Orphan Implementations of Public Policy for Conflict-Oriented Issues

This paper aims to broaden our understanding of public policy characterized by issues of non-consensus. The idea of flexible, independent administrative decision-making for a conflict-oriented policy-type is addressed in terms of chronological constructions of policy process. Distributions of limited resources are a source of public contention likely to draw ambiguous high-level policy decisions that lack practical administrative directives. Conflicting institutional, professional and stakeholder influences, at various levels of policy processes, illuminate circumstances fostering implementations incongruent with politically motivated macro-declarations. Yet, this does not necessarily represent failed policy. A reevaluation of administrative systems, by critical deconstruction of the dominant top-down discourse, provides a frame of reference for valid divergent implementations. A conceptual progression from field-level interpretation and adaptation of macro policy, initiatory orphan implementations emerge as policy itself. This revised bottom-up modality of the policy process implies a working balance of combined outputs, providing equitable outcome to serve largescale public interest.

The Japanese Civil Service

This essay, based on a public lecture, deals with the last Civil Service (CS) Reform in Japan, which had been attempted since the 1990s and was completed in 2014. Bureaucrats enjoyed a “summer” where they actively were engaged in policy-making. But a series of policy failures and scandals revealed in the 1990s were attributed to their excessive autonomy, and centralized personnel control by the prime minister was introduced. However, discourse analysis of the Diet (Parliament) during the period of Reform indicates that there was neither a shared understanding of the meaning of CS impartiality, nor of the values to be borne by the CS. The driving force of the Reform was mainly people’s fury. It therefore resulted in relegating bureaucrats to being “lackeys” of the prime minister, ignoring their self-respect. This has given rise to various undesirable consequences. Will the CS see another “spring” in Japan?

The Dutch “Digi Commissioner” (2014-2018)

The Dutch governmental digital infrastructure (Generic Digital Infrastructure; GDI) is a vital element of state functioning. This article investigates the governance of the GDI as exemplified by the activities of the Digi Commissioner (officially the ‘National Coordinator Digital Government’). In 2014 the Digi Commissioner was made responsible for coordinating and re-structuring GDI-governance. Early 2018 his tasks were transferred to the Ministry of Interior Affairs. Some progress was made, but according to the Digi Commissioner himself the GDI still leaves much to be desired and is far from future proof. The article will discuss the Dutch digital infrastructure by adopting several perspectives. First, by defining and describing the development of the GDI. Second, by analysing the activities and achievements of the Digi Commissioner. Third, by applying behavioural economics and securitization concepts offering relevant insights with regard to the (lack of) GDI-progress.

The Impact of the EU’s Economic and Fiscal Policy Measures on the Budgeting Process of Estonia

After the global financial crisis in 2008-2010, the governance framework of the European Union’s economic and fiscal policy has undergone several changes. The Stability and Growth Pact - the core of the EU’s fiscal governance framework - has been reinforced by the “sixpack”, the “two-pack”, the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union, and the rules are grounded in the European Semester process. After 10 years since the initial major changes were introduced into the EU’s legislative framework and given the current times of fiscal uncertainty as well as ongoing discussions on revising and improving the Stability and Growth Pact rules once again, it is of utmost importance to understand the impacts these past reforms have had on member states in the first place. The paper serves two purposes. First and foremost, the main goal of the paper is to build on the existing knowledge on Europeanization in order to bring into one single framework a whole set of different policy measures and their potential impact on the member state’s budgeting processes. Secondly, the theoretical discussion is followed by an empirical case study of Estonia. The case study not only illustrated and mapped out potential impacts that the EU’s economic and fiscal governance measures can have on a national budgetary process and demonstrated the potential degree of domestic change in response to these various policy measures, but also provided preliminary insights in the possible mediating factors that could additionally influence domestic adaption.

Quality of Governance at the Communal Level in Poland: an Exploratory Study of the Worst Performer Case From the Opolskie Province

The objective of this paper is an attempt to explain the determinants of the lowest governance quality level in one of the communes of the Opolskie Province, Poland. The first stage of the research consisted in developing a commune-level governance quality index in order to measure the quality of governance in the 60 communes of the Opolskie Province. Subsequently, the commune with the lowest score in the index was qualified for the second stage of the research which was based on the extreme case method. The major conclusion from the research is that the commune leader's governance style which allowed him to hold on to power for many terms of office was responsible for generating low governance quality. Furthermore, the low quality of governance was not only the effect of the governance style but also the strategy aimed at remaining in the commune leader office for many terms.

