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Researchers conducting politically sensitive studies in the authoritarian region of Central Asia face significant obstacles beyond government control over knowledge production. These challenges include suspicion of espionage, journalism or being an 'info-killer'. While some scholarly accounts address the difficulties of accessing government officials in Central Asia, reflections by local scholars on effective interviewing strategies remain scarce. This research note explores these challenges and presents practical strategies for fieldwork based on my PhD dissertation, which involved conducting 25 in-depth interviews with government officials across Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan from 2019 to 2021. I propose three key strategies to enhance the effectiveness of interviews with officials: leveraging insider positionality, 'de-ceremonializing' the interview process and depoliticizing sensitive research topics. Critically, the strategies not only facilitated access to respondents but also ensured ethical integrity and meaningful data collection. This work generates valuable insights for scholars navigating similar environments in Central Asia and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental degradation can lead to climate change, air and water quality degradation, and biodiversity loss. The study aims to assess the impact of illegal oil extraction on environmental, social, economic, and public health dimensions in Peurelak, East Aceh, Indonesia. Using proportional random sampling techniques, 245 respondents were selected, representing owners and investors (9), tenant investors (18), workers/laborers (68), melters (6), public figures/community leaders (3), the community (138), and village government officials (3). Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) with AMOS software. The results revealed a significant negative effect of illegal oil mining on social, environmental, and health performance (p-values = 0.031, 0.029, and 0.010, respectively, at a 95% confidence level). Additionally, informal leadership and government support were found to positively influence illegal oil mining (p-values = .017 and .035, respectively, below the significance threshold of .05). Furthermore, illegal oil mining significantly affects economic performance (p-value = .021). This paper emphasizes the adverse impacts of unauthorized oil extraction on community well-being while highlighting the collusive role of informal leaders and government authorities. Additionally, the study reveals a worrisome positive relationship between illegal oil mining and economic performance in Indonesia.

Recent scholarship argues that racial oppression by the state is central to the formation of environmental inequalities, calling into question reliance on the state to achieve environmental justice. Others argue that the state is not monolithic and is the only institution capable of wielding sufficient power to address environmental inequalities. I engage with this discussion through a survey of US local government officials (N = 691). I find that officials tend to engage in color-blind environmental racism; that is, officials tend to understand issues of environmental inequality through the lens of color-blind racial ideology. Findings support the arguments of critical environmental justice scholars who question the state's inherent capacity to respond to issues of environmental racism. However, variance in officials' views also suggest that the state is a site of political contestation with many officials both recognizing the reality of environmental inequality and racism and supporting government intervention to address it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was focused on the increasingly widespread phenomenon of radicalism among government officials in Indonesia. The perspective adopted an evaluation of government legal policies designed to curtail the proliferation of radicalism through counter­radicalization, and deradicalization measures. These anti­radica­lism policies were aimed to reintegrate government officials who had been influ­enced by radicalism, aligning their thinking, attitudes, and behaviour with the principles of the Indonesian Pancasila. Presently, the envisioned ideal conditions remain elusive. Therefore, this study adopted a normative approach to assessing the precision of the implementation of anti­radicalization and deradicalization policies, with a focus on comprehensive regulations and targeted methods. The proposed remedy involved a shift in legal policy, with greater emphasis placed on counter­radicalization efforts developed through a screening process that iden­tified potential instances of radicalism in the cyber realm through early detection. Subsequently, these cases were directed to the legal process, with a deradicalization attempt, which emphasized an understanding of the ideology of Pancasila.

Copyright of Critique of Law: Independent Legal Studies / Krytyka Prawa: Niezalezne Studia nad Prawem is the property of Akademia Leona Kozminskiego and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

There has been a large number of studies concerning professional development at the micro level. However, little research has been particularly conducted to investigate professional development at the macro level. This study aims to explore professional development policy and practice in a Vietnamese government department. Using a qualitative with two focus group discussions including 11 participants and semi-structured interviews with 14 people, the study investigates professional development for state policy-makers in testing and quality assurance in Vietnam. Results show that these government officials themselves actively looked for professional development programmes together with receiving support from their organisational leaders. The research findings also reveal that top-down and bottom-up professional development mechanisms are being implemented. However, professional development policy has not been documented in this government agency. It is suggested that professional development policy aligned with best practices should be discussed, developed and evaluated by agency members and soon approved by the agency’s leader.

