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The article examines the potential and obstacles of adopting open government principles in Vietnam. Utilizing a thorough document analysis of governmental reports, policy directives, and academic documents, the study highlights significant progress through legislative reforms and digital technology adoption in Vietnam. This country is undergoing a shift towards transparent governance, motivated by its strong economic growth and political development. Notwithstanding these progressions, Vietnam encounters various obstacles. These factors encompass discrepancies in technology infrastructure, cultural and institutional opposition, concerns around privacy and security, and limitations in available resources. Furthermore, the challenge of aligning new policies with current legislation and ensuring efficient implementation presents additional complexities. The study suggests that enhancing legal and regulatory frameworks, digital infrastructure, fostering a culture of transparency in public agencies, building inclusive participation methods, and prioritizing anti-corruption measures will help Vietnam overcome obstacles in developing an open government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, heritage researchers have investigated the relationship between heritage and politics from various theoretical, methodological, and disciplinary angles. While much of this research has focused on international heritage governance, the results have highlighted that we need to reexamine the relationship between heritage organizations and politics at national level. Yet few studies have looked at the instruments used to transact authority between the political level of government and the state agencies that coordinate national heritage sectors. This article examines this relationship in Sweden and Norway. By intertextually analysing governing parties’ political programs and ‘letters of allocation’ issued from the government to heritage agencies, combined with a survey on the perceptions of civil servants, we show how these letters can serve as policy space where transactional authority can be practiced. The genre and political signals in the letters indicate that heritage governance in Norway is more politically responsive than in Sweden, and that governance reform is more successfully transacted through this governing instrument than heritage polices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between governance measures and company performance is a widely debated topic in economics, finance, and organizational analyses with diverse outcomes in the existing scholarly body of work. This study aims to examine the relationship between the share of independent members on the board and the financial return of state-owned enterprises. Lithuania was chosen as a setting for the research because the country has been successfully implementing ambitious corporate governance reforms in the public sector and thus is recognized by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development for its efforts. Within the examined dataset of 27 Lithuanian state-owned enterprises spanning 2015 to 2021, there was a notable rise in the proportion of independent board members, ascending from 13% in 2015 to 61% in 2021. However, no statistically significant correlation is discerned between the share of independent board members and financial performance indicators, specifically return on assets (r (181) = –0.020, p > 0.05) and return on equity (r (181) = –0.104, p > 0.05). The quantitative results are complemented through the administration of semi-structured interviews with a subset of board members affiliated with these enterprises. The absence of a relationship between independent board members and the financial return is explained via a more significant influence of state decisions than the effect of a board. Therefore, the appointment of independent board members alone cannot be regarded as the sole guarantor of improvement in financial returns.

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This article considers the levelling‐up agenda in the UK, examining the Johnson government's original proposals to tackle regional and local inequality and its continuation under new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak following the short‐lived premiership of Liz Truss. The 2022 Levelling Up in the United Kingdom White Paper is notable for the frank and wholesale critique it provides of previous governments'—both Tory and Labour—efforts to address the pressing issue of geographic inequality. The assessment was that a pattern of ad hoc and incoherent reforms needed to be replaced by a stable, long term and system‐wide approach to change. Yet, under Johnson, Truss and now Sunak, policy churn is continuing, with an approach that falls short in following the lessons set out in the White Paper. We provide a detailed analysis of the government's critique of past reforms, the lessons it has set out and why its reform programme is likely to repeat past failings. Crucially, the approach leaves the structure of central government almost untouched, with substantive reforms instead focussed at the local governance level. We argue the government's programme perpetuates the 'power‐hoarding' tendencies of the Westminster model, a key bulwark against meaningfully addressing the UK's spatial inequality problem. We conclude that the levelling‐up agenda, missions and targets are unlikely to be met under Rishi Sunak, reflecting the endemic nature of short‐termism and centralisation of power in the UK's public policy approach. We then consider the approach of Starmer's Labour Party to levelling up and the issues it needs to confront if it forms the next government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notice and comment process, in which government organizations make public draft laws and regulations and solicit feedback on these proposals, is a prominent governance reform in contemporary China. This article examines the durability of notice and comment policymaking by conducting a pair of audits of the practices of dozens of central government ministries and provincial governments. There are a number of reasons to expect that it is difficult to sustain governance reforms in China. Nevertheless, the audits—which the authors carried out in 2014 and 2021—demonstrate that, subject to a number of constraints, notice and comment policymaking was routinely implemented by government organizations throughout the period under analysis. Although the notice and comment process is a durable governance reform, additional research is needed before it can be concluded that the procedure brings more than a veneer of transparency to Chinese policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the practice of decentralisation in a hybrid regime,1 political and governance system. Going by the metaphor of "a lion giving birth to a cat", this article provides an explanation on the realities in the practice of decentralisation and the workings of these reforms in a hybrid regime in Cameroon. The resilience of the centralised state agency in the implementation of the policy of decentralisation is properly explained by David Easton's "systems theory". 