Levels Of Government Research Articles

International Laws and their Implications for Sustainable Growth

This paper sheds light on how international laws embrace global sustainability goals. Sustainable development has become a focal point in numerous international treaties and conventions, featuring in over 300 agreements, both binding and non-binding. It's widely acknowledged that environmental laws, intertwined with social and economic factors, lay the groundwork for sustainable development objectives, potentially guiding judicial decisions. There's evidence suggesting that international judicial bodies have considered sustainability considerations in their rulings. Furthermore, the paper delves into strategies for tailoring these objectives to fit regional and local contexts, drawing insights from the practices of neighboring countries. This approach seeks to deepen our understanding of how to effectively integrate sustainability goals across various levels of governance.

Institutional designs and dynamics of crisis governance at the local level: European governments facing the polycrisis

This article analyses the institutional design variants of local crisis governance responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and their entanglement with other locally impactful crises from a cross-country comparative perspective (France, Germany, Poland, Sweden, and the UK/England). The pandemic offers an excellent empirical lens for scrutinizing the phenomenon of polycrises governance because it occurred while European countries were struggling with the impacts of several prior, ongoing, or newly arrived crises. Our major focus is on institutional design variants of crisis governance (dependent variable) and the influence of different administrative cultures on it (independent variable). Furthermore, we analyze the entanglement and interaction of institutional responses to other (previous or parallel) crises (polycrisis dynamics). Our findings reveal a huge variance of institutional designs, largely evoked by country-specific administrative cultures and profiles. The degree of de-/centralization and the intensity of coordination or decoupling across levels of government differs significantly by country. Simultaneously, all countries were affected by interrelated and entangled crises, resulting in various patterns of polycrisis dynamics. While policy failures and “fatal remedies” from previous crises have partially impaired the resilience and crisis preparedness of local governments, we have also found some learning effects from previous crises.

Addressing the asymmetry between central and local air protection policies: Insights from Poland

Purpose: This paper examines the asymmetry between the air protection policies of the central government and local authorities in Poland, using the city of Kraków as a case study. Methodology: The study employs a comparative method to contrast the Polish state's coal policy with the air protection efforts of the Kraków local government. A systems analysis approach is used to identify the causes and effects of the divergent policies. Results: The analysis reveals a lack of alignment between the central government's focus on maintaining coal extraction and the local government's efforts to reduce air pollution. Kraków authorities have taken significant measures to improve air quality, but face challenges due to insufficient support from the central government and neighboring municipalities. Theoretical contribution: The paper highlights the importance of policy symmetry and coordination between different levels of government in addressing complex environmental issues like air pollution. It contributes to understanding multi-level governance dynamics in the context of air protection. Practical implications: The findings underscore the need for a collaborative model of air protection policy that engages central authorities, local governments, private sector entities, and civil society. Establishing air protection councils at the voivodship, county and municipal levels is proposed as a mechanism to facilitate this coordination. Integrating air quality considerations into local governments' management control systems is also recommended.

Open Government in Spain: An Introspective Analysis

In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of research analyzing open government initiatives that enable access to the information held by public bodies, promoting accountability and the fight against corruption. As there are few studies on intermediate governments to date, this research focuses on this level of government in Spain, one of the most decentralized countries in the world. The autonomous communities in Spain manage over 35% of consolidated public spending and are responsible for providing most social services, including health, education, and social services. To achieve this goal, the perceptions of the seventeen heads of open government in Spain’s autonomous communities were collected through a questionnaire. This approach fills a research gap as individuals outside of public administration have made the previous assessments. By allowing for a comparison with the conclusions reached by prior research, this study contributes to the creation of new knowledge. The study’s results are consistent with previous research and suggest that the open government in Spain is positively regarded, not falling below the European or global averages, and has a promising future despite significant obstacles, such as a resistance to change. Transparency is the most developed aspect of open government, while citizen collaboration ranks last. The autonomous communities of the Basque Country, Aragon, Castile Leon, and Catalonia have been identified as the most advanced in terms of open government. The analysis did not reveal any gender-based differences in opinion. Still, it did show variations based on age, the size of the autonomous community, or membership to the most developed group. Therefore, it is evident that promoting open government in the autonomous communities of Spain should continue.

