Drivers of Stasis and Change

2020 ◽  
pp. 200-208
Author(s):  
Meredith L. Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Political Change ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
The Public ◽  
Electoral Authoritarianism ◽  
Political Praxis ◽  
Regime Transitions ◽  
Structural Innovation ◽  
Over Time

This chapter revises the usual understanding of regimes and regime transitions, including what a genuine transition might entail. It recommends a mix of structural, political-cultural, ideological, and praxis-oriented angles to understand and assess regimes and political change. Over time the workings of politics under electoral authoritarianism may shift the contest from one of policy or ideology toward less differentiable issues of mundane management and microlevel accessibility and acquisition. The chapter focuses on structural innovation at the local level. By supplementing national-level electoral tactics, electoral authoritarian regimes discipline the public and opposition parties that gradually permeates political culture and everyday political praxis. It also points out the implications of patterns that shape politician–voter linkages, premises for accountability and assessing alternatives, and the range of players with stakes in the system-that-is.

scholarly journals Application of the new Swedish planning support system Citylab to a Chinese urban case

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunzhu Ji ◽  
Zhenhong Gu ◽  
Ronald Wennersten ◽  
Tong Zhang ◽  
Yixing Duan
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Support System ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Planning System ◽  
City Development ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Planning Support ◽  
Planning Support System

PurposeThe purpose of this paper we present a case study where the Swedish planning support system Citylab is applied to a Chinese case in Changzhou's Tianning District.Design/methodology/approachChina's planning system is a vertical system based on policy development on the national level, policies which are to be implemented on local level. There is a gap between the ambitious central policies and the implementations on local levels. China is now exporting its planning model to other developing countries which makes it urgent to show examples of other strategies including more horizontal planning involving the public. The planning system in Sweden is based on a much more horizontal process. Therefore, the authors try to learn from Sweden's vertical planning system in the urban development environment of China.FindingsA key message for policy makers in China is that systems like Citylab can play an important role in developing practical and scalable examples of more sustainable city districts. The paper concludes that a barrier for local sustainability planning in China is still lack of effective communication between local actors including the public.Originality/valueThe authors exemplified Changzhou Tianning District's practical exploration, thus proving the adapted Citylab method's practical operability. Based on the common problems faced by eco-city development in developing countries, the method framework of Citylab is applicable to other developing countries, with strong room for deduction and development.

scholarly journals The Role of Accountability Arrangements in Social Innovations: Evidence from the UK and Slovakia

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juraj Nemec ◽  
Marta Orviska ◽  
Colin Lawson
Keyword(s):  
Social Innovation ◽  
Slovak Republic ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Potential Contribution ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Innovations ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Available Information

AbstractOur research focuses on selected accountability mechanisms in the two countries. In Slovakia these are the Supreme Audit Office (SAO) and the Ombudsman. In the UK, at the national level we chose the Committee of Public Accounts (PAC), the National Audit Office (NAO) and the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) and on the local level the relatively recently introduced local government system of Scrutiny and Overview.The goal of our article is to assess the potential contribution of these accountability arrangements to the anchoring of social innovation in the public sector. The theory anticipates that accountability institutions such as the SAO and Ombudsman may create feedback loops supporting public innovations. We undertook detailed checks on the concrete situation in the Slovak Republic and in the UK. On the basis of the comprehensive set of data reviewed, including reports, interviews and more generally available information, we can confidently conclude that while in Slovakia such a feedback loop barely functions, in the UK it does function on a limited but still significant scale. In the last part we provide selected arguments why the Slovak situation is less positive.

Elections and Political Regimes

2015 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 446-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Gandhi
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Political Liberalization ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Historical View ◽  
Electoral Authoritarianism ◽  
Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Authoritarian Elections

Post-Cold War autocracies appear novel in their use of multiparty elections, attracting the attention of scholars and policymakers alike. A longer historical view, however, reveals that what is unique is not electoral authoritarianism after 1989, but rather the electoral inactivity of autocracies during the Cold War period. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, authoritarian regimes have held multiparty elections. The prevalence of these elections begs the question of whether they have any effects on political liberalization and democratization. But the study of authoritarian elections in processes of political change faces a number of theoretical and empirical challenges that can only partly be surmounted with existing approaches.

