Community engagement and public administration: Of silos,overlays and technologies of government

The public policy process in Australia is changing towards a more interactive, collaborative model, where governments seek to develop partnerships with civil society and private sector organisations to manage complex policy challenges. This article discusses research conducted into a project implemented by a Victorian government department that sought to involve stakeholders in addressing natural resource management issues in the agricultural sector. The research revealed that public administration practices associated with the new public management approach impeded the ability of the project to facilitate participation by diverse stakeholders in the decision‐making process. The article challenges the view that the discourse of collaboration and community engagement takes public administration down a constructivist path and suggests that agencies need to become reflexive about the way in which public administration practices are constitutive of the community engagement process if they are to facilitate genuine participation of other stakeholders.     

Policy Agendas for South Korea's Broadband Convergence Network Infrastructure Project

Broadband holds a critical position in the progress of economic and social indicators by connecting consumers, businesses, and governments. South Korea has consistently been the global leader in broadband deployment since 1999. In the last 10 years, the Korean government has pursued several strategies for its broadband policy. The purpose of this article was to explore South Korea's implementation of its Broadband Convergence Network (BcN) project with special emphasis on its objectives of achieving media convergence, ubiquitous connectivity, and coordination among network stakeholders. The study uses the theoretical framework of institutionalism to identify factors that help explain how the policy agenda for the BcN was implemented. The BcN is Korea's most recent high‐speed Internet infrastructure project and is envisioned as a conduit through which broadband services, applications, and content will flow to reflect a robust high‐speed Internet infrastructure. This broadband infrastructure project began in 2004 as a consortium that includes the government and private sector firms. This infrastructure was launched as a three‐phase project. The first phase of the BcN extended from 2004 through 2005, the second phase extended from 2006 through 2007, and the third phase extended from 2008 through 2010.     

Not‐for‐Profit Advocacy: Challenging Policy Images and Pursuing Policy Change

The not‐for‐profit sector has long played an important role in the policy process through encouraging political engagement, policy research and advocacy, and service delivery. This paper examines two not‐for‐profit organizations, National Children's Alliance and National Alliance on Mental Illness, both of which are grassroots organizations formed to radically change public and professional perceptions of their respective issues and reform the way services are offered to those in need. Borrowing from the literature on policy image and agenda setting, we identify the strategies used by these two highly successful not‐for‐profit groups in their efforts to change the system through redefining problems, reframing issues, and securing legislation with the help of policy entrepreneurs and politicians sympathetic to their causes.     

Applying rapid results approach to local service delivery: issues,lessons and challenges from Nairobi City Council

Over the years, the Kenyan Government has pursued wide‐ranging public sector reforms to improve local service delivery, but little has been achieved due to lack of a wide‐ranging decentralisation policy and institutional framework. To precipitate the reform process, the rapid results approach (RRA), commonly applied in private sector organisations, was recently introduced thorough out the public sector, including local authorities (LAs). This article assesses the efficacy of the rapid results approach (RRA) methodology in local service delivery using Nairobi City Council as a prototype; highlighting the success stories, pitfalls and challenges. The analyses are based on the findings obtained using current literature on the subject matter and the author's interactions with the council staff, councillors and other stakeholders. On the basis of the analysis, the article draws the main conclusions and policy advice on what could be considered critical for further debate, highlighting issues, lessons and challenges that could be raised to improve the practice of RRI. The key messages presented here will help policy makers, scholars and practitioners of reform to re‐think the envisaged countrywide replication of RRI to the rest of LAs. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

From New Public Management to Public Value: Paradigmatic Change and Managerial Implications

Both practitioners and scholars are increasingly interested in the idea of public value as a way of understanding government activity, informing policy‐making and constructing service delivery. In part this represents a response to the concerns about ‘new public management’, but it also provides an interesting way of viewing what public sector organisations and public managers actually do. The purpose of this article is to examine this emerging approach by reviewing new public management and contrasting this with a public value paradigm. This provides the basis for a conceptual discussion of differences in approach, but also for pointing to some practical implications for both public sector management and public sector managers.     

