Search

Begin New Search Topic Public Policy

41. Dividing Britain? polarisation and fragmentation trends in the UK

Author:
Bobby Duffy, Tim Bale, Maria Sobolewska, and David Wiletts
Publication Date:
10-2019
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
UK in a Changing Europe, King's College London
Abstract:
-Bobby Duffy, Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Policy Institute at King’s College London -Tim Bale, Deputy Director of The UK in a Changing Europe and -Professor of Politics at Queen Mary University London -Maria Sobolewska, Professor of political science, University of Manchester -Lord David Willetts, former science and universities minister
Topic:
European Union, Brexit, Political Science, Public Policy, and Polarization
Political Geography:
United Kingdom and Europe

42. Who Protects Whom? Politicians, Police and the Regulation of Drug Trafficking in Argentina

Author:
Hernan Flom
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
In many developing countries with weak formal institutions, sectors within the state protect organized criminal activities, allowing illicit markets to thrive. This article posits that how state actors regulate drug trafficking affects the levels of violence associated with such criminal activity. I argue that political competition influences coordination within the police and leads to different types of regulatory regimes. On the one hand, coordinated forces implement protection rackets that contain violence. On the other, uncoordinated police carry out particularistic negotiations with drug traffickers that exacerbate criminal violence. I illustrate this argument with a subnational comparison of two Argentine provinces, Buenos Aires and Santa Fe, during a period in which both witnessed a surge in drug trafficking but only one (Santa Fe) suffered a dramatic increase in criminal violence. These cases show how corrupt states can obtain relative order in highly fragmented drug markets, and how the police shape the evolution of drug dealing in metropolitan areas.
Topic:
Security, Corruption, Democracy, Social Justice, Violence, Public Policy, and Institutions
Political Geography:
Argentina and South America

43. Dilemmas of an Expert Witness in the Amazon

Author:
Stuart Kirsch
Publication Date:
07-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This article discusses two affidavits submitted to the Inter-American court system. The first is concerned with Suriname’s refusal to recognize indigenous land rights despite its international obligation to do so. The second addresses problems associated with indigenous land titles in Guyana. Comparing the two cases permits observations about ethnographic research conducted for expert witness reports, including the need to make affidavits legible to three different audiences, each with its own frame of reference: the legal system, communities seeking recognition of their rights, and anthropology (Paine 1996). I also consider the narrative choices in these affidavits, the political dilemmas of being an expert witness, and the compromises of short-term ethnography.
Topic:
Development, Culture, Economic growth, Social Justice, and Public Policy
Political Geography:
South America, Amazon Basin, and Suriname

44. Can Conditional Cash Transfer Programs Improve Collective Action? Lab-in-the-Field Evidence on Coordination and Social Norms

Author:
Sandra Polanía-Reyes
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This study tests an unintended benefit of a conditional cash transfer program in Colombia: the ability to overcome coordination failures. Participants interact with fellow beneficiaries, which gives rise to a coordination device. Beneficiaries participate in a minimum effort coordination game. Those enrolled in the program for over a year are exerting the highest level of effort. The improvement in coordination is not due to potential confounds such as willingness to cooperate or connectivity. A structural choice model illustrates that when beliefs about other’s behavior are sufficiently high the Pareto- dominant equilibrium holds. The findings support nascent initiatives to influence beliefs through policy interventions.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, Political Economy, Poverty, Communications, Governance, Inequality, Economic growth, Public Policy, and Institutions
Political Geography:
Colombia, South America, and Latin America

