Symbols of the New Districts in Ukraine: Chervonohrad Raion as an Example

The article examines the beginning of the creation of symbols for the new raions (districts). In 2020, Ukraine underwent an administrative reform to merge most of the existing 490 districts, resulting in the creation of 136 new raions. We have proposed three options for solving the problems with the coats of arms and flags of the new districts. The practical implementation of these methodological developments is considered in the example of the Chervonohrad raion (the Lviv region). The symbols of this district were developed and approved in the summer of 2021. They managed to combine the symbols of the ancient historical land, and the current administrative center, and the old districts.

Activity forms of municipal authorities and prospects for its development in Ukraine

The authors attempt to explore the nature of local public authority, its sources of legitimacy, its types and forms. An idea of the constitutional and legal bases of the organization and activity of local public authorities and its bodies is given there. The existing systems of local self-government in different states are analyzed; attention is focused on the difference between the concepts of “self-government” and “management”. The problems of administrative reform in Ukraine in the context of globalization are analyzed there.

Digital Transformation: Smart Strategy in Administrative Reform in Vietnam

Objectives: Digital transformation is becoming such a big trend that countries worldwide cannot resist because it brings prosperity and development to social progress. Therefore, countries, especially emerging countries, need to quickly bring the latest technology advances into socio-economic development. Therefore, the purpose of the article is to point out the theoretical issues of digital transformation, the advantages and challenges, and their impact on Vietnam's provincial administrative reform and forecast the trend of impacts of the digital transformation to administrative reform at the provincial level. Methods/Analysis: Qualitative and quantitative research methods have been used together, in which quantitative methods used available literature sources. The qualitative method has been developed based on designing two questionnaires on digital transformation and administrative reform, thereby exploring the current results of digital transformation and administrative reform in a cross-section. Findings: Research has shown that the reality of digital transformation and administrative reform in provincial administrative agencies in Vietnam is still limited. Although administrative reform is superior to digital transformation, they are closely positive related. Novelty /Improvement: Research shows that administrative reform at the provincial level in Vietnam will become more competent and more efficient when administrative agencies promote the application of digital transformation; both digital transformation and administration reform need to be concerned at the same time. Moreover, a more focus on developing digital capacity and skills for civil servants is necessary for digital transformation and administrative reform to achieve high efficiency. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2021-02-04-06 Full Text: PDF

Stages and actions for an administrative-territorial reorganization reform

This article addresses the process of implementing a territorial reform, as well as its importance for the reorganization of the territorial-administrative structure of the state. Regardless of the administrative-territorial organization of the state, this process involves planning, carrying out and monitoring the reform of territorial reorganization. Each step of the reform is the subject of a successive order, which will be set out in a chronological order, according to the recommendation of the committee of Ministers of the Member States of the Council of Europe Rec (2004) 12. According to the experience of other states, the postponement of territorial-administrative reform is influenced by a lack of political will, insufficient communication between CPA with LPA, inaction of civil society and others.

ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATIONS OF STATE FUNCTIONS AT THE PRESENT STAGE: DYNAMICS OF CHANGES IN THE APPROACH TO THE CONCEPT AND VARIETIES AT THE LEGAL REGULATORY

In this article the author analyses the development of administrative regulations in the system of modern public administration. The state of administrative regulations and their institutionalisation as a result of the administrative reform is noted. It has been identified and found that there has now been a change in the approach to the delineation of the administrative regulations of the executive authorities - before 2018, administrative regulations were divided into service regulations and function regulations, where service regulations are related to requests by private persons to the state represented by its bodies and officials - and function regulations are related to the implementation of continuous activities to perform assigned powers and exercise the established competence, after 2018, administrative regulations are divided into service regulations and control (supervision) regulations. According to the author, the established approach has allowed the above varieties of regulations to be merged into such a group of types of administrative regulations as administrative regulations for the implementation of state functions. Also the author concludes that it is necessary to adopt a special legislative act systemising the functions of the executive authorities and the administrative procedures they carry out in a single logical connection.