Hybrid annuity model: Hamming risk allocations in Indian highway public–private partnerships

A new public–private partnership (PPP) model, that is, hybrid annuity model (HAM) was introduced in 2016, to revive investments in the Indian highway infrastructure and to remedy the troubled relationship between the public and private sectors. This model marked a significant policy departure in the management of long‐ and short‐term public interest, which is inherent to public utilities and service delivery. Through a dispassionate lens, this paper critically examines the extent to which HAM has fulfilled its stated objectives. The analysis of project award data provides mixed empirical evidence of HAM's early success. As a positive policy imperative, HAM has been able to attract private participation in highway infrastructure by readjustment of risk allocations, and hence, it is a welcome step forward in improving public affairs. Worryingly though, HAM also brought about extensive de‐risking of the private sector, with evidence of rendering risk retention, that is, “skin‐in‐the‐game” by the less significant private infrastructure investors, and thereby adversely impacting development priorities. We find that HAM has taken the reengagement of private sector two steps back in management of PPP affairs. Recognizing that a true performance assessment is unlikely at this early stage of HAM introduction, the paper adopts a more analytical stance in identifying possible pitfalls based upon the telltale signs presented by project bidding and award data. This study offers fresh insight and course correction on the role of government and other stakeholders in this newly introduced PPP template.     

The convergence of nonequity housing models in Canada: Changes to housing policy since 1990

Abstract

This study examines the impact of housing policy convergence on the nonequity housing system in Ontario, Canada. Ontario has four distinct nonequity housing models— public, nonprofit cooperative, municipal nonprofit, and private nonprofit. This article argues that since 1990, housing policy in Canada, and particularly in Ontario, has become increasingly influenced by the neoconservative agenda of downsizing and decentralization of government functions found in the United States.

The findings reveal that changes to housing policy have caused the convergence of nonequity housing models in the areas of management and administration. Drawing on the present findings and on an experimental project in tenant management, this article argues that the trend toward convergence will continue and will likely result in one nonequity housing model in Canada. This pattern is interpreted in light of the neoconservative agenda of both countries that emphasizes private sector solutions to housing low‐income families.     

The role of the state in enabling private sector development: an assessment methodology

There are many ideas about how the state can and should enable private sector development. However, most of these ideas are not derived from the private sector itself. Participatory policy research has so far been confined to public sector development contexts. This article provides some background information about the garment and textile industry in Zimbabwe. It then describes one pioneering attempt to develop and assess an enabling state assessment methodology in this context, for possible use in the private sector more generally. The methodology described consists of a series of participant‐developed checklists, around the predetermined themes of the policy, agency and enterprise environments. These checklists were explored through the use of semi‐structured dialogue, using visual methods such as impact diagramming, Venn diagramming, master charts and problem trees, in the context of enterprise‐based meetings and two subsequent workshops. The article summarizes the main constraints and recommended actions identified by the participants. The participants, the researchers and the author also assess each step of the methodology.These steps include: developing an agenda; designing the process; identifying a target population and research team; developing and applying the methodology; analysing the results and documenting the process. Lessons are also drawn from this assessment for each stage of the methodology. This article concludes with a discussion about the transferability of the methodology and the need to experiment with other methodologies. The final section also draws out the differences and similarities between this and other types of participatory policy research. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Developing structures,processes and leaders for the future

This article suggests a modernizing agenda for the UK public sector which focuses on three things. First, there is a need for modernizing the policy process, based on good research and value for money, so that policy is defensible, deliverable, owned, issued related, integrated, timely, clearly specified, well presented and contingent and flexible. Second, management or leadership must react well to situations and control and listen and coach. Third, service delivery must be client-focused, delivered at the most local level and use technology effectively. Unless these things are achieved, little else will happen with regard for example to partnerships, mechanisms for involving interests and the changing role of the citizen. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

RECONSTRUCTING ABORIGINAL HOUSING POLICY FOR REMOTE AREAS: HOW MUCH ROOM FOR MANOEUVRE?