2 It describes Cameroon's institutional and governance reality as a complex political entity, highly integrated and resilient to the reform of decentralisation, enshrined in the constitution of 18th January 1996. In its seventh year of practice, this study interrogates if decentralisation in Cameroon is not more of an administrative deconcentration with no fundamental outcome, neither in the transfer of resources, decision making nor any real impact on local development. The paper made use of primary and secondary sources. From these sources, investigations reveal that the implementation and impact of the instruments and structures of decentralisation is handicapped by two factors; the fear for any real competition between them and those of the centralised model; to keep at bay and curb the desires for power from the forces of democratic and political change from reaching the nucleus of the hyper-centralised governance system. This paper concludes that the structures of decentralisation are chambers created to exist in the political power periphery and remained submitted to orders from the governing establishment of the centralised state system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper aims to analyze the innovations introduced in the functions of the International Monetary Fund in the context of the 2008 economic and financial crisis. This promoted an action that aimed to strengthen the surveillance function through the adoption of the Integrated Surveillance. Thus, alongside the traditional conditionality based on an a posteriori implementation of adequate economic policies, a criterion of ex ante conditionality in the precautionary branches was also introduced or based on the economic characteristics of the country to be financed. Concerning traditional conditionality, it will be asked whether the IMF has adopted a less extensive approach than its role.

This article uses theories of public governance to explain the performance of Wisconsin's virtual charter school sector. Specifically, longitudinal student-level data from Wisconsin is used to determine the characteristics and performance of students transferring into and out of virtual charter schools. The results show that students with lower test scores are more likely to transfer school sectors. Regression modeling indicates that students suffer immediate-term academic losses when they transfer into virtual charter schools, and immediate-term academic gains when they return to traditional public schools. The results highlight the explanatory power of modern theories of public governance, but call into question the assumption that market-based governance reforms will produce performance gains. The results also speak to the performance of virtual charter schools generally, and to the possible impacts and lessons of the Covid-19 related shift to virtual education in the U.S. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the innovations introduced in the functions of the International Monetary Fund in the context of the 2008 economic and financial crisis. This promoted an action that aimed to strengthen the surveillance function through the adoption of the Integrated Surveillance. Thus, alongside the traditional conditionality based on an a posteriori implementation of adequate economic policies, a criterion of ex ante conditionality in the precautionary branches was also introduced or based on the economic characteristics of the country to be financed. Concerning traditional conditionality, it will be asked whether the IMF has adopted a less extensive approach than its role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There were high hopes that Gus Dur, after being appointed by the People Consultative Assembly (MPR) in 1999, would bring significant governance reform and more progressive anti-corruption measures for the first time because two top leaders (Gus Dur and Megawati) were from the opposition in the New Order era. This paper attempts to evaluate the governance reform and anti-corruption measures in 1999–2001. This paper argues that there was a valuable opportunity to push for further governance reforms and a bolder anti-corruption drive, as there was a legitimate political top leadership stemming from the free-and-fair election in 1999 embodied in the appointment of Gus Dur and Megawati Soekarnoputri as president and vice president, respectively, by the Consultative People Assembly (MPR). However, the political bickering and blatant competition over state resources for the election campaign in 2004 underlying Indonesia’s former government led to a setback in several governance reform areas, including judicial reform.

Innovation is complicated and understudied in developing countries such as Indonesia, which has run a public service innovation competition since 2014 as part of its governance reform. Therefore, this study examined the dynamics of innovation in the Indonesian public sector by applying the content analysis method to these competi- tions from 2014 to 2019. The results showed the progress of innovation by the increasing number of entries, the variation of public sector typology in winning the competition, and competitiveness. However, some challenges remain, including: the limited number of insti- tutions that successfully participate in the competition; domination by some public sector organizations; dependence on the innovative leader; uneven innovation capacity; and the problem of sustainability.

