scholarly journals Statisticians as Back-office Policy-makers: Counting Asylum-Seekers and Refugees in Europe

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Funda Ustek-Spilda
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Direct Interaction ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Benefits ◽  
The Government ◽  
Statistical Guidelines ◽  
Exercise Of Discretion ◽  
Back Office ◽  
Asylum Seekers And Refugees

Street-level bureaucracy literature ascertains that policies get made not only in the offices of legislatures or politicians but through the discretion bureaucrats employ in their day-to-day interactions with citizens in government agencies. The discretion bureaucrats use to grant access to public benefits or impose sanctions adds up to what the public ultimately experience as the government and its policies. This perspective, however, overlooks policy-making that gets done in the back offices of government, where there might not be direct interaction with citizens. Furthermore, it treats discretion as inherently anthropogenic and ignores that it is exercised in relation to sociotechnical arrangements of which bureaucrats are a part. In this paper, based on extensive ethnography at national statistical institutes and international statistical meetings across Europe, I make two arguments. The first is that, statisticians emerge as back-office policy-makers as they are compelled to take multiple methodological decisions when operationalizing abstract statistical guidelines and definitions, thus effectively making rather than merely implementing policies. This is the “discretion” they employ, even when they may not interact with citizens. The second argument is that the exercise of discretion is sociotechnical, that is, it happens in relation to the constraints and affordances of technologies and the decisions of other bureaucrats in their institutions and others.

scholarly journals Enabling Knowledge Sharing within e-Government Back-Office through Ontological Engineering

2007 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-48
Author(s):  
Graciela Brusa ◽  
María Laura Caliusco ◽  
Omar Chiotti
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Innovation ◽  
Santa Fe ◽  
Ontological Engineering ◽  
The Public ◽  
Software Applications ◽  
Process Characteristics ◽  
Main Requirement ◽  
The Government ◽  
Back Office

Nowadays, organizational innovation constitutes the government challenges for providing better and more efficient services to citizens, enterprises or other public offices. E–government seems to be an excellent opportunity to work on this way. The applications that support front-end services delivered to users have to access information systems of multiple government areas. This is a significant problem for e-government back-office since multiple platforms and technologies coexist. Moreover, in the back-office there is a great volume of data that is implicit in the software applications that support administration activities. In this context, the main requirement is to make available the data managed in the back-office for the e-government users in a fast and precise way, without misunderstanding. To this aim, it is necessary to provide an infrastructure that make explicit the knowledge stored in different government areas and deliver this knowledge to the users. This paper presents an approach on how ontological engineering techniques can be applied to solving the problems of content discovery, aggregation, and sharing in the e-government back-office. This approach is constituted by a specific process to develop an ontology in the public sector and an ontology-based architecture. In order to present the process characteristics, a case study applied to a local government domain is analyzed. This domain is the budget and financial information of Santa Fe Province (Argentine).

scholarly journals Work Ethics, Values, Attitudes and Performance In The Nigerian Public Service: Issues, Challenges and The Way Forward

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 157
Author(s):  
Bernard Oladosu Omisore ◽  
Oyende Adeleke A.
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Data Gathering ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Unethical Conduct ◽  
Work Ethics ◽  
The Public ◽  
Service Oriented ◽  
Training Motivation ◽  
The Government ◽  
And Performance

Performance of the Nigerian public service has been a major concern to policy makers and researchers alike. This is because despite all measures put in place to arrest the ugly trend, it seems, it has defied all approaches towards tackling the problem of inefficiency and capacity collapse. Work ethics, attitudes and values can be influenced by the organization, through interventions like training, motivation and coaching, etc. However, they cannot be changed forcibly because they are intrinsic. It is, therefore, of fundamental importance that public functionaries act justly and fairly to all, not only paying lip service to ethical conduct but also ensuring that these are manifestly and undoubtedly seen to be done. This paper discusses the challenges of work ethics, values, attitudes and performance in the Nigerian public service. The major causes of unethical conduct in the public service were identified and the institutional mechanisms established by the government to curb these unethical behaviours were examined. This paper adopted content analysis as a method of data gathering and analysis. It suggested viable options for effective and efficient service-oriented public service. 

Bilateral Investment Rule-Making: BITs or FTAs with Investment Rules?

