Policy Domains Research Articles

Mission-Life Approach: A Road towards Energy and Environmental Sustainability in India

A growing interest in human adaptation to climatic fluctuation and change is indicated by recent advances in the policy domain as well as in the research community about the implications of climate change. However, little is known about the nature and mechanisms of human climate adaptation, and direct research on the subject is rarely conducted. In effects research, human responses of one kind or another are frequently taken for granted. The analyses that do focus on adaptation employ a range of interpretations and points of view, leading to an insufficient and occasionally erroneous knowledge of how humans adjust to changes in their surroundings. Climate change and environmental degradation are two prominent global issues in our current era. Therefore, in order to guarantee the long-lasting advancement of the nation's economic sectors, including production patterns, it is crucial to enforce efficient policies and laws with the goal of decreasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study is done to see how mission life plays an effective role in environmental sustainability and help to energy efficiency with mitigation of climate change and reduce green house impact and how it plays a major road towards sustainable development. The motivation to enhance the standard of living and prevent environmental deterioration through the utilisation of energy efficiency.

Advancing sustainable futures through education: A Montpellier case study on student-led advocacy for transdisciplinary approaches

This paper examines the transformative potential of integrating transdisciplinarity and systems thinking into educational practices, anchored in a participatory initiative by the Montpellier Advanced Knowledge Institute on Transitions (MAK'IT). The study centres on engaging master’s and doctoral students in co-creating educational proposals, underscoring the importance of a student-centred approach to tackle the diverse challenges of the 21st century. A preliminary brainstorming session allowed students to express their motivations, identify key themes, and lay the groundwork for further development. This culminated in a public conference where students presented their transformative education proposals. This conference facilitated interactions between students, a panel of experts spanning education, research, policy domains, and a broader audience, fostering critical dialogue. Key findings from this conference underscore the necessity of allocating resources, dismantling knowledge silos, addressing student inequalities, and enhancing educator preparedness. The study highlights the significance of multi-stakeholder dialogues in co-constructing transformative educational frameworks and suggests that educational institutions have a pivotal role in bridging the gap between science, policy, and society. Despite the promise, several challenges to curriculum revision emerge, including the need for immersive learning environments that demand adequate resources. The structure of tertiary institutions, often segregated into distinct faculties and departments, presents another barrier to fostering transdisciplinarity. Additionally, administrative constraints, particularly for international students, add to these challenges and call for nuanced strategies in advancing transformative education.

Securitization versus sovereignty? Multi-level governance, scientific objectivation, and the discourses of the Canadian and American heads of state during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The global health regime is caught in a paradox, whereby connecting "human" to "(inter)national" security to prevent the spread of infectious diseases unwittingly introduces into this complex and expertise-reliant domain of "low politics" the notion of "sovereign decisionism"-states' prerogative to identify a threat and counter it with exceptional measures that may in turn constrain their ability to unilaterally securitize disease. This article introduces an analytical framework presenting three pathways through which state leaders with different conceptions of sovereignty and varying constraints on their legitimacy among their domestic audiences may nevertheless securitize policy domains traditionally considered as falling within the scope of sub-state "low politics." Two of the pathways begin with scientific objectivation rather than politicization, and one trades power concentration for collaboration with sub-state and global authorities. I then compare the Canadian and American responses during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic to uncover how these contextual factors disposed Donald Trump to politicize COVID-19, while Justin Trudeau emulated the World Health Organization's securitization of the virus without centralizing state powers.

Foreword for the Collection of Papers from the Workshop on the Analysis of Census Noisy Measurement Files and Differential Privacy

The 2022 Workshop on the Analysis of Census Noisy Measurement Files and Differential Privacy brought together research experts from many domains of social sciences, demography, public policy, statistics, and computer science to address key challenges in the use of the differentially private Census noisy measurement files to support social research and policy decisions.

Socioeconomic and Environmental Prospects of the Food Industry

Food production systems and consumption patterns are significant contributors to the social, economic, and environmental impacts of the industry, which swap with changing population demographics. The life cycle assessment approach has been increasingly utilized to evaluate the agricultural and food processing systems to ensure reliable and evidence-based support for decision-making for both industry stakeholders and policymakers. This study discusses the key social, economic, and environmental impacts of various food processing sectors, especially greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, land, water, and energy use. Impacts vary widely depending on the types of foods, their sources, and supply chains. The animal (excluding poultry) slaughtering, rendering, and processing category has the highest contributions in both socioeconomic and environmental impacts out of all food and beverage processing industries. The food industry touches transdisciplinary policy domains and is recognized as dynamic and complex. It is thus important to adopt an integrated approach involving stakeholders from all policy domains associated with food supply chains to ensure the sustainability of the food industry. A broader sustainability check must be adopted for any strategic change in the food industry to reduce the risks to its sustainability and avoid rebound effects on society.

