Modes Of Governance Research Articles

The impact of the Russian war against Ukraine on the reform of the common European asylum system

ABSTRACT This article analyses how the Russian invasion and the mass influx of Ukrainians have impacted the Europeanisation dynamics in EU asylum policy, notably the process of reforming the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). We argue that these extraordinary events have fostered a more consensual and cooperative mode of governance in EU asylum policy, which has facilitated the adoption of the Pact on Migration and Asylum. The Commission strategically used venues created for dealing with Ukrainian refugees to also tackle other migratory challenges in a more consensual manner. Furthermore, the negotiations of the Pact were facilitated by a convergence of member states around security– and migration control-oriented norms. Asylum rights were increasingly seen as a potential vulnerability in a geopolitical competition with Russia and other hostile governments. The objective of member states to have more tools to respond to crises’ situations and the potential ‘instrumentalisations’ of migrants became drivers for completing the reform. As a result, migrants’ access to the right of asylum will get more dependent on the political will of member states, notably in a perceived emergency.

Policy mixes for sustainable development pathways: representation in integrated assessment models

Abstract The Paris Agreement on climate change and the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development require unprecedented transformations to sustainability, while maximising synergies and minimising trade-offs between the two agendas. The policy studies and sustainability transition literatures suggest that addressing the complex policy interlinkages requires ambitious, coherent, comprehensive and credible policy mixes supported by synergistic combinations of governance modes. We investigate to which extent these assumptions are reflected in quantitative scenarios produced with integrated assessment models. As a case study, we assess a new set of target-seeking sustainable development pathway (SDP) scenarios. We scrutinise the modelling protocols and the scenario results to analyse the extent to which these modelled SDPs represent governance modes and policy instrument types and purposes, and assess the resulting policy mix characteristics. As such, we bridge the scenario modelling and policy mix literatures and provide an initial pathway appraisal. We find that the modelled SDPs use policy mixes to constrain negative side-effects of unmitigated climate measures to achieve several SDGs simultaneously. The policy mixes speak to several policy mix characteristics. However, they are only partially spelled so far and their credibility remains limited. This calls for additional policy-translation efforts. 

Urbanization governance approaches for the sustainability of WEF resources: a cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT Urbanization is a socioeconomic and geopolitical issue that affects the sustainability of resources. Therefore, this study uses Mean Item Score (MIS) and structural equation modelling (SEM) to analyse urbanization governance for the sustainability of WEF resources. The study established urbanization measures that significantly affect the WEF nexus and the urban governance approaches for WEF Nexus sustainability. The research findings revealed that urbanization has a statistically significant effect on the sustainability of the WEF nexus through indicators of urban place (population size and employment status), over-urbanization (overpopulation) and urban primacy. Moreover, the study revealed three urban governance approaches to ensuring the sustainability of the WEF nexus: Circular economy business models in the CBD, migration-orientated urban infrastructures and demand–pull governance modes for urban poverty. This study concludes with two policy recommendations for redesigning migration documents with WEF statistics and repurposing urban areas.

The Dynamics of Humanitarian Diplomacy During Wartime: Insights from Tigray Crisis in Ethiopia

This study examines the role of humanitarian diplomacy during the Tigray humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia, a humanitarian disaster marked by severe shortages in food, healthcare, and essential services that deeply affect civilians. A qualitative approach using both primary and secondary data grounds the study by exploring key actors in humanitarian diplomacy, their successes, and barriers to aid delivery. Humanitarian actors, such as UN agencies, international NGOs, donor countries, the EU, the US, and the African Union, have engaged with the Ethiopian government, the TPLF, and the Tigray Transitional Government to alleviate the crisis. Notable achievements in humanitarian diplomacy include negotiations, information gathering, communication, civilian needs assessment, resource mobilization, advocacy for international law, and distressed civilians. Humanitarian diplomacy has facilitated international aid operations, saving lives during critical periods, despite practical difficulties. Diplomatic efforts have faced significant interruptions due to access restrictions imposed by the Ethiopian government, security threats from ongoing fighting leading to attacks on aid convoys and casualties among aid workers, and bureaucratic obstacles imposed by the Ethiopian government. This study highlights the necessity for effective humanitarian diplomacy in accounting for complex political landscapes in conflict-affected regions, developing flexible strategies that enhance access to aid, and improving humanitarian interventions.

