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An extensive literature identifies conditions under which markets and states work efficiently and effectively toward their stated missions. When these conditions are violated, these institutions are deemed to show some level of failure. In contrast to the study of market and government failures, scholars have tended to focus on non-governmental organizations' (NGOs) successes instead of failures. This is probably because they view NGOs as virtuous actors, guided by principled beliefs rather than instrumental concerns, not susceptible to agency conflicts, accountable to the communities they serve, and working cooperatively with each other. A growing literature questions this "virtue narrative." When virtue conditions are violated, NGOs could exhibit different levels of failure. In synthesizing this literature, we offer an analytic typology of NGO failures: agency failure, NGOization failure, representation failure, and cooperation failure. Finally, given NGOs' important role in public policy, we outline institutional innovations to address these failures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper utilizes concepts from a critical social justice discourse on smart cities to identify factors behind resistance to new smart city initiatives from equity-seeking groups. The broader critical discourse is examined based on relevance to the eventual failure of the initiatives selected as case studies. It highlights institutional failure within government-supported initiatives due to the lack of consideration given to equitable distribution of risks and formal accountability mechanisms. It describes outcomes surrounding smart cities in which the benefits accrue to some groups within the city while risks increase for other groups. Finally, we examine the integration of “risk” as an adaptation to the existing practical mechanism of Community Benefit Agreements, for use of this framework to support value sensitive design approaches in future smart city initiatives.

The concept of “quasi-state” is relatively young. It appeared in the lexicon of political science about 30 years ago. Many other words and phrases are used together with it, for example, “unrecognized state,” “state of breath,” “puppet state,” “territory of limited sovereignty,” etc. These concepts are widely used both in science and in the language of the media, political advertising, and propaganda. At the same time, the authors use the above words and phrases at their discretion, often guided not by their most correct definition but by their political preferences. The study aims to systematize the current theoretical basis for studying aspects of the emergence and functioning of quasistate formations. The topic is becoming extremely relevant because of the existence of quasi-states in the internationally recognized territory of Ukraine and its neighbors, numerous armed conflicts involving quasistates, and the inability to solve the problem of quasistates through norms and institutions of international law, instruments of political theory and practice of our country, Europe, and the world. The article aims to reveal the main aspects of modern research on quasistates as a political phenomenon of our time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organisational culture is assumed to be a key factor in large-scale and avoidable institutional failures (e.g. accidents, corruption). Whilst models such as "ethical culture" and "safety culture" have been used to explain such failures, minimal research has investigated their ability to do so, and a single and unified model of the role of culture in institutional failures is lacking. To address this, we systematically identified case study articles investigating the relationship between culture and institutional failures relating to ethics and risk management (n = 74). A content analysis of the cultural factors leading to failures found 23 common factors and a common sequential pattern. First, culture is described as causing practices that develop into institutional failure (e.g. poor prioritisation, ineffective management, inadequate training). Second, and usually sequentially related to causal culture, culture is also used to describe the problems of correction: how people, in most cases, had the opportunity to correct a problem and avert failure, but did not take appropriate action (e.g. listening and responding to employee concerns). It was established that most of the cultural factors identified in the case studies were consistent with survey-based models of safety culture and ethical culture. Failures of safety and ethics also largely involve the same causal and corrective factors of culture, although some aspects of culture more frequently precede certain outcome types (e.g. management not listening to warnings more commonly precedes a loss of human life). We propose that the distinction between causal and corrective culture can form the basis of a unified (combining both ethical and safety culture literatures) and generalisable model of organisational failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article first shows that climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic are typical examples of institutional failure, to a greater extent a serious scenario characterized by government failure and market failure at the same time. To better comprehend the global development of multilateral institutions, this article presents Gunnar Myrdal's insights into the South Asian countries, which he observed several decades ago, as a regional example. In this regard, this article also describes the institutional development of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The development of ASEAN (i.e., the emergence of Asian regional planning) has been driven by an implicit process of multilateral interactions and negotiations rather than an orientation of explicit goals. Given the various big crises and unexpected shocks that constantly threaten us all, the article stresses the necessity and urgency of initiating a comprehensive sustainability policy at each individual country level. Only when each country unambiguously chooses its own national agenda on sustainability can the sustainable development goals (SDGs) at the regional or global level be further negotiated and aligned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The failure of states to take the necessary actions to prevent global temperatures from soaring may be interpreted as more than an act of environmental negligence. In terms of a knowing imposition of harm, it also represents an act of domination. That is, a deliberate denial of rights to a safe, democratic, and sustainable future. This paper notes the role played by institutional power in preserving this system of domination and in shaping the discursive spaces in which carbon energy options continue to be vigorously defended even in the face of mounting evidence of their danger. Yet as signs of eco-distress grow stronger, so too does a questioning of the legitimacy of this power order. This paper examines how youth employ 'communicative power', as the product of a common will formed in non-coercive communication, to counter this domination and reinterpret climate change as the product of dysfunctional decision-making and 'abnormal' justice relations between generations. It notes the significance of these actors' mobilization efforts to societal processes of learning about democracy's better potentialities and capacities to transform society from within (via law). