This proceedings volume provides a multifaceted perspective on the unprecedented crises generated by the global COVID-19 pandemic, and its ramifications for individuals, businesses, organizations, governments and systems in developing countries. Featuring selected papers from the 2020 Annual Griffiths School of Management and IT Conference (GSMAC), held in Oradea, Romania, this volume focuses on business, technological and ethical considerations in the process of navigating through a global crisis. It analyzes the effectiveness of different measures taken at individual, organizational and country level and outlines potential scenarios and solutions for the new post-crisis reality. Finally, the book provides diagnosis and recommendations for managerial practice in various industries impacted.

Economic development requires secure contract enforcement and stable property rights. Normal majority-rule politics, such as bargaining over distributive and monetary policies, generate instability and frequently undermine economic development. Above Politics argues that bureaucracies can contribute to stability and economic development, but only if they are insulated from unstable politics. A separation-of-powers stalemate creates the conditions for bureaucratic autonomy. But what keeps delegated bureaucrats from being more abusive as they become more autonomous? One answer is the negotiation of long-term, cooperative relationships - that (when successful) typically bind subordinates to provide more effort in exchange for autonomy. Even more compelling is professionalism, which embeds its professional practitioners in professional norms and culture, and incidentally mitigates corruption. Financial examples are provided throughout the book, which ends with an analysis of the role played by professionalized bureaucracies during the Great Recession.

Evaluation in recent decades has evolved from a tool for project appraisals to a more widely used framework for public decision-making and operational management. Most evaluation books are focused on traditional tools of analysis such as cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis to the neglect of modern tools such as multi-criteria evaluation, social marginal cost of funds analysis, data envelopment analysis, results-oriented management and evaluation and theory based evaluations. This edited volume provides an easily accessible and comprehensive survey of both traditional and modern tools of analysis that are used in the evaluation literature to evaluate public projects, programs, policies and policy analysis and advice. The book will be of interest to students, scholars, researchers, practitioners and policy makers.

This book examines the efforts of the European Union, both past and ongoing, to harness the socio-economic potential of the internet in public policy-making. In order to achieve this, the author delves into the interactions between actors in the process of EU decision-making, using an outlook which focuses on how both multi-level and experimentalist governance can provide solutions for digital policy governance. The book also addresses the involvement of local and regional authorities in digital policy-making, both in how they endorse decisions made at the EU level, and in how they contribute directly to digital policy-making in their own localities.

This book discusses multilingual postcolonial common law, focusing on Malaysia's efforts to shift the language of law from English to Malay, and weighing the pros and cons of planned language shift as a solution to language-based disadvantage before the law in jurisdictions where the majority of citizens lack proficiency in the traditional legal medium. Through analysis of legislation and policy documents, interviews with lawyers, law students and law lecturers, and observations of court proceedings and law lectures, the book reflects on what is entailed in changing the language of the law. It reviews the implications of societal bilingualism for postcolonial justice systems, and raises an important question for language planners to consider: if the language of the law is changed, what else about the law changes?

This book analyzes a range of new developments in various fields concerning the concepts of chaos and complexity theory. The proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on Chaos, Complexity and Leadership feature newly developed concepts involving various research methodologies for identifying chaos and complexity in different fields of the sciences and leadership. In addition, it explores chaotic and complex systems from all fields of knowledge in order to stake a claim of prevalence of compatibility between knowledge fields. Particular emphasis is placed on exploring non-linearity in order to open a discussion on new approaches to and perspectives on chaos, complexity and leadership. Readers will find coverage of important events that have recently taken place in our world, regardless of whether they were social, political, economic or scientific in nature. The book explores diverse aspects of and issues related to the effects of chaos and complexity in the world; discusses the application of nonlinear dynamics in order to arrive at transformational policies; and offers projections of tomorrow's world using an interdisciplinary approach. Though primarily intended for readers with an interest in nonlinear science, thanks to its focus on the application of chaos and complexity to other disciplines, the book appeals to a broad readership.

