Policy Failure Research Articles

The policy failures of rental housing: Plumbing poverty in Detroit, Michigan

ABSTRACT The lack of access to in-home running water from inadequate plumbing is a critical water insecurity challenge in the U.S. Using the concept of plumbing poverty, this paper investigates why housing policies in Detroit, Michigan, have failed to ensure adequate plumbing and water security for renters using interviews with city employees, community groups, renters, and property managers. We find that unresponsive landlords enabled by historical housing mismanagement and ineffective rental ordinance design and implementation perpetuate inadequate plumbing for Detroit renters. While we identify three tools to address inadequate plumbing, several barriers prevent their use. For renters, barriers include social power dynamics, structural inequalities in the legal system, and a lack of capacity. Meanwhile, the city faces financial, personnel, and knowledge constraints that prevent adequate enforcement. Our findings provide new insight into the connections between historical housing dynamics, policy implementation, and the precarity of landlord-tenant relations in perpetuating water insecurity.

The Failure of Minimum Service Standards Policy: An Analysis of State Capacity

This study aims to uncover the failure of the Minimum Service Standard policy using analysis in terms of state capacity. Minimum Service Standards (MSS) are an effort to overcome inequality in Indonesia’s decentralization era. Various policy changes have been made, however, service achievements are not always optimal, which causes disparities between regions to be indisputable. This study uses a qualitative approach with a descriptive type by interviewing 11 informants who are the main actors of MSS in several ministries related to the field of MSS. The results showed that failures in implementing governance spread from coaching actors, namely the government and actors directly involved, namely local governments, and the non-collaborative policy-making process proved to weaken state capacity, so that MSS implementation policies failed to overcome public service inequality in the era of decentralization.
 Keywords: policy failure, minimum service standard, state capacity

AI 디지털교과서에 대한 예비교사의 사용의도 및 인식 분석

Objectives Ministry of Education is promoting the development and introduction of AI digital textbooks as one of its measures for digital-based educational innovation. Changes in teachers' behavior are crucial for educational innovation, and the success or failure of policies will be influenced by pre-service teachers' perception of AI digital textbooks. The purpose of this study is to analyze the pre-service teachers' intention to use of AI digital textbooks and identify the factors that affect their acceptance of this innovation, in order to determine how to increase the actual cceptance among pre-service teachers.
 Methods Based on the Extension of the Technology Acceptance Model, hypothesis model of the study was proposed by adding variables such as subjective norms, compatibility, and innovativeness. To verify the hypothesis model, an online survey was conducted on 189 pre-service teachers to investigate their intention of use and perception of AI digital textbooks, and multiple regression analysis was conducted based on the survey results.
 Results The regression model, which examines the relationship between perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, compatibility, subjective norm, and intention to use, was found to explain 63.3% of the variance in intention to use. Perceived usefulness, compatibility, and subjective norm demonstrated a statistically significant influence on the intention to use. Contrarily, no significant effect of perceived ease of use and innovation on the intention to use was found.
 Conclusions The conclusion of this study is as follows. First, rather than emphasizing the convenience of AI digital textbooks, promoting awareness of their usefulness for improving teaching and learning can contribute to the wider adoption of AI digital textbooks. Second, given the impact of social relations on pre-service teachers, it is imperative to provide support to enable teachers to engage in discussions about AI digital textbooks and their integration into teaching and learning plans. Third, promoting the use of AI digital textbooks to teachers can be achieved by effectively conveying the necessity and value of personalized education to be realized through them.

Hopeless Waiting and Apprehension of Missing Out

Abstract This research examines the intersection between the policy issues and the experiences Iraqis have with cellular broadband connections (CBCs) in rural Iraq. Findings imply that the Iraqi rural broadband policy has failed in the following areas: subsidy, licenses, and tax relief. These failures happen due to favoring private cellular broadband providers (CBPs) over rural public interest. Further, the policy failure affected rural Iraqis in the following aspects: social seclusion, apprehension of missing out, waiting without hope, and limited alternatives. This research brings new information about the Iraqi telecom sector that could contribute to filling the knowledge gap in this field.