Innovative strategies and forward thinking on China’s digital maritime law enforcement

In the digital era, the limitations of traditional maritime law enforcement models have become apparent. China actively promotes digital maritime law enforcement and has conducted thorough exploration across policy, technology, and legal domains. The primary legal foundation is the Coast Guard Law, bolstered by policy initiatives like the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road”, the “Maritime Community with a Shared Future” strategy, and the “Technology Empowers the Marine” plan. By coupling law and technology, China’s digital maritime law enforcement has innovatively established a three-dimensional enforcement model of “online + offline” at sea. It utilizes artificial intelligence to assist in maritime law enforcement decision-making, employs big data sharing for collaborative maritime law enforcement, and advances maritime compliance enforcement by digital technology. Through case analysis and effectiveness assessment, China’s digital maritime law enforcement has yielded significant results. Nonetheless, it also encounters various challenges, including data privacy infringement, cybersecurity attacks, the legitimacy of digital evidence collection, and data sharing barriers. Therefore, at the institutional level, standardizing digital maritime law enforcement procedures and establishing both horizontal and vertical coordination mechanisms are imperative. At the technical level, introducing privacy protection technologies and increasing investment in network security technologies are necessary. At the conceptual level, China should adhere to data ethics principles and strengthen awareness of open data sharing. The future of the oceans is digital, and China should advance the modernization of national maritime governance through digital maritime law enforcement.

Identifying menstrual deficit: A feminist analysis of Bangladesh's national menstrual hygiene management strategy 2021

Historically, males have dominated the policy domain, and women have held more direct practice roles; therefore, male analysts do not use a gender lens in formulating a policy or strategy paper. Similarly, the Bangladesh government, with a working group predominantly composed of men, created the National Menstrual Hygiene Management Strategy 2021 for the first time to ensure that "no girl or woman is left behind" in exercising their fundamental rights. This study's goal, from a feminist perspective, was to evaluate the extent to which the government has overcome patriarchal restraints in the development of eight strategies for menstruation. Following the qualitative approach, we used the desk research method to review the strategy. This analysis shows that the strategy refollows patriarchal norms resulting in menstruation being considered a social phenomenon rather than a biological phenomenon.

Consent as Social Reproduction: Making Space for the Transformative Labour of Refugee and Migrant Anti-violence Advocates in Australia

ABSTRACT Following #MeToo, sexual violence and consent have become more important to Australian governments, policy makers, and organisations addressing gender-based violence. Locating consent in a specific social system of ‘labour’, this article takes social reproduction as an entry point to examine the experiences of refugee and migrant anti-violence advocates in Australia. I suggest that current discourses of consent, as bodily autonomy and judicial power, act as a site of social reproduction through the creation of norms that uphold patriarchy and whiteness. Considered in this way, marginalised groups such as refugee and migrant women are not afforded adequate space and resources to theorise consent based on their own lived experiences. Interview participants (n = 19) are active in their ethnic and faith communities addressing GBV, as well as in organisations such as NGOs and policy domains. Utilising a lens of ‘Transformative Labour’ (Swanson, Resha Terae, and Erin Devorah Carreon. 2024. “Uncovering the Transformative Labor in Black Women’s Community Work.” Affilia, 08861099231223935. https://doi.org/10.1177/08861099231223935), the findings demonstrate the limits of consent when applied to refugee and migrant communities; the ways a history of different feminisms play out in current front-line interventions; and how mainstream, dominant groups might make space for marginalised groups to articulate their own identities, and the time and resources to theorise consent based on their own struggles.

The differential impact of evidence types in policy decisions: comparing evidence priorities in employment and education ministries

ABSTRACT Evidence-based policy-making has received increasing attention among governments in recent decades. However, comparative research examining patterns of evidence impact and administrative priorities for different forms of evidence remains scarce. In response, this article investigates the impact of different evidence types in two Danish ministries – the Ministry of Employment and the Ministry of Children and Education – characterized by similar analytical capacities but different strategies and criteria for prioritizing and using evidence. Applying a novel document matching method to analyze 1159 research publications and policy decisions from 2015–2021 about Danish active labor market policies and public school policies, the article shows how causal effect evidence has to a greater extent influenced policy decisions in the Ministry of Employment than in the Ministry of Children and Education. The article proposes that the observed variation between the policy domains can be attributed to ministerial evidence strategies, shaping administrative perceptions of the relevance and usefulness of different types of evidence. Based on the results, the article discusses the implications of prioritizing particular evidence types in ministries, considering variations between study designs and their appropriateness for different policy needs and purposes.