Previous scholarship in qualitative methodologies commonly classifies researchers' status in the field into insiders or outsiders. However, the prevalence of participatory observation in numerous social science disciplines has blurred the insider/outsider dichotomy and highlighted that the levels of researchers' involvement in the field are becoming context-specific and far more complex than just insider or outsider. Inspired by this tendency in fieldwork methodology, this paper seeks insights from a theory in communication studies, role theory, to understand researchers' status regarding the roles they adopt in their interactions with research participants. Through reference to relevant sociological and psychological schools of thought, this paper highlights discourse as a crucial instrument for researchers' role-making in fieldwork. This study draws on the author's experience conducting fieldwork in a Central China city to demonstrate how a researcher engages in shifting field contexts by intentionally assuming numerous roles. To explore state-firm relations in local development, the author recruited two groups of research participants: government officials and business managers. The author actively learned and employed comparable discursive techniques in interactions with each group of participants, thereby assuming various roles in different contexts. These findings underscore the purposeful self-presentation and intentional role-playing/change as effective means for human geographers and researchers in extensive disciplines to be involved in participant groups for gathering data more efficiently. Meanwhile, the author's self-reflection also illuminates the consequent impacts on research outcomes and ethical issues due to the involvement of researchers in their participants, therefore highlighting the necessity for detachment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous scholarship in qualitative methodologies commonly classifies researchers' status in the field into insiders or outsiders. However, the prevalence of participatory observation in numerous social science disciplines has blurred the insider/outsider dichotomy and highlighted that the levels of researchers' involvement in the field are becoming contextspecific and far more complex than just insider or outsider. Inspired by this tendency in fieldwork methodology, this paper seeks insights from a theory in communication studies, role theory, to understand researchers' status regarding the roles they adopt in their interactions with research participants. Through reference to relevant sociological and psychological schools of thought, this paper highlights discourse as a crucial instrument for researchers' role-making in fieldwork. This study draws on the author's experience conducting fieldwork in a Central China city to demonstrate how a researcher engages in shifting field contexts by intentionally assuming numerous roles. To explore state-firm relations in local development, the author recruited two groups of research participants: government officials and business managers. The author actively learned and employed comparable discursive techniques in interactions with each group of participants, thereby assuming various roles in different contexts. These findings underscore the purposeful self-presentation and intentional role-playing/change as effective means for human geographers and researchers in extensive disciplines to be involved in participant groups for gathering data more efficiently. Meanwhile, the author's self-reflection also illuminates the consequent impacts on research outcomes and ethical issues due to the involvement of researchers in their participants, therefore highlighting the necessity for detachment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Market segmentation is common across various sectors, particularly evident in China's electricity market. Meanwhile, officials form a variety of geographic networks due to their innate backgrounds and acquired social connections. An extensive body of studies providing insights into the important role of officials' network ties in resource allocation, but little attention has been paid to the impact of this dynamic process on energy resources. Given that energy play a significant role in shaping economic growth, our study complements this body of literature by examining how leaders with hometown ties impact inter-provincial electricity trade in China using a gravity model. The gravity model, which has become the traditional framework for estimating the determinants of trade flows, is applicable to the province pairs data structure in our study. Using data on provincial officials' hometown and inter-provincial electricity transactions for 30 provinces in China between 2007 and 2019, the results reveal that a leader whose hometown is i and current jurisdiction is j significantly increases the probability of electricity flowing from i to j , corresponding to a 53.73 % increase, which indicates that they implement a weaker market segmentation on their hometown. Moreover, the results reveal that this effect only occurs in a leader's tenure, and is particularly pronounced when a leader's hometown and current jurisdiction are on the same regional grid, or at least adjacent to each other, or when the current jurisdiction has higher power load levels. The results of mechanism analysis reveal that China's immature electricity market drives officials to leverage hometown ties for market integration, rather than promotion or rent-seeking. Our findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the broader impact of officials' personal ties. It also provides a valuable insight into the factors facilitating the integration of China's electricity market. • A gravity model is used to explore how leaders' hometown ties affect power trade. • Hometown ties increase power trade between a leader's hometown and current jurisdiction. • Hometown ties effects show a temporal, spatial and power load heterogeneity. • An immature power market drives officials to utilize hometown ties for market integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a rich dataset of mayors and municipal party committee secretaries from 289 prefecture-level cities for the period 1994–2018, this paper analyzes the influence of government officials' educational background, political capital and individual characteristics on tourism economic growth by the panel model. Results suggest that mayors and municipal party committee secretaries with higher academic qualifications and social science backgrounds focus more on the development of inbound tourism. Longer tenure has a positive impact on the overall tourism income, domestic tourism income and inbound tourism income. In contrast, there is no direct positive relationship between officials' involvement in politics in their hometowns and the regional tourism economy. The age and gender of officials have no effect on the development of regional tourism. These conclusions can help predict China's regional tourism development based on the government official appointment and provide practical implications on the appointment process itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advancement of information technology is one of the driving factors for implementing e-Government. Nevertheless, the learning process in government official capacity development is now conceivably conducted online. This research aims to discover government officials' attitudes towards blended learning in a population of 40 respondents of Leadership Training Education or Diklat PIM IV in 2018. This research is conducted with a quantitative methodology approach. The T-test used to test the first research hypotheses. A one-way ANOVA was performed for examining the second and third hypotheses. The result shows there is a favorable attitude towards blended learning among the Diklat PIM IV 2018 training participants. There are significant differences in attitudes toward blended learning based on gender but there is no significant difference in attitudes towards blended learning based on age classification.

