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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]