Non-governmental Actors Research Articles

Can U.S. multi-state climate mitigation agreements work? A perspective from embedded emission flows

Subnational and non-governmental actors are expected to provide important contributions to broader climate actions. A consistent and accurate quantification of their GHG emissions is an important prerequisite for the success of such efforts. However, emissions embodied in domestic and international supply chains, that can undermine the effectiveness of climate agreements, add challenges to the quantification of emissions originating from theconsumption of goods and services produced elsewhere. We examine emission transfers between the states that have joined the U.S. Climate Alliance (USCA) and others. Our results show that states pledging to curb emissions consistent with the Paris Agreement were responsible for approximately 40% of total U.S. territorial GHG emissions. However, when accounting for transferred emissions through international and interstate supply chains of the products they consume, the share of Alliance states increased to 52.4% of the national total GHG emissions. The consumption-based emissions for some Alliance states, such as Massachusetts and New York, could be more than 1.5 times higher than their production-based emissions. Our detailed sectoral analysis highlights the challenges facing such agreements to extend cooperation in the future for larger joint benefit given the potential for carbon leakage from member states implementing stricter environmental policies that could lead to higher emissions from non-member states. It is critical for these arrangements to pay close attention to transferred emissions.

AN EXPLORATION OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN PLANNING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS THE ROLES EXPECTED BY THE COMMON CITIZENS

Sustainability is a philosophy associated with the long-run maintenance or improvement of human welfare and the preservation of natural capital and environmental integrity which public administrator needs to strengthen the Sustainable development goals (SDGs) an action directed by the philosophy of sustainability and is increasingly supported, promoted, and required by government actors and non-government actors to play a crucial role in the development of public beneficial programs by the United Nation. As the SDGs are critically receiving increased attention in public administration theory and practices, it has been accepted and tested to be promoting environmental well-being, while also improving the well-being of citizens. Can sustainable development goals promotes the well-being of the common citizens and citizenry participation in the implementation of SDGs and what be the expected concerns of the public administrators? This paper considers these questions by exploring case studies in which the application and practices of SDGs are integrated into public decision making. It also discusses the role expectations of sustainable development in public risk management and in promoting social justice through the use of UN approaches to life and environmental betterment programs.

The Slovak forest policy arrangement: Post-1989 residues and changes

After 1989, Central and Eastern European countries with planned economies launched a process of transformation. In the Slovak forest policy, the main changes have been in the structure of forest ownership, increasing the share of governance mechanisms within the decision-making, and the organization of the sector. The aim of the paper is to analyse the current Slovak forest policy arrangement in relation to the socialistic political history, via the Policy Arrangement Approach. The analysis is based on literature search and consultations with forest policy experts. In total, 55 scientific publications were analysed. Subsequently, the results were consulted with four national forest policy experts. Despite the three decades-lasting transformation process, in Slovakia, forest policy is characterised by a strong influence of governmental actors, centralisation, and prevailing hierarchical use of policy instruments. Nature protection actors enter the policy arena, for instance, to expand protected areas. The top-down planning has an impact on the forest owners’ performance of rights to use their forests. Non-governmental actors attempt to enforce their interests through participation mechanisms, inter-ministerial commenting procedures, and voluntary instruments. Public opinion is turning towards nature protection and forestry as such has come under pressure with its traditionalist approach.

Professionalisation and the spectacle of nature: Understanding changes in the visual imaginaries of private protected area organisations in Australia

Imaginaries of protected areas as state-based fortresses have been challenged by expansion of the global nature conservation estate on non-government lands, notably in contexts such as Australia where neoliberal reform has been strong. Little is known about the implications of this change for the meanings, purposes and practices of nature conservation. Images are central to public understandings of nature conservation. We thus investigate the visual communication of environmental non-government organisations (ENGOs) involved in private protected areas in Australia, with particular focus on Bush Heritage Australia (BHA). We employ a three-part design encompassing quantitative and qualitative methods to study the visual imaginaries underlying nature conservation in BHA's magazines and the web homepages of it and four other ENGOs over 2004–2020. We find that visual imaginaries changed across time, as ENGOs went through an organisational process of professionalisation comprising three dynamics: legitimising, marketising, and differentiating. An imaginary of dedicated Western volunteer groups protecting scenic wilderness was replaced by the spectacle of uplifting and intimate individual encounters with native nature. Amenable to working within rather than transforming dominant political-economic structures, the new imaginary empowers professional ENGOs and their partners as primary carers of nature. It advertises a mediated access to spectacular nature that promises positive emotions and redemption for environmental wrongs to financial supporters of ENGOs. These findings reveal the role of non-government actors under neoliberal conditions in the use of visual representations to shift the meanings, purposes and practices of nature conservation.