Organizational Climate Scale for Public Service: Development and Validation

This research presents four studies that developed and validated the Organizational Climate Perception Scale for Public Service (OCPS-PS). The first qualitative study consulted the literature and conducted a focus group to develop the initial version of the scale. The second study involved expert evaluation and pre-testing, aiming at the semantic and face validation of the items. This study resulted in 80 items forming the thirteen dimensions of organizational climate. The third study obtained the first quantitative sample for the exploratory validation phase of the scale. The final study, using a new sample, conducted confirmatory tests for the validation of the scale. A methodology for applying the scale was developed, allowing all interested parties to use the OCPS-PS for the assessment of the organizational climate in public service. The results of the four conducted studies indicate the adequacy of the OCPS-PS according to the proposed criteria of validity and reliability. Finally, the OCPS-OS was built to be applied in different public organizations and at different government levels.

Mainstreaming Climate Change Adaptation into Sectoral Plans: An Assessment Based on the Logical Framework Approach

Although climate change adaptation (CCA) and spatial planning are relevant to promoting climate resilience, Italy shows a certain lack of studies focused on the coherence between national CCA objectives and sectoral plans. We aim to investigate such a research gap and propose and apply a logical framework approach (LFA)-based method to assess the coherence of sectoral plans adopted in Sardinia (Italy) with the missions of the Italian National Climate Change Adaptation Plan (NCCAP). We apply LFA to analytically scrutinize sectoral plans by reconstructing their strategic framework—including objectives and actions—and comparing them to the CCA objectives established by the NCCAP. The purpose is to provide the regional administrations with a methodological approach and tangible findings, suggesting the need for updating plans lacking CCA contents and contributing to the drafting or updating of the regional strategy for CCA. The method adopted in this study allowed us to identify plan objectives and actions that fully or partially integrate NCCAP objectives. Then, plans partially (or not at all) consistent with the NCCAP can be integrated with CCA contents. This is relevant to promoting climate resilience issues in plans that have clear effects in terms of spatial, landscape, and urban planning, according to different governance levels.

Multiple large shareholders, earnings management, and operating risk: Empirical evidence from China

This study uses the annual financial data of Chinese A-share listed firms from 2010 to 2020 to investigate the relationship between multiple large shareholders (MLS) and earnings management (EM). After analyzing the samples using the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) model and endogenous switching regression (ESR) model, the empirical results show that the presence of MLS can increase corporate EM activities and the MLS have a significantly positive effect on EM in both the treatment and control groups. In addition, this conclusion still holds after conducting multiple robustness tests. The cross-section analysis shows that the external audit supervision quality, institutional shareholders, and the uncertainty of the external economic environment have significant impacts on the baseline model results. Lastly, mediation effect analysis shows that the presence of MLS increases the corporate operating risk through EM activities. The conclusions of this paper are critical for policymakers to supervise China’s capital market, improve the level of corporate governance of China’s listed firms, and further promote reform of ownership structure.

Forerunner city or net-zero opportunist? Carbon dioxide removal in Stockholm, residual emissions and risks of mitigation deterrence

The City of Stockholm aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030 by compensating for residual emissions using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). Relying heavily on negative emissions to reach the target, the city's strategy presents an interesting case of net-zero climate policymaking. Based on the analysis of interviews, City Council debates, and policy documents, the Stockholm case underscores the importance of understanding municipal climate policy in a multi-level policy setting, where the ability to govern emissions varies heavily between sectors depending on politics and policy at other levels of governance. Both waste incineration and road transport are perceived to include hard-to-abate emissions in 2030, partly due to governance linkages involving regional, national, and EU-level governing bodies. The energy utility, Stockholm Exergi, plans to implement BECCS, with funding from the EU and other public and private sources, at a heat and power plant. The unique opportunity to use BECCS as part of the city's net-zero target has made it possible to advance the net-zero goal from 2040 to 2030. However, there are risks that relying on BECCS may muffle public debate on what constitutes residual emissions in the city, subsequently leading to smaller municipal investments in emission reductions. Additionally, there are risks that the schedule for implementing BECCS is overly optimistic, meaning goal fulfilment may be threatened. However, this risk is not isolated to BECCS; similar risks are associated with combining fossil fuels with CCS. We recommend that the city critically examines the residual emissions, considers separate targets instead of a net-zero goal, and conducts risk assessments of key mitigation technologies to maintain its status as climate policy forerunner.