State Phobia, Then and Now: Three Waves of Conflict over Wisconsin's Public Sector, 1930–2013

2017 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane L. Collins ◽  
H. Jacob Carlson
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
New Governance ◽  
Size Of Government ◽  
The Public ◽  
Material Resources ◽  
Local Initiatives ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

While state legislative rollbacks of public-sector workers’ collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin and other US states in 2011 appeared to signal an unprecedented wave of hostility toward the public sector, such episodes have a long history. Drawing on recent work on “governance repertoires,” this article compares antistate initiatives in Wisconsin in 2011 to two previous periods of conflict over the size and shape of government: the 1930s and the 1970s. We find that while small government advocates in all three periods used similar language and emphasized comparable themes, the outcomes of their advocacy were different due to the distinct historical moments in which they unfolded and the way local initiatives were linked to political projects at the national level. We explore the relationship of local versions of small government activism to their national-level counterparts in each period to show how national-level movements and the ideological, social, and material resources they provided shaped governance repertoires in Wisconsin. We argue that the three moments of conflict over the size of government are deeply intertwined with the prehistory, emergence, and rise to dominance of neoliberal political rationality and can provide insight into how that new “governance repertoire” was experienced and built at the local level.

scholarly journals Modelling and predicting the spatio-temporal spread of COVID-19 in Italy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Giuliani ◽  
Maria Michela Dickson ◽  
Giuseppe Espa ◽  
Flavio Santi
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Interaction ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Temporal Distribution ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Italian Provinces ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Surrounding Areas ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Background: The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first detected in China at the end of 2019 and it has since spread in few months all over the World. Italy was one of the first Western countries who faced the health emergency and is one of the countries most severely affected by the pandemic. The diffusion of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Italy has followed a peculiar spatial pattern, however the attention of the scientific community has so far focussed almost exclusively on the prediction of the evolution of the disease over time. Methods: Official freely available data about the number of infected at the finest possible level of spatial areal aggregation (Italian provinces) are used to model the spatio-temporal distribution of COVID-19 infections at local level. An endemic-epidemic time-series mixed-effects generalized linear model for areal disease counts has been implemented to understand and predict spatio-temporal diffusion of the phenomenon. Results: Three subcomponents characterize the fitted model. The first describes the transmission of the illness within provinces; the second accounts for the transmission between nearby provinces; the third is related to the evolution of the disease over time. At the local level, the provinces first concerned by containment measures are those that are not affected by the effects of spatial neighbours. On the other hand, the component accounting for the spatial interaction with surrounding areas is prevalent for provinces that are strongly involved by contagions. Moreover, the proposed model provides good forecasts for the number of infections at local level while controlling for delayed reporting. Conclusions: A strong evidence is found that strict control measures implemented in some provinces efficiently break contagions and limit the spread to nearby areas. While containment policies may potentially be more effective if planned considering the peculiarities of local territories, the effective and homogeneous enforcement of control measures at national level is needed to prevent the disease control being delayed or missed as a whole. This may also apply at international level where, as it is for the EU or the USA, the internal border checks among states have largely been abolished.

De rol van de kerken in het publieke domein

2010 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 108-121
Author(s):  
Gerrit de Kruijf ◽  
Henk de Roest
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Church Attendance ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
The Public ◽  
Robert Putnam ◽  
Housing Estates ◽  
The Church

This article offers a bird’s-eye view of the position of the church towards the state, ending in a description of the church’s relationship to democracy. In addition, the authors sketch Dingemans’s view of the role of the church in society and describe possibilities for relevant speaking and acting of the church in the public domain, both at the national level and at the local level of villages and housing estates. Special attention is paid to the role of churchgoers who are active as volunteers both within their own religious communities and outside (e.g. community and public service). Empirical research demonstrates that church attendance predicts volunteering or, in the words of Robert Putnam, that ‘church people are unusually active social capitalists’.

