Kris Hartley is Assistant Professor of Sustainability and Enterprise at Arizona State University, School of Sustainability. He researches global-to-local policy transfer in the application of technology to sustainability transitions, and has published books with Cambridge University Press and Routledge Press. Kris is also a Nonresident Fellow for Global Cities at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and an Affiliated Scholar at the Center for Government Competitiveness at Seoul National University. Kris has previously held academic appointments at Cornell University, University of Melbourne, and Vietnam National University. Kris’s research and consulting projects are connected by the overarching theme of new public policy models for the 21st century. His 2014 book (Routledge) addresses administrative reform and policy adaptation in the context of national competitiveness and global systemic unpredictability. His research has been published in a variety of academic journals including Telecommunications Policy, Geoforum, Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Environmental Development, and City, Culture and Society. Additionally, Kris has pursued an active external engagement agenda, presenting at over 30 academic conferences, giving numerous broadcast interviews and invited lectures, and publishing over 100 commentaries in press venues including CNN International, China Daily, Huffington Post, and The Straits Times. He holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the National University of Singapore and a Master of City Planning from the University of California, Berkeley. More information at: http://www.krishartley.com
The circular economy is a resource-efficient production model that is believed by many policymake... more The circular economy is a resource-efficient production model that is believed by many policymakers, business leaders, and academics to promote sustainability. Academic literature suggests that circularity is achievable across business scales and types, from multinational corporations to start-ups. One condition for circular transition is the presence of a thriving market and a policy context that supports development and uptake of circular innovations. This study is among the first to analyze the business models of circular-focused start-ups from a systems-based perspective on technological innovation. Examining the Dutch food and construction sectors, the study compares business activities that foster innovation ecosystems. Based on 53 interviews with start-up founders and actors, we examine how firms respond to financial, cultural, and market drivers based on their respective industries' market structures, cultural norms, and growth histories. The results also indicate variability in the practical impacts of circular strategies. While there is some evidence of strategic impact among food start-ups, impacts among construction start-ups are potentially undermined by power imbalances between start-ups and incumbents and by the sector's relatively conservative culture. This comparison is used to develop recommendations for start-ups and policymakers to accelerate circular transition through the development of innovation ecosystems.
The smart city concept is an increasingly popular urban policy framework, and recent advances in ... more The smart city concept is an increasingly popular urban policy framework, and recent advances in technologies like artificial intelligence are poised to shape this trend in unprecedented ways. As public sector investment in technology accelerates, it is prudent to consider how smart cities shape and are shaped by public trust in government – an issue about which there is a growing body of research but lingering questions. This study investigates determinants of public trust in government technology, including public awareness, government communication, personal ideals and aspirations, and personal perceptions and expectations. Data come from a 2021 survey (N = 1500) about smart cities in Singapore, a country with high developmental ambitions and sufficient resources to pursue advanced smart city programs. This study seeks to deepen scholarly and practical understandings about the mutually necessary but often diverging forces of public trust in technology and public trust in government.
A survey of Hong Kong residents finds that public support for government technology, as understoo... more A survey of Hong Kong residents finds that public support for government technology, as understood through the concept of smart cities, is associated with concept-awareness and official communications. The statistical analysis identifies moderating effects attributable to personal social media use and controls for personal ideological views about scope of government intervention and perceived political legitimacy of smart city policies. The study builds on a growing body of empirical scholarship about public support for government technology, while also addressing a practical trend in urban governance: the growing sophistication of technologies like artificial intelligence and their use in strengthening government capacities. The Hong Kong case exemplifies ambitious investments in technology by governments and, at the time of the survey, relatively high freedom of political expression. The study's findings help refine theories about state-society relations in the rapidly evolving context of technology for public sector use. Policy Significance Statement This study offers empirical evidence about factors that influence the political legitimacy of government technology, including the effect of concept-awareness and public communication. Findings imply that message credibility and comprehension are instrumental in crafting policy narratives and that participatory co-construction of these narratives can strengthen the political legitimacy of government technology.
Economic growth and population migration have driven urban sprawl in the American Sunbelt for dec... more Economic growth and population migration have driven urban sprawl in the American Sunbelt for decades. Some cities have been particularly effective in parlaying windfall growth into visibility and unique urban identities. The ‘it’ status that attracts national curiosity rests on a balance of growth, livability, and edginess – traits that cannot be engineered or purchased alone. Post-Covid economic recovery is an opportunity for cities to revitalize their urban cores in manifold ways, even amidst growing turbulence and uncertainty. This article examines these shifting dynamics and considers whether a modestly sized heartland American city – Waco, Texas – is poised to achieve transformational change in its urban core.
