Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration
Singapore Management University
- Keyword
-
- China (3)
- Human rights (2)
- India (2)
- Millennium development goals (2)
- Privatization (2)
-
- Universal basic education (2)
- (DMUU) (1)
- Attitudes (1)
- Australia (1)
- Brazil (1)
- Central-local relationship (1)
- China’s energy security (1)
- Chinese foreign policy (1)
- Civil-military relations (1)
- Common pool resources (1)
- Comparative policy (1)
- Coups (1)
- Cynicism (1)
- Czech Republic (1)
- Decentralization (1)
- Decision making under uncertainty (1)
- Democracy (1)
- Discourse (1)
- Education (1)
- Electricity supply (1)
- Engagement (1)
- Expertise (1)
- Germany (1)
- Government (1)
- Government policy (1)
Articles 1 - 21 of 21
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
2016: A Year Of Looking To The Future, David Chan
2016: A Year Of Looking To The Future, David Chan
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Six major events caused Singaporeans to ponder over the future and what it will bring. As 2016 comes to a close, it is timely to reflect on the past 12 months, which I would summarise as "a future-focused year" - one filled with events and issues that made people ponder about their own future and that of the country. It is useful to revisit the way we approached the key events and issues. After all, when it comes to thinking about the future, how we think is as important as what we think.
Urban Adaptation To Mega-Drought: Anticipatory Water Modeling, Policy, And Planning For The Urban Southwest, Patricia Gober, David A. Sampson, Ray Quay, Dave D. White, Winston T. L. Chow
Urban Adaptation To Mega-Drought: Anticipatory Water Modeling, Policy, And Planning For The Urban Southwest, Patricia Gober, David A. Sampson, Ray Quay, Dave D. White, Winston T. L. Chow
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
This paper uses ‘Medieval’ drought conditions from the 12th Century to simulate the implications of severe and persistent drought for the future of water resource management in metropolitan Phoenix, one of the largest and fastest growing urban areas in the southwestern USA. WaterSim 5, an anticipatory water policy and planning model, was used to explore groundwater sustainability outcomes for mega-drought conditions across a range of policies, including population growth management, water conservation, water banking, direct reuse of RO reclaimed water, and water augmentation. Results revealed that business-as-usual population growth, per capita use trends, and management strategies are not sustainable over …
Small Infrastructure Has Big Impact In China, John A. Donaldson
Small Infrastructure Has Big Impact In China, John A. Donaldson
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
It is a familiar dilemma to policymakers around Asia: How much infrastructure, and what kind, is enough? How should developing economies prioritize when the needs are so great? China’s experience offers a surprising answer. While large-scale infrastructure sometimes generates GDP growth (it often does not), smaller is often better for poverty reduction.
The New Global Energy Governance, Ann Florini
The New Global Energy Governance, Ann Florini
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Until recently, global energy policy - to the degree there was any meaningful globally coordinated energy policy – dealt overwhelmingly with oil. Now, a new agenda and new set of actors is coming into play. The world needs a fundamental change in energy systems to meet the challenges of the 21st century. The task is to provide more energy to more people without fostering runaway climate change or going to war over resources. With formal global agreement in 2015 on the need to move rapidly toward decarbonisation of the energy system, while simultaneously providing energy access to the billions who …
Policy Analysis: A Rich Array Of Country And Comparative Insights, Joselyn Muhleisen, Ishani Mukherjee
Policy Analysis: A Rich Array Of Country And Comparative Insights, Joselyn Muhleisen, Ishani Mukherjee
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
The International Library of Policy Analysis (ILPA) series, edited by Iris Geva-May and Michael Howlett, is a collection of books assessing the state of the discipline of policy analysis in eight countries. The books address the academic development of policy analysis, its practical applications, the diverse range of actors involved, and pertinent academic instruction. Alhough the state of policy analysis - and, importantly, the state of policy analysis scholarship - varies considerably in the countries studied, the series is able to sythesise existing knowledge through empirical research and institutional analyses of the governmental and non-governmental organisations that provide policy advice …
The Challenge Of Adopting Sexual Orientation Resolutions At The Un Human Rights Council, Eduard Jordaan
The Challenge Of Adopting Sexual Orientation Resolutions At The Un Human Rights Council, Eduard Jordaan
