Humanities Backgrounds of British Civil Servants: The Use of a Common Language

Public Voices ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Candace Hetzner
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
Common Language ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Industrialized Democracies

This essay undertakes an examination of the role of Oxford and Cambridge and the imparting of the humanities--or what the English call "arts"--to future civil servants. The essay begins by laying out the historical reasons for the centrality of the humanities in the recruitment of the top levels of the bureaucracy--a phenomenon unknown in other Western industrialized democracies. The author then assesses the contributions such education has made to the character of and quality of British public administration primarily in terms of its positive, but not to the exclusion of its negative, effects.

Bureaucracy and Government Quality

2021 ◽  
pp. 640-661
Author(s):  
Carl Dahlström ◽  
Victor Lapuente
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
Service Systems ◽  
Political Connections ◽  
Public Employees ◽  
The Public ◽  
Good Government ◽  
Pros And Cons

How does the way the bureaucracy is organized affect the quality of the public policies delivered? This chapter focuses primarily on the role of human resources in the public sector and its impact on good government. We argue it is specifically important how bureaucrats are recruited, promoted, dismissed, and incentivized; what public administration scholars refer to as “civil service systems.” Building on the more than 75-year-old discussion between Carl Friedrich (1940) and Herman Finer (1941), we explore the pros and cons of having public employees who are directly accountable to their political masters vis-à-vis public employees who are politically autonomous. The review of the available evidence indicates that, all other things being equal, civil servants’ autonomy leads to less corrupt, and more effective governments in comparison with polities where civil servants owe their positions to political connections. The chapter concludes that civil servants should be directly accountable to their professional peers instead of their political superiors.

Can trust become a factor of economic growth? Dynamic changes in the level of trust of Russian youth

2020 ◽  
pp. 92-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. I. Bakhtigaraeva ◽  
A. A. Stavinskaya
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Dynamic Changes ◽  
Generalized Trust ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
The Future ◽  
Analysis Of Dynamics

The article considers the role of trust in the economy, the mechanisms of its accumulation and the possibility of using it as one of the growth factors in the future. The advantages and disadvantages of measuring the level of generalized trust using two alternative questions — about trusting people in general and trusting strangers — are analyzed. The results of the analysis of dynamics of the level of generalized trust among Russian youth, obtained within the study of the Institute for National Projects in 10 regions of Russia, are presented. It is shown that there are no significant changes in trust in people in general during the study at university. At the same time, the level of trust in strangers falls, which can negatively affect the level of trust in the country as a whole, and as a result have negative effects on the development of the economy in the future. Possible causes of the observed trends and the role of universities are discussed. Also the question about the connection between the level of education and generalized trust in countries with different quality of the institutional environment is raised.

Evolution of the public administration system. The Republic of Estonia

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 82-118
Author(s):  
YANA TOOM ◽  
◽  
VALENTINA V. KOMLEVA ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Administration System ◽  
The Public ◽  
Administrative Reforms ◽  
Social Sphere ◽  
External Threats ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Republic

The article studies the main stages and features of the evolution of the public administration system in the Republic of Estonia after 1992. This paper presents brief geographical and socio-economic characteristics that largely determine the development of the country’s public administration. The evolution of the institution of the presidency, executive, and legislative powers are considered. The role of parliament and mechanisms for coordinating the interests of different groups of the population for the development of the country is especially emphasized. The authors analyze the state and administrative reforms of recent years, which were aimed at improving the quality of services provided to the population, increasing the competitiveness of different parts of Estonia, as well as optimizing public spending and management structure. The introduction of digital technologies into the sphere of public administration, healthcare, education, and the social sphere is of a notable place. Such phenomena as e-residency, e-federation, and other digital projects are considered. The development of a digital system of interstate interaction between Estonia and Finland made it possible to create the world’s first e-federation, and the digitization of all strategically important information and its transfer to cloud storage speaks of the creation of the world’s first e-residency, a special residence of data outside the country’s borders to ensure digital continuity and statehood in the event of critical malfunctions or external threats.