The History of and Prospects for Public Sector Reforms in Sri Lanka

<p>Public sector(1) reform is about improving the management of the public sector. Such reform has no universal framework. What can be done in any country is a product of its history, structure and culture. Moreover, public sector reform is not simply simple 'technical' change. It depends upon, and actually comprises reform of a nation's political system. The main focus of this thesis is administrative reform in Sri Lanka (SL). The key research question is why this has encountered so many problems in the SL public administration system despite many attempts at reform since 1950. And, why and how have key historical, structural, sociological economic and political factors since Independence contributed to this current impasse? Answers to key questions investigated were sought through qualitative and quantitative research. Using a combination of official documents and interviews with senior political elites, public officials and academics, this thesis analyses the current situation of public administration in SL. In order to better understand the current situation, the history of public administrative reform in SL is investigated. The focus of the analysis lies in understanding the complexity and specificity of the present situation in order to better assess prospects for future reforms. This provides a backdrop to effective future agendas and highlights issues in the present system that must be addressed within that agenda. In this process this thesis examines when, how and why administrative reforms took place in SL since the 1950s, which political parties were in power, and who gained and lost due to reforms. The, Administrative Reform Committee Reports (ARC) of 1986/88 are central to this analysis because they made comprehensive recommendations on all aspects of administrative reform. The experience of the ARC carries valuable lessons to administrative reformers. Because this thesis is exploring historical and political questions, the Pollitt and Bouckaert model of public management, which focuses on historical institutionalism, is used as the theoretical framework. This thesis finds that all reforms in SL from 1950-2005 were isolated, ad hoc, and reactive to crisis situations, not proactive. On many occasions such changes lacked adequate examination as to their effects on the administrative system as a whole. This further resulted in more problems and even greater complexity, with the ARC recommendations not fully implemented. This thesis analyses underlying factors responsible for thwarting efforts to create an effective and efficient public administration system in SL. The originality and significance of this thesis lies in two areas: (a) it is the first systematic historical analysis of public sector reform in SL that pulls together a wide range of evidence from divers sources; (b) this thesis confirms the importance of understanding the history and political dynamics of a country before serious and wholesale attempts at public sector reform are attempted. I hope that future SL reformers will be able to learn the lessons of history in that respect. This thesis concludes that this state of affairs remains a product of complex interactions of many different historical, social, political, and cultural conditions. Therefore, this thesis argues, any future programme of reform must take full account of those specifics. (1) Public sector includes : Government and the Organs of State (Organs of State includes Presidential Secretariat, Legislature, Public Service Commission, Police Service Commission, Commission to Investigate Allegation of Bribery and Corruption, Attorney General Department, Auditor General Department, Finance Commission and Salaries and Cadre Commission) and Public Enterprises.</p>

The History of and Prospects for Public Sector Reforms in Sri Lanka

<p>Public sector(1) reform is about improving the management of the public sector. Such reform has no universal framework. What can be done in any country is a product of its history, structure and culture. Moreover, public sector reform is not simply simple 'technical' change. It depends upon, and actually comprises reform of a nation's political system. The main focus of this thesis is administrative reform in Sri Lanka (SL). The key research question is why this has encountered so many problems in the SL public administration system despite many attempts at reform since 1950. And, why and how have key historical, structural, sociological economic and political factors since Independence contributed to this current impasse? Answers to key questions investigated were sought through qualitative and quantitative research. Using a combination of official documents and interviews with senior political elites, public officials and academics, this thesis analyses the current situation of public administration in SL. In order to better understand the current situation, the history of public administrative reform in SL is investigated. The focus of the analysis lies in understanding the complexity and specificity of the present situation in order to better assess prospects for future reforms. This provides a backdrop to effective future agendas and highlights issues in the present system that must be addressed within that agenda. In this process this thesis examines when, how and why administrative reforms took place in SL since the 1950s, which political parties were in power, and who gained and lost due to reforms. The, Administrative Reform Committee Reports (ARC) of 1986/88 are central to this analysis because they made comprehensive recommendations on all aspects of administrative reform. The experience of the ARC carries valuable lessons to administrative reformers. Because this thesis is exploring historical and political questions, the Pollitt and Bouckaert model of public management, which focuses on historical institutionalism, is used as the theoretical framework. This thesis finds that all reforms in SL from 1950-2005 were isolated, ad hoc, and reactive to crisis situations, not proactive. On many occasions such changes lacked adequate examination as to their effects on the administrative system as a whole. This further resulted in more problems and even greater complexity, with the ARC recommendations not fully implemented. This thesis analyses underlying factors responsible for thwarting efforts to create an effective and efficient public administration system in SL. The originality and significance of this thesis lies in two areas: (a) it is the first systematic historical analysis of public sector reform in SL that pulls together a wide range of evidence from divers sources; (b) this thesis confirms the importance of understanding the history and political dynamics of a country before serious and wholesale attempts at public sector reform are attempted. I hope that future SL reformers will be able to learn the lessons of history in that respect. This thesis concludes that this state of affairs remains a product of complex interactions of many different historical, social, political, and cultural conditions. Therefore, this thesis argues, any future programme of reform must take full account of those specifics. (1) Public sector includes : Government and the Organs of State (Organs of State includes Presidential Secretariat, Legislature, Public Service Commission, Police Service Commission, Commission to Investigate Allegation of Bribery and Corruption, Attorney General Department, Auditor General Department, Finance Commission and Salaries and Cadre Commission) and Public Enterprises.</p>

