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Value co‐creation as a research topic has been a critical proposition of interest to a wide range of disciplines. In recent years, the field of cultural heritage has also developed a range of information practices to promote different forms of value co‐creation. While the body of literature has begun to accumulate, we still lack a comprehensive understanding of conceptual foundations and how value co‐creation is implemented in cultural heritage information practices. This paper conducted a hermeneutic literature review to understand and conceptualize the core aspects of value co‐creation in various cultural heritage information works. In particular, this paper provides a research mapping of the genres of co‐creation in cultural heritage information practices, the actors, and the roles played by the stakeholders. Further, this review provides an overview of the dominant value co‐creation models in the cultural heritage field. It distills the drivers of value co‐creation and the core value consequences that arise from a process perspective. Finally, this paper puts forward a thematic, theoretical, and methodological agenda for future work based on these findings. The review contributes to the literature by proposing an integrated conceptual framework that summarizes the core elements of value co‐creation in cultural heritage information practices. The framework also serves as a call for action, providing a general understanding of the conceptual foundation for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrity lies at the center of state-society interactions, with broad implications for the practice of public administration, governance, and public service delivery. The Pandora Papers leaks are hard examples of integrity violations, shining a light on how public administration operates in practice. The integrity deficits revealed not only threaten people's wellbeing, but also put on display the state's leniency toward rich and powerful people accumulating wealth through corruption, fraud, and tax evasion, among other crimes. In this context, this article attempts to understand whether the Pandora Papers leaks violate of the fundamentals of integrity. Drawing on cases and examples, the findings of the article show that the Pandora Papers illustrate the integrity deficit of statesmen, political leaders, businesspersons, and bureaucrats, the people responsible for ensuring integrity in managing the state and statecraft. The article further elucidates that bad governance affects integrity, both nationally and globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to analyze the relative efficiency of graduate programs in terms of the quality of their scientific publications in journals. To this end, we applied Data Envelopment Analysis to the fields of Public and Business Administration, Accounting, and Tourism, using data from the 2017 Quadrennial Evaluation developed by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior ["Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel", CAPES]. The results suggest that efficient graduate programs are concentrated in the center-south axis of Brazil, in the areas of Administration and Accounting. Despite the overall publishing strategy in journals of various ranks (strata), efficient graduate programs allocate their efficiency primarily to Qualis A1 journals, A1 being the excellence rating in the CAPES scale. We conclude that legitimized research practices pressure graduate programs to improve the quality of their publications while threatening the survival of programs that fail to conform to the assessment rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population registration has figured only peripherally in histories of state formation in modern Europe. Although the registries never fully shed their original security function, the emergence of the interventionist state transformed the personal data or information collected by the registries into a central element of state administrative power. However, the ways in which this information could be used by both the civilian administration and the police to govern individuals and populations were limited by the use of paper as a means of data storage and transmission and by the information processing technologies available at the time. Rather than viewing the population registries and, later, the National Registry (Volkskartei) primarily as instruments of the Holocaust, this article embeds them in a longer, alternative history, which explores the relationship between population registration, information, information processing, and state formation between the mid-nineteenth and the mid-twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The revival of the nondelegation doctrine, foreshadowed last term in Gundy v. United States, signals the end of a distinctive style of legal and political thought. The doctrine's apparent demise after the 1930s facilitated the development of a methodological approach that embodied what Lon Fuller once called "the spirit of the Federalist Papers": an openended engagement with the problem of designing democracy and controlling public power. At its best, this discourse was critical and propulsive, with each purported solution generating more questions than it answered. The turn against congressional delegations will likely bring to a close this period of open and self-critical experimentation. In its place, we are likely to see the emergence of warring visions of the administrative state, each claiming legitimacy--neither credibly--according to its own comprehensive normative doctrine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the process of diffusion of a class of technologies that raises concerns regarding the public administration's access to sensitive data collected by it. We apply the methodology of agent-based modelling to simulate the process of diffusion of those technologies and, in extension to previous studies, consider both the rules for the diffusion of innovation and, simultaneously, those for the diffusion of political trust in a population. In this manner, we can explore the interplay between the agents' propensity towards innovation and the barriers that may derive from the lack of trust in the public administration and its management of the technology used to collect and store data belonging to citizens. The model and the study's findings are illustrated by referring to the case of smart cities, since these represent a set of technologies that are prone to misuse by the political authority. We conclude the paper by describing some scenarios that, according to the theoretical predictions of our model, should lead to the non-adoption of technology in populations that possess certain levels of trust and specific mechanics of diffusion at the time the diffusion begins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective fiscal control and monitoring of public management are critical for preventing and mitigating corruption, which in turn, enhances government performance and benefits citizens. Given the vast amounts of data involved in government operations, applying advanced data analysis methods is essential for strengthening fiscal oversight. This paper explores data management strategies aimed at enhancing fiscal control, beginning with a bibliometric study to underscore the relevance of this research. The study reviews existing data capture techniques that facilitate fiscal oversight, addresses the challenges of data storage in terms of its nature and the potential for contributing to this goal, and discusses data processing methods that yield actionable insights for analysis and decision-making. Additionally, the paper deals with data interoperability, emphasizing the importance of these practices in ensuring accurate and reliable analysis, especially given the diversity and volume of data within government operations. Data visualization is highlighted as a crucial component, enabling the detection of anomalies and promoting informed decision-making through clear and effective visual representations. The research concludes with a case study on the modernization of fiscal control in Colombia, focusing on the identification of user requirements