The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008 has revealed weaknesses in financial regulatory policie... more The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008 has revealed weaknesses in financial regulatory policies and institutions in many countries. These weaknesses extend to the regional and international domains of financial policy as well. This article calls for the need for better designed financial regulations and policies by taking a policy design perspective. It provides a multi-level approach to understanding financial reform as design that examines the various components of policy design – policy means, goals and change – at the three levels of policymaking – international regional, national. In doing so, we aim to provide a first step towards a more design-centric approach to financial sector reform.
Resilience and robustness are exciting concepts for policy researchers. Their broad use in other ... more Resilience and robustness are exciting concepts for policy researchers. Their broad use in other disciplines has motivated social scientists and policy researchers to adopt them in analyses. In the present paper, we review definitions of these concepts and the primary theoretical and empirical challenges presented by resilience and robustness as lenses for improving the understanding of policy process and policy design. The results reveal that the two concepts differ in their potential value for public policy analysis. Despite its diffusion and 'charme', resilience does not appear to be useful and may be misleading, whereas robustness exhibits great potential with respect to both analysis and design.
This article uses a case study of financial sector policy making in East Asia in the post 2000 pe... more This article uses a case study of financial sector policy making in East Asia in the post 2000 period to examine and help to resolve questions surrounding the origins of the phenomenon of ‘dynamics without change’ in public policy making; that is, the appearance of policy activity and alteration without affecting the overall nature and orientation of policy outputs or outcomes. This is a phenomenon which has challenged existing notions of policy dynamics which associate enhanced policy activity with fundamental changes in outputs and outcomes and is an issue which has concerned policy studies since Robert Alford’s seminal study of British health policy dynamics first noted the phenomenon in the mid-1970s. The article develops and extends the ideas put forward by Rayner et al. (2001, Privileging the sub-sector: critical sub-sectors and sectoral relationships in forest policy-making, Forest Policy and Economics, 2 (3–4), 319–332) that ‘critical subsectors’ or subsets of actors within a subsystem which control whether or not fundamental change occurs. Evidence from recent developments in the Asian financial sector is put forward supporting the argument that the uneven structuration and non-reciprocal nature of the relationships existing between components of a policy subsystem explain that policy’s propensity for change and stability. The discussion moves the general analysis of policy change, policy subsystems and their role in policy change forward from the existing orthodoxy of ‘dynamics with change’ and provides the foundation for a new research programme analysing intra-sectoral policy dynamics in an empirically robust manner.
Statutory boards represent an important feature of Singapore’s effective and efficient model of p... more Statutory boards represent an important feature of Singapore’s effective and efficient model of public administration. Despite their autonomy and separation from the rest of Singapore’s civil service, statutory boards represent policymaking units in their own right, developed and utilized by the government in the achievement of its policy objectives. Based on first-hand interviews and other primary data, this paper provides an analysis of two Singaporean statutory boards: the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Land Transport Authority, focusing in particular on their roles as policymaking units. In doing so, this paper attempts to sketch out and understand Singapore’s unique policy style. This contributes to a better understanding of Asian policy styles in the process, a topic which has thus far received scant attention in the existing policy styles literature.
A roadmap for 'new policy design' studies now exists in the orientation which has emerged in rece... more A roadmap for 'new policy design' studies now exists in the orientation which has emerged in recent years towards the formulation of complex policy mixes. The new design orientation focuses on bundles or portfolios of tools and the interactive effects which occur when multiple tools are used over time in policy packages designed to address multiple goals, and upon more complex multi-policy and multi-level design contexts. This review article examines the differences between the 'old' instrument orientation and the 'new' design one, setting out the current research agenda in this field and its rationale. keywords: public policy • policy design • policy tools • policy instruments • governance
This paper conceptualizes political competences at the system level of capabilities to function a... more This paper conceptualizes political competences at the system level of capabilities to function as ''legitimation capacity'' in a policy context. It identifies trust in the political, social, economic, and security spheres as the key element driving this capacity. Trust ensures that state actions and institutions are perceived as legitimate and receive public support, which in turn allows political skills to be exercised, preventing political or institutional decay and policy ineffectiveness. Conceptualization of legitimation capacity as comprising trust across political, social, economic, and security dimensions offers a useful framework for analyzing and estimating a government's capacity in different policy spheres. It provides a practical tool for estimating any deficiencies in legitimation capacity that a government may face. While governments may be endowed with different levels of legitimate capacity when they first attain office, they may over time work on building up capacity by focusing on the spheres in which they may be lacking. Conversely, they may lose legitimacy if their efforts in these areas are counter-productive.