45. The Candlelight Mandate & Moon Jae-in’s Inter-Korean Dilemma

Author:
John Delury
Publication Date:
08-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI)
Abstract:
The question of the proper relationship between domestic sentiment and foreign policy is a vexed one. Historically, statesmen and strategists have tended to distrust or disparage the role of the demos in the elite enterprise of foreign affairs. In the immortal words of the then vice president Richard Nixon: “If we indulge in the kind of thinking which assumes that foreign policy decisions should be made on the basis of public opinion polls we might as well decide now to surrender our position of world leadership to the communists.” Yet from even the most condescending foreign policy establishment perch, it is hard to dispute the significance of securing public support for key foreign policy moves. Nixon as president was fully aware of this, carefully stage-managing his most dramatic maneuver, the visit to China in February 1972, in a way that would maximize support back home. And of course, Nixon’s loss of public trust over the Watergate scandal brought about the abrupt end of his influence on everything, including foreign affairs. Nixon’s impeachment, after years of public opposition to the war in Vietnam, strengthened the view in the United States that unsupervised elites were in fact the worst possible stewards of the instruments of national power, and that popular, democratic checks were critical ingredients in wise and prudent foreign policy. Once the public is accorded a decisive role in foreign affairs deliberation, we have to grapple with the problem of determining what “the public” thinks in the first place. Who represents “the public”? How can we assert “it” thinks one way or another? What do we mean by expressions such as “the public seems to have changed its mind”? French theorist Pierre Bourdieu, for example, challenged the validity of statistical representations of “public opinion” based on polling data. Bourdieu argues that public opinion so constructed is an “artefact” of the pollsters, rather than a reflection of an actual thing in the world. Polling data creates a false sense of certainty about public preferences—the illusion of a static and knowable thing, “the public,” where one does not exist. Despite the epistemological limitations and political biases embedded in the art of polling, public sentiment must be brought into the equation of foreign policy analysis. Particularly in a South Korean context, given the highly participatory nature of political culture, it would be foolish to adopt an elitist premise that the public factor can be ignored. South Korean president Moon Jae-in, for one, emphasizes the critical importance of democratic legitimacy and public input in all aspects of governance, including foreign policy.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, History, Governance, and Public Policy
Political Geography:
Asia, South Korea, North Korea, and Korea

46. Salvaging the Sunshine Policy

Author:
David Straub
Publication Date:
08-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI)
Abstract:
Shortly before his election as South Korea’s president in May 2017, candidate Moon Jaein issued his most detailed North Korea policy statement. As president, he declared, he would “inherit” the engagement-based, inducements-oriented Sunshine Policy approach of Korea’s only other progressive presidents, Kim Dae-jung (1998-2003) and Roh Moohyun (2003-2008)1. Moon judged the North Korea policies of his immediate predecessors a failure; Presidents Lee Myung-bak (2008-2013) and Park Geun-hye (2013-2017), both conservatives, had disagreed with key aspects of the Sunshine Policy and suspended the major inter-Korean projects undertaken by Kim and Roh. Moon’s emphasis on incentives to Pyongyang contrasted with United Nations Security Council resolutions adopted during the preceding decade; far from offering inducements, the UNSC had imposed increasingly stringent sanctions on the regime in response to its accelerating pursuit of a full-fledged nuclear weapons capability. Moon also struck quite a different tone than the new Trump administration in Washington, which had only recently concluded a North Korea policy review and characterized its approach as one of “maximum pressure and engagement. This chapter assesses Moon’s North Korea policy, its implementation during his initial year in office, and its prospects under difficult circumstances. It begins by reviewing the Sunshine Policy concept, its practice by previous progressive governments, and the significantly different approach of South Korea’s succeeding conservative administrations. It then argues that Moon and many progressives continue to believe in the basic Sunshine Policy approach, even though, unlike when the policy was first formulated, North Korea now already has a limited nuclear weapons capability and may soon be able to credibly threaten the United States homeland with nuclear attack. It reviews how Moon, as president, has attempted to salvage the policy and how North Korea and other concerned countries have responded. The chapter concludes by considering the prospects for Moon’s North Korea policy and offering recommendations to modify it to maximize the interests of both the ROK and the international community as a whole.
Topic:
Government, Politics, Governance, and Public Policy
Political Geography:
Asia, South Korea, North Korea, and Korea

47. Analysis of the Technical Efficiency of Public Hospitals in Togo: A non-Parametric Approach

Author:
Esso-Hanam Atake
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
African Economic Research Consortium (AERC)
Abstract:
Most health facilities in Togo are poorly equipped. Consequently, the rate of post-natal consultation remains low and varies between 9.5% and 39.4%. Barely half of all deliveries (47.1%) take place in health facilities. In this study, we analysed technical efficiency scores of 139 Togolese public hospitals over the period 2008–2010, and then identified the determinants of this efficiency. Double bootstrap data envelopment analysis was used to draw consistent inferences. We first estimated bootstrapped efficiency scores. Then, bootstrapped truncated regression was used to identify the determinants of public hospitals efficiency. The results indicate that, on average, small-sized hospitals (periphery care units) investigated, had the highest efficiency scores. The University Teaching Hospitals and regional hospitals which have significant material, human and financial resources were associated with lower efficiency. The most significant and robust factors of technical efficiency are per capita income, competition, hospital’s balance, types of contract, and medical density. We found that income constraint and accessibility to health facilities are obstacles to efficiency. According to our results, we can infer that non-competitive public provision of health services is likely to be inefficient. Another important practical implication is that Togo must vigorously promote reform of the management system in public hospitals which regards corporate quality governance as the core. We hypothesize that if subsidies are allocated according to performance, they can positively affect efficiency. Policy makers should consider tying grant revenues to performance indicators.
Topic:
Education, Health, Health Care Policy, and Public Policy
Political Geography:
Africa and Togo

