scholarly journals Steering in Governance: Evolutionary Perspectives

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 365-368
Author(s):  
Raoul Beunen ◽  
Kristof Van Assche

Steering has negative connotations nowadays in many discussions on governance, policy, politics and planning. The associations with the modernist state project linger on. At the same time, a rethinking of what is possible by means of policy and planning, what is possible through governance, which forms of change and which pursuits of common goods still make sense, in an era of cynicism about steering yet also high steering expectations, seems eminently useful. Between laissez faire and blue-print planning are many paths which can be walked. In this thematic issue, we highlight the value of evolutionary understandings of governance and of governance in society, in order to grasp which self-transformations of governance systems are more likely than others and which governance tools and ideas stand a better chance than others in a particular context. We pay particular attention to Evolutionary Governance Theory (EGT) as a perspective on governance which delineates steering options as stemming from a set of co-evolutions in governance. Understanding steering options requires, for EGT, path mapping of unique governance paths, as well as context mapping, the external contexts relevant for the mode of reproduction of the governance system in case. A rethinking of steering in governance, through the lens of EGT, can shed a light on governance for innovation, sustainability transitions, new forms of participation and self-organization. For EGT, co-evolutions and dependencies, not only limit but also shape possibilities of steering, per path and per domain of governance and policy.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Inge Stupak ◽  
Maha Mansoor ◽  
C. Tattersall Smith

AbstractWhile the quantity of sustainability governance initiatives and systems has increased dramatically, crises persist over whether specific governance systems can be trusted as legitimate regulators of the sustainability of economic activities. This paper focuses on conceptual tools to improve our understanding of these crises as well as the facilitating factors and barriers for sustainability governance to play a role in transitioning to profoundly more sustainable societies than those that currently exist. Bioenergy is used throughout the paper as an example to aid contextually in understanding the theoretical and abstract arguments. We first define eight premises upon which our argumentation is developed. We then define sustainability, sustainability transition, legitimacy, and trust as a premise for obtaining effectiveness in communication and minimising risks associated with misunderstanding key terms. We proceed to examine the literature on “good governance” in order to reflect upon what defines "good sustainability governance" and what makes governance systems successful in achieving their goals. We propose input, output, and throughput legitimacy as three principles constituting “good” sustainability governance and propose associated open-ended criteria as a basis for developing operational standards for assessing the quality of a sustainability governance system or complex. As sustainability governance systems must develop to remain relevant, we also suggest an adaptive governance model, where continuous re-evaluation of the sustainability governance system design supports the system in remaining “good” in conditions that are complex and dynamic. Finally, we pull from the literature in a broad range of sciences to propose a conceptual “governance research framework” that aims to facilitate an integrated understanding of how the design of sustainability governance systems influences the legitimacy and trust granted to them by relevant actors. The framework is intended to enhance the adaptive features of sustainability governance systems so as to allow the identification of the causes of existing and emerging sustainability governance crises and finding solutions to them. Knowledge generated from its use may form a basis for providing policy recommendations on how to practically solve complex legitimacy and trust crises related to sustainability governance.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 230-236
Author(s):  
Kristof Van Assche ◽  
Martijn Duineveld ◽  
S. Jeff Birchall ◽  
Leith Deacon ◽  
Raoul Beunen ◽  
...  

Quarantine measures and the crises triggering them are never neutral in the sense that a return to the past is impossible. These measures are also a signal of other things like systemic risks and weaknesses. A period of quarantine is also a thing in and by itself. What happens after quarantine is thus shaped both by the state of the social-ecological system preceding quarantine and by what happened during quarantine. The selectivities introduced during quarantine span discursive, institutional and material realms. Old discourses can return with a new meaning. Social and economic relations can reappear seemingly unchanged, they can be more visibly altered and they can be dismantled. Ideologies, however, to be understood here as master discourses, read problems and solutions in their own way and do not necessarily come closer to each other or disappear. All this, offers food for thought regarding the possibilities and limits of resilience and transition. We argue that the current COVID- 19 pandemic casts doubt on the generic applicability of theories of resilience and transition, yet also sheds a new light on the value of both. We propose the concept of reinvention to describe what is happening and what could happen in a more coordinated fashion. We argue that the current crisis reveals mechanisms in systems dynamics that point at the existence of multiple pathways after dramatic system shocks. Some shocks and their system- specific responses (such as a particular kind of quarantine) are more amenable to resilience strategies afterwards, while others require a path of radical transition. They might also both be needed: a rather stark transition now might ensure future resilience. While the outline of the system after transition is not clear, some desirable features are clear as are the risks and damages of the current system. Also clear is the argument for transitional governance, a temporary governance system (beyond quarantine) which can enable the construction of new long term perspectives in governance and new governance tools meant to reduce chances of a crisis like this one reoccuring.


