Government Objectives Research Articles

The Effect of Financial Performance and Budget Ratcheting on Capital Expenditure Allocation in Districts/Cities of Central Java Province

This study examines the effect of regional financial performance (effectiveness ratio, efficiency, fiscal decentralization) and budget ratcheting on the allocation of capital expenditure in local governments in Central Java Province from 2018-2021. The population in this study were all Regency/City Regional Governments in Central Java Province in 2018-2021. The sample used was 35 local governments. Hypothesis testing using panel data regression. The results showed that regional financial performance (effectiveness ratio, efficiency, fiscal decentralization) and budget ratcheting affect capital expenditure allocation. Effectiveness and efficiency ratios negatively affect capital expenditure allocation, fiscal decentralization ratio positively affects capital expenditure allocation, and budget ratcheting negatively affects capital expenditure allocation. This study provides empirical evidence that one of the tools to analyze regional financial performance in managing regional finances is to conduct a financial ratio analysis. The novelty of this research is the addition of budget ratcheting variables that have not been widely studied in Indonesia, especially those using local government objects.

EVOLVING TAX COMPLIANCE IN THE DIGITAL ERA: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF AI-DRIVEN MODELS AND BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY IN U.S. TAX ADMINISTRATION

This paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technology in U.S. tax administration. It explores how these technologies are revolutionizing tax compliance and fraud detection, offering a comparative analysis with traditional methods. The paper highlights the potential benefits of these technologies in enhancing efficiency, accuracy, and transparency in tax administration, aligning with the U.S. government's objectives of ensuring fiscal integrity and public trust. The review also examines international best practices and proposes how the U.S. can leverage these technologies to maintain its global leadership in financial governance and innovation. The study is structured around four key objectives: assessing the current integration of AI and blockchain in tax administration, evaluating their effectiveness in enhancing tax compliance, identifying implementation challenges, and developing strategic recommendations. Employing a comprehensive literature review approach, the study synthesizes findings from various sources to provide an in-depth understanding of the role and impact of these technologies in modern tax systems. The results reveal that AI and blockchain significantly improve tax compliance and administration efficiency but also introduce challenges such as data privacy concerns and the need for robust regulatory frameworks. In conclusion, the study underscores the transformative potential of AI and blockchain in tax administration, recommending continuous research and development, coupled with stakeholder education and engagement. These efforts are crucial for overcoming operational challenges and fully harnessing the benefits of these technologies in modernizing tax systems. The paper concludes with strategic recommendations for policymakers, tax authorities, and researchers, emphasizing the importance of a balanced approach that fosters technological innovation while maintaining legal compliance and adherence to fundamental principles.
 Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Tax Administration, Tax Compliance, Digital Transformation, Financial Governance.

Identification of intercity ecological synergy regions and measurement of the corresponding policy network structure: A network analysis perspective

The development and governance of modern cities have gradually broken through the boundaries of administrative units. In recent times, with intercity ecological space becoming the focus of a series of development and conservation actions, identifying the intercity ecological synergy regions (maintaining connectivity within the ecological space to ensure the continuity of species migration and landscape) and realizing its collaborative governance has become extremely important to maintain sustainable regional development. Cross-border ecological governance involves many actors and forms a complex relationship network. At present, there are few quantitative evaluation methods for this problem, which limits our ability to manage the ecological space between cities. This paper uses the network method to establish and analyze the related ecological and policy networks in Shenzhen. The study results show that the ecological synergy regions are locally concentrated along the fringes of Shenzhen City, and the links between different levels of actors in the policy network are relatively weak. The action objects of ecological governance designated by different cities form convergence or divergence patterns, making it challenging to organize spatially integrated actions among different cities. Finally, suggestions for structural optimization are proposed concerning the policy network associated with the ecological synergy regions from the aspects of spatial implementation pathways and planning strategies.

