E-Government in European Countries, a Comparative Approach Using the Principal Components Analysis

The digitalization of public administration is a necessary condition for the economic and social development of each country. In this context, e-government is developing and diversifying its forms of implementation, contributing significantly to the efficiency of public administration, to increasing the degree of transparency and to reducing corruption in public institutions. The aim of the research was to know how the states of the European Union evolved from the point of view of e-government and what influence it had on the economic development of the analyzed states and on the European citizens during the analyzed period. For this we selected ten research variables from several databases: Eurostat, the World Bank and the United Nations E-Government Development Database (UNeGovDD) of the United Nations. The period for which we did the analysis is 2010 – 2019. Using EViews 12 we applied panel Principal Component Analysis to reduce the 10-variable panel into a lower dimension of 3 principal components to find the underlying simplified structure. The three principal components retained explain about 76.5 % of the initial information. The research results show significant differences between the states analyzed, in terms of e-government, but also in terms of the impact it has on government effectiveness, controlling corruption, e-participation of European citizens and the economic development of Member States. In countries with a high level of e-government implementation, governance is efficient, corruption is low, citizen involvement is higher and economic development is faster.

Measuring Whistleblowing Perceptions among the Civil Service of the Republic of Kosovo

In 2018, the Parliament of the Republic of Kosovo approved the Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers, setting up the foundations of the whistleblower protection system for the public and private sectors in the country. In line with the international principles for drafting legislation for the protection of whistleblowers, the law provides three channels for reporting wrongdoing and grants protection against any form of retaliation for whistleblowers. Noting the absence of institutional data on whistleblowing in the public sector, for this research article, a survey was implemented with individual members of civil service in Kosovo (n=400), during the period from September to November 2019, to collect primary data related to factors incentivizing and / or discouraging the decision to whistleblow. Data were collected at the national and local levels of state administration, as per the scope of the definition of the civil service by Kosovo legislation. In this contribution, research results reveal that the protection against any form of retaliation guaranteed by the law is not sufficient for members of civil service in Kosovo to support the decision to whistleblow, as concerns arise for the security and physical integrity of their respective family members. Law does not provide financial incentives for civil servants to whistleblow. Data reveal that a satisfactory level of trust is missing on organizational indicators such as trust in the responsible officer, protection of data confidentiality and anonymity, across different levels of categories of civil service. In line with the concerns voiced by members of civil service and international standards for whistleblower protection, the following actionable recommendations are proposed to advance the whistleblowing system in Kosovo: 1) Improve the provision of training for members of civil service on whistleblowing legislation, organizational procedures, whistleblower protection, and rights; 2) Establish strategies to support employees for whistleblowing. Such strategies would include programs enabling whistleblowers access to professional services such as stress management, counseling, and legal services; 3) Enhance security measures for the physical integrity of whistleblowers and their respective family members; 4) Establish incentives to encourage whistleblowing, such as financial rewards.

Performance Management and the Integrated Development Plan of the Msunduzi Municipality in South Africa

Poor local government performance has been detrimental to South Africa’s development. The study explores the challenge(s) the Msunduzi Local Municipality is facing in ensuring good performance necessary for achieving its planned development. The study argues that flaws in the management of performance lead to poor performance. This research was interpretivist, used a case-study strategy and adopted a qualitative design / approach. Secondary data in the form of municipal publications and primary data in the form of interview information was collected and analysed. The findings demonstrated that there is a lack of alignment between the planned development and the necessary performance to achieve it in the Msunduzi Local Municipality. The Key Performance Areas of top managers were not aligned to the Integrated Development Plan goals; Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were internally rather than externally focused; some of the KPIs were too vague to be measurable, and there was no agreement on the top five strategic objectives of the Municipality. This research investigation sought to contribute to the limited understanding of municipal performance and development policy alignment by improving municipal service delivery in developing countries. Lessons have been learnt on the need for policy alignment based on holistic thinking.

Rapid Public-Private Partnership Deployment in Kazakhstan: Enablers and Implications

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are a relatively new phenomenon in Kazakh-stan – their development began in 2005 in the transport and energy sectors. Initially sluggish growth transformed into rapid PPP deployment from 2016 to 2019 when hundreds of PPPs were launched in many industries (infrastructure, hospitals, schools), which was in sharp contrast to just a handful of PPPs formed prior to 2016. Rapid PPP deployment raised deep concerns whether the government’s supporting schemes and PPP launch procedures are appropriate and whether they may backfire for the government in the form of increasing debt. This paper aims to investigate the enablers and implications of accelerated PPP formation. The study is based on semi-structured in-depth interviews with a range of actors in the field, including PPP operators (railroad, energy company, kindergarten), regional and local governments, national and regional PPP centres, lawyers and private investors, which afforded an opportunity to mitigate bias in opinions. The study has identified three principal enablers: simplified procedures for a PPP launch, pressure exerted on regional governments, and extensive government financial support to PPPs. By making use of agency theory, property rights theory and the value-for-money concept, the paper offers a conceptualisation of rapid PPP growth in Kazakhstan in recent years and argues that growth was disproportionally fast and unintended. Policy implications include a need to re-establish the value-for-money approach to PPP formation, a significant increase in government liabilities to PPPs, and a misconception regarding the role of PPP collaborative governance.