Abstract: This article applies Schaffer's 1984 critique of the "sectoralism" of mainstream public policy practice and discourse to Aboriginal housing policy in Australia. It analyses the approaches and programs of the Aboriginal housing policy sector and the priority given to them over the years. It then identifies the dominant agenda of Aboriginal housing policy defined in terms of massive statistics of nationwide Aboriginal housing need. An alterative agenda defined in terms of appropriate non-conventional housing and facilities for remote areas is also identified and its struggle for recognition traced. The final sections of the article suggest reasons why this alternative agenda has remained on the margins of the Aboriginal housing policy sector and examine its prospects for becoming less marginal in the future.     

Political Attention and Public Policy: A Study of How Agenda Setting Matters

Political science research on agenda setting has been focused on how and why political agendas change over time. This article addresses the different but equally important question about how agenda setting actually matters to the policy outputs of national policy making. Do changes in the political agenda foreshadow changes in public policies? And does the effect of changes in the political agenda depend upon the policy preferences expressed by the mass public? Integrating research on policy agendas with well‐established ideas about re‐election‐oriented representation, this article offers a new approach to the study of such agenda effects. Furthermore, it demonstrates the empirical validity of this approach using a Danish dataset of public opinion, public policy and the national political agenda spanning a quarter of a century and covering several different issues.     

Social Value and the Management of Community Infrastructure*

The management of community infrastructure by local governments has emerged as a significant policy issue in Australia as evidence mounts of a funding shortfall to maintain ageing physical assets. In 2003 the Victorian government introduced a new infrastructure management policy to focus local government decision‐making on service potential and financial sustainability rather than political interests or community preference. However, the policy relies on a model of local government as a service provider that is inattentive to new interests in community building and governance and takes limited account of the wider social value of community facilities. This article backgrounds debates over infrastructure, particularly at local level, and critically analyses the new policy direction set by the Victorian government.     

Factors Driving the Promotion of Hydroelectricity: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis

In the wake of the COP21 conference in Paris, the transition to a low‐carbon energy supply remains a central issue on the political agenda. The deployment of renewable energies is often challenged by multiple issues (e.g., public acceptance, landscape protection, and so forth). Political actors try to overcome such challenges with various measures; however, the policy instruments used vary greatly in their strength. This article questions what factors lead to the adoption of strong policy instruments promoting hydroelectricity. Explanatory factors are derived from Kingdon's multiple streams framework and are analyzed with fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis within the Swiss cantons. The findings show that the strength of policy promoting hydroelectricity depends on the conjunction of mainly two factors: ambitious climate targets and an already well‐established hydroelectricity sector that generates large tax revenues for the cantons. Depending on the context, the strength of left‐wing and green parties as well as the current level of exploitation play an important role with the aforementioned factors.     

Moving Policy Theory Forward: Connecting Multiple Stream and Advocacy Coalition Frameworks to Policy Cycle Models of Analysis

The stages/policy cycle, multiple streams, and Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) approaches to understanding policy processes, all have analytical value although also attracting substantive criticism. An obvious direction for research is to determine whether the multiple streams framework and the ACF can be refined and applied to other dimensions of policy‐making set out in the policy cycle model. This article argues that extending and modifying Kingdon's framework beyond the agenda‐setting stage is best suited to this endeavour. Doing so makes it possible to bring these three approaches into alignment and enhances our understanding, although retaining the core insights of each.     

A practical analysis of shared‐appreciation mortgages

Abstract

When the development of large‐scale public housing projects was discontinued in the 1970s in both Canada and the United States, the policy response was very different. This article reviews the nature of the dissimilar low‐income housing policy paths, documenting the role of federal housing policy in the evolution of a significant nonprofit “third sector” in Canada's housing system; the decision of the U.S. federal government to rely on the private sector for subsidized rental supply; and, with very little help from the federal government, the ‘bottom‐up” attempt to develop a nonprofit housing sector in communities throughout the United States. In Canada, a permanent stock of good‐quality, nonprofit social housing was created along with a growing and increasingly competent community‐based housing development sector.