Destination transitions and resilience following trigger events and transformative moments

ABSTRACT Disasters and crises are increasingly seen as opportunities for transformation of the tourism system at various scales. From a resilience perspective, crises and disasters may act as trigger events for system change, sometimes described as the “disaster-reform hypothesis”. An integrative framework informed by different fields is used to analyse the destination development pathways following the Kaikōura earthquake in New Zealand. In addition to policy documents and media, the study draws on semi-structured interviews with 21 business owners and managers in the Kaikōura region, an internationally recognised ecotourism destination. The findings show pathway competition, experimentation, scale effects and lock-in influencing transitions. The research identifies interactions between different actors at different levels of governance in shaping destination pathways post-disaster, with external political and economic actors having the most influence. Multiple levels of resilience chart a potentially more resilient destination. The study concludes that the range of potential destination pathways is constrained by decision-making at other scales, e.g. national policy settings and insurance coverage, that affect tourism businesses and destination decision-making. As a result, the notion of transformation should be understood as an essentially contested concept both within a destination and between destination stakeholders and those that operate at a national scale.

The Estimation of Macroeconomic Effects of Tax Cuts and Fee Reductions: An Analysis from the Perspective of Consumer Income and Expenditure

This paper analyses the macroeconomic effects of China's Tax Cuts and Fee Reduction policies (TC&FR) from the perspective of consumer income and expenditure. It combines factors such as local and central government, population structure and consumption, household savings and corporate investment. The paper then draws three conclusions: firstly, that China's TC&FR reforms have had significant effects; secondly, that the reforms have had a greater impact on the younger consumer group than on the older one; and thirdly, that the goal of multiplying fiscal effects can be achieved by expanding the proportion of middle-income groups. The continuous improvement of the legal taxation and fee collection mechanism has enhanced the governance level of local governments, enabling the policies to be implemented steadily and far-reaching. Secondly, the implementation of TC&FR should focus on the young consumer group and emphasize the protection of welfare for the elderly group. This will help to achieve the goal of multiplying fiscal effects by expanding the proportion of middle-income groups. Thirdly, the difference between China and Western countries lies in China's higher per capita willingness to save. Consequently, TC&FR can be expected to perform optimally when coupled with monetary policies designed to stabilize market investment expectations.

Fin-tech Regulations Development, Challenges, and Solutions : A Review

Fintech is a term which is the most common and used in the financial sector these days around the globe. Its growth has made it clear that it is there to stay, and it is going to cause a major disruption on the globe level, when talked about in relation to financial markets. It is an old saying, “With great powers come great responsibilities” and the same is true in relation to fintech. With the kind of growth, it is doing it needs to be monitored and regulated on a major level. When we talk about the fast-moving areas where fintech has made an impact are e-invoice, e-payments, deposits, and financial transactions on personal, corporate and government level. When we calculate the scale at which fintech is growing we need to understand that it is just a matter of time that everything will be assessable with a click of a button and if in the wrong hands we can imagine the impact done. When we see the dark side of fintech where the companies have an assesses to the data and every personal information of customers, they can use/misuse the same at their liberty. If we study the cases from around the globe it is a simple practice of which works of a simple rule, “If it works here, it will work everywhere.” This paper also delves into tracing the cyber threats faced by the financial sector due to its reliance on technology and sensitive data. The authors have analysed a number of laws, rules, and guidelines to regulate fintech in India that are designed to foster innovation, protect the interests of consumers, and preserve the country's financial stability. Thus, in the said paper the authors have tried to study the journey of Fintech in relation to its regulatory legal journey, in relation to India.

From Crime to Governance: An Analysis of the Governance Path of the Misdemeanor Era

In the context of the misdemeanor era, promoting the governance of misdemeanors should focus on governance from the governance end, breaking away from the simple thinking of only discussing crimes and post-punishment. The so-called governance refers to the full-process prevention and control of misdemeanors through the construction of a multi-subject co-governance system, and the improvement of the execution connection. This is also the objective requirement of the new eras source governance. However, there are still certain difficulties in the promotion of misdemeanor governance, mainly manifested in the imperfect mechanism for establishing offenses, insufficient use of non-custodial punishment methods, and the continued existence of overly strict criminal ancillary consequences, indicating problems of excessive emphasis on punishment and insufficient governance thinking. In response to these issues, it is necessary at this stage to construct a funnel-shaped mechanism for establishing offenses, improve the governance system of light crimes, light penalties, change overly strict criminal ancillary consequences to enhance the modernization level of misdemeanor governance, and establish a more reasonable plea governance system.