Study on Citizen Participation in Local Governance in Vietnam

Reform to establish a democratic, citizen-centered government is an important orientation in the world and in Vietnam today. For Vietnam, how to promote and strengthen democratic governance must be one of the most crucial issues in order to achieve sustainable development goals. Based on the theoretical framework and survey results, this study evaluates citizen participation in local governance in Vietnam on seven main dimensions, including: (i) Transparency aims to ensure citizens’ right to know; (ii) Participation in elections; (iii) Outlining of policy initiatives; (iv) Policy discussion, social criticism and referendums; (v) Voluntary contributions and cooperation with the government in public-service delivery; (vi) Social self-governance; (vii) Supervision of the social realm. Research shows that the dominance of local government is very evident in the process of citizen participation. The policy implications for countries in transition like Vietnam are that, in order to increase citizen participation in local governance, the openness of local government should be enhanced. Of course, doing this well needs a certain social basis.

Leadership Discourses on Bureaucracy: Continuity over a Century

Politicians in all types of regimes require bureaucracy to extend their rule over society. To prevent administrators from becoming too powerful and publicly signal independence, they seemingly arbitrarily criticize public officials. But when and how do political leaders blame bureaucracy – and when do they praise it ? This study uses Russia as a case to illustrate the complex and ambiguous politics-administration relationship in non-Western regimes. We argue that public statements about bureaucracy accommodate two different legitimation strategies. We provide a content analysis of 311 public statements, from 1917 – 2017, on the role of administration in the country’s development. We find that attention to administrative affairs coincides with major political changes and periods of political instability in the history of Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. Over a century, the rhetoric of Russian leaders oscillated between blaming and praising bureaucracy to secure stability and overcome obstacles in implementing governing strategies. The strategic interplay between assertive rhetoric and praising bureaucracy is part of an effective political leadership survival strategy.

Unanticipated Consequences of Reforms in School Governance

This article argues that policy development and evaluations should not only incorporate whether and to what extent the policies achieve the intended goals, but should also take the unintended consequences of the policies into account. Based on the classic work of the sociologist Robert Merton, this article addresses the side-effects of attempts that have been made by the Lithuanian national government to improve on the governance of basic and high-schools. The intended goals of the policies concerned the increase of autonomy of school governance through the decentralization of responsibilities; increasing autonomy of and control over school governance; increasing market-driven governance, inducing competition and collaboration between schools, and altering the relation between service providers and recipients. An in-depth analysis shows that there were serious side-effects. Due to the limited knowledge and capabilities at the local level the policies resulted in sub-optimal decision-making at the school level. As the transfer went hand in hand with national laws and strict regulations, stipulating the financing and content of education, setting standards and uniform requirements this reduced the ability of schools to make autonomous decisions and rather turned them into bodies implementing national standards. A decrease in cost-efficiency is visible as every school has to make its own plans; administrative burdens increase, and insufficient funding results in a transfer of shortages instead of transferring the responsibility to find solutions for those shortages, and instead of becoming more collegiate, the relation between schools becomes competitive resulting in distrust with all the expected negative consequences. The plans to increase the autonomy of school governance could have developed rather differently if these unintended consequences had been taken into account beforehand. If such side-effects would be anticipated, that could have resulted in more realism, less one-sided and unfounded optimism and in the end, less frustration and demotivation.

Opportunities and Barriers of Using Blockchain in Public Administration: The Case of Real Estate Registration in Kazakhstan

Blockchain technology has a great potential for improving public administration – its transparency and efficiency. It is also discussed as an instrument for reducing corruption and transaction costs. This paper discusses the potential use of block-chain technology in public administration. It is based on a case-study approach focusing on real estate registration in Kazakhstan. Particular attention is paid to identifying factors hindering the development of the blockchain technology. The paper indicates that the main barriers to further use of blockchain technology in Kazakhstan are insufficient legislation and also the complexity of the technical implementation of blockchain projects and integration with existing systems.

Mismatch of Policy Theory and Policy Practice in Eastern Europe: Cross-Sectoral Comparison of Croatian Policymaking

The aim of the paper is to improve empirical policy theory by examining Eastern European policymaking, using Croatia as a case for analysis. Data sources are published studies that describe 11 sectors from diverse policy areas. The whole material was coded by the rules of qualitative content analysis. The results show 15 basic features of Croatian policymaking combined into six policymaking types: administrative, analytical, economic, external, incremental, and political. All detected policymaking types were successfully connected to several policy concepts, theories, frameworks, and approaches. The analysis revealed three points of theory-practice mismatch that are fruitful for theoretical improvements: the need for mainstreaming Europeanization and policy transfer into policy theory; the need to modify rationalistic approaches for more empirical studies on obstacles and barriers to rationality in policymaking; and the need for adapting actor-centered approaches for a more broad application and empirical research of policymaking in Eastern Europe.

Health Technology Assessment of the Medical Devices: A Case Study from the Czech Republic

Health technology assessment (HTA) has become the systematic evaluation of health technology’s properties and effects that inform decision-makers. The implementation and expansion of HTA can contribute to slowing down burgeoning healthcare costs. In the Czech Republic, elements of HTA are quite standardly used in pharmacoeconomics, but questions arise on the use of HTA of medical devices. The theoretical framework developed is followed by a case study of the Czech Republic to assess whether the use of HTA of medical devices in the Czech Republic is implemented. This study uses publicly available resources, mainly public health acts and public notices related to HTA. We examined the institutionalisation of HTA for medical devices (HTA applied only at a selected area of medical devices) in the Czech Republic and compared Czech’s HTA principles of medical devices to the HTA Core Model. It was found that the HTA process used for medical devices is very limited in the Czech Republic. Our data show that HTA was officially established, but in reality, the medical devices have not been assessed following HTA principles.