Corporate governance provides an answer to the question who controls the corporation and how. It involves a set of relationships between management, shareholders and stakeholders. Corporate governance in Bosnia and Herzegovina is within the legal jurisdiction of entities, and consequently there are two substantially aligned and yet completely distinct corporate governance systems, which separates Bosnia and Herzegovina as a state in the international environment into a specific category in terms of corporate governance. This paper will analyze ownership concentration in order to identify the characteristics of the corporate governance systems, then it will present the principles on which the legal framework for corporate governance in Bosnia and Herzegovina is defined, compare the business transparency standards with the transparency directive in the EU, and measure the quality level of corporate governance in order to define key areas for improvement of corporate governance in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The development and characteristics of the corporate governance systems in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be explored and compared with the regulatory framework and standards of corporate governance in the European Union. Special emphasis is on comparing the transparency principles and standards of corporations in Bosnia and Herzegovina with corporations in the European Union. The aim of the research is to compare the regulatory framework and characteristics of the corporate governance system in corporations in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the standards in the European Union, to identify similarities and differences and to define key areas for improvement of corporate governance in Bosnia and Herzegovina.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nuno Moutinho ◽  
Carlos Francisco Alves ◽  
Francisco Martins

Purpose This study aims to analyse the effect of borrower’s countries on syndicated loan spreads, featuring countries according to institutional factors, namely, financial systems and corporate governance systems. Design/methodology/approach This study is an empirical investigation based on a unique sample of more than 85,000 syndicated loans from 122 countries. The paper uses standard and two-stage least squares regression analysis to test whether the types of financial and corporate governance systems affect loan spreads. Findings The paper finds that borrowers from countries with financial systems oriented towards the banking-based paradigm pay lower interest rate spreads than those from countries with financial systems oriented towards the market-based paradigm. In addition, there is evidence that borrowers from countries with more developed financial systems pay lower spreads. The results also show that borrowers from countries with an Anglo-Saxon governance system pay higher spreads than borrowers from countries with a Continental governance system. Research limitations/implications This study does not consider potential promiscuous relationships that can arise at the ownership structure and governance level between banks and borrowers and may affect loan spreads. Practical implications This study suggests that financial and corporate governance systems are essential factors in the financial intermediation process. Furthermore, the evidence indicates that corporates with higher potential agency costs and higher potential information asymmetry are requested to pay higher spreads. Therefore, the opportunities to such corporates invest optimally tend to be scarcer. Originality/value The paper highlights the impact of institutional factors on the cost of financing, characterising the countries according to the type of financial system and the type of corporate governance system. The study finds that borrowers from countries with bank-based financial systems pay lower interest rate spreads than those from countries with market-based financial systems. The paper also highlights how the level of financial development affects the cost of financing. The paper focusses on non-financial firms, unlike financial firms, which have been the focus of several empirical studies on topics relating to the cost of funding and corporate governance.


Author(s):  
Hakikur Rahman

The world has seen the unprecedented development of information and communications technologies (ICTs) and adoption of their diversified methods in elevating all forms of human endeavors. Even a few years back, it was fashionable to speak about the global village. In recent years, many countries have taken leading role in implementing innovative ICT products to accelerate their national developments, enhance their livelihoods, strengthened their national economies, and improve their governance systems. This has been observed that those countries could reap the most benefits out of ICT strategies, which could penetrate at the lowest tier of their governance system. In this context, human development is an element of importance. This research emphasizes that cumulative human development through community approach would be the next level of knowledge dynamics across the world. It also argues that as much the country provides thrust on capacity development initiatives at the grass roots, it has more opportunity to reach at greater context of governance system. This chapter would like to focus on two cases, which penetrated the grass roots reaching out to the community level, act as catalyst to strengthen their national economy and government. Some features and perspectives of e-Sri Lanka and e-Korea are being discussed here to provide insight into these cases, so that researchers in developing and transitional economies could gain knowledge.