The publicness of voluntary action during crisis: From resilience mechanisms to resistance tactics

ABSTRACT Although the volunteerism approach is regarded as a helpful strategy, critical concerns arise regarding the dynamics of vulnerability and the publicness of disaster-affected communities’ collective action. This study aims to examine the publicness meaning of public interest and its function in enhancing resilience capacity through voluntary action. Using a hermeneutic approach, this study investigates the collective action of “Canthelan” food sharing within the environmental structure of the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, during the COVID-19 outbreak. The findings indicate that voluntary action in the context of “Canthelan” is a response to crises accumulated by the pandemic’s socioeconomic threat, the emergence of societal vulnerabilities, and the failure of social protection policies. Voluntary action functions as an alternative resilience mechanism for vulnerable and disadvantaged communities by providing access to and control over food resources in an egalitarian interaction space. Simultaneously, the constructed mechanisms become structurally aggregated knowledge narratives and manifestations of contestation concerning the development of resilience. Voluntary action mechanisms contribute to the development of social resilience through the mediation process, which is a process of mutual support and interaction to face and adapt to threats. However, the deterministic view of power authority hinders the transformative capacity of voluntary action.

Do shifts in the racial and ethnic composition of a neighborhood lead to extreme changes in commuting times? evidence from New York City

From 2000 to 2016, NYC average commuting times increased by a marginal 0.24 s across all transit modes. Depending on one’s viewpoint, this could be a policy success due to no significant increase in commuting times or it could be a policy failure due to no substantial decrease in commuting time over almost two decades. Nevertheless, many census tracts actually experienced extreme increases or decreases in commuting times. The goal of this paper is to examine these extreme changes by focusing on understanding how changes in census tracts', racial and ethnic compositions influence commuting time changes. Analyzing NYC as a case study, we use logistic regressions with eigenvector spatial filtering (ESF) to identify the likelihood of extreme changes in commuting time from 2000 to 2016 given changes in various neighborhood characteristics. Overall, census tracts experiencing increases in Black, Asian, and Hispanic or Latino residents, female-headed households, and workers in professional occupations as well as higher highway densities are likely to have experienced extreme increases in commuting times. Meanwhile, census tracts experiencing increases in White residents, income, rental occupancy, housing burden, and proportions of their census tract within a subway shed are likely to have experienced extreme decreases in commuting times. The results for race and ethnicity support existing research indicating that racial and ethnic minorities are likelier to experience longer commuting times compared to White residents. The importance of our research, though, lies in showing that even when overall commuting times remain relatively stable, racial/ethnic minorities still face commuting disadvantages.

Hiding the elephant: The tragedy of COVID policy and its economist apologists

AbstractIn 2020 and 2021, the world witnessed policies that caused enormous net damage to most countries. We demonstrate the usefulness of the new WELLBY currency in gauging the costs and benefits of COVID policies and review the contributions of Australian economists to the scholarly and public debates about these policies. Our analysis documents the value of what was destroyed, the weak resistance mounted by the Australian economics profession during this period, and the role played by many Australian economists as apologists for what we view as Australia's most catastrophic peacetime economic policy failure. We close with ideas for working towards a better future.

Zur alten und neuen Logik der Agrarpolitik in Europa: Gibt es effektive Steuerungsmechanismen einer nachhaltigen Landwirtschaft?

Abstract Few policies have been as heavily criticised as European agricultural policy. Consequently, since its establishment in 1962, it has been in a continuous process of reform, encompassing six major reforms in the last 30 years alone. The central question arises: What is the logic behind the endless reform history of EU agricultural policy? Are agricultural reforms fundamentally a logical consequence of changing objectives or structural conditions, and thus dynamically efficient? Or do they represent a sequence of unsuccessful political learning processes and thus a perpetual policy failure? The latter implies that there are more efficient policy options that would be politically feasible given the democratic power relations and decision-making processes in place.