Governing Inter‐Organizational Collaboration through Purpose Work and Purpose Borrowing: How Social Enterprises' Normative Aspirations Influence Business Partners' Practices

AbstractSocial enterprises may boost their impact by convincing collaborating businesses to contribute to their purposes. However, such enterprises typically lack the leverage to influence mainstream businesses. We investigate to what extent their abundant social resources might enable them to remedy this weakness to some extent. Taking a practice‐based perspective, we conduct an ethnographic case study of a social enterprise's collaborative relationships. We discover a collaboration process grounded in social purpose: If a social enterprise's underlying normative aspiration is to put ‘purpose before profit’ and it practices ‘purpose work’, its partners may conversely engage in ‘purpose borrowing’, which involves actions espousing the social enterprise's purpose even if they go against business common sense. We advance research on hybrid organizations by explaining how social enterprises can exert a significant degree of influence on their business partners thanks to their inherent social resources, which are more diverse and powerful than assumed so far. Furthermore, we contribute to inter‐organizational collaboration research by identifying a new mode of relational governance founded on social purpose that goes beyond the established modes based on legitimacy, trust, and reciprocity.

Energy transition governance in the ASEAN: current status and future prospects

PurposeA study of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states’ (AMS) norm entrepreneurial practices regarding the energy transition to reveal insights into its current and future governance.Design/methodology/approachUnderstanding why the notion of an energy transition has garnered support, and importantly, knowing what this means for the future requires reviewing the forces of norm entrepreneurship at play. By adopting a constructivist lens, this article undertakes a comparative analysis of the “modes of transmission” of the energy transition amongst AMS.FindingsASEAN nations have in many respects been at the vanguard of the energy transition. Yet the governments themselves demonstrate both norm entrepreneurial and antipreneurial characteristics. Notwithstanding this mix, there are extant opportunities for “intraconnection” – in the form of cooperation between AMS and “interconnection” – in the form of cooperation between AMS and other state and non-state actors.Practical implicationsThis article underscores the importance of partnerships in the energy transition: both in enabling AMS to meet their respective nationally determined contributions (NDCs) but also crucially in catalysing action amongst a broader swathe of countries.Originality/valueApplying the lens of norm entrepreneurship to the ASEAN context, including introducing novel conceptions of “conductive” practices that drive the energy transition and “resistive” practices that slow it down.

Varieties of Digital Capitalism and the US–China Rivalry: The Rise of Competing Technological Spheres

The rise of China as a global high-tech nation is challenging US hegemony. While US tech companies like Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft have expanded globally and have integrated most world regions into US-led digital capitalism, China has developed its own variety of digital capitalism. Shielded by the ‘Great Firewall’, Chinese corporations such as Alibaba, Huawei, and Tencent have emerged as innovative high-tech companies. Instead of relying on a US-style liberal-internationalized mode of governance, China’s state-managed digital capitalism was domestic market-based. However, since the mid-2010s, Chinese tech companies have emerged as global competitors. In response, both Trump and Biden administrations enacted sanctions and investment controls to ban Chinese companies from the US market while pressuring their allies to follow suit. In this article, we argue that beyond the development of distinct US and Chinese varieties of digital capitalism, two separate digital technological spheres are emerging. After examining these distinct varieties of digital capitalism, it will be investigated how the US have weaponized institutional differences to sanction Chinese digital companies. In a third step, the emergence of a US and Chinese digital technological sphere will be analyzed, with a focus on 5G network equipment.

