scholarly journals Business Lobbying: Mapping Policy Networks in Brazil in Mercosur

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 198
Author(s):  
Galia Benítez

In the creation of trade policy, business actors have the most influence in setting policy. This article identifies and explains variations in how economic interest groups use policy networks to affect trade policymaking. This article uses formal social network analysis (SNA) to explore the patterns of articulation or a policy network between the government and business at the national level within regional trade agreements. The empirical discussion herein focuses on Brazil and the setting of exceptions list to Mercosur’s common external tariff. It specifically concentrates on the relations between the Brazilian executive branch and ten economic subsectors. The article finds that the patterns of articulation of these policy networks matter and that sectors with stronger ties to key government decision-makers have a structural advantage in influencing trade policy and obtaining and/or maintaining their desired, privileged trade policies, compared with sectors that are connected to government actors with weak decision-making power, but might have numerous and diversified connections. Therefore, sectors that have a strong pluralist–clientelist policy structure with connections to government actors with decision-making power have greater potential for achieving their target policies compared with more corporatist policy networks.

Polar Record ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 391-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rikke Becker Jacobsen ◽  
Jesper Raakjær

ABSTRACTThis article investigates recent reforms of the Greenland coastal fisheries in order to contribute to the general lessons on reform and policy networks in the context of a changing Arctic stakeholdership. It analyses participation in fisheries governance decision-making by examining the emergence of discourses and policy networks that come to define the very need for reform. A policy network is identified across state ministries, powerful officials, banks and large scale industry that defined the need for fisheries reform within a ‘grand reform’ discourse. But inertia characterised the actual decision-making process as reform according to this ‘grand reform’ discourse was blocked by a combination of small-scale fishers’ informal networks and the power of the parliamentary majority. After a parliamentary shift in power the new government implemented the ‘grand reform’ gradually whilst new patterns of participation and exclusion emerged. In this process, the identities of the participating participants were reinterpreted to fit the new patterns of influence and participation. The article argues that fishery reform does not necessarily start with the collective recognition of a problem in marine resource use and a power-neutral process of institutional learning. Instead, it argues that fishery reform is likely to be the ‘reform of somebody’ and that this ‘somebody’ is itself a changing identity.


2008 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-126
Author(s):  
Lee Hee Sun ◽  
Park Soon Ae

Due to rapid social change, the government does not have enough resources to manage urgent situations such as natural disasters. Recently, research on cooperative disaster management systems has increased, making it possible to respond to disasters more effectively. A "policy network" model is utilized to analyze the relationships among actors, with a particular focus on actors' behavior and network structure. Key findings are as follows: First, the participants in a disaster response network include the government sector as mandated by law, and the nongovernmental sector, which represents various interest groups. Second, the interactions especially among government departments or among NGOs, are dynamic as participations frequently engage and work with each other. Interaction between other sectors, however, is relatively low. Third, the policy network tends to form conflict-ridden relationships with low credibility. The low level of credibility among other sectors created obstacles to cooperative partnership and can increase the costs of disaster management in the long term.


Author(s):  
Ralph G. Carter ◽  
James M. Scott

Institutions have long been an important focus of foreign policy analysis. This is due to the fact that foreign policy is made and implemented by individuals acting within structured institutions of the state, and their foreign policy behavior is affected by the nature of those institutional structures and the roles they generate. At the heart of any institutional approach is the intersection of agency and structure. Institutions tend to influence actors more than actors influence them, and their impact is independent of the regime type or the decision making actors. Decision makers both react to and impact the external setting of decision making and the setting internal to the state in which decision making occurs. That internal setting includes social structures and the roles they generate for decision making actors to play. There are three types of decision units: structures featuring a predominant leader, a small group, or a coalition of multiple autonomous groups. The leader most commonly associated with foreign policy making is the head of the government. Other institutional roles include the head of state and military leaders. However, even when a predominant leader exists, most foreign policy decisions are shaped by small groups. There are five types of small groups: leader–staff groups, leader–autonomous groups, leader–delegate groups, autonomous groups, and delegate groups. Decision units marked by multiple autonomous units include other executive and non-executive branch actors as well. These actors include ministries, legislatures, and courts and councils.


Author(s):  
Blánaid Daly ◽  
Paul Batchelor ◽  
Elizabeth Treasure ◽  
Richard Watt

Planning is an integral part of dental care provision that can operate at many different levels. At a national level, government NHS policy impacts upon dental services in different ways. For example, in the General Dental Service, patient charge bands in England are currently set by the government. In the future, at the national level, the National Health Service Commissioning Board (NHSCB) will determine national policy and national delivery requirements. The NHSCB will be responsible for commissioning primary dental services and contractual arrangements with dentists. At the Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) level in England, planners (in conjunction with general medical practioner (GMP) consortia/clinical care commissioning groups (CCGs)) will make decisions over the priorities for local services, and the types and range of services offered locally. Within a dental practice, dental practitioners and their team members may develop a range of practice policies aimed at improving the services provided. Finally, every day clinicians develop treatment plans for individual patient care based upon their oral health needs. All these activities are planning in action. This chapter will examine the basic principles of planning, and review the different steps in the planning process. At the most basic level, planning aims to guide choices so that decisions are made in the best manner to reach the desired outcomes. Planning provides a guide and structure to the process of decision-making to maximize results within the limited resources available. Is planning really necessary when there are so many other demands on practitioners’ time? Planning can be justified for the following reasons: . . . ● It provides an opportunity to be proactive in decision-making rather than constantly reacting to pressures and demands. . . . . . . ● It enables priorities to be set. . . . . . . ● It identifies where resources can be directed to have the greatest impact. . . . Various planning models have been proposed to act as a guide to the different steps in the planning process. The rational planning model provides a basic guide to the process (McCarthy 1982), and involves the following steps: . . . 1 Assessment of need: e.g. identification of the oral health problems and concerns of the population. . . . . . . 2 Identifying priorities: agreeing the target areas for action. . . .


