Correlates of rigorous and credible transnational governance: A cross‐sectoral analysis of best practice compliance in eco‐labeling

The number of eco‐labeling schemes is rising dramatically, yet the rigor and credibility of such schemes remains uneven. Whereas some eco‐labeling organizations (ELOs) comply with best practice guidelines designed to increase the credibility of their standards through attention to good operating principles, such as transparency and impartiality, others do not. Within this article, I attempt to explain this variation through multivariate regression analysis of an original cross‐sectoral dataset of transnational ELO policies and practices. I find compelling evidence to suggest that ELOs with environmental non‐governmental organization (ENGO) partners, nonprofit structures, or broad transnational reach are most likely to comply with best practices. I also find that private ELOs are more likely to disregard best practices than public ones. Conversely, I find little evidence that levels of industry funding or sector‐specific competition dynamics affect best practice compliance. This study contributes new data, a new method of comparison, and new findings to the growing literature on transnational governance.     

Democracy or Good Governance? Globalization,Transnational Capital,and Georgia's Neo-liberal Revolution

Western aid donors merge democracy and good governance in theory and practice. Yet, since the 2003 Rose Revolution, Georgia's governance indicators have soared while its democracy scores have plummeted. The good governance–democracy merger constitutes an attempt by the transnational capitalist class to cultivate consent for its hegemonic project of neo-liberal globalization. This article highlights the personal and institutional networks connecting Georgian elites with the organizations involved in globalizing governance and democracy. It shows how these organizations are dominated by the representatives of transnational capital. Finally, it shows that Georgia, as an undemocratic but effective ‘governance state’, is not an exception.     

走向环境治理的多元共治模式:现实挑战与路径选择

党的十九大报告针对生态文明建设提出了“构建政府、企业、社会和公众共同参与的环境治理体系”的指导思想,倡导在环境保护与环境治理领域引入共建共治共享的理念,打造基于多元主体共同参与的新型环境治理模式,为解决日益复杂化和动态化的环境治理问题提供了新思路,也为全球生态环境治理贡献了中国智慧。实践中,多元共治模式面临着环境治理权力结构安排不尽科学合理、跨部门治理主体间信息共享和协调性差、政府监管的权威性和有效性不足、企业主体性作用发挥不够以及社会力量参与的有效性和有序化偏低等诸多挑战。为此,需要从厘清多元主体职责分工、创新生态服务投入机制、优化环境治理协同机制、提升政府环境监管效能、引导社会力量有序有效参与等方面完善相应的制度安排,以推动新型环境治理体系高效运转起来。     

Good Government Means Different Things in Different Countries

Work on good governance implies a one‐best‐way model of effective government. This has isomorphic influences on development, whereby governments are influenced to adopt a one‐size‐fits‐all approach to get things done. This article challenges whether such an approach exists, proposing that models actually do not hold even for the so‐called effective governments. Governments look different, even if they are similarly called models of good government. This proposition is examined through a study of public financial management practices in a set of Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) and non‐OECD countries. The study shows that effective governments are not more likely to exhibit better practice characteristics implied in one‐best‐way models. Good public financial management means different things in different countries. The article concludes by suggesting that good governance models give way to menus and the development community invest more time in examining why different countries select different menu items.     

京津冀劳动政策的差异与协同

跨部门和地区协同是国家治理现代化的重要实现形式,对于京津冀协同发展亦具有至关重要的影响。将政策文献与治理实践进行有效的“对话”,以1997年京津冀进入一体化实质发展阶段以来三地公布的劳动政策文件为分析文本,结合京津冀协同治理实践,考察京津冀府际间政策文本差异与协同特征。分析发现,在一统体制和中央顶层设计背景下,京津冀劳动市场一体化趋势明显,劳动政策内容和数量协同逐渐增多,但在有效治理与利益驱动下存在央地目标设置错位等现象;京津冀劳动政策协同与差异并存,进而形成对区域协同治理的双刃剑效应。     

The Challenging Business of Long-Term Public–Private Partnerships: Reflections on Local Experience

Many widely publicized arrangements bearing the popular "public–private partnership" label are complex, long-term contracts between municipalities and private companies. In theory, these innovative contracts offer substantial public benefits, including improved service quality, risk sharing with the private sector, and cost savings. In practice, however, the challenges that long-term contracts pose can undermine their successful implementation at the local level. Drawing on illustrative cases, this article explores some practical impediments to achieving market-driven competition, equitable risk sharing, effective performance guarantees, and appropriate transparency in innovative long-term contracts. It examines the inapplicability of the partnership model to most commercial transactions between government and business, the risks of uncontrollable circumstances, the impact of local resource constraints, and barriers to transparency in long-term contracts. It concludes that local governments embarking on long-term contracts must invest in specialized expertise, effective contract management, and strong governance structures.     