Limitations of trust and legitimacy in blockchain: exploring the effectiveness of decentralisation, immutability and consensus mechanisms in blockchain governance

PurposeThis paper examines to what extent blockchain creates legitimacy and trust in different modes of public governance. It posits that while blockchain aims for political legitimacy through decentralising, immutable and consensus-based mechanisms, the execution of these mechanisms is limited in legitimating governance, which has knock-on effects on trust. It provides an original contribution by recontextualising and reframing blockchain as a governance mechanism that should, and must, perform a legitimating function in order to engender trust.Design/methodology/approachThe research adopts a comprehensive framework for understanding the legitimacy of blockchain governance, positioning it in terms of co-governance, self-governance and hierarchical governance modes. It systematically analyses blockchain whitepapers, legislation, government documents and other sources in three paradigmatic case studies where blockchain governance failed. These cases are then used to assess blockchain according to three key characteristics of decentralisation, immutability and consensus.FindingsThe research finds that blockchain’s use in governance settings still relies on legitimacy conferred from other sources – namely state – in order to generate trust. Significant limitations in its de facto political decentralisation, immutability and consensus protocols can create failures in co-governance, self-governance and hierarchical-governance applications, thus limiting the legitimation function of blockchain in facilitating political trust.Originality/valueThese findings are significant in highlighting blockchain’s limitations as a decentralised, immutable and consensus-driven legitimating tool, which has knock-on effects on trust in technology and governance more broadly. It also has broader implications in more clearly highlighting the interconnectedness of political trust and legitimacy in governance processes.

Governance Frameworks for Renewable Energy Development: Energy Transition and Public Governance

Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate governance frameworks for renewable energy development, with the aim of understanding how effective governance can facilitate the energy transition and contribute to sustainable development. Theoretical Framework: This research draws on key theories in public governance and energy transition, focusing on regulatory mechanisms, stakeholder engagement, and the integration of renewable energy policies. Concepts from energy security and sustainable development underpin the analysis. Method: A comprehensive literature review and case study analysis were conducted. The study design includes an examination of regulatory and policy mechanisms, stakeholder involvement, and institutional structures across various regions. Data collection was based on case studies from different countries, analyzing the challenges and successes in renewable energy governance. Results and Discussion: The results revealed the critical role of policy coherence, long-term stability, and stakeholder engagement in the successful implementation of governance frameworks. Key challenges such as regulatory uncertainty, grid integration, and public acceptance were identified. The discussion contextualizes these findings within the theoretical framework, offering insights into the relationships between governance and energy policy outcomes. Research Implications: The study provides practical and theoretical implications for policymakers and energy practitioners. It underscores the need for coherent, stable, and inclusive governance frameworks that can address barriers and promote the integration of renewable energy into national energy systems. Originality/Value: This study contributes to the literature by offering an in-depth analysis of governance frameworks and their role in the renewable energy transition. It highlights best practices and offers valuable lessons for stakeholders engaged in energy governance.

Making the mos(s)t of nature? Cleantech, smart nature-based solutions, and the ‘rendering investable’ of urban moss

This article examines the ways in which ‘nature-based solutions’ (NBS) to urban environmental problems are contributing to a re-imagining of the forms and roles of vegetal life in cities. Specifically, we examine the versions of nature that are being produced within a subset of nature-based solutions described as ‘smart’ – that is, those involving the enrolment of non-human lifeforms into digital infrastructures comprising sensors, data flows and automated support systems. Whilst NBS are often celebrated for opening up cities to lively ecological processes – thereby contributing to more convivial, ‘more-than-human’ forms of urbanism – their smart incarnations are becoming a playground for entrepreneurial and financial actors seeking new ways to enclose, commodify and derive profit from non-human life in cities. To explicate this argument, we examine the case of a proprietary ‘nature-based solution’ to urban air pollution developed and sold to local authorities and corporate actors by a European cleantech start-up, predicated on optimising the air-filtering capacities of moss. Our analysis proceeds in three stages. First, we draw on scholarship on the bioeconomy to show how the commodification of moss in this case is predicated on discursive arguments which depict moss as at once inherently productive and regenerative, but also fragile and scarce in urban environments. Secondly, we show how this smart NBS is rendered investable through the enrolment of moss into a carefully designed digital apparatus, which purports to stabilise and optimise its air purifying work, thereby making its contributions to urban air quality continuous, consistent and calculable. Finally, building on an assessment of the entanglement of this example with specific urban geographies and modes of urban governance, we critically reflect on the role that smart NBS in general might yet play in either reinforcing or disrupting prevailing dynamics of privatisation, enclosure and green gentrification in cities.