Innovation is complicated and understudied in developing countries such as Indonesia, which has run a public service innovation competition since 2014 as part of its governance reform. Therefore, this study examined the dynamics of innovation in the Indonesian public sector by applying the content analysis method to these competitions from 2014 to 2019. The results showed the progress of innovation by the increasing number of entries, the variation of public sector typology in winning the competition, and competitiveness. However, some challenges remain, including: the limited number of institutions that successfully participate in the competition; domination by some public sector organizations; dependence on the innovative leader; uneven innovation capacity; and the problem of sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the institutionalization of online consultation, a prominent instrument of governance reform in contemporary China in which government organizations make public draft laws and regulations and solicit input from interested parties prior to finalizing decisions. The article specifically analyses the extent to which online consultation is a durable governance reform that enhances transparency and participation in policymaking. The analysis focuses on the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) and Guangzhou Municipal Government (GMG), leading organizations in the implementation of online consultation. Through the analysis of original datasets consisting of hundreds of policies proposed by the MOC and GMG and thousands of comments submitted in response to these drafts, the article demonstrates that online consultation has institutionalized government transparency but has not consistently enhanced public participation. Although online consultation has the potential to transform policymaking, the evidence suggests that strong confidence in this possibility is not warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental problems, such as climate change, ocean pollution, the depletion of fisheries, and loss of biological diversity, have come to demonstrate most openly our current global interconnectedness. Governments continue to set-up international mechanisms for tackling global-scale environmental problems which has led to a complex international bureaucracy, significant burdens on national administrative capabilities in both the developed and the developing world, and, most importantly, inability on the part of existing international or national bodies to successfully deal with the problems at hand. In this context, the question of the most suitable governance architecture for the scale and scope of contemporary global environmental problems has become an important focus of both policy and academic debates. Scholars and politicians alike have argued that if we do not address governance failures, our stewardship of the environment will persist to be ineffective and inequitable, with little possibility of finding a pathway toward sustainability. Consequently, national governments, civil society groups, and experts on global environment policy have called for the reform of the global environmental governance structure. This paper reviews the most prominent policy options for environmental governance reform that have received attention in the literature, and identifies key points of contention and convergence. To achieve its aim, the paper is divided as follows: introduction, core issues of debate on the need for a World Environment Organization, models of global environmental governance reform, arguments against a World Environment Organization and the concluding remark.

With regard to the governance structures of European universities, changes have been proposed aimed at their democratic nature, the composition of governing bodies, the degree of centralisation in decision-making and redirecting the balance between collective and individual governing responsibilities. In this article, we address the effects of such governance reforms in public, comprehensive universities in Norway and the Netherlands. Differences across countries, even within a relatively homogeneous region such as Northwestern Europe, can be traced back to differences in underlying political visions towards university governance. After an overview of the main features of university governance structures in the two countries, we argue that a specific regional university governance practice has emerged with different combinations of executive and democratic elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of domestic pressure or international prescription, many national higher education systems (HESs) in Europe have undergone structural changes over the last 30 years. These changes have been made primarily to enhance the overall performance – defined as students' access, quality of teaching, and excellence in research – of universities. As such, almost all of these countries have decided to adopt similar policy strategies to foster institutional autonomy and differentiation, and greater managerial steering. However, although similar policy patterns have been replicated, performance indicators are remarkably variable across Western European countries. Thus, many of the proposed explanations may be oversimplifications of reality. This issue leads to our main research question: Which factors are associated with (teaching) performance improvement in HE? This paper focuses on university‐level education to explore the possibility that this association is conjunctural in nature. In other words, when considering the performance of university systems (i.e. teaching), it is important to identify the most effective combination of institutional autonomy, evaluation, internal governance, and public funding. Qualitative comparative analysis was employed to test this expectation on developments (1988–2008) in 12 HESs in Western Europe: Austria, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and Sweden. The results suggest that giving more institutional autonomy to universities is much less important than expected, whereas severe evaluation, generous public funding, and verticalized governance emerge as more relevant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data from English primary school teachers in 1995 and 2017 illustrate the sustained value they place on outdoor learning in a period of curriculum and governance reform. With emphasis on a prescribed curriculum, metrics and performativity, and decreased expertise, these data show the strength of teachers' aspirations and values for developing provision in outdoor learning. Teachers use their autonomous space as curriculum makers to achieve different practices and their 'personality of change' accommodates this non-mandatory curriculum area. These strategies are relevant to beginning teachers and in international settings, to identify how teachers might respond to change and deconstruct their practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social and health-care reform in Finland is a major governance reform and – together with aims to promote using of knowledge along with it – it opens a unique window to observe development of knowledge management in societal reforms and in renewing services. This article offers an overlook to the ambitious knowledge management goals set to the reform and to the new regions that are currently planning the implementation of the reform and knowledge management in practice. It focuses on the needs, interests and barriers related to knowledge management as they appear in the regions. Building this kind of overall view is of high relevance in Finland while the implementation phase of the reform is beginning. The findings are useful to the international audience too when it comes to using knowledge in governance reforms and in multi-actor social and health-care models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The peace-building literature widely frames corruption as a threat to the stability of states transitioning from armed conflict. Underlying this framing are liberal assumptions on the institutions required for long-term stability, to which corruption is seen as necessarily detrimental. In this article, I add to an emergent literature critical of this framing by examining the long-term impacts of corruption on local-level stability in Ghorahi, Nepal. Drawing on a new dataset of 89 interviews, I demonstrate the stabilising consequences of corruption on two key aspects of Nepal's post-2006 transition. First, I show that elite-level corruption arising from the transformation of the Maoist insurgency into the political mainstream has inadvertently contributed to the social reintegration of rank and file ex-combatants. Second, I show how a corrupt elite network in local government contributed to the cooperation between political parties – including the emerging post-conflict Maoist party. These elements broaden the evidence for the stabilising consequences of corruption, which is largely focused on the effects of elite-led patronage and coping economies during episodes of conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The work is devoted to the comparative analyze of the processes of the decentralization reorganization and reform of the public administration at the level of the horizontal governance organization in Serbia and Croatia. At the first part of the work the authors analyze the decentralization and devolution as well as their demarcation in the sense of their related but not similar meanings. The second part is devoted to the historical experiences and genesis foundations of the common state where Serbia and Croatia were joined. The particular historical developments of Serbia and Croatia influenced the present attitude of their political elites toward decentralization. The third, final part/conclusion, is dedicated to a comparative analyses of the constitutional solutions in Serbia and Croatia which are related to the vertical organization. .

Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) has grown in stature as a key component of many national natural resource and rural development governance systems. Despite their growth, the integrity of CBNRM governance systems has rarely been analysed in a national context. To enhance dialogue about how best to design and deploy such systems nationally, this paper analyses the Australian system in detail. The Australian system was selected because the nation has a globally recognised and strong history of CBNRM approaches. We first contextualise the international emergence of national CBRM governance systems before analysing the Australian system. We find that a theoretically informed approach recognising regions as the anchors in brokering multi-scale CBNRM was applied between 2000 and 2007. Subsequent policy, while strengthening indigenous roles, has tended to weaken regional brokering, Commonwealth–state cooperation and research collaboration. Our findings and consequent emerging lessons can inform Australian policy makers and other nations looking to establish (or to reform existing) CBNRM governance systems. Equally, the research approach taken represents the application of an emerging new theoretical framework for analysing complex governance systems.

Abstract: This study focuses on the Government of Bangladesh and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) public sector capacity‐building project under collaborative public governance. It examines the efficiency and effectiveness of a foreign‐funded and multistakeholder‐led public sector capacity‐development initiative dubbed Managing at the Top Stage 2 (MATT2) project, and how it contributed to the human resource capacity development in Bangladesh. A combination of data from Government sources, in‐depth interviews, focus group discussions, participant observation and author analysis was adopted. The results showed the project to have been largely successful, despite some challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Summary: Regulatory bodies often wrestle with the thorny question of whether to mandate a governance practice or allow for organic adoption. While mandates afford rapid diffusion, we theorize that they also result in ceremonial adoptions. Leveraging a quasi‐natural experiment, we compare adoption outcomes for a governance practice—lead director adoption—that was mandated by the NYSE but not the NASDAQ. We find that NYSE firms are more likely than NASDAQ firms to have installed a lead director as a symbolic management tactic, so their lead directors are less effectual. We also find that transient institutional investors are deceived by this symbolic management, but dedicated institutional investors are not. Managerial Summary: Shareholders and analysts often desire to see companies introduce strict governance measures, such as proxy access and independent boards. Consequently, regulatory bodies often wrestle with the thorny issue of whether and when to mandate such practices for all companies. What they might not realize is that mandates may not work as well as they seem. Although more companies adopt reform under a mandate, they do so merely as a symbolic gesture. We look at one governance reform—appointing a lead director—finding that companies who introduce this reform as a result of a mandate appoint someone that is relatively toothless. We also find, though, that savvy investors are not actually fooled by this tactic and will trade out of firms that attempt such symbolic management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a time of great change, accelerating globalization and increasing uncertainty, all countries, whether developed or developing, are searching for a new form of governance that is better adapted to the times so as to gain an advantage in economic competitiveness and create substantial and sustainable social growth. As governance theory is becoming