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Since the mid-1990s, UN special procedures reports have increasingly addressed human rights violations related to sexual orientation. However, it was not until 2011 that the first UN resolution on human rights and sexual orientation was adopted. After considerable difficulty, a follow-up resolution was adopted in late 2014. This policy and practice note examines the challenges of adopting sexual orientation resolutions at the UN Human Rights Council. The discussion is organized around six challenges: the need for Southern leadership, the strong counter-reaction that sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) issues generate at the UN, finding a strong leader, divisions within civil …
Pathologies Of Development Practice: Higher Order Obstacles To Governance Reform In The Pakistani Electrical Power Sector, Ijlal Naqvi
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Development actors are regularly aware of the shortcomings of governance interventions before, during, and after development assistance is introduced, yet those programmes continue and are even revisited. Why? This paper uses the Pakistani experience with power sector reforms to illustrate how the donor-led reform agenda had readily apparent shortcomings. A new wave of development thinking responds to such failures by drawing on complexity theory and moving toward more local, iterative and experimental approaches. However, by highlighting how the awareness of problems with reforms isn't sufficient to avoid them, this paper points to a higher order of obstacles which remain unaddressed.
Refining The Prize: Chinese Oil Refineries And Its Energy Security, Inwook Kim
Refining The Prize: Chinese Oil Refineries And Its Energy Security, Inwook Kim
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Since China became a net oil importer in 1993, oil refineries have played integral roles in China's quest for oil security. And yet, the capacity, security, and configurations of refineries were rarely featured in the discussions about China's oil policy. To fill this gap, this paper explains the basics of refinery economics and technology, and details the development in China's refining industry since the early 1990s. By taking refineries into consideration, it then revisits and reassesses the existing literature regarding the motives and drivers behind China's foreign oil policy, its effectiveness, and the political interactions between China and crude oil …
Full Report On Roundtable On Place Management And Placemaking In Singapore, Su Fern Hoe, Jacqueline Liu
Full Report On Roundtable On Place Management And Placemaking In Singapore, Su Fern Hoe, Jacqueline Liu
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
In Singapore, the government has adopted a strategy it calls “place management” to inject“heart and soul” into the city. These efforts include the greening of streets, providing benches,closing roads for pedestrian access, and public activities and arts-centred events such as thei Light Marina Bay festival and the Singapore Night Festival. Cities like New York and Parishave also attempted a similar strategy known as “placemaking” to develop human-centredplaces and improve the quality of life for their residents. “Creative placemaking”, a relatedconcept, has also emerged to refer to the use of arts and culture to animate public spacesand neighbourhoods. However, despite their …
Professionals And Soldiers: Measuring Professionalism In The Thai Military, Punchada Sirivunnabood, Jacob Ricks
Professionals And Soldiers: Measuring Professionalism In The Thai Military, Punchada Sirivunnabood, Jacob Ricks
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Thailand's military has recently reclaimed its role as the central pillar of Thai politics. This raises an enduring question in civil-military relations: why do people with guns choose to obey those without guns? One of the most prominent theories in both academic and policy circles is Samuel Huntington's argument that professional militaries do not become involved in politics. We engage this premise in the Thai context. Utilizing data from a new and unique survey of 569 Thai military officers as well as results from focus groups and interviews with military officers, we evaluate the attitudes of Thai servicemen and develop …
The Realpolitik Of Nuclear Risk: When Political Expediency Trumps Technical Democracy, Hiro Saito, Sang-Hyoun Pahk
The Realpolitik Of Nuclear Risk: When Political Expediency Trumps Technical Democracy, Hiro Saito, Sang-Hyoun Pahk
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
In recent years, a growing number of researchers in science and technology studies have begun to examine the relationship between science and politics. Specifically, they focus on citizen participation in highly technical policy problems and explore the possibility of a technical democracy that avoids pitfalls of technocracy. This focus, however, downplays a possibly more serious obstacle to technical democracy than technocracy, namely, realpolitik. Based on ethnographic and textual data on citizen–government interactions in the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster, we first show how citizens mobilised radiation detectors and counter-experts to force the Japanese government to admit scientific uncertainty …