The transformation of the Russian notary in the new economic realities

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-97
Author(s):  
KONSTANTIN A. KORSIK ◽  
◽  
ANASTASIYA A. PARFENCHIKOVA ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
The State ◽  
Technological Infrastructure ◽  
Social Sphere ◽  
The Social ◽  
Modern Economic ◽  
World Development

The article is devoted to the review of current changes in the legislation on notaries related to the development of electronic civil circulation, analysis of existing digital risks and assessment of the role of notaries in combating them. In modern economic realities, a significant expansion of the sphere of competence of the notary is carried out by introducing completely new notarial actions into the scope of the notary’s terms of reference. At the same time, the notary does not just follow the general ‘digital’ trend, but independently makes significant efforts to effectively perform the tasks of the social sphere regulator assigned to it by the state. The creation of the Unified Notary Information System as part of the formation of the technological infrastructure to ensure the security and stability of legal relations in the context of electronic civil circulation takes to a new level the quality of notarial services and the security of legally relevant information. The role of notaries significantly increases in conditions when the use of digital technologies in the economy, public administration, social sphere becomes one of the main vectors of world development, and society and the state inevitably face the flip side of this process – digital risks that jeopardize the safety of participants in civil turnover and their property. In 2020, as part of the implementation of the national program ‘Digital Economy’, it is planned to introduce a number of innovations that will create the basis for a stable and secure ‘digital’ turnover.

scholarly journals A soundscape analysis for selected parks in Bydgoszcz

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 00097
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Sztubecka
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sound Level ◽  
Green Spaces ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Subjective Perception ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
City Center ◽  
The City

Areas that are considered human-friendly are green spaces. The existing urban parks are designed to fulfill the role of relaxation, recreation, and entertainment. However, in many cases, these are historic places, which at the time didn't have much of an impact on external factors. Sustainable development issues are related to the quality of life and the usage of the environment and its resources by present and future generations. Noise and noise protection is an issue that is part of sustainable development. The inadequate implementation of the principles of sustainable development and non-inclusion of noise can noticeably lead to negative effects now and in the future. The aim of the paper is to analyze the soundscapes of two Bydgoszcz parks located in the city center. The values of the equivalent sound level for these areas were obtained from the existing Bydgoszcz acoustic plan. Subsequently, the resulting distribution of noise was compared with the results of subjective perception of sounds by visitors. On this basis, conclusions can be drawn regarding the ways of shaping such areas while taking into account the perception of visitors.

scholarly journals Role of exogenous folic acid in alleviation of morphological and anatomical inhibition on salinity-induced stress in barley

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Semra Kilic ◽  
Hatice Tuğba Aca
Keyword(s):  
Folic Acid ◽  
Seedling Growth ◽  
Growth Stages ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Salt Treatment ◽  
Yield And Quality ◽  
Agriculture Sustainability ◽  
Vigour Index

Soil salinity is a serious threat to agricultural ecological environment and agriculture sustainability. Ever increasing salinity negatively affects processes such as plant growth and development, ultimately causing diminished economic yield and quality of production, and it might cause a worldwide famine in the future. Thus, helping plants adapt to saline soils and increasing their yield and quality is a must. Our study focused on the enhancing role of exogenously applied folic acid (FA) in mitigation of toxicity caused by salt (NaCl). Barley seeds were pre-treated with 50 <span>µ</span>M FA for 24 h and then exposed to salt. Morphological and anatomical changes in seed germination and seedling growth stages were compared between different treatments of salt in laboratory conditions. Adverse effects of salt in both germination and seedling growth stages depended on the concentration of salt treatment (0.0, 0.25, 0.275, 0.30, 0.325 and 0.35 M). It was shown that the application of FA effectively alleviated the salt-induced inhibition, and reduced the negative effects of salt on germination (germination index and vigour index), seedling growth (radicle and coleoptile lengths, fresh weight) and leaf (stomata and epidermis number, stomatal index, stomata sizes of adaxial and abaxial surfaces) parameters. Moreover, FA elevated all examined parameters of barley also under non-stress conditions. Especially, germination and vigour indices were significantly higher than the control. Our results suggest that exogenous FA is involved in the resistance of barley to salt-stress.

scholarly journals Re-Designing Contemporary City Blocks: Designing In Favour Of Energy Conservation For A City In Desert: Kerman, Iran

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paria Sajadpour
Keyword(s):  
Energy Conservation ◽  
Building Design ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Traditional Architecture ◽  
Architectural Practice ◽  
Hot Arid Climate ◽  
Neighbourhood Scale