This year we celebrate the 150th anniversary of composer Sergei Rachmaninoff’s birth. It is also ... more This year we celebrate the 150th anniversary of composer Sergei Rachmaninoff’s birth. It is also one year since Yunchan Lim became the youngest pianist ever to win the gold medal in the sixteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, held once every four years. Lim’s acclaimed performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra under the baton of conductor Marin Alsop, clinched his victory and was by all accounts a rare moment.
Public Policy’s Role in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals, 2023
As sites of economic, political, and social convergence, cities absorb the earliest effects of gl... more As sites of economic, political, and social convergence, cities absorb the earliest effects of global crises. These dynamics are observable also in environmental crises and resiliencelonger-running challenges to legacy models of urban governance. Shifting epistemic and practical contexts invite scholarship to more thoroughly examine the dynamics of urban policy with regard to the 'localization' of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the contribution of city governments to global environmental policy. This chapter examines urban sustainability as an ontologically complex or 'wicked' policy problem, a framing concept with a history in the urban planning and policy literatures but deserving fresh revisitation. The argument is that a 'complexity science' approach that avoids narrative capture is needed to better understand global environmental crisis and its manifestation in cities. This approach seeks to challenge the predominance of linear, atomistic, and reductionist perspectives that remain embedded in policy thinking.
Emerging in scholarly discussions about political discourse over the past decade, the terms 'post... more Emerging in scholarly discussions about political discourse over the past decade, the terms 'post-truth' and 'denialism' refer to disagreement not on public policy strategies but on the nature of truth itself. Policy facts are now contested in ways that disrupt mainstream political narratives and weaken institutional legitimacy. In turn, the technocratic response of doublingdown on facts is faltering as the 'burn it down' vacuity of post-truth declares equivalent political legitimacy. This strident, self-assured irrationality offers few substantive policy visions, seeking only to bewilder and 'own' its perceived enemies including progressive 'elites,' science experts, and academics trying to understand the phenomenon. This article discusses disruption in the political discourse about fact-informed policy issues, focusing on a looming period of epistemic instability and the futility of using systematic analysis and logic to understand post-truth.
This report outlines how cities and the private sector can collaborate on and magnify sustainabil... more This report outlines how cities and the private sector can collaborate on and magnify sustainability efforts that enable broad systemic change.
Sustainability efforts require not only public policy interventions and resources but also the initiative and innovation of the private sector. These are systematized through the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for governments, including at the city level, and through environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles for companies. Bringing these two approaches into alignment is a crucial step for fostering multi-sectoral sustainability effort, but this alignment is largely unrealized.
Among the local-government sustainability documents examined for this report, mentions of corporate activity are minimal and often superficial, primarily addressing the participation of companies in multi-stakeholder discussions about policy issues. In turn, ESG reports center on the decisions and actions of corporations, with public governance referenced largely in the context of regulatory limitations and policy objectives that affect business operations.
Local governments and companies are undertaking sustainability efforts in their own ways. Merging the two through shared focus and strategy can magnify sustainability efforts in ways that enable the broad systemic change needed to avert climate crisis and societal disruption. This report outlines how a more collaborative approach can proceed, first by providing an overview of policy and corporate sustainability efforts and second by detailing examples of both. The report concludes with a discussion about how sustainability narratives can be harmonized between the two sectors.
In the past decade, use of the circular economy (CE) concept by scholars and practitioners has gr... more In the past decade, use of the circular economy (CE) concept by scholars and practitioners has grown steadily. In a 2017 article, Kirchherr et al. found that the CE concept is interpreted and implemented in a variety of ways. While multiple interpretations of CE can enrich scholarly perspectives, differentiation and fragmentation can also impede consolidation of the concept. Some scholarship has discussed these trends in context-specific cases, but no large-scale, systematic study has analysed whether such consolidation has taken place across the field. This article fills this gap by analysing 221 recent CE definitions, making several notable findings. First, the concept has seen both consolidation and differentiation in the past five years. Second, definitional trends are emerging that potentially have more meaning for scholarship than for practice. Third, scholars increasingly recommend a fundamental systemic shift to enable CE, particularly within supply chains. Fourth, sustainable development is frequently considered the principal aim of CE, but questions linger about whether CE can mutually support environmental sustainability and economic development. Finally, recent studies argue that CE transition relies on a broad alliance of stakeholders, including producers, consumers, policymakers, and scholars. This study contributes an updated systematic analysis of CE definitions and conceptualizations that serves as an empirical snapshot of current scholarly thinking. It thereby provides a basis for further research on whether conceptual consolidation is needed and how it can be facilitated for practical purposes.
Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) survey data and government economic data from Vietnam are ... more Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) survey data and government economic data from Vietnam are used to examine the relationship between economic growth and two indicators of governance effectiveness: efficacy at working with central law and creativity in solving business problems. Examining all of Vietnam's 63 provinces over 11 years (2007 to 2017), this study's fixed-effects regression analysis finds a significant association between economic growth and both measures of governance effectiveness, with a stronger magnitude for more industrialised provinces. This finding suggests that efforts to improve governance effectiveness and creativity in less industrialised provinces may fail to have desired economic impacts, pointing to deeper structural constraints. This article concludes by discussing implications for policy content and administrative reform.
Policy models based on ‘big data’ and other ‘smart’ systems, including those for circular economy... more Policy models based on ‘big data’ and other ‘smart’ systems, including those for circular economy (CE) transition, are proliferating as technology enables deeper monitoring and analysis. At the same time, policymaking is occurring in increasingly contentious and politically fragmented settings, particularly as populism foregrounds anti-science and post-truth sentiments. More sophisticated models would appear to improve empirical understandings about policy problems and help resolve associated disputes, but a conclusive policy ‘truth’ remains elusive and politically contestable. This contention highlights the need to understand competing narratives and their influence on model designs and inputs.
Asia's global rise highlights a host of policy opportunities and challenges. Historically... more Asia's global rise highlights a host of policy opportunities and challenges. Historically, the region's developmentalist governments were single-minded of purpose, aiming principally for rapid economic growth. As growth stabilized and economies matured, a variety of other concernsenvironmental, social, and political, among othersbegan to warrant policy intervention. Public administrators in Asia now operate in a setting of increasing complexity amidst an array of conflicting policy mandates. Accordingly, policy education and training are as crucial to Asia's continued rise as they were in the early stages of emergence decades ago. This article and the special issue it introduces address several key elements characterizing the rise of policy education in Asia, including how policy educational practices have converged and diverged, how they have responded to situational mandates, and how they are now asserting a unique disciplinary identity.
Evolutionary governance theory (EGT) provides a basis for holistically analyzing the shifting con... more Evolutionary governance theory (EGT) provides a basis for holistically analyzing the shifting contexts and dynamics of policymaking in settings with functional differentiation and complex subsystems. Policy assemblages, as mixes of policy tools and goals, are an appropriate unit of analysis for EGT because they embody the theory’s emphasis on co-evolving elements within policy systems. In rational practice, policymakers design policies within assemblages by establishing objectives, collecting information, comparing options, strategizing implementation, and selecting instruments. However, as EGT implies, this logical progression does not always materialize so tidily—some policies emerge from carefully considered blueprints while others evolve from muddled processes, laissez faire happenstance, or happy accident. Products of the latter often include loosely steered, unmoored, and ‘non-designed’ path dependencies that confound linear logic and are understudied in the policy literature....
The chapter discusses the impact of social change on how society views governance quality in the ... more The chapter discusses the impact of social change on how society views governance quality in the era of complex and interconnected policy problems. This era presents a valuable opportunity to revisit tensions between the deepening technocratic logic of formal policymaking and the social change implied by and reflected in the rise of alternative policy epistemics. The chapter focuses on the technocratic exercise of smart governance, as embodied by the smart cities concept, in considering the confrontation between late-stage technocracy and an emerging anti-technocratic agitation that manifests itself in the ‘local knowledge’ movement on one hand and in ‘anti-science’ populism on the other. Recognizing a mature literature critical of the hegemonic narrative posture of governance ideas, we explore the epistemic foundations of governance reform movements to more deeply understand a mechanism of narrative power that deserves renewed attention in the ‘smart’ era: instrumental rationalism. Smart governance, from an epistemic perspective, marks a progression in a sequence of ideas serving the long-running project to validate and normalize instrumental rationalism in policymaking. To connect this argument to social change, our approach combines the critical perspective of poststructuralism with the political economy perspective of world-systems theory. We postulate that ‘good’ governance is a vessel into which momentarily salient global norms are loaded, and that each successive iteration (e.g., smart) is considered politically viable only if emerging from existing institutional architecture and bearing the ideational legacy of instrumental rationalism. This process of narrative auto-replication yields seemingly novel ideas that are mere variations on a failed theme. The type of social change that can unseat this epistemic lock-in emerges from a more robust valorization of alternative perspectives, which we conclude this chapter by describing as an epistemic awakening.
