Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 3-26
Author(s):  
Michael K. MacKenzie
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Political ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
Future Selves ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Electoral Cycles ◽  
Democratic Systems

This chapter outlines four interrelated but conceptually distinct claims that have been made by proponents of the democratic myopia thesis. It has been argued that democratic systems are functionally short-sighted because of (1) the myopic preferences of voters; (2) the political dynamics of short electoral cycles; (3) the fact that future others who will be affected by our decisions cannot be included in our decision-making processes; and (4) the reality that democratic processes are often captured by powerful actors with dominant short-term objectives. When taken together these four arguments make a persuasive case for why democracies might be functionally short-sighted. This chapter—and the book as a whole—argues that we do not need to choose between our normative commitments to democracy and the well-being of our future selves and future others, because there are democratic responses to each of these components of the democratic myopia thesis.

Getting to the Future

2021 ◽  
pp. 109-128
Author(s):  
Michael K. MacKenzie
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
The Political ◽  
Collective Decision Making ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
The Future ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Electoral Cycles ◽  
Shared Futures ◽  
Deliberative Processes

This chapter makes three arguments in support of the claim that we need inclusive deliberative processes to shape the future in collectively intentional, mutually accommodating ways. First, inclusive collective decision-making processes are needed to avoid futures that favour the interests of some groups of people over others. Second, deliberative processes are needed to shape our shared futures in collectively intentional ways: we need to be able to talk to ourselves about what we are doing and where we want to get to in the future. Third, deliberative exchanges are needed to help collectivities avoid the policy oscillations that are (or may be) associated with the political dynamics of short electoral cycles. Effective processes of reciprocal reason giving can help collectivities maintain policy continuity over the long term—when continuity is justified—even as governments and generations change.

scholarly journals Analyzing Factors Affecting the Sustainability of Land Management Practices in Mecha Woreda, Northwestern Ethiopia

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7007
Author(s):  
Habtamu Nebere ◽  
Degefa Tolossa ◽  
Amare Bantider
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Land Management ◽  
Land Degradation ◽  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Household Heads ◽  
The Impact

In Ethiopia, the practice of land management started three decades ago in order to address the problem of land degradation and to further boost agricultural production. However, the impact of land management practices in curbing land degradation problems and improving the productivity of the agricultural sector is insignificant. Various empirical works have previously identified the determinants of the adoption rate of land management practices. However, the sustainability of land management practices after adoption, and the various factors that control the sustainability of implemented land management practices, are not well addressed. This study analyzed the factors affecting the sustainability of land management practices after implementation in Mecha Woreda, northwestern Ethiopia. The study used 378 sample respondents, selected by a systematic random sampling technique. Binary logistic regression was used to analyze the quantitative data, while the qualitative data were qualitatively and concurrently analyzed with the quantitative data. The sustained supply of fodder from the implemented land management practices, as well as improved cattle breed, increases the sustainability of the implemented land management practices. While lack of agreement in the community, lack of enforcing community bylaws, open cattle grazing, lack of benefits of implemented land management practices, acting as barrier for farming practices, poor participation of household heads during planning and decision-making processes, as well as the lack of short-term benefits, reduce the sustainability of the implemented land management practices. Thus, it is better to allow for the full participation of household heads in planning and decision-making processes to bring practical and visible results in land management practices. In addition, recognizing short-term benefits to compensate the land lost in constructing land management structures must be the strategy in land management practices. Finally, reducing the number of cattle and practicing stall feeding is helpful both for the sustainability of land management practices and the productivity of cattle. In line with this, fast-growing fodder grass species have to be introduced for household heads to grow on land management structures and communal grazing fields for stall feeding.