The Protection of Civilians and Delivery of Surgical Care Services in Armed Conflict Requires Locally Informed and Strengthened Health Security Programming for Local Healthcare Workforce, Humanitarian Medical Organization, and Non-Governmental Organization Actors: A Systematic Review

The Protection of Civilians and Delivery of Surgical Care Services in Armed Conflict Requires Locally Informed and Strengthened Health Security Programming for Local Healthcare Workforce, Humanitarian Medical Organization, and Non-Governmental Organization Actors: A Systematic Review

The Roles and Synergies of Actors in the Green Building Transition: Lessons from Singapore

Transforming the building sector toward sustainability based on green building (GB) technologies is a multi-faceted, multi-actor process of socio-technical transition. Understanding the different roles of primary actors in both technological and non-technological dimensions of GB transition is pivotal for effectively engaging multiple GB stakeholders during this process. However, relevant research is rare in the GB literature. This paper conducts an actor analysis based on a conceptual framework constructed on the actor and power relation typology from the multi-actor perspective approach and regime insights from the multi-level perspective theory. A qualitative case study of Singapore is adopted to exemplify the roles of the government, developers, citizens and NGOs, determined by their respective power and multi-actor power relations, and to evaluate their synergetic influence on the technological, social and governance dimensions of the GB transition. It was found that the government leads all three dimensions of GB transition and it has an indirect impact on promoting the technological transformation and social adaption by synergizing the other three actors. As the intermediary between government and non-government actors, NGOs indirectly influence GB transition by primarily assisting the government. Developers and citizens directly contribute to technological transformation and social adaption, respectively, and they have an indirect impact on the opposite dimensions through interacting with one another. We argue that a successful GB transition entails synergies from multi-actor interactions and the interplay of technical and non-technical development. This paper offers a heuristic framework for multi-actor analysis in the multi-faceted GB transition and generates policy lessons for other cities.

Legal doctrine as human rights ‘practice’

Abstract‘Practical’ approaches to human rights hold that analysis of legal human rights must attend to the practice(s) of international human rights law and that the nature and justification of international human rights is best determined by attending to their role(s) in international human rights law’s system of normative practices, not analogous moral rights outside it. These core tenets plausibly explain the apparent normativity of international human rights law despite controversies about the status of many ‘rights’ in the ‘International Bill of Rights’. Yet plausible practical approaches require clear and compelling accounts of which practices qualify as human rights practices. Most existing accounts view ‘responses’ to claims made in the name of the international legal community as key to the identification of human rights. Activities by domestic governments and non-governmental actors qualify as relevant practices. While understandable, these ‘responsive’ accounts of practice create more problems than they solve. This work accordingly promotes a largely unexplored account on which ‘human rights practices’ are strictly defined by international legal doctrine. This ‘doctrinal’ account of practice is most likely to maintain practical approaches to human rights’ potential benefits without generating an unduly expansive rights register or adopting strong theoretical commitments about the nature of law.