COVID-19 decimated global tourism. As governments and firms strategize the sector’s recovery, ins... more COVID-19 decimated global tourism. As governments and firms strategize the sector’s recovery, insights from the sector’s prepandemic period of high growth offer useful policy lessons. This study examines the drivers of the tourism sector’s growth and catch-up performance in 13 industrialized economies over the period 2000–2015, using data from the EU-KLEMS database. The findings have three notable policy implications. First, the tourism sector in most countries experienced significant growth. However, value-added growth was driven largely by labor employment expansion while labor productivity declined in most countries. Second, weak investment in non–information and communications technology (ICT) capital and declining total factor productivity are the principal impediments to labor productivity growth. Third, all countries embraced digital transformation but many lagged on innovation and labor quality. These findings are analyzed to identify policy strategies for the tourism sector...
The circular economy is a resource-efficient production model that is believed by many policymake... more The circular economy is a resource-efficient production model that is believed by many policymakers, business leaders, and academics to promote sustainability. Academic literature suggests that circularity is achievable across business scales and types, from multinational corporations to start-ups. One condition for circular transition is the presence of a thriving market and a policy context that supports development and uptake of circular innovations. This study is among the first to analyze the business models of circular-focused start-ups from a systems-based perspective on technological innovation. Examining the Dutch food and construction sectors, the study compares business activities that foster innovation ecosystems. Based on 53 interviews with start-up founders and actors, we examine how firms respond to financial, cultural, and market drivers based on their respective industries' market structures, cultural norms, and growth histories. The results also indicate variability in the practical impacts of circular strategies. While there is some evidence of strategic impact among food start-ups, impacts among construction start-ups are potentially undermined by power imbalances between start-ups and incumbents and by the sector's relatively conservative culture. This comparison is used to develop recommendations for start-ups and policymakers to accelerate circular transition through the development of innovation ecosystems.
The smart city concept is an increasingly popular urban policy framework, and recent advances in ... more The smart city concept is an increasingly popular urban policy framework, and recent advances in technologies like artificial intelligence are poised to shape this trend in unprecedented ways. As public sector investment in technology accelerates, it is prudent to consider how smart cities shape and are shaped by public trust in government – an issue about which there is a growing body of research but lingering questions. This study investigates determinants of public trust in government technology, including public awareness, government communication, personal ideals and aspirations, and personal perceptions and expectations. Data come from a 2021 survey (N = 1500) about smart cities in Singapore, a country with high developmental ambitions and sufficient resources to pursue advanced smart city programs. This study seeks to deepen scholarly and practical understandings about the mutually necessary but often diverging forces of public trust in technology and public trust in government.
A survey of Hong Kong residents finds that public support for government technology, as understoo... more A survey of Hong Kong residents finds that public support for government technology, as understood through the concept of smart cities, is associated with concept-awareness and official communications. The statistical analysis identifies moderating effects attributable to personal social media use and controls for personal ideological views about scope of government intervention and perceived political legitimacy of smart city policies. The study builds on a growing body of empirical scholarship about public support for government technology, while also addressing a practical trend in urban governance: the growing sophistication of technologies like artificial intelligence and their use in strengthening government capacities. The Hong Kong case exemplifies ambitious investments in technology by governments and, at the time of the survey, relatively high freedom of political expression. The study's findings help refine theories about state-society relations in the rapidly evolving context of technology for public sector use. Policy Significance Statement This study offers empirical evidence about factors that influence the political legitimacy of government technology, including the effect of concept-awareness and public communication. Findings imply that message credibility and comprehension are instrumental in crafting policy narratives and that participatory co-construction of these narratives can strengthen the political legitimacy of government technology.