The Decline of Turkey as a Subimperialist Power: Political Economy of the Turkish Foreign Policy under AKP Rule

ABSTRACT Turkish foreign policy during the AKP era has been under academic scrutiny for a long time, but the outcome of the analyses has often varied considerably. Yet most of this research agrees upon one thing, which is that Turkey under the AKP has become more active and more influential, both in its region and in the international arena. While accepting Turkey’s continuing relevancy, this paper argues that, although Turkey still could be considered as a regional power, its capacity for influencing regional and global politics had been eroded considerably in the last decade. At first glance, Turkey’s recent U-turns and failures in foreign policy under Erdoğan’s personalized style could be identified as the main reason for this erosion. However, building on Ruy Mauro Marini’s conceptualization of subimperialism, this paper contends that it is actually conditioned by the neoliberal restructuring of the Turkish economy in the last four decades, which has transformed Turkey’s economic structure in a very profound manner.

Changes in harm reduction service providers professional quality of life during dual public health emergencies in Canada

BackgroundHarm reduction (HR) is a critical response to the pronounced toxicity deaths being experienced in Canada. HR providers report many benefits of their jobs, but also encounter chronic stress from structural inequities and exposure to trauma and death. This research study sought to quantify the emotional toll the toxicity emergency placed on HR providers (Cycle One; 2019). Study objectives were later expanded to determine the impact of the ongoing toxicity as well as the pandemic’s impact on well-being (Cycle Two; 2021).MethodsStandardized measures of job satisfaction, burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and vulnerability to grief were used in an online national survey. Open-ended questions addressed resources and supports. HR partners across Canada validated the findings and contributed to alternative interpretations and implications.Results651 respondents in Cycle One and 1,360 in Cycle Two reported moderately high levels of job satisfaction; they reported finding great meaning in their work. Yet, mean levels of burnout and secondary traumatic stress were moderate, with the latter significantly increasing in Cycle Two. Reported vulnerability to grief was moderate but increased significantly during COVID. When available, supports lacked the quality necessary to respond to the complexities of HR workers’ experiences, or an insufficient number of sessions were covered through benefits. Respondents shared that their professional quality of life was affected more by policy failures and gaps in the healthcare system than it was by the demands of their jobs.ConclusionBoth the benefits and the strain of providing harm reduction services cannot be underestimated. For HR providers, these impacts are compounded by the drug toxicity emergency, making the service gaps experienced by them all the more critical to address. Implications highlight the need for integration of HR into the healthcare system, sustainable and reliable funding, sufficient counselling supports, and equitable staffing models. Support for this essential workforce is critical to ensuring the well-being of themselves, the individuals they serve, and the health of the broader healthcare system.

Partition violence, Mountbatten and the Sikhs: A reassessment

ABSTRACT Despite major advances in the historiography of the partition, the causes of violence remain poorly understood. Drawing on new archival material, this article argues that violence in the Punjab resulted from the failure of the British Sikh policy from 1939. Mountbatten's complicity in the massacres, and his defence against the allegations, point to a wider policy failure. Systematic blame displacement for the violence onto the Sikhs by the Government of Pakistan, India, Britain, enabled the latter and Mountbatten to avoid responsibility for the consequences of the transfer of power to two highly centralised dominions for religious minorities.