for various data-related processes. This study provides valuable insights for modern audit and fiscal control entities, emphasizing that data capture, storage, processing, interoperability, and visualization are integral to the effective supervision of public expenditure. By ensuring that public funds are managed with transparency, accountability, and efficiency, the research advances the literature by addressing both the technological aspects of data management and the essential process improvements and human factors required for successful implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a situated analysis of infrastructures of surveillance and control in Rotterdam through Latour & Hermant’s concept of the oligopticon. Oligopticons are networked devices and their supporting infrastructures that render the city in extremely narrow but very clear representations, in this case as a city of waste hotspots. In Rotterdam, public management is designing data-hungry oligopticons that map, control and intervene in the illegal disposal of waste and litter. An analysis of two vignettes from the author’s ethnographic fieldwork finds that these oligopticons do more than simply make visible and control these practices of waste disposal: they instead engage in punitive politics that frames those who illegally dispose of waste as exceptions to a normalizing way of life, fighting not waste but difference. Through ethnographic comparison, this paper aims to evoke thought, imagination and reflection in readers regarding the consequences of infrastructures of surveillance and control and the intimate knowledge that may escape these infrastructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the global wave of privatization of local public services, re-municipalization has emerged as a viable policy alternative, broadly understood as the return to public management. The paper examines its transformative potential by analysing what 'public' means in practice with a particular focus on governance and decision-making. To do so, the paper investigates the re-municipalization of urban water services in Naples (Italy) and Paris (France) by utilizing qualitative methods. Through a critical political economy approach, informed by social reproduction theory and political ecology, I argue that re-municipalization should be seen as a process that different social forces continuously try to shape. The findings not only contribute to the specific literature on water services, but also to that on re-municipalization, within the debate about public versus private provision. More broadly, the research enhances the understanding of water through the lenses of critical political economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the theoretical axioms of chorems based on cartographic semiotics. Employing geometric and functional elements and the cartographic state-of-the-art, a regional, national chorem has been created. This chorem portrays the barriers to Polish regional development. It depicts the main development centres, industrial areas and zones of constraint created by the country's external borders, borders of the European Union (EU) and major rivers. The paper also defines chorematic affordance as the dynamic and processual feedback between the domain expert and the geographical or socio-economic processes. The elaborate chorematic diagram contributes not only to cartographers and geographers but also to public administration dealing with sustainable development, as it is intricately tied to regional development, emphasising the crucial importance of effective land management, equitable land distribution and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, Indonesian ministries collectively score 71.30 in performance accountability, indicating a "BB" predicate. This suggests significant room for improvement within these ministries to meet world-class governance standards. However, a preliminary investigation reveals a lack of uniformity in the performance measurement frameworks employed by these ministries. Some ministries utilize the balanced scorecard (BSC), while others adopt a more straightforward mind map approach. This inconsistency in approaches may hinder Indonesia's journey towards worldclass governance. This paper's objective is to conduct a comprehensive literature review on performance management in the public sector, with a specific focus on government organizations, especially ministries. The aim is to develop a tailored performance management framework suitable for Indonesian ministry organizations. This endeavour draws upon established frameworks used globally by public sector entities. A rigorous literature review encompassed keywords such as performance management, public sector organization, and ministry organizations. This resulted in a pool of 249 papers from Scopus-indexed journals, of which 93 were comprehensively evaluated, leading to the synthesis of 40 articles for insights. This study scrutinizes the unique characteristics of ministry organizations in Indonesia, proposing a performance management system in alignment with these distinctive features. It also highlights the prevailing non-uniformity in performance measurement methodologies across ministries and their inadequacies in addressing internal organizational challenges. This research serves as a catalyst for the evolution of performance management, aligning it with governmental objectives. It stands as one of the pioneering studies delving into performance management systems within ministerial organizations, offering valuable foundations for future research and initiatives to enhance ministerial performance management and governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how the intense focus on data in political digitalization strategies takes effect in practice in a Danish municipality. Building on an ethnographic study of data-driven management, the paper argues that one of the effects of making data a driver for organizational decision-making is uncertainty as to what data are and can be taken to mean. While in political discourse and strategies, data are considered as a resource for collaboration across organizational units as well as for optimization of their performance, in practice, data are not this straightforward entity. The paper presents a kind of data work that identifies data as part of different worlds (ontologies). The management task that results from this is nurturing organizational spaces that articulate data as relational. The paper argues that being attentive to the troublesome experiences public sector employees have when encountering data may help mitigate some of the risks of seeing data merely as a resource. The paper concludes that as public sector managers learn to nurture spaces where differences in data can be articulated, they also protect core values of welfare bureaucracies. Acknowledging that data work is about what we take to be real and what not (ontological work) is a first step in this direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the authors' experience of being involved as technical experts in Southampton City Council's interrogation of the private rented sector, the paper considers the potential and the limitations of local government scrutiny inquires as a mechanism for assisting in the achievement of social justice. Scrutiny Inquiries are a relatively new democratic initiative introduced to provide a counterbalance to the greater concentration of powers in the council executive brought about by the Local Government Act 2000. The paper contributes to the literature on local government scrutiny, which is currently driven by public administration scholarship, by developing a holistic socio-legal analysis that seeks to embed a single case study within the wider complex legal, political and social environment. Although Scrutiny Inquiries empower back-bench local councillors and, to a lesser extent, promote community engagement in local government decision making, the paper identifies how austerity localism and reforms to the broader accountability environment have exposed gaps in the system of oversight of local government performance. Nonetheless we found there was political potential in the scrutiny inquiry process