the dominant political theory in response to the change, the values backing the discourse and texts consistent with them have helped revise the theory of government in mainstream politics and were agreed upon by global politicians, scholars, officials and entrepreneurs. When we comprehend governance theory based on the practice of public administration in China, it strikes us how theoretically and practically important governance theory is for rebuilding the intellectual system of China’s democratic politics, searching for an institutional platform for good governance, transforming the public policy-making model and getting rid of the practice in public administration in the process of market-oriented development that is inefficient, or even fails in many ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of environmental information governance includes three phases; providing for oneself, information disclosure, and public service. And then China Is in the transition and transformation of environmental information disclosure to the environmental Information public service. The core of the transformation is public participation, in the whole procedure of environmental information supply decision making, production, and quality supervision and evaluation, etc. The target path of the environmental Information governance reform Includes five parts: improvement of public satisfaction, optimizing Information disclosure, Information quality control, Integration of information resources, and multiple supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governance reform has emerged as an element of the Chinese Communst Party's development strategy in the era of the 'new normal.' This article examines the implementation of online consultation, a prominent instrument of governance reform-institutionalized under Hu Jintao and championed by Xi Jinping-in which officials provide interested parties with opportunities to offer feedback on proposed public policies. The research assembles original data regarding the online consultation practices of more than one hundred central government ministries and provincial governments. The analysis demonstrates that online consultation practices are more developed in provincial governments than central government ministries. Online consultation is more advanced in the disclosure of proposed policies than in the circulation of feedback submitted in response to draft laws and regulations. Finally, online consultation is primarily utilized by organizations with substantial resources, as well as organizations operating in environments not characterized by fundamental political sensitivities. These results suggest that, within well-specified limits, online consultation increases information disclosure and public participation in government decision making and, therefore, holds promise as a Party-led, incremental administrative response to the governance challenges of China's 'new normal.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary China’s decentralization has been praised for promoting inter-jurisdictional competition that incentivizes local officials to promote economic development. The downside of decentralization is that it enables these same local authorities to slow or block implementation of centrally mandated governance reforms, especially when these may negatively affect local development goals. We suggest that China’s fiscal system and promotion system have created mismatched incentives that encourage cash-strapped local authorities to disregard central governance reforms. Specifically, we show that cities with weaker revenue bases were slower to implement new, centrally mandated environmental transparency regulations. Additional evidence points to a bifurcation in development strategies. In fiscally strong cities, increased foreign investment leads to greater compliance. In fiscally weak cities, foreign investment is associated with decreased disclosure, suggesting they aim to promote local development by becoming pollution havens. Similarly, high levels of pollution induce fiscally strong cities to increase pollution disclosures while the opposite holds in fiscally weak cities. These findings imply that mismatched decentralization policies can undermine other important governance reforms, even ones that might be expected to be complementary to decentralizing initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decentralization reforms rarely live up to the high hopes and expectations of the reformers for a variety of reasons rooted in actions and omissions of the governments pursuing it or in the context in which it is undertaken. The paper examines the experience of Zhejiang Province where decentralization was successful in achieving and indeed exceeding initial expectations. The remarkable feature of its reforms was 'performance-based' decentralization wherein localities showing superior performance were awarded additional autonomy at a faster speed while the rest were given additional support to build their capacity for assuming more responsibility in the future. To understand the effects of this unique pattern of decentralization, the paper compares the performance of participating and non-participating counties under five waves of reforms between 1992 and 2008, based on indicators such as gross domestic product, industrial output and local government revenue. It finds that performance-based decentralization not only helped overcome the problem of capacity deficits but also fostered capacity in weaker counties to assume more autonomy in the future. The paper confirms that speed and sequence of transfer of autonomy and responsibilities to local governments are as important as the content of decentralization. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most difficult and under-examined issues in the ethics research of developing countries is whether the establishment of codes of ethics in public service organizations leads to employees’ organizational commitment. This study investigates the link between codes of ethics and organizational commitment, as well as its three dimensions of affective, normative and continuance commitment, in Ghanaian public service organizations. Correlational, regression and descriptive statistics were used to study 228 participants conveniently sampled from selected public service organizations within the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Empirical evidence showed that codes of ethics significantly and positively predicted employees’ organizational commitment, as well as the three dimensions of the affective, normative and continuance commitment of employees. Points for practitioners Codes are intended to educate the general public, and employees in particular, about the mission of an organization, to foster a good ethical climate, and to provide guidance for resolving ethical problems in an organization. To ensure employee commitment to the organization, the codes