Social network analysis provides a meaningful lens for advancing a more nuanced understanding of the communication networks and practices that bring together policy advocates and practitioners in their day-to-day efforts to broker evidence into policymaking processes. This book advances knowledge brokerage scholarship and methodology as applied to policymaking contexts, focusing on the ways in which knowledge and research are utilized, and go on to influence policy and practice decisions across domains, including communication, health and education. There is a growing recognition that knowledge brokers - key intermediaries - have an important role in calling attention to research evidence that can facilitate the successful implementation of evidence-informed policies and practices. The chapters in this volume focus explicitly on the history of knowledge brokerage research in these contexts and the frameworks and methodologies that bridge these disparate domains. The contributors to this volume offer useful typologies of knowledge brokerage and explicate the range of causal mechanisms that enable knowledge brokers' influence on policymaking. The work included in this volume responds to this emerging interest by comparing, assessing, and delineating social network approaches to knowledge brokerage across domains. The book is a useful resource for students and scholars of social network analysis and policymaking, including in health, communication, public policy and education policy.

This book focuses on CSR in the public sector, in all its manifestations around the world, in order to consider its application in practice and its connections to sustainable objectives. This book is unique in that all chapters were written by members of the Social Responsibility Research Network. Their ideas have been tested and refined through the feedback given after they were presented at the 16th International Conference. The approach used in this book is based on the tradition of the Social Responsibility Research Network - a worldwide body of scholars that, over its 20-year history, has sought to broaden the discourse and to treat all research as inter-related and business-relevant. The book examines diverse aspects of how CSR and sustainability apply to, and are applied by, a variety of public bodies in a variety of ways. Thus, the authors focus on the priorities of these organisations, in order to consider the extent to which the focus has changed so much that we need to think about new approaches to our understanding of CSR and sustainability and differing effects in practice. The international mix of authors makes this an original contribution, sharing some of the best ideas from around the world

This volume is the first collection in the field of wellbeing studies that places politics centre stage. Through a combination of intellectual inquiry, empirically-grounded research, and investigation across different settings, this book aims to provide fresh insights and develop new lenses through which to understand the rise and significance of the wellbeing agenda. Divided into three parts, it considers how to define wellbeing for public policy; the prospects for wellbeing as a force for political change; and the link between policy agendas and the everyday lives of people. The book explores the key political issues of power, democracy, and the legitimacy of wellbeing evidence in a range of settings - international, national and subnational/substate. The volume will appeal to wellbeing and politics scholars, as well as students and general readers with an interest in these new political agendas.

This edited book entertains a multitude of perspectives on crisis information management systems (CIMS)-based disaster response and recovery management. The use of information technology in disaster management has become the central means for collecting, vetting, and distributing information. It also serves as the backbone for coordination and collaboration between response and recovery units as well as resource management tool. This edited volume aims at covering the whole range of application and uses of CIMS in disaster response and recovery. It showcases coordination and collaboration mechanisms between government agencies, the involvement of non-governmental entities, lessons learned as well as lessons not learned, approaches to disaster resiliency in society, community engagement in disaster/catastrophe responses and recovery, and, particularly, the role of CIMS in response and recovery. Serving as a platform for showcasing recent academic discoveries as well as a knowledge source for practitioners, this volume will be of interest to researchers and practitioners interested in disaster response, public administration, emergency management, and information systems.

This book critically examines the manifest and latent practices of surveillance in the southern African region, using case studies from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Botswana and Mozambique. The book demonstrates the growing role of super-powers in the construction and normalization of the surveillance state. It traces the digitization of surveillance practices to the rapid adoption of smart CCTV, facial recognition technologies and EMSI catchers. Through predictive policing mechanisms, state security agencies have appropriated digital media technologies for sentiment analysis, constant monitoring of digital footprints of security targets, and even deploying cyber-troops on popular social media platforms. The authors argue that surveillance practices have thus been digitized with deleterious impact on the right to privacy, peaceful assembly and freedom of expression in the region. Furthermore, they argue that specific laws and regulations governing surveillance practices in the region are lagging behind. Finally, the book demonstrates how digital surveillance have significantly infiltrated the political, economic and social fabric of Southern Africa. This book provides much needed systematic, cutting-edge research into the trends, practices, policies and geo-political interests at the center of surveillance practices in the region, providing a crucial link between human rights, such as freedom of privacy and expression, and political authoritarianism.

