scholarly journals Anticipatory governance for newcomers: lessons learned from the UK, the Netherlands, Finland, and Korea

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyungmoo Heo ◽  
Yongseok Seo
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Common Denominator ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Anticipatory Governance ◽  
The Public ◽  
Country Analysis ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Short Termism

AbstractAnticipatory governance (AG) is defined as a “system of systems” that employs foresight to create future plans and execute relevant actions. Recently, various frameworks of AG have been introduced, but there is little practical information available for newcomers on how to do this. This research conducted a framework-based comparative country analysis to provide lessons learned for newcomers in the sphere of foresight-linked AG. By evaluating the AG levels of Finland, the UK, the Netherlands, and Korea, we found that the consequences of foresight-linked AGs were different in each country. At the same time, we also identified a common denominator, namely, future receptivity, a “human or people” capacity to accept and understand the value of foresight. Instead of temporary system changes or organizational modifications, future receptivity is an underlying element for newcomers to overcome lingering short-termism and facilitate the coordination of stakeholders concerning foresight. In conclusion, we suggest ways to promote future receptivity for newcomers. First, the government should educate and train the public and government officials to promote future literacy and future proficiency. Second, the government should provide a process for public participation such as nationwide networking that enables the public to influence their diverse future images over foresight outcomes.

How to Tell the Truth without Outraging the Press?

MedienJournal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Li Xiguang
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
The Public ◽  
News Stories ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
Chinese News Media

The commercialization of meclia in China has cultivated a new journalism business model characterized with scandalization, sensationalization, exaggeration, oversimplification, highly opinionated news stories, one-sidedly reporting, fabrication and hate reporting, which have clone more harm than good to the public affairs. Today the Chinese journalists are more prey to the manipu/ation of the emotions of the audiences than being a faithful messenger for the public. Une/er such a media environment, in case of news events, particularly, during crisis, it is not the media being scared by the government. but the media itself is scaring the government into silence. The Chinese news media have grown so negative and so cynica/ that it has produced growing popular clistrust of the government and the government officials. Entering a freer but fearful commercially mediated society, the Chinese government is totally tmprepared in engaging the Chinese press effectively and has lost its ability for setting public agenda and shaping public opinions. 

Reflections on the Acquisition of Land by Non-citizens in Botswana

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-204
Author(s):  
Boga Thura Manatsha
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Land Policy ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
The Public ◽  
Legal Provisions ◽  
Media Reports ◽  
The Government ◽  
Tribal Land ◽  
Ownership Of Land ◽  
Land Transactions

There are rising public concerns about the acquisition of prime land by non-citizens/foreigners in Botswana, especially in the sprawling urban and peri-urban areas. Indians, Nigerians and Chinese, among others, are allegedly involved in such land transactions. There is a salient local resentment towards them and/or such transactions. Sensational media reports, emotive public statements by politicians, chiefs and government officials, and anger from ordinary citizens dominate the discourse. These emotive public debates about this issue warrant some academic comment. This article argues that the acquisition of land by foreigners in Botswana, in each land category—tribal, state and freehold—is legally allowed by the relevant laws. But this does not mean that citizens have no right to raise concerns and/or show their disapproval of some of these legal provisions. Aware of the public outcry, the government has since passed the Land Policy in 2015, revised in 2019, and amended the Tribal Land Act in 2018, not yet operational, to try and strictly regulate the acquisition of land by non-citizens. There is no readily available statistical data, indicating the ownership of land by foreigners in each land category. This issue is multifaceted and needs to be cautiously handled, lest it breeds xenophobia or the anti-foreigner sentiments.

scholarly journals Free and Frank Advice and the Official Information Act

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Kibblewhite ◽  
Peter Boshier
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Government Agency ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
The Public ◽  
Good Government ◽  
Work Programme ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Right ◽  
Official Information

Concern exists that New Zealand hasn’t struck the right balance between two potentially competing principles of good government: officials should provide free and frank advice to ministers, and the public should have opportunities to participate in decision making and hold the government to account. Steps we have taken to address this include: strengthening constitutional underpinnings for free and frank advice (Cabinet Manual changes and issuing expectations for officials); a work programme to improve government agency practice in relation to the Official Information Act; and the Office of the Ombudsman reducing uncertainty about when advice can be withheld by issuing new principles-based guidance and providing more advisory services.

