Global Public Policy and Governance
Lisheng, Dong,University of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China;
Daniel Kübler, Department of Political Science and Center for Democracy Studies, University of Zurich, , Switzerland
Little is known about the political determinants of subjective well-being across nations. The objective of the study presented in this article is to single out the importance of a variety of determinants on the perceived quality of life in China, aiming, in particular, to understand the role and the importance of political conditions. Using individual level data from a survey conducted in Ya’an Municipality of Sichuan Province, our analysis shows that not only the personal situation and the local environment, but also the performance of one’s town/township government, as well as political trust are relevant for citizens’ subjective well-being. However, if political trust is important for satisfaction with life, this is predominantly an effect of trust in local government. In the Chinese context, our findings confirm that citizens’ quality of life is influenced by the legitimacy of the political order, conceived in terms of output-legitimacy, i.e., the perception of governmental performance.
Jingyuan Xu, Institute for Global Public Policy, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
The complexity and multi-level nature of climate change requires governance systems able to manage and resolve conflicts across multiple scales. Drawing on the theories of collaborative governance and conflict resolution, this paper proposes a theoretical framework to understand three types of conflicts likely to occur in a multi-level governance (MLG) network: conflict in problem framing, conflict in benefit sharing, and conflict in capacity building. Using the implementation of the clean development mechanism in China as a case study, the paper finds the three types of conflicts emerged between supranational and subnational levels. The finding further indicates the role that the Chinese national government played in resolving conflicts through reinterpreting international norms, aligning presumably conflicting goals, eliminating the difference in benefits sharing, and narrowing capacity gaps across levels. The evidence suggests an improved MLG should be dedicated to integrating local level interests in centrally dominated policy processes. This study contributes new knowledge on MLG by investigating the hierarchical relations among participants and how authority and power differentials can shape their interactions across levels.
Axel Marx, Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium;
Sukmawani Bela Pertiwi, Department of International Relations, Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta, Indonesia;
Charline Depoorter, Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium;
Michiel Hoornick, Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium;
Tirta Nugraha Mursitama, Department of International Relations, Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta, Indonesia;
Kari Otteburn, Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium;
Lili Yulyadi Arnakim, Department of International Relations, Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta, Indonesia
This paper analyzes the current role of regional organizations in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We construct a conceptual model and distinguish four potential roles that regional organizations can play in the implementation of the SDGs: the translating role, supporting role, coordinating role and monitoring role. We apply this framework to the European Union and ASEAN. The case studies are analyzed on the basis of document analysis from primary and secondary sources, voluntary national reviews and interviews. We show that regional organizations play different roles in the implementation of the SDGs.
4. Global governance and inter-organizational relationships in the nuclear safety sector
Kjerstin L. Kjøndal, Department of Political Science and Management, Universitetet i Agder, Kristiansand, Norway
In response to global challenges the interconnectedness between different organizations is seen as the sine qua non, and one of the most important aspects of the organizational environment is cooperation and conflicts between organizations. This paper aims at contributing to an emerging ‘inter-organizational turn’ in world politics by studying the relationship between the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR), the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the paper suggests that inter-organizational cooperation and conflict are based on flows of information, trust, resource dependencies, and how responsibilities and roles are divided between organizations. Moreover, the paper indicates that organization type and organization size are important to understand patterns of cooperation and conflicts between organizations operating at the global level, and the paper also suggests that organizational birthmarks are important to understand why tensions are triggered.
Chris Tapscott, School of Government, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa
The status of teaching and research on public administration in Africa countries, in many respects, remains a vestige of the colonial era and this is reflected in the epistemologies that underpin the design of the curricula and pedagogies adopted. They have been further shaped by the injunctions of neoliberalism and conditionalities of donor aid which promote normative northern models of public administration. Recognising this reality African scholars and others have, for some time, advocated for transformative models of policy formulation and governance which more accurately reflect African contexts. Commencing with an analysis of the historical factors that shaped state formation and administrative practices in post-colonial Africa, this article broadly examines how public policy and governance are taught and researched in African institutions. It also reflects on the challenges which confront African academics in developing curricula and in conducting research which is relevant to their national contexts. In so doing, it considers ways in which scholars might retain the essence of key theoretical precepts whilst adapting them to local contexts. It also argues for a stronger pan-African focus in the development of teaching materials and in conducting research which traverses linguistic and geographic boundaries.
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