Stakeholder involvement in collaborative regulatory processes: Using automated coding to track attendance and actions

Regulation increasingly mandates collaborative approaches to increase stakeholder input and streamline approval processes. However, understanding how to maintain stakeholder involvement over the course of a long collaborative process is vital to optimize effectiveness. This paper observes more than 700 stakeholders involved in developing and implementing a dam operating license over 16 years. We use text mining and Bayesian hierarchical modeling to observe meeting attendance and recorded actions in meeting minutes. We find that involvement decreased after the initial planning phase, but steadily increased through license development and implementation. After the regulatory mandate to consult with external stakeholders dissolved, overall attendance declined while attendance stability increased, meaning that the non‐mandatory stage involved a smaller cadre of dedicated actors. This indicates that high‐performing mandated stakeholder involvement processes rely on a constrained group of conveners to sustain interaction and have less turnover than what might be expected given existing evidence from grassroots involvement; assumptions about group dynamics based on involvement in grassroots processes may lead to improper predictions about who will participate, and how, in processes where stakeholder involvement is mandated.     

Neo-settler colonialism and the re-formation of territory: Privatization and nationalization in Israel

In this article we critically analyse the production of Israeli territory vis a vis the ongoing transformation of land and planning policies from ones based on pure nationalism to those purporting neo-liberal logic. Unlike the existing literature ? including the most recent critical body of knowledge on planning, resource management and public policy in Israel ? we contend that this transformation must be understood within the framework of settler colonialism. Our main argument is that the growing dominance of neo-liberal policies, expressed in the form of new public management, privatization of space, planning and territorial management, is bound up with Israel’s settler-colonial politics. Based on our detailed study of the dynamics of the privatization of space in Israel, we conceptualize the interplay between centralistic-national territorial management and new public management, free market-driven, privatization-prone, liberal planning and land policies as neo-settler colonialism. This concept focuses on the symbiotic relationships between these two vectors, with the latter providing a new mechanism of colonial control.     

全面二孩政策与中国劳动力供给

人口是构成劳动力的基础,生育政策调整下生育水平变动引发人口规模与结构变动,从而对劳 动力市场尤其是劳动力供给产生重要影响。本研究在对我国计划生育政策的调整和演变、劳动力供给的状况与 趋势进行分析的基础上,进一步从宏观视角探讨全面二孩政策与我国劳动力供给的关系。总体来看,全面二孩 政策对政策实施后前十五年女性劳动力的劳动参与率影响十分有限,而从长远来看,对我国未来的劳动力规模 有一定的补充。另外,产业结构升级和技术发展背景下我国未来劳动力需求主要是质量和结构而非规模。因此, 进一步减弱了生育政策调整对劳动力市场的影响后果。     

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.     

Homogeneous National Management Policies or Autonomous Choices by Administrative Units? Inter- and Intra-Country Management Tools Use Variations in European Central Government Administrations

ABSTRACT

This article presents an original research on the use of management tools in central government departments and agencies in 16 European countries. It is based on a survey conducted among senior managers (n?=?5,998). The analysis shows that the use of management tools results from a combination of top-down implementation of a list of management tools at the national level, combined with a bottom-up independent selection of tools by administrative units. The variation in management tool use depends on the type of tool. While the uses of a HRM tool, such as performance-related pay, or a financial tool, such as risk management, are heavily influenced by national public management policies, service quality-type tools, such as user surveys or quality management systems, tend to be chosen in a more autonomous manner by different administrative units, especially agencies.     

浅谈中职学校越南语专业《会话》课程改革应注意的几个问题

随着中国—东盟博览会永久落户南宁,中国与越南的经济贸易合作日益频繁。近几年来中国大力发展职业教育,中职学校的越南语专业不断地得到发展,越南语专业学生数量不断增长,但是文化水平参差不齐,理解和应用知识的能力较差,而用人单位对该专业的人才需求主要集中在口语技能的应用上,这就要求中职学校对一些专业课程进行改革,尤其是《会话》课程。本文将就中职学校越南语专业《会话》课程改革应注意的几个问题进行简单的讨论。     

城市设计中的政府行为分析

随着城市市场经济的不断发展和公众参与意识的不断增强,城市设计无论在思想观念上还是在管理体系及制度等方面都不同程度地遇到了前所未有的新问题。本文强调了政府在城市设计中应尽的职责,从公共政策与社会学视角对规范城市设计的政府行为路径选择进行了思考,阐述了政府通过完善城市设计相关法规制度、行政机制来完善政府在城市设计中的主导作用,以期实现政府行为的有效性来引导城市设计,塑造高品质的城市公共空间。     

坚持科学发展观 统筹解决人口问题

人口问题始终是制约我国经济社会全面协调发展的重大问题，贯彻落实科学发展观，必须坚持计划生育基本国策，集中力量解决好人口和计划生育工作面临的突出矛盾和问题，坚持与时俱进，解放思想，综合治理，关注民生，加强领导，用科学发展观为统领，统筹解决人口问题。     

构建我国土地规划资格制度

近年来,我国违法用地的现象严重,土地规划的编制缺乏科学性是导致人为随意修改规划造成违法用地的重要原因之一。目前我国土地规划的现状、土地规划机构的规划能力和水平对规划质量的提高有一定影响,构建我国土地规划资格制度具有重要的理论和现实意义,建立我国专业化的土地规划队伍即土地规划资格制度应参考城市规划师执业资格的模式。     

如何提高网络新闻专题的影响力

网络新闻专题具有传统媒体专题不可比拟的优势,它既具集成性又具延展性,既具共时性又具延时性,还具有数据库的作用,所以在引导社会舆论方面应承担更多的社会责任。网络媒体可以通过实施策划、利用品牌优势、名人效应、实行媒体联动提高网络新闻专题在受众中的影响力。