The Political Dynamics of Bureaucratic Turnover

2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 823-836 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl Dahlström ◽  
Mikael Holmgren
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Research Note ◽  
Political Control ◽  
The Political ◽  
Partisan Politics ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
Selection Strategies ◽  
Screening Strategies ◽  
Policy Objectives ◽  
Unique Dataset

This Research Note explores the political dynamics of bureaucratic turnover. It argues that changes in a government’s policy objectives can shift both political screening strategies and bureaucratic selection strategies, which produces turnover of agency personnel. To buttress this conjecture, it analyzes a unique dataset tracing the careers of all agency heads in the Swedish executive bureaucracy between 1960 and 2014. It shows that, despite serving on fixed terms and with constitutionally protected decision-making powers, Swedish agency heads are considerably more likely to leave their posts following partisan shifts in government. The note concludes that, even in institutional systems seemingly designed to insulate bureaucratic expertise from political control, partisan politics can shape the composition of agency personnel.

scholarly journals The European Parliament and the Layered Politicization of the External Dimension of the Common Fisheries Policy

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hubert Zimmermann
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Empirical Test ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Veto Players ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
Fisheries Policy ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
The Common ◽  
Policy Fields

When the Lisbon Treaty entered into effect, the European Parliament became a core player in the decision-making processes of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and its external dimensions. This new role suggested a shift towards stronger politicization in what had previously been a rather technocratic policy field. However, the CFP is not yet marked by a clear and consistent level of politicization. I use the concept of ‘layered politicization’ to explain this pattern. Although it is not comparable to the degree of political controversy shaping fully politicized policy fields, some similar political dynamics can be observed. Among them is a transformation in the policy process due to higher ratification requirements; a higher likelihood of political deadlock resulting from an increasing number of veto-players; and a strengthening of the contested legitimacy of EU decision-making. An empirical test of these theoretical propositions is provided here in the form of two case studies; the negotiation of Fisheries Partnership Agreements with Morocco and Mauritania.

Instrumentation to Understand the Child Protective Services Decision-Making Processes

2020 ◽  
pp. 81-108
Author(s):  
Alan J. Dettlaff ◽  
Dana Hollinshead ◽  
Donald J. Baumann ◽  
John D. Fluke
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Protective Services ◽  
Improved Outcomes ◽  
Welfare Systems ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Child Welfare Outcomes

When children come to the attention of the child welfare system, they become involved in a decision-making process in which decisions are made that have a significant effect on their future and well-being. The decision to remove children from their families is particularly complex, yet surprisingly little is understood about this decision-making process. As a result, instrumentation has been developed and adapted over the past 20 years to further understand variations in child welfare outcomes that are decision-based and, in particular concerning the removal decision, in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the intersecting factors that influence caseworker decisions. This chapter presents research and the development and use of this instrument, drawing from the decision-making ecology as the underlying rationale for obtaining the measures. The instrument was based on the development of decision-making scales used in multiple studies and administered to child protection caseworkers in several states. This effort is part of a larger program of research that seeks to better understand decision-making processes in child welfare systems in order to promote fairness, accuracy, and improved outcomes among children and families.

Governing for Health

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fran Baum
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Fiscal Health ◽  
For Profit ◽  
International Agencies ◽  
Health Promoting ◽  
Economic Considerations ◽  
Public Decision

Governing for Health makes the argument that it is vital that governments and international agencies govern in the interests of protecting the environment and promoting human health and equity. A healthy society results from the organized efforts of every sector in society to promote health in all activities. The book examines how this can be done in the fiscal, health service, education, urban planning, environment, and local government sectors. It also promotes the crucial role of civil society in advocating for the health of people and the environment. The importance of the work of each sector to health is described, and the ways in which that work can be made more health promoting are examined. Each chapter contains practical examples of changes that can be made if governing for health is privileged. A key message of the book is that in the last decades economic considerations have come to dominate public decision-making so that governing for profit has been the single-minded aim of governments. The book argues passionately that new priorities are required that see all sectors governing for the needs of people and the environment rather than for short-term profits. The book also contains a chapter directed to politicians, suggesting a manifesto for well-being. It concludes by distilling the messages of the book into six central messages for governing for health, and ends with a plea that hope and courage should dominate decision-making.