Defining a ‘Just Energy Investment’ for the ASEAN Just Transition

Governments across the world have been updating their energy and climate policies since the 2015 Paris Agreement. One common feature is the advent of long-term plans for a net-zero economy for 2050 and also in some cases to 2060. To meet these long-term net-zero targets therefore, significant investment in new and clean energy infrastructure is needed. This research focuses on how to ensure that this required energy investment happens in a ‘just’ way, i.e., it contributes to fairness, equity, equality and inclusiveness. Recently, countries such as the United States, South Africa and Colombia have incorporated justice principles into their energy and climate policies. This research builds on this and is the first to assess justice in consideration of these time horizons along with its focus on the 10 South-East Asian nations, known as ASEAN countries. The data analysed here provides insight into how energy investments are developing in these countries, whether justice policies are aligned and therefore how to avoid energy policy failure. Further, as well as the conceptual advances, this research provides a model for a Just Energy Investment (JEI) Index based on the five energy justice principles. The analysis here focuses on countries of the Global South where there exists limited research that looks at the performance over time of the combined issue of energy investments and justice; this demonstrates this research as a significant contribution to the literature. This research marks a first step in delivering justice in new energy development as these economies build towards their 2050 and 2060 energy and climate targets.

Laughing at Failure or Failing to Laugh: Humour as a Strategy for Dealing With Foreign Policy Failure?

The paper considers the role of humour in dealing with failure in foreign policy and brings insights together from the studies of policy failure, humour studies, customer service management and crisis communication. It investigates how research in customer service management and crisis communication points to the use of humour as an additional strategy for dealing with foreign policy failure. This research has provided valuable insights into the benefits of humour for dealing with minor service failure, reducing the level of damage done to the standing of the actor responsible for the failure. The paper transfers these insights into IR and investigates the benefits and drawbacks of self-deprecating humour by policy makers responsible for failure. To illustrate this, we consider the humour employed by US President George W. Bush at the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2004 when making fun of his administration’s inability to find weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq. We argue that humour can be a tool to address policy failure only in front of a sympathetic audience when humour can be a means of addressing the cognitive tension between support for a policy and its empirical failure.

Does green credit benefit the clean energy technological innovation and how? The policy catering behavior of enterprises

Green credit can alleviate the financing constraints of green enterprises, and thus is an important policy to encourage green development and mitigate climate change. However, how green credit affects the technological innovation of clean energy enterprise (TICEE) and the role of corporate policy catering behavior (CPCB) both need to be further explored. Therefore, the impact mechanisms of green credit and the roles of CPCB are empirically tested by the mediation model and moderation model, respectively. Compared with large, eastern and mature enterprises, green credit plays a stronger positive role in the technological innovation of small, central and western and growing enterprises. Green credit optimizes enterprises' debt financing by alleviating financing constraints, reducing debt costs and extending debt maturity structure, thus driving technological innovation. Besides, the two most typical types of CPCB — research and development (R&D) manipulation and rent-seeking — weaken the positive effect of green credit on TICEE. However, CPCB weakens less on the quality of innovation of large, mature and eastern enterprises. Accordingly, green credit should be strengthened to promote TICEE, and the supervision of corporate speculation should also be strengthened to avoid the policy's failure.

Bureaucratic overload and organizational policy triage: A comparative study of implementation agencies in five European countries

AbstractResearch on policy implementation traditionally has focused on understanding the success or failure of individual policies within specific contexts. Little attention has been given to the challenges that emerge from the cumulative growth of policy portfolios over time. This paper is addressing this research gap by examining the phenomenon of organizational policy triage, which occurs when implementation organizations face overload and are forced to make trade‐off decisions between the implementation of the different policies in their portfolios. We investigate empirical patterns of policy triage across 16 social and environmental implementation agencies in five European countries (Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, and UK). We show that variation in policy triage can be explained by the combination of three central factors: blame‐shifting opportunities, the mobilization of external resources, and the commitment to compensate for overload by implementation authorities.

Is there an East–West divide on democracy in the European Union? Evidence from democratic backsliding and attitudes towards rule of law interventions

ABSTRACT Perceptions of an East–West divide in the European Union (EU) with regard to democracy have led to re-evaluations of EU eastern enlargement as a policy failure and militate against further enlargement. This article examines the accuracy of narratives of an intra-EU East–West divide on democracy, in which the western member states outperform the eastern members, and in which the former support, and the latter oppose, rule of law (RoL) interventions by the EU in member states engaged in democratic backsliding. The article considers two aspects of a potential democracy divide: the quality of democracy and attitudes towards RoL interventions. It draws on several quantitative indicators for a more comprehensive assessment of intra-EU democracy divides and uses set-theory to identify different in- and out-groups that demarcate such intra-EU divides. Although different indicators and different conceptions of set-membership reveal to varying extents East–West patterns, none fit with a clear regional divide. It is more fruitful to conceive of these differences as a continuum, with (currently) a small group of (western) member states at one end and a small group of (eastern) members at the other, and most member states in distinctive sub-groups in-between.