scholarly journals The Role of Public Participation in Governance towards Achieving Sustainable Development. Part 1

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 395-404
Author(s):  
Maurice S. Nyarangaa ◽  
Chen Hao ◽  
Duncan O. Hongo
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Political Class ◽  
The Public ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
The Government

Public participation aimed at improving the effectiveness of governance by involving citizens in governance policy formulation and decision-making processes. It was designed to promote transparency, accountability and effectiveness of any modern government. Although Kenya has legally adopted public participation in day-to-day government activities, challenges still cripple its effectiveness as documented by several scholars. Instead of reducing conflicts between the government and the public, it has heightened witnessing so many petitions of government missing on priorities in terms of development and government policies. Results show that participation weakly relates with governance hence frictions sustainable development. Theoretically, public participation influences governance efficiency and development, directly and indirectly, thus sustainable development policy and implementation depends on Public participation and good governance. However, an effective public participation in governance is has been fractioned by the government. Instead of being a promoter/sponsor of public participation, the government of Kenya has failed to put structures that would spur participation of citizens in policy making and other days to activities. This has brought about wrong priority setting and misappropriation of public resources; The government officials and political class interference ultimately limit public opinion and input effects on decision-making and policy formulation, which might be an inner factor determining the failure of public participation in Kenya. The study suggests the need for strengthening public participation by establishing an independent institution to preside over public participation processes.

scholarly journals Corruption Crime Eradication by Corruption Eradication Commission Through Red-handed Catch Operation on Bribery Action

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 319-329
Author(s):  
Kamaluddin Abbas
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Action Control ◽  
The State ◽  
Financial Loss ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
The Public ◽  
A Value ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Government ◽  
Fundamental Consideration

The government has made many laws and regulations, but corruption issues cannot yet be controlled. Police and Prosecuting Attorney Institutions have not yet functioned effectively and efficiently in eradicating corruption. Therefore, the public hopes Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (KPK)/the Corruption Eradication Commission eliminates the crime. KPK is considerably appreciated by the public due to Operasi Tangkap Tangan (OTT)/Red-handed Catch Operation to many government officials involved in bribery action, but the subject matter thereof is whether the OTT is in line with the fundamental consideration of KPK founding pursuant to Law Number 30 of 2002 as updated by the Law Number 19 of 2019 in order to increase the eradication of corruption crime causing the state's financial loss with respect to people welfare particularly KPK powers pursuant to the provision of Article 11 thereof, among others, specifying that KPK shall be authorized to conduct inquiry, investigation and prosecution on corruption crime related to the state financial loss of at least Rp 1,000,000,000 but in fact many OTTs performed by KPK have a value of hundred million Rupiah only and even there are any cases below Rp 100,000,000.-, and bribery action control through OTT being more dominant if compared to the state's financial corruption is not in line with the primary consideration of KPK founding, and similarly the OTT below 1 billion Rupiah doesn't conform to the provision of Article 11 thereof.

scholarly journals The public accountability of social platforms: lessons from a study on bots and trolls in the Brexit campaign

2018 ◽  
Vol 376 (2128) ◽  
pp. 20180003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Bastos ◽  
Dan Mercea
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Information Warfare ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Application Programming ◽  
Access To Data ◽  
The Uk

In this article, we review our study of 13 493 bot-like Twitter accounts that tweeted during the UK European Union membership referendum debate and disappeared from the platform after the ballot. We discuss the methodological challenges and lessons learned from a study that emerged in a period of increasing weaponization of social media and mounting concerns about information warfare. We address the challenges and shortcomings involved in bot detection, the extent to which disinformation campaigns on social media are effective, valid metrics for user exposure, activation and engagement in the context of disinformation campaigns, unsupervised and supervised posting protocols, along with infrastructure and ethical issues associated with social sciences research based on large-scale social media data. We argue for improving researchers' access to data associated with contentious issues and suggest that social media platforms should offer public application programming interfaces to allow researchers access to content generated on their networks. We conclude with reflections on the relevance of this research agenda to public policy. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘The growing ubiquity of algorithms in society: implications, impacts and innovations'.

