Local government projectification in practice – a multiple institutional logic perspective

ABSTRACT

During the last couple of decades, we have witnessed a proliferation of the project as an organizational solution in sectors as diverse as IT, housing, social services, education and culture. Despite a growing interest in the phenomenon, we know surprisingly little of how processes of public sector projectification unfold in practice, especially at local government level. This article uses an institutional logic perspective to illustrate and argue that public sector projectification can be understood and conceptualized as the enactment of multiple, co-existing institutional logics, but where one particular logic is of growing importance – the project logic. It is argued that even though the project form is often perceived as more flexible than that of the bureaucracy, the practical outcome seldom represents a radical break with traditional, bureaucratic management models. Rather, it appears to aid a rediscovery and reuse of central bureaucratic practices and procedures such as reporting, documentation and standardization.     

What Factors Influence the Intentions of Individuals to Engage in Tax Evasion? Evidence from Ghana

ABSTRACT

This study examines the views of students on the ethics of tax evasion, their intentions to evade tax, and investigates the factors that predict such intentions. Relying on the extended version of the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the study investigated whether attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, and moral obligation may be good predictors of the intention to evade tax. Data were gathered from 662 students of University of Ghana Business School using questionnaires. The hypotheses were tested using the structural equation modelling technique. Results indicate that the intention to evade tax among the students is low and most respondents generally perceive tax evasion as an unethical practice. The results also demonstrate that attitude, subjective norms and moral obligations have important implications on the intention to evade tax. The evidence we provide should be useful to governments and tax agencies interested in promoting responsible tax compliance behaviour among individual taxpayers.     

REACH: A Step Change in the Management of Chemicals

The EU has regulated chemicals since the late 1960s using both general and sectoral legislation, and exposure-based, hazard-based and risk-based decisions. A new proposal from the European Commission – on the Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) – will build on the experiences of the existing legislation and introduce some new concepts in the management of chemicals. This article is aimed at assessing the current chemical control mechanisms in the EU and those put forward in REACH to demonstrate how REACH is a new paradigm in chemicals management. REACH will carry forward today's experience and approach to the management of chemicals in the EU and introduces some novel aspects, such as utilizing market-based mechanisms and putting into operation the 'substitution principle'.     

COMPETITION AND PERFORMANCE IN THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY

The paper examines the airline industry ten years after the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. A brief review of the historical background of regulation and the changes leading to the Airline Deregulation Act is presented. A number of studies are cited that conclude that airline perfor- mance has improved since the Civil Aeronautics Board days. The author agrees with these conclusions but goes on to suggest that it is time to begin comparing the airline industry today with the standards of performance associated with perfect competition instead of the previous regulatory period. A standard of competitive performance is suggested. The traditional p=mc=ac performance is complicated because mc and ac decline for any airline flight until the plane is full or has a 100% load factor. The author suggests p=acat load factors are not yet reaching loo%, it is suggested that some policy modifications might help improve performance further. An- titrust is examined and some other institutional policy changes are sug- gested.     

Government Responsibility and Electoral Accountability in Federations

Because federalism can be a threat to accountability, a modelof voting behavior in federations must accommodate voters' attributionsof responsibility to each order of government for policy outcomes.This study uses a panel survey of Canadians in both federaland provincial elections to ask whether voters are able to holdgovernments accountable in a federal context. Voters may ignoreissues where responsibility is unclear, they may reward or punishboth the federal and provincial governments to the same degree,or the confusion of jurisdiction may sour them on the governmentor even the political system. Canadians who blamed both governmentsfor problems in health care did not lake this judgment to theirvoting decision in either the 2000 federal election or the 2001elections in Alberta and British Columbia, while those who couldidentify primary responsibility did so. Federalism and intergovernmentalpolicymaking may reduce voters' ability to hold their governmentsaccountable.     

They are from within us: CVE brokerage in South-central Somalia

ABSTRACT

This article explores how societal actors in Somalia take part in a transnational politics of countering/preventing violent extremism (CVE/PVE) through a political sociological approach to militarisation. We argue that the transnational politics of CVE represents an extension of global militarism by some states, institutions, donors and brokers. CVE works to adapt global militarism and to reconfigure the global-local relationships that sustain it. We explore the roles and influence of local ‘CVE brokers’ in deradicalisation efforts in South-central Somalia. They inadvertently merge the counter-terrorism approach to Somali people, values and territory with non-military means. We show that their key practices – co-ordination, translation and alignment – advance, but also disrupt, alter and transform CVE policy objectives.