scholarly journals Outsourcing and Networking: Similar Trends in Local State-NPO Cooperation in Germany and China

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katja Levy ◽  
Anja Ketels
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Comparative Research ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Network Governance ◽  
Local State ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Provision Of Services

AbstractThis paper presents results of a German-Chinese comparative research project on the provision of services by non-profit organizations (NPOs) in the field of migration. It argues that NPOs and local governments deploy similar strategies in their joint attempt to tackle social problems, regardless of their political backgrounds. From a top-down perspective German and Chinese local governments show similar outsourcing modes, while from a bottom-up perspective NPOs show similar practices of network governance.

Comparative Environmental Law

2019 ◽  
pp. 2-34
Author(s):  
Jorge E. Viñuales
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Law ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Comparative Law ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Present Volume ◽  
Functionalist Approach

This volume examines the building blocks of environmental law across different jurisdictions. More specifically, it provides a cartography of environmental law, with a focus on its underlying logic, main arrangements and their variations, and how it is embedded within the broader legal arrangements developed to tackle other questions. In this context, this preliminary chapter provides an overview of the comparative method as it applies to the overall research project leading to the present volume. It discusses descriptive and evolutionary approaches, the conceptual approach, the functionalist approach, the factual approach, legal formants, the contextualist approach, and legal transplants. It then considers a range of methodologies proposed by comparative law experts, including the bottom-up functionalism and top-down functionalism, before explaining the methodology used for the organization of this book. The chapter concludes by summarizing a tentative structure of comparative environmental law as a single overall technology.

A Comparison of Top-Down and Bottom-Up Network Governance Regimes

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 (1) ◽  
pp. 11950
Author(s):  
Carola Jungwirth ◽  
Elisabeth Mueller
Keyword(s):  
Network Governance ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up

scholarly journals Moral Competence and Moral Orientation in Robots

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-111
Author(s):  
André Schmiljun
Keyword(s):  
Potential Risk ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Moral Behavior ◽  
Robot Ethics ◽  
Moral Orientation ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Moral Competence ◽  
Moral Self ◽  
Bottom Up

Two major strategies (the top-down and bottom-up strategies) are currently discussed in robot ethics for moral integration. I will argue that both strategies are not sufficient. Instead, I agree with Bertram F. Malle and Matthias Scheutz that robots need to be equipped with moral competence if we don’t want them to be a potential risk in society, causing harm, social problems or conflicts. However, I claim that we should not define moral competence merely as a result of different “elements” or “components” we can randomly change. My suggestion is to follow Georg Lind’s dual aspect dual layer theory of moral self that provides a broader perspective and another vocabulary for the discussion in robot ethics. According to Lind, moral competence is only one aspect of moral behavior that we cannot separate from its second aspect: moral orientation. As a result, the thesis of this paper is that integrating morality into robots has to include moral orientation and moral competence.

scholarly journals Estimating the economic potential of rural microregions

2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 71-79
Author(s):  
Norbert Grasselli
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Synergic Effect ◽  
Economic Potential ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Building Projects ◽  
Strategic Plans ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Cultural Connections

Experts have been involved in the problems of determining microregions in Hungary since their establishment. In Hungary, the microregions (NUTS17 IV) were established by top-down method. This system cut through existing economic and cultural connections. The villages set up their own bottom-up microregions, which have tighter connections than the official regions. In my article, I estimate the economic potential of two regions, the regions Erdôspuszta (Hungary) and Hohenlohe (Germany), after analyzing the relevant literature on determining economic potential. Projects realized by enterprises and civil organizations have strategic significance in the economies of settlements, and it is true that their developers are not members of the formal management of the settlement. The local governments, however, should conduct realization and topdown of projects, and they have to have an image of the future and strategic plans. The present Hungarian practice, which appears in supply oriented applications, is not expedient over the long-run.The projects of settlements are run parallel to each other; they therefore fail to reach any synergic effect. The aim is harmonizing and building projects onto each other.

scholarly journals IDENTIFIKASI TUJUAN DAN SASARAN PEMBANGUNAN DESA KABUPATEN ACEH BARAT