Leveraging or Overcoming Distance? Global Strategy and Structure of Professional Services Firms

In this study, geographic distance is an instructional logic that influences the international strategy and structure of professional service firms (PSFs). By drawing on three governance modes—global value chains, virtual teams, and ecosystems—we identify eight governance structures in use by PSFs, resulting from reliance on one of two distance logics: distance-as-enabler and distance-as-barrier. When the logic of distance-as-enabler is prioritized, PSFs choose a structure that is more unified at the global level. When the logic of distance-as-barrier is upheld, PSFs give greater autonomy to local units or establish loosely connected regionally autonomous partnerships. By highlighting the co-evolution between professional governance and professional practice we further show that greater distance necessitates professional work to be more codified and modularized, while proximity preserves professional work's bespoke nature. We apply this framework to demonstrate how external environmental factors trigger firms to shift from one specific governance-practice form to another.

U.S.–India defense cooperation: progress, motivation and constraints

AbstractDefense cooperation is an important pillar of the strategic partnership between the United States and India. Since the Modi government came to power in 2014, the defense cooperation between the United States and India has entered the fast lane. The two countries have made breakthroughs on multiple fronts, such as the signing of foundational agreements, the transfer of sensitive technologies, the joint research and development of advanced military equipment, and interoperability exercises. The deepening of defense cooperation reflects the two countries’ strategic convergence based on their respective national interests. Nevertheless, the structural gaps concerning their ideology, strategic goals, and industrial capability will pose limits on their cooperation. Therefore, it is unlikely that the United States and India will become a military alliance in the full sense, but rather the two sides will more likely adopt a quasi-alliance. Defense cooperation between the United States and India has become increasingly focused on targeting China, creating real challenges for China's national security.

Under the Perspective of Seeing Party Self-governance Exercised Fully and with Rigor: Research on High-quality Party Building Leading and Guaranteeing High-quality Cadre Team Construction

Abstract: The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC (the Communist Party of China is referred to as CPC in this paper) Central Committee stressed that the focus is on improving the Party's leadership and long-term governance capacity, innovate and improve the mode of leadership and governance, deepen reform of the system for Party building, and optimize the system for seeing party self-governance exercised fully and with rigor. This is a strong response to Xi Jinping's speech on July 1st that "it takes a good blacksmith to make good steel" and the report of The 20th CPC National Congress emphasized "the Party's self-revolution." It highlights the significance of full and rigorous Party self-governance and the value and orientation of building the ranks of party cadres. In the new era, to carry out the Party building in government organs and ensure the construction of cadres, this study focus on the "high-quality" under the "full and rigorous Party self-governance". That is, the historical starting point and the theoretical quality of the guiding ideology of Party building is "high-quality", and the "evaluation criteria" of Party building promotes the responsibility of The Times, the quality and ability.