Analysis of Public Sentiment on COVID-19 Mitigation Measures in Social Media in the United States Using Machine Learning

Public sentiment can impact the implementation of public policies and even cause policy failure if public support is not received. Therefore, knowledge of public sentiment concerning new and emerging policies is critical for policymakers. During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, several precautionary measures have been suggested in an attempt to delay or mitigate the spread of the virus. This study presents a framework that applies natural language processing (NLP) techniques, such as sentiment and bigram analyses, to characterize the public sentiment on three prominent mitigation measures (mask wearing, social distancing, and quarantine) as shared by Twitter users in the United States. As part of the framework, we apply a bigram graph-based approach to visualize the most frequent topics in Twitter discussions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective is to provide insights into the most commonly discussed topics among Twitter users with similar demographic characteristics (e.g., age and gender). The sentiment and bigram analyses identified the most frequently discussed topics expressing both positive and negative sentiments among different age and gender groups. Discussions containing positive sentiment prevailed and revolved around the benefits of the measures and trust in the government, while the topics of negative sentiment involved conspiracy theories, skepticism, and distrust of government mandates. It is also notable that the discussions among people 19–29 and over 40 years old focus on government officials and political parties, benefits or inefficiency of mitigation measures, and conspiracy theories more often than other demographic groups. Our proposed approaches and results offer a novel and potentially valuable contribution to public policymakers.

Deprivation Spatial Concentration in a Developing Country: Evidence from Iran

This study is an attempt to locate deprived areas and explore the causes of spatially concentrated deprivation in Iran as a developing country. A systematic review was conducted of geographical and place‐based analyses that considered multiple deprivation, and deprived parts of the country were identified. Findings show the dominance of relative meaning of the concept in studies that overlap with rural areas and borders. There is good evidence that this part is entrapped in multideprivation as deprived and was identified not only in a single domain; moreover, a strong emphasis was placed on infrastructure, housing, communication, health, income, and employment, while in contrast to the literature, there was no strong emphasis on education. Deprivation was enhanced by increasing migration; it is not just migration of people, especially specialists, but also migration of investments that is important to mobilize deprived settings' potential for an endogenous development. This is essential, as results highlighted the failure of government planning policies to lift the deprived parts of the country out of deprivation; rather they enhance vicious circles of deprivation caused by persistence of the most deprived provinces at the bottom of the ranking list for several decades. Review shows deprivation as a result of inequality in Iran.

The limits to redistribution in small open economies: the case of Argentina

The specialized literature on the political economy of income redistribution in Argentina usually focuses on economic limits. It discusses the incompatibility between redistributive policies and the external balance or their effect on the long-term growth rate. However, less attention has been paid to the political resistance exerted by the winners of international trade to sharing their gains and to the role of financial integration. In this paper, we develop a model, framed in the modern revival of Classical theory, of a small open economy with differential rent to account for these factors. First, we include interests as an income category to assess the impact of financial integration. Second, we introduce the concept of ‘political stalemate’ – the resistance of productive classes to economic policies that go against their economic interest. We show how financial integration and the political resistance of landowners are behind the failure of income redistributive policies in favor of workers. In this context, we analyze the necessary economic and political conditions for such policies to succeed.

Maria Garcia Cristina. 2022. State of disaster: The failure of US migration policy in an age of climate change. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. pp. 235.

Maria Garcia Cristina. 2022. State of disaster: The failure of US migration policy in an age of climate change. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. pp. 235.