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nellis Mardhiah
Keyword(s):  
Rural Development ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Government Regulation ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Development Planning ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
The Village ◽  
Goals And Objectives

Research to identify goals and objectives for the development of rural areas implemented by local governments in Aceh Barat by law No. 6 of 2014 concerning Indonesian villages. Government Regulation No. 43 of 2014 on regulations implementing the law on the entire territory of Indonesia. The idea in the construction of the village area, to establish an independent village-based autonomy based on decentralization of policy goals of development planning top-down central government and development activities in bottom-up to the local government at the village level that is able to run continuously to carry out nation-building and livelihood both nations in the economic, political, social, cultural and defence security, and science and technology. The qualitative research method with descriptive approach to the phenomenon of primary and secondary data with the results of previous studies based on linkage with rural development. The theory of this study using the theory of decision-making and the development concept that has been implemented through the analysis of rural development top-down or bottom-up. Identify the goals and objectives of rural development is to create an autonomous rural development in a sustainable community economic empowerment. Keywords: Identification, Goals, Objectives, Development, Village

scholarly journals Combining bottom-up monitoring and top-down accountability: A field experiment on managing corruption in Uganda

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 205316802093435
Author(s):  
Mark T. Buntaine ◽  
Brigham Daniels
Keyword(s):  
Field Experiment ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Government Performance ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Public Projects ◽  
Citizen Monitoring ◽  
High Level

Citizen monitoring of government performance is often ineffective at improving performance, perhaps because information from monitoring does not make it far enough up in the chain of bureaucracy where the authority to punish public mismanagement rests. In a field experiment, we test whether delivering regular, officially certified reports derived from citizen monitoring and describing specific problems with the implementation of public projects to high-level bureaucrats charged with overseeing the projects improved their delivery. We do not find evidence that this treatment improved the delivery of public projects. Follow-up interviews revealed that the targeted officials seemed to avoid knowledge of the monitoring, perhaps to avoid taking on the responsibility that would come from such knowledge. However, the treatment also provided information to citizens about what they should expect from local governments, which instigated several direct complaints that the targeted officials did not ignore. Based on this alternative channel, which we did not anticipate, we conclude that citizen monitoring must be deployed in ways that make knowledge of problems undeniable for authorities who have a responsibility to address them.

scholarly journals How Do Energy-Economy Models Compare? A Survey of Model Developers and Users in Canada

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 5789
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Rhodes ◽  
Kira Craig ◽  
Aaron Hoyle ◽  
Madeleine McPherson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Policy ◽  
Government Procurement ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Energy Economy ◽  
Financial Characteristics ◽  
Temporal Representations

Governments at all levels rely on energy-economy models to design climate policy portfolios. Models vary in their purposes and methodologies, yet there is limited research comparing model characteristics and identifying models suitable for specific policy questions. We conduct a web-based survey of energy-economy model users and developers (n = 14) in Canada’s public, private, and non-profit sectors, to systematically compare seventeen models against the following characteristics: Technology representations, microeconomic and macroeconomic details, policy representations, treatment of uncertainty, high-resolution spatial and temporal representations, and data transparency. We find that for the most part, models represent technology, micro-, and macroeconomic characteristics according to the typology of bottom-up, top-down, and hybrid models. However, several modelling evolutions have emerged. To varying extents, top-down models can explicitly represent technologies and some bottom-up models incorporate microeconomic (non-financial) characteristics. We find that models differ in the types of policies they can simulate, sometimes underrepresenting performance regulations, government procurement, and research and development programs. All models use at least one method to explore uncertainty, rarely incorporate spatial and temporal representations, and most models lack publicly available methodological documentation. We discuss the implications of our comparative model analysis for climate policy projections and future research.

