scholarly journals Balancing Governance Capacity and Legitimacy: How the Norwegian Government Handled the COVID ‐19 Crisis as a High Performer

2020 ◽  
Vol 80 (5) ◽  
pp. 774-779 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Christensen ◽  
Per Lægreid
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla De Laurentis ◽  
Peter J. G. Pearson

Abstract Background The paper explores how regional actors engage with energy systems, flows and infrastructures in order to meet particular goals and offers a fine-tuned analysis of how differences arise, highlighting the policy-relevant insights that emerge. Methods Using a novel framework, the research performs a comparative case study analysis of three regions in Italy and two of the devolved territories of the UK, Wales and Scotland, drawing on interviews and documentary analysis. Results The paper shows that acknowledging the socio-materialities of renewable energy allows a fine-tuned analysis of how institutions, governance and infrastructure can enable/constrain energy transitions and policy effectiveness at local and regional levels. The heuristic adopted highlights (i) the institutions that matter for renewable energy and their varied effects on regional renewable energy deployment; (ii) the range of agencies involved in strategically establishing, contesting and reproducing institutions, expectations, visions and infrastructure as renewable energy deployment unfolds at the regional level and (iii) the nature and extent of infrastructure requirements for and constraints on renewable energy delivery and how they affect the regional capacity to shape infrastructure networks and facilitate renewable energy deployment. The paper shows how the regions investigated developed their institutional and governance capacity and made use of targets, energy visions and spatial planning to promote renewable energy deployment. It shows that several mediating factors emerge from examining the interactions between regional physical resource endowments and energy infrastructure renewal and expansion. The analysis leads to policy-relevant insights into what makes for renewable energy deployment. Conclusion The paper contributes to research that demonstrates the role of institutional variations and governance as foundations for geographical differences in the adoption of renewable energy, and carries significant implications for policy thinking and implementation. It shows why and how policy-makers need to be more effective in balancing the range of goals/interests for renewable energy deployment with the peculiarities and specificities of the regional contexts and their infrastructures. The insights presented help to explain how energy choices and outcomes are shaped in particular places, how differences arise and operate in practice, and how they need to be taken into account in policy design, policy-making and implementation.


Author(s):  
Ruijian Liu ◽  
Fangcheng Tang ◽  
Yuhan Wang ◽  
Shaofang Zheng

AbstractIn the new era, the key measure to accelerate the construction of smart city, so as to promote the modernization of urban governance system and governance capacity, is to establish a good urban innovation ecosystem, and guide its continuous evolution to the direction of the highest efficiency and the best performance. Focusing on solving the practical problem of “how the urban innovation ecosystem evolves”, this paper develops a NK algorithm using BP neural network and DEMATEL method. First, through literature research, constructing the urban innovation ecosystem including five subsystems of innovation talents, innovation subjects, innovation resources, innovation environment and innovation network. Then, taking Beijing as an example, the weights and the number of epistatic relationships of each subsystem in its innovation ecosystem are calculated by BP neural network and DEMATEL method, and the NK model is modified; on this basis, the fitness values corresponding to different states of the system are calculated using MATLAB software, and the optimal evolution path of Beijing innovation ecosystem is determined through the comparison of 100,000 simulation results. The results show that the optimal evolution path of Beijing's innovation ecosystem is to create a favorable environment and culture for innovation first; then increase the input of innovation resources; and then promote the development of innovation network assets; on this basis, cultivate, attract and retain innovative talents; and finally strengthen the construction of innovation subjects.


Author(s):  
Outi Donovan

Abstract Much has been written on the 2011 intervention in Libya and its implications to the R2P principle, but we know less about the lived experience of protection in a context where the post-intervention responsibility for protecting civilians was quickly transferred to the interim authorities who had limited governance capacity. This has resulted in ‘localised protection’ where militias, tribal elders, and family members constitute the main actors providing protection to their respective communities. Although this is in line with the growing emphasis on local ownership underwriting UN and donor discourse, a troubling upshot of the localised protection is that it often disempowers, and at times subjects the protected to further insecurity and violence. The aim of this analysis is to explore this dynamic of protection and insecurity. I draw on feminist theorising of the masculine protection logic and argue that civilians in Libya negotiate multiple, gendered protection bargains that often produce perverse outcomes, by subjecting the ‘protected’ to renewed or increased insecurities, rather than reducing them.


2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 84-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Hibbert ◽  
Faisal Saeed ◽  
Natalie Taylor ◽  
Robyn Clay-Williams ◽  
Teresa Winata ◽  
...  