Economic growth and population migration have driven urban sprawl in the American Sunbelt for dec... more Economic growth and population migration have driven urban sprawl in the American Sunbelt for decades. Some cities have been particularly effective in parlaying windfall growth into visibility and unique urban identities. The ‘it’ status that attracts national curiosity rests on a balance of growth, livability, and edginess – traits that cannot be engineered or purchased alone. Post-Covid economic recovery is an opportunity for cities to revitalize their urban cores in manifold ways, even amidst growing turbulence and uncertainty. This article examines these shifting dynamics and considers whether a modestly sized heartland American city – Waco, Texas – is poised to achieve transformational change in its urban core.
This year we celebrate the 150th anniversary of composer Sergei Rachmaninoff’s birth. It is also ... more This year we celebrate the 150th anniversary of composer Sergei Rachmaninoff’s birth. It is also one year since Yunchan Lim became the youngest pianist ever to win the gold medal in the sixteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, held once every four years. Lim’s acclaimed performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra under the baton of conductor Marin Alsop, clinched his victory and was by all accounts a rare moment.
Public Policy’s Role in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals, 2023
As sites of economic, political, and social convergence, cities absorb the earliest effects of gl... more As sites of economic, political, and social convergence, cities absorb the earliest effects of global crises. These dynamics are observable also in environmental crises and resiliencelonger-running challenges to legacy models of urban governance. Shifting epistemic and practical contexts invite scholarship to more thoroughly examine the dynamics of urban policy with regard to the 'localization' of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the contribution of city governments to global environmental policy. This chapter examines urban sustainability as an ontologically complex or 'wicked' policy problem, a framing concept with a history in the urban planning and policy literatures but deserving fresh revisitation. The argument is that a 'complexity science' approach that avoids narrative capture is needed to better understand global environmental crisis and its manifestation in cities. This approach seeks to challenge the predominance of linear, atomistic, and reductionist perspectives that remain embedded in policy thinking.
Emerging in scholarly discussions about political discourse over the past decade, the terms 'post... more Emerging in scholarly discussions about political discourse over the past decade, the terms 'post-truth' and 'denialism' refer to disagreement not on public policy strategies but on the nature of truth itself. Policy facts are now contested in ways that disrupt mainstream political narratives and weaken institutional legitimacy. In turn, the technocratic response of doublingdown on facts is faltering as the 'burn it down' vacuity of post-truth declares equivalent political legitimacy. This strident, self-assured irrationality offers few substantive policy visions, seeking only to bewilder and 'own' its perceived enemies including progressive 'elites,' science experts, and academics trying to understand the phenomenon. This article discusses disruption in the political discourse about fact-informed policy issues, focusing on a looming period of epistemic instability and the futility of using systematic analysis and logic to understand post-truth.
This report outlines how cities and the private sector can collaborate on and magnify sustainabil... more This report outlines how cities and the private sector can collaborate on and magnify sustainability efforts that enable broad systemic change.
Sustainability efforts require not only public policy interventions and resources but also the initiative and innovation of the private sector. These are systematized through the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for governments, including at the city level, and through environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles for companies. Bringing these two approaches into alignment is a crucial step for fostering multi-sectoral sustainability effort, but this alignment is largely unrealized.
Among the local-government sustainability documents examined for this report, mentions of corporate activity are minimal and often superficial, primarily addressing the participation of companies in multi-stakeholder discussions about policy issues. In turn, ESG reports center on the decisions and actions of corporations, with public governance referenced largely in the context of regulatory limitations and policy objectives that affect business operations.
Local governments and companies are undertaking sustainability efforts in their own ways. Merging the two through shared focus and strategy can magnify sustainability efforts in ways that enable the broad systemic change needed to avert climate crisis and societal disruption. This report outlines how a more collaborative approach can proceed, first by providing an overview of policy and corporate sustainability efforts and second by detailing examples of both. The report concludes with a discussion about how sustainability narratives can be harmonized between the two sectors.
In the past decade, use of the circular economy (CE) concept by scholars and practitioners has gr... more In the past decade, use of the circular economy (CE) concept by scholars and practitioners has grown steadily. In a 2017 article, Kirchherr et al. found that the CE concept is interpreted and implemented in a variety of ways. While multiple interpretations of CE can enrich scholarly perspectives, differentiation and fragmentation can also impede consolidation of the concept. Some scholarship has discussed these trends in context-specific cases, but no large-scale, systematic study has analysed whether such consolidation has taken place across the field. This article fills this gap by analysing 221 recent CE definitions, making several notable findings. First, the concept has seen both consolidation and differentiation in the past five years. Second, definitional trends are emerging that potentially have more meaning for scholarship than for practice. Third, scholars increasingly recommend a fundamental systemic shift to enable CE, particularly within supply chains. Fourth, sustainable development is frequently considered the principal aim of CE, but questions linger about whether CE can mutually support environmental sustainability and economic development. Finally, recent studies argue that CE transition relies on a broad alliance of stakeholders, including producers, consumers, policymakers, and scholars. This study contributes an updated systematic analysis of CE definitions and conceptualizations that serves as an empirical snapshot of current scholarly thinking. It thereby provides a basis for further research on whether conceptual consolidation is needed and how it can be facilitated for practical purposes.
Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) survey data and government economic data from Vietnam are ... more Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) survey data and government economic data from Vietnam are used to examine the relationship between economic growth and two indicators of governance effectiveness: efficacy at working with central law and creativity in solving business problems. Examining all of Vietnam's 63 provinces over 11 years (2007 to 2017), this study's fixed-effects regression analysis finds a significant association between economic growth and both measures of governance effectiveness, with a stronger magnitude for more industrialised provinces. This finding suggests that efforts to improve governance effectiveness and creativity in less industrialised provinces may fail to have desired economic impacts, pointing to deeper structural constraints. This article concludes by discussing implications for policy content and administrative reform.
Policy models based on ‘big data’ and other ‘smart’ systems, including those for circular economy... more Policy models based on ‘big data’ and other ‘smart’ systems, including those for circular economy (CE) transition, are proliferating as technology enables deeper monitoring and analysis. At the same time, policymaking is occurring in increasingly contentious and politically fragmented settings, particularly as populism foregrounds anti-science and post-truth sentiments. More sophisticated models would appear to improve empirical understandings about policy problems and help resolve associated disputes, but a conclusive policy ‘truth’ remains elusive and politically contestable. This contention highlights the need to understand competing narratives and their influence on model designs and inputs.
Asia's global rise highlights a host of policy opportunities and challenges. Historically... more Asia's global rise highlights a host of policy opportunities and challenges. Historically, the region's developmentalist governments were single-minded of purpose, aiming principally for rapid economic growth. As growth stabilized and economies matured, a variety of other concernsenvironmental, social, and political, among othersbegan to warrant policy intervention. Public administrators in Asia now operate in a setting of increasing complexity amidst an array of conflicting policy mandates. Accordingly, policy education and training are as crucial to Asia's continued rise as they were in the early stages of emergence decades ago. This article and the special issue it introduces address several key elements characterizing the rise of policy education in Asia, including how policy educational practices have converged and diverged, how they have responded to situational mandates, and how they are now asserting a unique disciplinary identity.
Evolutionary governance theory (EGT) provides a basis for holistically analyzing the shifting con... more Evolutionary governance theory (EGT) provides a basis for holistically analyzing the shifting contexts and dynamics of policymaking in settings with functional differentiation and complex subsystems. Policy assemblages, as mixes of policy tools and goals, are an appropriate unit of analysis for EGT because they embody the theory’s emphasis on co-evolving elements within policy systems. In rational practice, policymakers design policies within assemblages by establishing objectives, collecting information, comparing options, strategizing implementation, and selecting instruments. However, as EGT implies, this logical progression does not always materialize so tidily—some policies emerge from carefully considered blueprints while others evolve from muddled processes, laissez faire happenstance, or happy accident. Products of the latter often include loosely steered, unmoored, and ‘non-designed’ path dependencies that confound linear logic and are understudied in the policy literature....
The chapter discusses the impact of social change on how society views governance quality in the ... more The chapter discusses the impact of social change on how society views governance quality in the era of complex and interconnected policy problems. This era presents a valuable opportunity to revisit tensions between the deepening technocratic logic of formal policymaking and the social change implied by and reflected in the rise of alternative policy epistemics. The chapter focuses on the technocratic exercise of smart governance, as embodied by the smart cities concept, in considering the confrontation between late-stage technocracy and an emerging anti-technocratic agitation that manifests itself in the ‘local knowledge’ movement on one hand and in ‘anti-science’ populism on the other. Recognizing a mature literature critical of the hegemonic narrative posture of governance ideas, we explore the epistemic foundations of governance reform movements to more deeply understand a mechanism of narrative power that deserves renewed attention in the ‘smart’ era: instrumental rationalism. Smart governance, from an epistemic perspective, marks a progression in a sequence of ideas serving the long-running project to validate and normalize instrumental rationalism in policymaking. To connect this argument to social change, our approach combines the critical perspective of poststructuralism with the political economy perspective of world-systems theory. We postulate that ‘good’ governance is a vessel into which momentarily salient global norms are loaded, and that each successive iteration (e.g., smart) is considered politically viable only if emerging from existing institutional architecture and bearing the ideational legacy of instrumental rationalism. This process of narrative auto-replication yields seemingly novel ideas that are mere variations on a failed theme. The type of social change that can unseat this epistemic lock-in emerges from a more robust valorization of alternative perspectives, which we conclude this chapter by describing as an epistemic awakening.