Evolutionary game analysis of stakeholders’ decision-making behavior in agricultural data supply chain

The significance of agricultural information sharing in fostering agricultural development cannot be overstated. This practice plays a pivotal role in disseminating cutting-edge agricultural technologies, cultivation methods, and pest control strategies, empowering farmers with valuable knowledge to enhance crop yield and quality. Moreover, it aligns with government objectives of resource sharing and addressing gaps, contributing to the advancement of agricultural modernization and the development of the industry chain. Despite its inherent benefits, the practical implementation of agricultural information sharing faces challenges. Stakeholders engaged in information sharing often prioritize individual benefits, potentially leading to a decline in agricultural information quality and the inefficient use of experimental resources. To confront this issue, the present research establishes a three-party evolutionary game model comprising an agricultural product data sharing platform, agricultural data providers, and agricultural data consumers. Leveraging dynamic system theory, the model analyzes the evolutionary stable strategies of stakeholders and investigates the critical factors influencing the strategic choices of these three parties. Experimental findings underscore the pivotal role of participants’ initial strategies, regulatory intensity, reward and punishment mechanisms, and information feedback in shaping stakeholder decision-making behavior. Implementation of measures such as heightened scrutiny of information on the sharing platform and fostering consumer trust in data emerges as imperative for enhancing system stability. These actions are essential for constructing an efficient and reliable information-sharing ecosystem, thereby facilitating the sustainable development of modern agriculture.

The Ukrainian Revolution and contacts with Japan (1917–1921)

Japan did not maintain a stable relationship with the Ukrainian governments during the revolutionary years. We can only speak of isolated instances where both sides showed interest in each other. It was the Japanese side that initiated the initial contact. In the summer of 1917, Hitoshi Ashida, an attaché of the Japanese Embassy in the Russian Empire, and in the autumn, Takayanagi Yasutaro, a military observer in the Russian Empire’s army, visited Kyiv. However, any official contact between Kyiv and Tokyo became impossible after the signing of the Brest- Litovsk Treaty. In the following year, Borys Voblyy attempted to serve as a representative of Ukraine in Japan. During this period, the White Army garnered significant attention from Japan, and a Japanese representative was present in Crimea and Odesa between 1919 and 1920. Despite this, they did not engage in direct communication with Ukrainian political forces. However, a representative from Sevastopol sent various reports to the Japanese capital, including information about Ukrainian events. The Tokyo government diligently researched all events and conflicts between different political forces but refrained from active participation. In the years 1920–1921, Ukrainian diplomats sought to use Japan as an intermediary to bolster their foreign policy position. They transmitted several diplomatic notes to the Tokyo government through the Japanese embassy in Rome. Regrettably, these efforts did not yield any tangible results. This situation was closely tied to the primary foreign policy objectives of both governments. Japan’s focus was primarily on the Far Eastern region, and it refrained from active involvement in European affairs. Meanwhile, Ukrainian governments were primarily concerned with establishing relations with Eastern countries.

CONTRIBUTION OF INFORMAL STREET VENDORS TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT REVENUE DURING POST-COVID 19 PANDEMIC

This paper discusses the contribution of informal street vendors to local government revenue generation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Informal street vendors usually develop businesses to sell something and earn an income. They not only generate their income but also generate revenue for the local government. The main objective of local governments is to maintain and improve their efficiency. Therefore, this study aims to understand how informal street vendors contribute to the revenue of Kubang Pasu municipal in the short term, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. The study covers 50 street vendors in Kubang Pasu. The results of the study show that there are only two (2) independent variables that affect the dependent variable. First, the relationship between affordable licenses and Kubang Pasu Municipal’s revenue shows a positive (0.301) and significant (0.019) relationship at a 0.050 level of significance, which means that the more affordable licenses issued, the higher the Kubang Pasu municipal revenue. Second, the relationship between the current post-pandemic business situation and Kubang Pasu municipal’s revenue shows a positive (0.541) and significant (0.058) relationship at the 0.10 level of significance, which means that the more accessible the business situation is in the post-pandemic period, the higher Kubang Pasu Municipal’s revenue will be. The newly developed revenue source will secure local government revenues in the long term and avoid budget deficits. Kubang Pasu Municipal needs to create new revenue sources, as they are still among the local governments with low revenue sources compared to local governments in other states.

