first case where suspicions about abusive procedural tactics and corruption during the arbitral proceedings became a self-sufficient ground to set aside a similar international arbitral award. This article uses the almost detective story that unfolded in this case as an opportunity to address broader issues of public policy, legal ethics and corruption in major international cases, to challenge the traditional understanding of adversarial proceedings and to address other problems that directly implicate the future of arbitration as a means of resolving investment disputes. These issues are also quite relevant for Russia considering the impending legal outcome in the long-running Yukos arbitration.

Female immigrant entrepreneurship – predicted by women’s empowerment in host country

PurposeThe social inclusion of immigrants has been a central public policy issue in European countries, and entrepreneurship is often promoted as a form of integration. Female immigrants face double discrimination of gender and ethnicity while becoming entrepreneurs. The aim of the paper is to investigate the female empowerment in the host country as a predictor of immigrant women engagement in entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approachBased on panel data for European Union countries for years 2006–2021, female immigrant entrepreneurship was modelled by the impact of variables showing the empowerment of women in host countries. Data availability was the determinant regarding the inclusion of 22 countries: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden were all in the research sample.FindingsAlthough immigrant entrepreneurship is highly context-oriented and locale-specific (as in the physical setting for relationships among people), some universal patterns for a group of countries are found. A stronger political and managerial position of power for the women in host countries encourages female immigrant entrepreneurship, while the gender pay gap is statistically insignificant.Originality/valueThe originality of the paper is due to the multi-country level and female-focused research perspectives in immigrant entrepreneurship. The study refers to the intersectionality of gender and ethnicity, arguing that the empowerment of women in host countries affects female immigrant entrepreneurship at the macro-level.