AN OTTOMAN ARAB MAN OF LETTERS AND THE MEANINGS OF EMPIRE, c. 1860

This paper returns to one of the germinal texts of nineteenth-century Arab political thought, Butrus al-Bustani's Nafir Suriyya (‘The Clarion of Syria’). A series of broadsides published between September 1860 and April 1861, these reflected on the confessional violence that had rent apart Mount Lebanon and Damascus in mid-1860. As scholars have suggested, Bustani – now regarded as one of the pre-eminent thinkers of the nineteenth-century Arab nahda, or ‘awakening’ – here offered a new vision of Syrian patriotism, which formed part of a longer reflection on political subjectivity, faith, and civilisation. But, this paper argues, these texts can also be read as reflections on the changing workings of empire: on the imperial ruler's duties and attributes and his subjects’ obligations and rights; on the relationship between state and population and capital and province; on imperial administrative reform; and on the dangers foreign intervention posed to Ottoman sovereignty. Drawing on the languages of Ottoman reform and ethical statecraft, as well as on imperial comparisons, Bustani argued against the autonomy some counselled for Mount Lebanon and for wholesale integration with the Ottoman state. These texts offer grounds for methodological reflection and for writing Ottoman Arab thought into broader histories of imperial political thought.

Models of Administrative Reform

Administrative reform is not something that can be treated as a specific public policy field. It is simply a specific way to create administrative policies. Administrative reform thus is a way to design and implement administrative policies by introducing deliberate efforts to change the actual institutional arrangements, the processes, and the procedures of public administration. Thus, administrative reform can be considered and analytically treated as a specific policy process that has specific dynamics due to what is at stake; this means the redistribution of powers in the administrative arena among the different stakeholders, and especially between the policy makers and bureaucrats that are the most important actors in administrative policy. These characteristics are at the origin of the structural problem of administrative reform: It is difficult to properly design and very difficult to implement in a coherent way. Administrative reform cannot be predictable, because it is not simple to make hypotheses about how the various barriers and potential opportunities can mix to produce a specific outcome. Surely barriers are demanding. Institutional stickiness, hegemonic policy paradigms, deeply rooted administrative traditions, financial shortages, and robust vested interests are ponderous constraints to pursuing administrative reforms; however, there are always opportunities (crisis, contingency, and leaders and entrepreneurs searching to change equilibria) that allow the cyclical opening of reform trajectories. To understand administrative reforms, it is necessary to see them in action and thus to observe how they develop over time. The trajectories of administrative reforms very often are characterized by following the zeitgeist and, thus, implementing policy solutions that are considered more legitimate in that specific time. But the spirit of the age can change suddenly, and thus, very often, the solutions adopted yesterday are the problems of the present time. This is because different models of administrative reforms have been cyclically adopted in the last several decades, and the prevailing solution of three decades ago (new public management) has been progressively replaced by other competing recipes like the new Weberian state, the new public governance, digital era governance, and public value management. By studying the trajectories of administrative reforms (the dynamics of administrative policies), it is possible to better understand not only whether and how administrative reforms have been adopted in a comparative perspective but also why some solutions have been adopted in one country but not in another. Thus, the focus on the trajectories allows us to order the complexity of administrative reform processes and to understand why convergence is difficult (due to the national legacies and the contingent way in which the most relevant drivers can interact with each other), and it helps us to understand that, while in the short to medium run administrative reforms are perceived to fail or at least to result unsatisfactorily, in the long run they can produce stable changes.

Effects of Anti-Corruption Governance Strategy on Organizational Trust and Job Satisfaction in Ministry of National Defense

There are many programs and measures in the administrative reform of governments in various countries, where governance related theories are broadly discussed and indeed enhance public administration changing the traditional practice and turn the government into transformation in past years. Government reform in new public management becomes more difficult for governments constructing transparent accountability systems. In this case, it is urgent to establish transparent, accountable, and corruption controlled anti-corruption governance strategies for governments’ reform. In the process of transforming government administrative reform to governance, it is necessary to establish the core concepts of accountability, openness, transparency, zero-corruption, and high-performance standard. Aiming at employees of Ministry of National Defense in Taiwan, as the empirical objects, total 360 copies of questionnaire are distributed for this study, and 273 valid copies are retrieved, with the retrieval rate 76%. According to the results to propose suggestions, it is expected to help the government draw the goal of transparency in government and promote many measures about anti-corruption to achieve the effective utilization of public resources, enhance people’s trust in the government, and reinforce government rule legitimacy.