Psychological impact of COVID-19 lockdown period on students of healthcare colleges.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic globally caused depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress. Mental health was affected by social separation, curfews, school and business closures, economic deterioration, and government objectives. This study intends to assess the influence of the post-COVID-19 lockdown period on the psychological health of students enrolled in health colleges at King Saud University, Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study was conducted among students of healthcare colleges at King Saud University. We used a validated questionnaire of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Assessment (GAD-7) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10). The questionnaire was sent to participants via google forms link through WhatsApp, e-mail, and other social media platforms. A total of 311 participants responded to the questionnaire. Descriptive analysis and a Chi-square test were performed for qualitative data analysis. Among study participants, males were 50.4% and females were 49.6%. About 63% of the students attended a training session on COVID-19 prevention strategies. About 37% of the participants were from the College of Medicine, 27% were from the College of Dentistry, 21% from the College of Pharmacy, 5% from the College of Applied Medical Sciences, and 10% from the College of Nursing. The average anxiety score was 9.84, and the perceived stress score (PSS) was 23.95. 44.1% of students reported mild anxiety, and 1.6% suffered severe anxiety. High stress was perceived by 24.1% of the students, and 75.2% perceived a moderate stress level. No significant association was reported between gender, stress, and anxiety. Similarly, no association was found between stress and the year of study. However, a significant association was found between the year of study and anxiety (P = 0.015). To the limitation of the study, the analysis revealed that COVID significantly influences students' psychological health. Such findings can be used to develop psychological interventions and susceptible populations and execute appropriate mental health policies and programs targeting student communities.

Practical Application of Intelligent Technology in Grassroots Public Governance and Its Enhancement of Governance Effectiveness

Abstract The application and development of intelligent technology in the field of public management has accelerated the governance mode change and process evolution. As a new mode and direction of governance system and technological innovation in the new era, holistic smart governance has a high theoretical coupling with grassroots public governance. Based on the transformation path of grassroots public governance, the study designs a holistic smart governance model for the application of intelligent technology in grassroots public governance and then measures the effectiveness of grassroots public holistic smart governance using the static DEA model and the dynamic Malmquist index model. Subsequently, data from 16 regions in Province M are taken as examples for empirical analysis, and the augmented regression number model is utilized to explore the relative strengths of the influencing factors and the ways of influencing them. The results show that M4, M7, M9, M12, M13 and M15, six regions realize DEA effective, but the average value of the annual technology change index is greater than 1 only in M7, M12 and M15, some regions have poor technological innovation capacity, production technology is difficult to innovate, and the innovation capacity and grassroots public governance are not coordinated with the input governance. M = 3055 under the augmented regression tree in the ratio of housing expenditure to per capita disposable income has the greatest impact on grassroots public governance in society (27.54%), which needs to be focused on. The study concludes that governance effectiveness can be realized in five areas: governance philosophy, governance objectives, governance approach, governance structure, and governance path.

Exploration of Community Governance Paths in Urban Ecosystems Based on KANO-IPA Modeling

Abstract This paper focuses on the research object of urban ecological environment governance on the urban community at the micro level, and pays attention to the problem of the realization path of urban community environment governance. The KANO-IPA model is established to study the urban ecological environment and the needs of community residents, and the importance of the survey data is evaluated by combining the theory of rough numbers to construct the community governance path of the urban ecological environment. The model analyzes the ecological environment of City H in Province A, and 10 communities are governed using the governance path constructed in this paper. The coal industry in City H dominates the economic development, and the total particulate emissions in the city will be 107,173.10 tons in 2021, and the contribution of the industrial emissions to the dustfall of heavy metal Ni will be 77.96%, and at the same time, there is a serious problem of arbitrary tampering with the data of ecological governance. The community governance path constructed in this paper achieves about 80% of resident satisfaction in 10 communities in H city. The governance path proposed by this study can be recognized by residents of the community and is expected to improve the ecological environment of the city.

