Digital diasporas and governance in semi‐authoritarian states: the case of the Egyptian Copts

This article explores the potential role of diasporas and information technology (IT) in fostering good governance in semi‐authoritarian states. Following a review of the literature on good governance and information technology, the case of the Egyptian Copt community and its diaspora is explored, focusing on the activities of the U.S. Copt Association. It is argued that, whether or not it is an explicit objective, the U.S. Copt Association is supporting improved and more democratic governance in Egypt. The case confirms that heterogeneous networks of communication and people can promote good governance, even for the socially excluded and disempowered in a weakly penetrated state. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Improving the Budget Process in Fragile and Conflict‐Ridden States: Two Modest Lessons from Afghanistan

Both the donor community and scholars have created a cottage industry studying “fragile” states. International nongovernmental organizations that have developed indexes measuring corruption or governance have been unkind to Afghanistan. One index suggests a different and more optimistic story. The International Budget Partnership measures transparency every two years with its Open Budget Index. Afghanistan demonstrated dramatic improvement on this index between 2008 and 2012. The authors use the improvement in Afghanistan's transparency score as an entry point to explore how donors try to intervene and promote transparency as part of broader efforts in public financial management development and how legislative strengthening has also contributed to budget reform. The analysis offers a modest corrective to the overly pessimistic assessments of fragile states by showing that a fragile state can improve its budgetary transparency and enhance governance by strengthening the legislature's involvement in the budget process.     

Strategic drift in international non‐governmental development organizations—putting strategy in the background of organizational change

Although the use of strategic planning has become widespread in INGDOs they have often been accused of strategic drift—continuous change in their strategic directions with plans only loosely coupled to their activities. However, the way that they prioritize their activities, and the reasons why strategic drift occurs has generally escaped in‐depth research. This article draws on detailed, qualitative research of strategic planning meetings at the executive levels in a major INGDO, carried out between July 2006 and December 2007 to identify the reasons why strategic drift occurs and the role of strategic planning. It was found that by deliberately crafting multiple, ambiguous, and ambitious strategies, managers were able to effect organizational change, not by literal strategy implementation, but by using these strategies as metaphors to harness consensus and legitimacy in key stakeholder groups. Senior managers utilize the symbols, language and deliberative arenas of formal strategic planning to effect organizational change; however, strategy, in rational terms, needs to be located in the background for its role to be properly understood. The research unpacks complex decision‐making processes in an INGDO and, contrary to normative literature, recommends that, in order to avoid inflationary planning, managers should not take their strategy literally. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Over‐commitment and backsliding in international trade

‘International commitments pay’ could be the mantra of the current literature on international organisations: tying their hands at the international level is a means for governments to push through politically costly, but ultimately welfare‐enhancing reforms. It is argued in this article that this logic has a limit, which can be empirically observed. Past a given point, further depth of integration increases odds of backsliding. This belief is tested in the context of accession to an institution whose rules have been heavily scrutinised: the World Trade Organization (WTO). Countries with low rule of law are imposed a risk premium in the form of demands for deeper concessions, making ‘over‐committing’ possible. This relationship is used to assess the extent to which deeper commitments lead to backsliding. Industry‐level analysis supports these beliefs: deep commitments lead to increased odds of backtracking through a range of legal and extra‐legal mechanisms. Ambitious international commitments can backfire.     

Public–private partnerships and developing‐country agriculture: Evidence from the international agricultural research system

This study examines the role of public–private partnerships (PPPs) in promoting pro‐poor productivity‐enhancing technological innovation in the international agricultural research system. The study examines the extent to which PPPs are being used to overcome market and institutional failures that otherwise inhibit the development and dissemination of technologies targeted specifically to small‐scale, resource‐poor farmers in developing countries. Drawing on a survey of 75 PPP projects in the international system, findings suggest that while PPPs are changing the way the system manages its research agenda, few partnerships lead to joint innovation processes with the private sector. This indicates the need for closer examination of organizational practices, cultures, and incentives in the international agricultural research system. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Post‐crisis reforms in banking: Regulators at the interface between domestic and international governance

Post‐crisis international standards have been agreed on in certain areas of banking regulation, namely capital, liquidity, and resolution, but not others, namely bank structure – why? We articulate a two‐step analytical framework that links the domestic and international levels of governance. In particular, we focus on the role of domestic regulators at the interface between the two levels. At the domestic level, regulators evaluate externalities and adjustment costs before engaging in cooperation at the international level. This analysis explains why regulators in the United States and the European Union act as pacesetters, foot‐draggers, or fence‐sitters in international standard setting; that is to say, why they promote, resist, or are neutral toward international financial standards. At the international level, we explain the outcome of international standard setting by considering the interaction of pacesetters and foot‐draggers.     

Aligning top‐down and bottom‐up in development planning: The case of Bhutan

Effective planning makes a vital contribution to developmental success. It is generally perceived as being either centralized (top‐down) or decentralized (bottom‐up). Centralized planning dominated the early development decades, but disappointing results greatly lessened its appeal and paved the way for participatory and decentralized planning. Both types of planning are evident today, but the question has arisen as to whether top‐down and bottom‐up planning can be successfully combined into one effective, efficient, and popular system. This question is examined through the case of Bhutan where central planning was introduced at the outset of the country's push for modernization and today leads the way in the country's pursuit of Gross National Happiness (GNH). However, central planning has been complemented with decentralized participatory planning at the subnational levels. Success in aligning the two planning modes has been achieved by incremental development of the planning system, orientation to the unifying national vision of GNH, a powerful central planning agency, actors at all levels who are able and knowledgeable in their planning roles, and processes that are well organized and proven to work to the satisfaction of all participants.     

