FOI and the remaking of politics

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Worthy
Keyword(s):  
Complex Dynamics ◽  
Everyday Activity ◽  
High Profile ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Lock In ◽  
Over Time

This chapter examines how the same complex dynamics that shape FOI formulation continue after the passage of legislation. This chapter looks across the country cases, beginning with the UK, to see how FOI interacts with its wider environment and new ideas around openness (Posen 2013). It examines thematically the role of various, sometimes competing and contradictory, influences on the legislation post-implementation: including high profile scandal Lock-in of FOI legislation with the gradual ‘normalising’ of openness systems within bureaucracies over time, assisted by the integration of independent appeal bodies, helping to entrench FOI within systems as an ‘everyday’ activity (Hazell and Worthy 2010: Kimball 2012). It looks at attempts to strengthen FOI and attempts to weaken FOI. The chapter ends by mapping out the complex dynamics and pattern of post –implementation FOI. It examining what groups (government factions, users, media) and what events, both real and symbolic, (crisis, electoral victory, reform programmes) can help trigger the different dynamics and how they can change (Hillebrandt, Curtin and Meijer 2012).

Participatory Design Practices in Mental Health in the UK: Rebutting the Optimism

Design Issues ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 25-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola Pierri
Keyword(s):  
Professional Practice ◽  
Participatory Design ◽  
Complex Dynamics ◽  
Community Organizations ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Public Realm ◽  
The Public ◽  
Design Practices ◽  
The Uk

In what has been defined as an “era of participation,” design practices have become very central to the process of making publics and in bringing to life the dream of developing new ways of political engagement. By reflecting on my professional practice, I highlight the overly optimistic attitude that—most of the time—over-simplifies the role of design, especially when applied in public and community organizations. I illustrate participation as a paradox in itself, by problematizing the role and meaning of participatory encounters, and revealing some complex dynamics of exclusion and self-exclusion that are at play in the public realm.

scholarly journals Cultures of caring: Healthcare ‘scandals’, inquiries, and the remaking of accountabilities

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dawn Goodwin
Keyword(s):  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Collective Responsibility ◽  
Pivotal Role ◽  
Organizational Cultures ◽  
Professional Ideology ◽  
High Profile ◽  
The Uk

In the UK, a series of high-profile healthcare ‘scandals’ and subsequent inquiries repeatedly point to the pivotal role culture plays in producing and sustaining healthcare failures. Inquiries are a sociotechnology of accountability that signal a shift in how personal accountabilities of healthcare professionals are being configured. In focusing on problematic organizational cultures, these inquiries acknowledge, make visible, and seek to distribute a collective responsibility for healthcare failures. In this article, I examine how the output of one particular inquiry – The Report of the Morecambe Bay Investigation – seeks to make culture visible and accountable. I question what it means to make culture accountable and show how the inquiry report enacts new and old forms of accountability: conventional forms that position actors as individuals, where actions or decisions have distinct boundaries that can be isolated from the ongoing flow of care, and transformative forms that bring into play a remote geographical location, the role of professional ideology, as well as a collective cultural responsibility.

Antecedents and outcomes of information disclosure to employees in the UK, 1990—2004: The role of employee voice

2010 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riccardo Peccei ◽  
Helen Bewley ◽  
Howard Gospel ◽  
Paul Willman
Keyword(s):  
Information Disclosure ◽  
Employee Voice ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Probit Regression ◽  
Time Lagged ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Lock In ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Positive Effect

We map changes in the pattern of information disclosure by management to employees over 14 years in the UK, using the Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS) panels for 1990—8 and 1998—2004. We use time-lagged probit regression to explore antecedents and outcomes of disclosure over the two periods, focusing on the effects of voice mechanisms on disclosure and on the impact of disclosure on performance.The results show a significant increase in disclosure over the first period but a levelling off in the second. Neither union recognition nor direct participation had a significant impact on disclosure in either period. Joint consultation did, however, have a significant positive effect on disclosure, but more so in the first than in the second period. In addition, prior disclosure had a positive effect on subsequent disclosure. An explanation of trends in terms of lock-in and institutional decoupling is developed. Disclosure has a positive effect on financial performance.

