Political Expectations Research Articles

Coordinating government silos: challenges and opportunities

The literature on silos in government often focuses on their failure to engage effectively in horizontal coordination. While this is often true, silos-dominant administrative systems may still find ways to overcome or prevent incoherence in government. The problem is not so much with the structure of silos but with the lack of effective coordination mechanisms between them. Therefore, it is important to identify what mechanisms may enable silos to work successfully with each other and under what conditions, so that there will be no need to pursue a total breakdown of silos, which can be politically and administratively costly. Using Hong Kong examples, we distinguish three different types of coordination and examine their effects on silos: informal or semi-formal coordination where administrative elites and professionals use quid pro quos to overcome coordination problems; formal coordination where political expectations, directions and monitoring may mitigate problems; and remedial policy-making where failure is addressed. The Hong Kong case reveals that effective changes may be made by strengthening existing coordinating mechanisms and extending them to the implementation level in a silos-dominant system. Radical reforms may improve coordination but they run the risk of political instability and service disruption.

The political economy of euro area sovereign debt restructuring

The establishment of a sovereign debt restructuring mechanism (SDRM) is one of the important issues in the academic debate on a viable constitution for the European Monetary Union (EMU). Yet the topic seems to be taboo in official reform contributions to the debate. Against this backdrop, the article identifies the SDRM interests of key players, including the European Commission, the European Parliament, the European Central Bank and national governments. The empirical section takes advantage of the recently established EMU Positions Database. The findings confirm political economy expectations: Low-debt countries support an EMU constitution that includes an insolvency procedure whereas a coalition of high-debt countries and European institutions oppose it. The analysis points towards a possible political-economic equilibrium for coping with sovereign insolvencies: an institutional set-up without an SDRM and with hidden transfers. Recent European fiscal innovations in response to the Covid-19 solvency shock confirm this prediction.

The optimistic utopia: sacrifice and expectations of political transformation in the Angolan Revolutionary Movement

The optimistic utopia: sacrifice and expectations of political transformation in the Angolan Revolutionary Movement

«Do you talk about God in this nursery school?». Rhetoric and experience of the sacred in the reform of the Swedish childcare system (1968-1980)

In the second half of the 20th century, the Swedish educational system was subject to two parallel processes of secularization and moralization. The decline of the state church’s hold on schools was accompanied by a growing emphasis on ethics, sense of community and social commitment in curricula and teachers’ mission. The establishment of a state-run nursery school (forskola) in the mid-1970s is a striking example of this cultural dynamic. Drawing on the development and promotion of the new guidelines for forskola in public debate, the article focuses on the interweaving of political and transcendent expectations linked to this project, beyond its patent utilitarian rationale: facilitating women’s participation in the labour market. While standing as the culmination of the most authoritative psycho-evolutionary theories of the time, the ‘work plan’ for day-care staff converted these theories into a practical doctrine, regulating everyday interaction between adults and children: so-called dialogue pedagogics (dialogpedagogik). State-supported campaigns aimed at popularizing the forskola among broader segments of society (parents of young children, immigrants, etc.) were paralleled by the sacralisation of esoteric rituals, spatial arrangements and lexical choices that identify it. Systematically opposed to suffocating family bonds (or to the alienation of the commodity society), the forskola emerges – in the rhetoric of officials of the welfare state – as something greater than a childcare provider. It embodies an enchanted realm, where modern society may enact its redemption from harmful conflicts and detrimental bias, but also a non-adversarial universe impervious to rational assessment.

POLITICAL PREFERENCES OF LEADERS AT THE MUNICIPAL LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT (THE CASE OF THE MOSCOW CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE DISTRICT)

This study analyzes the personal characteristics of municipal leaders in the context of upcoming elections in 2022. The empirical basis of the study was in-depth interviews with heads of municipal districts and a survey of 203 municipal deputies of the Central Administrative District of Moscow regarding their political expectations during the election campaign in 2021. The author proceeds from the understanding of municipal leadership as a political phenomenon. The theoretical basis for this interpretation is modern concepts of political leadership, which pay special attention to personal characteristics of leaders and the concept of local self-government. The result of the study was, first, a conceptual and methodological model for analyzing the personality of leaders at the municipal level of power, within which the key is to determine the main characteristics of representatives of this professional community and their personal characteristics. In addition, the process of collecting empirical data developed guides for in-depth interviews that have universality and applicability beyond Moscow. Data allowed us to propose a classification of municipal deputies according to their political preferences, developed using the methods of distant and contact diagnostics of the personality of municipal leaders.