Implementation Structures: The Use of Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approaches to Policy Implementation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark T. Imperial
Keyword(s):  
Policy Implementation ◽  
Implementation Research ◽  
Intellectual Development ◽  
Network Governance ◽  
Hierarchical Organization ◽  
Institutional Setting ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Unit Of Analysis

Implementation research emerged as an effort to understand the “missing link” between the expression of a governmental intention and the world of action and results. In many policy settings, this requires implementation structures or networks comprised of parts of organizations both within (vertically) and across (horizontally) levels of government. Increasingly, this involves structures that incorporate organizations from the private and nonprofit sectors. Therefore, effective interorganizational policy implementation requires building networks with the correct balance of federal, state, and local control to achieve the collective objectives of these actors. Consequently, the challenge of managing within these networked implementation structures is quite different than what is found in a typical hierarchical organization. There are three stages of intellectual development in implementation research. Early scholarship typically used case studies to examine detailed episodes of policy implementation to identify problems and challenges. A more sophisticated approach to research soon emerged that emphasized identifying variables crucial to implementation “success.” Two competing perspectives soon characterized this stage of intellectual development. The top-down approach argued that implementation problems are minimized through careful specification of procedures. From their perspective, implementation was largely an administrative challenge. Conversely, the bottom-up perspective argued that effective implementation allows policy to be adapted based on the interaction of a policy with the local institutional setting. For bottom-uppers, context matters, and implementation involves bargaining rather than the explicit control of higher-level decision makers. Some of the notable efforts to synthesize these perspectives are then examined. However, these efforts were hindered by obstacles such as different philosophical perspectives and pragmatic realities about how a polycentric governmental system functions, the failure to embrace a longitudinal perspective, and the improper specification of the unit of analysis. While the volume of research has declined since its heyday in the 1980s, the so-called “third generation” of research that succeeded it has become much more rigorous. However, a generally agreed upon theory of implementation remains lacking. A competing approach to implementation scholarship emerged during the top-down and bottom-up debate. It argued that the choice between these two approaches was a false one. Instead, the core implementation challenge is one of governance and crafting implementation structures that deliver services. This stream of research grew largely out of the bottom-up approach but argued that the proper unit of analysis is the “network” rather than a policy or statute. This proved to be a useful methodological approach for identifying the networks used to “implement” policies and programs. A variety of new perspectives on “networked” policy implementation soon emerged out of this implementation structure tradition. Research on implementation networks was soon joined by the growth of new literatures in areas such as intergovernmental management (IGM), network governance, collaboration, and institutional analysis and development that also provide useful insights about the challenge of “managing” within implementation structures. Moving forward, there is much that implementation scholars can draw upon and contribute to advance the collective understanding of how to “manage” within networks.

scholarly journals Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approaches to Environmental Governance in China: Evidence from the River Chief System (RCS)

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (19) ◽  
pp. 7058
Author(s):  
Jie Ouyang ◽  
Kezhong Zhang ◽  
Bo Wen ◽  
Yuanping Lu
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Policy Coordination ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
News Reports ◽  
Scant Attention

A common argument is that the comprehensive implementation of the river chief system (RCS) is a clear indication of the Chinese government’s strong commitment to overcoming the problem of water pollution. Scant attention, nonetheless, has been afforded to systematically examining the economic and social effects of this pioneering policy. Based on news reports and data from regions in which the RCS was piloted, this paper fills in a critical literature gap by unpacking the environmental, economic, and societal benefits accrued from this river-based management approach. Specifically, by employing a difference-in-differences (DID) method, this study shows that (1) overall, the adoption of the RCS has significantly reduced the discharge of sewage per unit of GDP and improved water quality to a considerable extent; (2) the RCS, functioning under China’s top-down bureaucratic structure, coupled with increasing encouragement of bottom-up oversight and citizen participation, has provided local governments with strong incentives to improve water quality in a timely manner in their respective jurisdictions through the introduction of a plethora of measures, ranging from increased investment in wastewater treatment to faithful enforcement of environmental regulations; (3) the positive changes anticipated as a result of the RCS cannot be materialized in regions that have difficulties sustaining economic growth or facilitating cross-boundary policy coordination; and (4) the long-term effectiveness of the RCS is based on its ability to compel local enterprises to innovate their modes of operation, ultimately leading to regional industrial upgrading. The paper concludes by discussing how these empirical findings can help policymakers devise feasible tactics for confronting the causes of China’s current environmental predicament in the context of improving the alignment of individual officials’ political aspirations with targeted environmental outcomes.

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