Categorie archief: English

Rethinking Public Governance

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Jacob Torfing* | 2023, Edward Elgar Publishing

In this innovative book, Jacob Torfing, a leading scholar, critically evaluates emerging ideas, practices and institutions, transforming how public governance is perceived, theorised and conducted in practice.

A novel rethinking of how current societies are governed, this book will inspire students, scholars and practitioners of political science, public policy, regulation and governance, and public administration management to reconsider how public governance and administration may be organised in the future to present innovative solutions to societal problems.

Identifying cutting-edge developments in public governance, this incisive book analyses new forms of political leadership, public management, public organisation, administrative steering, cross-boundary collaboration, public regulation and societal problem-solving. Examining some of the most significant instances of public governance transformation, chapters explore the effects of transformations from sovereign to interactive political leadership, from national to multi-level governance, and from hard to soft power.

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The Big Beautiful Municipality?

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Harrie Scholtens* | 2013

Times are changing. This will happen in every society and has to be recognised. However difficult it is to say goodbye to the past, we must realise that the past is behind us. Of course, we have to learn from it, but we must also look forward and prepare society for the constantly changing future. Of course, this also happens in governmental structures—slowly, but it does happen.

Harrie Scholtens

The responsibilities of the governmental levels will change throughout the years as a result of changes in society, the needs and questions of inhabitants, new technologies, et cetera. All of these changes, therefore, require more expertise from governmental organisations: expertise which can be found in cooperation, but also, for instance, in the merging of municipalities and their organisations of civil servants. Larger organisations will offer more opportunities for civil servants to invest in their knowledge and skills. These aspects, including the talents of the other category of civil servants, are needed to handle the changes in these larger organisations.

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Third-Party Risk Policies in The Netherlands

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A Historical Sketch 

Ben Ale | April 2023, Cambridge Scholars Publishing

It is not easy to keep the population safe in a country that is one of the most densely populated in the world, a hub of international transport over land and water and through the air, about one-third of which lies below sea level.

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Third-party risk policies developed gradually in The Netherlands but became acute in the late 20th century as various industries increased their use and production of hazardous materials.

The Dutch government, considering its constitutional responsibility to protect the life, health and well-being of its people, must resolve the ongoing debate between the general population, who are exposed to these risks, and those profiting from the creation of said risks-the resultant policies are a product of this balancing act.

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Resilience Thinking

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Sustaining Ecosystems and People in a Changing World

Brian Walker and David Salt | 2006

Increasingly, cracks are appearing in the capacity of communities, ecosystems, and landscapes to provide the goods and services that sustain our planet’s well-being. The response from most quarters has been for “more of the same” that created the situation in the first place: more control, more intensification, and greater efficiency. It is published by Island Press.

“Resilience thinking” offers a different understanding of the world and a new resource management approach. It embraces human and natural systems as complex entities continually adapting through cycles of change. It seeks to understand the qualities of a system that must be maintained or enhanced to achieve sustainability. It explains why greater efficiency alone cannot solve resource problems and offers a constructive alternative that opens up options rather than closing them down.

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Creating Public Value

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John O’Dea* | April 2014

Public value is defined as “using government assets to produce a good and just society”. The term was first mooted in 1995 by Mark H. Moore – Hauser Professor of Non-Profit Organisations at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government – in his book Creating Public Value (Harvard University Press). Public value in public sector management is the equivalent of shareholder value in private sector organisations. Shareholder value is a business term which implies that the ultimate measure of a company’s success is the extent to which it enriches its shareholders (owners) by paying dividends and/or causing its stock price to increase in value.

John O’Dea

By the same token, the ultimate measure of a government’s success is the extent to which it enriches society as a whole. The difference between public and private entities is that in the former, citizens are both the shareholders (as taxpayers) and the clients (as recipients of public services). Public services are distinctive because they are characterised by claims of rights by citizens that have been authorised and funded through a democratic process.

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Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

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US Government | December 1970

This organisation was founded as an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. Beginning in the late 1950s and through the 1960s, US Congress reacted to increasing public concern about the impact that human activity could have on the environment.

Logo by Chermayeff & Geismar Associates

In 1959 congress passed the Resources and Conservation Act to establish a Council on Environmental Quality in the Executive Office of the President and declared a national environmental policy, which required the preparation of an annual environmental report. The groundwork for the Environment Protection Agency was laid.

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Silent Spring

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Rachel Carson | 1962

This sensational book, Silent Spring (1962) by Rachel Carson, warned of the dangers to all natural systems from the misuse of chemical pesticides such as DDT, and questioned the scope and direction of modern science, initiating the contemporary environmental movement.

Silent Spring began with a “fable for tomorrow” – a true story using a composite of examples drawn from many real communities where the use of DDT had caused damage to wildlife, birds, bees, agricultural animals, domestic pets, and even humans. Carson used it as an introduction to a very scientifically complicated and already controversial subject. This “fable” made an indelible impression on readers and was used by critics to accuse Carson of being a fiction writer rather than a scientist.

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