This book offers a defense acquisition perspective that provides action orientations and decision making to increase the value-for-money (VFM) of public-private partnerships (PPPs) through public-private stewardship (PPS). The differing motives of the public and the private sector are not conducive to partnership that leads to optimal outcomes. PPS is offered to practitioners and academics as a solution to failures of PPPs by following the public stewardship tenets of fiduciary responsibility and advancing the public interest while factoring in the additional elements of the private sector. The public values of transparency, accountability, responsibility, responsiveness, efficiency, effectiveness, equity, diversity, inclusion, fairness, and security, among others, can be shared in success between the public and private partners. By establishing shared values aligning with each stakeholder's measures for success, it is possible to devise value propositions for stakeholder decision making that supports inter-organizational strategy, operations, tactics, goals, and objectives. PPS practices can further ensue as the public-private steward utilizes tools of expertise and organizational capacity. The book provides seven portraits of practitioners in the practice of PPS to assist PPP stakeholders achieve VFM. PPS is illustrated using examples in the Department of Navy (DON) and Department of Defense (DOD).

This book argues that contemporary society in general, and public administration specifically, can benefit from more reflexive learning processes through democracy and public involvement. It identifies the most central social practices, dilemmas, and challenges for public management as well as the mechanisms needed to enact institutional change. Offering a model of reflexivity and learning in the face of public dispute, it explores phenomena such as problem solving, democratization, public learning, and uncertainty to address certain tensions in governance theory and practice. Through a range of well-sourced case studies, this book demonstrates how institutions can manage difficult situations by not only resolving the conflict but addressing the underlying problem. It uses both theoretical and practical approaches to observe the micro foundations of political behavior and its institutional underpinnings, and will be a valuable resource for public administration researchers, practitioners, and graduate students seeking empirical studies of learning processes in the public sphere.

This book argues that accelerating action toward sustainability for and by cities and their inhabitants can make a huge difference to humanity's endeavor to recover from current crises and build a sustainable future. It sheds light on cutting-edge concepts and actions toward sustainability that can taken by and for cities and with citizens. In this book, author Voula Mega takes the reader on a journey inside and across cities and highlights efforts toward a paradigmatic shift that reconciles human systems with nature. Leadership, education, innovation, trust and citizen empowerment all play a crucial role for the co-invention of a new model that balances human well-being, sustainable prosperity and the future of the planet. Building on robust evidence and inspired by best practices, Human Sustainable Cities offers compelling messages and convincing advice to all stakeholders who are striving to overcome crises, speed up the path toward resilience and preparedness and bounce forward better.

Austerity was presented as the antidote to sluggish economies, but it has had far-reaching effects on jobs and employment conditions. With an international team of editors and authors from Europe, North America and Australia, this illuminating collection goes beyond a sole focus on public sector work and uniquely covers the impact of austerity on work across the private, public and voluntary spheres. Drawing on a range of perspectives, the book engages with the major debates surrounding austerity and neoliberalism, providing grounded analysis of the everyday experience of work and employment.

This book discusses land and housing controversies in Hong Kong, which offer a point of reference for the comparison and analysis of similar or contrasting cases overseas from the perspective of social values. It enhances readers' understanding of the social values, philosophical and theoretical issues that underpin land and housing controversies, as well as their policy implications. The discussion in each chapter goes beyond mere substantive and contextual analysis, and is explicitly positioned and theorized within the broader context of social values, with a theoretical and philosophical framework for assessing the issue concerned. The book is interdisciplinary in nature, with each chapter integrating two or more disciplines to examine various controversial land and housing issues.