because it mobilised landlords and tenants in the city and provided a template for local action on private renting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces a special section that explores the international effects of populism, focusing on its impact on foreign policy-making, agenda, and outcomes, as well as states' stances towards international institutions. The authors propose a theoretical framework that considers the diversity among populist governments and how the authoritarian character of populism explains variations in international outcomes. The section includes articles on topics such as the transformation of foreign policy institutions, the response of the foreign policy establishment to populism, and the effects of populist securitization on foreign policy. These articles provide insights into the challenges and prospects of populism in the contemporary international order. Additionally, a policy paper examines the emergence of the American New Right and its visions for US foreign policy. The New Right, consisting of the Claremonters, post-liberals, and national conservatives, is led by figures like Yoram Hazony. The paper discusses the New Right's efforts to establish an alternative ideational infrastructure and its potential impact on US foreign policy, suggesting a shift from Europe to Asia rather than neo-isolationism. [Extracted from the article]

In its regulatory enterprise to improve the conditions of data sharing and reuse, the European Union has enacted new legislation: the Data Governance Act (DGA). The DGA envisages new forms of sharing public sector data (PSD). Based on a legal analysis of the DGA and an in-depth study of data governance literature, this paper highlights what is at stake in the new regulatory framework and argues that more than the mere openness of more PSD will be necessary to ensure that the European Union policy goals are achieved, especially those concerning enhancing innovation for the common good. From this perspective, the paper argues that the public data trust model of data governance and the Responsible Research and Innovation approach offer two powerful tools for public sector data governance. In this context, this paper contributes to the debate about new data governance models and discusses tools and frameworks enabling the use of data for the common good. It also provides insights to public administration practitioners aiming to implement a framework for increased and sustainable PSD sharing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a remarkable gap in research regarding principal‐centred analyses of control means towards—in a formal sense—rather weak independent administrative actors as agents. Therefore, the paper develops a theoretical notion to link means of ex ante and ex post control and applies it to the (re‐)actions of ministries vis à vis hardship commissions in the German Länder by asking: How does the super‐ordinated ministry (principal) try to control the hardship commission (agent) and with what effect? The theoretical framework is based on principal‐agent theory and argues that the respective relationship is best understood by a notion of control pliers which interlinks the principal's preferences, its means of ex ante and ex post control and the agent's output. We hereby draw on partisan and organization theory. The overall research design of the paper is confirmatory and the focus on the federal states allows to control most of the external variance. We use descriptive statistics and structural equation modelling for path analysis to investigate the ex ante and ex post elements of the control pliers. Our empirical analysis is based on the output of 12 hardship commissions for the period of 2005–2017. Our results show that ex post control seems to matter more than ex ante control, but also that the effects of both may be characterized as interdependent. Furthermore, we show that partisan influence seems to matter more than organizational factors considering the output of the agent but that most can be won by combining the two approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses emergent issues from four conceptualisers of FEResearchmeet. FEResearchmeet claims to be a free and democratic model for building and supporting engagement with research, led by practitioners. The narratives presented seek to document and analyse FEResearchmeet as a movement across the first three years since its inception (2017–2020). After setting out the context and methodology of the work, narrative one explores how a reaction against New Public Management (NPM) sparked an event and how this grew into a movement of collaborating individuals seeking to reposition their voices and knowledge. The second narrative looked at how an early 'meet' was used to challenge norms and barriers to research by creating safe spaces for the development of expertise. Narrative three journeys through the early months of COVID-19 to explore how capacity building through collaboration allows sector workers to value their voices. These narratives lead to a critique of the epistemological changes these experiences have developed and have the potential to develop in the future. The paper concludes by arguing that FEResearchmeet was a reaction against NPM by agentic practitioners who used collaboration and capacity building as tools to create new pools of knowledge in an attempt to change this position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on pandemic and global health emergencies, gun violence, institutional oppression and natural disasters which are all examples of events that can have traumatizing impacts on the performance of organizational systems and cultures around the world that violently compromises stakeholders' sense of security, self- worth, health, and well-being.

This study explores policy makers’, health-care professionals’ and senior volunteers’ perceptions of senior volunteers. Two Norwegian government white papers regarding older adult care and welfare services, which were published over a period of 19 years, were selected for close examination. Furthermore, focus group interviews with a purposeful sample of five senior volunteers and 15 health-care professionals were conducted. The study explores the discursive formations of senior volunteers in the government white papers and how they are negotiated in the senior volunteers’ and the health-care professionals’ narratives. Two dominant discourses were presented in the white papers: a prevention discourse (in which volunteering was presented primarily as a means to prevent volunteers’ loneliness and need for care services) and a sustainability discourse (in which the volunteers were presented as instrumental in future sustainable care services). Both discourses echo a common overarching discourse about a capacity crisis due to the ageing population. The senior volunteers were positioned as partners and active agents in both their own narratives and the health-care professionals’ narratives. Their position as independent and as spokespersons for the less empowered were evident only in the senior volunteers’ own narratives. Only the health-care professionals referenced the prevention discourse and capacity issues. The senior volunteers presented themselves as competent, efficient political actors, and they resisted both the prevention and sustainability discourses. In the senior volunteers’ narratives, social and political participation were interrelated. The study demonstrates that new discursive landscapes must be created to capture the diversity among senior volunteers and their efforts. While senior volunteers must be meaningfully involved in decision making, planning and design, their positions as independent and active agents must also be ensured. Authentic partnerships between senior volunteers and public care services involve a balance between involvement and independence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