2013 ◽  
pp. 638-645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kong Qingjiang
Keyword(s):  
Choice Point ◽  
Free Trade Agreements ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Leave Policy ◽  
The Government ◽  
Rule Making

China is upgrading its bilateral investment treaties (BITs), and in the meantime embracing free trade agreements (FTAs), which can be accommodated to offer international investment rules (IIRs). A specific question in this regard will be: shall the investment issues be left to the upgraded BIT or proposed FTA? Given the trend that the investment rules embodied in the FTAs are increasingly intended to replace BITs between contracting states, this question, which poses a preliminary issue to the trade policy-makers of China and its partners, must be addressed from the public policy choice point of view. The paper argues for a sequencing of bilateral investment rule-making and proposes that unless the proposed FTA with investment rules is to leave policy space for the government, the BIT shall be given a due role to play in the course of economic integration between China and its partners.

scholarly journals Informal rental housing in the South: dynamic but neglected

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Scheba ◽  
Ivan Turok
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Rental Housing ◽  
Rental Sector ◽  
Socioeconomic Conditions ◽  
Negative Externalities ◽  
Developmental Approach ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Benefits ◽  
The Government

Informal rental housing is growing rapidly in cities of the global South. Changing needs and circumstances of diverse urban populations produce new forms of rental accommodation and landlord–tenant relations. Focusing on the case of backyard renting in South Africa, this paper illustrates how informal rental is undergoing a dynamic process of expansion and upgrading that both reflects and contributes to improved socioeconomic conditions. Commercialization is transforming the material quality and social dynamics of informal rental housing. While there are signs of formalization and professionalization, the government’s neglect of this sector has contributed to the strong persistence of informality, with its associated risks. This paper argues that the informal rental sector deserves more government attention to augment the public benefits and mitigate the costs. The paper ends with suggestions of how a developmental approach by the government could help to convert the negative externalities into a positive dynamic with more equitable and sustainable outcomes.

scholarly journals Sontaku and political scandals in Japan

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-45
Author(s):  
Matthew M. Carlson
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Special Treatment ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Japanese Politics ◽  
The Government ◽  
Political Scandals ◽  
Specific Construction

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explain a new scandal ingredient in Japanese politics called sontaku. This word refers to cases when officials grant special treatment to a project because they believe they are acting in accordance with the wishes of an associated powerful person.Design/methodology/approachThis paper describes the specific construction of major scandals involving sontaku from 2017 based primarily on newspaper accounts, examines the consequences of these scandals for politicians and bureaucrats, and discusses their implications for combating corruption in Japan.FindingsThe scandals after 2017 damaged to some extent the public support for the current Japanese administration and influenced the prime minister's decision to call a snap election. The scandals also highlighted systematic problems in the bureaucracy and motivated the government to reform laws concerning the management of public documents.Originality/valueThis paper will be useful to scholars and policy makers interested in studying the causes and consequences of scandals and political corruption in Japan.

Environment and Energy: A Public Opinion Survey in Davao City

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
MAIAN J. COZO
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Systematic Sampling ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Government ◽  
The City

For the past decades, environment and its relevant issues are becoming the greatest concern of most countries. Public opinion becomes the interest of most policy makers and sociologist reformist. Improved understanding of public perceptions about global warming and other environmental issues can contribute to informing scientific and policy discussions. The aim of this study is to assess the (1) the extent of concern on the major environmental issues of the city (2) the preference between environmental protection and energy production, and (3) to compare the extent of concern of the public according to their respective district.  A total of 1151 respondents, ages 18 and above was derived using the systematic sampling at 95% confidence interval, and proportionate sampling distribution to ensure representativeness with the population of the city. The results suggest that Dabawenyos are greatly worried about global warming (92%), deforestation and urban flooding (88%), and energy crisis are considered as the most alarming environmental problem in the city. Moreover, they are more favorable to environmentally-friendly solutions in addressing the city’s energy problem, and the government should put greater emphasis on the development of renewable energy (96%). The degree of concerns and emphasis on environmental protection of the community can be directly equated to the traumatic environmental phenomena that had happened in the city.   Keywords: Ecology and Conservation, environmental issues, renewable energy, poll survey, Philippines