This book presents an analysis of five anticorruption agencies (ACAs) from Serbia, Macedonia and Croatia, exploring the impact of organisational factors and leadership on their enforcement patterns during the first decade of the transitional reforms (2001-2012). Contrary to the conventional theory of agency insulation, the analysis reveals that the ACAs' de facto autonomy was not crucially shaped by their statutory independence, but rather by the reputational management of their leaders. The book draws on a mixture of qualitative and quantitative analysis to document these reputational strategies and how they shaped the ACAs' de facto autonomy. The findings also suggest that that the ACAs' organisational model - defined by the delegated mandate and powers (preventative vs suppressive) - represented a key variable that mediated under which conditions high de facto autonomy can be achieved. The book offers contributions to the study of anticorruption policy and ethics regulation, as well as the wider inquiry into drivers of agency independence, particularly in transitional contexts.

This book examines the nexus between City Networks, multilevel governance and migration policy. Examining several City Networks operating in the European Union and the United States of America's multilevel political settings, it brings migration research into conversation with both policy studies and political science. One of the first comparative studies of City Networks and migration, the book argues that multilevel governance is the result of a contingent process of converging interests and views between leaders in network organisations and national governments, the latter continuing to play a key gatekeeping role on this topical issue even in the supranational EU system.

This excellent reference source brings together hard-to-find information on the constituent units of the Russian Federation. The introduction examines the Russian Federation as a whole, followed by a chronology, demographic and economic statistics, and a review of the Federal Government. The second section comprises territorial surveys, each of which includes a current map. This edition includes surveys covering the annexed (and disputed) territories of Crimea and Sevastopol, as well as updated surveys of each of the other 83 federal subjects. The third section comprises a select bibliography of books. The fourth section features a series of indexes, listing the territories alphabetically, by Federal Okrug and Economic Area. Users will also find a gazetteer of selected alternative and historic names, a list of the territories abolished, created or reconstituted in the post-Soviet period, and an index of more than 100 principal cities, detailing the territory in which each is located.

'The Maternal Sepsis Intervention has had a profound impact on maternal mortality and antibiotic use whilst also reducing hospital costs. The Ministry of Health is keen to explore opportunities to extending the lessons learnt and integrate them in national policy-making.' -Dr. Richard Mugahi, Ministry of Health, Uganda. This open access book provides an accessible introduction to the mechanics of international development and global health text for policy-makers and students across a wide range of disciplines. Antimicrobial resistance is a major threat to the well-being of patients and health systems the world over. In fragile health systems so challenged, on a day-today basis, by the overwhelming burden of both infectious and non-communicable disease, it is easy to overlook the impacts of AMR. The Maternal Sepsis Intervention, focusing on a primary cause of maternal death in Uganda, demonstrates the systemic nature of AMR and the gains that can be made through improved Infection Prevention Control and direct engagement of laboratory testing in antibiotic prescribing.

"This publication could not be more timely. Little more than a decade after the global financial crisis of 2008, governments are once again loosening the reins over financial markets. The authors of this volume explain why that is a mistake and could invite yet another major crisis." -Benjamin Cohen, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA "Leading political scientists from several generations here offer historical depth, as well as sensible suggestions about what reforms are needed now." -John Kirton, University of Toronto, Canada, and Co-founder of the G7 Research Group "A valuable antidote to complacency for policy-makers, scholars and students." -Timothy J. Sinclair, University of Warwick, UK This book examines the long-term, previously underappreciated breakdowns in financial regulation that fed into the 2008 global financial crash. While most related literature focuses on short-term factors such as the housing bubble, low interest rates, the breakdown of credit rating services and the emergence of new financial instruments, the authors of this volume contend that the larger trends in finance which continue today are most relevant to understanding the crash. Their analysis focuses on regulatory capture, moral hazard and the reflexive challenges of regulatory intervention in order to demonstrate that financial regulation suffers from long-standing, unaddressed and fundamental weaknesses.