E-governance has become as a crucial dimension of contemporary public administration in delivering government services to citizens electronically with the aid of information and communication technology. It also increases the efficiency of the management, by improving the citizens' democracy and participation regarding other impactful topics in governance. By adopting a systematic review approach, the researcher utilizes secondary data from more than 150 available sources, comprising literature, policy documents, case studies, and other relevant literature. In this report 70 research papers published between the years 2015 and 2024 were used to provide updated information to the readers. The researchers analyzed the current status, prospects, and challenges of e-governance in Bangladesh under the vision of 'Digital Bangladesh'. Egovernance intends to form a technically progressive nation with technologically effective, efficient, and social economic services providing transparency of process with the help of ICT integration. The research findings reveal that obstacles like the digital divide, infrastructure gaps, digital literacy, data privacy, resistance to change, and regulatory constraints deter the implementation of e-governance. However, this paper contributes to the existing literature with the identification of how e-governance should be governed for the sake of development in Bangladesh. The analysis calls for many comprehensive policy reforms, enhanced cyber security measures, capacity building, and bridging of the digital divide. It will then be much easier to realize the dream of a fully digital Bangladesh and facilitate economic growth, innovations, and the improvement of public service delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Established in 1951, the Children's Film Foundation (CFF) contributed to the growth of children's film culture in Britain. This paper aims to show how the CFF's active involvement of public authorities, film industry organisations and educationalists resulted in partnerships between them and in the growing production of children's films in Britain. Drawing on under-investigated archival materials, this paper argues that the Advisory Council of the Children's Film Department and Children's Entertainment Films, precursors of the CFF, offered significant platforms for mediation between public authorities, industry organisations and educationalists, and for shaping new beliefs about child audiences and children's cinema, which resulted in both the film industry's and educationalists' support for, and commitment to, producing films with entertaining and educational values. The case study demonstrates how the CFF overcame a commerce – culture dichotomy. It therefore offers a more nuanced understanding of state–market–civic relations in British cultural policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extent to which Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs), as policy concepts, are globalized, has been a matter of debate. This paper engages with the debate while seeking to move beyond the binary division of global and local scales of analysis. Empirically, it examines the emergence and politics of CCIs in Vietnam, with a focus on its connection with the implementation of the UNESCO 2005 Convention. The paper explores the complexity of the policy translation process, which shows the degrees to which neoliberal ideas can be translated in a post-socialist context. It also examines the role of UNESCO and questions the consistency of its position against the commodification of culture. Conceptually, it brings together different approaches to policy translation from language studies, Science and Technology Studies (STS), and postcolonial studies. The paper suggests that this interdisciplinary framework can further the understanding of both paradigmatic and pragmatic dimensions of policy travel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the use of intangible cultural heritage as a vehicle for soft power in the service of geostrategic competitions between Iran and Turkey, two regional powers in West Asia. We focus on two significant trans-regional instances of intangible cultural heritage relevant to both countries: the mystic poet Rumi and the New Year's celebration of Nowruz. We draw on theories in political science and cultrual heritage as well as a host of sources in Persian, Turkish, and Azerbaijani, to demonstrate how heritage is mobilised concurrently as a nation-building device and a tool for soft power in international relations. We conclude by suggesting that, despite strong grounds for its claims, Iran's response in this competition has been reactive rather than proactive. Overall, the paper contributes to the scholarship on soft power and heritage diplomacy by presenting the first comparative analysis of cases of shared intangible heritage in West Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim Background Sources of evidence Discussion Conclusion Implications for nursing practice Implications for nursing and health policy To provide insight into the process of developing health and nursing policy and how that process can be influenced by both researchers and nursing leaders.Nurses care for people across the life course from birth to death, in our communities, hospitals, care homes and schools. They have unique insight into how people live their lives and how this affects their health. Despite being well placed to influence health policy, nurses often fail to capitalise on this. At the same time, academics often struggle to identify the policy implications of their research resulting in further missed opportunities to use policy influence.Classical policy theory, which is predominantly drawn from economics and public administration together with a range of contemporary nursing and health policy studies, is used in this paper to discuss the policy process and opportunities to influence.Researchers need to focus on realistic policy suggestions that aim to raise awareness, highlight policy problems or set the agenda. In turn, nursing leaders, from National Nursing Associations, need to harness evidence to support their efforts to influence policy. In terms of influence, a range of approaches exist, and each lends itself to different parts of the policy cycle.The role nurses can play in health policy is not well developed in many countries. Nursing researchers and leaders are well placed to influence policy but must do so in a clear and pragmatic way recognising that policymakers make decisions despite being faced with conflicting evidence, competing demands and economic imperatives.Recognising that nurses can offer much in terms of policy development, the paper argues that a pragmatic approach based on different forms of influence at different stages is likely to be most successful.The evidence reviewed in this paper suggests that nursing academics and leaders need to identify realistic policy interventions when examining their own empirical work or identifying ways to individually or collectively influence policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of Open Educational Resources (OER) for training in public administration has yet to see a wide adoption globally, mostly due to challenges related to the discovery and reuse of high-quality OER for training purposes. These challenges, combined with the general lack of openness in the public sector, have greatly impacted the penetration of OER in public administration. This paper presents a case study on the use of OER for expanding and enhancing curricular and resource sharing in public administration in Greece. Within this case study, an OER authoring and sharing platform was introduced to the Greek public sector, employing crowdsourcing methods for supporting trainers and trainees in authoring, sharing, reusing and remixing OER. The paper presents the deployment of this platform and the use of OER in the context of training programmes in the Greek public sector and reports on the lessons learned and the impact on public administration. The results of the case study showed that the use of OER was very positively received by civil servants, with a remarkable response, through active participation and engagement that led to the enhancement of existing OER and the co-creation of new ones for public administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financing human service delivery through social impact bonds (SIBs) is the subject of some critical commentary in the academic literature, but this tends