Search

There is strong evidence that gender mainstreaming (GM), a gender equality governance strategy, is performing poorly across jurisdictions. While many national and regional governments have adopted gender equality policy tools, developing and implementing an integrated GM strategy requires substantive reforms to existing procedures and institutional settings. The goal of the article is to demonstrate that, in Canada, current gender equality policy using a gender-based analysis (GBA) approach does not feature the same governance arrangement as the alternative GM approach would entail. Using the Canadian federal government as a case study, the gender equality policy instrument mix is examined to demonstrate how different problem definitions result in suboptimal performance. The article concludes that Canada’s current gender equality policy regime only advances the mainstreaming of GBA, and not the mainstreaming of gender equality in general. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Like other policy subsectors, power generation has been affected by the governance changes of the last two decades, including a shift to more collaborative state-society relations. Collaborative governance implies new kinds of public engagement designed to provide both input legitimacy, through the involvement of a broader range of actors in policy design, and output legitimacy, through enhanced feedback and policy learning. This paper compares the impact of “governance-driven engagement” in the power generation subsectors in Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan, arguing that engagement increased the complexity of the policy mix in the subsector without succeeding in providing better feedback and learning. The paper notes a recent trend towards more expert-driven and less collaborative processes, as both provinces struggled to rationalize and simplify power generation policy goals and instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines policy capacity in relation to climate change adaptation in the Canadian finance sector. Through a meso-level analysis focused on the level of integration of the finance policy network and a survey of policy professionals in the area regarding climate change issues, the article illustrates both challenges to operationalizing the concept of 'policy capacity' and limitations to effective policy capacity on climate change in this policy domain. Though a central concern for governments, improvements in policy capacity require more attention to network integration and governance arrangements if governments are to effectively respond to the unique challenges posed by climate change adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Government capacity on the Web is based on external-facing e-government's online presence. The external face of e-government is what citizens, clients, customers, and partners see when they visit government Web sites. Government Web sites expand the state's capacity to collect information and affect behavior, providing opportunities to influence policy outcomes. Governments seek to be the most popular Web sites online in subject areas where the state has authority, spends money, provides information, or organizes partnerships. However, competition over users' attention diminishes government capacity, as the state must compete with global actors. This study examined government nodality on the Wed to evaluate the external face of e-government in five different Canadian policy fields: agriculture, climate change, equalization, heathcare, and women. It is argued that government Web site nodality is higher in sectors with low levels of internationalization and thus, are centralized, are more visible, and thus have a greater impact on policy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public sector reform is a key policy area, driven by global public policy networks. Research on these networks has been inductive, highlighting organizations like the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This article examines 'virtual policy networks' (VPNs) on the Web. Using IssueCrawler, we conduct a hyperlink analysis that permits us to map seven VPNs. The first network mapped the hyperlinks of 91 organizations identified through inductive methods. The hypothesis that the virtual network would include all actors identified in the inductive approach was refuted. The other six networks focused on: market mechanisms, open government, performance, public employment, reform, and restructuring. Among the findings, the U.S. government is prominent in the first three, while international organizations dominate the others. VPN rankings show that the World Bank dominates the OECD. When the inductive research is blended with the VPN research, the OECD's prominence increases, and we see the importance of market mechanisms and reform VPNs as pillars of globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a significant body of literature assessing the influence of think tanks; however, there has been relatively little research on the online impact of think tanks' research activity. Differentiating the popularity of a policy think tank from its policy relevance is an important consideration in evaluating the impact of policy institutes on the Web. This study measures the perceived reliability of information as defined by web-based users. To measure the impact of think tanks' web-based popularity and policy relevance, think tank participation in five separate policy domains including social policy, equalization, climate change, clean energy, and peacemaking/peace building is studied using hyperlink analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]