Doing more among institutional boundaries: Platform-enabled government in China

The concept of Government as a Platform (GaaP) has recently encountered setbacks in practice worldwide. While existing literature on inter-governmental collaboration has emphasized organizational restructuring and data sharing, this study argues that a pragmatic way to improve administrative efficiency in the absence of formal institutional change is to adopt an alternative model to GaaP: platform-enabled government. Enabled by innovations of the middle-tier platform, this new model of platform governance integrates the functions of distributed systems of multiple departments into a sequential workflow without the requirement of institutional reform or sharing proprietary data. To demonstrate how this model facilitates information flow across institutional boundaries and improves collaborative governance, we analyze horizontal, vertical, and public-private collaboration using a diverse case study design. We examine administrative review, law enforcement, and contact tracing during the pandemic in the context of China. Our findings suggest accommodating institutional boundaries is a practical and effective approach to advance the digital government agenda in decentralized contexts.     

Elements of Successful Change: The Service Tasmania Experience to Public Sector Reform

For Tasmanians accessing Government services has traditionally required visits to various Lead Agency locations, as service delivery was fragmented and bureaucratic. The Tasmanian Government adopted a customer‐focused approach implementing ‘Service Tasmania’ a One‐Stop‐Shop service delivery concept. This paper investigates what led to the success of this public service reform and in particular what change management practices were applied during the change effort. Ten common factors of successful change have been identified in the literature; these are explored determining their relevance throughout this initiative. Data were collected with semi‐structured interviews conducted with 63 staff plus senior management. Data were analysed using a grounded theory approach and open coding was applied during the first pass through the data to reach the initial codes identifying critical terms and generic key issues. Findings confirm that several management interventions were necessary to address resistance and conflict issues and keep the government reform project on track.     

From consultation to participatory governance? A critical review of citizen engagement strategies in Queensland

This article explores what appears to be a major shift in the policies and practices of national and international governments–the increased attention to, and use of, citizen engagement strategies as a basis for developing more participatory forms of governance. The article examines recent citizen engagement initiatives of the Queensland state government which have grappled with these complex political, policy and service concerns. The potential innovation and effectiveness of citizen engagement techniques and approaches are examined. The limitations of technical methodologies based on a traditional consultative framework are highlighted. The article analyses the relationship between these citizen engagement practices and more strategic democratic reforms based on notions of participatory governance.     

Building informal knowledge‐sharing relationships between policy makers and academics: Insights from a PM&C engagement project

This article outlines an innovative project to encourage knowledge sharing and engagement between academics and a policy team within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C). The project was designed to enhance policy advice by drawing on a group of academics outside the policy ranks to act as a sounding board, to question, and provide differing perspectives within the policy process of crafting advice to government. External expertise and particularly academic research has the potential to improve evidence‐based policy but often fails to be specific or timely for those at the “pointy end” of policy decision making. An informal knowledge sharing framework has the potential to improve the exchange of information through confidential and targeted conversations between researchers and public servants as one way of overcoming these barriers.     

Do Critical Citizens Foster Better Governance? A Comparative Study

Both critical citizens and governance are attracting increasing interest in political science. Strangely enough, however, the two strands of research are rarely combined. This article sheds light on the relation between governance and political criticism by focusing on Europe. The article discusses and examines whether the level of political criticism expressed by a state's citizenry correlates with or even affects the quality of governance. In contrast to the conventional ‘translation’ of criticism as discontentment, this article scrutinises ‘normative critical attentiveness’, which is explained in detail (data: International Social Survey Program 2004, module: Citizenship). Legitimate and effective governance, as measured by the World Bank indices, correlates positively with critical attentiveness: states with citizenries that regard attentiveness as a civic duty provide more legitimate and effective governance than states with less attentive citizenries. These correlations remain significant when controlled for economic development. The cause of direction is not uniform, but must be differentiated for different characteristics.     

Developing Management Practices to Support Joined‐Up Governance

Various forms of ‘boundary‐crossing’ practices continue to proliferate in public management and public service provision (i.e. activities that require engagement and collaboration across sectors, institutions, and organisations). Yet the dynamic nature of this type of joined‐up working is proving to be a major management challenge. In this paper, we bring a number of concepts to bear on the management of joined‐up and cross‐boundary working in public management of complex social issues. Firstly, we present the concept of ‘adaptive management’, which we draw from field of environmental policy and planning (and human ecology). Secondly, we introduce a rethinking of the role of ‘policy targets’ using a complexity lens. These concepts are integrated into a practice heuristic (or framework) designed to assist cross‐boundary policy implementation in real‐world settings. We argue that adaptive management approaches may have significant utility for ensuring effective governance in uncertain environments.     