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY OF INDONESIAN FILM AGENCY THROUGH FILM INDUSTRY AS INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL INSTRUMENTS

Public diplomacy is one of the instruments commonly used in international political activities. More precisely, public diplomacy discusses diplomatic activities carried out by state and non-state actors towards foreign publics in order to fulfill the interests of the relevant state. Various instruments can be used in public diplomacy activities such as books, television programs, brands, festivals, products, and films. In fact, information obtained by the public regarding a country comes from non-government actors. If uncontrolled, information circulating, especially from non-government actors, can cause problems for the national interest of a country. The problem is related to the influence of information on the image of the country in question. As stated by Leonard (2002) that the ideal public diplomacy activity can be formed if there is a synergistic effort between government and non-government actors. This study seeks to discuss public diplomacy activities that use the film industry as an instrument. The actor chosen as the main object in this research is the Indonesian Film Agency (BPI). This study will use the theory of public diplomacy developed by Mark Leonard with descriptive qualitative research methods. The data collection method used in this research is through interviews and literature studies through various sources, both primary and secondary. In general, this research will provide an overview of the understanding of Mark Leonard’s theory of public diplomacy based on what has been done by BPI. In the end, this understanding will show the gap between theory and reality regarding Indonesian public diplomacy activities that use the film industry as an instrument. When referring to Leonard’s theory of public diplomacy, BPI has the potential to produce an ideal public diplomacy effort. Therefore, efforts to build a more integrated relationship between BPI and the Indonesian government are deemed necessary in order to maximize the role of BPI as both an actor in public diplomacy.

Structural and Functional Interaction between International Law and lex sportiva and Technical Methods of Transforming their Norms

INTRODUCTION. The purpose of the article was to examine how two different regulatory entities - international sports law and lex sportiva - interact with each other in structural and functional terms. When characterizing the structural interaction, the author set herself the task of identifying the place of each of these normative complexes in the system of a larger whole. When analyzing functional interaction, the author viewed her task as considering the process in two aspects: static (delineation of the limits of regulatory influence) and dynamic (interference of regulatory efforts). As a result of studying the dynamic aspect of functional interaction, the techniques of incorporation, legitimation, and reference were characterized; the author gave the examples of the incorporation of the norms of the International standards adopted in addition to the World Anti-Doping Code into an international legal act - the 2005 UNESCO Convention against Doping in Sport, legitimation of the norms of the 2014 Council of Europe Convention against Manipulation of Sports Competitions through the adoption of the 2015 Code of the Olympic Movement on the Prevention of Manipulation of Competitions, and two types of reference: references to the World Anti-Doping Code in an international treaty - the 2005 UNESCO Convention against Doping in Sport of 2005 and references to international legal acts in the field of human rights in the FIFA Statutes (starting from 2016) and inthe FIFA Human Rights Policy of 2017. MATERIALS AND METHODS. The author listed the applicable international legal acts and acts of lex sportiva, studied the scientific works of leading representatives of domestic and foreign doctrine on such issues as the criteria for recognizing a specific branch of international law, the subject of regulation and the nature of transnational law, the interplay between international law and lex sportiva. Among the general scientific methods the author utilized substrate (substantive), structural and systemic approaches; comparative and hermeneutic approaches should be mentioned as the specific scientific methods used. RESEARCH RESULTS. As a result of the analysis of the structural interaction of the two regulatory orders, the author identified the place of international sports law in the system of international law and the place of lex sportiva in global law. When considering the static aspect of functional interaction based on the analysis of the content of the principle of autonomy of sport, a number of exclusive subjects of regulation by lex sportiva were identified. In the course of studying the dynamic aspect, the author characterized three types of transformation - the transfiguration of norms and their transition from one normative order to another - from the point of view of legal technique (incorporation, legitimation, reference). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. In the author’s opinion, international sports law is a branch of public international law at the stage of its formation, and lex sportiva is an institution of transnational global law formed as a result of the activities of non-governmental actors. The study of the static aspect of the functional interaction between international sports law and lex sportiva indicates that the issues regulated by sports organizations in an autonomous manner include the establishment of rules for sports competitions, as well as issues of the internal life of sports organizations. The dynamics of transnational processes significantly expands the interaction between international sports law and lex sportiva and the transition (transformation) of norms from one regulatory complex to another in such areas as the fight against doping, countering the manipulation of sports competitions, introducing international legal standards in the field of human rights protection.

India could harness public-private partnerships to achieve malaria elimination.

