Categorie: English

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Maatschappelijk Manifest Bestrijdingsmiddelen

Voor een gezond, groen en veilig Nederland

Natuur & Milieu, Parkinson Vereniging en de FNV | 2023

Dit manifest vertelt een bijzonder verhaal. Het is 61 Jaar geleden dat het boek Silent Spring (1962) van Rachel Carson werd gepubliceerd. Het waarschuwde voor de gevaren voor alle ecosystemen door het misbruik van chemische pesticiden en stelde de scope en richting van de toen moderne wetenschap ter discussie. Het boek bleek de start van de milieubeweging.

Het manifest herhaalt de essentie van dit boek. Het speelt bovendien in op wat in 1848 democratisch reeds is overeengekomen en vastgelegd in onze Grondwet:

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Burgerperspectieven (Bericht I > 2024)

Josje den Ridder, Leonard van ’t Hul en Joris Broere | april 2024, SCP

Dit is het 59e bericht van het Continu Onderzoek Burgerperspectieven (COB), waarin het Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau (SCP) sinds 2008 de Nederlandse publieke opinie volgt en duidt.

In dit bericht worden met name de houding van burgers over de politiek na de meest recente Tweede Kamerverkiezing bekeken en de stemming in Nederland gepeild.

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Public values and risks in Strasbourg

The birth of Public Risk Management Organisation (PRIMO)

Jack Kruf* | May 2005

Last month, on April 1, 2005, the Executive Committee of UDITE, the network of local government Chief Executives across Europe, met in Strasbourg to discuss ‘public risk management’ as a new idea. The city managers from all over Europe looked forward to a newly presented approach, which Alan Vendelbo, president of UDITE, put at the top of the agenda.

It was clear from the start that they believed it could strengthen their role and function in supporting politics, society, and their organisations. Current events, social attacks, and out-of-control budgets or projects have raised the importance of proactive thinking about public values, targets, and their risks. Here is a short personal impression. I was there on this day.

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Resilience of what to what?

Jack Kruf | April 2024 (update from August 2016)

What is resilience? Well, there is no simple answer to this. Especially not regarding that of the ecosystem of a city. The concept, you might say, is in development in different sciences and recently entered the public governance domain related to the social-ecological system of society.

A resilient system. The ecosystem (red dot) is embedded in walls of resistance. © Jack Kruf

Can resilience be measured as an indicator of an ecosystem’s state? How are the living and non-living factors of the measured system calculated? Can it create true insight into the tone of the city, society, and nature?

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The Undoing Project

A Friendship that Changed the World

Michael Lewis | 2017, W.W. Norton & Company

This is the extraordinary story of the two men whose ideas changed the world. Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky met in war-torn 1960s Israel. Both were gifted young psychology professors: Kahneman, a rootless son of Holocaust survivors who saw the world as a problem to be solved, and Tversky, a voluble, instinctual blur of energy.

In this breathtaking new book, Michael Lewis tells the extraordinary story of a relationship that became a shared mind: one which created the field of behavioural economics, revolutionising everything from Big Data to medicine, from how we are governed to how we spend, from high finance to football.

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My Dictionary of Seven

Jack Kruf

To understand what is happening, make sense of the publications (from different sciences and schools), interpret the frameworks and translate the myriad of languages related to public governance, I thought it wise to reduce myself to a core set of seven.

I frequently employ this set to navigate the realm of governance and management. It serves as my compass in diagnosis, design, and decision-making. These tools are theoretical concepts and practical aids that empower me in my work.

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Lessons from Archery

What can a governor learn from an archer?

Jack Kruf | April 2009

What can the world of public governance learn from archery? Archery is a mature sport that has developed dramatically since its inception. Because of this, the sport itself has undergone many changes and improvements.

Flag of Lieksa, Finland. Design by designed by Olof Eriksson (source: Wikipedia)

In governance and public administration, we may learn from the archery world to select and curate the basic skills perceived as essential by professional archers. After all, governance is a form of archery, metaphorically spoken.

There are parallels:  a good governor has the skills of a good archer in effectively reaching the target. After all, both professions are about precision. Here, we focus on the archer. I collected some skills from the archery world. I leave it to the reader to find similarities with the governance world.

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