Conclusions

2020 ◽  
pp. 214-236
Author(s):  
Alison Scott-Baumann ◽  
Mathew Guest ◽  
Shuruq Naguib ◽  
Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor ◽  
Aisha Phoenix
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Religious Literacy ◽  
Cultural Engagement ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Political Ideologies ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Gendered Roles ◽  
The Uk

These research findings show that the higher education research agenda can become distorted by imperatives coloured by political ideologies and a caricatured polarization of religion and secularity. These impulses originate outside the higher education sector and should be challenged. The UK universities need to improve the religious literacy of university students and to tackle ignorance towards Muslims in order for campuses to be inclusive spaces where all students can learn from the diversity around them. Islamic colleges need to interrogate some of their patriarchal assumptions about gendered roles in line with the important feminist work that their syllabi explore. This would be aided by recruitment of high profile women Islamic Studies lecturers and critical reflection on gender roles on campus. We call for the prophetic role of the universities and the Islamic colleges to be reclaimed through a transparent, joint programme of robust and critical cultural engagement for all.

The English Science Cities

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R. Charles ◽  
Felicity Wray
Keyword(s):  
Local Governance ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Governance Of Science ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Urban And Regional Development ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Science Cities ◽  
Over Time

Six English cities were designated by the UK Government as science cities in 2004 and 2005, with the intention that local consortia develop strategies for the realisation of this vision. Previous definitions of science cities are explored to show how the concept has evolved over time, with the English initiative placed within a global context to show how it adapts previous models to the specific needs of the UK and fits with academic debates on the local governance of science and the role of innovation in urban and regional development. The six cases are briefly examined as to their aims and the nature of their governance and approach and potential benefits of the initiative are outlined to show how it may contribute to a new perspective on the role of cities in science and economic development in the UK.

Competition Law and the Digital Economy in the UK and Beyond

2021 ◽  
pp. 359-388
Author(s):  
Liza Lovdahl Gormsen
Keyword(s):  
Competition Policy ◽  
Competition Law ◽  
Digital Economy ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Online Platforms ◽  
Global Companies ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Lock In

In Chapter 14, Liza Lovdahl Gormsen considers the contemporaneous debate on how best to address aspects of the interaction between competition law and the digital economy. She stressed that data is the pinnacle of the digital economy. It has fuelled amazing innovations in all sectors of the economy, but the accumulation of data in the hands of a few global companies may lead to lock-in, bottleneck issues, and leverage. The chapter notes that according to the report Unlocking Digital Competition, which was prepared for the UK Treasury, competition policy will need to be updated to address the novel challenges posed by the digital economy. Some of these updates can happen within current powers, but legal changes are important to ensure that this job can be done effectively. The Competition and Markets Authority’s market study on Online Platforms and Digital Advertising recommends establishing a Digital Markets Unit and ex ante regulation as a possible way forward. Building on the outputs from the Furman Review, the government asked the CMA to lead a Digital Markets Taskforce. In December 2020, the latter published its advice, A New Pro-competition Regime for Digital Markets, where it sets out the role of the Digital Markets Unit and an overview of its proposed regulatory framework for digital firms. This chapter looks at some of the challenges for UK competition policy in digital markets, in particular in relation to data, enforcement, and regulation. It also touches upon some of the potential issues that the UK faces in the digital economy following Brexit.

Where's the ‘Faith’ in ‘Faith-Based’ Organisations? The Evolution and Practice of Faith-Based Homelessness Services in the UK

2014 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 413-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
SARAH JOHNSEN
Keyword(s):  
Service Provision ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Homeless People ◽  
Spiritual Support ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Qualitative Exploration ◽  
Welfare Agencies ◽  
Over Time

AbstractDrawing upon a qualitative exploration of the role of faith-based organisations (FBOs) in service provision for homeless people in the UK, this paper examines the ways in which the ‘faith’ in ‘faith-based’ services is articulated and experienced ‘on the ground’. It demonstrates that the ‘F’ in FBO is expressed in a myriad of nuanced ways, and that the strength of ‘coupling’ between many welfare agencies and organised religion has diminished over time such that some projects’ faith affiliation or heritage is now evident in palimpsest only. Homeless people do in fact often find it difficult to discern tangible differences between avowedly ‘faith-based’ and ‘secular’ projects, given a blurring of boundaries between the religious and the secular. These findings problematise FBO typologies, and highlight the complexity and fluidity of the very concept of ‘FBO’ itself. Certainly, they suggest that the differences between faith-based and secular provision should not be exaggerated, whilst recognising the importance of faith to the motivations of many service providers and the potential value of the (optional) ‘spiritual’ support offered by most FBOs.

