scholarly journals Political economics, collective action and wicked socio-ecological problems: A practice story from the field

Author(s):  
Lisa B. Adams ◽  
Theodore R. Alter ◽  
Margot W. Parkes ◽  
Michael Reid ◽  
Andrew P. Woolnough

Empowering integrative, sustainable and equitable approaches to wicked socio-ecological problems requires multiple disciplines and ways of knowing. Following calls for greater attention to political economics in this transdisciplinary work, we offer a practitioner perspective on political economy and collective action and their influences on our community engagement practice and public policy. Our perspective is grounded in a pervasive wicked problem in Australia, invasive rabbits, and the emergence of the Victorian Rabbit Action Network. The network grew out of a publically funded research project to support community-led action in rabbit management. Victorian residents and workers affected by rabbits – public and private land managers, scientists, government officers and others – were invited to engage in a participatory planning process to generate sustainable strategies to address the rabbit problem. Each stage in the process, which involved interviews, a workshop and consultations, was designed to nurture the critical enquiry, listening and learning skills of participants, advance understandings of the problem from multiple perspectives, generate collective options to guide decision-making, and encourage community-led collective action. We reflect on our understanding of these processes using the language and lens of political economics and, in particular, the context of democratic professionalism. In so doing, we define terms and refer to information resources that have enabled us to bring a practical working knowledge of political economics to our professional practice. Our intent is to motivate academics, community members, government officials, and scientists alike, to draw on their knowledge and field experiences and to share practice stories through the lens of political economics and collective action. This is an opportunity to engage each other in small ‘p’ politics of how we understand and act on wicked problems, to negotiate and connect across disciplines, practical experiences and human difference, so that people may work more creatively and effectively together to address the challenging issues of our time.  

Author(s):  
Kelley Lee ◽  
Julia Smith

The influence of for-profit businesses in collective action across countries to protect and promote population health dates from the first International Sanitary Conferences of the nineteenth century. The restructuring of the world economy since the late twentieth century and the growth of large transnational corporations have led the business sector to become a key feature of global health politics. The business sector has subsequently moved from being a commercial producer of health-related goods and services, contractor, and charitable donor, to being a major shaper of, and even participant in, global health policymaking bodies. This chapter discusses three sites where this has occurred: collective action to regulate health-harming industries, activities to provide for public interest needs, and participation in decision-making within global health institutions. These changing forms of engagement by the business sector have elicited scholarly and policy debate regarding the appropriate relationship between public and private interests in global health.


1991 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 13-14
Author(s):  
Ronald Register

In 1990, the Ford Foundation launched the Neighborhood and Family Initiative Project (NFI) in four U.S. cities. A low-income neighborhood in each of the four cities is the target for the initiative, which is administered through a local community foundation in each city. The initiative relies on neighborhood leadership to develop strategic plans which reflect the goals and aspirations of neighborhood residents and institutions. A collaborative, or committee, composed of neighborhood leaders and key representatives from the public and private sectors is charged with overseeing the planning process.


1997 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
KEITH WIEBE ◽  
ABEBAYEHU TEGENE ◽  
BETSEY KUHN

2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pertti Lahdenperä

The prevailing practice in new areal real estate development is for public and private actors to perform their duties by turns. Yet, the planning process could benefit from simultaneous contributions from society and developers and their designers. That, again, requires that the municipality selects the private partner consortia prior to completion of the local detailed plan through a competition in order to find the most potential actors and the best ideas for implementation of an urban structure of high quality. Candidates will be attracted by offering them the right to implement a residential/business block as a developer. The several blocks involved in an areal development project, and the laboriousness of producing competitive solutions, require a well planned selection process. A novel multi‐target competition process was developed which is presented in this paper with special emphasis on the allocation algorithms that allow selecting the most qualified competitors for parallel follow-up competitions from among a large group of registered candidates. The approach was tested in an actual real estate development project in the municipal district of Vuores which was the original reason for launching the study. Santruka Pletojant nekilnojamaji turta naujose teritorijose, vieši ir privatūs asmenys dažniausiai savo pareigas vykdo paeiliui. Tačiau planavimo procesui būtu tik geriau, jei tuo pačiu metu prisidetu ir visuomene, ir vystytojai, ir projektuotojai. Tam velgi reikia, kad savivaldybe paskelbtu konkursa ir pasirinktu privačiu partneriu grupes prieš užbaigdama vietini detaluji plana didžiausia potenciala turintiems dalyviams aptikti ir geriausioms idejoms surinkti, kokybiškai miesto struktūrai išvystyti. Kai teritoriju pletros projektas apima kelis kvartalus, o kuriant konkurencingus sprendimus idedama daug darbo, reikia gerai suplanuoto atrankos proceso. Yra sukurtas novatoriškas daugiatikslis konkurso procesas, pristatomas šiame darbe, daugiau demesio skiriama paskirstymo algoritmams, kuriuos naudojant iš daugybes registruotu kandidatu galima atrinkti tinkamiausius tolesniems tuo pat metu vykdomiems konkursams. Toks būdas patikrintas realiame nekilnojamojo turto pletros projekte, kuris vyko Vuores savivaldybes teritorijoje, ir būtent del šios priežasties pradetas šis tyrimas.


