Accountability, polarization, and federalism: Oversight during and after the COVID-19 pandemic*

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 49-58
Author(s):  
Nathan Myers, PhD ◽  
Tonya E. Thornton, PhD, MPPA
Keyword(s):  
National Level ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Resource Acquisition ◽  
Testing System ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Systems ◽  
The Federalist ◽  
Ideological Debate ◽  
The Face ◽  
Trump Administration

The decision by the Trump administration to leave many of the policy decisions regarding COVID-19 to United States governors has had significant consequences for the management of the pandemic. During the COVID-19 response, the federalist approach has created complications in areas including resource acquisition, crisis communication, testing, and social distancing. Such issues have been magnified the differences between centralized and decentralized state public health systems. Governors have found themselves at odds with the Trump administration in regard to competing for vital equipment, signaling to the public the severity of the virus, and defining an adequate testing system. Many governors took bold action and acted in bipartisan cooperation with the governors of other states, often in the face of strong criticism and protests. The lessons learned from COVID-19 regarding the need for coordination at the national level must be documented for history. Rather than relying on state-by-state after-action reports, which separately could be become fodder for ideological debate, this commentary recommends a bipartisan, joint after-action report signed by state governors as a mechanism to preserve state experiences.

Principles or Rules-based Regulation in the Face of Uncertainty – Does it Really Matter?

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 459-478
Author(s):  
Mirko Pečarič
Keyword(s):  
National Level ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Face

The public administrations prepare draft laws. New things always emerge that cannot be in advance framed in laws. One solution could be the principle-based approach on the local and national level that gives the most relevant principles-rules combinations in the face of complexity. The paper presents the ability to measure principles and rules: it establishes the “1:47 rule” or ratio between the principles and rules, and gives a model that embraces the principles-rules evaluation elements and their weights. By this method, decision-makers and norms' addresses could achieve decisions without the need for more and more detailed, but ineffective regulations.

scholarly journals Anthropology, Museums and the Body: Lessons from an Experimental Teaching Environment

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 472-493
Author(s):  
Gwyneira Isaac ◽  
Kate Clark ◽  
Kelsey Adams ◽  
Heather Ashe ◽  
Katie Benz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Body ◽  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Smithsonian Institution ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
The Body ◽  
Teaching Environment ◽  
Disciplinary Boundaries ◽  
The Public ◽  
Experimental Teaching ◽  
The Face

With increased interests in solving complex problems through interdisciplinary research—how best can museums engage with and benefit from such an approach? At the same time, how can we address critical questions, methods, and ethics surrounding the study of humans within museums? In order to engage with these questions, an interdisciplinary group of curators, artists and students worked together at the Smithsonian Institution to create an experimental teaching environment to rethink the disciplinary boundaries around the study of the human body. Our aim was to use a range of anthropological, art and science collections and readings to tackle issues such as race, gender, genetics, and disability, and the historic inequities resulting from colonialism. We discuss here this endeavor, including the public program we developed—the Face Cast Lab—as well as lessons learned about who affects change through this type of museum-based teaching. 

scholarly journals Anthropology, Museums and the Body: Lessons From an Experimental Teaching Environment

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 472-493
Author(s):  
Gwyneira Isaac ◽  
Kate Clark ◽  
Kelsey Adams ◽  
Heather Ashe ◽  
Katie Benz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Smithsonian Institution ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
The Body ◽  
Teaching Environment ◽  
Disciplinary Boundaries ◽  
The Public ◽  
Experimental Teaching ◽  
The Face

With increased interests in solving complex problems through interdisciplinary research—how best can museums use this approach to address critical social issues? In order to answer this question, an interdisciplinary group of curators, artists and students worked together at the Smithsonian Institution to create an experimental teaching environment to rethink the disciplinary boundaries around the study of the human body. Our aim was to use a range of anthropological, art and science collections and readings to undertake the issues of race, gender, genetics, and disability, and the historic inequities resulting from colonialism. We discuss this endeavor, including the public program we developed—the Face Cast Lab—as well as lessons learned about who affects change through this type of museum-based teaching. 

The Relevance of Energy Service Contracts in the Budget Sphere

2018 ◽  
pp. 64-68
Author(s):  
George V. Boos ◽  
Elena Yu. Matveeva
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Institutional Development ◽  
The Public ◽  
Debt Burden ◽  
Comprehensive Plan ◽  
Effective Implementation ◽  
Service Contracts ◽  
The Face ◽  
Energy Service ◽  
The Russian Federation

The problematic aspects related to the implementation of energy saving policy in the budget sphere are examined in the article. The factors hindering the mass and effective implementation of energysaving measures are highlighted in the article. Among these factors, there is the technical complexity of energysaving projects, the presence of innovative and investment risks, problems with the financial provision of costs in the face of increasing debt burden in most public budgets. The article concludes that in these circumstances only the energy service contract is a tool that allows implementing energy­saving measures without the first participation of budgetary funds in financing and allows transferring the risks of making technically inefficient decisions directly to the investor. In the article, the authors substantiate the importance of the institutional development of energy services directly in the public sector and analyze the measures of the comprehensive plan to improve the energy efficiency of the economy of the Russian Federation aimed at expanding the scope of energy service contracts in the public sector.