to be largely theoretical rather than empirically based. This paper presents empirical evidence of how SIB financing can promote positive social and economic outcomes for governments, not‐for‐profit providers, individual service beneficiaries and society more broadly. The paper presents some of the results of an evaluation of the Aspire SIB, which financed an innovative intensive case management program providing housing and wraparound supports over a 3‐year period for people experiencing chronic homelessness. Aspire participants experienced significantly improved outcomes and decreased service needs, delivering downstream cost savings across several areas of government service delivery. This paper describes how the SIB financing mechanism underpinned the success of Aspire by promoting flexible, collaborative, outcome‐focussed and data‐informed responses to a challenging, multi‐faceted social problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professor R.B. Bernstein was a legal historian with a J.D. from Harvard Law School who taught at the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at City College of New York and New York Law School. He presented the paper below on Professor Felix Frankfurter's The Public and Its Government, published in 1930. A little more than two months after the conference, sadly, Professor Bernstein passed. His brother Steven Bernstein provided the Touro Law Review with the draft of the paper that Professor Bernstein was preparing to submit for publication. We have added footnotes and made only minor revisions. It is our honor and privilege to publish Professor Bernstein's paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young people's sexual and reproductive health (SRH) continues to be a major challenge in low and middle-income countries, with implications for public health now and in the future. Fortunately there is a growing array of evidence-based interventions, and commitments from governments, development partners and donors, to support programmes that aim to improve young people's SRH. However, in some situations, the technical assistance that governments feel that they need to strengthen and implement national policies and strategies, to move from words to action, is not available. The WHO Adolescent and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (AYSRHR) Technical Assistance (TA) Coordination Mechanism was initiated to help fill this technical assistance gap; to respond to TA requests from ministries of health in ways that are timely, efficient, effective and contribute to strengthening capacity. This paper describes the process of developing the Technical Assistance Coordination Mechanism (TA Mechanism) and the outcomes, experiences and lessons learned after three years of working. It triangulates the findings from a preliminary review of the literature and discussions with selected key informants; the outcomes from a series of structured review meetings; and the documented processes and results of the technical assistance provided to countries. The lessons learned focus on three aspects of the TA Mechanism. How it was conceptualized and designed: through listening to people who provide and receive AYSRHR TA and by reviewing and synthesizing past experiences of TA provision. What the TA Mechanism has achieved: a standardized process for TA provision, at different stages for a range of AYSRHR issues in ten countries in three geographic regions. And what worked well and what did not: which common challenges was the TA Mechanism able to address and which ones persisted despite efforts to avoid or resolve them. The paper ends with the implications of the lessons learned for future action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of wicked problems is continuously gaining more attention due basically to the inability of political authorities in certain nations to address some issues that have lingered for decades. This justifies the scholarly interrogation of various strategies adopted to solve these problems as well as the realization of their failure. Narrowing it down to Nigeria, this paper sufficiently contends that poverty, Boko Haram insurgency, banditry, herders-farmers crisis and secessionist agitation fit into the wicked problems; hence, the study primarily investigates the efficacy of the 4Es in Public Administration (a new model) in solving these wicked problems in Nigeria. Adopting a literature-based method, the paper argues compellingly on the need for the adoption of the 4Es in public administration in Nigeria and also highlights its implementation strategies. However, bureaucratic resistance is examined to be a pontential challenge to the implementation of the model in the country. Consequently, the paper proposes for sensitization, participation and gradual implementation of the model among others. Drawing on the above, it conludes that the model should be adopted and offers some practical policy recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Government One-Stop Shops are promoted as a strategy for improving intergovernmental collaboration, coordinating “Weberian” bureaucratic structure, and streamlining service delivery using technology. One-stop-shop models, which are seen as a significant accomplishment in recent e-government initiatives, aim to provide public service delivery mechanisms that are efficient, accessible, coordinated, and cost-effective. The purpose of this research paper is to assess citizens’ satisfaction with the quality of integrated public services provided by One-Stop Shop (OSS), with a particular emphasis on the relationship between citizen satisfaction with the quality of OSS services and determinant dimensions of trust, procedures, staff skills and qualifications, time and cost savings, and perceived citizen care/support. This paper employs a quantitative approach method through a survey as a research instrument. A structured questionnaire is distributed to 114 citizens receiving service in OSS in a municipality in south Albania, a western Balkan country. The study’s primary objective is to provide top-level managers of the OSS agencies and policymakers with an effective instrument for better evaluating and understanding the perceived quality of their integrated public services offered from the perspective of their citizens. This understanding aims to facilitate the formulation of more effective policies and strategies that foster the ongoing enhancement and incorporation of novel public management best practices. The findings of the multi-regression analysis reveal that the factors - Saving, Staff, Support, Procedures, and Trust had a positive and statistically significant impact on satisfaction, accounting for 85.8 per cent of the variation values of citizen satisfaction with the quality service provided by One-Stop Shop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the past, present, and future of medical education in Cambodia. Although doctor training began in 1902, the first medical school was not founded until 1946. Since the colonial era, the curriculum and teaching strategies have been strongly influenced by the French system, dominated by didactic lectures and the apprenticeship model. Three chronic issues have plagued medical education in the country following the Khmer Rouge regime: a shortage of doctors, poor-quality training, and lack of relevance to the current and future population needs. An increasing number of medical schools and yearly student enrollment have addressed the first issue. Today, the fundamental challenges have shifted from quantity to ensuring the quality and relevance of medical education. Competency-based medical education (CBME) has been adopted as a new curricular model to tackle the latter two issues. Active collaboration between government institutions, public universities, and development partners drives this curricular reform at the national and institutional levels. This paper further examines the challenges associated with medical education and proposes recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper examines the conceptual and legal aspects of project-oriented public administration, focusing on the Russian experience and comparing it with practices from the USA, UK, and Malaysia