Collaborative public service provision archetypes in healthcare emergencies: a case of COVID-19 administration in Sri Lanka

PurposeThis paper examines how the properties and patterns of a collaborative “networked hierarchy” incident command system (ICS) archetype can provide incident command centres with extra capabilities to manage public service delivery during COVID-19.Design/methodology/approachThe paper illustrates the case of Sri Lanka's COVID-19 administration during its “first wave” (from 15 February to 1 September 2020). Primary data were collected through in-depth interviews with government officials who were directly involved in the administration of the COVID-19 outbreak. Secondary data sources were government publications and web sources. The data were analysed and interpreted by using narrative analysis and archetype theory respectively.FindingsThe findings highlight how Sri Lanka's public sector responses to COVID-19 have followed a collaborative “networked hierarchy” ICS archetype. More specifically, the government changed its normative ICS “properties” by incorporating a diverse group of intergovernmental agencies such as the police, the military, the health service and administrative services by articulating new patterns of collaborative working, namely, organisational values, beliefs and ideas that fit with the Sri Lankan public service context.Originality/valueIn responding to high magnitude healthcare emergencies, the flexibility of a collaborative networked ICS hierarchy enables different balances of organisational properties to be incorporated, such as hierarchy and horizontal networking and “patterns” in public service provision.

Kuhlmann, Sabine, Proeller, Isabella, Schimanke, Dieter &) Ziekow, Jan (Eds.) (2020). Public Administration in Germany. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. Hardcover &) open access, 416 Seiten, ISBN 978-3-030-53696-1 ISBN 978-3-030-53697-8 (eBook); https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53697-8.

The book “Public Administration in Germany” provides an encompassing overview about both the historical foundations and the basic principles of the ‘German Model’ of Public Administration. Furthermore, readers learn about the most recent challenges of this model, e.g., a severe backlog with respect to digitalization of public administration and public service provision. The editors have provided a well-coordinated compilation of 22 chapters written by 31 authors. The book addresses the international community of Public Administration scholars: it can be recommended for practitioners, researchers and, in particular, for lecturers teaching Public Administration in Germany in an international context. It is a valuable source for everyone who wants to understand why this model was – and still is – highly influential for the development of Public Administration in the Western sphere.

Unequal and Gendered: Assessing the Impacts of Austerity Cuts on Public Service Users

A decade of austerity has amplified concern about who gets what from public services. The article considers the socio-economic and gendered impacts of cuts to local environmental services which have increased the need for citizens to report service needs and effectively ‘co-produce’ services. Via a case study of a UK council’s decade of administrative data on citizen requests and service responses, the article provides one of the first detailed analyses of the unfolding impact of austerity cuts over time on public service provision. It demonstrates the impact of austerity across the social gradient, but disproportionately on the least affluent, especially women. The article argues for the importance of detailed empirical examination of administrative data for making visible, and potentially tackling, long standing inequalities in public service provision.

Burgerinitiatieven in tijden van crisis

Citizens’ initiatives in times of crisis: An investigation into the factors that influence the durability of citizens’ initiatives In the Netherlands, citizens’ initiatives have received a lot of praise and are increasingly made responsible for providing public services. If they are to fulfil this role, they must be able to weather a crisis, as during a crisis public services should remain reliable. Literature on the durability of citizens’ initiatives suggests that large initiatives, with a close-knit core group and strong government support are the most durable. However, our research indicates that this was not the case during the COVID-19 crisis. Flexibility and freedom to function independently from the municipal government were found to be more decisive for durability. This suggests that despite public value of citizens’ initiatives, they cannot be expected to take much responsibility for durable public service provision.

Quality of local government and social trust in European cities

Communities are responsible for a range of public services and represent critical experiential contexts for social interactions between residents. However, the role of local governance and public service provision for creating social trust has received limited attention so far. This study examines how quality, efficiency and fairness of local public service provision relates to social trust. Using multilevel models on repeated cross-sectional survey data from the Quality of Life in European Cities project, we test the relationship between time-varying city-level indicators of quality of local government and social trust. The empirical results show that an increase in the dimension of local public service quality is substantially associated with an increase in social trust. We find improvements in sport and leisure facilities as well as the state of public spaces, streets and buildings to be particularly relevant.

Sustaining Public–Private Partnerships for Public Service Provision Through Democratically Accountable Practices

Despite the multiple stakeholder-centered complexities involved, the public–private partnership (PPP) modality is increasingly the vehicle of choice for the provision of public services in the developing world. This article asks how PPPs might overcome sustainability challenges in a meaningful way while examining which stakeholder-centered interventions are effective in facilitating rather than undermining the continuity of the partnership operations. We draw on the notion of democratic accountability and an in-depth qualitative sector-level case study in Uganda. The findings underscore the primacy of practices that help to reduce stakeholder information asymmetry, increase partnerships’ procedural legitimacy, and improve the understanding of substantive partnership outcomes.

The Consequences of the Austerity Policies for Public Services in the UK

This article examines the changing landscape of public service provision in the UK during austerity. Austerity is presented through the notions of retrenchment, decentralisation and shifts in governance. The analysis shows that retrenchment and decentralisation eroded the capacity of public institutions to protect the provision of vital public services. This is revealed through the reduced provision of non-statutory services and the reinforcement of inequalities in service provision. Shifts in governance have led to mixed outcomes in the quality of services. This article also addresses how austerity influenced many of the problems observed in service provision during the COVID-19 pandemic. Vital public services in the UK faced the pandemic with a diminished resource base, heightened inequalities and significant fragmentation in service provision.

The First City Organizational LCA Case Study: Feasibility and Lessons Learned from Vienna

Cities are recognized as a major contributor to environmental pressures. Recently, organizational LCA (OLCA) has been found to align well with requirements for city-scale environmental decision support and a novel city-OLCA framework was introduced. City-OLCA combines two relevant aspects: It covers activities beyond public service provision (multi-stakeholder) and emissions beyond greenhouse gases (multi-impact). Its unique approach of acknowledging responsibility levels should help both city-managers and academia in performance tracking and to prioritize mitigation measures. The goal of this work is to test city-OLCA’s feasibility in a first case study with real city data from Vienna. The feasibility was confirmed, and results for 12 impact categories were obtained. As an example, Vienna’s global warming potential, ozone depletion potential, and marine eutrophication potential for 2016 were 14,686 kt CO­2 eq., 6796 kg CFC-11 eq., and 310 t N eq., respectively. Our results indicate that current accounting practices may underestimate greenhouse gas emissions of the entire city by up to a factor of 3. This is mainly due to additional activities not covered by conventional standards (food and goods consumption). While the city itself only accounts for 25% of greenhouse gases, 75% are caused by activities beyond public service provision or beyond governmental responsibilities. Based on our results, we encourage city managers to include an organizational based LCA approach in defining reduction strategies. This will reveal environmental blind spots and avoids underestimating environmental burdens, which might lead to setting the wrong focus for mitigation.