Mea Culpa? The Role of Data Collection in Public Officials Acknowledging Policy Failure

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Sarah James
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
Research Capacity ◽  
Policy Learning ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Policy Failure ◽  
The Impact

Abstract State governments, often described as “laboratories of democracy,” design and implement many public policies, but this moniker also implies course correction when initial efforts fail. But how do states learn from failure? Existing hypotheses about policy learning and broad research capacity are insufficient. Using case studies of failed juvenile justice policies in Texas and Washington, I explore when failure acknowledgment occurs at all. I argue that a state’s bureaucratic capacity to gather data—distinct from its analytical capacity—is necessary for public officials to acknowledge failure, highlighting the impact of policy and institutional design on evidence-based policy making and policy corrections.

Civil Service Reform in Transition: A Case Study of Russia

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svetlana Inkina
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
General Tendency ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Civil Service Reform ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness ◽  
The Impact

Public administrative and civil service reforms have widely been used as a popular strategy to bring about systemic changes in entrenched bureaucracies. The general tendency that occurred in Post-Communist states was to adopt comprehensive policy measures dealing with the efficiency and effectiveness of state apparatus. This paper examines the process of an attempted civil service reform in Russia starting from the first term of Putin's Presidency. Based upon interviews with experts and senior public officials, it elaborates on the role of leadership, or the willingness of the national political elite to improve the system of public administration; the impact of path-dependency upon the course of institutional transformation; and finally, the role of reform strategy in the policy implementation process. The article concludes that the case of civil service reform in Russia may be explained by a combination of policy-making variables listed above. In addition, it highlights the transformation of the Russian policy-making system during the years of political centralization. Full text available at: https://doi.org/10.22215/rera.v8i1.222  

scholarly journals Civil Service Reform in Transition: A Case Study of Russia

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Svetlana Inkina
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
General Tendency ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Civil Service Reform ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness ◽  
The Impact

Public administrative and civil service reforms have widely been used as a popular strategy to bring about systemic changes in entrenched bureaucracies. The general tendency that occurred in Post-Communist states was to adopt comprehensive policy measures dealing with the efficiency and effectiveness of state apparatus. This paper examines the process of an attempted civil service reform in Russia starting from the first term of Putin's Presidency. Based upon interviews with experts and senior public officials, it elaborates on the role of leadership, or the willingness of the national political elite to improve the system of public administration; the impact of path-dependency upon the course of institutional transformation; and finally, the role of reform strategy in the policy implementation process. The article concludes that the case of civil service reform in Russia may be explained by a combination of policy-making variables listed above. In addition, it highlights the transformation of the Russian policy-making system during the years of political centralization.

Health research capacity in Nepal: Analysis of the trend and the role of local researchers

2021 ◽  
pp. 004947552098277
Author(s):  
Madhu Kharel ◽  
Alpha Pokharel ◽  
Krishna P Sapkota ◽  
Prasant V Shahi ◽  
Pratisha Shakya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Research ◽  
Fold Increase ◽  
Research Capacity ◽  
Rapid Review ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Evidence Based Decision Making

Evidence-based decision-making is less common in low- and middle-income countries where the research capacity remains low. Nepal, a lower-middle-income country in Asia, is not an exception. We conducted a rapid review to identify the trend of health research in Nepal and found more than seven-fold increase in the number of published health-related articles between 2000 and 2018. The proportion of articles with Nepalese researchers as the first authors has also risen over the years, though they are still only in two-thirds of the articles in 2018.

scholarly journals How do Public Officials Learn About Policy? A Field Experiment on Policy Diffusion

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Miguel M. Pereira
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Interest Group ◽  
Policy Diffusion ◽  
The United States ◽  
Causal Link ◽  
Policy Learning ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Non Profit

Abstract Prior research suggests that partisanship can influence how legislators learn from each other. However, same-party governments are also more likely to share similar issues, ideological preferences and constituency demands. Establishing a causal link between partisanship and policy learning is difficult. In collaboration with a non-profit organization, this study isolates the role of partisanship in a real policy learning context. As part of a campaign promoting a new policy among local representatives in the United States, the study randomized whether the initiative was endorsed by co-partisans, out-partisans or both parties. The results show that representatives are systematically more interested in the same policy when it is endorsed by co-partisans. Bipartisan initiatives also attract less interest than co-partisan policies, and no more interest than out-partisan policies, even in more competitive districts. Together, the results suggest that ideological considerations cannot fully explain partisan-based learning. The study contributes to scholarship on policy diffusion, legislative signaling and interest group access.

scholarly journals Evaluating ‘homegrown’ research networks in Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 114 (3/4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Camilla Adelle ◽  
Nico Elema ◽  
Ereck Chakauya ◽  
David Benson
Keyword(s):  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Regional Research ◽  
Research Networks ◽  
Sustainable Resources ◽  
Science Policy Interface ◽  
Mere Existence ◽  
The Impact

Attempts to improve the policy environment have led to a growing pressure on governments in Africa to embark on policymaking that is more evidence based and considers a wide spectrum of scientific and indigenous knowledge. Local – or ‘homegrown’ – research networks on the continent can help strengthen the role of scientific knowledge in policymaking by increasing the capacity of researchers and by enhancing the visibility and communication of the research produced. While a large number of regional and sub-regional research networks have sprung up in Africa, the mere existence of networks does not guarantee their success. In reality, the impact of research networks on the science–policy interface depends on how well the networks operate in practice. We present a framework for evaluating the effectiveness of research networks in a way that is comparable across networks. The evaluation framework was used to evaluate two sub-regional research networks: the NEPAD Southern African Networks of Water Centres of Excellence (SANWACTE) and the NEPAD Southern African Network for Biosciences (SANBio). The evaluation revealed some shared constraints limiting the effectiveness of both networks, including uneven regional representation, asymmetry between network members, and difficulties in securing sufficient, diverse and sustainable resources. Further research into network design and funding models is suggested in order to enhance the role of these networks in providing locally appropriate knowledge for policymaking on the continent.