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hellen E. Msemo ◽  
Andrea L. Taylor ◽  
Cathryn E. Birch ◽  
Andrew J. Dougill ◽  
Andrew Hartley ◽  
...  

Weather-related disasters negatively impact livelihoods and socioeconomic activities and often lead to the loss of lives and homes. This study uses disaster data from the Disaster Management Department (DMD) in Tanzania to describe the spatial distribution of weather-related disasters, their socioeconomic impacts and highlight opportunities to improve production and uptake of weather and climate information by climate sensitive sectors. Between 2000 and 2019, severe weather accounted for ~69% of disasters in Tanzania. The Government spent over 20.5 million USD in response to these disasters, which destroyed over 35,700 houses and 1,000 critical infrastructures (roads, bridges, schools, and hospitals), affected over 572,600 people, caused over 240 injuries and 450 deaths. To reduce these impacts, it is important to understand the decision-making process in terms of what and how national guidelines create and enabling environment for integration of weather and climate information into disaster risk reduction strategies. For example, the National Transport Policy which is supposed to provide cross-sectorial guidelines on the use of weather and climate information addresses the use to marine industry but remains silent to other climate sensitive sectors and the public. Whilst weather warnings are available Tanzania continues to suffer from the impacts of weather-related disasters. There is a clear need to better understand the value of weather warning information at short timescales (1–5 days) and how this information can be better used in the individual decision-making processes of those receiving advisories and warnings. The review of policies to guide on cross- sectoral actions to foster the uptake of weather and climate services, decisions across climate sensitive sectors, both nationally and sub-national level is recommended.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Reza Hendriyantore

The effort to put good governance in development in Indonesia is basically not new. Since the Reformation, the transformation of closed government into an open government (inclusive) has begun to be pursued. Highlighting the conflicts in the land sector that tend to strengthen lately, there are some issues that have intensified conflicts in the field, such as the lack of guaranteed land rights in various legal and policy products. In this paper, a descriptive method is considered important in identifying the applicable issue and methodological framework for addressing governance issues in Indonesia. To reduce such agrarian conflicts between farmers and the government, and as an effort to increase farmers' income, all farmers are incorporated into agricultural cooperatives. Agricultural cooperatives are structured down to the National Level. Thus, farmers participate in good access to the marketing of agricultural produce.Keywords:good governance, agrarian conflict, agricultural cooperative


2020 ◽  
pp. 37-43
Author(s):  
Asep Priatna

The issue of environmental pollution has come to the attention of the world community and has become a strategic issue in sustainable development, so it needs to have the support of all parties, including the government, the private sector and educational institutions. Integrated Junior High School Lampang, Subang Regency West Java Indonesia has been implementing the green school program since 2008 and in 2019 it was entrusted by the West Java Education Office to be proposed as a national level green school program. Some achievements as a green school implementing school are private schools that have obtained "A" (exellent) accreditation with a beautiful environment and are able to fulfil 4 (four) components, namely (1) environmentally sound policies, (2) implementation of environment-based curriculum, (3) participatory-based environmental activities and (4) management of environmentally friendly supporting facilities Keywords : Management, green school Isu pencemaran lingkungan hidup telah menjadi perhatian masyarakat dunia dan menjadi isu strategis dalam pembangunan berkelanjutan, sehingga perlu mendapat dukungan semua pihak baik pemerintah, sector swasta maupun lembaga pendidikan. SMPS Terpadu Lampang Kabupaten Subang telah melaksanakan program adiwiyata sejak tahun 2008 dan pada tahun 2019 diberi kepercayaan oleh Dinas Pandidikan Jawa Barat diusulkan sebagai Sekolah Adiwiyata (green school program)  tingkat nasional. Beberapa capaian sebagai sekolah pelaksana green shcool  adalah sekolah swasta yang telah memperoleh akreditasi “A” (Unggul) dengan lingkungan asri dan mampu memenuhi 4 (empat) komponen yaitu (1) kebijakan berwawasan lingkungan, (2) pelaksanaan kurikulum berbasis lingkungan, (3) kegiatan lingkungan berbasis partisipatif dan (4) pengelolaan sarana pendukung ramah lingkungan Kata Kunci : Manajemen, Sekolah Adiwiyata


Author(s):  
R. A. W. Rhodes

The core executive is a new concept replacing the conventional debate about the power of the prime minister and the Cabinet. It refers to all those organizations and procedures that coordinate central government policies, and act as final arbiters of conflict between different parts of the government machine. In brief, the ‘core executive’ is the heart of the machine. The chapter reviews the several approaches to studying the British executive: prime ministerial government; prime ministerial cliques; Cabinet government; ministerial government; segmented decision-making; and bureaucratic coordination. It then discusses several ways forward by developing new theory and methods. The Afterword discusses the core executive as interlocking networks, and the fluctuating patterns of executive politics.


2021 ◽  
pp. 138826272110049
Author(s):  
Victoria E. Hooton

The role of proportionality and individual assessments in EU residency and welfare access cases has changed significantly over the course of the last decade. This article demonstrates how a search for certainty and efficiency in this area of EU law has created greater uncertainty, more legal hurdles for citizens, and less consistency in decision-making at the national level. UK case law illustrates the difficulty faced by national authorities when interpreting and applying the rules relating to welfare access and proportionality. Ultimately, the law lacks the consistency and transparency that recent CJEU case law seeks to obtain, raising the question of whether the shift from the Court's previous, more flexible, case-by-case approach was desirable after all.


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