State Planned Economy within the Modern Economic Regime

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 1196
Author(s):  
Sergey P. BORTNIKOV
Keyword(s):  
Planned Economy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Benefits ◽  
Modern Economic ◽  
The Government ◽  
Legal Frameworks ◽  
Market Relations ◽  
Role Of The Government

The author considers institute planning and its existence under the market relations. Protection of the capital requires support of its freedom, special nature of assignment and distribution of the benefits, determination of the rights of his owner opposed to the rights of employees. The role of the government, thus, comes down to capital servicing and its functions. In planned economy, on the contrary, the government sets rules, not the owner of the capital, but the person and the state becomes the central figure. The plan as the law defines conditions of managing, a customer of the public benefits. The possibility of existence of two-circuit system under which the government administration extends only to the enterprises with the government involvement is considered, private enterprises remain rather free. The plan is considered as the quantitative regulator and also as institutional and legal frameworks of the economy.

Great Britain: The Illusion of Governmental Authority

1978 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 538-562
Author(s):  
Norman H. Keehn
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Economic Power ◽  
British Government ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Collaborative Action ◽  
Contractual Relationships ◽  
The Government

The capacity of the British Government to pursue and achieve economic purposes under liberal managed capitalism without the consent, cooperation, or passive acquiescence of organized producer groups is inherently limited. The ineluctable fact is that the British Government is dependent on the holders of economic power for achieving economic purposes. For this reason, national policy makers enter into partnership arrangements and contractual relationships with vital corporatist forces. Deliberate, premeditated, collaborative action is needed to ensure correlation between the government's intentions and achievements. Concertation, which represents a partnership between the public and private sectors as well as cooperative give-and-take in reaching agreements on economic objectives, enables the government to govern.

scholarly journals Peran komunikasi publik dalam menanggapi gelombang disinformasi Covid-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-175
Author(s):  
Dody Setyawan ◽  
Dekki Umamur Ra'is ◽  
Abd. Rohman
Keyword(s):  
Public Information ◽  
Public Confidence ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Communication Campaign ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
The Government ◽  
Object Of Study

Disinformation has reduced public confidence in the government and scientists in handling Covid-19. These conditions hamper the overall handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the context of responding to a global pandemic, disinformation greatly affects the country's response to a global pandemic by undermining trust, creating fear, and sometimes leading to harmful behavior. It is important for policy makers to understand disinformation and how to respond to it. This study uses a literature review approach with data sources coming from several documents that have been verified and have a relationship with the object of study. The stages of the study start from choosing a review topic, finding and selecting appropriate articles, analyzing and synthesizing the literature, and finally presenting a review of the study. the results show that the government should have official information channels with verified, transparent, sustainable and fast sources of information. The government must also provide clear and definite information through official channels and trusted media. The government must also ensure the consistency of information. In addition, the government must maintain a transparent pattern of communication about the situation, actions and risks it takes. The aim is to restore public trust in public institutions, in information that has been conveyed by the government to the public as well as guidelines that have been provided by the government to the public, such as health protocol guidelines and the last is "Pre-bunk", or be aware of the potential for disinformation before occurred, as part of a public information and communication campaign. 

scholarly journals MERETAS URGENSI AUDIT KINERJA DALAM MENCIPTAKAN AKUNTABILITAS KINERJA INSTANSI PEMERINTAH KOTA/KABUPATEN

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sugimin Sugimin
Keyword(s):  
Evaluation Instrument ◽  
Literature Study ◽  
Internal Auditor ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Performance Accountability ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness ◽  
The Government ◽  
And Control ◽  
Basic Standards

This article explains the urgency of an audits performance (value for money audits) in creating of performance accountability at cityor district government instance. This study was conducted by literature study with reference to a number of previous study and related regulations. The results of the study indicate that performance is a formal evaluation instrument for the government program. It helps to increase the public accountability by providing information concerning the government performance that may not be accessible to the public. The understanding of this concept and its implementation will enable to achieve optimal accountability for the public sector. It is concerned about performance audits centered on economic achievement, efficiency, and effectiveness depend on the existence of regulation, planning, assessment, authorization and control over the use of its resources. It is the responsibility of the public policy makers to establish the arrangements and to ensure that they are functioning appropriately. The responsibility of the internal auditor is to independently verify that execution of activities by policymakers have complied with the basic standards.

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