This volume continues the tradition now established since 2006, of compiling excellent research into the practice and application of community indicators in a single source volume. It focuses on the theme of the Community Indicators Consortium 2020 Summit, as a significant venue for the advancement of the practice and theory of community indicators work. It covers the conference's theme of "community resilience", which is the capacity of all of a community's elements to survive, adapt, and grow no matter what kinds of chronic stresses and acute shocks they experience. In keeping with the practical, "best cases" emphasis of this book series, the editors incorporate a case-based approach to chapters discussing how specific indicators, indices or series of indicators can lead to better decisions and outcomes to help communities adapt and transform in the face of challenges, helping them prepare for both the expected and the unexpected to sustain and improve quality of life, including technology and open source approaches to data sharing and data-focussed collaboration; evolving approaches that use shared indicators to improve overall community well-being and quality of life; research related to community indicators and policy, application, research, and/or practice; and techniques and approaches to measure resilience. This volume is of interest to social scientists, management professionals, social workers and policy makers working on various aspects of community indicators of quality of life and well-being. Chapter "The Cost of Sea Level Rise for the Island Community of Vinalhaven, Maine: Spurring action through collaborative data analysis" is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). For further details see licence information in the chapters.

On 25 September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted Resolution 70/1, "Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development". Also known as 2030 Agenda, the document lays out 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the realm of ecology, society and economy. The current book focuses on three of these goals: SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions; SDG 3: Health and Wellbeing; SDG 11: Cities and Sustainable Communities. It is critical that interdisciplinary approaches go one step further and translate more effectively into intersectoral policies. This is particularly vital when it comes to urban planning and health. This book address the key question: In the context of a growing influence of European Union policies at a national level, can SDGs simultaneously contribute to harmonising sectoral policies and promoting intersectoral policies? Claiming a growing convergence between health and spatial planning, the main goal of the book is to formulate an answer to the following question: how can policymakers translate the SDGs effectively into public policies in order to improve cities, health and wellbeing?

This book analyses the impact of participatory governance on cultural development, explaining why cultural participatory practices can lead to positive sustainable effects or to unexpected and controversial ones. It focuses on four projects realized in the two European Capitals of Culture of 2013 - Marseille-Provence (France) and Kosice (Slovakia) - within the Programme 'Quartiers Creatifs' and the SPOTs Programme. By combining different strands of the Democratic Theory and applying the process tracing methodology, the book argues that participation produces cultural developmental processes only when a certain intensity of trust is reached among the various stakeholders. In the presence of fully-fledged trust, participation activates a reinforcing chain of capacity-building and social capital that nurture long-term cultural networks. On the contrary, in the absence of fully-fledged trust, participation can generate contestation movements or isolated cultural production. Uniquely, the book challenges the 'optimistic aura' of participatory governance of culture, showing its conflicting but always productive nature.

E-government faces huge challenges in achieving interoperability and integration, taking into account differences in laws, regulations, services, administrative processes and languages across regions and countries. On the other hand, issues like service, data and process integration have been researched by the Semantic Web community for several years now, and in the last two to three years we have witnessed the first applications of semantic technologies in real, operational e-government systems in both Europe and the US which address exactly these challenges.

With this book, the editors present the latest research results on how to use semantic technologies in order to improve or even revolutionize the use of ICT in public administration systems. The contributions are organized into three parts: architectures and process integration, ontologies and interoperability, and portals and user interactions. They give a broad overview of how semantic technologies have been applied in different e-government projects funded from the European program for ICT Research and Development, and they cover a wide spectrum of semantic technologies such as development of domain and service ontologies, semantic enhancements of business process models, semantic Service-Oriented Architectures (SOAs) based on Semantic Web Services (SWS) frameworks, and ontology-based knowledge management.

In this volume, researchers of Semantic Web technologies will find a wealth of challenging real-world scenarios to stimulate new fields of research, while developers of e-government systems as well as other stakeholders in public administration will appreciate the detailed presentations and discussions of numerous applications in areas such as e-government portals, personalization of Web-based public services, or integration and orchestration of public administration processes.