Copyright of Revista Brasileira de Políticas Públicas is the property of Revista Brasileira de Politicas Publicas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

ATTITUDES OF LEVEL IV PIM TRAINING PARTICIPANTS TOWARDS BLENDED LEARNING LEARNING MODEL. The development of Information Technology is one of the driving forces behind e-government adoption. Nevertheless, the learning process of Government officials capability creation is already conceivably undertaken electronically. This study aims to discover perceptions of government officials towards mixed learning in year 2018 group of 40 DIKLAT PIM IV training participants. This research takes a quantitative approach using descriptive statistics and Analysis of Variance as analysis tool. The T-test tested the first testing hypotheses. A one-way ANOVA was conducted to test second hypotheses. The outcome indicates a constructive attitude towards blended learning among DIKLAT PIM IV 2018 training participants. Gender-based attitudes about blended learning are substantially different.

The focus of existing studies on land grabbing in Nigeria has been on acquisition by foreign investors for their socio-economic gain, usually supported by the national government. However, narratives on land grabbing by government through the Land Use Decree and the consequent resistance deployed by the indigenous landowners are scarce. The Accumulation by Dispossession theory and an exploratory design were combined with qualitative methods to gather data from 41 participants through a combination of key informant and in-depth interviews and focus groups in Ajoda New Town. Data were ethnographically and content analysed and findings revealed that locals resisted government activities consequent upon their exclusion from compensatory and resettlement activities promised by the government. Displacement from patrimonial inheritance led to resistance, though government claimed it discharged its financial and moral responsibilities. Resistance took the form of violent, economic and civil protests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oppressive Apartheid government policy and laws of the past deliberately entrenched inequality, forced segregation and denied the majority of black Africans unfettered right of access to various socio-economic rights, goods and services, particularly housing. However, after the apartheid government was defeated in 1994, the African National Congress (ANC) became the new ruling government in South Africa and in a bid to redress the past injustices, particularly the imbalances in social, socio- and economic amenities where the majority blacks were excluded, the new government enacted the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. It provides that all citizens are equal before the law and have the same rights, privileges and benefits for the mere fact of being citizens of the Republic of South Africa. Despite this, it is disheartening that most citizens, particularly the poor, indigent and the vulnerable still do not have access to adequate housing guaranteed in the Constitution. This article highlights poor quality housing delivery by the government as the major barrier to the realisation and fulfilment of access to adequate housing. It accentuates that this barrier is intensified because of the endemic corruption by the executive arm of government that have been bestowed with the responsibility to provide adequate housing for all. As part of the solution, the article examines comparative law and international law on the right to access to adequate housing using salient jurisprudence from the courts’ decisions to clarify and ascertain the content of adequate housing.