from 2011 to 2020. The study aims to identify specific features of project-oriented public administration, provide a comparative analysis of methodologies for managing national projects, and formulate recommendations for improving legal mechanisms based on national experiences from both developed and developing states. The research highlights the formation and implementation of public administration aimed at realizing national projects, emphasizing the establishment of public and legal foundations for their implementation. Using a comparative case study approach, the study employs document analysis, secondary sources, and expert interviews to examine the legal frameworks, organizational structures, implementation challenges, and performance metrics of project management in the selected countries. The findings reveal significant differences in the legal frameworks and implementation practices across the four countries, with Russia showing a fragmented legal framework primarily governed by federal laws and presidential decrees. In contrast, the UK and USA have more comprehensive legal frameworks with detailed regulations, and Malaysia's framework focuses on government-led initiatives with clear procedural regulations. The paper concludes by proposing recommendations for improving the legal and institutional frameworks for projectoriented public administration in Russia, including systematizing and consolidating its legal framework, improving coordination among government levels, investing in capacity building, and enhancing engagement with the private sector and civil society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of analysis in this paper is to determine the features of the legal protection procedure in the segment of public monetary management as a sui generis subsystem of public administration defined and implemented by the central bank as the supreme monetary institution and guardian of the monetary sovereignty of each state. In this sense, the first part of the paper points out the concept and features of the modern monetary order and the normative regulation of public monetary management, which aims to protect monetary stability as a public good. In contrast, the second part of the paper points out the specific way of implementing the active and passive process capability of the central bank in monetary disputes that represent a new type of administrative dispute in which the court decides on the legality of central bank measures or in which they require legal protection from the influence of other authorities. The subject of particular attention is the identification and functional analysis of the mechanism of legal protection in the domain of monetary management in Serbian monetary law to recognize the axiological matrix of existing solutions de lege lata and make concrete guidelines de lege ferenda, taking into account the fact that the procedure is in the function of protecting the rights of citizens to a safe and solid currency, the right to the monetary credibility of the domestic banking system and the preservation of living standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The detrimental effects of tax havens on civil society first came to light in 2000 when the British organization OXFAM published a report suggesting that these jurisdictions cost developing countries at least fifty billion dollars a year in lost revenue. The aim of this study is to investigate, analyze and provide evidence for the link between tax havens and international tax evasion, corruption and money laundering, and their implications for ‘tax justice’. The methodology used is empirical and theoretical, based on case studies and analysis of documents presented and published by various sources. The conclusions highlight the effectiveness of reports and leaks that have occurred between 2007 and 2021, which have exposed the functioning of international tax corruption schemes of large fortunes or companies related to tax havens and have made it possible to open files and institute precise investigations by national public administrations. The 2016 Panama Papers and the 2021 Pandora Papers stand out as the most relevant leaks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue investigates the impact of populism and democratic backsliding on street‐level bureaucracy (SLB) across various countries and contexts. The cooccurrence of populism and democratic erosion significantly alters public administration, particularly affecting public sector employees responsible for policy implementation. This issue explores how populist strategies differ in their application to SLBs as compared to the Civil Service, the distinctive challenges SLBs encounter due to populism and democratic backsliding, and the pressures exacerbated during crises. By examining studies from Brazil, Mexico, Poland, Czechia, Hungary, Switzerland, and the United States, the papers highlight the interplay between political pressures and frontline service delivery. The findings underscore the necessity of understanding the relationship between democratic backsliding, populism, and SLBs, proposing a research agenda to further explore these dynamics and their implications for public administration and policy implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVIDicine, many nurses awoke to the ways that the Healthcare‐Industrial Complex (HIC) dictates the care we are able to provide. Using the Foucauldian concepts of pastoral power and governmentality, we explore the ways that nurses participate in upholding power structures within the HIC and reproducing them in our work, contributing to a carceral culture based on hierarchy and power dynamics. We also explore the ways nurses are both agentic in this system and subject to it, reluctant to make waves and lose our place within a system that can offer nurses safety and security in, and most importantly, a paycheck. This paper articulates a prefigurative anarchist approach to nursing praxis. Through the writing of Emma Goldman, we locate a historically founded philosophical basis for practical tactics that nurses can use to actualise this praxis. Both individually and as a collective, nurses can assert their own ethic and power through direct action, micro‐insurgency and solidarity to build the world we know can be. Our only limitation is our imagination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The real-time data collected by wearable devices enables personalized health management and supports public health monitoring. However, sharing these data with third-party organizations introduces significant privacy risks. As a result, protecting and securely sharing wearable device data has become a critical concern. This paper proposes a local differential privacy-preserving algorithm designed for continuous data streams generated by wearable devices. Initially, the data stream is sampled at key points to avoid prematurely exhausting the privacy budget. Then, an adaptive allocation of the privacy budget at these points enhances privacy protection for sensitive data. Additionally, the optimized square wave (SW) mechanism introduces perturbations to the sampled points. Afterward, the Kalman filter algorithm is applied to maintain data flow patterns and reduce prediction errors. Experimental validation using two real datasets demonstrates that, under comparable conditions, this approach provides higher data availability than existing privacy protection methods for continuous data streams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A standing presumption in the literature is that devil's advocacy is an inherently beneficial argumentative move; and that those who take on this role in conversation are paradigms of argumentative virtue. Outside academic circles, however, devil's advocacy has acquired something of a notorious reputation: real-world conversations are rife with self-proclaimed devil's advocates who are anything but virtuous. Motivated by this observation, in this paper we offer the first in-depth exploration of non-ideal devil's advocacy. We draw on recent analyses of two better known discursive practices—mansplaining and trolling—to illuminate some of the signature traits of vicious devil's advocacy. Building on this comparative