The Political Economy of Euro Area Sovereign Debt Restructuring

The establishment of a sovereign debt restructuring mechanism (SDRM) is one of the important issues in the academic debate on a viable constitution for the European Monetary Union (EMU). Yet the topic seems to be taboo in official reform contributions to the debate. Against this backdrop, the article identifies the SDRM interests of key players, including the European Commission, the European Parliament, the European Central Bank and national governments. The empirical section takes advantage of the recently established EMU Positions Database. The findings confirm political economy expectations: Low-debt countries support an EMU constitution that includes an insolvency procedure whereas a coalition of high-debt countries and European institutions oppose it. The analysis points towards a possible political-economic equilibrium for coping with sovereign insolvencies: an institutional set-up without a SDRM and with hidden transfers. Recent European fiscal innovations in response to the Covid-19 solvency shock confirm this prediction.

Political Expectation for Readers as Consumers

Political Expectation for Readers as Consumers

VERMITTLUNG UND VERMITTELTHEIT

This essay starts with the observation that the practice of mediation in cultural institutions can become outmoded and -detached from its institutional context -an empty gesture. The process of mediation itself -so the assumption -must be mediated if it is to have any effect. I am interested in sketching an analytical design that can be used to study the mediating structures of mediation. Mediating structures are defined as institutionalorder. Its guiding idea and criteria of rationality, together with social, cultural or political expectations, shape the conditions under which the mediation practice of cultural institutions develops. Historical Institutionalism serves as a theoretical framework. Central concepts will be explained looking at the successful establishment of libraries at Danish hospitals around 1930 and at their abrupt closure, which started around 1985. The essay refers to a methodological point of view, which says that the content of a concept is developed and specified by its use.

О творчестве в физике и перспективах коллективной научной работы

Solving many challenges in dealing with complexity requires a collective effort, including in interdisciplinary projects. Two types of problems arise here, one of which is associated with the development of a special methodology and a general interdisciplinary conceptual and functional language of communication between different disciplines, which is facilitated by the use of the languages of mathematics, the systems approach and synergetics, but not only; the second problem of collective creativity is the development of a unified joint style of generating new information, which is largely associated with the implicit knowledge that is born in scientific schools. In this regard, we consider the scientific schools of theoretical physics and large communities of mega-projects and intelligent mega-machines in high-energy physics, primarily using the example of the “Golden Ageˮ of the history of Russian science in the 80s of the last century in Protvino. Their connection with the social climate, political expectations, the worldview of scientists, the formation of a physicist in the process of education and life in a research team is considered. International trends in collective creativity and nation-al features of the existence of scientific schools are discussed in the context of an international mega-project to create a standard model of elementary particle physics. Three types of theorizing are considered, which date back to the creators of modern science, but are reproduced in each era, in each successive international mega-project. They are based on various forms and combinations of the dominance of formal-logical and empirical thinking. The question about the prospects for theoretical research in the digital era of artificial intelligence is raised.

Why did Louis XIV establish High Courts of Justice in North America?

Summary Why did Louis XIV establish high courts in the distant and sparsely populated North-American colonies? The logic of the establishment of the Sovereign Council of Québec in 1663 and the Superior Council of Louisiana in 1712 is indeed in no way similar to the one which led to the creation of high courts in the metropolitan territories previously under foreign sovereignty. In the colonies, there was no need to safeguard the provincial privileges, in particular that to be judged in accordance with the local customs and procedural rules. Historians have emphasized the idea that justice foremost asserted the king’s authority on his overseas territories and France’s position on the international scene. Colonial institutions were thus merely considered as extensions of the metropolitan model. This paper proposes to study the high courts of New France through the prism of legal transplant theories, focusing on the objectives and expectations of the donor rather than on their objects or on the obstacles faced by the receiver. We assert that the overseas high courts were a means to define and orientate the French colonial policy rather than an end in themselves. Their judicial and, above all, regulatory competences made them indeed a particularly suitable instrument for the fulfillment of the monarchy’s political and economic expectations.

