The Role of Public Participation in Governance towards Achieving Sustainable Development. Part 1

Public participation aimed at improving the effectiveness of governance by involving citizens in governance policy formulation and decision-making processes. It was designed to promote transparency, accountability and effectiveness of any modern government. Although Kenya has legally adopted public participation in day-to-day government activities, challenges still cripple its effectiveness as documented by several scholars. Instead of reducing conflicts between the government and the public, it has heightened witnessing so many petitions of government missing on priorities in terms of development and government policies. Results show that participation weakly relates with governance hence frictions sustainable development. Theoretically, public participation influences governance efficiency and development, directly and indirectly, thus sustainable development policy and implementation depends on Public participation and good governance. However, an effective public participation in governance is has been fractioned by the government. Instead of being a promoter/sponsor of public participation, the government of Kenya has failed to put structures that would spur participation of citizens in policy making and other days to activities. This has brought about wrong priority setting and misappropriation of public resources; The government officials and political class interference ultimately limit public opinion and input effects on decision-making and policy formulation, which might be an inner factor determining the failure of public participation in Kenya. The study suggests the need for strengthening public participation by establishing an independent institution to preside over public participation processes.

Cooperative Governance and Local Economic Development in Selected Small Towns: A Case Study of the Western Cape Province, South Africa

This article reports on a study based on cooperative governance and Local Economic Development (LED) in selected small towns in the Western Cape Province. The dearth of an integrative institutional framework to promote collaborative participation negatively influences local municipalities ability to successfully manage LED cooperatively with relevant stakeholders. Promoting such inclusive representation and participation of all relevant stakeholders provides a viable and complementary alternative to the traditional bureaucratic governance mechanism. The study investigated the specific factors involved in designing and implementing cooperative governance for LED in selected, comparable municipalities in the Western Cape. Specifically, the study aims to determine the push and pull factors for the successful functioning of cooperative governance aimed at promoting LED in those municipalities. Data were collected through three data collection instruments, namely, document review, interviews, and focus group discussions. The document review is complemented by data from interviews and focus groups discussion. The study contributes to the body of knowledge on cooperative governance by identifying the specific cooperative governance factors, enabling the efficacy and governance of LED in small towns, aimed at positively influencing municipalities ability to successfully manage LED cooperatively with relevant stakeholders. An in-depth understanding of the relationship and dynamics of these variables helps to offer recommendations as to how to improve the management and responsiveness to socio-economic concerns within the municipalities through improved LED governance.

The Regional Role of Russia after Military Aid to Syria

One of the most important goals of Russian foreign policy during Vladimir Putins presidency is to strengthen Russian influence in the Caucasus region and Central Asia, as well as to develop relations with such countries as Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The Russian government has always expressed concern about the so-called color revolutions that took place in Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, as well as the fact that many of them were supported by Western forces. Russia believes that the events of the Arab Spring are in some way similar to the aforementioned revolutions, and that with the support of the West they could bring Islamists to power, which is a dangerous model not only for the countries of the region and the countries neighboring Russia, but also for Russia itself. For these reasons, in the Syrian conflict, Moscow sought to preserve the Assad regime, because believes that the Western model in solving regional problems can lead to the general chaos, like it was, for example, in the Iraqi and Libyan models. Despite the difficulties faced by government officials in Syria since the beginning of the civil war, and thanks to Russian military assistance and reforms, Syria preserved the legitimate regime and did not allow destroying all state institutions. Participation in the Syrian conflict brought Russia a significant role in the region and allowed it to become a successful mediator in most regional issues, as well as to strengthen its economic and political relations with the most important players in the region, as Turkey, Iran, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Government Policy in Overcoming Religious Extremism in Indonesia: A Multidisciplinary Review between Public Administration and Psychology

The development of religious extremism in Indonesia continues to increase every year so that serious attention is needed by the government to deal with religious extremism in Indonesia. Indonesia is an archipelagic country where there are various ethnic groups and religions that coexist. However, the development of religious extremism sometimes becomes a serious problem for the Indonesian people because it can have a negative impact and damage the unity between nations and religions. This research uses literature study. This research method is carried out by reviewing various literatures, both books, newspapers, survey reports, academic journals related to religious extremism in Indonesia. The results show that not all religious extremism has an impact on the emergence of terrorism, but the government still must make the right policies in handling religious extremism that can cause division and affect peoples welfare. The policies that have been made by the government are considered appropriate and based on the laws that have been set by the government so that they can have a positive impact in maintaining the unity and integrity of the Indonesian nation.