Towards sustainable growth paths for work integration social enterprises in the circular economy

An important presumed social impact of the circular economy (CE) is job-creation for vulnerable groups. This creates opportunities for Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISEs), which are established to organize economic activities for workers with a distance to the labour market. In this paper, we identify challenges, opportunities, and sustainability aspects for WISEs in the CE. We apply Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model results and conduct 20 expert interviews, providing an empirical contribution to recent research agendas on the social impact of the CE and the role of WISEs in Circular Societies. Our results show that WISEs should not take job-creating opportunities of the CE for granted, most specifically in the business-to-business (B2B) markets they are active in. While WISEs conceive competitive advantages to perform core CE jobs, they need to develop organisational capabilities to convert this potential into high added value activities within regionally embedded circular value chains. When identifying conditions for sustainable growth paths, we reveal a strong interconnectedness between social, environmental, and economic dimensions. We recommend management professionals and policy makers to measure, validate, and communicate social and circularity outcomes and invest in partnerships along value chains and across policy domains.

Empowering women in central banking

ABSTRACT When are women appointed to the board of central banks? While progressive societal gender norms may facilitate women's ascension to leadership positions, recent research indicates that women are more likely to assume leadership positions during crisis periods. Because of the widely documented 'male dominance' in the policy domain of central banking, analyzing changes in women's descriptive representation on central bank boards provides a unique laboratory to study the role of women in economic policymaking. Building on previous literature on women's political leadership, we argue that sovereign debt crises are powerful catalysts for lifting women into leadership positions. We hypothesize that appointing women to central bank leadership positions during sovereign financial distress signals a policy change to bolster monetary policy credibility. Using data covering 90 countries from 2000 to 2017, we show that women are more likely to be appointed to central bank leadership positions during a sovereign debt crisis. A sovereign debt crisis increases the likelihood of women’s appointments to a central bank board by 21.1 percent. To mitigate concerns that our results are spurious, we implement a battery of robustness checks. Our study suggests that women's empowerment can be beneficial in restoring monetary policy credibility during sovereign financial distress.

Building the NHPI Data Policy Platform to Identify the Most Pressing SDOH Policy Domains for the NHPI Community

Abstract: Access to accurate Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) social drivers of health (SDOH) data is crucial for understanding health needs and shaping effective public health strategies. However, this data often gets obscured within broader racial and ethnic categories making NHPI issues invisible. Moreover, NHPI communities face barriers when published data formats are inaccessible to community-based organization staff. To tackle these challenges, we initiated the Assessing Social Determinants of Health Data Through Local Data Intermediaries Initiative (AHEAD), supported by the federal Office of Minority Health. We developed two community-centered resources: 1. The NH PI Data Policy Platform, shaped by 138 NHPI community leaders from 13 states and Washington, D.C., representing nine NHPI subgroups. This platform highlights NHPI priority issues and provides equitable data policy recommendations for advocates and policymakers. 2. An NHP I SDOH Dashboard for California Counties, tailored to offer accessible data for community-based organization staff, ensuring better-informed interventions and support.

Meditation modalities for ADHD in minority pediatric populations in the USA: a scoping review.

Roughly 10% of children aged 3 -17 in the USA are diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and minorities are less likely to initiate common pharmacologic treatment. We conducted a review of the literature to examine meditation as a safe, effective, and low-cost alternative. We searched PubMed and other journals using "meditation," "mindfulness," "minority," related keywords, and relevant MeSH terms. Eligible studies involved racial/ethnic minorities in the USA, reported quantitative psychosocial outcomes, and were published in a peer-reviewed, English-language journal. Out of 119 "hits," 111 were eliminated as duplicates or were not relevant. A full-text review of the remaining eight revealed that none fully met our eligibility criteria. Besides the obvious lack of studies, those reviewed reported incomplete demographic and clinical data. They also employed different and inconsistent research methodologies, interventions and modalities, and statistical analyses. This hindered understanding exactly which populations may benefit from meditation, and for which specific symptoms. We recommend a socio-ecological model in examining intervention modalities, especially in the context of intrapersonal, interpersonal, organizational, environmental, and policy domains. We also suggest the possible inclusion of research older than 10 years, conducted outside of the USA, on minority and non-minority populations, for supplementary and confirmatory data. We advocate for consistency in study design and data collection, which would help align research conducted in different countries. Searches should also include variations of meditation such as "mindfulness" and "guided imagery," and associated symptoms and comorbidities of ADHD, including "learning disorder" and "behavioral problems."