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foreign aid, the altruistic act of sovereign fund transfer, is thought to be a panacea for economic prosperity, along with a myriad of other socio-economic benefits, in developing and underdeveloped economies. The historical narrative of foreign aid as an indispensable tool for economic development is not without criticisms, as its contribution towards poverty alleviation, economic growth, and income inequality reduction is often questioned. In addition, intricate interactions of various factors - conditionality, institutional failure, and corruption - have made measurements of foreign aid effectiveness even more complex. Conditionality restricts aid effectiveness, while widespread corruption and institutional failure escalate the existing problem of income inequality. This seemingly insurmountable conduct has proven to be a daunting challenge, as developing countries struggle to unfasten themselves from the insidious grip of corruption and institutional failure, which is a painfully pervasive dispiriting reality. This study focuses on the historical narrative of the concept of foreign aid provision and attempts to present a synthesis of the contemporary literature on the numerous socio-economic variables that disorient foreign aid's efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a look at hermits, cowgirls, pioneer librarians, information habits, and how networks are changing the information supply chain. The Internet operating as a ruthlessly effective supply chain direct from the cloud to the individual poses a fundamental risk to libraries. Libraries have to adapt, as they have successfully done in the past, or follow the well-documented pathway to institutional failure. Adaptation is difficult and requires a reexamination of core values and the processes by which those values are implemented, including questioning the concept of what constitutes research, information, and customer service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The continued advance of global value chains as the mode of production for an increasing number of goods and services has impacted considerably on the economies and societies both of the developed world and the emerging economies. Although there have been many efforts at reform there is evidence of unresolved dilemmas of human rights, environmental issues and ethical dilemmas in the operation of the global value chain. This paper focuses on the role and performance of Apple Inc in the global value chain in Asia. Apple is the most successful corporation on earth measured in financial terms and yet has failed to find a solution to recurrent employment and environmental problems occurring in plants manufacturing Apple components. This analysis informs the current theoretical debate on the development of the global value chain and the continuing institutional failure that leaves employees vulnerable and the environment neglected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The way in which the news media frame child sexual abuse can influence public perception. This content analysis of the child sexual abuse coverage of eight national news organizations in the United States from 2002 to 2012 includes the two dominant events of the Catholic Church and Pennsylvania State University child sexual abuse scandals. Census and systematic stratified sampling techniques were applied to articles obtained from the Lexis/Nexis Academic database, resulting in a sample of 503 articles. Intercoder reliability was ensured by double coding a randomly selected sample. Study findings indicate a shift in the attribution of responsibility of child sexual abuse among news organizations over the past decade from an individual-level problem with individual-level solutions to a societal-level problem with institutional culpability. Nevertheless, individual-level solutions continue to be framed as the best possible solution. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Económicas CUC is the property of Corporacion Universidad de la Costa, CUC 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.)

The dominant paradigm in disaster risk reduction (DRR) policies has been seriously contested because of its reliance on interventions based on technocratic expertise. In the Mexican context, the influence of informal practices such as clientelism and cartelisation of the political system produces environmental degradation and vulnerability to disasters within the communities in the study site. This paper contributes to understanding of failed institutional processes and parallel practices that intensify vulnerability to disasters by contrasting the discourses of agents within a peri-urban community in central Mexico. Employing the Situational Analysis Approach as a methodological framework, the study identifies divergent views and practices within the community, leading to different responses to disasters and to different perceptions regarding institutional performance. In addition, it finds that institutional decision-making, based only on scientific and technical expertise, has resulted in unintended consequences that influence ongoing vulnerability to floods in the site under review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The invasion by another of a child’s inner self causes greater damage to the soul than perhaps any other type of abuse. Each year an estimated 90,000 children are victims of child sexual abuse. Many social institutions that are designed to help in healthy child development have failed to protect children from sexual abuse. The Black church is a major institution within the African American community that provides a plethora of supports for the community. However, it has also come under recent scrutiny for its failure to protect its children from sexual predators from within. The authors of this article discuss the role of the Black church, give theories to explain child sexual molestation, and make recommendations to church leaders and others for prevention and intervention of this problem. Implications for churches, human service providers, and research are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Economics / Ekonomija is the property of Rifin d.o.o. 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.)