Objectives Disciplinary liability, implemented in the form of a peer court judging the inappropriate behavior of members of a given corporation, was born on our continent along with the formation of the rule of law. Regulations relating to state officials in Poland were later created due to the weakness of the native clerical corps in the pre-partition period. The first Polish regulations governing the liability of state officials were created in the years 1918 – 1922. The purpose of the work is to show the birth process of disciplinary provisions regulating the disciplinary liability of title officials. Material and methods The work uses a number of unpublished source materials, which have been subjected to detailed analysis. Results As a result of the conducted research, a number of interesting findings were obtained, which became the basis for the development of the presented text. Conclusions Disciplinary law in Poland was born later than other branches of law. Due to the thinness of the clerical corps in the pre-partition period, the disciplinary provisions in relation to this professional group were not sufficiently separated from the entire legal system. However, there were regulations in relation to several other categories of employees treated in a special way. The process of birth of disciplinary law against the title officials began in 1918.

Leading cadres in China are subject to rotation. An interesting form of rotation takes place between big business and the political world. That means one fifth of China’s governors and vice governors have a business background as heads of one of China’s large State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs). How this takes place and which qualifications the involved business leaders possess are shrouded in mystery. Based on prosopographical studies of Chinese business leaders who have participated in the Chinese Executive Leadership Program (CELP), this article attempts to open the black box. The study examines the career pathways of CELP participants in Party, government and business positions. The study shows that 84 of the 261 CELP SOE participants (2005-2018) were subsequently promoted, and 20 of these promotions were from SOEs to leading Party and government positions. In some cases, former business leaders became Party secretaries in important provinces or ministers in key ministries. The article also argues that Chinese business leaders have managed to keep their administrative ranking in the Chinese nomenklatura system. In fact, Chinese business leaders are quasi officials (zhun guan) and form an important recruitment base for leadership renewal. As such, the article suggests that the rotation of cadres within the ‘Iron Triangle’ of Party–government–business constitutes the main unifying and stabilising factor in the Chinese political system.

