scholarly journals Refleksiv institusjonalisering. Nytt frivillig engasjement i brytningen mellom endring og stabilitet

2018 ◽  
pp. 211-234
Author(s):  
Ivar Eimhjellen
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Organizational Adaptation ◽  
Organizational Growth ◽  
Global Issues ◽  
Organizational Identities ◽  
Community Based Organization

In this chapter I explore how collective action is initiated, mobilized and organized in light of trends of more individualized and reflexive forms of volunteering in Norway. By conducting a qualitative case-study of the climate-based Transition-initiative in Bergen, Norway, I have illustrated how general trends in volunteering are manifested on the local level, shaped by institutionalized frames of action, but also open for interpretative flexibility. Adaptation to reflexive and self-oriented volunteers in Transition entailed a decentralized, informal, flexible, network- and neighborhood-based mode of organizing collective action, focusing on the volunteers’ and participants’ personal interests and resources and the surrounding social and physical infrastructure. A prerequisite behind this organizational form were paid positions for coordinating, administrating and “nudging” volunteers and their activities to fit the organization’s objective. A certain degree of formalization and institutionalization due to organizational growth has also been necessary over the course of the years. Contradicting expectations from the theory of reflexive volunteering of attenuated organizational identities and social bonds in organizations, the Transition-initiative indicated the opposite, aiming at building a community-based organization. Albeit being locally focused, the initiative was inspired by global issues and is also connected to the international Transition movement, and is also a political actor on the national level. In order to analytically describe the Transition-initiative I propose the concept of reflexive institutionalization, referring to an organizational adaptation to reflexive forms of volunteering simultaneous to an inevitable process of institutionalizing some form of organizational structure if a sustainable (network-) organization is to be built.

International Microtrade Regime - Structure and Financing

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arpita Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Maximum Efficiency ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Indian Government ◽  
New Form ◽  
Indian Scenario

The conceptualization of a new form of trade, microtrade, is visualized to hold great promise in economic development of the producers belonging to LDCs and developing countries. In order to meet the goal of poverty reduction at a sustainable pace, the institutional, financial and logistical mechanisms for facilitating microtrade both at the international and national level needs to be built in a manner which ensures maximum efficiency. The paper deals with two fundamental aspects of development of microtrade. First, it delineates different aspects which would provide a strong substratum to the proposed microtrade regime. It explores the legal and institutional framework required for conduct of microtrade, which can be structured under the existing WTO regime and proposes necessary amendments to the WTO regime. Second, the paper explores financial aspects of the proposed microtrade regime. A case study of operation of micro-credit in the Indian scenario is undertaken in order to highlight the problems which have recently emerged in the microfinance sector. The scale of these problems has led the Indian government to propose a bill, regulating microfinance in India. Cue from this experience needs to be taken in order to move towards a foolproof system of financing microtrade at the local level.

scholarly journals “And Slowly, the Integration and the Growing and the Learning”: Nuanced Notions of Integration of Bhutanese Refugees in US Cities

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 181
Author(s):  
Annie Taccolini Pannagio ◽  
Odessa Gonzalez Benson
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Ground Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Wide Scale ◽  
Us Cities ◽  
Bhutanese Refugee

Policy related to refugee integration focuses on economic factors, while integration is not clearly operationalized nor is it being systematically measured and tracked in policy implementation. This study poses the question, how can local-level integration be conceptualized based on the perspectives of resettled refugees, to add nuance to policy. Using a case study approach with a nation-wide scale, data include 40 interviews and five focus groups with leaders of Bhutanese refugee-run organizations in 35 cities across the United States. Findings illustrate the importance of bonds, bridges and links in non-linear, relational integration. Findings also suggest that better access to services and resources is the responsibility of policy-makers and would lead to stronger bridges over time. This complicates existing policy and implies that resettlement programming should remain individualized and contextual from the ground level to the national level.

Participation of youth in local level governance: developing country case study

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 8-18
Author(s):  
Enock Jengre ◽  
Stephen D. Kpinpuo
Keyword(s):  
Developing Country ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Youth Participation ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Global Issues ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Country Case Study ◽  
Municipal Assembly ◽  
District Assemblies

This study investigates the factors that influence youth participation in local level governance in Ghana, a developing country. The Upper West Region was selected as a case study for this research. Through focus group discussions and in-depth interviews, as well as analysis of policy documents, the study reveals that the youth are more skillful in the use of technology and other strategic interventions to help address local, national, and global issues. Nonetheless, they are often marginalized and discriminated by their older partners at the Wa Municipal Assembly (WMA). Factors such as institutional barriers, partisan politicking, and inadequate resources account for much of the limitations placed on youth participation in the WMA. Given that the youth constitute more than half of Ghana`s population and 36% of the population of Wa, it is important to rethink the place of the youth in the management of the Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies

scholarly journals Hollowing out national agreements in the NHS? The case of “Improving Working Lives” under a “Turnaround” plan