The Presidential Grants Fund as an Instrument of the Policy of Remembrance for the Great Patriotic War

The presented research is devoted to the study of the role of the Presidential Grants Fund in the implementation of the memorial policy in relation to the events of the Great Patriotic War. The methodological base of the study is formed through a combination of comparative and structural analysis. The author concludes that the activity of the Presidential Grants Fund on the field of memorial policy is built outside the context of a clear strategy for implementing the policy of memory. Currently, the Fund allocates funds primarily to support local and regional initiatives that are not linked to each other in a single system. There is a clear imbalance in the territorial distribution of grants in terms of their number and size in favor of projects of participants from Moscow and St. Petersburg. Part of the grants is allocated for the solution of tasks assigned by law to the sphere of responsibility of local self-government bodies (for example, this concerns projects for the improvement of military graves).

Employees’ Post-service Plans and Options in Nigeria

One of the greatest challenges that faced typical employees throughout their working life is life after retirement. Despite government roles at providing social security, retirement epoch has been a tension provoking and overwhelming phenomenon in Nigeria and other emerging economies of Africa, Asia and Latin America. A close observation of many retirees in Nigeria society and the problems they are facing draw the attention of all and sundry. These problems seem to range from sudden death, dwindling status, lack of occupation, loss of the usual monthly salary, decreased strength and deteriorated health condition, physical disabilities, aging and anxiety about a residential home. In Nigeria, the regular non-payment of pensions and gratuities benefits has brought untold hardship and sudden death to many retirees, thereby making retirement something that is dreaded by workers. This problem is further compounded to lack of planning and management of post-service epoch and conditions. It is against this backdrop that this paper seeks to identify and discusses strategies available for managing post-service condition in Nigeria. The paper calls on Nigerian workers to embrace one of the options to remain moderately productive and healthy after retirement. The paper suggests, among others, that both employers and government should undertake regular pre-retirement training for their workers in order to save the country the embarrassment of seeing their retirees going to early graves or turning into destitute on the streets.

Urbanization and the COVID-2019 Pandemic in the World’s Cities: Losing the Benefits of the City or Rethinking of Urban Development?

The COVID-2019 pandemic has sparked a wave of discussions on further understanding the positive and negative aspects of urbanization, and the possible loss of the city's advantages. The problem has socio-economic, environmental, medical, architectural, managerial aspects and recommendations for changing the strategy of economic development, development of territories and settlement. The need to revise various decisions and types of socio-economic policy and regulation is largely manifested.

Career Strategies in the Context of Personal and Professional Development of Management Personnel

The article deals with the issues of personal and professional development of the management personnel reserve. The authors focus on the problems of staffing the public administration system, primarily the public civil service, emphasize that one of the key issues that directly affect the quality of public administration and the effectiveness of the public civil service is the personal and professional development of management personnel, effective leadership. Based on the analysis of the results of sociological research and statistical data, key problem areas in staffing and the implementation of personnel policy in the civil service, the possibility of implementing personnel strategies are determined. Noting the role of the managerial personnel reserve, the directions for improving the work with the personnel reserve in the context of a personality-oriented approach are substantiated, trends in changes in career expectations and the possibility of taking them into account in the formation of developmental activities are noted.

Implementation of E-Government as a Public Service Innovation in Indonesia

E-Government implementation is the use of technology, information, and communication to realize more efficient and effective government practices in the process of implementing public services in order to facilitate public access to information and create principles of accountability, transparency and good public participation in the Indonesian government. This study aims to explain the implementation of E-Government in Indonesia which encourages the development of information and data systems and is adapted to existing bureaucratic processes. The method used in this research is qualitative research methods. The results showed that public service innovation organized by the government of the Republic of Indonesia was able to create relationships between elements in a country online, not inline, so that efficiency and speed in public services was not only a symbol but a reality.

How to Lead in Federal Government

In todays workplace, especially in the midst of todays challenging times, we must understand the values of resilience, communication, decision-making, team-building, and diversity. These core competencies contribute to the success of being a diligent leader within government agencies. These competencies make the difference between opportunity and performance, and promote a positive work environment. Government agencies must make sure they are creating inclusive, diverse, and equitable workplaces.