Modelling the relationship between counter‐knowledge and open‐mindedness for policy development

Counter‐knowledge refers to flaws in citizens' mental models arising from utilization of rumours, inappropriate knowledge structures, outdated routines or procedures. When counter‐knowledge is applied to civil servants, it may result in problems of efficiency, equity and motivation. This paper examines the relationship between counter‐knowledge and open‐mindedness to model a framework for improving city marketing and policy development. This study tested two measurement models. While the theoretical model represents the effect of counter‐knowledge on city marketing and that the latter has a negative effect on open‐mindedness, the alternative model involves that counter‐knowledge has a positive indirect impact on open‐mindedness. These relationships are examined through an empirical investigation of 203 Spanish city halls. The results show a potential positive indirect effect of counter‐knowledge on open‐mindedness through city marketing programmes. This paper clarifies the existing literature, which tries to contribute to the discussion of city marketing, and helps us to obtain meaning out of the relationship between counter‐knowledge, city marketing and open‐mindedness. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sustainable development challenges in a war‐torn country: Perceived danger and psychological well‐being

The laborer's physical and mental health, well‐being, and happiness are among the major indicators for measuring each nation's sustainable development. A conflictive and hostile external environment (war zone) poses considerable difficulty and psychological distress to workers and nonworkers. Therefore, working in such a physically dangerous business environment may hurt worker's well‐being and happiness that in turn may reduce the workers' productivity at the workplace. A high level of laborers' productivity in public and private sectors is essential for achieving sustainable development in the long term. Therefore, this paper examines the effects of perceived danger on employees' psychological well‐being in war‐torn Afghanistan, an issue being addressed for the first time. We tested the moderating role of social support from coworkers on this effect in order to have a broader vision of which individuals are healthier and happier in a physically dangerous working environment. Two survey data sets were collected from 190 employees working in various small private and public businesses in Herat, Afghanistan. Our results reveal the negative impact of perceived danger on employees' psychological well‐being and that employees who receive little or no social support from their peers feel the negative effects of a physically dangerous working condition even more acutely.     

From anti‐slavery to third sector in development: The transition of non‐governmental organisations and limitations

In the 1800s, the work of non‐governmental organisations (NGOs) focused on opposing slavery up until the 1900s where their work changed from anti‐slavery to focus on development‐related issues like education, poverty, hunger, and so forth. The transition of the NGOs was motivated by the failure of the public and private sector to provide the needs of the communities. Just like the other sectors (public and private sector), the work of NGOs is somewhere somehow failing to meet the needs of the needy because of the challenges in their operation. Against this background, the present study traces the transition of these NGOs and its present limitations in development. In order to explore the transition of NGOs and its limitations, the study used secondary data to collect relevant literature. Furthermore, the strict textual analysis of the existing literature is used. The results of the study show that NGOs face challenges of accountability and transparency, capacity, and corruption. In recommendation, the study suggests that NGOs have to be accountable and transparent; moreover, they should be capacitated with necessary skills. Lastly, NGOs should stay away with the acts of corruption.     

Statebuilding and the Politics of Budgeting in Afghanistan

Anchored in a framework drawn from the public finances literature and executive–legislative studies, the purpose of this article is to assess the impacts of Afghan budgetary institutions on the statebuilding project. Two main questions drive the analysis: what is the nature of the relationship between central government and subnational units concerning the allocation and distribution of resources, and – regarding budget preparation – what is the role played by the legislature? It is argued that beyond Afghanistan’s dependency on foreign aid to fund ordinary expenditures and development projects, the presence of a set of budgetary rules which not only centralizes the preparation and execution of budget decisions at the expense of provinces but also marginalizes the legislative involvement in the decision-making process are two important features that prevent further development in state capacity and the representative government.     

The development of business associations in Central America: the role of international actors and economic integration

This article analyses the formation and development of business associations in Central America from the 1960s to the present. It shows how the development of the region's economies and its formal business associations were shaped by increasing economic integration in the region and by foreign governments and institutions. The argument presented is that the role of external actors and increasing international economic and political integration renders inadequate the commonly held explanation regarding the existence and operation of business associations as interest groups in the region. The origin, cohesiveness, evolution and influence of many formal business organizations in Central America is the result not only of a self-help function, the dynamics of business–state relations, or that of business reacting to perceived threats from labour or other organized groups, but also of various international influences. These international forces worked to both divide and unify the region's business interests but overall have increased their numbers and the technical and political capacity of both new and existing organizations. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Limits to non‐state market regulation: A qualitative comparative analysis of the international sport footwear industry and the Fair Labor Association

Non‐state market regulation has become a central focus and continues to receive scholarly attention. The present paper provides an assessment of the conditions under which multinational firms join a multi‐stakeholder certification initiative. The cases of the Fair labor Association and 17 international sport footwear companies have been selected for this purpose. A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of the 17 cases is performed. The paper argues that the combination of sustained NGO pressure and public ownership of a firm is a necessary precondition for firms joining a multi‐stakeholder certification initiative. The theoretical and policy implications of this result are discussed.