Understanding Migration: The Case for Public Administration

ABSTRACT

Migration has emerged as a key issue for governments in the 21^st century. While multiple disciplines address migration, the study of public administration has been slow to do so. Given the complexities of migration policy implementation, and the multiple levels of government involved, public administration can add significantly to the current understandings of the phenomenon. This article examines what is known on migration, what still needs to be understood, and how public administration can assist in understanding migration.     

Local Government and Local Governance: 1944–2011

Abstract

Since the establishment of the tri-partite system of state education after the Second World War, the once simple relationships between central government and local government and the individual school have become increasingly complex. This article considers the key governance issues for schools and colleges in England and how they have been affected by the redistribution of power between central government and local government. The principal foci are the main legislative changes and the impact they have had on the respective powers and responsibilities of central government, local government and schools and colleges. The radical developments since the formation of the coalition government in May 2010 have accelerated the shift of power to central government from local government and by the end of the first term of the coalition the local authority will have little more than a vestigial role in the provision of secondary education and a diminishing role in primary and special education. As academy status becomes the norm (as it already is for secondary schools in some authorities) central government will be dealing directly with autonomous schools and academy chains. With more schools directly employing staff and with funding levels set nationally, the pattern and nature of public education will have been irrevocably changed.     

Multi-Level Governance as ‘Post-Constitutional’ Politics: Subnational Actors and the Swedish Constitution

In 2011, an amendment was introduced to the Swedish constitution to provide stronger protection for local self-government. This article seeks to explain this amendment in the light of the development of central-local relations towards multi-level governance (MLG). It explores the adaptation hypothesis, i.e. the developments in MLG are followed by an adjustment in constitutional policy that is influenced by subnational actors, through an empirical study of the most prominent Swedish subnational actor – the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR). The research showed that SALAR developed an agenda for the regulation of central-local relations in the constitution. SALAR was able to exert influence with this agenda by participating in the policy-making process prior to the amendment of the constitution. The research findings underscore that even though MLG per se has little to do with constitutional policy, it has consequences for such policy due to the role played by subnational actors.     

Program Awareness,Administrative Burden,and Non-Take-Up of Québec’s Supplement to the Work Premium

ABSTRACT

Program take-up is a necessary condition for program effectiveness. Yet, non-take-up is a significant challenge for many social programs, including Québec’s Supplement to the Work Premium (SWP), a refundable tax credit targeted toward long-term welfare clients. Based on interviews with 21 public actors and 46 program participants and nonparticipants, this study explains how low program awareness, the low value of the benefit and the significant administrative burden borne by potential and actual participants contribute to the non-take-up of the SWP in this sample. Moreover, four policy implications and recommendations that can inform the design, implementation, and evaluation of social programs, are derived from this study.     

Education Policy and Philanthropy—The Changing Landscape of English Educational Governance

This article explores some hitherto neglected but nonetheless important aspects of the changing landscape of education policy and governance in England. It sketches some particular features of the increasingly complex and “congested” terrain of the education state and traces some of the primary discourses that currently inform and drive education policy (and, indeed, social policy more generally) both in relation to governance and substance. The article draws on an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC–-funded study (RES–000–22–2682), “Philanthropy and Education Policy.” This research involved three sets of activities; extensive and exhaustive Internet searches around particular (corporate) philanthropies, philanthropists, and philanthropically funded programs; interviews with some key “new” philanthropists and foundations interested and involved in education; and the use of these searches and interviews to construct “policy networks.” Together these constitute a “method” of “network ethnography.”     

Inter-Organizational Coordination and Corruption in Urban Policy Implementation in Bangladesh: A Case of Rajshahi City Corporation

This article provides an overview of the state of inter-organizational coordination and corruption in urban policy implementation in Bangladesh. Based on a study carried out in one of the seven large cities in Bangladesh, the available data illustrate that there are major coordination problems between the Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) and other government departments. This is due to a lack of formal coordination mechanisms, partisan leadership, and a fragmented organizational culture of patron-clientage, which dispenses undue favor and involves nepotism. These pathologies breed corruption and seriously impede inter-organizational coordination. Ordinary citizens suffer as a result.     

Network Governance as a Mechanism for Responding to Internet Violence

Jones, Hesterly and Borgatti (1997) proposed a general theory of network governance (GTNG), identifying conditions under which network governance is likely to develop and detailing four social mechanisms that protect and promote resource exchange and collaborative action within a network. This article applies their theory to the emerging problem of swatting—internet-based spoofing attacks that compel a SWAT response to a selected innocent victim. As this problem has not been addressed through traditional policy or law enforcement mechanisms, networks have emerged to respond to these attacks. The author details the parallels between these emergent networks and Jones et al.’s theoretical framework.