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-159
Author(s):  
Ian Roper ◽  
David Etherington ◽  
Suzan Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Performance Management ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Employee Relations ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Working Lives ◽  
The Face

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to consider the resilience of a national-level initiative (Improving Working Lives (IWL)) in the face of local-level initiative (Turnaround) in an NHS hospital and compare to Bach and Kessler’s (2012) model of public service employment relations. Design/methodology/approach Case study research consisting of 23 in-depth semi-structured interviews from a range of participants. Findings The principles behind IWL were almost entirely sacrificed in order to meet the financial objectives of Turnaround. This indicates the primacy of localised upstream performance management initiatives over the national-level downstream employee relations initiatives that form the basis of the NHS’ claim to model employer aspiration. Research limitations/implications The case study was conducted between 2007 and 2009. While the case study falls under previous government regime, the dualised system of national-level agreements combined with localised performance management – and the continued existence of both Turnaround and IWL – makes the results relevant at the time of writing. Originality/value Some studies (e.g. Skinner et al., 2004) indicated a perception that IWL was not trusted by NHS staff. The present study offers reasons as to why this may be the case.

Institutions and Collective Action: The New Telecommunications in Western Europe

1993 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 242-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wayne Sandholtz
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
National Level ◽  
Development Planning ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
International Leadership ◽  
Policy Adaptation ◽  
Future Networks

The member states of the European community are not just liberalizing telecommunications but are cooperating extensively in the sector. Breaking with a past dominated by rigid national monopolies (the PTTs), EC states in the 1980s undertook collective action in research and development, planning future networks, setting standards, and opening markets. This article seeks to explain telecoms liberalization and cooperation in Europe. Two conditions are necessary for international collective action to emerge. The first is policy adaptation at the national level, such that governments are willing to consider alternatives to pure unilateralism. In telecommunications, technological changes induced widespread policy adaptation in EC states. This adaptation was a necessary prerequisite for European cooperation. The second necessary condition is international leadership to organize the collective action. This paper extends the analysis of international leadership by outlining the conditions under which international organizations can exercise leadership to organize collective action. The case study, focusing on three dimensions of EC telecoms reform, shows how the Commission of the EC led in organizing collective action.

scholarly journals The Institutional Dualism and Its Impact on Economic Development The Case of Dualism in Batam

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 244-252
Author(s):  
Lany Pionier S ◽  
Jun Matsunami ◽  
Bakti Setiawan
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Intergovernmental Relations ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Strategic Position ◽  
Trade Route ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Batam as a region with a strategic position, located on the international trade route, was developed to become one of the engines of economic growth in Indonesia. However, in its development, Batam faced governance problems that had an impact on the decline in its economic performance. Not only at the local level, but its influence reaches the national level. This study explains the causal relationship of Dual Governance, focusing on aspects of formation, relations between institutions and their impact on development. Using the framework of Holzinger, Kern and Kromrey (2016), this study captures the issue of institutional dualism that has occurred for years and is considered to be the cause of the decline in development in Batam. The study was conducted using qualitative research methods with a case study approach and collecting data from interviews and document analysis.There are several concluding points in this study regarding institutional dualism and its impact on economic development based on Batam’s case. They are the implementation of decentralization, the significance of the pre-existing institution, the similarity between two institution in respect of interpreting and implementing policies and the relationship between intergovernmental relations and economic development. These three factors affect the degree of intergovernmental relations which is directly proportional to economic development. The more intergovernmental relations are, the higher economic development is.

scholarly journals Decentralization, legitimacy, and democracy in post-Soviet Central Asia

2021 ◽  
pp. 187936652110685
Author(s):  
David Siegel
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Political System ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Political Decentralization ◽  
Level I ◽  
Soviet Central Asia

During the 1990s, a conventional wisdom emerged, based on literature going back decades, that political decentralization might be among the most effective forces for democratization. If ordinary people could participate in autonomous local governments, democracy would be built from the ground up, ultimately shaping the entire political system. Once decentralization reforms were implemented across the world, however, the results were disappointing. Authoritarianism not only thrived at the local level, it could also undermine democratization at the national level. Thus, local-national transference still held, but sometimes as a poison. In this context, the case of post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan is an anomaly. Here, the relative success of political decentralization—rather than its failure—nevertheless failed to spur democratization at the national level. I argue that this is because decentralization allowed national authorities to appease international donors while they consolidated their own power. Moreover, while decentralization empowered local communities, it did so in ways that personalized local authority and pitted local and national authorities against one another, resulting in intense localism and antagonistic center-local relations that undermined any democratic transference. The case study findings are based on ten months of field research, which includes interviews with local and national officials, ordinary villagers, and representatives of NGOs and international organizations.

scholarly journals Militarized masculinity and the paradox of restraint: mechanisms of social control under modern authoritarianism

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Tapscott
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
First Century ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Arbitrary Power ◽  
Social Discipline ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Do So