Interpreting China’S New Urban Spaces: State, Market, And Society In Action, Shenjing He, Lily Kong, George C. S. Lin
Interpreting China’S New Urban Spaces: State, Market, And Society In Action, Shenjing He, Lily Kong, George C. S. Lin
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Chinese urbanism has long historical roots and has profoundly influenced world civilizations. Yet, the Chinese city has not, until very recently, attracted sustained or intense global attention. In the post-reform era, especially after 1992, the scale and speed of China’s urbanization, and the intricacy of its dynamics and socio-spatial consequences have dwarfed those of other countries in the world. The latest reform era of urban China is characterized by a renewed and thriving urbanism, which manifests itself in the sheer scale of new urban space (re)production and the intricate interrelationships among the state, market, and society. The proliferation of new …
Achieving Regulatory Excellence In The Agri-Food Biotechnology Sector: Building Policy Capacity, Michael Howlett, Ishani Mukherjee
Achieving Regulatory Excellence In The Agri-Food Biotechnology Sector: Building Policy Capacity, Michael Howlett, Ishani Mukherjee
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
What capacities are needed on the part of policymakers in areas such as the agri-food biotechnology sector in order to attain excellence at the individual, organisational and systemic levels of regulatory operation? To address this question, this paper draws upon work recently carried out on regulatory excellence by the Penn Programme on Regulation and couples it with recent studies on how to build policy capacity. Derived from a multi-jurisdiction, multi-sector review of regulation, the Penn programme identified three core areas or `pillars' of regulatory excellence - namely, stellar competence, empathic engagement and utmost integrity -which reflect the kinds of individual …
Ideas, Interests And Practical Authority In Reform Politics: Decentralization Reform In South Korea In The 2000s, Yooil Bae
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
This paper explains the reason why the hitherto statist country, Korea, has carried out significant decentralization since the 2000s. In explaining the motivation for decentralization, extant literature has focused on the role of parties, bureaucratic politics, democratization, or territorial interests. Yet there is still limited explanation of how the decentralization laws in Korea could be successfully passed in the 2000s, while cental stakeholders still persisted. By tracing the process of decentralization reform in the 2000s, this article demonstrates how structural factors created favourable circumstances and discursive background for institutional change, and how the idea of decentralization, through the idea diffusion …
Education As The Weakest Institutional Link In Japan's Nuclear Regulation, Hiro Saito
Education As The Weakest Institutional Link In Japan's Nuclear Regulation, Hiro Saito
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Debates over the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster pointed to a set of institutional and organizational failures in Japan’s nuclear regulation as a primary cause of the disaster. While the Japanese government has implemented reforms to strengthen nuclear regulation, I argue that these reforms have largely left out the education system as a key institution that produces and distributes expertise necessary for nuclear regulation. First, the Japanese education system has traditionally produced only a small number of experts in the fields related to nuclear regulation, aligned top-ranked experts with the pro-nuclear government, and weakened the civil society’s capacity to mobilize counter-experts. …
Public Vs. Private Schooling As A Route To Universal Basic Education: A Comparison Of China And India, William C. Smith, Devin K. Joshi
Public Vs. Private Schooling As A Route To Universal Basic Education: A Comparison Of China And India, William C. Smith, Devin K. Joshi
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
This article examines whether focusing primarily on public schooling can lead to more rapid achievement of universal basic education (UBE) than relying on a mixture of public and private schooling. Through a structured, focused comparison, we find China's greater emphasis on public schooling has contributed to higher enrollment, attendance, graduation rates, gender parity, and proportion of students entering higher education than India, the country with the world's largest private sector in primary and secondary education. This comparison suggests that greater emphasis on public schooling in developing countries may lead to more rapid UBE attainment than encouraging privatization.