Existing studies of Hong Kong’s and Singapore’s success as leading Asian international financial ... more Existing studies of Hong Kong’s and Singapore’s success as leading Asian international financial centers (IFCs) have largely focused on economic structural factors at the neglect of politicaleconomic contextual variables. Taking a policy subsystems approach and based on extensive field research, this article attempts to address this shortcoming by conceptualizing the “policy relations” that exist between state, industry, and other non-state actors in the two IFCs and delineating the “division of policy roles” among these actors. In the process, this article contributes toward the existing IFC literature and conceptualizes the sociopolitical relations that exist among financial sector actors.
This article conceptualizes the financial policy regimes of London, Hong Kong,
Singapore and Shan... more This article conceptualizes the financial policy regimes of London, Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai, in the process of comparing and contrasting the sociopolitical relations that exist within the four cities. Based on the data collected from extensive field research, I identify four distinct financial policy regimes. First, a combination of low state intervention and influential industry actors in London reflects a financial policy regime that features dominant industry interest groups. While Hong Kong similarly features low state intervention, its industry actors are not influential. In contrast, financial sector development in Singapore features a ‘cocreation’ of financial policies by a close-knit network of state and industry actors. Lastly, Shanghai’s financial policy regime is largely dominated by state actors from both the central and local levels. By delineating and analyzing the policy regimes of the four international financial centers (IFCs), this article provides the first step toward a clearer and more critical understanding of how sociopolitical relations impact IFC development. In the process, it extends the analysis of IFCs beyond conventional neoliberal understandings of economic development.
This article examines the impact of policies for start‐up and entrepreneurship on the development... more This article examines the impact of policies for start‐up and entrepreneurship on the developmental model that remains a policy legacy in many Asian countries. The main argument is that the influence of central planning is deeply embedded in the institutions of the Four Asian Tigers, but globalisation and economic liberalisation are disrupting the old developmentalism by incentivising innovation and structural adaptability. In practice, although developmentalism once focused on infrastructure and industrial policy, softer strategies such as attracting educated millennials through urban amenities and creative clustering mimic those of the postindustrial West. Either this trend represents the end of developmentalism or top-down industrial policy is being rebranded to embrace knowledge and service industries. This article examines this issue at the urban scale, examining policies used by Singapore and Seoul to encourage start‐ups and entrepreneurship in the context of innovation. Government documents are examined and findings compared.
The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008 has revealed weaknesses in financial regulatory policie... more The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008 has revealed weaknesses in financial regulatory policies and institutions in many countries. These weaknesses extend to the regional and international domains of financial policy as well. This article calls for the need for better designed financial regulations and policies by taking a policy design perspective. It provides a multi-level approach to understanding financial reform as design that examines the various components of policy design – policy means, goals and change – at the three levels of policymaking – international regional, national. In doing so, we aim to provide a first step towards a more design-centric approach to financial sector reform.
Resilience and robustness are exciting concepts for policy researchers. Their broad use in other ... more Resilience and robustness are exciting concepts for policy researchers. Their broad use in other disciplines has motivated social scientists and policy researchers to adopt them in analyses. In the present paper, we review definitions of these concepts and the primary theoretical and empirical challenges presented by resilience and robustness as lenses for improving the understanding of policy process and policy design. The results reveal that the two concepts differ in their potential value for public policy analysis. Despite its diffusion and 'charme', resilience does not appear to be useful and may be misleading, whereas robustness exhibits great potential with respect to both analysis and design.