Author(s):  
Nay Zar Aung ◽  
Youji Kohda

This article explores the concept of familiness in family-owned businesses (FOBs), identifying how families generate their own resources for business performance. Applying the resource-based view, the authors examined seven Myanmar businesses. Findings revealed that two factors influence familiness in Myanmar FOB: family unity and internal governance systems, which can be subdivided into traditional and collective systems. Moreover, evaluation revealed that FOB's business performance was affected by different family attitudes. A combination of family unity and a traditional internal governance system was conducive to controlling the internal business capabilities, whereas creating external opportunities were considered more effective for a combination of family unity and a collective internal governance system. Findings suggest that familiness emerges through embedded family resources that incorporates a sense of awareness with abilities for business advantages. These empirical results can provide insights and inputs that can help small and medium-sized FOBs safeguard their future.


ORDO ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elmar Gerum ◽  
Sascha H. Mölls

ZusammenfassungDas Ziel des Beitrages ist es zu prüfen, ob und inwieweit sich das deutsche Corporate Governance-System, insbesondere die Unternehmensfinanzierung, im Zuge des Systemwettbewerbs an internationale Standards angeglichen hat. Dazu wird das deutsche System zunächst im Kontext alternativer Corporate Governance-Systeme verortet. Danach werden empirische Befunde zur Struktur der Unternehmensfinanzierung sowie flankierender Institutionen in deutschen Großunternehmen präsentiert und erklärt. Es zeigt sich, dass heute eine effiziente Mischfinanzierung typisch ist, die die traditionellen Vorteile einer Bankenfinanzierung mit den Möglichkeiten des Kapitalmarkts kombiniert. Im Lichte der Befunde empfiehlt sich eine Neuorientierung von Forschung und Politik zu Corporate Governance.


2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (10) ◽  
pp. 1461-1481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Tylecote

Firms are central actors in innovation, and their actions are much affected by their corporate governance and the finance available. Thus a country's finance and corporate governance system is a key element of its national system of innovation. The technological regimes of sectors (and sub-sectors) vary in ways that affect the demands innovation makes on the financial and corporate governance system. Finance and corporate governance systems (FCGSs) vary among countries in their ability to meet these demands. By setting three dimensions of regime variation alongside the three corresponding dimensions of FCGS variation, patterns of relative and absolute technological advantage among economies can be largely explained — particularly when the focus is on nationality of firm rather than location of activity.


2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Fremeth ◽  
Alfred A. Marcus

Wind energy presents significant opportunity to provide a series of public goods. Drawing on the ideas of J.Q. Wilson and E. Ostrom, we compare options to overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of deploying wind energy in two US states, Texas and Minnesota. Texas outperformed Minnesota in deploying wind energy technology despite Minnesota's ample wind and other natural advantages. To explain this gap in performance, we argue that Texas outperformed Minnesota because of a more fitting governance system and rules for determining (i) boundaries, (ii) cost and benefit allocation, (iii) conflict resolution, and (iv) rule revision. Our approach sheds an alternative yet overlooked lens upon the topic of wind energy development by focusing on how the concentration of power and authority in the hands of a few dominant public and private elites can lead to the successful deployment of a complex renewable technology under some circumstances.


2005 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 41-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morten Huse

The objective of this paper is to explore important contingencies for boards and governance designs. The paper is made in a setting where governance in SMEs in transition economies is to be developed, and knowledge from advanced market economies constitutes the framework to be built on. The core of the paper is the presentation of six groups of important contextual variables that must be analyzed and understood when corporate governance systems shall be developed. The framework presented in the paper includes understanding the perspectives of both internal and external actors in the corporate governance process, and that the design of a governance system will include issues related the board working style as well as thee board members.


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