Building an Agile Government: Its Possibilities, Challenges, and New Tasks

Although “agility” is a popular term today, an understanding of its meaning and key components is lacking. The term “agile government” has been increasingly used in various studies and reports but remains unclear. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to review agile government studies, overcome the various new challenges against such trends, and identify possibilities of building an effective agile government. First, business agility studies and agile development methods are reviewed, followed by an overview of agile government studies and an evaluation of the present and future uses for agile governments. Finally, this paper identifies various challenges and suggests new tasks toward a more agile government based on the reviews.

Who Creates Value?

The Last Dance is a sports documentary miniseries focusing on the 1997-98 NBA champions Chicago Bulls and their star Michael Jordan. Through the lenses of The Last Dance, whose global popularity has been unprecedented for a documentary, we discuss value from a historical, political and cultural perspective. First, this paper provides a concise account of the ambivalent nature of value from a historical perspective. We then discuss the Bulls’ General Manager dispute with Jordan over whether the players or the organization win championships; and the Scottie Pippen “injustice” according to which Pippen, a top Bulls player, was underpaid. By addressing these two issues, we show that all value is collectively produced. We argue that all value approaches are imperfect, temporary and context-specific. We thus highlight the need for scholars and policymakers to critically discuss value and point to the commons sphere for more inclusive understandings of value.

Max Weber (1864-1920) and Public Administration Today

Max Weber passed away on 14 June 1920 at the early age of 56, from consequences of the last pandemic – the Spanish Flu (Kaesler 2014, 15-16). During the last 100 years, Weber’s positionas one of the world’s great economists, sociologists, social science theorists, and public administration scholars has been secure (see Whimster 2004), if with ups and downs. Weber’seminence is probably the least contested in the last field – not uncontested, for sure, as eminence must attract criticism. Ups and downs yes, but Weber remains central. At a minimum, we may say that he is the most important public administration thinker of his time, even of modern public administration. One can think with or against Weber in public administration, but by and large, not really without him. We therefore decided that it was not only fitting, but even necessary, to include a short tribute to him in a Halduskultuur issue this year, a fortioriseeing that this journal has carried several studies of Max Weber, Weberianism, and the Neo-Weberian State (e.g. Samier 2005; Drechsler 2005; 2009; Kostakis 2011), and indeed, that the concept of Administrative Culture is particularly Weberian.

The Use of Social Media in Public Administration: the Case of Slovakian Local Self-government

Regarding constantly growing importance of information technologies public organizations try to find optimal solution, which might help to increase the qualitative aspects of relationship between governments and citizens. Experts argue that social media usage have potential to foster participation and engagement of the public. The aim of study is to analyse Facebook profiles of selected Slovakian cities, focusing on the general features of social network usage, content and the purpose of posts published over a four-year period. Besides, the article tries to be theoretical and practical insight to application of social media in public administration. The main finding is based on statement that analysed official Facebook pages mostly include informational posts while calling for opinion and calling for participation represent significantly lower part of total posts. Simultaneously, positive impacts of social media usage have been identified both for public organizations and wider public. Simultaneously, the benefit of the article is associated with fostering an interest in examined issues of social media usage, which we hope might improve the quality of social media strategies and benchlearning processes in other Slovakian cities and hopefully other local self-government units in the European territory. Finally, various limits and perspectives of social media use are discussed in the final part of the article, specially of ideals of democracy, cybersecurity, policymaking, as well as participation and engagement of citizens.

Impact of climate discourse on national scientific networks in energy technologies: the case of Estonian science and industry linkages

This article examines how the global climate change discourse influences the implementation of national science policy in the area of energy technology, with a focus on industry and science collaborations and networks. We develop a set of theoretical propositions about how the issues in the global discourse are likely to influence research agendas and networks, the nature of industry-science linkages and the direction of innovation. The plausibility of these propositions is examined, using Estonia as a case study. We find that the global climate discourse has indeed led to the diversification of research agendas and networks, but the shifts in research strategies often tend to be rhetorical and opportunistic. The ambiguity of the global climate change discourse has also facilitated incremental innovation towards energy efficiency and the potentially sub-optimal lock-in of technologies. In sum, the Estonian case illustrates how the introduction of policy narratives from the global climate change discourse to the national level can shape the actual policy practices and also networks of actors in a complex and non-linear fashion, with unintended effects.