This article uses a case study of financial sector policy making in East Asia in the post 2000 pe... more This article uses a case study of financial sector policy making in East Asia in the post 2000 period to examine and help to resolve questions surrounding the origins of the phenomenon of ‘dynamics without change’ in public policy making; that is, the appearance of policy activity and alteration without affecting the overall nature and orientation of policy outputs or outcomes. This is a phenomenon which has challenged existing notions of policy dynamics which associate enhanced policy activity with fundamental changes in outputs and outcomes and is an issue which has concerned policy studies since Robert Alford’s seminal study of British health policy dynamics first noted the phenomenon in the mid-1970s. The article develops and extends the ideas put forward by Rayner et al. (2001, Privileging the sub-sector: critical sub-sectors and sectoral relationships in forest policy-making, Forest Policy and Economics, 2 (3–4), 319–332) that ‘critical subsectors’ or subsets of actors within a subsystem which control whether or not fundamental change occurs. Evidence from recent developments in the Asian financial sector is put forward supporting the argument that the uneven structuration and non-reciprocal nature of the relationships existing between components of a policy subsystem explain that policy’s propensity for change and stability. The discussion moves the general analysis of policy change, policy subsystems and their role in policy change forward from the existing orthodoxy of ‘dynamics with change’ and provides the foundation for a new research programme analysing intra-sectoral policy dynamics in an empirically robust manner.
Statutory boards represent an important feature of Singapore’s effective and efficient model of p... more Statutory boards represent an important feature of Singapore’s effective and efficient model of public administration. Despite their autonomy and separation from the rest of Singapore’s civil service, statutory boards represent policymaking units in their own right, developed and utilized by the government in the achievement of its policy objectives. Based on first-hand interviews and other primary data, this paper provides an analysis of two Singaporean statutory boards: the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Land Transport Authority, focusing in particular on their roles as policymaking units. In doing so, this paper attempts to sketch out and understand Singapore’s unique policy style. This contributes to a better understanding of Asian policy styles in the process, a topic which has thus far received scant attention in the existing policy styles literature.
A roadmap for 'new policy design' studies now exists in the orientation which has emerged in rece... more A roadmap for 'new policy design' studies now exists in the orientation which has emerged in recent years towards the formulation of complex policy mixes. The new design orientation focuses on bundles or portfolios of tools and the interactive effects which occur when multiple tools are used over time in policy packages designed to address multiple goals, and upon more complex multi-policy and multi-level design contexts. This review article examines the differences between the 'old' instrument orientation and the 'new' design one, setting out the current research agenda in this field and its rationale. keywords: public policy • policy design • policy tools • policy instruments • governance
This paper conceptualizes political competences at the system level of capabilities to function a... more This paper conceptualizes political competences at the system level of capabilities to function as ''legitimation capacity'' in a policy context. It identifies trust in the political, social, economic, and security spheres as the key element driving this capacity. Trust ensures that state actions and institutions are perceived as legitimate and receive public support, which in turn allows political skills to be exercised, preventing political or institutional decay and policy ineffectiveness. Conceptualization of legitimation capacity as comprising trust across political, social, economic, and security dimensions offers a useful framework for analyzing and estimating a government's capacity in different policy spheres. It provides a practical tool for estimating any deficiencies in legitimation capacity that a government may face. While governments may be endowed with different levels of legitimate capacity when they first attain office, they may over time work on building up capacity by focusing on the spheres in which they may be lacking. Conversely, they may lose legitimacy if their efforts in these areas are counter-productive.
Existing studies of Hong Kong’s and Singapore’s success as leading Asian international financial ... more Existing studies of Hong Kong’s and Singapore’s success as leading Asian international financial centers (IFCs) have largely focused on economic structural factors at the neglect of politicaleconomic contextual variables. Taking a policy subsystems approach and based on extensive field research, this article attempts to address this shortcoming by conceptualizing the “policy relations” that exist between state, industry, and other non-state actors in the two IFCs and delineating the “division of policy roles” among these actors. In the process, this article contributes toward the existing IFC literature and conceptualizes the sociopolitical relations that exist among financial sector actors.