In 1993, Freudenburg suggested the term “recreancy” to refer to behaviors associated with institutional failures, which he distinguished from the consequences of such failures. This article revisits issues related to recreancy associated with the 1989Exxon Valdezoil spill. Using qualitative data collected in Cordova, Alaska, between 2002 and 2010, we examine notions about recreancy and technological disasters. Findings highlight perceptions of institutional failures associated with the spill and cleanup activities, providing insights into the social consequences of such failures for those most directly affected by them, including loss of ontological security, the emergence of corrosive communities, and diminished social capital. We extend the discussion about recreancy to include organizational processes intended to address economic, social, and environmental consequences of technological disasters. Our data reveal a persistence of beliefs about recreancy associated with theExxon Valdezoil spill and the subsequent litigation, and their consequences for long-term community impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to research on the sociology of scandal and the role of national newspapers and, more particularly, newspaper editorials in setting the agenda for public debate around police accountability and miscarriages of justice. In previous work, we analysed how citizen journalism framed news coverage of the policing of the G20 Summit, London 2009, and the death of Ian Tomlinson (Greer and McLaughlin 2010). In this article, we consider the next stage of the Ian Tomlinson case. Our empirical focus is the controversy surrounding the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decision not to prosecute the police officer filmed striking Tomlinson shortly before he collapsed and died. We illustrate how the press's relentless agenda-setting around ‘institutional failure’, initially targeted at the Metropolitan Police Service, expanded to implicate a network of criminal justice institutions. The Tomlinson case offers insights into the shifting nature of contemporary relations between the British press and institutional power. It is a paradigmatic example of a politically ambitious form of ‘attack journalism’, the scope of which extends beyond the criminal justice system. In a volatile information-communications marketplace, journalistic distrust of institutional power is generating a ‘press politics of outrage’, characterized by ‘scandal amplification’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An effective economic system enlists the co-operation of all production factors, increasing welfare and reducing transactions costs. The co-ordination mechanism is activated through decentralisation that shifts decisions on resource control from a higher to a lower level in the institutional hierarchy. Failure to incorporate successful decentralisation into the structure of socialist economies ultimately leads to collapse. Real socialism collapsed because it did not involve decentralisation. Worker-managed socialism collapsed because of its own inherent contradictions and the absence of properly functioning decentralised price mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines residential property development in the Chinese cities of Harbin and Shanghai in 2001–07. It reveals that development firms generally only built one residential development during the study period, which contrasts with the situation in most developed countries, where large, established firms engage in numerous projects. This finding appears to contradict theories on economies of scale, brand names and reputation. It is argued that institutional failure may be largely responsible for the business practices observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper approaches the biggest constructional catastrophe in Polish history. Article focuses on conditions and causes of crises. Conditions refer to: biophysical factors, natural and technical ones, different institutional rules acting in variable spheres of life, as well as various characteristics of community. All of them create context of actions of human beings. Those conditions combined with intentional, rationally bounded and opportunistic individual, transform into causes of social events (positive and negative). Catastrophe in Chorzów-Katowice was a result of all of those elements mentioned above. New institutional approach used in this paper seems to be the most productive to explain and understand different social crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper examines why market and government institutions failed to prevent over fishing in the Southern Gulf snow crab fishery, whereas non-market institutions succeeded. A general conclusion is that the institutional environment in which economic behaviour must be coordinated for successful fisheries management is complex. More specifically, collective action dilemmas arise from the interdependency of human and fish species interactions. However, successful institutions are capable of resolving these dilemmas when they achieve credible commitment. Coordination mechanisms such as co-management contracts, horizontal patterns of communication and win–win negotiations all contribute to building an institutional arrangement in which participants are motivated to comply with conservation objectives. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]