Ethics and Integrity Training for Czech Public Officials

The purpose of the contribution is to present a newly designed training programme for public administrators in ethics and integrity. The programme was developed based on a broad empirical research among public administrators at the central and local levels of public administration aiming at identification of core values, major ethical issues, attitudes, and ethics instruments in place on the one hand and the training needs of civil servants and other public administrators on the other hand. Attention was paid to differences among rank-and-file administrators and managers and to differences between men and women where relevant.

Young People as Transformative Citizens Fighting Climate Change

The government of Indonesia has launched environmental policies to address the risks of climate change at the national to local levels and involves all elements of development: economy and business, education, environment and forestry, and transportation. In fact, behavioral change is seen as unsustainable, particularly in people's everyday lives. As this problem emerges, Indonesian young people through youth-led environmental organizations hold environmental activities to alternatively introduce and educate communities and schools to recognize and identity climate change impacts. The author then presents two successful youth organizations: Greenpeace Youth Indonesia (GYI) and the Indonesian Students Climate Forum (ICSF). GYI's actions are more stirred with Greenpeace's ideology, which focuses on direct campaigns, protest, and young activist mobilization, while ICSF's repertoires for mitigating climate changes are more community schools-based educational outreach. Although both of them are distinct in nature, their works have been transformative and applicable.

Direct Democracy Practices of Local Authorities in Turkey

Direct democracy, an early form of democracy, which was applied in city states of ancient Athens, is at the agenda of politics again, especially at local levels due to the limitations of the representative democracy. People do not want to voice their ideas about the cities or countries where they live just once in four or five years by casting their votes in the ballot box. They desire to be involved in decision-making mechanisms, at least for relatively more important issues that might have direct effect over their lives. Today, more local governments are applying direct democracy tools in line with the expectations of local residents and as a requirement of the local governance principle of participation. Of course, as it is the case in representative democracy, direct democracy, which aims civic engagement for each significant decision, has some limitations. This chapter will explore the implementation of direct democracy by municipalities in Turkey, with all its variation, sources of motivation, opportunities, and challenges.

Integrated Water Resource Management, Sustainability, and Pollution Abatement in Malawi

With the introduction of IWRM, local government institutions are expected to control water-related pollution, which is often associated with new water resource management, supply, and sanitation responsibilities devolved to them as part of decentralisation. The aim of this study was to look into eco-efficiency, environmental performance, physical scarcity and economic scarcity trends, sustainable variables, and externalities associated with the introduction of IWRM in Malawi. Focus group discussions and interviews were conducted with policymakers and households in Ntcheu, Mangochi, and Balaka. Findings confirmed that the challenges local levels of government face in managing water infrastructure and formulation of pollution control measures are a result of the fact that adoption of IWRM happened without any readiness to do so, especially in terms of water-related pollution control.

Achieving sustainable development goals at local levels

Purpose: This study aims to assess the effectiveness of open budget meeting as a means of ensuring public participation in the budget making process at local government bodies in Bangladesh’s Sylhet region, and also compares the extent of public participation among urban local government and rural local government bodies.Methodology: This study followed both quantitative and qualitative approach conducting a social survey. Among 13 Upazilas of Sylhet district in Bangladesh, Kanaighat upazila was selected randomly. The study was conducted at Kanaighat paurashava and Satbak union. Findings: This study reveals that the most of the people participate in open budget meeting with a motive to get some personal benefits. Moreover, a few elected officials prefer not to involve the general public in the OBM, considering public participation as a source of disruption.Research limitations: Sample size is a limitation of this study. Due to Covid-19 situation, a larger sample could not be collected. Additionally, the study covers only one district, out of 64 districts in Bangladesh.Practical implications: This study suggests that the government and local bodies may take appropriate measures to enhance citizen’s capacity as well as access to information regarding budget making process for the purpose of ensuring inclusive and participatory decision making at OBM in Bangladesh’s local government bodies, leading to achieving SDG 16.7 declared by the United Nations. Originality/value: This is an original study conducted in Sylhet district of Bangladesh. The study findings confirm similar findings elsewhere in the world.