This article conceptualizes the financial policy regimes of London, Hong Kong,
Singapore and Shan... more This article conceptualizes the financial policy regimes of London, Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai, in the process of comparing and contrasting the sociopolitical relations that exist within the four cities. Based on the data collected from extensive field research, I identify four distinct financial policy regimes. First, a combination of low state intervention and influential industry actors in London reflects a financial policy regime that features dominant industry interest groups. While Hong Kong similarly features low state intervention, its industry actors are not influential. In contrast, financial sector development in Singapore features a ‘cocreation’ of financial policies by a close-knit network of state and industry actors. Lastly, Shanghai’s financial policy regime is largely dominated by state actors from both the central and local levels. By delineating and analyzing the policy regimes of the four international financial centers (IFCs), this article provides the first step toward a clearer and more critical understanding of how sociopolitical relations impact IFC development. In the process, it extends the analysis of IFCs beyond conventional neoliberal understandings of economic development.
This article examines the impact of policies for start‐up and entrepreneurship on the development... more This article examines the impact of policies for start‐up and entrepreneurship on the developmental model that remains a policy legacy in many Asian countries. The main argument is that the influence of central planning is deeply embedded in the institutions of the Four Asian Tigers, but globalisation and economic liberalisation are disrupting the old developmentalism by incentivising innovation and structural adaptability. In practice, although developmentalism once focused on infrastructure and industrial policy, softer strategies such as attracting educated millennials through urban amenities and creative clustering mimic those of the postindustrial West. Either this trend represents the end of developmentalism or top-down industrial policy is being rebranded to embrace knowledge and service industries. This article examines this issue at the urban scale, examining policies used by Singapore and Seoul to encourage start‐ups and entrepreneurship in the context of innovation. Government documents are examined and findings compared.
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Articles by Jun Jie Woo
delineating the “division of policy roles” among these actors. In the process, this article contributes toward the existing IFC literature and conceptualizes the sociopolitical relations that exist among financial sector actors.
Singapore and Shanghai, in the process of comparing and contrasting the sociopolitical
relations that exist within the four cities. Based on the data collected from extensive
field research, I identify four distinct financial policy regimes. First, a combination of
low state intervention and influential industry actors in London reflects a financial
policy regime that features dominant industry interest groups. While Hong Kong
similarly features low state intervention, its industry actors are not influential. In
contrast, financial sector development in Singapore features a ‘cocreation’ of financial
policies by a close-knit network of state and industry actors. Lastly, Shanghai’s
financial policy regime is largely dominated by state actors from both the central
and local levels. By delineating and analyzing the policy regimes of the four international
financial centers (IFCs), this article provides the first step toward a clearer and
more critical understanding of how sociopolitical relations impact IFC development. In
the process, it extends the analysis of IFCs beyond conventional neoliberal understandings
of economic development.
Papers by Jun Jie Woo
Singapore and Seoul to encourage start‐ups and entrepreneurship
in the context of innovation. Government documents are examined and findings compared.
delineating the “division of policy roles” among these actors. In the process, this article contributes toward the existing IFC literature and conceptualizes the sociopolitical relations that exist among financial sector actors.
Singapore and Shanghai, in the process of comparing and contrasting the sociopolitical
relations that exist within the four cities. Based on the data collected from extensive
field research, I identify four distinct financial policy regimes. First, a combination of
low state intervention and influential industry actors in London reflects a financial
policy regime that features dominant industry interest groups. While Hong Kong
similarly features low state intervention, its industry actors are not influential. In
contrast, financial sector development in Singapore features a ‘cocreation’ of financial
policies by a close-knit network of state and industry actors. Lastly, Shanghai’s
financial policy regime is largely dominated by state actors from both the central
and local levels. By delineating and analyzing the policy regimes of the four international
financial centers (IFCs), this article provides the first step toward a clearer and
more critical understanding of how sociopolitical relations impact IFC development. In
the process, it extends the analysis of IFCs beyond conventional neoliberal understandings
of economic development.
Singapore and Seoul to encourage start‐ups and entrepreneurship
in the context of innovation. Government documents are examined and findings compared.