Devolution

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Collective Identities ◽  
Constitutional Development ◽  
Political Preferences ◽  
Economic Developments ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Different Parts ◽  
Over Time

This chapter attempts to draw out comparisons and make sense of devolution as a UK-wide phenomenon. Devolution has taken a variety of forms at different times in different parts of the UK. A key aim of the chapter is to describe these varieties and explain why no common form of devolution emerged. Devolution may be a form of constitutional development but it has always been linked to wider socio-demographic and economic developments as much as to the sense of collective identities. Some interpretations emphasize the role of national identity in the demands for devolution in Scotland and Wales while others lay more emphasis on differences in political preferences that stimulated demands for self-government. No understanding of the politics of devolution is complete without an appreciation of the roles of identity, the party systems, political and public policy preferences, and how these changed over time.

scholarly journals The role of frequent engagement in alliances in firm likelihood to patent

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 919-938
Author(s):  
Despoina Filiou ◽  
Heinz Tusselmann ◽  
Lawrence Green
Keyword(s):  
Panel Data ◽  
Alliance Portfolio ◽  
Firm Innovation ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Alliance Management ◽  
Alliance Experience ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Over Time

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of alliance experience in firm innovation; it argues that, while cumulative alliance experience has a marginally diminishing contribution to likelihood of firm innovation over time, frequent engagement in alliances and an expanding alliance portfolio inhabit an enhancing role. This reveals new dimensions to the role of alliance experience as an antecedent to firm learning in managing alliances and to the development of alliance capabilities. Design/methodology/approach The paper estimates a range of models identifying the relationship between alliance experience and firm innovation. The panel data sample captures the full range of firms active in the UK bio-pharmaceuticals sector during the early stages of its development observing them from 1991 to 2001. An exploratory case study analysis is employed to shed light on the nuanced factors linking frequent engagement in alliances to the development of practices for efficient alliance management. Findings The paper shows that cumulative alliance experience has a marginally diminishing contribution to likelihood of firm innovation over time, while frequent engagement in alliances and the ensuing expansion of alliance portfolios enhance firm innovation. The exploratory case analysis demonstrates a link between frequent engagement in alliances and the development of processes for alliance management that could collectively reflect alliance capabilities. Originality/value Contribution derives from a longitudinal analysis of an original panel data set that maps the UK bio-pharmaceuticals sector over the initial period of its development. The paper sheds light on factors that can compel firms to form alliance capabilities, and extends a currently thin body of work on the foundations and antecedents to alliance and alliance portfolio capabilities.

‘Every Town Should Have One’: Emergency Food Banking in the UK

2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
HANNAH LAMBIE-MUMFORD
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Big Society ◽  
High Profile ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Human Rights Based Approach

AbstractThis article charts the rise of one of the UK's most high profile forms of food banks: the Trussell Trust Foodbank franchise. Employing empirical data it seeks to embed the phenomenon of the growth of Foodbanks within a social policy research context. In the first instance, the role of recent and on-going shifts in the social policy context are examined, notably the importance of welfare diversification under previous Labour governments (1997–2010) and the current public spending cuts, welfare restructuring and Big Society rhetoric of the Conservative−Liberal Democrat Coalition government. The paper goes on to explore the nature of Foodbanks as emergency initiatives, providing relief and alleviation for the ‘symptoms’ of food insecurity and poverty. Data are presented which demonstrate some of the ways in which the Foodbank model and those who run the projects navigate the tension between addressing symptoms rather than ‘root causes’ of poverty and food insecurity. In the face of the simultaneous growth in emergency food initiatives and significant upheavals in social policy and welfare provision, the article culminates with an argument for social policy research and practice to harness and prioritise the human rights-based approach to food experiences.

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