scholarly journals Jammu & Kashmir’s Repeated Reaffirmed Faith in the Democratic Setup of India: A Study of the State’s Public Participation in the General Elections of India (1967-2014)

2015 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 125-138
Author(s):  
Ramesh Pandita
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
The State ◽  
Democratic Process ◽  
Jammu And Kashmir ◽  
The Public ◽  
General Elections

Purpose: - The up-rise of social unrest in the state of Jammu & Kashmir (the federal constituent of the Union of India) towards the end of the 20th century with the demand to secede from the union of India has somewhere earned the Jammu & Kashmir as a conflict zone in the South Asia. The present study has been conceived to examine the public participation of the Jammu & Kashmir state in the democratic process of the country, by participating in the general elections of India (A referendum or plebiscite of its own kind, whereby people of the state, time and again have reaffirmed their faith in the democratic process of the country) since its accession with the union of India. Some of the aspects evaluated in the present study include, electoral participation, participation of national and local level political parties, participation and performance of national level political parties, representation given to women candidates, etc.Scope: - The study is confined to the state of Jammu & Kashmir, India and the findings have direct bearing with the state, which has altogether a different geopolitical setup, where public interests stand safeguarded by the constitution of India under article 370. There is every need to observe caution, while generalizing the findings of the study.Methodology/Approach: - The study is empirical in nature, undertaken on the secondary data, retrieved from the official website of the Election Commission of India on August 02, 2014.Findings: - The state of Jammu and Kashmir has so far undergone through 12 general elections in the country. The average voter turnout during these elections from the state remained about 46.76%. At gender level the average voter turnout percentage among males remained 60% & for females 39.90%, which compared to voter turnout at national level during the same period at gender level remained 62.39% and 55.45% respectively. The voter turnout percentage from the state remained far better than various other states of the country for the same period. The threat perception to not to participate in the electoral process of the country that prevailed over state populace post 1989 got reflected in the subsequent 7 general elections held in the state, especially among female folk, resulting decline in their turnout percentage, when compared to their male counterparts.Social Implications: - The study is an eye opener to the public at large and to those, who are abetting the Jammu & Kashmir’s secession movement by crying that the state is devoid of democracy. The secession movement which is being backed by the money & the munitions questions its own credibility & justification.

scholarly journals Modelling and predicting the spatio-temporal spread of COVID-19 in Italy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Giuliani ◽  
Maria Michela Dickson ◽  
Giuseppe Espa ◽  
Flavio Santi
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Interaction ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Temporal Distribution ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Disease Evolution ◽  
The World ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) has been firstly detected in China at the end of 2019 and it spread in few months all over the world. Italy is the second country in the World for number of cases, and the diffusion of COVID-19 has followed a peculiar spatial pattern. However, the interest of scientific community has been devoted almost exclusively to the prediction of the disease evolution over time so far. Methods: Official freely available data about the number of infected at the finest possible level of spatial areal aggregation (Italian provinces) are used to model the spatio-temporal distribution of COVID-19 infections at local level. An endemic-epidemic time-series mixed-effects generalized linear model for areal disease counts has been implemented to understand and predict spatio-temporal diffusion of the phenomenon. Results: Three subcomponents characterize the fitted model. The first describes the transmission of the illness within provinces; the second accounts for the transmission between nearby provinces; the third is related to the evolution of the disease over time. At the local level, the provinces first concerned by containment measures are those that are not affected by the effects of spatial neighbours. On the other hand, the component accounting for the spatial interaction with surrounding areas is prevalent for provinces that are strongly involved by contagions. Moreover, the proposed model provides good forecasts of the number of infections at local level while controlling for delayed reporting. Conclusions: A strong evidence is found that strict control measures implemented in some provinces efficiently break contagions and limit the spread to nearby areas. While containment policies may potentially be more effective if planned considering the peculiarities of local territories, the effective and homogeneous enforcement of control measures at national level is needed to prevent the disease control being delayed or missed as a whole. This may also apply at international level where, as it is for the EU or the USA, the internal border checks among states have largely been abolished.

scholarly journals PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP AS THE MECHANISM OF THE RURAL TERRITORIES’ DEVELOPMENT