The Value of Implicit Political Connections

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
David Broadstock ◽  
Xiaoqi Chen ◽  
C. S. Agnes Cheng ◽  
Wenli Huang
Keyword(s):  
Work Experience ◽  
Firm Value ◽  
Top Management Team ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Political Connections ◽  
The Political ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Relations ◽  
The Government

ABSTRACT We investigate whether the aggregated political relations of a firm's top management team (TMT) add value to the firm's performance. We distinguish between the political relations that arise from TMT's own work experience, which are termed direct political connections (DPC), and the relations that TMT develops from working for the same institution with the government officials, which are termed implicit political connections (IPC). We find that IPC are positively associated with firm performance and that they often have a stronger effect than DPC do. We also find that the effect of IPC on firm value is stronger in SOEs and in firms located in under-developed provinces. Moreover, we find that after the anti-corruption campaign, the effect of DPC decreases but the effect of IPC does not significantly change. Overall, our results suggest the importance of investigating a firm's aggregated political connections, especially its IPC. JEL Classifications: G32; D72; J33; L33. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text.

Chinese Citizenry Social Media Pressures and Public Official Responses

2020 ◽  
pp. 139-181
Author(s):  
James Robert Masterson
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Domain ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Public Official ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
The Public ◽  
Access Information ◽  
The Government ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
High Level

Widespread use of social media in China is a double edged sword: social media offers opportunities for the government to connect with society, gauge the opinion of citizens in the public domain, and allow citizens to voice their anger when necessary by blowing off steam online rather than in the streets. However, social media also allows citizens to access information outside of China much more rapidly and efficiently and to link up and communicate with other citizens much more quickly. Social media allows users to share texts, photos, and files, making it much more difficult for the government to control information and to thwart organizing for political purposes. In some instances, the use of social media has forced the Chinese government to take actions that it otherwise would not have done or to reverse actions or policies already set in place. The goal of this chapter is to illustrate the double-edged sword that social media poses to government officials in China, particularly high-level party officials in Beijing.

Public Subsidies for Private and Public Education: The Dutch Case

1986 ◽  
Author(s):  
Estelle James
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
Educational System ◽  
Product Variety ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Subsidies ◽  
The Government

The possibility of “privatizing” education and other quasi-public services has been widely discussed in the United States today, and in other chapters of this volume. Policies such as a voucher or tax credit system, which would give public subsidies to private schools, are examples of privatization proposals. Many people feel that such policies would bring variety, choice, consumer responsiveness, and greater efficiency to our schools. Others fear that they would increase social segmentation, damage the public schools, and enable wealthy people to receive a better education for their children privately, but (partially) at the public expense. To expore these issues, this chapter examines the experience of the Netherlands, a country which, in effect, has had a voucher system in education for many years. In Holland, education and most health and social services are financed by the government but delivered by private nonprofit organizations, often religious in nature. As shall become evident below, the Dutch educational system avoids many of the possible pitfalls of privatization. This is due partially to particular mechanisms the Dutch have adopted to avoid these problems, which could conceivably be replicated here, and partially to broader structural features of the Dutch educational system and its role within society, which could not readily be replicated. The chapter proceeds as follows: The first section summarizes the historical background of the public-private division of responsibility for education in the Netherlands. The policy of privatization is seen as a response to diverse tastes about education, stemming from basic cultural (religious) differences, in a political setting where no one group was in a position to impose its preferred product variety on the others. This is consistent with a hypothesis I am testing in a multicountry study: that degree of reliance on private provision of quasi-public goods is positively related to cultural (particularly religious and linguistic) heterogeneity in democratic societies. It also is relevant to the discussions, found in several previous chapters, of why families choose private schooling.

Electronic Surveillance for the Public Good

2007 ◽  
pp. 100-113
Author(s):  
Liz Lee-Kelley ◽  
Ailsa Kolsaker
Keyword(s):  
Public Good ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Electronic Surveillance ◽  
The Public ◽  
Surveillance Technology ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Relationship

The central government in the UK is determined to employ new surveillance technology to combat the threat of terrorist activities. This chapter contributes to the important debate on the relationship between citizens and the government, by discussing not whether electronic surveillance should be used, but rather, when it is acceptable to the populace. From our analysis, we conclude that a reconciliation of state-interest and self-interest is critical for the success of e-governance; as such, electronic surveillance’s mission has to be about serving the law-abiding majority and their needs, and its scope and benefits must be clearly understood by the visionaries, implementers and the citizenry.

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