Re-thinking the coronavirus pandemic as a policy punctuation: COVID-19 as a path-clearing policy accelerator

This article joins with others in this special issue to examine the evolution of our understanding of how the coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 pandemic impacted policy ideas and routines across a wide variety of sectors of government activity. Did policy ideas and routines transform as a result of the pandemic or were they merely a continuation of the status quo ante? If they did transform, are the transformations temporary in nature or likely to lead to significant, deep and permanent reform to existing policy paths and trajectories? As this article sets out, the literature on policy punctuations has evolved and helps us understand the impact of COVID-19 on policy-making but tends to conflate several distinct aspects of path trajectories and deviations under the general concept of “critical junctures” which muddy reflections and findings. Once the different possible types of punctuations have been clarified, however, the result is a set of concepts related to path creation and disruption—especially that of “path clearing”—which are better able to provide an explanation of the kinds of policy change to be expected to result from the impact of events such as the 2019 coronavirus pandemic.

Shock and Conflict in Social-Ecological Systems: Implications for Environmental Governance

In this paper, we present a framework for the analysis of shock and conflict in social-ecological systems and investigate the implications of this perspective for the understanding of environmental governance, particularly its evolutionary patterns and drivers. We dwell on the distinction between shock and conflict. In mapping the relation between shock and conflict, we invoke a different potentiality for altering rigidity and flexibility in governance; different possibilities for recall, revival and trauma; and different pathways for restructuring the relation between governance, community and environment. Shock and conflict can be both productive and eroding, and for each, one can observe that productivity can be positive or negative. These different effects in governance can be analyzed in terms of object and subject creation, path creation and in terms of the dependencies recognized by evolutionary governance theory: path, inter-, goal and material dependencies. Thus, shock and conflict are mapped in their potential consequences to not only shift a path of governance, but also to transform the pattern of self-transformation in such path. Finally, we reflect on what this means for the interpretation of adaptive governance of social-ecological systems.

Introducing Schumpeter to China

Economic catch-up is defined in the literature as the narrowing of a latecomer firm’s or country’s gap vis-à-vis a leading country or firm. However, latecomers do not simply follow the advanced countries’ path of technological development; rather, they sometimes do something new, skip certain stages, or create a new path that is different from those of the forerunners. Although the path-following strategy based on the initial factor–cost advantages helps in the gradual catch-up of late entrants’ market shares, a sharp increase in the latecomers’ market shares is likely to occur when a shift in technologies or demand conditions occurs. Such a shift is utilized by the path creation or stage skipping of latecomers, both of which can be considered a case of leapfrogging. That is, leapfrogging is a latecomer doing something differently from forerunners, often ahead of them. Technological leapfrogging is a precondition for success in technological catch-up or in closing the gap with incumbents in terms of technological capabilities. Then, such technological catch-up in several sectors may lead to economic catch-up in terms of the growth of per capita GDP or economic power. This eventual linkage from technological leapfrogging to economic catch-up via technological catch-up is what we mean by the title of this book. We focus on this main hypothesis with the Chinese experience in this book. One conclusion from this book is that China’s successful rise as a global industrial power has been due to its strategy of technological leapfrogging, which has enabled it to move beyond the middle-income trap and possibly the Thucydides trap, although at a slower speed.

Beyond the “Great Man” narrative: scandals, cumulative reforms and the trajectory of anti-corruption efforts in colonial Hong Kong before MacLehose years

Purpose This paper aims to uncover the trajectory of the anti-corruption effort of the Hong Kong colonial Government by identifying its general approach of denial in the pre-War years. It highlights the path-dependence nature, as well as the path-creation logic of the policy process of anti-corruption reform and the anxiety of the colonial administration in maintaining trust of the local population in the post-War years. These insights should enhance the general understanding of the nature of colonial governance. Design/methodology/approach This paper is primarily based on archival materials available at the British National Archives and Hong Kong Public Records Office. Findings The paper intends to go before the “Great Man narrative” in explaining the success of the anti-corruption effort in colonial Hong Kong. Whilst the colonial government was fully aware of the endemic of corruption and the substantial involvement of European officers, she was still cocooned with the misguided belief that the core of the administration was mostly “incorruptible”. The Air Raid Precaution Department scandal in 1941 was, however, a powerful wake-up that rendered the denial and self-illusion no longer defensible. The policy ideas of the 1940s did shape the Prevention of Corruption Ordinance 1948 and other related reforms, yet they were not immediately translated into fundamental changes in the institutional set-up of the anti-graft campaign. The limitations of these half-hearted measures were fully exposed in the coming decades. The cumulative effects of the piecemeal anti-graft efforts of the colonial government over the first century of rule, however, did path the way for the “revolutionary” changes in the 1970s under Murray MacLehose. Originality/value This is a highly original piece based on under-explored archival materials. The findings should have a major contribution to the scholarship on the nature of colonial governance and the history of anti-corruption efforts of Hong Kong.

Comparison of Canal Transportation and Centering Ability of One-G, EdgeGlidePath, and Neolix: A MicroComputed Tomography Study of Curved Root Canals

Aims. A glide path is created prior to root canal instrumentation by nickel-titanium (NiTi) rotary files to increase the efficiency and safety of cleaning and shaping. This study aimed to assess root canal transportation in use of different glide path files in curved canals. Materials and Methods. 30 sound mesiobuccal root canals of mandibular molars with 20° to 40° curvature were selected and randomly assigned to 3 groups of EdgeGlidePath (EGP, EdgeEndo), One-G (Micro-Mega), and Neolix (Neoniti). The specimens were scanned before and after glide path creation by microcomputed tomography (micro-CT). The pre- and postoperative micro-CT scans were superimposed, and the degree of canal transportation and centering ratio were measured at 1, 3, 5, and 7 mm distances from the apical foramen. Statistical Analysis. The data were analyzed by two-way and one-way ANOVA. Results. The effects of distance from the apical foramen and instrument type and the interaction effect of the two were not significant on the centering ability of the files or canal transportation. Conclusion. EdgeGlidePath, One-G, and Neolix files fabricated from the conventional NiTi alloy or heat-treated M-Wire alloy showed similar performance regarding centering ability and canal transportation in glide path preparation in curved canals.

An agent of change against all odds? The case of Ledger in Vierzon, France

The literature in economic geography is increasingly interested in the role of human agency in local and regional development. The understanding of the role of agents of change on path development is especially critical for small- and medium-sized towns (SMSTs), which tend to be less diversified and to have fewer localised capabilities. The town of Vierzon in the Centre-Val-de-Loire region in France is a medium-sized old industrial town in a structural crisis. It is suffering from deindustrialisation, population decline, unemployment and poverty. This article takes a micro-perspective with a case study approach to explore the creation and growth of Ledger – a frontier blockchain start-up that designs, produces and commercialises hardware wallets for cryptocurrencies – against all odds in Vierzon, France. It underlines the role of a Window of Locational Opportunity, agency, chance, the broader institutional context in the location of Ledger in an unlikely place and subsequent unrelated diversification and path creation. It contributes to the debate on the interplay between agency and structure by linking agents of change in SMSTs to the broader institutional context and to the understanding of the emergence of place-based leadership.