2019 ◽  
pp. 20-26
Author(s):  
Mariia Ilina ◽  
Yulia Shpyliova
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Public Private Partnership ◽  
The State ◽  
The Other ◽  
State Support ◽  
Private Partnership ◽  
The Public

Public-private partnership is the instrument of cooperation between state and business. It has many forms and functions but the only purpose to improve welfare of the territories. In relations between state and business the partnership can play dominant, subsidiary or supervisory role, regulate the institutional mechanism of financial cooperation, develop strategies, solve conflicts and provide social, communal and infrastructure services. Currently implementation of the public-private partnership mechanism in Ukraine is complicated because of shortcomings and gaps in legislation, deficit of different levels budgets, institutional inability of local governments to plan and implement partnership projects and low efficiency of economic activity of business entities. Concerning implementation of the mechanism on rural areas it should be substantially enhanced at the national level for many reasons. Firstly economic situation in most rural areas in Ukraine is depressed and community budgets lack funds. It proves the necessity to intensify economic cooperation and introduce other forms of cooperation. On the other hand, many negative socio-demographic trends (migration, depopulation, social exclusion and marginalization) are inherent in rural areas. It makes difficult for local governments to cooperate with communities members. Capability of the state to support partnerships is also complicated major because of underdeveloped organizational and economic support mechanism. Lack of annual plans to finance partnership projects, funds, technical support to implement projects, and no ways to get state guarantees are the evidence. Taking into account rural territories have no much capacity for development, the mechanism of public-private partnership should include the following key steps: identifying priority areas for PPP application, considering socio-economic potential of different types of the territories and social relevance of a project for a community; improving the qualification level of project management personnel; involvement of the private sector into infrastructural projects; state support for pilot projects; ensuring more transparency in decision making and use of budget resources and simplifying project selection requirements. Implementation of the PPP mechanism on rural areas will improve their infrastructure and satisfy social needs of residents. In order to improve the mechanism of state support for the implementation of PPP projects at the local level it is needed to establish a national specialized agency, define clearly powers of the state authorities, local self-government authorities and members of communities involved into PPP implementation. The other task is to create an informational framework. The purpose of the article is to substantiate how the public-private partnership’s mechanism can work on rural areas.

scholarly journals Modelling and predicting the spatio-temporal spread of COVID-19 in Italy

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Giuliani ◽  
Maria Michela Dickson ◽  
Giuseppe Espa ◽  
Flavio Santi
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Interaction ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Temporal Distribution ◽  
The United States ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Italian Provinces ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Background The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first detected in China at the end of 2019 and it has since spread in few months all over the World. Italy was one of the first Western countries who faced the health emergency and is one of the countries most severely affected by the pandemic. The diffusion of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Italy has followed a peculiar spatial pattern, however the attention of the scientific community has so far focussed almost exclusively on the prediction of the evolution of the disease over time. Methods Official freely available data about the number of infected at the finest possible level of spatial areal aggregation (Italian provinces) are used to model the spatio-temporal distribution of COVID-19 infections at local level. An endemic-epidemic time-series mixed-effects generalized linear model for areal disease counts has been implemented to understand and predict spatio-temporal diffusion of the phenomenon. Results Three subcomponents characterize the fitted model. The first describes the transmission of the illness within provinces; the second accounts for the transmission between nearby provinces; the third is related to the evolution of the disease over time. At the local level, the provinces first concerned by containment measures are those that are not affected by the effects of spatial neighbours. On the other hand, the component accounting for the spatial interaction with surrounding areas is prevalent for provinces that are strongly involved by contagions. Moreover, the proposed model provides good forecasts for the number of infections at local level while controlling for delayed reporting. Conclusions A strong evidence is found that strict control measures implemented in some provinces efficiently break contagions and limit the spread to nearby areas. While containment policies may potentially be more effective if planned considering the peculiarities of local territories, the effective and homogeneous enforcement of control measures at national level is needed to prevent the disease control being delayed or missed as a whole. This may also apply at international level where, as it is for the European Union or the United States, the internal border checks among states have largely been abolished.

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