Abstract The twenty-first century is marked by the rise of new forms of authoritarianism, many of which are characterized by the ‘paradox of restraint', in which reforms compliant with the rule of law are used to unshackle the ruler's arbitrary power. Despite a proliferation of scholarly studies on this topic, we still have limited understanding of how national-level authoritarian power reaches ordinary citizens in these contexts. This article identifies the performance of militarized masculinities as an understudied mechanism that does so. It offers two main contributions: first, it highlights how performances of militarized masculinities enact the paradox of restraint through gendered idioms, thereby magnifying the ambiguities of modern authoritarianism and diffusing them at a local level. Second, it recasts the conceptual utility of militarized masculinities, showing that the concept's inherent tensions between ordered discipline and unaccountable violence produce and project authoritarian power, giving militarized masculinities special potency as a mode of social discipline in these contexts. The article draws on feminist International Relations, employing grounded ethnographic research to illustrate how national-level power circulates locally. To do so, it first illustrates the relationship between the paradox of restraint and militarized masculinities using the cases of Putin's Russia and Duterte's Philippines. It then turns to an in-depth case study of a local dispute between soldiers and civilians in Museveni's Uganda to trace how gendered local encounters facilitate the transmission of national-level authoritarian power into the lives of ordinary people.

scholarly journals Green Infrastructure Implementation Programmes at National Level: Case Study “National Project – Support of Biodiversity with Green Infrastructure Elements in Municipalities of Slovakia”

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 66-70
Author(s):  
Denisa Halajová ◽  
Peter Halaj
Keyword(s):  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Woody Plants ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Natura 2000 ◽  
Tree Planting ◽  
Strategy Development ◽  
National Project ◽  
Policy And Strategy

AbstractEU-wide strategy promotes the deployment of green infrastructure across Europe. Integrating green infrastructure in spatial planning, policy and strategy development at regional/national levels is the task of each EU member state. The aim of this article is to give an example and evaluate one of the ongoing projects at national level, namely National project – Support of Biodiversity with Green Infrastructure Elements in Municipalities of Slovakia “Green municipalities of Slovakia“. The aim of the national project is to implement green infrastructure at local level through vegetation elements in order to maintain and restore biodiversity and ecosystems outside of protected areas Natura 2000. The programme supporting tree planting in rural municipalities is an important tool for the creation of basic elements of green infrastructure throughout Slovakia. As part of the national program, an implementation plan for 6 municipalities in Slovakia in 2020 is proposed. Subsequently, the implementation projects in terms of the use of vegetation in different categories of green spaces, types of vegetation, representation of tree species, including costs and benefits, are proposed. Based on the results, the potential and limits of the programme and specific suggestions for its further use are set. In 6 municipalities, a total of 17 suitable localities were selected for the project, which is an average of 2.83 localities per municipality. A total of 467 woody plants individuals were proposed, representing a total of 19 woody plants species. The total cost of planting is an average of €12,601.10 per municipality, €7,312.05 per ha of area, and €161.90 per single tree. The average number of trees per ha is 45.15 individuals and per each municipality it is 77.83 trees. In the conclusions, a potential risk of the programme regarding the subsequent maintenance of trees, which is not funded under the program, is highlighted.

Investigating the implementation of and accountability in PPPs: a case study in public water management

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Claude Mutiganda ◽  
Matti Skoog ◽  
Guiseppe Grossi
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
Local Population ◽  
National Level ◽  
Organisational Change ◽  
East African ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
Rural Water ◽  
Professional Capacity

PurposeThis study analyses how the implementation of PPPs to operate rural water infrastructures and deliver water to local population has led to a new accountability archetype.Design/methodology/approachThe archetype theory is used to analyse the process of implementing PPPs as a new archetype and setting up systems and structures of accountability between contracting parties. The empirical part of the study is based on extensive document analysis in an East African country. Documents analysed are from governmental sources, UNICEF and the World Bank and cover a period from 1998 to early 2019.FindingsThe process of implementing PPPs was revolutionary at the national level and evolutionary at micro levels. The sequence of the change process moved from central to peripheral. The linearity followed a reorientation track strategy. Setting up systems and structure of accountability was evolutionary, peripheral to central following the reorientation strategy. National authorities reacted proactively to comments and suggestions from international donors and local population. However, not all districts have fully implemented PPPs in their rural water sector. The structure of accountability at the local level, however, still suffers from logistical and professional capacity constraints.Research limitations/implicationsEmpirical findings cannot be generalised to other situations, but the theoretical framework used in this study can be applied elsewhere.Practical implicationsGiving priority to hearing from end users themselves before designing and implementing policies that intend to respond to specific local needs is recommended.Originality/valueThis study explains the ways in which micro-organisational change can lead to revolutionary archetypes such as PPPs, whereas the implementation of systems and the structure of accountability at inter-organisational level remain evolutionary.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document