48. What’s next for healthcare in Poland: diagnosis and prognosis

Author:
Alicja Domagała, Christoph Sowada, Krzysztof Kuszewski, Marzena Tambor, and Stanisława Golinowska
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for Social and Economic Research - CASE
Abstract:
The health protection system is the object of constant pressures and difficulties in mitigating them, and even more so eliminating or at least reducing them. Changes are undertaken under the influence of a one-sided political assessment, the interests of various groups of participants or the protests of successive groups of medical staff. There is no professional and fully documented diagnosis of the system, made by independent experts, which could serve as the basis for a comprehensive health protection reform plan, rather than individual, incidental changes that disrupt the system’s already very fragile balance. A well thought-out reform, properly distributed over time, so that at no point does it cause negative health effects. A reform agreed among stake-holders and adopted with understanding of the need for changes, so that it is supported by society. A reform for which there will be funds, institutions and engaged professionals – leaders in health protection. A reform that won’t be criticized or changed when the government changes. Such a reform is waiting to be presented and debated. We begin this process by pointing out and presenting the system’s main problems. At the top of the list of issues that must be taken up urgently we place the problem of insufficient resources, but associated with other activities that are essential to achieve higher effectiveness in accomplishing health goals. There is no single miraculous way of balancing and fixing the functioning of the health protection system. This requires both greater financing, qualitatively and quantitatively appropriate staffing, and good institutions. Financial resources are a necessary condition but not a sufficient one – if there is no staff or appropriate institutions, and these are shaped over years. In this publication we present four subjects, corresponding to that list of the main issues that must be addressed urgently. We begin with the problem of good governance, meaning achieving a decisive improvement in institutional solutions in health protection. Next we take up the problem of the need for growth in financial outlays, with judicious public and individual responsibility. We strongly accent the need for development in Poland of medical and support staff, presenting the problems of neglect and the deep shortage of professionals, which is currently paralyzing the health service. The final text, though no less important in the group of priority problems in health protection, concerns public health and demands that it be properly valued by treating care for the health of the population as an investment in human capital with a measurable and significant rate of return.
Topic:
Demographics, Health, Labor Issues, Governance, Health Care Policy, Social Policy, and Public Policy
Political Geography:
Europe and Poland

49. Enhancing Public Health Outcomes in Developing Countries: From Good Policies and Best Practices to Better Implementation

Author:
Michael Woolcock
Publication Date:
02-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
In rich and poor countries alike, a core challenge is building the state’s capability for policy implementation. Delivering high-quality public health and health care – affordably, reliably, at scale, for all – exemplifies this challenge, since doing so requires deftly integrating refined technical skills (surgery), broad logistics management (supply chains, facilities maintenance), adaptive problem solving (curative care) and resolving ideological differences (who pays? who provides?), even as the prevailing health problems themselves only become more diverse, complex and expensive as countries become more prosperous. The current state of state capability in developing countries, however, is demonstrably alarming, with the strains and demands only likely to intensify in the coming decades. Prevailing ‘best practice’ strategies for building implementation capability – copying and scaling putative successes from abroad – are too often part of the problem, while individual training (‘capacity building’) and technological upgrades (e.g., new management information systems) remain necessary but deeply insufficient. An alternative approach is outlined, one centered on building implementation capability by working iteratively to solve problems nominated and prioritized by local actors.
Topic:
Health, Developing World, State, Public Policy, and Policy Implementation
Political Geography:
Global Focus

50. Services For Children and Family In Istanbul District Municipalities

Author:
Bürge Elvan Erginli
Publication Date:
03-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
Abstract:
The project titled “Analyzing and Mapping Services for Children and Family in Istanbul District Municipalities” aims to produce a comprehensive inventory of social services for children and family provided by district municipalities and to develop policy proposals for improving the geographic distribution and qualities of these services within a framework of the socio-economic differentiation of Istanbul districts. This Bernard van Leer Foundation supported project has been carried out by the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV). There has been collaboration with the Kadir Has University Istanbul Studies Center and the Union of Marmara Municipalities at various stages of the project. This report summarizes the stages of the studies carried out within the scope of the project and discusses the importance and use areas of the interactive website, which is an output of the project, from the perspective of both the municipalities and of other users. After the presentation of the findings and recommendations, the “Stratification of Neighborhoods with respect to Age and Mean Real Estate Values” maps and the “Municipality Services for Children and Family” data acquired through the project will be presented separately for each district.
Topic:
Governance, Children, Public Policy, Urban, and Services
Political Geography:
Turkey and Middle East