Public-private partnerships (PPP) have been beneficial in different sectors like infrastructure development and service sector across the world, including in India. Such partnerships in the healthcare sector have also been successful in providing access to affordable medical attention to all sections of society. These partnerships between public and private entities have proven to be beneficial in controlling malaria in high burden districts of India and taking these areas to the brink of elimination, thus setting examples to follow. The two successful ones are the Comprehensive Case Management Project (CCMP) in Odisha which is now adopted by the state, and the Malaria Elimination Demonstration Project (MEDP) which has nearly eliminated malaria from the highly endemic district of Mandla in Madhya Pradesh. Here we propose that non-government and semi-government actors may be given vital roles in the malaria elimination efforts till 2030 and beyond. These partners will add value to the national programme and may have the potential to develop and test different models of malaria elimination in real-life settings that the government programme can absorb sustainably.

19. International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

The IUCN is an international organization uniquely composed of both governments and civil society organizations. It provides public, private, and non-governmental organizations and actors with the knowledge and tools to combine efforts to conserve nature and accelerate the transition to sustainable development. Created in 1948, the IUCN has evolved into the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network. It harnesses the experience, resources, and reach of its more than 1,300 members and the input of over ten thousand experts. The IUCN is the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it. The IUCN’s experts volunteer in six commissions dedicated to species survival, environmental law, protected areas, social and economic policy, ecosystem management, and education and communication. The IUCN Environmental Law Programme (ELP) is an integrated program of activities that assists decision makers with information, analysis, advisory services, legislative drafting, mentoring, and capacity development at the national, regional, and global levels. It includes the Environmental Law Centre (ELC) and collaborates with and supports the World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL). The ELP, WCEL, and ELC collaborate in their endeavours with the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law.

The French connection at the Council of Europe: éducation permanente as a pan-European policy repertoire

ABSTRACT This paper examines transnational circulation of political and pedagogical ideas associated with éducation permanente with particular reference to post-war Western Europe. It offers a socio-historical reconstruction of pan-European dissemination and reception of policy repertoires articulated by governmental and non-governmental policy actors. It focuses on advocacy regarding permanent education as a pan-European repertoire associated with the Council of Europe during the 1960s and 1970s. The paper explores involvement of French and other francophone nationals in circulatory regimes, who were engaged in mediating partisan reform aspirations, exchange of information, and dissemination of innovative practices at national, transnational, and pan-European levels. The more specific focus of this paper addresses participation of ‘rooted cosmopolitans’ in policy formation, who are defined as policy actors rooted in specific national contexts, but who engage in regular activities involving their participation in transnational networks. The conclusions call for further research into circulatory regimes at local, sub-national, regional, national, bilateral, transnational, and pan-European during the 1960s and 1970s. Such research should focus on revisiting different expert, reformist, missionary, and militant networks responsible for building peripatetic ‘scholar-militant-activist’ coalitions that historically contributed to pan-European policy repertoires seeking to mobilise citizens to participate in the unfinished political project of pan-European cultural democracy.

Radicalisation, counter-radicalisation and countering violent extremism in the Western Balkans and the South Caucasus: the cases of Kosovo and Georgia

ABSTRACT Scholarly attention is emerging on the globalisation and proliferation of initiatives and measures in the fields of counter-radicalisation and countering violent extremism (Hayes and Kundnani 2018). A multitude of international actors endeavour to provide security norms and governance standards in that respect, including international and regional organisations, donor communities, transnational/global networks as well as non-governmental actors, informal coalitions, platforms and think tanks. This article aims at mapping and analysing how such many-sided assemblages function along European peripheries, more specifically, in two under-studied countries, Kosovo and Georgia, where several international actors are involved in projects to prevent and counter radicalisation and violent extremism. The study will contrast and compare externally driven efforts of countering violent extremism and radicalisation, and trace the interests and agendas pursued by different international actors operating in the Western Balkans and the South Caucasus. Moreover, it will analyse how the concepts of radicalisation and extremism and measures to counter them have been specifically “localised” in Kosovo and Georgia, as well as grounded and embedded in their specific socio-political contexts and normative frameworks.