Measuring tourism success: alternative considerations

PurposeThe study aims to explore the possibility of redefining success in tourism and measuring such a phenomenon by considering alternatives to economic factors, and to identify the ways such measurement could be implemented.Design/methodology/approachThe study reviews and explains current approaches to defining and measuring success in tourism in the literature, followed by identification of alternative factors which could be measured and the implications of such a change in approach.FindingsThere has been a long-standing emphasis and priority placed on measuring tourism at the national level with a focus on economic criteria, and this has been followed at regional and local levels. The result has been that success has become equated with volume, supporting the aim of continued growth in tourism. Such an approach and attitude mitigate against achieving or moving towards sustainability, and other measures are needed to avoid problems such as overtourism.Originality/valueThere has been little discussion of moving to a wider range of indicators of success in tourism, and the previous focus has been on economic criteria and competitiveness as shown by tourist numbers. This paper presents a discussion of an alternative approach, showing that tourism stakeholders from national to local levels need to redefine success as including factors such as community and environmental well-being and focus on a wider concept of success. Using existing data and organisations would enable measuring such concepts to be done without major change or greatly increased costs to agencies.

Evaluation of the Relationship of Democracy and Governance

Economic, social, political and technological developments have greatly influenced the field of public administration, and new paradigms have been introduced accordingly. Governance, one of these approaches, deals with controversial issues such as changing the state-citizen relationship, strengthening democracy, improving the service provision capacity of the government, and the rule of law, and are discussed at global, national and local levels. Within the scope of this study, the effect of governance on democracy is investigated. Accordingly, the theoretical claim that governance has an impact on democracy is tested with an empirical analysis using quantitative data. In order to test this claim, democracy and governance indices are analysed statistically. Based on these data, various correlation and regression analyses can be made. As a result, it has been determined that governance has a very high effect on democracy. Moreover, there is a high level of correlation and effect between the sub-dimensions of both indices.

Policy and Linkages in the Application of a One Health System for Reporting and Controlling African Trypanosomiasis and Other Zoonotic Diseases in Zambia

The capacity to detect, control and manage emerging and re-emerging zoonotic diseases in Africa has been limited by a lack of utilisation of available reporting structures and policies to support programmes at national and local levels. This study explored the impact of the Zambian government policies on animal and human disease reporting and management and on One Health opportunities. An in-depth review and analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in the existing policies and reporting structures in the departments responsible for Veterinary Services, Health, and Wildlife, was conducted. According to our findings, sub-optimal implementation of existing policies related to the control of zoonotic diseases was impacting disease reporting, and reporting structures play an important role in effective and sustainable reporting of zoonotic diseases. Further, the study explored capacities and strategies in trypanosomiasis control as a case study that could prompt effective adoption of a One Health approach, and as such, the study suggests measures that could help to assess the performance of a One Health system in the control of African trypanosomiasis and other zoonotic diseases.

Conservation and Evolution of Marine and Coastal Ecosystems: Polar Factor

The paper presents an analysis of polar ecological policy actors. From this perspective, authors discuss in detail a role of state in conservation and development of marine and coastal ecosystems. Furthermore, they describe a green agenda for polar regions. At last, some ways for creating of ecological policies in the Arctic and the Antarctic regions, most especially on behalf of sea and marginal ecosystems conservation and evolution, are proposed. One of the most vital parts of such policies is staff training. The authors have attempted a comprehensive analysis of the Green Agenda at the global, national and local levels in terms of the effectiveness of its proposed mechanisms for the protection of biodiversity in polar areas. Researchers have also reviewed plans of Russia according to the new set of strategies for Arctic and Antarctic regions, which were adopted in 2020. The ideas proposed by the authors can be used in a real-case scenario both for strategies implementation and for public discussion on the global ecological problems.

Peculiarities of the Contemporary State Youth Policies in Russia and the United States: Comparative Analysis

This article examines the main causes and processes for the development of US public youth policy due to legal regulation of governmental and public institutions. The research identifies the main legal terms used by American and Russian legislators and the systems of youth policy, analyze the mechanisms of functioning of state and public institutions for working with youth. In addition, the study provides examples of the implementation of youth policy in the United States and the Russian Federation at the federal, regional and municipal (local) levels.