Whole-ocean network design and implementation pathway for Arctic marine conservation

Forestalling the decline of global biodiversity requires urgent and transformative action at all levels of government and society, particularly in the Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas where rapid changes are already underway. Amid growing scientific support and mounting pressure, the majority of nations have committed to the most ambitious conservation targets yet. However, without an approach that inclusively and equitably reconciles conservation and sustainable ocean use, these targets will likely go unmet. Here, we present ArcNet: a network design framework to help achieve ocean-scale, area-based marine conservation in the Arctic. The framework is centred around a suite of web-based tools and a ~ 5.9 million km2 network of 83 priority areas for conservation designed through expert-driven systematic conservation planning using conservation targets for over 800 features representing Arctic biodiversity. The ArcNet framework is intended to help adapt to new and emerging information, foster collaboration, and identify tailored conservation measures within a global context at different levels of planning and implementation.

Conceptualising the Link between Citizen Science and Climate Governance: A Systematic Review

Multilevel and decentralised governance approaches involving different social actors are increasingly relevant to collectively tackling climate-induced vulnerabilities. Among emergent governance experimentations, citizen science (CS) is a transversal scientific practice characterised by the involvement of citizens in various phases of the scientific process. We performed a PRISMA systematic review of the scientific literature in order to conceptualise the interface between CS and climate governance. The included 44 studies were coded following the thematic analysis method. Information about temporal and geographical distribution, main research designs and methods, climate governance domains and levels of analysis was extracted. Among the most significant results, we stress the existence of a two-way link between CS and climate governance: CS beyond data gathering can facilitate climate change adaptation—namely, counteracting disaster risk, food insecurity and mental health distress due to changing climate, promoting health and wellbeing, and environmental conservation—until systemic changes are made. Conversely, inclusive governance structures and processes may provide support to initiate CS projects. We also discuss the role of psychosocial and justice issues—as well as digital CS—throughout the selected literature, and the implications for future lines of research and policy.

Integrating Knowledge and Democracy for Practical Reform to Overcome Political Crisis in Bangladesh

It is crucial to integrate knowledge and democracy into Bangladesh's government to establish a fair and effective system for future leaders. Let us implement this new system to ensure our government serves citizens' needs fairly and justly. This research paper proposes a new method for selecting administrative and state councils at different levels of government based on the Integration/Islamization of Knowledge and Democracy. The study includes interviews with political leaders and experts from Bangladesh and extensive research on politics in the country. The theories involved in this research are from Prof. Emeritus Dato' Dr. Abdulhamid Abusulayman, Profesor Emeritus Tan Sri Dr. Mohd. Kamal bin Hassan, Prof. Dr. Ibrahim Mohamed Zein, and former colleagues and students of al-Faruqi and al-Attas. The two pathways to introduce IoK and modern democracy in Bangladesh and other states with political crises are: 1) Education reform to emphasize interdisciplinary learning, practical applications, and critical thinking, and 2) Government support for policies and funding to promote IoK initiatives, collaboration, and evaluations. Thus, the Integrated Knowledge of Federal Democracy System (IKOFDS) is a proposed governmental structure that aims to empower citizens, enhance governance efficiency, and foster collaborative decision-making. By combining Federalism with the Integration of Knowledge (IoK) and a robust democratic method, the (IKOFDS) seeks to create a balanced and responsive governance model that capitalizes on the strengths of Federalism, knowledge integration, and democratic principles.

