Role Of State Agencies Research Articles

Does Society Nurture a Sense of Victimhood? Bulgarian and Albanian Discourse

With the rise of the crime rate, the number of direct victims increases, in parallel with the secondary victims. This article explores the state-of-art of victimisation and victim-related policies and practices in Bulgaria and Albania. The role of state agencies, non-governmental organisations, media and civil society in preventing and respond-ing to victimisation is under scrutiny. The focus is on the victim's culture, mentality and sense of victimhood. Based on the findings of empirical studies launched in both countries, recommendations for improving the victimogenic status quo are developed.

State financial interests and changes in investment behavior of institutional investors: the case of financial market development in Israel

AbstractInstitutional investors are key actors in the financial markets of diverse developed economies. Their tendency toward diversification and risk-taking behavior is well documented, yet insufficient attention has been paid to the sources of this behavior. Based on the case of emerging financial markets in Israel, this paper argues that in adopting various neoliberal reforms, state agencies induced institutional investors to change their investment behavior toward diversification and greater risk-taking. Until the early 2000s, Israel’s institutional investors were marginal actors in a financial system designed to support state-building, primarily investing in government bonds and bank deposits. As changing state financial interests induced market changes, institutional investors emerged as autonomous actors, diversifying their investments to also include corporate bonds, stocks and investments in foreign financial markets. With individuals’ growing dependency on institutional investors for their financial security, greater insight into the role of state agencies in financial markets could help identify factors affecting their functioning in financial capitalism.

The Critical Role of State Agencies in the Age of Evidence-Based Approaches: The Challenge of New Expectations

Evidence-based approaches only benefit individuals when fully and effectively implemented. Since funding and monitoring alone will not ensure the full and effective implementation of effective strategies, state agencies have the opportunity to assess and modify current roles, functions, and policies to align with the requirements of evidence-based strategies. Based on a growing body of knowledge to guide effective implementation processes, state agencies, or designated partner organizations, can develop the capacity, mechanisms, and infrastructure to effectively implement evidence-based strategies. This article describes a framework that can guide this process. Informed by the literature and shaped by “real-world experience,” the Active Implementation Frameworks provide a stage-matched approach to purposeful, active, and effective implementation.

State-led path creation in China’s rustbelt: the case of Fuxin

The role of state agencies in regional new path creation has been largely neglected and underexplored to date. This article aims to contribute to these debates by a case study of the wind power industry from China’s rustbelt, where local economies have been strongly influenced by the state. It demonstrates how a new growth industry was created over time by combined forces of the national and local state. This article suggests that the strategic actions and the interplay of multilevelled state actors in a changing national political economy should be taken into account when analysing path creation mechanisms in old industrial regions.

Performance Budgeting: The Perspective of State Agencies

Although performance‐based budgeting requirements are pervasive, what remains a challenge is how to gain the support from all stakeholders in the budget process that are essential to the integration of performance information with budgeting. This study examines the perspective and role of state agencies on performance budgeting. The finding indicates that for agencies to conduct performance‐informed budgeting, the focus needs to be on elevating managerial capacity to use performance information, and improving measurement quality. Moreover, it is crucial to recognize that performance budgeting is a collaborative process in which each participant plays a valuable role.

Globalization, harmonization, and competition: the different pathways to policy convergence

While economic globalization is frequently cited as a source for regulatory policy convergence, the precise causal links between these two variables often go unexplored. The common thread missing from most of the globalization literature is the role of state agency in the regulation of the global political economy. This paper builds on a simple game-theoretic model of policy coordination to argue that great powers remain the most important actors in determining the extent of policy convergence. When great powers act in concert, there will be effective policy harmonization. When the great powers fail to agree, partial policy convergence will take place through competition. The increasing returns to scale of regulatory harmonization will lead powerful actors to compete for as many allies as possible, leading to strong policy convergence, but at multiple nodes. These different pathways are examined by inspecting the variation in outcomes of two different issue areas: money laundering and genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Co‐operation or capture? The paradox of co‐management and community participation in natural resource management and environmental policy‐making

This article examines the conditions under which community‐based management or co‐management is likely to result in either (i) successful collaboration between a state agency and a local community or (ii) ‘capture’ of a public agency by private or special interests. The article focuses on the role of state agencies in the creation and maintainance of successful co‐management regimes and discusses how state agencies can facilitate the creation of social trust while retaining independence and a concern for broader public interests. The author argues that a combination of bureaucratic autonomy and an effective, independent judiciary is an important institutional component for success. The argument is illustrated with the case of a co‐management regime for salmon fisheries in the US Pacific Northwest.

State Intervention and the Role of History - state and private actors in Swedish network industries

Three main theoretical positions towards state intervention and regulation are discussed in relation to the case of Swedish infrastructure. The positive, the normative, and the political transaction cost approaches are examined in relation to the historic development of regulatory systems in civil aviation, railroads, and telecommunications. The authors show that governance regimes have historical roots, and develop differently due to policies implemented by state agencies. Three points are illuminated with a view to the interaction between state and private actors in the transport and communication sector. First, the role and function of the state agencies as well as the political system itself point to the need for a more refined analysis of state action. The active role of state agencies is also discussed emphasizing the difference between political decisions and the implementation of such decisions. Second, the role of a historical perspective is discussed, arguing that it makes possible a better understanding of the reasons behind choices of particular strategies. Finally, there might be good reason to expect the state either to act solely as a rent seeker, or as a promoter of optimal solutions.

The Role of State Agencies in Public Employee Labor Relations

Discusses the role of state agencies in public employee labor relations in the United States. Comparison between public and private employee-management relationships; Details of the U.S. Executive Order 10988; Basic approaches to employee-management relations in the federal government; Classification of the agencies responsible for the administration of public employee relations at the state and local level; Advantages of using labor agencies. (Abstract copyright EBSCO.)

The Role of State Agencies in Public Employee Labor Relations

The Role of State Agencies in Public Employee Labor Relations