scholarly journals The Covid-19 pandemic: collective action and European public policy under stress

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitja Kovac
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Member State ◽  
Comparative Advantage ◽  
Policy Response ◽  
Negative Externalities ◽  
European Continent ◽  
The Public ◽  
European Public

AbstractThe European continent faces an apocalyptic pandemic that poses mortal danger to millions of citizens. This paper seeks to address the role played by European public policy in addressing the Covid-19 pandemic. Currently, each Member State across Europe is applying its own measures to deal with the coronavirus; namely, decentralised decision-making that could trigger political tensions among the states. The paper argues that European public policy must change rapidly and fundamentally if these tensions are to be successfully managed; otherwise, such policy might simply cease to exist. Moreover, the known and notorious problem of collective action, information asymmetries, irrationality, negative externalities and the related free-riding phenomenon persistently are distorting the Member States’ combined efforts, resulting in deficient attempts to contain the spread of Covid-19. The paper also argues that the current unprecedented outbreak of this superspreading virus calls for a bigger EU-wide coordinated response. We argue that the Covid-19 pandemic is a good example of an area in which the central EU level holds a comparative advantage over lower levels of government. In addition, the paper offers several substantive insights into ways to improve the public policy response in the ‘war’ against Covid-19.

scholarly journals Through a Glass Darkly: The Role and Review of "National Security" Concepts in Canadian Law

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Forcese
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
National Security ◽  
Administrative Law ◽  
The Public ◽  
Precise Meaning ◽  
Canadian Law ◽  
Real Importance ◽  
The Government

The expression "national security" or its close similes lacks a precise meaning, even in the public policy literature. Nevertheless, the concept appears in over 30 federal statutes. In most instances, the term is undefined, an important oversight in light of the significant powers these statutes accord the government. Under these circumstances, how courts review government invocations of "national security" is of real importance. With some exceptions, courts applying s. 7 of the Charter and standard administrative law doctrines have accorded substantial deference to government national security determinations. When largely deferential substantive review of the ambiguous concept of national security is coupled with the ex parti and in camera context in which these cases are often heard, the net effect is to leave government with a freer hand in national security matters than in other domains of administrative decision making. Several possible responses to this problem are proposed.

Prison Crowding and the Evolution of Public Policy

1985 ◽  
Vol 478 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOAN MULLEN
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Budget Constraints ◽  
The Public ◽  
Minimum Standards ◽  
Eighth Amendment ◽  
The Future ◽  
American Prison

While crowding has been a persistent feature of the American prison since its invention in the nineteenth century, the last decade of crisis has brought more outspoken media investigations of prison conditions, higher levels of political and managerial turmoil, and a judiciary increasingly willing to bring the conditions of confinement under the scope of Eighth Amendment review. With the added incentive of severe budget constraints, liberals and conservatives alike now question whether this is any way to do business. Although crowding cannot be defined by quantitative measures alone, many institutions have far exceeded their limits of density according to minimum standards promulgated by the corrections profession. Some fall far below any reasonable standard of human decency. The results are costly, dangerous, and offensive to the public interest. Breaking the cycle of recurrent crisis requires considered efforts to address the decentralized, discretionary nature of sentence decision making and to link sentencing policies to the resources available to the corrections function. The demand to match policy with resources is simply a call for more rational policymaking. To ask for less is to allow the future of corrections to resemble its troubled past.

scholarly journals Masculinities and Animal Harm

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 908-926
Author(s):  
Angus Nurse
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
Policy Response ◽  
Animal Abuse ◽  
Cultural Significance ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
The Public ◽  
Offending Behavior

This paper explores the role of masculinities in animal harm and conceptions on the Masculinities Offender, primarily motivated by power and masculine behaviors. Within “masculinities crimes,” the exercise of power allied to sport or entertainment is significantly linked to organized crime and gambling. Masculinities crimes also include elements of cruelty or animal abuse and perceptions by offenders of their actions having cultural significance, and where toughness, masculinity, and smartness combine with a love of excitement. Examples include badger digging, badger baiting, cock-fighting, and other crimes involving the “sporting” killing or taking of wildlife.  This article explores masculinities offender rationalizations and associated masculinity-based negative attitudes towards animals and animal harm. The public policy response to masculinities crimes reflects acceptance of the violent nature of offenders. Yet arguably enforcement and punishment through use of surveillance activities and undercover operations, and reliance on prison as the primary deterrent/sanction risks being counter-productive and reinforcing the very masculinities that underlie offending behavior.