• We assessed the makers and shapers of environmental policy making in Nepal. • Policy making is determined by the discursive practices of broad interest groups. • International organizations, to a large extent, influence the scope of environmental policy. • Environmental policy making is blamed to be government monolithic and expert-based. • Transdisciplinary approach to policy is crucial to solve environmental problems. Environmental policy is crucial for defining the scope of conservation and development at the local, national, and international level. Because of its broader framework for balancing conservation and development, environmental policy is considered as the concern of all actors representing multiple disciplines, ranging from environmentalists to development professionals. However, the current practice of environmental policy-making is blamed to be government monolithic and expert-based, which ignored the importance of local communities. In this context, we aimed to analyze the architecture of policy stakeholders and actors' constellation in the environmental policy-making process in the global south, by taking a case of Nepal. We reviewed national environmental policy milestones (n = 5) and scientific literature (n = 48) and undertook key informant interviews (n = 25) with seven policy stakeholder groups. The developmental history of environmental policy was reviewed from the perspective of policy actors and institutions. We found an increasing involvement of non-governmental (as well as donor) actors in setting the context and framing of the environmental policies. However, the selection of tools of actions of environmental policy was dominated by the discursive sphere of government officials, experts, and international organizations. In addition, implementation mechanisms and institutional arrangements for the transformation of policy objectives into implementation were largely subjugated by government officials, which in turn obstructed in the achievement of the policy outcomes and led to policy failure. We recommend adopting transdisciplinary policy-making approach to solve the complex environmental issues and development imperatives of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studies in Law & Economics / Studia Prawno-Ekonomiczne is the property of Lodz Scientific Society / Lodzkie Towarzystwo Naukowe and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Opened in April 1960, the overseas port at Rostock resulted from a convergence of factors related to geopolitics, geography, economics and the unique needs and challenges of building a socialist port. Local, national and global pressures played on each other in establishing the port, making Rostock a singular product of the Cold War in the German Democratic Republic. The history of decision-making that went into the building of the port demonstrates the importance of politics in the Cold War, as well as its limits. Although informed by geopolitics, economic decisions in Europe's socialist economies reflected a broad array of factors. This article argues that national and local decision-makers managed competing regional and national interests in order to develop their own economic strategies that functioned on several different levels. Rostock's history highlights the common problematic of operating within and outside of the boundaries that the Cold War produced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Polish Journal of Management Studies is the property of Czestochowa University of Technology, Faculty of Management and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: In this study, the authors examine the issue of corruption in the government institutions of developing countries. Additionally, this study aims to answer the following research question: How do developing countries implement and enforce these anti-corruption policies? Specifically, the authors look at the laws adopted in different developing countries to deal with issues related to corruption. Design/methodology/approach: The authors use the qualitative approach to examine the causes of recent corruption among government officials in developing countries such as Nigeria, India, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. A comparative approach was used to compare and contrast the anti-corruption practices of developing and developed countries. Findings: The findings indicate that corruption is rampant in much of the developing world. On a positive note, the authors have found evidence of actions taken by governments in these developing economies to rapidly deal with issues of corruption. All the countries analyzed in this paper have developed anti-corruption policies and related acts to detect and punish the perpetrators of corruption. Originality/value: This paper provides a greater insight as to how the anti-corruption policies are formulated and enforced in the developing world. Specifically, the authors provide examples of different emerging countries and their approaches to developing and enforcing anti-corruption policies. This guidance can help others around the world to deal with anti-corruption policies in their countries. Although the authors have learned a lot about the detrimental effects of corruption and laws enacted to combat it, the next step is to examine the processes used by the developing countries to develop these anti-corruption laws and policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Nigerian government has made numerous commitments to expanding access to family planning services for its population yet has faced many challenges in implementing these commitments. Foreign donors provide support for expanding access to family planning in key populations. Objective: This study examines the family planning environment after donor funding has ended, including how government stakeholders perceive family planning services and their role in providing them post donor funding. Methods: The NURHI Sustainability Study used qualitative data to evaluate the sustainability of the Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI), which focused on increasing the use of modern contraceptive methods, particularly among the urban poor. This study presents results from in-depth interviews with 16 key government stakeholders, selected using purposive sampling methods, in three cities: Ilorin (where NURHI Phase 1 programming discontinued in 2015), Kaduna (where programming continued under NURHI Phase 2), and Jos (a comparison city). A thematic analysis was employed to identify key themes related to government stakeholders’ perspectives on the family planning environment and sustainability of NURHI programming. Results: Respondents from all three cities highlighted local political leaders’ positive perceptions about family planning. All respondents were open to continued foreign donor support for family planning services while respondents in Kaduna and Jos emphasized the need for governments to lead efforts among all family planning actors. Stakeholders highlighted the benefits of a dedicated and implemented family planning budget line and encouraged continued state financial support. Respondents in Kaduna and Ilorin praised the positive influence of NURHI programming while those from Ilorin reflected on the need for future programs to gradually close-out their efforts to support sustainability. Conclusions: As donors look to transition to government ownership of family planning efforts, it is important for family planning programs to understand and incorporate government stakeholders’ perspectives into their sustainability planning efforts.

The oppressive Apartheid government policy and laws of the past deliberately entrenched inequality, forced segregation and denied the majority of black Africans unfettered right of access to various socio-economic rights, goods and services, particularly housing. However, after the apartheid government was defeated in 1994, the African National Congress (ANC) became the new ruling government in South Africa and in a bid to redress the past injustices, particularly the imbalances in social, socio- and economic amenities where the majority blacks were excluded, the new government enacted the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. It provides that all citizens are equal before the law and have the same rights, privileges and benefits for the mere fact of being citizens of the Republic of South Africa. Despite this, it is disheartening that most citizens, particularly the poor, indigent and the vulnerable still do not have access to adequate housing guaranteed in the Constitution. This article highlights poor quality housing delivery by the government as the major barrier to the realisation and fulfilment of access to adequate housing. It accentuates that this barrier is intensified because of the endemic corruption by the executive arm of government that have been bestowed with the responsibility to provide adequate housing for all. As part of the solution, the article examines comparative law and international law on the right to access to adequate housing using salient jurisprudence from the courts’ decisions to clarify and ascertain the content of adequate housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective functioning of any economic system from microeconomic to macroeconomic level depends on the quality of the professional activity of the state as an economic entity. In this paper, corruption is regarded as a serious breach of business ethics of civil servant developing into one of the key threats to Russia’s national security.