Still a poster child for social investment? Changing regulatory dynamics of early childhood education and care in Denmark and Sweden

AbstractThis paper investigates the regulation of publicly organized early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Denmark and Sweden, through the regulatory welfare state (RWS) framework. The analysis focuses on how alterations in funding and quality of care are shaped by governmental and nongovernmental actors at national and local levels of government. Through focused structured analysis, we examine how various actors have shaped the funding and quality of childcare in Denmark and Sweden, from the early 2000s to 2020, with special attention to the period during and after the 2008 financial crisis. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, concerns about quality in care were raised on the political agenda by various actors in both countries, leading to decisions to improve the quality of care. Yet, the regulatory dynamics differ: In Denmark, the debate led to a decision in 2019, to implement a minimum statutory requirement of regulatory quality standards. From an RWS perspective, this outcome can be qualified as “double expansion,” because regulatory quality standards, and public funding for childcare increased. In Sweden, the debates about quality of ECEC led, in 2016, to political guidelines about quality standard, but with no additional national funds, and no mandatory regulatory quality requirements. Analytically, this can be qualified as “regulatory‐led expansion,” that is requirements for quality standards, although the lack of additional national funds suggests that it will be difficult to improve ECEC quality substantially. The RWS perspective, which focuses on national and municipal levels of governance, also gives insights into hidden inequalities between municipalities regarding funding and quality of ECEC, which are more pronounced in Sweden than in Denmark.

Which Way to the EU? The Paths of German Youth Policy Discussions into EU Council Policy

In the light of domestic coordination processes in federal states, this article deals with the interplay of domestic governmental and non-governmental actors in the development of a German position for negotiations in the EU youth policy field. The qualitative single-case study is embedded in the evaluation of the German implementation of the EU Youth Strategy (2010-2018). It focusses on the roles, mutual perceptions, conflicts, and resulting action strategies of the different actors involved in the domestic coordination processes. In doing so, the article adds to the debate on Europeanisation and domestic coordination processes in federalist states by facilitating an understanding of the extent to which differing framework conditions of a specific policy field at the domestic and EU-Level can influence domestic policy coordination and its bottom-up processes. The analysis reveals a discrepancy between the intentions of the actors to work together based on a multi-level governance approach, and a reality in which the Federal Ministry assumes a gatekeeper function. The problems following this discrepancy can be explained on the one hand by different perceptions and expectations the actors have towards the coordination process and on the other hand by a lack of a youth policy culture of debate. The article shows how these problems lead to different action strategies by the domestic actors and the use of different pathways to bring their interests to the EU level. Simultaneously, the findings show that these different strategies of action can successfully lead to a stronger German position, provided these pathways are used in a coordinated manner. The analysis shows that a domestic coordination process involving both governmental and non-governmental actors from different levels working together on an equal footing by using a multi-level governance approach, can only function in federal policy cooperation processes when the actors focus on content-related discussions rather than formal forms of cooperation.

Biopolitics in the Twenty-first Century: India and the Pandemic

Swatie and Rashee Mehra discuss in their "Biopolitics in the Twenty-first Century: India and the Pandemic”, the rise of the biopolitical state in India in the 2020s. The article emphasizes the relevance of Michel Foucault’s work on biopolitics for the pandemic in India. The biopolitical governmentality of the Indian state operates at several levels to politicize ‘life itself’: racism (the notion that sections of the population are disposable), economics (the notion of privatization of care), and the logic of contagion (based on ideas of threat perception and risk). The article engages with biopolitics in the 21st century and looks at the relief work done by non-governmental actors such as NGOs, gurdwaras, unions, and individual citizen-volunteers, which points to the importance of community outreach. The authors use theoretical and media commentaries and the experiences of one of its authors in Delhi government relief work.

Evaluating Change in Representation and Coordination in Collaborative Governance Over Time: A Study of Environmental Justice Councils.