Abstract This paper examines the principles of benchmarking in healthcare and how benchmarking can contribute to practice improvement and improved health outcomes for patients. It uses the Deepening our Understanding of Quality in Australia (DUQuA) study published in this Supplement and DUQuA’s predecessor in Europe, the Deepening our Understanding of Quality improvement in Europe (DUQuE) study, as models. Benchmarking is where the performances of institutions or individuals are compared using agreed indicators or standards. The rationale for benchmarking is that institutions will respond positively to being identified as a low outlier or desire to be or stay as a high performer, or both, and patients will be empowered to make choices to seek care at institutions that are high performers. Benchmarking often begins with a conceptual framework that is based on a logic model. Such a framework can drive the selection of indicators to measure performance, rather than their selection being based on what is easy to measure. A Donabedian range of indicators can be chosen, including structure, process and outcomes, created around multiple domains or specialties. Indicators based on continuous variables allow organizations to understand where their performance is within a population, and their interdependencies and associations can be understood. Benchmarking should optimally target providers, in order to drive them towards improvement. The DUQuA and DUQuE studies both incorporated some of these principles into their design, thereby creating a model of how to incorporate robust benchmarking into large-scale health services research.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 256-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maximilian S. T. Wanner

Many suggestions have been made on what motivates countries to expand their measures for disaster risk reduction (DRR), including the frequency and severity of natural hazards, accountability mechanisms, and governance capacity. Despite the fact that theoretical arguments have been developed and evidence collected from small-scale case studies, few studies have attempted to explain the substantial variation in the adoption of DRR measures across countries. This study combines available data on DRR measures, natural hazard events, governance, and socioeconomic characteristics to provide a systematic assessment of the changes that have occurred in the state of DRR at the national level. In line with theoretical explanations, there are indeed associations between several measures of frequency and severity and the development of DRR status. Additionally, voice and accountability mechanisms, as well as development aid, might facilitate positive change. Although these first results of a global comparative study on change in DRR have to be taken cautiously, it is a step forward to understanding the drivers of change at the national level.


2021 ◽  
Vol 235 ◽  
pp. 02068
Author(s):  
Qiang Li ◽  
Kejin Liu

Deepening the reform of the cultural system and promoting the all-round prosperity of cultural undertakings and the rapid development of the cultural industry are vital to the realization of the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, to the overall layout of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Public cultural services refer to the public cultural facilities, cultural products, cultural activities and other related services provided by the government with the participation of social forces for the main purpose of meeting the basic cultural needs of citizens. Hangzhou Xiacheng District is the first community public cultural service performance evaluation mechanism in China, which provides a sample for modern public cultural services in urban communities across the country, and also provides exemplary experience for promoting the modernization of community governance system and governance capacity. This study uses innovative evaluation methods to make an empirical analysis of community governance capacity in Xiacheng District of Hangzhou, and tries to find the reasonable calculation method


2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 185-232
Author(s):  
Tahnee Lisa Prior

Abstract We often mistakenly assume that institutional design will remain effective indefinitely. Complex long-term environmental challenges illuminate the disparity between institutions and state boundaries. While globalization has challenged monocentrism, we must look beyond traditional measures and design resilient governance systems, such as polycentric governance, that combine trust and local expertise in small-scale governance with the governance capacity of large-scale systems. These harness globalization’s benefits and provide solutions for the effects of ecosystem changes. This work examines the lessons – benefits, challenges, limitations, and unanswered questions – that may be learned from polycentric governance in the case of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in the Arctic, where a polycentric political system has developed as a result of a mismatch in environmental, jurisdictional, and temporal scales. Section One examines characteristics of polycentricity, focusing on actors, multilevel governance, degree of formality, and the nature of interactions. Section Two concentrates on the tools utilized. Section Three applies the outlined framework. Finally, Section Four examines three lessons that global environmental governance may learn from the case study: (1) Peak organizations are effective tools for managing polycentricity, allowing for the inclusion of non-state actors, such as indigenous peoples organizations (2) and epistemic communities (3), in bridging the human-environment nexus.


Author(s):  
Nataliya Stoyanets ◽  
Zetao Hu ◽  
Junmin Chen ◽  
Lichen Niu

The evaluation of rural governance capacity is a crucial part of studying the economic and social development of rural areas in the Henan Province. Based on the theory of social structure, this article studies the rural governance capacity. We construct a governance capacity evaluation indicator system from the perspective of social structure theory and use the entropy weight method TOPSIS evaluation model to calculate indicator weight and governance ability score of every township. The results illustrate that the overall governance capacity score is low, and there are differences among regions. The weights, which are different among different governance agents, provide a certain guidance for effectively improving governance capabilities. This study will offer a reference for the assessment of the governance of rural areas in Henan or in areas with similar economic and social development to the Henan region.


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