Europe's Super‐Rich: Towards Oligarchic Constitutional Order

AbstractThis article addresses an important but understudied puzzle in European Union Studies: the super‐rich's influence on domestic and transnational discourses, policies and institutions for wealth defence, security and legitimacy. It examines the super‐rich's impact on democratic governance and human rights claims of marginalized groups, and how states, civil society and non‐oligarchic entities contest oligarchic rule. The article proposes a research agenda to determine if Europe can be seen as an oligarchic constitutional order, characterized by governance practices and authority structures deeply intertwined with the super‐rich's interests in transnational and domestic politics. The framework in this research agenda underscores how institutional arrangements, legitimating principles, regulatory practices and procedural systems increasingly favour the super‐rich, reflecting a dominant mode of transnational governance rooted in extreme socio‐economic stratification. The research agenda aims to elucidate the tension between wealth and democratic governance, particularly how policies and normative discourses often align with the super‐rich's interests despite resistance from marginalized groups.

Combating the rent-seeking among enterprises in China's emissions trading system

Enterprises engage in rent-seeking with third-party verification authorities (TPs) falsify carbon data has seriously distorted the order of emissions trading system (ETS). Methods of effectively regulating rent-seeking in ETS remain unclear. Based on the analysis of the formation mechanisms of rent-seeking, a tripartite evolutionary game is constructed to explore the interactive behavior of enterprises, TPs, and governments. The important factors affecting the players' behavior were verified using simulation. The results revealed the following: 1) there is a significant correlation between the probability of rent-seeking, probability of acceptation by TPs and the probability of active supervision. 2) based on the evolutionary stability strategy in the game, two kinds of governance mode of rent-seeking are proposed, the market-oriented mode is more efficient than government-led mode; 3) the initial willingness of the tripartite stakeholders, relaxed cost, the penalties for rent-seeking, and the rewards were determined to be critical factors that influence evolutionary results. Finally, the practical countermeasures are recommended to strengthen the collaborative governance of ETS.

China’s Urban Regeneration Evolution from 1949 to 2022: From the Perspective of Governance Mode

Urban regeneration has played an important role in Chinese successful urban economic development and is constantly evolving along with the changes in the demands of urban development. However, there have been relatively few studies on urban regeneration evolution. In order to explore the relationship between the evolution of urban regeneration and urban development in China, this paper divides China’s urban regeneration into four stages from the perspective of governance mode, namely, unitary governance, binary governance, tripartite governance, and pluralistic co-governance. It is found that the evolution of urban regeneration is closely related to the core contradictions in the process of urban development, and the development challenges at each period are often caused by the urban regeneration governance mode in the pervious phase. The evolution of urban development and urban regeneration governance mode presents the phenomenon of interaction. Based on the understanding of urban regeneration evolution, this study points out the problems that need to be solved in China’s urban regeneration in the future with suggestions, and the hope is that this study can provide experiences for the urban regeneration development of other developing countries.

Government schemes empowering Indian women: A study in the reference of Bihar

Many schemes being run by the government to empower women are now bearing fruit. These schemes are not only empowering the women of villages in India but they are also becoming aware of their rights. Bihar is the best example of this. Where today women's status has increased not only in jobs but also in the family. Women's respect and self-respect have both increased. Calling women weak is now a thing of the past. Women's interference and their participation has increased in every field of society and family. Today no family will be able to live happily by ignoring women. The schemes being run by the Government of India and the Government of Bihar to make women empowered and self-reliant have a big role behind this. In a developing state like Bihar, where earlier women not only used to go out under the veil but they also used to have less participation in the decisions of the family and society, but now this has become a thing of the past. Now women have become aware of their rights. Many laws have been made at the government level to protect their safety and their rights, which have proved to be a boon for the interests of women. After the liquor ban in Bihar, the safety of women has improved further. It is known that there is a liquor ban in Bihar since the year 2016. The effect of which has proved to be significant in the progress of women. In India, the population of women in the year 2024 is 48.4 percent. At the same time, the population of men is 51.6 percent. In India, there are 1,020 women for every 1,000 men. This is the first time that the population of women in India has exceeded that of men. Many schemes of the central government are only for women. At the same time, the Nitish government of Bihar is also running many schemes for women empowerment. The Modi government has taken many steps towards women empowerment. The benefits of which have been received by the women of the country on a large scale. Gender justice is an important commitment of the government enshrined in the Constitution of India. Several steps have been taken by the government in the last few years to promote a gender-just society and increase the representation of women in various sectors. In the last few years, India has been witnessing a rapid shift from women-led development to women-led development in the vision of a new India. Towards this end, the government has adopted a multi-pronged approach to address women's issues on a life-cycle continuum, encompassing educational, social, economic and political empowerment, so that they can become equal partners in rapid and sustainable national development. India is currently one of the 15 countries in the world to have a woman head of state. Several schemes for women empowerment in Bihar are being run by the Government of Bihar and the Government of India. Many of these schemes are related to sectors such as employment, agriculture and health. These schemes have been formulated keeping in view the situation of women in Bihar so that their participation in society can be increased. Without women empowerment, women cannot get the place in Bihar, country and society, which they have always been entitled to. Without women empowerment, she cannot fight centuries old traditions and evils. She cannot free herself from bondages and take her own decisions.