examination, we show that all three practices trade on a manipulation of illocutionary force; and we evaluate their respective options for securing plausible deniability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Addressing the upstream social determinants of health (e.g. built environment, education) can reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases. To do so effectively often requires system-wide collaboration. However, collaborating across multiple sectors, organizations and disciplines within a complex system can be challenging. ActEarly was a public health research consortium that aimed to improve child health by building an interdisciplinary, cross-city partnership to develop and/or evaluate upstream interventions, increase research capacity and improve collaboration between researchers, local authorities and communities. This paper explores ActEarly's experiences of navigating complexity to identify mechanisms that supported its implementation and proposes recommendations for future intersectoral and interdisciplinary population health research collaborations. Methods: We conducted a longitudinal qualitative study of ActEarly, integrating findings from inductive documentary analysis of internal documents (mainly meetings minutes and reports) (n = 114) and interviews (n = 70) with 45 consortium members at three different timepoints (2018, 2021, 2023). Participants worked across different organizations, cities, roles and levels of seniority in the consortium. Findings: Clarity, Unity, Flexibility and Feasibility were seen as the key mechanisms required to support ActEarly's implementation. Clear aims, governance structures and communication were necessary to manage the uncertainty of the complex system. A unified approach, characterized by strong relationships, having a shared vision and communal access to resources supported effective collaboration. Flexibility was required to adjust to different ways of working, respond to wider system events and manage the consortium. Establishing feasible aims that responded to the limitations of the system, the available resources and research infrastructure was required for teams to deliver the work. Conclusions: Implementing multi-faceted programmes in a complex system can be challenging. We recommend that future whole-systems consortia seeking to improve population health build Clarity, Unity, Flexibility and Feasibility into their programmes, noting the complex interrelationships between these factors. Iterative reflections from all parties should support delivery amidst the uncertainty that comes with running a population health research collaboration, and strong leadership and governance should play a key role in ensuring that these are built into foundations the programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent wave of autocratization in Latin America has put courts at the center of debates about regime and regime change. Much of the literature on the judicial politics of democratic backsliding focuses on incumbents' efforts to capture judiciaries and weaponize them against the regime. Our approach is different. We provide illustrations of independent courts in Argentina, Colombia and Mexico that successfully fought back when presidents pushed for reforms that jeopardized democratic stability. With the goal of furthering our knowledge of how judges can also complicate autocratization, the paper thus focuses on a type of horizontal accountability intervention that we refer to as "constitutional balancing." We also shed light on the reasons why constitutional balancing is well‐equipped to slow down or stop backsliding via a comparison with another type of horizontal accountability intervention: public administration policing. These interventions are increasingly common in Latin America, usually in the form of high‐profile corruption prosecutions. Unlike constitutional balancing, however, public administration policing has proven highly disruptive, and ultimately unable to settle regime‐threatening political conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This systematic literature review explores professors' role in implementing inclusive education for students with disabilities in higher education. Findings from 22 articles reveal diverse barriers, including attitudinal challenges, physical accessibility issues, and bureaucratic hurdles. While professors express positive intentions, practical implementation often falters, hence indicating a need for comprehensive training programmes. The review highlights the transformative potential of such training programmes, fostering a shift from the medical model to a more inclusive framework. This paper underscores the need for universities to invest in faculty development and take a collective approach involving all the stakeholders in order to dismantle barriers. The call to action also includes sustained conversation and research undertakings in the Latin American context, to enhance inclusive practices and support students with disabilities in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Active labour market policies for young people, backed by the EU Youth Guarantee programme, led governments to trying new measures, amongst them internships for graduates of different education levels. This youth, despite being better prepared than early school leavers, still face problems during their professional insertion processes. Faulty progressions can become 'lost in transition' situations (Brinton [2010]. Lost in Transition: Youth, Work, and Instability in Postindustrial Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.). This paper analyzes the effects in terms of employment outcomes of a programme with two types of internships: in private firms and in public administration offices. A counterfactual analysis is carried out by matching intern groups of either type with a control group formed from candidates who ended up without an internship. The results from a first analysis with registered data were enhanced by implementing a second analysis based upon survey data, which permitted the inclusion of family legacy variables in a medium-term analysis. Estimated effects are positive and significant for participants in firms' internships, and negative and significant for interns who worked in public organisations. Additionally, the survey uncovers that work contracts offered by firms after the programme play a positive role. The results should be very useful for decision making in terms of active measures addressing these issues for young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Brazil is one of the countries with the highest rates of caesarean sections (CS), reaching almost 90% of births in the private sector. A quality improvement project called "Adequate Childbirth Project (PPA)" was conceived to reduce CS in the private sector. This project consisted of four primary components: "Governance", "Participation of Women", "Reorganization of Care" and "Monitoring". This paper aims to evaluate: (1) which specific activities of the PPA had the largest effect on the probability of a woman having a vaginal delivery; (2) which primary component of the PPA had the largest effect on the probability of vaginal delivery and (3) which scenarios combining the implementation of different activities planned in the PPA had a higher effect on the probability of vaginal delivery. Methods: A sample of 12 private hospitals participating in the PPA was evaluated. We used a Bayesian Network (BN) to capture both non-linearities and complex cause-effect relations. The BN integrated knowledge from experts and data from women to estimate 26 model parameters. The PPA was evaluated in 2473 women belonging to groups 1–4 of the Robson classification, who were divided into two groups: those participating or not participating in the PPA. Results: The probability of a woman having a vaginal delivery was 37.7% higher in women participating in the PPA. The most important component of the project that led to an increase in the probability of vaginal delivery was "Reorganization of Care", leading to a 73% probability of vaginal delivery among women in labor. The activity that had the greatest effect on the type of delivery was access to best