Multi-Hop Arabic LLM Reasoning in Complex QA

The introduction of Large Language Models (LLMs), and generative AI has significantly transformed the field of natural language processing. These models have exhibited profound reasoning capabilities, marking considerable progress across diverse general knowledge reasoning tasks. Consequently, the deployment of LLMs in domain-specific contexts has become a prime objective for governments and corporations eager to leverage the generative AI revolution. However, the Arabic language has notably lagged in attention and development compared to other languages in this arena. This research endeavors to delve into various facets of Arabic closed-domain question and answering systems that emulate the reasoning requirements of private enterprise data. Our study focuses on the practical deployment of Arabic LLMs in targeted applications, specifically utilizing the ACQAD (Arabic Complex Question Answering Dataset), which exhibits multi-hop reasoning. Different strategies are experimented using Long Context Window (LCW) and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG). Results showed that decomposing complex questions using Chain-of-Thought reasoning considerably improved the performance from 75% to 92% using LCW, but at much higher token cost compared to RAG. Trade-of between cost and performance showed that 80% accuracy can be attained using only 30% of the cost using RAG Sentence - level embeddings. Microsoft E5 embedding model is used and OpenAI GPT4-turbo LLM which proved superior reasoning performance compared to other Arabic LLMs

Directors of the Bodies of Higher Directorate of the Cossack Troops of the Russian Empire (Second Half of 19th — Early 20th Centuries)

The article discusses the main milestones in the life of the chiefs of the bodies of higher directorate of the Cossack troops of the Russian Empire second half 19th — early 20th centuries With the help of a comparative technique, biographical material was grouped according to the following criterions: origin and education, chronological data, participation in hostilities, bureaucratic experience before taking office and acquaintance with the Cossacks as a future object of government, lefted scientific and literary heritage. Based on the analysis of the presented material, the article makes an assumption that the main goal of the higher control of the Cossack troops was mainly to account and control for the Cossack troops, to create conditions for their functioning and mobilization readiness. The military component in the activities of the higher Cossack officials in relation to the Cossack troops was present, but it seems that it was based on the opinion about the natural ability of the Cossacks to military affairs and was not a priority.

Contractors' Perception of Success Factors for Implementing Public Road Construction Projects

The Construction industry faces challenges and is increasingly failing to meet organizational objectives. This is evidenced by unsuccessful project implementation. Project failure oscillates between cost and schedule overruns and low-quality work, with construction organizations continuously failing to meet targets and losing significant funds annually. The public road construction subsector, which is currently in the spotlight for procurement irregularities, is equally challenged by the failures. Reports show that public road construction projects are not completed on time and within estimated budgets because of shoddy work and contract variations that negatively affect the government's goal attainment. This has resulted in several administrative reviews and investigations aimed at restoring sanity to successfully implement construction projects and meet government objectives. Studies are sprouting in the construction industry to determine successful project implementation factors that motivated this study's contribution. Based on the contractors' perception, this study aims to establish success factors for implementing public road construction projects. A cross-sectional research design using a structured self-administered questionnaire was adopted, and data was analysed in SPSS version 24 software. Findings reveal that monitoring activities and sanctions on staff are significant success factors in enhancing public road construction project implementation. At the same time, compliance with the public procurement regulatory framework, familiarity with this regulatory framework, professionalism among staff and perceived inefficiency of the regulatory framework are insignificant.

Information Technology Governance Using the COBIT 2019 Framework at PT. Pelindo TPK Bitung

The governance of information technology (IT) is crucial for companies in managing their IT assets. This research investigates the implementation of COBIT 2019 at PT. Pelindo TPK Bitung, a logistics and storage company, aiming to enhance its Information Technology (IT) governance. Facing challenges in IT management, the company adopted COBIT 2019 to improve operational efficiency, reduce security risks, and ensure regulatory compliance. The study employs a structured approach, utilizing the COBIT 2019 Design Toolkit, and includes a literature review, interviews, and systematic evaluations of PT. Pelindo TPK Bitung's IT governance. Findings from the first interview highlight the company's focus on growth, innovation, and strategic IT roles, alongside challenges in integrating IT and operations. The prioritized governance objective, DSS05 - Managed Security Services, achieves a capability level 3, indicating substantial success, though gaps in security aspects necessitate prompt policy reviews. In conclusion, PT. Pelindo TPK Bitung's COBIT 2019 implementation has achieved significant success, reaching a capability level 3, with suggestions provided for sustaining and enhancing security management. This research contributes insights into COBIT 2019 implementation, offering a comprehensive understanding of its impact on IT governance in a specific organizational context