should be effectively implemented, well communicated and strictly enforced with impartiality; otherwise, the codes will appear merely as ‘cosmetic dressing’ to the organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perception studies of corruption have proliferated in the last decade. However, there is a lingering controversy over the proper us of the outputs from such studies to benefit anti-corruption efforts. Against this backdrop, these paper reviews the theoretical context of the perception studies of corruption and their justifications. It examined key perception studies of corruption at the global, regional and national levels in relation to Nigeria and discusses key issues associated with them. These include controversies around the definition of corruption, methodological issues such as the reliability of the perception approach to the study of corruption, possibilities of cross country comparisons, the connections between global, regional and local anticorruption studies and the issue of how such studies and rankings reflect power relations. The paper argues that perception studies will be significant and effective to the extent that elites and government officials continue to take the opinion and perception of citizens and other stakeholders seriously.

This article examines common barriers to achieving adequate levels of forest resource governance in countries of Latin America. It looks at the deficiencies of the policy and regulatory frameworks affecting forests, the common failure to impose the rule of law, the main factors that constrain the effectiveness of government actions in the forest sector and at the political barriers to introducing reforms for change in governance structures. The elimination of these barriers acquires new importance in the implementation of successful REDD+ programs in the countries of the region.

This article develops the concept of "reign-seeking" to capture the unprecedented collective action of the Thai professional and official elite prior to the 2014 military coup and the establishment of a military regime. It argues that this phenomenon reflects broad and deep political dynamics, for which the dominant scholarship on authoritarianism and Thai politics cannot adequately explain. The changing incentives of these supposedly non-partisan actors are interwoven with neo-liberal governance reform driven by a desire for depoliticisation and the minimisation of rent-seeking. This idea has been rationalised in Thailand since the promulgation of the 1997 Constitution resulting in the rise of technocratic and judicial bodies designed to discipline elected politicians and political parties. However, such institutional reconfigurations have consolidated the incentive for people considering themselves to be prospective candidates to "reign" in these organisations. As evident in the 2014 coup, these unconventional political actors - academics, doctors and civil society leaders - made collective efforts to topple the elected government in exchange for gaining selection into the wide range of unelected bodies. Governance reform in Thailand has hitherto reinforced the status quo, although the article further argues that reign-seekers should be seen as contingent, rather than consistent, authoritarians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The work is devoted to the comparative analyze of the processes of the decentralization reorganization and reform of the public administration at the level of the horizontal governance organization in Serbia and Croatia. At the first part of the work the authors analyze the decentralization and devolution as well as their demarcation in the sense of their related but not similar meanings. The second part is devoted to the historical experiences and genesis foundations of the common state where Serbia and Croatia were joined. The particular historical developments of Serbia and Croatia influenced the present attitude of their political elites toward decentralization. The third, final part/conclusion, is dedicated to a comparative analyses of the constitutional solutions in Serbia and Croatia which are related to the vertical organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governance arrangements frame and direct how land managers respond to the multiple demands and challenges of conserving biodiversity. Biodiversity conservation requires attention to how social-ecological systems (SES) change and can be influenced over time. It is important that governance settings within these systems can support achievement of biodiversity outcomes. Two questions then arise. Will current arrangements lead to desirable biodiversity outcomes, and if not, are there other arrangements that plausibly might do better? However, methods for answering these questions in collaboration with critical stakeholders such as policy makers and land managers are not evident in the literature. The aim of this paper is to explore the use of a participatory scenario planning process to test the efficacy of proposed governance reforms for enhancing biodiversity outcomes in two contrasting landscapes in Australia. A workshop process was used to consider the effect of the reform options on key drivers of change, and thus how these affected drivers would in turn modify future scenarios, and the biodiversity outcomes of these scenarios. In both landscapes, there was a preference for reforms that retained governmental influence or control, in contrast to academic calls for adaptive governance that emphasises the importance of self-organisation and devolution of authority. The workshop process, although complex and cognitively challenging, was regarded by participants as suitable for testing the utility of alternative governance options for biodiversity conservation. Challenges for the future include designing and considering reforms based on what is possible rather than probable or preferable, and engaging participants over time to build knowledge, engagement and trust. The paper concludes with suggestions for addressing these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyzes the role of the Land Commission and the Governance Commision in the post-conflict institutional and political landscape in Liberia. Problems related to land still have a high conflict potential in the country, and are interconnected with different fields and aspects of peacebuilding and development. Bad governance is frequently mentioned as one of the causes of the civil war, and governance reform is a large-scale, ambitious project with a crucial impact on the way the country will be administered in the future. Both issues are highly sensitive and belong to the very core of state sovereignty. The paper focuses on the similarities and differences in the functioning of these two bodies in the context of power relations that shape the current political landscape in Liberia, especially with regard to the involvement of internal and external actors.