Verán ustedes las chozas más humildes. El discurso de pobreza en la diplomacia pública cardenista dirigida a Estados Unidos

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-281
Author(s):  
Sylvia Dümmer Scheel
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New Deal ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Government ◽  
Lazaro Cardenas ◽  
The New Deal

El artículo analiza la diplomacia pública del gobierno de Lázaro Cárdenas centrándose en su opción por publicitar la pobreza nacional en el extranjero, especialmente en Estados Unidos. Se plantea que se trató de una estrategia inédita, que accedió a poner en riesgo el “prestigio nacional” con el fin de justificar ante la opinión pública estadounidense la necesidad de implementar las reformas contenidas en el Plan Sexenal. Aprovechando la inusual empatía hacia los pobres en tiempos del New Deal, se construyó una imagen específica de pobreza que fuera higiénica y redimible. Ésta, sin embargo, no generó consenso entre los mexicanos. This article analyzes the public diplomacy of the government of Lázaro Cárdenas, focusing on the administration’s decision to publicize the nation’s poverty internationally, especially in the United States. This study suggests that this was an unprecedented strategy, putting “national prestige” at risk in order to explain the importance of implementing the reforms contained in the Six Year Plan, in the face of public opinion in the United States. Taking advantage of the increased empathy felt towards the poor during the New Deal, a specific image of hygienic and redeemable poverty was constructed. However, this strategy did not generate agreement among Mexicans.

Agents of Practice at the Public Library’s Reference Desk

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Cavanagh
Keyword(s):  
Public Libraries ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Professional Boundaries ◽  
The Public ◽  
Reference Librarians ◽  
Practice Perspective ◽  
The Face ◽  
Reference Et

The face to face interactions of reference librarians and reference assistants are studied from a theoretical practice perspective. Rather than reinforcing professional boundaries, the results of this analysis support reference practice in public libraries as a highly relational activity where reference “expertise” retains a significant subjectivist, relational dimension.Les interventions en personne des bibliothèques de référence et des adjoints à la référence sont étudiées du point de vue de la pratique théorique. Plutôt que de renforcer les frontières interprofessionnelles, les résultats de cette analyse appuient l'idée que les pratiques de référence en milieu public sont des activités hautement relationnelles où l'expertise de la référence conserve une dimension subjectiviste et relationnelle. 

The New Economic Populism and the Future of Inequality in the United States

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
William W. Franko ◽  
Christopher Witko
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Labor Unions ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Public ◽  
Empirical Results ◽  
Income Disparities ◽  
The Face ◽  
Over Time

The authors conclude the book by recapping their arguments and empirical results, and discussing the possibilities for the “new economic populism” to promote egalitarian economic outcomes in the face of continuing gridlock and the dominance of Washington, DC’s policymaking institutions by business and the wealthy, and a conservative Republican Party. Many states are actually addressing inequality now, and these policies are working. Admittedly, many states also continue to embrace the policies that have contributed to growing inequality, such as tax cuts for the wealthy or attempting to weaken labor unions. But as the public grows more concerned about inequality, the authors argue, policies that help to address these income disparities will become more popular, and policies that exacerbate inequality will become less so. Over time, if history is a guide, more egalitarian policies will spread across the states, and ultimately to the federal government.

Cohabitants, Choice, and the Public Interest

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Leckey
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Intimate Relationships ◽  
Family Law ◽  
Regulatory System ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
Private Law ◽  
The Public ◽  
System P ◽  
The Face

Through the narrow entry of property disputes between former cohabitants, this chapter aims to clarify thinking on issues crucial to philosophical examination of family law. It refracts big questions—such as what cohabitants should owe one another and the balance between choice and protection—through a legal lens of attention to institutional matters such as the roles of judges and legislatures. Canadian cases on unjust enrichment and English cases quantifying beneficial interests in a jointly owned home are examples. The chapter highlights limits on judicial law reform in the face of social change, both in substance and in the capacity to acknowledge the state's interest in intimate relationships. The chapter relativizes the focus on choice prominent in academic and policy discussions of cohabitation and highlights the character of family law, entwined with the general private law of property and obligations, as a regulatory system.

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