A study of 25 years of publication outputs in the German academic profession

In the weak evaluation state of Germany, full professors are involved in the traditional social governance partnership between the state, and the self-governing higher education institutions (HEI) and disciplinary associations. Literature suggests that formal and informal governance could trigger changes in academics’ publication behavior by valorizing certain publication outputs. In the article, secondary data from three surveys (1992, 2007 and 2018) is used for a multi-level study of the evolution of academics’ publication behavior. We find a trend toward the “model” of natural science publication behavior across all disciplines. On the organizational level, we observe that a strong HEI research performance orientation is positively correlated with journal articles, peer-reviewed publications, and co-publications with international co-authors. HEI performance-based funding is only positively correlated with the share of peer-reviewed publications. At the level of individual disciplines, humanities and social sciences scholars adapt to the peer-reviewed journal publication paradigm of the natural sciences at the expense of book publications. Considering how the academic profession is organized around reputation and status, it seems plausible that the academic profession and its institutional oligarchy are key contexts for the slow but steady change of academics’ publication behavior. The trend of changing academics’ publication behavior is partly related to HEI valorization of performance and (to a lesser extent) to HEI performance based-funding schemes, which are set by the strong academic profession in the weak evaluation state of Germany.

Forest governance and development effects on tropical charcoal production and deforestation

Severe loss and degradation of tropical forests affects ecosystem services and livelihoods. Charcoal, an important energy and income source for millions of people, causes 7% of tropical deforestation and forest degradation. Forest governance aims at managing forest-related issues. On the one hand, development allows for financial investments in forest governance, e.g., in monitoring and enforcement, which the aim to control deforestation. On the other hand, deforestation often continues with increased human wellbeing. Here, we aim to (i) globally examine effects of forest governance on charcoal production and deforestation, and (ii) understand its association with development. We developed a typology of tropical forest governance systems based on a literature review of 54 USAID Country Profiles and combined it with global data on charcoal production, deforestation, governance quality and development. Our results suggest that countries’ development status affects charcoal production rather than governance quality; we observe a negative relationship between development status and charcoal production per capita (HDI: F(1,50) = 4.85, p = 0.032; GNI: F(1,50) = 4.64, p = 0.036). The limited influence of governance quality and rights on charcoal production per capita and deforestation suggests mismatches between formal and informal governance and exposes challenges in top-down percolation of governance goals. Our results highlight potential importance of tenure rights and potential opportunities for regional governing bodies to bridge local formal and informal actors to improve forest governance. Positive effects of regional tenure are driven by mixed effects of high development and governance quality related to decentralization in Asia and South America, highlighting transitions from charcoal as livelihood energy source to global commodity. Variability in results for FAO and UN charcoal production data advocates for better monitoring programs. Yet, for the first time, we explore global interactive patterns in charcoal production, development and governance – a starting point to differentiate good governance.

Addiction Treatment as Prison Governance: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Methadone Delivery in Kyrgyz Prisons

Methadone treatment is prescribed by evidence-based medicine as the most effective tool for the treatment of opioid addiction. Its implementation into high-need prison settings worldwide has been met with challenges, particularly in Eastern Europe and Central Asia where the opioid epidemic continues to expand. To address these impasses to intervention translation, we turn to post-structural approaches to policy analysis. These approaches open space for (re)thinking the ways that translated interventions emerge locally, by treating policy texts as social practices that make interventions in specific, sometimes unexpected, ways. We leverage Carol Bacchi’s post-structuralist analytic framework to interrogate how the object of methadone is constituted in Kyrgyz prisons through an analysis of the national legislative document, the “Government Program,” which provides the legislative basis for opioid addiction treatment administration in the Kyrgyz Republic. Rather than the medicalized methadone for the treatment of opioid use disorder, contained in the distinct objectivization of methadone emerging from this policy text, is the previously unexamined assumption that methadone is a particular type of governance. We describe a methadone object tied up with the shifting social structures that govern Kyrgyz prisons, divided between formal (state-run) and informal (prisoner-run) governance. In Kyrgyz prisons, where opioid policy discourse produces a divide between formal and informal governance, methadone emerges as a tool of the formal prison administration to regain control of the prisons from the practices of prisoner subculture. Although this study takes the Kyrgyz case as an example, the enactment of methadone as formal governance is likely to resonate throughout Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where there is a strong legacy of self-governing prisons. We conclude with a call for global health policymakers to consider how opioid addiction treatment is constituted within local governing relations, in ways that may depart sharply from the evidence base.