2000 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Lyne ◽  
Paul Zille ◽  
Douglas Graham

This paper compares the results of public and private land redistribution in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It identifies problems that constrain access to the land market, and describes recent efforts to address the liquidity problem associated with mortgage finance. The Land Reform Credit Facility (LRCF) was launched by government in May 1999 to help alleviate cash flow problems on farms purchased by disadvantaged buyers and financed with mortgage loans from commercial banks. The LRCF does not offer subsidies. Rather it offers loans with deferred or graduated repayment schedules to reputable banks and venture capital investors who finance, on similar terms, equity-share projects and land purchased by aspiring farmers. The paper outlines the LRCF experience and considers reasons for its promising start. The loan target of R15 million (US$2.15 million) set for the first year was reached after only eight months.


Author(s):  
Seungho Moon

Transnational curriculum studies (TCS) examines the fluid dynamics of knowledge creation, knowledge circulation, and knowledge representation across nation-state borders. It challenges the rigid architectures of state power and brings local concerns to the global context such as antiracist pedagogy and climate change issues. At the same time, TCS opens spaces for collaborative study of the same curriculum issues across nation-states from multiple perspectives. Curriculum scholars have extended scholarship to respond to various sociopolitical, cultural movements. Issues studied include human rights, recognition, and epistemicide through a framework that emphasizes hybrid identities and power operations across nation-states. Feminist postcolonial scholars within this field also highlight unequal power operations among nation-states, particularly for “marginalized” communities. They interrogate discourse on equity, power, and exploitation as a consequence of transnationalism. TCS scholars critically examine important questions on recolonization of knowledge through Eurocentric, patriarchal ideologies and the social reproduction of knowledge through curriculum. They also incorporate Indigenous approaches to knowledge learning and dissemination with the support of transnational curriculum inquiry. Key issues in TCS include global inequity and postcolonial discourse in transnationalism, transnational subjectivity and identity discourse, and epistemicide in curriculum and integration of Indigenous knowledge. Future directions for TCS arise from ontological, pedagogical, and methodological issues, which include collaborating with those in the field of border studies as physical and metaphorical spaces in research, linguistic issues in academic communities, and transnational curriculum studies for social actions and transformation. TCS contributes to opening space in curriculum theorizing to draw from multiple ways of knowing, including Indigenous epistemologies.


1984 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 145-148
Author(s):  
Kent D. Carter

A nationwide survey of 25 administrators of public and private blind service agencies gathered overview information on the administrator's organizational planning processes. Statistically significant differences were found between the two groups of administrators in the areas of goal development and implementation of plans. Both groups seemed to follow planning patterns described in other research; however, there were notable differences in the areas of goal development, long-range planning, and contingency planning. Further research is suggested in the areas of using monthly program reports, unwritten procedures, and delegation of authority.


2020 ◽  
pp. 027507402095639
Author(s):  
Jill K. Clark

Research on public participation in community planning processes often focuses on the design of participation activities and the tensions therein. Past research, however, gives little attention to the question of who makes these design decisions, what public values they hold, and how those values affect decisions about design. Addressing this gap, this study empirically illustrates the connection between public value frames, design choices, and public participation in a collaborative policymaking process. The case analyzed is a local public planning process designed collaboratively by public and private organizations. The analysis uses participant observation, documents, and interviews. Results demonstrate how effective collaborative governance of the design process and interorganizational power-sharing forced partners to reveal, recognize, and interrogate their own public values while navigating others’ values. The collaborative governance of the planning process allowed the organizations to capitalize on, rather than suffer from, differences in values frames by changing tensions in planning to opportunities and increasing equity in public participation. Findings suggest that research attention should be aimed not just at which stakeholders are invited to participate (and how), but at who designs the participation agenda in the first place. Furthermore, findings suggest that public values frame reflection and collaborative governance of participation design can be key practices improving planning and policy outputs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 337-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic P. Parker ◽  
Walter N. Thurman

We highlight the extraordinary growth in private conservation via land trusts and conservation easements and describe the problems arising from the interplay of public finance and private decisions. We offer a framework for understanding the popularity of easements and land trusts and for evaluating policy reforms aimed at improving their performance. The framework, grounded in institutional and organizational economics in the tradition of Ronald Coase, Oliver Williamson, and Yoram Barzel, focuses on the measurement and monitoring costs faced by public and private stakeholders under current and prospective policy arrangements. We illustrate how the framework can be applied to contemporary debates about the appropriate tax treatment of donated easements, requirements that they be held in perpetuity, and the extent to which government should regulate private land trusts.


Author(s):  
Helen Simons

This chapter explores case study as a major approach to research and evaluation. After first noting various contexts in which case studies are commonly used, the chapter focuses on case study research directly Strengths and potential problematic issues are outlined and then key phases of the process. The chapter emphasizes how important it is to design the case, to collect and interpret data in ways that highlight the qualitative, to have an ethical practice that values multiple perspectives and political interests, and to report creatively to facilitate use in policy making and practice. Finally, it explores how to generalize from the single case. Concluding questions center on the need to think more imaginatively about design and the range of methods and forms of reporting requiredto persuade audiences to value qualitative ways of knowing in case study research.


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