Modifiable determinants for the success or failure of inter-physician collaboration in group practices in Germany - a qualitative study

BackgroundA growing demand for physicians exists worldwide. Due to political changes, economic incentives and new workplace expectations a trend from single-handed practices to group practices has been noticed in many countries over the last years. In view of this background, our study aimed to identify determinants for success or failure of inter-physician collaboration in order to positively influence future collaboration in anticipation of the important role group practices may play in future health care delivery.MethodsWe chose a qualitative study design, using semi-structured phone interviews to collect data from physicians and non-physician consultants with experience in inter-physician collaboration that were analysed using content analysis. Eleven physicians with experience in collaborative working and fourteen non-physician consultants specializing in advice to health care professionals participated.ResultsEducation in entrepreneurial skills as well as implementation of good practice management in preparation for collaboration are crucial modifiable facilitators for successful inter-physician collaboration. Furthermore, open communication and realistic insight into the mode of acquaintance, moral concept and degree of specialisation of the colleagues involved play major roles for the success of inter-physician collaboration in group practices.ConclusionsThere are several underlying themes beyond clinical expertise concerning success or failure of group practices. To influence future collaboration positively, it is important to focus on management and communication skills as well as to address basic understanding of economics.

La rebelión de Huánuco, 1812: rumores, fiestas y espacio cotidiano

This article studies the Huanuco rebellion of 1812, considering that popular sectors were able to use a political culture of their own. To achieve this, attention was paid to the role played by rumors about the situation that the viceroyalty was going through because of the absence of King Ferdinand VII, parties such as the carnival, and the public space where a “hidden discourse” of political criticism was spread. In this way, this research will reflect on the aspirations that led the rebels to rise against the Spanish authorities, beyond just the creole leaders, managing to rescue part of the political expectations of the common population.

When Scholarship Matters: Theory-Building and Theory Effects in the EU Polity Context

I welcome Jan Komarek’s project to engage in a history of “European Constitutional Imaginaries” as seen through EU law landmark theories and most prominent authors. Some malicious minds would think of it as yet another avatar of the “scholastic bias” that structurally incites us scholars to transform our professional anxieties (what is my/our scholarship worth for?) into full-fledged research question (do ideas matter?)... Others could see it as a vain exercise in nostalgia, as EU law researchers return to a golden age, that of the late 1980s, in which EU law was indeed able to frame professional identities and capture political imaginaries way beyond the academic circles. I would rather take it as part of the “critical turn” that has come along the sense of desoeuvrement so pervasive among EU lawyers ever since the constitutional project failed to gather popular support. A detour to the history of the discipline can indeed be a powerful methodological device to strengthen our reflexive gaze and, maybe, start again rolling up the immense boulder of theoretically connecting Europe, the European Union and the Law. I would argue however that the success of such endeavor is conditioned by our capacity to provide a renewed analytical framework able to compare past theoretical undertakings not only from an “internal” point of view (in terms of legal ideas) but also from an “external” point of view (in terms of social and political relevance) and -most importantly- account for the tensions and contradictions between the two. I take the very notions of “utopia”, “imaginaries” and “ideology” introduced by the project IMAGINE, that all refer to the capacity of legal ideas to capture political expectations and strategies, as strong incentives to move in that direction. In this paper, I suggest to examine theories of European law along two (partly conflicting) dimensions -their scientific robustness and their social relevance- and apply this simple conceptual toolbox to three historical constellations of European law theory.

Політичні цикли в умовах формування інформаційно-мережевого суспільства

In the cyclical dynamics of the capitalist world system, politics and economics are closely intertwined, which is manifested in the development of political business cycles of individual countries, as well as in the development of cyclical political and economic processes in the long run on a global scale. The development of political business cycles is due to the influence of interrelated factors - competition of political forces, economic expectations and political preferences of voters. The immanent to the capitalist world-system deep internal contradictions lead to a variety of forms of long-term socio-economic cycles, including such a form as political cycles of a global nature. In the modern conditions of transition from the industrial-market system to the information-network society, the factors continue to exist and the contradictions emerge that both lead to the development of political cycles. Technical and technological transformations that contribute to the formation of information and network society, are strengthening the possibilities of ideological and propaganda activities that affect the cyclical political and economic processes. In such conditions, political cycles are becoming more and more emergent, which is largely due to the influence of social networks, computer games, and "new media" on people's political preferences and their political activity. The cyclical processes of establishing economic and political hegemony in the capitalist world system determine the dominance of the political cycles of leading countries over those of less developed countries. Improving production and dissemination technologies enhances the ability of leading countries to influence the political cycles of less developed countries, and the use of "soft power" is becoming an increasingly important tool of geopolitical struggle in the process of deployment of long-term global political cycles.