Collaboration and E-Government

2010 ◽  
pp. 76-90
Author(s):  
Christopher G. Reddick
Keyword(s):  
Homeland Security ◽  
Chief Information Officers ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Management Effectiveness ◽  
Collaborative Process ◽  
Security Information ◽  
Effective Collaboration ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Collaborative Efforts

Collaboration is an important element in the advancement of e-government (Hu et al., 2006). This chapter examines the level of collaboration among state governments to see how advanced they are in e-government. Collaboration is critical in homeland security because it is one of the often cited challenges in the time of a crisis (Reddick, 2008). In order to understand Homeland Security Information Systems (HSIS), one must delve into the impact of collaboration and e-government. There is a growing body of research on e-government and its impact on managerial effectiveness; with collaboration being an important area of management effectiveness (Yang and Paul, 2005; Reddick 2007). This chapter examines how state governments measure up against some noted principles of effective collaboration. The role of citizens in the collaborative process is examined, with citizens arguably being the key to more effective collaborative efforts through e-government (Vigoda-Gadot, 2002). Indeed, research shows that citizen involvement in the decision-making process through collaborative efforts will enhance democracy and accountability of governments (Vigoda-Gadot, 2003). In order to examine collaboration and e-government this chapter first outlines several key principles of effective collaboration and relates them to e-government. Second, this chapter provides a conceptual framework of collaboration and e-government. Third, there is a data analysis of a survey of Chief Information Officers (CIO) opinions on collaboration and e-government. The conclusion of this chapter summarizes and examines the impact of collaboration on HSIS.

Feminist Perspectives on Foreign Policy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Marie D'Aoust
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
Foreign Policies ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Role Of Women ◽  
The Impact

Foreign policy analysis (FPA) deals with the decision-making processes involved in foreign policy-making. As a field of study, FPA overlaps international relations (IR) theory and comparative politics. Studies that take into account either sex, women, or gender contribute to the development of knowledge on and about women in IR, which is in itself one of the goals of feminist scholarship. There are two main spheres of feminist inquiries when it comes to foreign policy: the role of women as sexed power holders involved in decision-making processes and power-sharing in the realm of foreign policy-making, and the role of gendered norms in the conduct and adoption of foreign policies. Many observers insist that feminism and foreign policy are linked only by a marriage of convenience, designed to either acknowledge the political accomplishments of women in the sphere of foreign policy such as Margaret Thatcher and Indira Ghandi, or bring attention to so-called “women’s issues,” such as reproduction rights and population control. Scholarship on women and/or gender in relation to foreign policy covers a wide range of themes, such as the role of women as political actors in decision-making processes and organizational structures; women’s human rights and gender mainstreaming; the impact of various foreign policies on women’s lives; and the concept of human security and the idea of women’s rights as a valid foreign policy objective. Three paradigms that have been explored as part of the study of women in comparative politics and IR are behavioralism, functionalism, and rational choice theory.

Policy Learning and Policy Failure

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
Policy Diffusion ◽  
Policy Transfer ◽  
Policy Learning ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Meso Level ◽  
Policy Failure ◽  
Limited Success ◽  
Opportunities For Learning ◽  
Policy Failures

First published as a special issue of Policy & Politics, this updated volume explores policy failures and the valuable opportunities for learning that they offer. The book begins with an overview of policy learning and policy failure. The links between the two appear obvious, yet there are very few studies that address how one can learn from failure, learn to limit failure, and fail to learn. The book attempts to bring the two together. In doing so, it explores how dysfunctional forms of policy learning impact policy failure at the meso-level. The book expands on this by demonstrating how different learning processes generated by actors at the meso-level mediate the extent to which policy transfer is a success or failure. It re-assesses some of the literature on policy transfer and policy diffusion, in light of ideas as to what constitutes failure, partial failure, or limited success. This is followed by an examination of situations in which the incentives of partisanship can encourage a government to actively seek to exacerbate an existing policy failure rather than to repair it. The book studies the connections between repeated assessments of policy failure and subsequent opportunities for system-wide policy learning and reform. Finally, it introduces the idea of ‘policy myopia’ as a pressing source of failure in policy making and explores the possibility of developing policies that learn to help mitigate its impacts.

scholarly journals When Evidence is not Taken for Granted: The Use and Perception of “Evidence” in the Czech Republic Ministries

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnošt Veselý ◽  
František Ochrana ◽  
Martin Nekola
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Large N ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Depth Interviews

Abstract The role of evidence in policy-making is one of the most researched topics in public policy and public administration. However, surprisingly little research has been done on how public officials actually use evidence in everyday life practice. Moreover, these studies have been limited to countries that have been influenced by the evidence-based policy movement (EBP). Little is known about how the evidence is conceptualized and utilized in other countries which have not been so strongly influenced by EBP movement. This paper addresses this gap. Using a large-N survey on the Czech ministerial officials and in-depth interviews with them, we explore what is understood under the term of “evidence”, what kind of evidence is used and preferred by public officials and why. In doing so, we use four theoretical perspectives on the use of evidence. We show that despite the long-established tradition of using research in policy-making the importance of research evidence in the Czech Republic is far from being taken for granted. On the contrary, the immediate and personal experience is often preferred over the research findings. The exception to that are census-like statistical data and comparative data published by international organizations. We find some support for the two-communities metaphor, though these communities are not defined by their socio-demographic characteristics, but rather by their internal discourse and understanding of evidence.

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