practices during labor, with a 72% probability of vaginal delivery. Considering the 12 scenarios combining the different activities of the PPA, the best scenarios included: a non-scheduled delivery, access to information about best practices, access to at least 4 best practices during labor and respect of the birth plan, with an 80% probability of vaginal delivery in the best combinations. Conclusion: PPA has been shown to be an effective quality improvement program, increasing the likelihood of vaginal delivery in private Brazilian hospitals. Plain English Summary: Introduction: Brazil boasts one of the highest rates of caesarean sections (CS) globally, with nearly 90% of births in private facilities being delivered via CS. In response, the 'Adequate Childbirth Project – PPA' was launched as a quality improvement initiative aimed at curbing CS rates in private healthcare. Its goal is to improve the quality of childbirth and reduce the number of CS in private healthcare. The project has four main parts: 'Governance', 'Participation of Women', 'Reorganization of Care', and 'Monitoring'. Method: an evaluative study was conducted across 12 private hospitals involved in the PPA, involving 2473 women who were categorized into PPA participants and non-participants. They used a method called a cause-effect network to see which parts of the PPA helped more women have vaginal deliveries. Results: They found that women in the PPA were 37.7% more likely to have a vaginal delivery. Giving women access to good practices during labor and birth was really important. Also, 'Reorganization of Care' was the most important part of the project. It led to a 73% chance of vaginal delivery for women in labor. Conclusion: The PPA is effective in helping more women in private hospitals have vaginal deliveries. This means it's a good program for improving childbirth in Brazil's private hospitals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the development of spending reviews from their origins in a set of budgetary innovations in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s – notably zero-base budgeting (ZBB) and Planning, Programming and Budgeting Systems (PPBS) – to their application internationally for budget management and fiscal consolidation. Spending reviews have been successfully developed and applied in mostly advanced economies but, because they rely on advanced tools of fiscal analysis and established public financial management systems, their application in low- and middle-income countries is more limited. Many countries use spending reviews to identify budgetary savings or to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the government's spending policies and programmes. The reviews can either be comprehensive or target specific programmes or areas of spending. Finance ministries are the cornerstone of an effective spending review process, which requires strong analytical skills and tools, as well as reliable data. Line ministries also play a key role and good use can be made of external experts. Political oversight and good governance are fundamental to success, but countries have followed a variety of models in designing their spending review processes; simpler approaches are available for countries with low capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The management and protection of urban-rural integrated construction of rural infrastructure is an important part of urban-rural integrated development. By investigating the situation of management and protection of urban-rural integrated construction of rural infrastructure in Tianjin and the actual needs of farmers, this paper systematically sorts out the basic situation of management and protection of rural infrastructure construction in Tianjin in recent years, analyzes the individual problems existing in management and protection of different types of infrastructure construction, dig outstanding common problems and propose countermeasures and give policy suggestions on improving the integration of urban and rural public infrastructure management mechanism, provides a useful reference for boosting urban and rural integration development [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two of the most widely discussed concepts in the public administration literature are administrative evil and street level discretion. Today, few would deny, that administrators (particularly street level bureaucrats) exercise personal judgment in carrying out their broadly defined responsibilities. Street level bureaucrats have considerable power in how they perform their day-to-day duties. They often use their discretion judiciously, however, at times public sector representatives abuse their power when they inflict unnecessary pain and suffering on others. Three case studies are presented in this paper. One case study describes illicit behavior by military personnel in a war zone during the Vietnam War. Two case studies describe and the actions of police officers in the cities of Baltimore and New York. These case studies identify situations where relatively low-level personnel felt empowered to act with impunity in depriving people of human and legal rights. The cases illustrate the need for strict oversight in organizations, especially in organizations where use of deadly force is authorized under specific conditions. As illustrated by the three cases, abuse of discretion can facilitate administrative evil. The environment of organizations is viewed as strongly influencing compliance or lack of compliance with reasonable norms of behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public administration is poised to recognize that race is constitutive of bureaucratic hierarchies, processes, and outcomes and, as such, to ground our work in a more critical and progressive conceptual framework. In this exploratory analysis, we center Critical Race Theory (CRT) around practice, or praxis, a process that is self-reflexive and race-conscious to address root causes of racism, on the role of public sector leaders. This paper applies leadership research to demonstrate how public leaders, particularly career bureaucrats, can help to eliminate institutional racism. We specifically explore how critical race praxis (CRP) can apply to environmental justice and the movement against environmental racism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Secure children's homes are locked institutions that deprive children of their liberty. The government are investing significantly in these homes, yet there remains a lack of clarity about their nature and purpose. Drawing on data generated through a substantial ethnography in one secure children's home in England, this paper uses Goffman's (1961) theorising as a conceptual lens to view the institution. It concludes that ambiguity and confusion about what these institutions are, and what they seek to achieve, impacts negatively on the experience of everyday life within. Clarity is needed urgently to improve experiences and to enable the assessment of outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public procurement is crucial for effective crisis responses, but is also prone to corruption. To ensure a swift provision of medical supplies in the COVID-19 pandemic, the public procurement regulations were dramatically relaxed. However, the implications for corruption require attention. This paper analyses how the regulatory responses to the crisis affected the risks and perceptions of corruption, by changing public-private interactions and the regulatory environment for public procurement. We compare the contrasting cases of Italy and Germany and triangulate legal analyses, secondary contract and survey data, and an online survey of public administrations (N = 445) and businesses (N = 175). Unexpectedly, in both countries, objective risks of corruption increased similarly. Sector-specific corruption perceptions stem from a low competitiveness of procedures, rule ambiguity, and a politicised bureaucracy. To avoid wasting resources and losing trust, regulatory responses to the crisis should include clear rules that safeguard competitive public procurement procedures and preserve bureaucratic independence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]