Collaborative governance involves convening of government and non-government actors in policy formulation and implementation. Motivating collaborative governance is the expectation that engagement of diverse arrays of stakeholders in the public policy process allows policymakers and administrators to draw on the expertise, resources, and perspectives of these stakeholders to develop more contextually appropriate and effective policies. Since collaborative governance is fundamentally premised on the representation of diverse stakeholders in collaborative processes, assessing the extent to which representation is actualized is paramount. This paper adds to recent scholarship that examines representation dynamics in collaborative governance arrangements, focusing specifically on: (i) how diverse stakeholders included in collaborative governance arrangements are descriptively and substantively represented; (ii) how substantively represented stakeholders are coordinating on informational and relationship building activities; (iii) how representation and coordination dynamics change over time; and (iv) the extent to which representation and coordination dynamics are indicative of collaboration life cycle stage. Additionally, in responding to this latter aim, the paper presents a novel approach for measuring life cycle stages. The paper reports on a comparative case study of environmental justice councils, which are collaborative governance arrangements convened by states to assist in the design and implementation of policies aimed at reducing environmental harms within low income and minority populated communities.

Characteristics, challenges and innovations of waste picker organizations: A comparative perspective between Latin American and East African countries

Waste picker organisations (WPOs) around the globe collect, transport and process waste to earn their living but represent a widely excluded, marginalised and impoverished segment of society. WPOs are highly innovative, created by grassroots out of “nothing” to deliver economic, social and environmental sustainability. Still, we do not know how such innovations are developed, and how they are disseminated and adopted by other groups. This article examines characteristics, challenges and innovations of WPOs across five countries in Latin America and East Africa. It is based on quantitative and qualitative data regarding modes of organisation and management, gender, received support, business orientations, environmental and social contributions, and innovations developed in response to multiple challenges. The paper provides a comprehensive understanding of WPOs’ activities and their grassroots innovations in the Global South. The study shows how WPOs contribute significantly to the economic, social and environmental sustainability of the societies they serve as well as the wider urban societies. To start and maintain WPOs in informal settlements with a lack of infrastructure, institutional frameworks, and public and private investors is a difficult quest. WPOs take many different organisational forms depending on the complexity of local realities, ranging from advanced collective organization as cooperatives to small self-help groups and microentrepreneurs. Self-organisation into regional and national networks provides economic opportunities, autonomy and stability as well as political influence. Yet, institutional support is fundamental and the lack thereof threatens their existence. Sustaining WPOs as important providers of socio-environmental benefits through governmental and non-governmental actions is a worthwhile undertaking that builds sustainability.

Good Intentions Gone Awry: Government Intervention and Multistakeholder Engagement in a Frontier Market

How to achieve sustainable communities with decent work and economic growth without negative environmental impact, is at the heart of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and a top priority of many governments around the world. This article critically explores the role of government intervention for achieving sustainable local prosperity in frontier markets of developing countries, where such advancement is especially crucial. More specifically, we explore by an in-depth case study how multiple stakeholders cooperate to enhance local development and export from firms in the leather and leather products industry in Ethiopia. From a multistakeholder engagement perspective, including representatives of local businesses, United Nations, Ministry of Trade and Industry, and other development partners, we analyze how government interventions have resulted in unintended outcomes despite their good intention. We contribute with a new understanding of why development initiatives in frontier markets struggle with stakeholder integration, caused by power asymmetry and lack of institutional trust which prevents the achievements of sustainable development goals. Contextualized implications for firms, government, and non-governmental actors on how to improve collaboration are provided, and policy implications are proposed.

Local climate change policy and rural development in Colombia’s post-peace agreements context

ABSTRACT This study provides information on the gap between policy discourse and policy implementation of climate change (CC) management and peace governance. Following international commitments, the Colombian government developed national policies that respond to CC or extremes, coinciding with peace-agreements made with the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces. Indeed, CC and peace are embedded issues. Conflict negatively impacts the environment and increases vulnerability to CC or extremes. Moreover, both policy areas aim for effective agricultural development. This study addresses CC adaptation and peace-agreements management as traveling models translated into policies within the agriculture sector. Drawing from development and political anthropology and the notion of a policy mix derived from political science, the analysis method employs semi-structured interviews of governmental and non-governmental actors. Accordingly, gaps exist between policy models and their local translation within the policy mix. CC management and peace governance embrace diverse actors implementing a multiplicity of dispositives concentrated along the Pan-American highway, with distinct durations, responding to diverse interests, and using several approaches. Within the scope of the policy mix, this study observes fragmentation, discontinuity, extraversion, coherence building and fight for local power. The findings can help formulate and implement more relevant policies to improve CC management and peace governance.