COVID-19 decimated global tourism. As governments and firms strategize the sector’s recovery, ins... more COVID-19 decimated global tourism. As governments and firms strategize the sector’s recovery, insights from the sector’s prepandemic period of high growth offer useful policy lessons. This study examines the drivers of the tourism sector’s growth and catch-up performance in 13 industrialized economies over the period 2000–2015, using data from the EU-KLEMS database. The findings have three notable policy implications. First, the tourism sector in most countries experienced significant growth. However, value-added growth was driven largely by labor employment expansion while labor productivity declined in most countries. Second, weak investment in non–information and communications technology (ICT) capital and declining total factor productivity are the principal impediments to labor productivity growth. Third, all countries embraced digital transformation but many lagged on innovation and labor quality. These findings are analyzed to identify policy strategies for the tourism sector...
This Element explores the uncertain future of public policy practice and scholarship in an age of... more This Element explores the uncertain future of public policy practice and scholarship in an age of radical disruption. Building on foundational ideas in policy sciences, we argue that an anachronistic instrumental rationalism underlies contemporary policy logic and limits efforts to understand new policy challenges. We consider whether the policy sciences framework can be reframed to facilitate deeper understandings of this anachronistic epistemic, in anticipation of a research agenda about epistemic destabilization and contestation. The Element applies this theoretical provocation to environmental policy and sustainability, issues about which policymaking proceeds amid unpredictable contexts and rising sociopolitical turbulence that portend a liminal state in the transition from one way of thinking to another. The Element concludes by contemplating the fate of policy's epistemic instability, anticipating what policy understandings will emerge in a new system, and questioning the degree to which either presages a seismic shift in the relationship between policy and society.
Book Description
This book presents the latest research on three issues of crucial importance ... more Book Description This book presents the latest research on three issues of crucial importance to Asian cities: governance, livability, and sustainability. Together, these issues canvass the salient trends defining Asian urbanization and are explored through an eclectic compendium of studies that represent the many voices of this diverse region. Examining the processes and implications of Asian urbanization, the book interweaves practical cases with theories and empirical rigor while lending insight and complexity into the towering challenges of urban governance. The book targets a broad audience including thinkers, practitioners, and students.
Climate change, financial crises, and other issues of global scale no longer concern only the dev... more Climate change, financial crises, and other issues of global scale no longer concern only the developed world. The binding power of globalization has placed these challenges at the doorstep of almost every country, testing the evolutionary capacity of monolithic governance systems bound by institutional legacy and administrative stagnation. This book locates the concept of adaptive governance, used primarily in environmental management, within the context of economic policy. Introducing flexible economic opportunism, it argues that a particular style of institutional and administrative versatility enables innovative, evidence-based policy development.
This book mines institutional economics, public administration, and research theory and practice for complementary elements that can inform an emerging governance paradigm based on flexible economic opportunism. Through an eclectic suite of cases from the developing and developed worlds including Asia and North America, this book reveals how patterns of institutional and administrative change impact the efficacy of public policy. Flexibility may be this century’s most critical dimension of global competitiveness, and systems configured to quickly and comprehensively capture economic opportunities will win the marketplace of development ideas. This book advances that discussion.
While the conceptualization of policy capacity and its application to governance performance have... more While the conceptualization of policy capacity and its application to governance performance have been addressed in the academic literature, existing governance indices appear not to consider policy capacity in its many nuanced forms. This shortcoming may be perpetuating incomplete accounts of governance quality within a diverse and growing group of indices. This chapter surveys five commonly used indices to determine whether and how they measure policy capacity. Two of the indices, the Worldwide Governance Indicators and KPMG Change Readiness Index, address broad measures of governance in a globally comparative context. The remaining indices—the Sustainable Governance Indicators, Global Innovation Policy Index, and Bertelsmann Transformation Index—target particular dimensions of governance. This chapter argues that policy capacity is relevant across many types of indices, and therefore deserves closer attention. In particular, the chapter illustrates how a robust framework measuring policy capacity, proposed by Xun, Ramesh, and Howlett, can be used to identify areas in which governance indices inadequately account for capacity. This chapter is in three parts. After a brief introduction, the first part tabulates measures of capacity within selected indices using elements of the framework as an analytical template. The second part compares tabulation results across all five indices, and the final part advocates a more robust consideration of capacity based on the identified shortcomings of the observed indices.