Hybrid organisational form as a response to institutional complexity: The case of local municipally owned corporations in Lahore

AbstractThis paper explores hybrid organisational forms that have emerged in response to institutional complexity. For this purpose, the paper studies organisational practices to explore hybrid characteristics in municipally owned corporations (MOCs) and differentiate between distinct manifestations of hybridity. Using a case study research design, three MOCs are selected as units of analysis, and 30 semi‐structured interviews are conducted to explain why and how organisations emerge as hybrid organisations through the adoption of multiple institutional prescriptions that compete with their existing logic. The findings of the study reveal a practical approach to managing complexity where organisations tend to form different hybrids rather than simply accepting or rejecting institutional pressures. The study offers insights into the outcomes within organisational milieus as they navigate and assimilate these competing pressures, underscoring that the resultant ramifications may not invariably align with initial expectations.Points for practitioners Providing municipally owned corporations (MOCs) a clear framework that outlines their tasks, responsibilities, and expected results can prevent conflicts arising from differing institutional logics, ensuring that MOCs operate in alignment with the government's objectives. Hybrid organisations must cultivate a culture that emphasises adaptation and flexibility to gradually integrate the competing logic that improves system performance and sustainability. While introducing reforms, practitioners should invest in capacity‐building efforts for public organisations. Training and support initiatives are imperative to equip organisations with the skills needed to adapt, integrate conflicting pressures, and effectively cope with the demands of evolving institutional environments.

Perspektif Hukum dalam Keterbukaan, Transparansi, Proporsional, dan Penegakan Hukum pada Kontrak Pengadaan Barang dan jasa Pemerintah

This research examines the legal perspective on openness, transparency, proportionality and law enforcement in contracts for the procurement of government goods and services. Implementing the principles of openness and transparency is key in maintaining a fair and open procurement process. The principle of proportionality plays an important role in balancing government objectives with the rights and obligations of providers of goods and services. The principles of openness and transparency need to be implemented carefully in the process of procuring government goods and services in order to gain public trust. Apart from that, the principle of proportionality in contracts for the procurement of government goods and services needs to be taken into account in order to achieve a balance between the government and providers of goods and services. In the event that a dispute occurs in a contract for the procurement of government goods and services, it can be resolved using 4 methods, namely through contact dispute resolution services, arbitration, construction dispute council, or through court. This research uses legal research methods using a statutory regulation approach and a conceptual approach. This research aims to explore the principles of openness, transparency, the principle of proportionality, and law enforcement of contracts for the procurement of government goods and services from a legal perspective.

Citizen Participation in A Smart City: The Seoul Case

The ultimate objective of governments that adopt the smart city approach is to improve the living conditions of citizens. Therefore, the realization of the smart city vision is largely an issue related to citizens. Thus, the increasing success of smart cities that become prominent in the world by effectively ensuring citizen engagement beyond prioritizing the technology use attests to this. This study aims to reveal the role and importance of citizen participation in smart cities within the framework of the example of Seoul Smart City, the capital of South Korea. In this context, the prominent citizen participation practices and features of the Seoul smart city are mentioned. In the study, which was created with the qualitative method, a descriptive method was used in the direction of the literature review, the information about the smart city on the website of Seoul Municipality, and the information from the Digital City plans. According to the results of the study, it has been seen that the Seoul Municipality has succeeded in increasing citizen participation with the mobile applications implemented in Seoul, which facilitate the education of citizens. However, it has been determined that there are still insufficient field study examples showing the level of influence of bottom-up decisions in Seoul.