By reviewing the ideas of Yu Keping, one of the most prominent Chinese theorists on Chinese-style democracy and a key contributor to Chinese intellectual discourse on good governance, this article has two objectives: to fill a research gap in China studies by examining influential discourse during the past decade; and to shed light on Yu's controversial conception of Chinese-style democracy, which is intertwined with his views on good governance. We find that the discourse revolves around the call to “move China towards good governance.” First, the ultimate objective of China's political reform is to move towards good governance, and not towards what Western social scientists call “democracy.” Second, “good government” and civil society are two keys for achieving good governance, which demonstrates that Yu's basic orientation is liberal. Third, governance reform, constituting a major component of China's political reform, has achieved much progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The euro area crisis has exposed flaws in the institutional framework of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The immediate causes of the crisis have been widely debated — including weak governance, persistent erosion of competitiveness in some countries and easy financing by banks. However, there is little discussion about a fundamental shift in the nature of European integration, which took place in mid-1990s when plans for launching the euro became credible and binding. It was not understood that Europe had shifted from a Common Market Era, during which EMU’s foundations were laid, to a ‘Union Era’ which in retrospect exhibited an incomplete institutional framework. This article reviews the leap in governance now taking place, whilst taking stock of what has worked and proved resilient over the previous 60 years. This is done by means of an index — the European Index of Regional Institutional Integration (EURII) — providing a tool to synthesise and monitor European institutional integration since 1958, and track all institutional reforms since 2010. EURII has both backward as well as forward-looking components anchored on the project put forward in the 2012 Four Presidents’ Report. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article builds on recent literature on political settlements and new institutional economics to suggest a 'good-fit' alternative to the 'best practices' approaches that until recently have dominated efforts at governance reform. It introduces a typology for distinguishing systematically among different groups of countries and maps the typology to four alternative approaches to governance reform. The article then offers a set of 'good-fit' hypotheses as to the conditions under which each of the approaches is likely to be effective. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Official development assistance for statebuilding provided to the Palestinian Authority (PA) has increasingly been focused on technocratic governance reforms that fail to address the root causes of conflict between Israel and Palestinians. A prime example is an emphasis on preparing medium-term development plans despite the fact that the ongoing occupation prevents their effective implementation. The donor community is bound by the Fragile States Principles to strengthen state capacity to help prevent recurrence of conflict. Drawing on publicly available data and government documents, as well as interviews with stakeholders in PA development policy, this article identifies shortfalls in statebuilding strategy benchmarked against the Fragile States Principles. In order to fulfil their peacebuilding mandate, it is crucial for the donor community to address the role of the Government of Israel in governance failures in the occupied Palestinian territory and engage civil society more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PURPOSE THE study aims to examine the impact of reforms of India's corporate governance standards (via the introduction of and amendments to Clause 49) on the capital structure of its listed corporations. Design/Methodology/Approach: Simple fixed effects panel regression analysis is utilized on a sample comprised of a balanced panel data set of 275 companies from BSE 500 index of Mumbai Stock Exchange during the 1999 to 2013 period. The study examines the impact of corporate governance reforms on the gearing ratio of firms in India's listed corporate sector. The impact of stock market development, in terms of increased market capitalization and liquidity after liberalization, and changes in the perceived quality of India's institutions, are accounted for analysis of this data. Findings: It concludes that while the initial introduction of reforms to Clause 49 in 2001 reduced average levels of gearing, that the more recent 2006 increase in the scope of Clause 49 has increased its average level. It also finds, consistent with the literature, that stock market development is associated with lower gearing, while improvements in the quality of development of India's institutions are associated with higher gearing. Research Limitations/Implications: The study is conducted on companies listed on BSE 500 index and captures data only until 2012-13. Thus, although taken across all sectors the sample of firms is drawn only from larger firms, which may limit generalizability of results/conclusions. Recent amendments to Clause 49 suggest that it may be useful to extend the sample period in future research to check for consistency with this study's results. Additionally, the recent SEBI proposal for the adoption of a corporate governance model based on the Anglo-Saxon model may show promise. Therefore, scope exists to