Challenging SpaceX on the US–Mexico border: Value struggles against racial authoritarian neoliberalism

SpaceX’s launch site on the US–Mexico border, in the Rio Grande Valley, is an ideal example of the interconnected relationship between racial capitalism and authoritarian neoliberalism, the neoliberal expropriation of spaces and communities, and the tapestries of resistance weaved against these processes. The privatisation of space exploration is an illustration of the development of authoritarian modes of governance that are designed to facilitate such expropriation of spaces and communities. In the case considered in this article, these processes are directly related to the development of racial capitalism on the US–Mexico border. This article places the focus on how racial authoritarian neoliberalism is a response to capitalism’s inability to successfully impose a hegemonic project.

Pursuing systemic improvement through heterarchical school systems: A case of educational resources

AbstractEngland's schooling landscape is being remodelled and the move from hierarchical to heterarchical modes of governance has implications for systemic change strategies. Balancing local and networked autonomy with centralising policies complexifies choices for schools, creating tensions that this article explores through the context of curriculum resourcing policies. In particular, we consider the contemporary case of mathematics textbook schemes in England's heterarchical school system, comparing them with an earlier resource‐driven systemic change programme—the National Numeracy Strategy—which was implemented in a more hierarchical governance system. Drawing on key ideas from implementation science and data from a Wellcome‐funded study of primary teacher professional learning in mathematics in England, we exemplify the challenges of implementing centralised improvement policies in a nominally schools‐led, self‐improving, heterarchical education system. Each of the 19 participating schools had evolved a bespoke curriculum, and these hybridised ‘mashups’ of different resources were enacted with varying degrees of fidelity by teachers. We discuss the implications of this comparative case for systemic improvement, both in the use of educational resources and for policy implementation more generally.

EU Regulatory Polity 3.0 for Compliance with the Rule of Law: When Depoliticising Goals Lead to Uneven Politicisation

Abstract Since limiting judicial independence in Hungary and Poland, the politics of the rule of law crisis have been examined by various scholars discussing conflicts within and between EU and domestic institutions. The rule of law is no longer a purely national affair – it is of high political salience both for the Member States and the EU polity. The question addressed here is: how has the rule of law crisis reshaped the EU’s modes of governance? We argue that to safeguard this common value, the EU is evolving into a regulatory polity (3.0). This development marks a shift from Majone’s EU regulatory state’s focus on regulating markets (1.0) and regulation in core state powers in times of crises (2.0) to regulation on the core values of the polity (3.0). The article shows that in a context of growing dissensus over the rule of law, EU institutional actors have sought to strengthen “rulemaking,” “rule monitoring” and “rule enforcement” through a regulatory approach anchored in a market logic. It also shows that shifting from the traditional regulatory state 1.0 to regulation in core state powers 2.0, the regulatory polity 3.0 strengthens the EU’s institutional capacity to act when the rule of law is under strain through depoliticised “rule monitoring” and politicised “rulemaking“ and “rule enforcement“ as illustrated in the cases of Hungary and Poland discussed in this article.