In A Funk Over Trump, David Chan
In A Funk Over Trump, David Chan
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Cynicism, for instance about startling turns in global affairs, can be toxic. A dose of healthy scepticism is a much better approach. Trust is an important foundation in interactions between people, and this applies in relationships between friends, employee and employer, or citizens and the government. At the government level, recent surprise world events, such as Brexit, when Britons voted to leave the European Union, and last week's election of anti-establishment figure Donald Trump to the United States presidency, suggest a disruption of that foundation of trust. One challenge from such a turn of events is the rise of cynicism. …
Getting To The Heart Of Great Public Spaces, Su Fern Hoe, Jacqueline Liu, Tan Tarn How
Getting To The Heart Of Great Public Spaces, Su Fern Hoe, Jacqueline Liu, Tan Tarn How
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has flaggedthe start of car-free Sundays in the Civic District and Central BusinessDistrict this year.This move to make the area people-friendly is part of a $740 millionplan, announced in the 2015 Budget, to revitalise the Civic District andtransform it into "an integrated arts, culture and lifestyleprecinct". Highlights of the plan include the Jubilee Walk - an 8km trailthat wraps around landmarks from the National Museum to the Esplanade - and thenewly opened National Gallery Singapore
Building Participatory Organizations For Common Pool Resource Management: Water User Group Promotion In Indonesia, Jacob I. Ricks
Building Participatory Organizations For Common Pool Resource Management: Water User Group Promotion In Indonesia, Jacob I. Ricks
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
States are increasingly striving to create participatory local organizations for joint management of common pool resources. What local conditions determine success of such state efforts? What effect do these efforts have? Drawing on controlled comparisons between three districts in Indonesia and an original survey of 92 water user groups, I demonstrate that local political contexts condition the effectiveness of participatory irrigation policies. When irrigation is politically salient, local politicians pressure bureaucrats to better engage with farmers. The data also show that training programs are not as effective at increasing water user organization activity as frequent contact between bureaucrats and farmers.
Social Justice And Human Rights In Education Policy Discourse: Assessing Nelson Mandela's Legacy, Abrehet Gebremedhin, Devin Joshi
Social Justice And Human Rights In Education Policy Discourse: Assessing Nelson Mandela's Legacy, Abrehet Gebremedhin, Devin Joshi
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Twenty years after South Africa's democratisation, Nelson Mandela's passing has prompted scholars to examine his legacy in various domains. Here we take a look at his legacy in education discourse. Tracing Mandela's thoughts and pronouncements on education we find two major emphases: a view of education as a practical means to economic development, and education as a means to social justice, human rights, and democracy. Assessing the legacy of these twin emphases, we conducted qualitative and quantitative content analysis of turning point documents in education policy and annual reports from the respective South African ministries of education over the last …
Public Vs. Private Schooling As A Route To Universal Basic Education: A Comparison Of China And India, William C. Smith, Devin K. Joshi
Public Vs. Private Schooling As A Route To Universal Basic Education: A Comparison Of China And India, William C. Smith, Devin K. Joshi
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
This article examines whether focusing primarily on public schooling can lead to more rapid achievement of universal basic education (UBE) than relying on a mixture of public and private schooling. Through a structured, focused comparison, we find China's greater emphasis on public schooling has contributed to higher enrollment, attendance, graduation rates, gender parity, and proportion of students entering higher education than India, the country with the world's largest private sector in primary and secondary education. This comparison suggests that greater emphasis on public schooling in developing countries may lead to more rapid UBE attainment than encouraging privatization.