Does government funding alter nonprofit governance? Evidence from New York City nonprofit contractors

Government contracting has raised a collection of issues with respect to adequate oversight and accountability. This paper explores one avenue through which contracting agencies may achieve these tasks: through the governance practices of the contractor's board. Oversight and monitoring are a board's key responsibilities, and influencing a board's practices is one way a governmental agency can help to insure quality performance. Agencies could thus use both their selection process and their post‐contracting power to influence board practice. Using a new, rich data set on the nonprofit contractors of New York City, a series of hypotheses were tested on the relationship between government funding and board practices. Significant differences were found to exist in board practices as a function of government funding levels, differences that mark a shift of energy away from some activities (i.e., traditional board functions, such as fund‐raising) towards others (financial monitoring and advocacy). This suggests that government agencies may indeed use their contracting choices with an eye to particular governance practices. This increased emphasis on such activities appears to crowd out other activities, and is not unambiguously to the benefit of nonprofit board governance. © 2002 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

Contested Governance: Understanding Justice Interventions in Post-Qadhafi Libya

ABSTRACT

This contribution reflects upon the nexus between transitional justice and peacebuilding through a study of how transitional justice practices in post-Qadhafi Libya interacted with broader efforts to establish governance institutions in the aftermath of Libya’s 2011 armed conflict. It argues that dominant practices of transitional justice, promoted by external actors, prescribed narrow state-centric justice interventions that were ill-suited for a polity in which the state was highly contested. In fact, transitional justice proved divisive in Libya because attempts to project state-centric liberal justice practices were limited by their targeting of weak institutions that lacked local legitimacy and their inability to reconcile alternative normative frameworks that challenge the modern state. In addition, the weakness of Libya’s state institutions allowed thuwwar, or revolutionary armed groups, to dictate an exclusionary form of justice known as political isolation. Drawn from fieldwork conducted in Libya, this contribution provides lessons for both peacebuilding and transitional justice practice that call for a rethinking of teleological notions of transition and greater engagement with notions and concepts that fall outside dominant practices.     

The politics of decarbonization and the catalytic impact of subnational climate experiments

The Paris Agreement of 2015 marks a formal shift in global climate change governance from an international legal regime that distributes state commitments to solve a collective action problem to a catalytic mechanism to promote and facilitate transformative pathways to decarbonization. It does so through a system of nationally determined contributions, monitoring and ratcheting up of commitments, and recognition that the practice of climate governance already involved an array of actors and institutions at multiple scales. In this article, we develop a framework that focuses on the politics of decarbonization to explore policy pathways and mechanisms that can disrupt carbon lock-in through these diverse, decentralized responses. It identifies political mechanisms—normalization, capacity building, and coalition building—that contribute to the scaling and entrenchment of discrete decarbonization initiatives within or across jurisdictions, markets, and practices. The role for subnational (municipal, state/provincial) climate governance experiments in this new context is especially profound. Drawing on such cases, we illustrate the framework, demonstrate its utility, and show how its political analysis can provide insight into the relationship between climate governance experiments and the formal global response as well as the broader challenge of decarbonization.     

Local Governance Arrangements and Democratic Outcomes (with Some Evidence from the Italian Case)

This article carries a broad definition of public–private concertation as a flexible form of governance that is able to overcome the distinction between network governance and participatory governance. It creates a unified framework relying on a process‐related democratic approach in order to properly assess these practices in their democratic outcomes. This allows the article to fully depict how local governance arrangements affect local democracy, both positively and negatively. Drawing on four exemplary cases of urban policies developed in the Province of Milan, it highlights two variables that give account of the democratic implication of these practices: the role of the political leadership and the inclusive strategy that they adopt. Moreover, it underlines four additional factors that help more democratic outcomes: presence of cognitive justification, quality of participation, active opposition, and an outward communication.     

Data Protection in Britain: Governance and Learning

This article focuses upon the implementation of data protection as a learning process involving both regulators and those whose information practices are regulated. From this conceptual perspective, and using the British data protection system as an example, it describes the interactions in this process of governance within the context of factors that influence implementation and affect the achievement of policy objectives. It refers to related analytical strategies for understanding governance and learning in this rapidly changing and technologically conditioned field of regulation.     

从优势到效能：推进国家治理现代化的实践遵循

把制度优势更好转化为治理效能,是推进国家治理现代化的实践遵循。制度优势向治理效能转化,能够展现制度根本优势而优化治理结构,能够提升制度执行能力而优化治理功能,能够促使制度和制度执行能力充分结合以及制度建设和治理实践有效互动,从而整体上有力推进国家治理现代化。遵循把制度优势更好转化为治理效能这一实践取向,推进国家治理现代化,要依托由最大优势和显著优势共同构成的制度基础、由制度完善和现实发展共同构成的价值基础、由治理经验和主体创造共同构成的实践基础,坚持科学的实践进路,突出治理实践这一关键环节,通过"三个阶段"推进实践过程,基于十三个"坚持和完善"把握任务重点,不断实现制度优势更好向治理效能转化。     

Sustainable governance of natural resources and institutional change–an analytical framework

This article presents a conceptual framework for analysing the governance of natural resource use, as governance is often the primary issue when natural resources are overexploited and degraded. It addresses both spontaneous and active governance, including institutional change induced by development co‐operation. Drawing on existing frameworks of institutional analysis, fundamental modifications are presented to adapt the concept to the context of international co‐operation, and to include dynamic aspects of institutional change as well as multiple actor interactions. Tested in several case studies, the framework was found suitable and relevant for use in project planning and evaluation, as well as for comparing governance issues across cases in a conceptually rigorous way. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.