Background: The Nigerian government has made numerous commitments to expanding access to family planning services for its population yet has faced many challenges in implementing these commitments. Foreign donors provide support for expanding access to family planning in key populations. Objective: This study examines the family planning environment after donor funding has ended, including how government stakeholders perceive family planning services and their role in providing them post donor funding. Methods: The NURHI Sustainability Study used qualitative data to evaluate the sustainability of the Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI), which focused on increasing the use of modern contraceptive methods, particularly among the urban poor. This study presents results from in-depth interviews with 16 key government stakeholders, selected using purposive sampling methods, in three cities: Ilorin (where NURHI Phase 1 programming discontinued in 2015), Kaduna (where programming continued under NURHI Phase 2), and Jos (a comparison city). A thematic analysis was employed to identify key themes related to government stakeholders’ perspectives on the family planning environment and sustainability of NURHI programming. Results: Respondents from all three cities highlighted local political leaders’ positive perceptions about family planning. All respondents were open to continued foreign donor support for family planning services while respondents in Kaduna and Jos emphasized the need for governments to lead efforts among all family planning actors. Stakeholders highlighted the benefits of a dedicated and implemented family planning budget line and encouraged continued state financial support. Respondents in Kaduna and Ilorin praised the positive influence of NURHI programming while those from Ilorin reflected on the need for future programs to gradually close-out their efforts to support sustainability. Conclusions: As donors look to transition to government ownership of family planning efforts, it is important for family planning programs to understand and incorporate government stakeholders’ perspectives into their sustainability planning efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Modern Science is the property of Alcide De Gasperi University of Euroregional Economy and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Summary: Mexico is one of the countries with the highest prevalence of obesity and recently declared a national epidemic of diabetes. Healthy food environments have the potential to improve the diet of the population and decrease the burden of disease. The aim of the study was to assess the efforts of the Mexican Government towards creating healthier food environments using the Healthy Food Environment Policy Index (Food‐EPI). The tool was developed by the International Network for Food and Obesity/Non‐communicable Diseases Research, Monitoring and Action Support (INFORMAS). Then, it was adapted to the Latin‐American context and assessed the components of policy and infrastructure support. Actors from academia, civil society, government, and food industry assessed the level of implementation of food policies compared with international best practices. Actors were classified as (1) independents from academia and civil society (n = 36), (2) government (n = 28), and (3) industry (n = 6). The indicators with the highest percentage of implementation were those related to monitoring and intelligence. Those related to food retail were rated lowest. When stratified by type of actor, the government officials rated several indicators at a higher percentage of implementation compared with independent actors. None of the indicators were rated at high implementation. Government officials and independent actors agreed upon nine priority actions to improve the food environment in Mexico. These actions have the potential to improve government commitment and advocacy efforts to create healthier food environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background The capacity to demand and use research is critical for governments if they are to develop policies that are informed by evidence. Existing tools designed to assess how government officials use evidence in decision-making have significant limitations for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs); they are rarely tested in LMICs and focus only on individual capacity. This paper introduces an instrument that was developed to assess Ministry of Health (MoH) capacity to demand and use research evidence for decision-making, which was tested for reliability and validity in eight LMICs (Bangladesh, Fiji, India, Lebanon, Moldova, Pakistan, South Africa, Zambia). Methods Instrument development was based on a new conceptual framework that addresses individual, organisational and systems capacities, and items were drawn from existing instruments and a literature review. After initial item development and pre-testing to address face validity and item phrasing, the instrument was reduced to 54 items for further validation and item reduction. In-country study teams interviewed a systematic sample of 203 MoH officials. Exploratory factor analysis was used in addition to standard reliability and validity measures to further assess the items. Results Thirty items divided between two factors representing organisational and individual capacity constructs were identified. South Africa and Zambia demonstrated the highest level of organisational capacity to use research, whereas Pakistan and Bangladesh were the lowest two. In contrast, individual capacity was highest in Pakistan, followed by South Africa, whereas Bangladesh and Lebanon were the lowest. Conclusion The framework and related instrument represent a new opportunity for MoHs to identify ways to understand and improve capacities to incorporate research evidence in decision-making, as well as to provide a basis for tracking change.