Caste and the Decline of Political Homogeneity

1973 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 799-816 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. H. Somjee
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Socialization ◽  
Urban Community ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Concerns ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between the traditional social organization of India, based on the principle of hierarchy, and the newly introduced democratic institutions and procedures, based on the principle of equality, has been a subject of diverse interpretations. The more significant of these interpretations are that the social organization has subsumed the new political system, and that the various units of social organization, namely, castes, have developed voluntary bodies or caste associations of their own in order to enter into an operative relationship with the new political system. The latter interpretation also implies that the democratic political socialization in India has been taking place by means of the caste associations. This study takes a hard look at such interpretations and points out that the internal cohesion of the social organization materially alters when it moves away from its primary social concerns—ritual, pollution, and endogamy—to nontraditional concerns. This change is reflected in the fact that highly fragmented decision-making processes of castes in nontraditional matters often lead to their substantial vote against candidates of their own castes. Such political differentiation within castes has occurred before the advent of certain caste associations, and in some cases despite them. These and other assertions are substantiated through data collected in a rural and an urban community where fieldwork designed to understand their political dynamics extended over a number of years.

scholarly journals Technology, Public Participation, and the American Bureaucracy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher George Torres
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Environmental Literacy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Policy Entrepreneurs ◽  
Decision Making Processes

This dissertation analyzes three participatory technology assessment (pTA) projects conducted within United States federal agencies between 2014 and 2018. The field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) argues that a lack of public participation in addressing issues of science and technology in society has produced undemocratic processes of decision-making with outcomes insensitive to the daily lives of the public. There has been little work in STS, however, examining what the political pressures and administrative challenges are to improving public participation in U.S. agency decision-making processes. Following a three-essay format, this dissertation aims to fill this gap. Drawing on qualitative interviews with key personnel, and bringing STS, policy studies, and public administration scholarship into conversation, this dissertation argues for the significance of “policy entrepreneurs” who from within U.S. agencies advocate for pTA and navigate the political controls on innovative forms of participation. The first essay explores how the political culture and administrative structures of the American federal bureaucracy shape the bureaucratic contexts of public participation in science and technology decision-making. The second essay is an in-depth case study of the role political controls and policy entrepreneurs played in adopting, designing, and implementing pTA in NASA’s Asteroid Initiative. The third essay is a comparative analysis of how eight political and administrative conditions informed pTA design and implementation for NASA’s Asteroid Initiative, DOE’s consent-based nuclear waste siting program, and NOAA’s Environmental Literacy Program. The results of this dissertation highlight how important the political and administrative contexts of federal government programs are to understanding how pTA is designed and implemented in agency science and technology decision-making processes, and the key role agency policy entrepreneurs play in facilitating pTA through these political and administrative contexts. This research can aid STS scholars and practitioners better anticipate and mitigate the barriers to embedding innovative forms of public participation in U.S. federal government science and technology program design and decision-making processes.

Can Democracy be Deliberative & Participatory? The Democratic Case for Political Uses of Mini-Publics

Daedalus ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 146 (3) ◽  
pp. 85-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Lafont
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
Political System ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Negative Conclusion ◽  
Political Decision Making

This essay focuses on recent proposals to confer decisional status upon deliberative mini-publics such as citizens' juries, Deliberative Polls, and citizens' assemblies. Against such proposals, I argue that inserting deliberative mini-publics into political decision-making processes would diminish the democratic legitimacy of the political system as a whole. This negative conclusion invites a question: which political uses of mini-publics would yield genuinely democratic improvements? Drawing from a participatory conception of deliberative democracy, I propose several uses of mini-publics that could enhance the democratic legitimacy of political decision-making in current societies.

Co-Creation of Public Values

2021 ◽  
pp. 20-41
Author(s):  
Dina von Heimburg ◽  
Ottar Ness ◽  
Jacob Storch
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Social Roles ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Active Citizenship ◽  
Public Values ◽  
Vital Importance ◽  
Decision Making Processes

Well-being is of vital importance for individuals as well as society at large. UNs Sustainability Goal #17, ‘Partnership for the Goals', support co-creation and co-production as necessary approaches to reach public values such as citizenship, social justice, and well-being. However, co-creation and co-production is not enough. It is necessary to address who participates in co-creation, how they participate, and how participation affects outcomes. Inclusive participation in everyday life, public services, and democracy is crucial to achieve active citizenship and well-being for all. This chapter will discuss how voices of citizens in marginalized and vulnerable life situations needs to be included and recognized in democracy and public sector practices as well as in decision-making processes. The chapter suggests how public sector organisations can promote active citizenship, valued social roles, and well-being through participation in co-creation of public values, placing well-being for all and social justice at the forefront of public value co-creation.

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