Performance Measurement in Italian and Spanish Local Governments: Comparative Policy Analysis

NPM reforms have become a global trend and performance management systems are considered suitable to enhance the decision-making process and accountability. The aim of the paper is to carry out a comparative study on the adoption of performance measurement tools in Italian and Spanish (medium-sized and large) local governments. It seeks to find out how widespread these tools are and how their usefulness is perceived. The results show differences between the two countries and that the presence of professional managers – experienced with performance measurement tools – positively affects the adoption of these tools. Moreover, performance measurement tools are perceived as a support for accountability purposes.     

Financial Sustainability as a Driver for Transparency and E-Democracy: A Comparative Study in Italian and Spanish Local Governments

Today expectations of accountability and trustworthiness in governing entities is greater than ever before. The process of change has been given impetus by new information and communication technologies resulting in e-government and e-democracy. This research aims to analyze transparency and democratic participation in Italian and Spanish LGs. The web pages of Italian and Spanish LGs with more than 100,000 inhabitants are analyzed using twenty determinants of fiscal transparency and eight determinants of e-democracy. Results show considerable similarity between Italian and Spanish LGs with regards to the disclosure of financial information, while the adoption of e-democracy tools requires further development in both countries.     

'To move or not to move': Reflections on the resettlement of artisanal miners in the Western Region of Ghana

This article critically reflects upon the shortcomings of the‘Prestea Action Plan’, an ambitious initiative undertakento facilitate the resettlement of artisanal miners operatingin the Western Region of Ghana. The aim of the exercise wasto identify viable areas for the thousands of operators whowere working illegally in the town of Prestea, an area underconcession to the US-based multinational, Golden Star ResourcesLtd. At the time of its launch, it was one of the few supportinitiatives to target artisanal miners, whose claims to landare generally not recognized by governments. It was a particularlysignificant exercise in Ghana because it suggested that theauthorities, who traditionally have exercised a policy of non-negotiationwith such groups, had finally recognized that dialogue was neededif the growing rift between the country's indigenous artisanalminers, foreign mining companies and government bodies was tobe bridged. It soon emerged, however, that despite its commendablepolicy objectives, the Plan was fundamentally flawed—problemswhich would undermine the entire exercise.     

Understanding EU crisis diplomacy in the European neighbourhood: strategic narratives and perceptions of the EU in Ukraine,Israel and Palestine

ABSTRACT

This Special Issue seeks to better understand the role of communication and perception in EU crisis diplomacy. In a recent Special Issue in this journal, Catarina Kinnvall, Ian Manners and Jennifer Mitzen argue that, “?…?the greatest security challenge facing people across Europe is not physical, despite the threats of Putin and ISIS, but is a sense of fear and anxiety over their daily lives” [2018. Introduction to 2018 Special Issue of European Security: “Ontological (in)security in the European Union”. European security, 27 (3), 249–265]. We take an interdisciplinary approach to widen the scope of studies on European security and offer new avenues for further research into how citizens in the EU’s neighbourhood understand the security challenges they face and the role the EU plays in addressing these. Through this, we aim to bring theoretical and methodological innovation to understanding the role of the EU as an external actor.     

Discrepancies in Death Certificates,Public Health Registries,and Judicial Determinations in Italy

The death certificate is mandated by civil law and serves as a medical‐scientific document useful for biostatistics and epidemiological research. For a variety of reasons, death certificates can be misclassified. We reviewed data from self‐inflicted deaths collected over an 8‐year period by the Forensic Institute of the University Sacro Cuore of Rome (Italy). Four hundred and thirty‐five of 2904 were classified as self‐inflicted deaths (15%). The comparison with death certificates processed by the local public health authority (ASL) and by the Italian National Census Bureau (Istat) and with the judicial investigation results available in the Italian Penal Court archive shows some discrepancies. One‐hundred and twenty‐four of 435 deaths were not considered to be self‐inflicted but due to a crime (29% overrecording suicide) with a higher reduction for women, suggesting that it is easier to confuse a murder for suicide in female cases. Any discrepancies between the mortality and crime data are discussed in details.