In Iran, urban block morphology has changed as a result of the architectural focus shifting away from traditional concerns such as climate-and-energy sensitivity onto issues such as land use, transportation and finance. Current architectural practice while has completely overlooked the architecture of the past, failed to improve the quality of life. The hot, arid climate in combination with non-responsive urban building design has resulted in high energy consumption to keep occupants comfortable. Although it is possible to overcome many of the negative effects of an inefficient design by the use of mechanical systems, this thesis through an architectural response, explores the role of climate sensitive strategies, practiced in the traditional architecture, in recognizing the importance of energy conservation. While it is only at the urban scale that energy-saving strategies could effectively tackle problems, the applicability of these principles will be studied at a neighbourhood scale.

scholarly journals Relationship between Information System and Information Overload. A Preliminary Analysis

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 3040-3050
Author(s):  
Carlo Caserio ◽  
Sara Trucco
Keyword(s):  
Information System ◽  
Information Processing ◽  
Information Overload ◽  
Processing Capacity ◽  
Technical Equipment ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Information Processing Capacity ◽  
A Company

The aim of this research is to investigate the role of information system in supporting companies to face with information overload. Specifically, the study provides an empirical analysis aimed to examine whether the quality of information systems is able to abate the negative effects of information overload/underload inside a company. Through a survey we assess the managerial feelings about the information overload (and underload) and the managerial assessment of the Information System (IS) quality. Preliminary empirical findings of our survey confirm, by performing a factor analysis, previous literature and suggest the items to be monitored for assessing the information underload and information overload phenomena and the dimensions to take into account for evaluating the IS quality, namely, information processing capacity, technical equipment and communication. Furthermore, results show that when the information underload increases, the information processing capacity of IS decreases and vice versa. This relation suggests that the IS quality could affect the information overload/underload phenomena.

scholarly journals Approach and models for using distributed ledger technology to authenticate educational documents

Doklady BGUIR ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 14-22
Author(s):  
D. A. Kachan ◽  
U. A. Vishniakou
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Digital Documents ◽  
Distributed Ledger ◽  
Distributed Ledger Technology ◽  
Urgent Task ◽  
Block Chain ◽  
Structural Solutions

The purpose of this article is to analyze methods, approaches, and tools of distributed ledger technology (DLT) for working with documents in education. The objectives of the article are to analyze problems with the authentication of educational documents, develop new structural solutions using block chain technology, consider two models, and evaluate their use for educational documents.Authentication of educational documents is carried out using state registers, which is a complex and resource-intensive process. There is an increase in the number of forged documents in the world, which calls into question the effectiveness of modern mechanisms. Distributed ledger technology (block chain) is a sustainable technological trend that affects the development and quality of the digital economy. The existence of a mechanism for verifying the authenticity of educational documents that is resistant to malicious manipulation is an urgent task that goes beyond the sphere of education, possible solutions to which are proposed to be considered in this paper.The article provides a brief description of DLT and considers the approach of using the technology to authenticate educational documents. It consists of two main stages: the issue of a digital educational document and its verification. The role of a trusted third party in the issue and validation process is considered. The paper presents the models for issuing and validating digital documents based on distributed ledger technology, which allows one to eliminate the limitations and shortcomings of existing approaches. The effectiveness of the approach based on the proposed models is revealed. The formulated approaches can be applied in various socio-economic areas and public administration to work with similar documents.

Moral and Ethical Problems of Public Service Development

2021 ◽  
pp. 18-22
Author(s):  
E. Il'chenko ◽  
O. Gorina
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
Service Development ◽  
Government Programs ◽  
Ethical Problems ◽  
The Public ◽  
Separate Region ◽  
Structural Entity

The civil service is a structural entity endowed with a certain amount of competence and authority necessary for the implementation of the tasks assigned to it. An analysis of the effectiveness of the public administration sector indicates a clear relationship between the activities of civil servants and the performance of government bodies. The quality of the work of the authorities has a significant impact on the effectiveness of the implementation of government programs. Modern conditions for reforming the civil service require civil servants to have such qualities as: education, upbringing of civil servants, their professionalism, driving motives for entering and passing the civil service. It becomes obvious that the lack of these qualities among civil servants reduces the effectiveness of the implementation of government initiatives. The article presents the results of research on the moral and ethical problems of the development of the state civil service at the level of the country and a separate region.

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