Influence of local governments on the greening of the manufacturing sector: A perspective on environmental governance objectives

The green development of manufacturing industries is significantly impacted by local governments. In this study, we focus on assessing the environmental governance effectiveness by examining the tasks assigned by the central government to each province under the Comprehensive Work Program for Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction. By utilizing panel data from 30 provinces and cities in China from 2011 to 2020, we employ the super-efficient SBM model to evaluate China's manufacturing industry's green total factor productivity. Through various models, including the double-fixed effect and the mediation effect, we investigate the influence of environmental governance targets on the green total factor productivity of the manufacturing industry. Our findings reveal a U-shaped relationship between the environmental governance target and the green total factor productivity of the manufacturing industry. When the pressure of environmental governance targets is below a certain critical value, the green total factor productivity decreases as the target pressure increases. However, once the target pressure surpasses this critical value, the green total factor productivity experiences a positive correlation with the target pressure. Further analysis demonstrates that this U-shaped relationship is observed in regions with low and medium marketization, while regions with high marketization remain unaffected. Moreover, the impact of environmental governance target pressure on green total factor productivity in manufacturing is facilitated by the promotion of green innovation. Furthermore, the relationship between environmental governance target pressure and green total factor productivity in manufacturing is moderated by local government fiscal expenditures. In regions where fiscal expenditures are higher, the influence of environmental governance target pressure on green total factor productivity in manufacturing is more pronounced.

Local attitudes towards conservation governance in a large tropical multiple-use Marine Protected Area in Brazil

The attitudes of local residents living adjacent to Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) can influence the effectiveness of conservation management and practices, such as acceptance of the protected area rules and the willingness to participate in decision-making. Negative attitudes lead to non-compliance with environmental regulations, making it harder to achieve MPA management and governance objectives. However, the underlying drivers of negative attitudes to MPAs are complex, contextual, and generally poorly known. Here, we test to what extent social, economic, and political characteristics of stakeholders are associated with positive and supportive attitudes towards the implementation of good governance principles in one of Brazil's largest sustainable use MPAs. We conducted 331 face-to-face interviews with stakeholders from different social groups, applying a questionnaire exploring attitudes towards MPA governance based on Lockwood's governance principles. We found that educational level, income, sociopolitical engagement, and attendance at environmental meetings were all associated with positive attitudes towards principles of good MPA governance. Artisanal fishers, especially Shellfishers, generally had more negative attitudes towards governance principles. Good governance is critical for effective management, ensuring that decisions are made transparently and accountably, that stakeholders are engaged and involved in decision-making, efforts are coordinated and resources are used effectively, and that the legal framework is strong and enforced. Our findings highlight the importance of addressing underlying economic and educational inequalities among local stakeholders in addition to targeted environmental education.

The Development of Digital Finance and Regional Economic Growth

With the rapid development of global informatization and digitalization, digital finance has emerged as a revolutionary force in the field of finance. Over the past few decades, we have witnessed the rapid rise of information technology, internet finance, and financial technology, and these transformative trends are reshaping the way people interact with financial institutions, shaping new financial ecosystems. Meanwhile, regional economic growth has consistently been a key policy objective for governments at national and regional levels, as regional prosperity is closely tied to overall national success. However, despite the widespread attention on both digital finance and regional economic growth, their relationship has not been fully explored and explained. This paper aims to explore the correlation between digital finance and regional economic growth, emphasizing how digital finance promotes the accessibility of financial services and financing for small and micro enterprises, providing profound insights for policymakers, financial practitioners, and researchers. The research findings will contribute to unlocking the potential of finance and regional development in the digital age, offering guidance for sustainable regional economic growth.

Coping with crisis: The Peruvian state-owned fishing enterprise Pesca Perú, 1973–1998

This article examines why and how states use the legal and organisational construction of the state-owned enterprise (SOE) to deal with environmental and social crises. In 1973, in response to a drastic collapse in the world’s largest fishery, the Peruvian state nationalised its anchoveta fishing fleet and factories while hastily creating Pesca Perú, an SOE given a monopoly on industrial catch and exploitation of the resource. Pesca Perú struggled with a dual mandate and governments with widely varying ideas of how the Peruvian economy should be organised. In the early 1980s the enterprise lost its production monopoly due as much to environmental factors as to political decisions. It was eventually privatised in the 1990s. While generally regarded as a failed business, Pesca Perú was a useful tool for a state with limited resources to pursue governance and developmental objectives.