Which government policies to create sustainable food systems have the potential to simultaneously address undernutrition, obesity and environmental sustainability?

IntroductionA transformation of food systems is urgently needed, given their contribution to three ongoing and interlinked global health pandemics: (1) undernutrition and food insecurity, (2) obesity and non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and (3) climate change and biodiversity loss. As policymakers make decisions that shape food systems, this study aimed to identify and prioritise policies with double- or triple-duty potential to achieve healthier and more environmentally sustainable food systems.MethodsThis study undertook a 4-step methodological approach, including (i) a compilation of international policy recommendations, (ii) an online survey, (iii) four regional workshops with international experts and (iv) a ranking for prioritisation. Policies were identified and prioritised based on their double- or triple-duty potential, synergies and trade-offs. Using participatory and transdisciplinary approaches, policies were identified to have double- or triple-duty potential if they were deemed effective in tackling two or three of the primary outcomes of interest: (1) undernutrition, (2) obesity/NCDs and (3) environmental degradation.ResultsThe desk review identified 291 recommendations for governments, which were merged and classified into 46 initially proposed policies. Based on the results from the online survey, 61% of those policies were perceived to have double- or triple-duty potential. During the workshops, 4 potential synergies and 31 trade-offs of these policies were identified. The final list of 44 proposed policies for healthier and more environmentally sustainable food systems created was divided into two main policy domains: ‘food supply chains’ and ‘food environments’. The outcome with the most trade-offs identified was ‘undernutrition’, followed by ‘environmental sustainability’, and ‘obesity/NCDs’. Of the top five expert-ranked food supply chain policies, two were perceived to have triple-duty potential: (a) incentives for crop diversification; (b) support for start-ups, and small- and medium-sized enterprises. For food environments, three of the top five ranked policies had perceived triple-duty potential: (a) affordability of healthier and more sustainable diets; (b) subsidies for healthier and more sustainable foods; (c) restrictions on children's exposure to marketing through all media.ConclusionThis study identified and prioritised a comprehensive list of double- and triple-duty government policies for creating healthier and more environmentally sustainable food systems. As some proposed policies may have trade-offs across outcomes, they should be carefully contextualised, designed, implemented and monitored.

Assessing the implementation of evidence-based alcohol policies on Atlantic Canadian post-secondary campuses: A comparative analysis

ObjectiveThis study assessed the quality of campus alcohol policies against best practice to assist campus decision-makers in strengthening their campus alcohol policies and reducing student alcohol use and harm.MethodsDrawing on empirical literature and expert opinion, we developed an evidence-based scoring rubric to assess the quality of campus alcohol policies across 10 alcohol policy domains. Campus alcohol policy data were collected from 12 Atlantic Canadian universities. All extracted data were verified by the institutions and then scored.ResultsOn average, post-secondary institutions are implementing only a third of the evidence-based alcohol policies captured by the 10 domains assessed. The average campus policy score was 33% (range 15‒49%). Of the 10 domains examined, only enforcement achieved an average score above 50%, followed closely by leadership and surveillance at 48%. The two heaviest-weighted domains—availability and access, and advertising and sponsorship—had average scores of 27% and 24%, respectively. However, if post-secondary campuses adopted the highest scoring policies from across all 12 campuses, they could achieve a score of 74%, indicating improvement is possible.ConclusionAtlantic Canadian universities are collectively achieving less than half their potential to reduce student alcohol-related harm. However, this study identifies opportunities where policies can be enhanced or modified. The fact that most policies are present at one or more campuses highlights that policy recommendations are an achievable goal for campuses. Campuses are encouraged to look to each other as models for improving their own policies.

Gender, Intraparty Competition, and the Substantive Focus of Parliamentary Questions in South Africa

Extant research suggests that women ask more parliamentary questions (PQs) on soft policy domains while their male peers focus on hard domains, which are arguably more relevant. This study contributes to this body of research by examining how electoral incentives shape intraparty politics, and specifically the substantive focus of PQs. It argues that women’s focus on soft policy domains is not constant, with variations found in situations where intraparty competition is high. Female MPs will have fewer incentives to focus on soft policy domains if they are electorally vulnerable and as elections draw closer. The mechanism is clear: Women face strong bias in parliament, which means they need to work harder to stand on an equal footing with their male counterparts. As a result, rather than shying away from competition, they will try to maximize their career prospects by shifting their attention to (hard) policy domains that are considered more important to both parties and voters. These claims are tested in the case of South Africa, drawing upon a novel dataset of PQs from 2006 to 2023. South Africa is an interesting case study as it is one of the most feminized parliaments in Africa and has strong electoral incentives for intraparty competition. The findings confirm most theoretical expectations and clarify the electoral and gender-related predispositions that drive the substantive focus of questions.