The Canadian experience demonstrates that it takes time to build the capacity of the nonprofit sector. The U.S. experience demonstrates that there is a great deal of community‐based talent ready and willing to provide nonprofit housing if reliable and adequate funding is available. Canada has made outstanding progress relative to the United States in the area of affordable housing supply, creating yet another small but significant difference in the quality of life for lower income households. The general Canadian approach to consistent national support of nonprofit and cooperative housing can be applied in the United States. Canada's relative success is not based on unique structural or systemic differences—that is, it is a matter of political choice and political will. The United States should look to Canada's 20‐year experience to determine whether some of the mechanisms used to support Canada's nonprofit sector might be transferable to the United States.     

Policy Punctuations in Colorado Water Law: The Breakdown of a Monopoly

The actors, influences, and processes that combine forces to change policy subsystems are modeled in punctuated equilibrium theory wherein monopolistic policy subsystems are broken down through changes in policy images and venue shopping spurred by a critical mobilization of actors. Studying a case of policy change in Colorado water rights, this research examines multiple levels of policy change—local, state, and cross‐case. This research finds that at the state level, punctuated equilibrium theory accurately explains the process by which policies changed to allow for recreational in‐channel uses of water. At the local level, however, these processes are not clearly evident. Using media coverage as a proxy measure for agenda status also shows that policy image change and high public agenda status did not lead to these policy changes within Colorado communities. This article discusses whether we should therefore discount punctuated equilibrium as a model of policy change in this case.     

Mexican Democracy and Its Discontents

This article describes the first stage of a major research project on public opinion and democratic consolidation in Mexico. That project, the Mexico 2006 Panel Study, comprises approximately 7,000 in‐depth interviews with ordinary Mexicans over the course of the upcoming presidential campaign. Its purpose is two‐fold: (1) to assess the degree to which Mexican political attitudes are supportive of democratic governance, and (2) to understand the role played by voters, politicians, party leaders, and the mass media in shaping Mexico's political agenda. Ultimately, the project aims to assess how faithfully Mexico's new political system can be expected to respond to the desires and beliefs of ordinary citizens.     

Community‐based environmental management in Vietnam: the challenge of sharing power in a politically guided society

The article presents the challenges of introducing a ‘shared‐power’ community‐based management approach in the socialist society of Vietnam. The Portland State University (PSU)'s Oregon Environmental Management Alliance partnered with Vietnamese organisations in a shared‐power pilot project aimed at strengthening stakeholder participation in environmental improvements in two communities along the Tan Hoa‐Lo Gom (THLG) canal in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). The Oregon Solutions model, a community‐based environmental management (CBEM) approach, was adapted for the shared‐power project. This article analyses three core ingredients of the shared‐power CBEM approach: multiple stakeholder structure, dispersed authority arrangements and diverse policy instruments. Critical reflections are offered on the meaning and appropriateness of these shared‐power ingredients when they are reinvented in Vietnam's politically guided governance system. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adjusting to New Ways of Working: Experiments with Service Delivery in the Public Sector

In response to the perceived failure of both the state and market models of service delivery, governments have embarked on a reform program that draws on the community sector to expand the suite of available policy and service delivery arrangements. This paper explores and identifies the nature of changed relationships between government and the community sector. It uses a case study that examines the operation of a new type of community organisation, and analyses the affectivity and outcomes from the experience of a community based networked arrangement. Although there is evidence of a shift to more relationship‐ oriented models of operation because of either mandate or preference both community and government sectors have found it difficult to make the necessary adjustments to these new ways of working. Community has begun the shift to this new relational approach but finds it difficult to sustain the momentum and tends to revert to more independent and competitive modes. Governments find it difficult to make the necessary adjustments to power‐sharing and resource allocation and continue to operate as ‘business as usual’ through the traditional bureaucratic authority of command and control. In this way, the rhetoric of collaboration and partnership between government and the community sector is not necessarily matched by policy and action supporting the practice of ‘new ways of working’ although these ‘experiments in service delivery’ have opened the way for adopting more innovative and effective approaches to service delivery.     

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.