Security evaluation of China's indium industrial chain: Perspective on substance flow throughout the whole life cycle

As the world's largest supplier of primary indium, China's indium industrial chain structure and demand change affect global supply. It is necessary to evaluate the security of China's indium industrial chain and determine the reasons that affect security. The past substance flow analysis (SFA) of indium and mineral industrial chain security evaluation has problems such as a lack of timeliness, a single dimension mainly focusing on the upstream, and simple evaluation methods. In this paper, based on the SFA, an integrated evaluation system for the whole life cycle is constructed from 2000 to 2022 according to mineral industrial chain security characteristics. The results show that since introducing liquid crystal in 2003, China's indium industrial chain security level has been low despite a slight increase. Although China has gradually broken through the production technology of high-purity indium and indium tin oxide (ITO) targets, the large consumption and export of refined indium has reduced China's indium metal stock to 2214 t, while the resource reserves advantage is also diminishing. Mass consumption has also led China to import more ores, while China still imports high-end products from other countries with high import source concentrations. The pollutants emitted by the large production and the declining environmental governance level pose a significant environmental threat. Finally, suggestions for strengthening international cooperation, increasing technological research, establishing a reserve system, risk monitoring mechanisms, and strict emission standards can improve China's indium industrial chain security.

Nervi rei publicae: local governments as economic populists?

ABSTRACT This article introduces a novel Mixed Populism Indication approach to the study of economic populism in the democratic polity to examine populism at the level of local government in the Czech Republic. In particular, we apply quantitative methods to a financial data of 5804 local government units sample to assess economic populism. This quantitative selection is developed on the principles of financial analysis, which form the basis of the algorithm we propose to process financial data. This is followed by an in-depth, qualitative evaluation of election results and the spatial context of suspected cases. From the results for the municipal environment, we identify populism as strategy used by some local governments. As a part of this strategy, local authorities target outsiders (non-residents) who own property. Although this policy of hostility to outsiders goes against the rational economic interests of the residents, they support this policy in local elections. Finally, this article argues that local political leaders in small municipalities act as populists in shaping tax policy.

How does technological innovation affect the fiscal decentralization of local governments? Evidence from China

Technological innovation is a pivotal driver of high-quality economic development, and China's distinctive fiscal decentralization model stands out as a crucial institutional factor behind the country's economic growth miracle. Despite its significant academic and practical implications, there is a noticeable scarcity of literature on examining government fiscal decentralization through the lens of technological innovation. This paper addresses fundamental research questions regarding the relationship between technological innovation and fiscal decentralization. Leveraging balanced panel data from 30 provinces in China spanning 2005 to 2020, our findings indicate that technological innovation positively impacts the fiscal decentralization of local governments. Specifically, for each standard deviation increase in technological innovation, there is a corresponding 0.1508 standard deviation in fiscal decentralization. The mechanism driving this relationship lies in technological innovation's ability to enhance enterprise profit levels, increasing tax and non-tax revenues for local governments. Importantly, when non-tax revenue at the central government level surpasses tax revenue, the resulting augmentation in local government revenue contributes to an elevated level of fiscal decentralization. In conclusion, this paper offers valuable insights into the government's endeavors to promote scientific and technological innovation while enhancing local fiscal decentralization. These insights contribute to an improved quality of economic development.

Critical Tiriti Analysis of He Mata whāriki, he matawhānui

Hapū are interested in local government due to their decision-making influence over the cultural, social, economic and environmental wellbeing of a district that can enable or restrict tino rangatiratanga. In Aotearoa, the debate about Indigenous engagement in local government is shaped by Te Tiriti o Waitangi responsibilities to protect and promote the interests of hapū. There is currently a major review of local government underway, which is providing a once-in- a-generation opportunity to have a courageous conversation about the future of this sector. This paper presents a Critical Tiriti Analysis (CTA) examining to what extent He mata whāriki, he matawhānui–the local government draft review report–has engaged with te Tiriti. It includes a postscript on the final report released while this paper was under review. In the draft report we found variable engagement. It was strongest regarding relationships and governance and weaker in relation to tino rangatiratanga, ōritetanga (equitable citizenship) and wairuatanga (spiritual domain). This review challenges local and regional government to lift their game in relation to their te Tiriti responsibilities and concludes that local Māori solutions, mātauranga Māori knowledge and leadership are required at all levels of local and regional government. National states of emergency and devastating disasters in the context of Cyclone Gabrielle will no longer wait for the bureaucracy of the local government.

Bureaucratic Turnover Across Levels of Government

Bureaucratic Turnover Across Levels of Government