RC 32 : PUBLIC POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION

The governance of problems: Puzzling, powering and
participation

Robert Hoppe

Policy analysis usually gives more attention to
problem solving than problem finding and there
is a real threat of mismatch between problem perceptions by citizens and problem
definition by their elected and appointed policy makers. Contemporary democracies need
to develop a better governance of problems, as all too often, policy is a sophisticated
answer to the wrong problem.
This book offers a compelling new approach to public policy-making as problem
processing – problem-finding, problem-framing, problem-structuring, problem-definition

CALL FOR PAPERS

The editors of urbe (Brazilian Journal of Urban Management), a journal by the Post-Graduate Programme in Urban Management from the Pontif?cia Universidade Cat?lica do Paran?(PUCPR), would like to invite contributors to submit original papers to be considered for publication in the journal’s second volume, to be published in 2010.

Urbe will consider papers with a preferential focus on the following thematic areas:
Urban and regional development; Urban economy; Urban epistemology; Natural resources management; Public management; Governance and urban networks; Electronic governance; Urban mobility; Urban planning; Municipal strategic planning; Public policy; Information systems;

LEX LOCALIS – JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Lex localis - Journal of Local -self-Government is an inderdisciplinary, international, and peer reviewed journal published in print and online. It is the leading regional journal for the study of the politics, administration and management of local affairs. The journal publishes articles which contribute to the better understanding and practice of local self-government and which are of interest to scholars, policy analysts, policymakers and practitioners. The focus of the journal is on the critical analysis of developments in local governance throughout the world. The editors particularly welcome studies of issues related to European local self-government. Lex localis - Journal of Local-Self Government provides a unique forum for the consideration of all issues related to sub-national levels of government.

Minutes of the meeting or Research Committee 32, held at University of Chile, Thursday 16 July 2009, at 11.00 a.m.

Present: Philippe Zittoun (Lyon), Renaud Crespin (Rennes), Emmanuel Henry (Strasbourg), Alexander Sungurov (St Petersburg), Zdravko Petak (Zagreb), Marcello Marcilla (Los Lagos – by proxy), Hal Colebatch (New South Wales) (chair), Robert Hoppe (Twente), Ivan Kopric (Zagreb), Ana Petek (Zagreb), M. Ramesh (Hong Kong), Tim Tenbensel (Auckland), Ian Sanderson (Leeds Metropolitan)

Agenda

1. Future activities

Hal Colebatch reviewed the activities that RC32 had engaged in since the Fukuoka congress, including the workshop on policy work in Utrecht (May 2007), which had given rise to a book to be published by Amsterdam University Press, and the regional conference in Dubrovnik in June 2008, the papers from which had been published in the 2008 volume of the Annals of the Croatian Political Science Association.

RC32-organised sessions at Santiago

SS01.554 Linkage in Policy FEN P.306

Policy innovation at the sub-national level: public management in strategic networks of public organizations
Jelmer Schalk (Utrecht – j.schalk@uu.nl) and Rene Torenvlied (Utrecht – r.torrenvlied@uu.nl)

‘Out if sight, out of mind’: EU recruitment of Swedish servants
Goran Sundstrom (Stockholm – goran.sundstrom@score.su.se) and Asa Vifell (Stockholm – asa.vifell@score.su.se)

SS01.486 Knowledge and policy instruments FEN P.305

Producing knowledge and expertise in the occupational risk management field in France: a way to transform public policies

Dear Madame/Sir,

I am the editor of the "Theoretical and Empirical Researches in Urban Management" Journal, a journal which advances theory, research and practice in urban management.

The journal aims to provide theoretically and empirically informed analysis of the changes affecting the urban and regional condition in developed and less developed economies.

Embracing a multidisciplinary approach to the field, TERUM publishes papers on a wide range of topics related to urban management:
- urban planning
- urban development
- urban design
- urban policies
- urban infrastructure management

African Journal of Political Science and International Relations (AJPSIR) is currently accepting manuscripts for publication. AJPSIR publishes rigorous theoretical reasoning and advanced empirical research in all areas of the subjects. We welcome articles or proposals from all perspectives and on all subjects pertaining to Africa, Africa's relationship to the world, public policy, international relations, comparative politics, political methodology, political theory, political history and culture, global political economy, strategy and environment. The journal will also address developments within the discipline. Each issue will normally contain a mixture of peer-reviewed research articles, reviews or essays using a variety of methodologies and approaches.

It has become increasingly common for ‘governance’ to be used where once the term would have been ‘government’. At a conference of research committees in Montreal in May 2008, Guy Peters presented a paper which argued that the way in which governing is done is changing, and we need a new word to describe the new mode of governing. Hal Colebatch questioned this proposition on both empirical and analytical grounds (see account below), and it was agreed that this was an argument which should be continued at the World Congress in Santiago.

At the Santiago Congress, two sessions were organised, one focusing on governance as a concept, and one focusing on how applicable this argument is outside Western Europe (where it originated). There were a number of papers presented, and we are planning to include a number of them in a theme issue of the journal Policy and Society. In the meantime, we have posted three particularly interesting ones here: the Sorensen and Torfing review of the European discussion about governance, the Colebatch critique of the concept, and a paper by Bissessar questioning its applicability in (in this case) the West Indies. (ask from pekka.t.kettunen@jyu.fi)

How we operate

The Research Committee is a platform for interesting and productive activity among political scientists interested in public policy and administration. Anyone who meets this modest requirement can joint, and any member can propose activities, such as conferences, workshops, publications or on-line discussions. Formal responsibility for its operations rests with a board elected at the IPSA Congress in Santiago in July 2009, whose members are -

Chair: Hal Colebatch (Australia)
University of NSW, Australia
hal@colebatch.com

Vice-Chair: Pan Suk Kim (Korea)
Yonsei University