Entrepreneurship at the edge? The characteristics and role of creative entrepreneurs in peripheral regions

ABSTRACT To advance the understanding of the nature and dynamics of creative entrepreneurship in specific contexts, this paper explores how creative entrepreneurship both shapes and is shaped by its peripheral context. This paper adds to the growing work that is helping us understand that when looking at the periphery through the lens of cultural and creative practice we find a much more nuanced set of relations between place and practice. We focus on geographically separate regions facing the same obstacles of geographic peripherality. Underpinning the findings are semi-structured interviews reflecting the experience of creative entrepreneurs in North East Iceland, Västernorrland in Mid Sweden and the western region of Ireland. While we recognise that problems still exist in the creative industries policy domain, we argue that policy supports would be best designed in line with the characteristics of the sector in particular places. This work also helps to develop knowledge of the multifaceted role of the creative entrepreneur in peripheral societies and economies.

Participatory Systems Thinking to Elucidate Drivers of Food Access and Diet Disparities among Minoritized Urban Populations.

The purpose of this study was to use participatory systems thinking to develop a dynamic conceptual framework of racial/ethnic and other intersecting disparities (e.g., income) in food access and diet in Philadelphia and to identify policy levers to address these disparities. We conducted three group model building workshops, each consisting of a series of scripted activities. Key artifacts or outputs included qualitative system maps, or causal loop diagrams, identifying the variables, relationships, and feedback loops that drive diet disparities in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We used semi-structured methods informed by inductive thematic analysis and network measures to synthesize findings into a single causal loop diagram. There were twenty-nine participants with differing vantages and expertise in Philadelphia's food system, broadly representing the policy, community, and research domains. In the synthesis model, participants identified 14 reinforcing feedback loops and one balancing feedback loop that drive diet and food access disparities in Philadelphia. The most highly connected variables were upstream factors, including those related to racism (e.g., residential segregation) and community power (e.g., community land control). Consistent with existing frameworks, addressing disparities will require a focus on upstream social determinants. However, existing frameworks should be adapted to emphasize and disrupt the interdependent, reinforcing feedback loops that maintain and exacerbate disparities in fundamental social causes. Our findings suggest that promising policies include those that empower minoritized communities, address socioeconomic inequities, improve community land control, and increase access to affordable, healthy, and culturally meaningful foods.

Responding to the West’s environmental security paradox: organic national security and the contemporary state embrace of severe anthropogenic environmental degradation, contamination, and vanishing (SEDCOV)

ABSTRACT Western nations ultimately rely for all aspects of their security and survival upon the natural, non-human world, yet they are currently degrading and depleting it to an extreme and potentially terminal extent. Recognizing this security paradox, scholars and policymakers have, in recent years, begun to renew and expand upon the West’s decades-old uneasy acknowledgement of the national security relevance of global anthropogenic environmental decline. However, important gaps in this renewed discourse remain. Approaches rooted in environmental science and environmental studies tend to frame the problem in simple biophysical terms instead of using the political and power frames of reference of actual states. On the other main side of the renewed discourse, Western national security apparatuses themselves (and their adjacent expert communities) have adopted a problematic neo-traditional approach, focusing on predicting which new strategic conditions and threats global environmental decline will generate, and how a largely status quo, intact state should prepare to respond to these conditions. This side of the renewed discourse arguably grossly underestimates environmental decline’s truly radical potential to destabilise the domestic state as well as external powers, and also avoids the central problem that a key origin of this decline is mundane Western state behaviour. This paper aims to introduce two new elements into Western national security community approaches to global environmental decline. First, I introduce a new way of defining organic national security and suggest why this may be a useful concept in evaluating and pursuing national security in the 21st century. Second, I lay out how re-attaining a modicum of organic national security will require that the West first reappraise its own contemporary embrace and normalisation of severe anthropogenic environmental degradation, contamination, and vanishing (SEDCOV) across nearly every policy domain.

Social capital and performance of public councils in Kazakhstan

This study applies Putnam’s social capital thesis to an examination of the impact of social capital (social trust, formal networks and norms) on public councils’ performance in Kazakhstan. As public councils aim to express citizens’ opinions on socially significant problems, this inquiry measures their performance by examining their impact on social issues in various policy domains. Drawing on data collected from four regions of Kazakhstan, we found that social trust and cooperation norms have a positive impact on public councils’ effectiveness, while formal networking has no influence. The limited significance of formal networking in the local context is explained by the state-led nature of civil society. This article contributes to the literature on social capital and government performance in authoritarian states.