Government efforts to confront complex crises, such as climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic, ... more Government efforts to confront complex crises, such as climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic, have elicited populist antipathy toward scientific and technical input in policymaking. These affronts to expertise and knowledge institutions have congealed into a ‘post-truth’ rhetoric that reflects deep political rifts concerning state-society relations. In his book Truth and Post-Truth in Public Policy: Interpreting the Arguments, Frank Fischer (2021) brings interpretive policy analysis to bear on the post-truth phenomenon and its manifestation in crisis denialism. According to Fischer, this interpretive analytical perspective “focuses attention on the processes of social explanation and argumentation which mediate the understandings of facts in public discourse” (p. 23). As existential crises befall society during this acutely partisan era, the complexities and consequences of post-truth politics – or dismissal of fact in policy discourse – call for fresh scholarly reflection. Fischer delivers convincingly in his engaging tour of the political and epistemological aspects of post-truth.
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Papers by Kris Hartley
Sustainability efforts require not only public policy interventions and resources but also the initiative and innovation of the private sector. These are systematized through the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for governments, including at the city level, and through environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles for companies. Bringing these two approaches into alignment is a crucial step for fostering multi-sectoral sustainability effort, but this alignment is largely unrealized.
Among the local-government sustainability documents examined for this report, mentions of corporate activity are minimal and often superficial, primarily addressing the participation of companies in multi-stakeholder discussions about policy issues. In turn, ESG reports center on the decisions and actions of corporations, with public governance referenced largely in the context of regulatory limitations and policy objectives that affect business operations.
Local governments and companies are undertaking sustainability efforts in their own ways. Merging the two through shared focus and strategy can magnify sustainability efforts in ways that enable the broad systemic change needed to avert climate crisis and societal disruption. This report outlines how a more collaborative approach can proceed, first by providing an overview of policy and corporate sustainability efforts and second by detailing examples of both. The report concludes with a discussion about how sustainability narratives can be harmonized between the two sectors.
Sustainability efforts require not only public policy interventions and resources but also the initiative and innovation of the private sector. These are systematized through the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for governments, including at the city level, and through environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles for companies. Bringing these two approaches into alignment is a crucial step for fostering multi-sectoral sustainability effort, but this alignment is largely unrealized.
Among the local-government sustainability documents examined for this report, mentions of corporate activity are minimal and often superficial, primarily addressing the participation of companies in multi-stakeholder discussions about policy issues. In turn, ESG reports center on the decisions and actions of corporations, with public governance referenced largely in the context of regulatory limitations and policy objectives that affect business operations.
Local governments and companies are undertaking sustainability efforts in their own ways. Merging the two through shared focus and strategy can magnify sustainability efforts in ways that enable the broad systemic change needed to avert climate crisis and societal disruption. This report outlines how a more collaborative approach can proceed, first by providing an overview of policy and corporate sustainability efforts and second by detailing examples of both. The report concludes with a discussion about how sustainability narratives can be harmonized between the two sectors.
This book presents the latest research on three issues of crucial importance to Asian cities: governance, livability, and sustainability. Together, these issues canvass the salient trends defining Asian urbanization and are explored through an eclectic compendium of studies that represent the many voices of this diverse region. Examining the processes and implications of Asian urbanization, the book interweaves practical cases with theories and empirical rigor while lending insight and complexity into the towering challenges of urban governance. The book targets a broad audience including thinkers, practitioners, and students.
This book mines institutional economics, public administration, and research theory and practice for complementary elements that can inform an emerging governance paradigm based on flexible economic opportunism. Through an eclectic suite of cases from the developing and developed worlds including Asia and North America, this book reveals how patterns of institutional and administrative change impact the efficacy of public policy. Flexibility may be this century’s most critical dimension of global competitiveness, and systems configured to quickly and comprehensively capture economic opportunities will win the marketplace of development ideas. This book advances that discussion.