International Public Management Review

Citizen-centred design of participatory budgeting: A transnational study in the Baltic Sea Region

Hans-Henning Schult — 2023-05-04

Among the success factors of participatory budgeting (PB), Barbera et al. (2016b) discuss responsiveness, in terms of “continuous attention to citizens’ needs” and the capacity to address collective needs. To date, there are diverse PB cases, that follow a managerial, more technocratic (less focused on citizens) logic, whereas others target radical democratic change or good governance improvement (focused on linking citizens with the public administration and enhancing transparency) (Bartocci et al. 2019; Cabannes and Lipietz 2018). This paper aims to identify contingency factors, such as national, local and individual factors that influence the design of PB. Thus, a comparative approach is sought by analysing the needs of citizens in 17 municipalities in six European countries along the Baltic Sea region from originally 20,000 persons via a joint questionnaire. Relying on non-parametric tests, this analysis aims to identify links between citizens’ satisfaction, knowledge and expectations of their own involvement in the PB design and how it should be used from their perspective. The contribution of the paper is a critical rethinking of the respective stages and content of the PB creation processes from the citizens’ point of view by highlighting which contingency factors drive citizens’ views on PB design stages.

COLLABORATIVE GOVERNANCE AND TECHNOLOGIES: A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS

Paolo Pietro Biancone — 2023-05-04

The present research provides a structured literature review of 80 papers on collaborative governance (CG) integration with technologies. The modern concept of CG appears strictly related to new technologies since allowing for more advanced and better communication to increase the efficiency of the activities implemented in the governance process. Although the relevant literature has increased scientific production on the topic, there is a gap in the updated framework describing the technologies that can enhance the deployment of CG. Therefore, the present study employs two distinct theoretical frameworks to analyse the results obtained by applying a rigorous method. The relevant results confirm the implementation of CG in different contexts, such as smart cities and healthcare. Consistent with classical theory, it analyses the role of stakeholders as public and private entities, such as companies, organizations, and citizens. In addition, the paper focuses on technologies and stakeholder relationships to implement actions to increase the public value of organizational capacity. Finally, the research proposes a future research agenda to contribute to the emerging argument that sees technologies adopted in the CG approach to support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Pseudo-Bureaucracies as tools for Despotic Leaders: The Case of the 18th Century Government of the Marquis of Pombal

Miguel Pereira Lopes — 2023-05-04

The present study analyses the government of the Marquis of Pombal in the 18^th Century Portugal in order to understand how despotic leaders use modern bureaucratic structures to gain and keep their ruling legitimacy. We conclude that despotic leaders set forth “pseudo-bureaucracies” mostly by centralizing decision-making and relying on a small and dependent self-serving ruling elite group of people. At the end of this paper, we outline several implications of this conclusion for the bureaucratic politics and politicization debate in organization studies.

PROCURING UNSOLICITED BIDS WITHOUT LOOSING THE INNOVATION INGREDIENT: IMPLEMENTATION LESSONS FOR PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Alex Nduhura — 2023-05-04

Over the years the unsolicited PPP proposals also known as contractor facilitated financ-ing proposal are gaining momentum. The purpose of this paper was to explore the prac-tice of procuring unsolicited bids for PPPs from an international perspective to inform best practices for adoption in developing countries that are witnessing increasing offers from USP proponents. Existing literature acknowledges that unsolicited proposals (USPs) are largely unacceptable in traditional procurement but are acceptable in the environment of PPPs. While USPs are acceptable they have remained under researched as guidance on procedure for their management, remains relatively absent and at times shallow in national PPP policy, legal and regulatory frameworks. Based on a systematic review of literature, the study provides guidance on how to manage USPs in developing countries that are experiencing a rise in PPPs and USPs.

The stakeholder landscape in the public healthcare process—challenges, elements and implications for stakeholder management

Kari-Pekka Tampio — 2023-05-04

The complexity, multifunctionality and multidisciplinary nature of public healthcare have created a challenging environment in which to plan, organise and manage healthcare processes. Among the main challenges are the governance model and the fact that there are numerous stakeholders. This study analyses the regional public healthcare process through stakeholder analysis and an evaluation of the stakeholder landscape. The overall purpose of this study is to describe the complexity of stakeholder management in our healthcare process case study and describe what impacts stakeholder management and landscape have on healthcare process management. It also provides stakeholder landscape as a method to pland and manage public processes containing numerous stakeholders.

Based on the analysis of our healthcare process case study (Northern Ostrobothnia Hospital District), complexity (both numbers and relationships), uncertainty, dynamism and institutional context all pose challenges for the public management. Surprisingly, our informants gave incoherent accounts of formal – not to mention informal – stakeholder salience. There is evident potential to utilise stakeholder landscaping, as well as its social and healthcare development and management elements (planning, organising and implementing), to achieve more efficient and effective results. The method applied in this study can be seen as an important contribution to public healthcare process management.

Politics and policy: power and performativity in Mexican local water management

Maria de Lourdes Amaya-Ventura — 2023-05-04

Water management is a complex subject which involves not only technical issues but also social and political aspects that need to be considered. In order to construct efficient and sustainable strategies we need to recognize the interweaving between power issues and performativity inside Mexican local water systems. We identify three general subjects related to water problems as the framework for five social and political factors affecting in a significant way the performativity of local water management systems. We review all of them through the conceptual tools provided by the public action analysis and the institutional theory applied to four case studies. The nature of the relationships established between public and social actors engaged on water management appears as a key factor, related to Mexican political culture and practices. We propose that a different power relationships framework is required to improve the performativity of water utilities.

HOW DEMOCRACIES DIE, BY STEVEN LEVITSKY AND DANIEL ZIBLATT, NEW YORK: CROWN, 2018.

Clay G. Wescott — 2023-05-04