Attributes of product advantage and choices for manufacturer–retailer formal governance: the case of new product launch

PurposeThis study examined how the technological (tech) advantage and market advantage of new products influence the level of formal channel governance and, in turn, affect the success of new products in the presence of relational governance.Design/methodology/approachThe hypotheses are tested using the partial least squares approach to analyse survey data collected from 392 retailers of customer goods in China.FindingsThe results indicate that tech advantage and market advantage lead to an increase in retailers' transaction-specific investments (TSIs) and contract explicitness, respectively; the positive effect of market advantage on a retailer's TSIs will gradually decrease and will even become negative beyond a certain point. The relational governance mechanism can substitute for the effects of contract explicitness on improving new product success.Originality/valueThis research provides a new perspective for understanding new product advantage and exerts an initial effort to empirically distinguish between tech advantage and market advantage. It enriches the innovation literature by examining the governance of new product launches through retailers and explores the effects of formal and informal governance on channel cooperation performance in the new product launch stage.

The Networked Diplomacy of Informal International Institutions

The rise of informal international institutions has been one of the most significant developments in institutional design and choice since the 1990s. While states have increasingly opted for informal governance, little is known about the character of intergovernmental relations in these settings. Scholars, for instance, debate whether great powers dominate such institutions, or whether influence can be exercised by a wider array of players. Drawing from the author’s experience as a government representative within the Proliferation Security Initiative, a leading informal institution, this article provides a theory-driven analysis of intergovernmental interactions within such bodies. It demonstrates that diplomacy within informal institutions tends to assume a decentralized, networked quality that favors actors positioned at the center of intergovernmental networks. In doing so, the article highlights clear means through which central network positions confer influence. The article also sheds new light on the Proliferation Security Initiative and on counterproliferation cooperation more generally.

The State-Building Dilemma in Afghanistan

After nearly two decades of war, on February 2020, the Trump administration signed an agreement with the Taliban through which the US and its NATO allies’ troops must leave Afghanistan within the following few months. This agreement also paves the ground for Intra-Afghan talks between the US backed Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban militant group. This book critically reviews the US/NATO military, peace-and-statebuilding intervention since 2001 in Afghanistan. In addition, based on collected field interviews, it presents the Afghan perception and discourse on the topics such as democracy, Islam, women rights, formal and informal governance, ethnic divide and the state democratic governmental design at the national and subnational level.

A relational view of horizontal collaboration among micro and small enterprises: a study of the brewery sector in Wales

PurposeThis study aims to explore how horizontal collaboration can help small and micro enterprises within the drink sector through the relational theory lens.Design/methodology/approachThe use of qualitative research methods, including focus groups and interviews, facilitated understanding the horizontal collaboration in micro and small companies within the Welsh brewery industry. Data collection involved conducting three focus groups and 13 interviews within the Welsh brewery sector in the UK. The collaboration phenomena were explained using the three elements of relational theory: relational rents, relational capitals and relational governance.FindingsMicro and small enterprises in the drink sector use collaborative initiatives in building new capabilities to generate relational rents. In addition, relational capitals and relational governance mechanisms were identified to support the horizontal collaboration among these enterprises.Research limitations/implicationsThe focus is on only one part of the drinks industry, i.e. the brewery industry; therefore, this study could be extended to other industries within the drink sector or across manufacturing industries.Practical implicationsThe micro and small enterprises can collaborate to achieve relational rent, but this collaboration requires strong relational capitals, such as trust. These partners need to change informal governance mechanisms that already exist towards more contractual formal mechanisms.Originality/valuePrior research has largely focused on vertical collaboration, with limited studies using the relational theory lens to explicate horizontal collaboration phenomena and no previous research in the context of micro and small companies. Relational rents, relational capitals and relational governance mechanisms are studied to provide insights into an effective collaboration in this context.