undertake complementary studies on the impact of the adoption of UK-based concepts such as 'comply or explain' on the structure of Indian businesses. Originality/Value: Addresses a lack of recent studies of the impact of India's financial liberalization and reforms on financing patterns within its listed corporate sector. Specifically, what has been addressed is the impact of corporate governance reforms, as expressed in Clause 49 of the The Listing Agreement, on corporate financing patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholarly work in the 1990s indicated that the values of civil servants in late colonial Hong Kong were evolving from those of classical bureaucrats to those of more political bureaucrats as the political and social environment changed. Based on in-depth interviews with 58 politicians and senior civil servants carried out between 2009 and 2012, we argue that Hong Kong civil service values have adapted owing in part to external shocks such as regime change and governance reform. Still, traditional civil service values such as fiscal prudence and balancing various community interests continue to be prominent. We illustrate the influence of civil service values in two policymaking cases: small-class teaching and minimum-wage legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of corporate governance and ownership structures on earnings quality in China both prior and subsequent to two important corporate reforms: the code of corporate governance (CCG) in 2002 and the split share structure reform (SSR) in 2005. Design/methodology/approach - This study utilises informativeness of earnings (earnings response coefficient), conditional accounting conservatism and managerial discretionary accruals to assess earnings quality using 12,267 firm-year observations over 11 years from 2000 to 2010. Further, two dummy variables for measuring the changes of CCG and SSR are employed to estimate the effects of CCG and SSR reforms on earnings quality via OLS regression. Findings - This study finds that the promulgation of the CCG in 2002 has had a positive impact, but the SSR reform in 2005 has had little effect on listed firms' earnings quality in China. These results hold good after controlling for a number of ownership, governance and other variables and estimating models with multiple measures of earnings' quality. Research limitations/implications - Future research could focus on how western style corporate governance mechanisms have been constrained by the old management systems and governmental dominated ownership structures in Chinese listed firms. The conclusion is that simply coping Western corporate governance model is not suitable for every country. Practical implications - The results will assist Chinese regulators in improving reporting quality, ownership structure and governance mechanisms in China. The results will help international investors better understand quality of financial information in China. Originality/value - This is the first to our knowledge that addresses the effects of major governance and ownership reforms together on accounting earnings quality and, thus, makes a significant contribution on understanding the effect of regulatory reforms on improving earnings quality. In doing so, it also indirectly assesses the effectiveness of western-style corporate governance mechanisms introduced in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally in Arab public universities, presidents are appointed by government authorities. Recently, in uprising Arab countries universities' presidents have been elected by universities' faculty members. Neither traditional nor self-governance pattern succeeded to modernise Arab universities. Reforming patterns of governance is critical for improved productivity and accountability in Arab universities. Applying the modern pattern of university governance depends on the country's political system and extent of democracy. Arab countries need to establish an improved process of searching for leadership candidates. Improving patterns of universities' governance in Arab countries can lead to improving higher education and research and enhancing competitiveness among faculty members. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Authoritarian regimes, such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), seek to bolster legitimacy by facilitating communications between citizens and government officials. This article investigates the operation of online consultation, a process through which citizens offer feedback on draft laws and regulations. The article specifically examines the importance of demographic characteristics and subjective motivations in the expression of citizen sentiments in response to a proposed revision to China’s health system. By bringing together analysis of the content of citizen sentiment with a survey of participants, the article illuminates the determinants of the tone and substance of citizen feedback in health system reform. The primary finding is that participants who were internally efficacious and democratically oriented were, relative to respondents not possessing such traits, positive in tone and highly substantive in the submission of their comments concerning health system reform. This finding indicates that the health system reform commenting process offered citizens the opportunity to gain exposure to democratic principles and the process of articulating interests. More broadly, the analysis suggests the promise of online consultation in promoting citizen satisfaction with public policies, the legitimacy of the CCP, and, ultimately, stability in the Chinese political system. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]