Public Policies

2020 ◽  
pp. 509-525
Author(s):  
Joan Subirats ◽  
Ricard Gomà
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Policy System ◽  
The Public ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Policy Style ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Operational Aspects

The objective of this chapter is to trace and present the main characteristics of the public policy system in Spain, incorporating policy change over time, as well as the policy style that has characterized its different stages. The transition between Francoism and democracy generated significant continuities and discontinuities both in the decision-making processes and in the actors’ system. The full incorporation into the European Union also involved significant changes in content, processes and networks. Finally, the impacts of the 2007 crisis and the effects of globalization and technological change also generated significant disruptions that will also be incorporated. The chapter will distinguish the conceptual, substantive, and operational aspects of the public policy system in Spain, as well as the main elements of the multilevel government. This aspect is especially complex in the Spanish case, given the combination of Europeanization of policies and the very remarkable regional decentralization generated by 1980.

scholarly journals Decision Making at the State and Local Level: Does Science Matter?

2016 ◽  
Vol 49 (01) ◽  
pp. 21-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan G. Mason
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
The State ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Policy Decision Making ◽  
State And Local

ABSTRACTScience is believed to be an important part of public policy decision making because of its inherent characteristics of measurability, rigor, objectivity, replication, and peer review. The purpose of this research was to explore the linkage of science to public policy decision making. The research explores what state and local public officials know about science and how much they actually use science in their decision making. Interview results with public officials in the State of Idaho demonstrate that policy makers ultimately see science as only one element in the mix. Findings suggest that equal attention and debate should be given to how science interacts with all of the other factors that affect the public policy making process.

scholarly journals A gestão democrática da escola pública em contextos de reformas educacionais locais: Estudo comparado entre Brasil e Espanha

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 2
Author(s):  
Neusa Chaves Batista ◽  
Miguel A. Pereyra
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
School Management ◽  
Educational Policies ◽  
Legitimate Authority ◽  
Educational Legislation ◽  
The Public ◽  
Democratic Management ◽  
The World ◽  
Decision Making Processes

Democratic management as a way of organizing the public school can be translated in its contemporary historicity as a collective action that demands changes in the autocratic and hierarchical structure of the school unit. In this article, we analyze the process of constructing legislation on democratic school management in contexts of local educational reforms, based on Brazilian and Spanish cases. Methodologically, we understand educational legislation as documents that incorporate discourses with legitimate authority, especially of the State, and that spread conceptions of the world as a result of disputes over hegemony in the field of educational policies. In terms of results, our study points out that throughout the process of producing legislation for the democratic management of schools, the two countries showed advances and setbacks regarding the specification of the school actors who should participate in decision-making processes, as well as the instances of participation in school management. 

scholarly journals Sustainability Indicators: Relevance, Public Policy Support and Challenges

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 173
Author(s):  
Andre C. S. Batalhao ◽  
Denilson Teixeira ◽  
Maria de Fatima Martins ◽  
Hans Michael van Bellen ◽  
Adriana Cristina Ferreira Caldana
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Sustainability Indicators ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Mixed Methods Approach ◽  
The Public ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Definition Of

Sustainability is a topic that has gained importance in several fields of knowledge, including the public, private and society spheres, based on the discussions that involve the definition of several public policies. Sustainability Indicators (SI) are metrics that seek to measure the level of sustainability and compile information for better decision-making concerning policies, programs, projects and actions related to sustainability. Demonstrated their relevance to public policies the SI appears as an essential tool for evaluating development goals as a sustainable proposal. In this way, this research aimed to discuss the main challenges and methodological limitations found in the use of SI, emphasizing the main fragilities identified in the literature. In methodological terms, the research has exploratory characteristics, supported by the mixed methods approach using a theoretical-empirical analysis, from the available literature on the subject and the methodologies used and the experience of researchers about the topic addressed. The main results demonstrated that Sustainability Indicators are tools that should be used to define, implement, evaluate and monitor public policies at all levels, considering the potentialities/weaknesses and priorities of each context.

The Moral Voter Hypothesis: Economic and Normative Aspects of Public Policy and Law within Democracies1

2007 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger D. Congleton
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Formation ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Policy Positions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Normative Issues ◽  
Economic Considerations

Abstract This paper develops a model of self-interested norm-driven behavior and uses it to analyze public policy formation within a democracy. Many of the positive predictions of the moral voter hypothesis differ from those of narrow self-interested models of policy formation. For example, the model predicts that laws regulating conventional externalities will be more stringent (or less stringent) than can be justified by ordinary economic considerations whenever such laws affect behavior that is relevant for widely held normative theories. If voters are concerned with broad normative issues, politicians will take policy positions in part to advance voter interests in ‘virtue’ or ‘the public interest’ as voters assess it. Consequently, many of the laws adopted within a democracy will advance private normative agendas as understood by pivotal members of the electorate. In this sense, a ‘public interest’ interpretation of at least some government policies is entirely consistent with a rationalchoice- based analysis of decision making within a democracy. Criminal sentences for some crimes in the United States are consistent with the model's implications.

Services for Battered Women: The Public Policy Response

1988 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 649-667 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liane V. Davis ◽  
Jan L. Hagen
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Battered Women ◽  
Policy Response ◽  
The Public
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