THE POLITICAL, ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS ORIGINS OF THE CRISIS IN THE BALKANS IN THE LAST DECADE OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

The article discusses the prerequisites for the collapse of the former Yugoslavia, which was the "center" of conflicts at the global level, in particular, the onset of religious, ethnic, political conflicts in the Balkans in the last decade of the twentieth century, chronological and geographical conflicts. Specific characteristics are differentiated. The article also examines the situation in which the socialist states of Eastern Europe gained independence from the collapse of the Soviet government in 1991-1992, in particular, in the economic sphere. The epochal systemic changes that followed the collapse of the USSR and Yugoslavia predetermined a radical change in political, social and spiritual orientations and expectations in society. At the same time, the historical consciousness of peoples (like no other sphere of public, including ethnic self-identification) was involved in general transformational processes, reflecting in its development the well-known inconsistency and inconsistency of the socio-political evolution of the former republics in recent decades.

Impasse as a Figure of Political Space

Abstract Spatial figures of impasse appear when politics is in trouble, and preserve political expectation when its prospects are poor. They take their meaning from the assumption that the political order is synonymous with social reality—as though people could do nothing when political movement is blocked. Focusing on Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks and the critical reception of Hegel’s master-slave dialectic among other references, this essay argues that the model of impasse and breakthrough occludes politics’ narrowness as compared with other organizations of collective well-being. By seeming to preserve political potential, perceptions of impasse encourage people to accept political processes as the only social reality despite their violence, their limitation of reality, and their contempt for the agential resources of nonpolitical being.

The national implementation of 'Proactive Health Support' in Denmark since 2017: Expectations and challenges for the telephone-based self-management program

In Denmark, as in many other Western countries, a small group of people are major hospital users and account for a large proportion of health care spending. Proactive Health Support (PaHS) is the first national Danish program that aims to reduce health care consumption targeting people at risk of becoming major users of health services. PaHS was part of the government's The sooner—the better national health policy, which includes a focus on policy programs targeting the weakest and most complex chronic patients at risk of high health care consumption. PaHS is a telephone-based self-management support program that uses a prediction model to identify people at high risk of acute hospital admissions. Reducing preventable hospital admissions and enhancing quality of life are central policy goals. The Danish policy was inspired by a Swedish policy program, and PaHS has been implemented based on policy transfer with political expectations that the Swedish results can be replicated in Denmark. The effects of PaHS are currently under study, and time will show whether expectations can be met. This paper discusses institutional conditions and expectations related to replicating a policy program and its outcomes. In addition, it highlights implementation issues that may affect the success of the policy program.

Technological change and sociocultural models in China: A case study of train commuters in Beijing

ABSTRACT China’s mobility turn has created the world’s largest public rail system, contributing extensively to citizens’ economic, social, and spatial mobility. Concurrently, this technological transformation has introduced many opportunities for individuation, which could potentially challenge the social, collectivistic, and Confucian foundations of China’s sociocultural and political ideology. While the notion that ‘mobility produces culture’ is readily accepted, research on train mobility in China is rare. In this study, we use Albert Bandura’s Model of Triadic Reciprocal Causation to conceptualize mobility as agency. We employ Hermeneutic Content Analysis, a mixed methods framework, to study how this rapidly evolving mobility environment connects to the lives of 31 regular train users living in Beijing. Studying agency in China enables us to systematize the sociocultural models within which mobility practices are embedded and how they manifest. We find that our interviewees embed agentive practices in a cultural model that is intertwined with collectivistic aspirations of the country. Technological developments are thus integrated into existing sociocultural models and political expectations, contradicting existing debates on the fracturing impact of disruptive technologies.

Bringing context and educational leadership together: fostering the professional development of school principals

ABSTRACTPolicy makers increasingly acknowledge that problems and challenges arising at the school level should be resolved on site. At the same time, the political expectation to delegate more responsibility to the individual school is rather heavily contrasted with the weak knowledge about how this new public management approach can be translated into successful leadership practices. Thus, considering that there is a close relationship between context and leadership, principal preparation programmes should be guided by a deeper examination of contextual factors. Against this background, we aim to critically examine existing views of practitioners and researchers on the challenge of establishing more context-sensitive school leadership preparation programmes in an era of New Public Management in Education. In doing so, we introduce the Swedish Model of principal preparation as an example for a more context-sensitive leadership preparation program. To that end, we argue that a differentiated perspective about contextual conditions and their role as facilitators or obstacles to effective leadership must be further explored. Moreover, school leaders should be encouraged to consider the relevance of such approaches to their own needs.

Nemzeti Színház-konstrukciók az intézményvezetői pályázatokban

An important era of Hungarian theatre history ended when in 2002, the first permanent building of the National Theatre was opened. This paper examines whether this milestone represented a real change in the National Theatre’s function, if it was accompanied by a stable construction of national theatre-making, or if we have merely fulfilled the social and political expectation that a country should have its own permanent national theatre.