Introduction: Public services conducted by government officials are still weak, they cannot satisfy the quality expected by the public. This is indicated by the existence of various complaints from the community through mass media. Community Health Service is one of government officials and workers use it. The aim of this study was to assessment the workforce satisfaction index in the utilization of community health center in Jombang. Methods: This research is an observational research that applies quantitative method by applying community satisfaction index questionnaire. The data was collected in July 2017. The number of sample were 30 respondents chosen by using accidental sampling method. Results: The results showed that 1) the ease of procedures was poor, 2) the suitability of the requirements was poor, 3) directness of service was very good, 4) the discipline of officers was very good, 5) the responsibility of officers was poor, 6) the ability of officers was poor, and 7) the speed of service of officers was very good, 8) the fairness of service was poor, 9) the friendliness of the officers was very good, 10) the fairness of costs was very good, 11) the suitability of cost was very good, 12) the accuracy of the schedule was good, 13) the location was poor, 14) the security of the location was good. Conclusion: still needs several improvements in seven elements of WSI in the Community Health Center. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent movies have relished depicting nature striking back at a human population that has forsaken her. Films like The Day After Tomorrow, 2012, and San Andreas embrace the apocalyptic destruction of cities around the globe by way of sub-zero hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados, and other natural disasters. Surprisingly, the British theatre is equally engaged (albeit less spectacularly) in exploring the same threat. Namely, what happens when the natural world strikes back and begins to encroach against our established homesteads and populated cities. One of the best-known plays on the topic of climate change is Steve Waters' The Contingency Plan (2009). Waters delves into the growing crisis of rising water tables to low lying areas of England by exploring the effect it has personally on an aging climate scientist and his wife and politically on their son, also a scientist, who is charged by two newly installed government officials with preparing Britain for the looming watery disaster. Eschewing the bombastic Hollywood nature of disaster films, Waters' play is intimately crafted, showing the dangerous and fatal disruptions of the changing natural world, and, more specifically, the negotiations that take place between science and politics when it comes to the unpredictability of rising sea levels. My article examines this work in relation to how it approaches the threat of climate change to the British Isles by exploring Waters' exploration of how politics, science, and family tensions affect the climatic future of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using cross section data of 3 years 2000, 2007, and 2014 for non-financial listed firms in China, this study quantitatively analyzes the relationship between government-affiliated corporate executives and corporate performance. We classify the sample firms into two groups, based on whether their chief executive officers (CEOs) and independent directors are prior government officials or not. Then, we empirically examine the difference in corporate performance between the two groups. We find that the appointment of CEOs and directors of listed companies in China is significantly affected by government shareholders. The results also suggest that prior to 2000 government-affiliated CEOs impaired corporate performance. But with the establishment of State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Committee and the completion of the Split-Share Structure Reform in 2006, government as a shareholder began to give priority to corporate value maximization, and government-affiliated CEOs began to help improve corporate performance. However, due to the slowdown of economic growth after 2012, problems such as inefficiency and corruption brought by government-affiliated executives manifested again, and therefore, corporate performance deteriorated. Meanwhile, government-affiliated independent directors have limited influence on these factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1764, the Bourbon State initiated the reform to the overseas mail system between Spain and America that tried to generate a regularity in the service, to diversify the routes and to promote the incorporation of the overland mail into the State. This resulted in a series of institutional changes to take control of the written communication channels within the empire. This, the new postal regulations fell on several colonial officials (“administradores, subalternos y tenientes de correo”) who had the duty to dispatch of letters at regional, vice royal and imperial levels. The present article seeks to understand the experience and practices generated by the expansion of the absolutist state illustrated on the communicative dimension of the empire in the Colonial Chilean government. From the analysis of the files of the Administradora General de Correos de Chile – both in the Archivo Nacional Histórico de Chile and in Archivo de Indias in Seville – we understand that these subordinates allowed, through negotiations and conflicts, the integration and political communication of the territory from Santiago to the internal provinces, and from these to Madrid. What, in short, installed them as agents of change within the colonial government.