Public Institutions

Public relations practitioners can assume many different roles in public institutions. The common goal of these different roles is to try to influence the attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of the target groups through effective communication strategies. Thus, support from the public is considered. In this study, it is aimed to find out the effective strategies to improve the quality of the relations with the target groups of public institutions. For this purpose, the relationship between the communicative process established by public institutions with their target groups and relational results were examined. The research conducted on 251 people revealed that perceived communicative skills of local public institutions had positive effects on public relations perceptions (trust, commitment, satisfaction). The most important dimension is satisfaction. On the other hand, a weak relationship was found between the communicative process and control mutuality. This finding indicates that public relations department is not effective in the decision making process in public institutions. The results of the research are proposed to improve the relational results between public institutions and target groups.

La intermunicipalidad, entendida como la articulación institucionalizada de gobiernos locales interconectados e interdependientes para ejecutar colectivamente una o más políticas bajo un principio de coordinación horizontal, es un fenómeno emergente de la agenda municipal en Argentina desde 1990. Emerge como una forma alternativa de gestión local para resolver los problemas de fragmentación territorial argentina. El objetivo de nuestra investigación fue el análisis del proceso hasta el presente. En este artículo presentamos algunos resultados que permiten dimensionar su cuantía, así como algunas contribuciones sobre la intermunicipalidad en Argentina: la existencia, en proporciones iguales, de microrregiones y mancomunidades; las pocas redes nacionales; la debilidad de los casos transfronterizos; la concentración en pocas provincias; la debilidad institucional y la poca incidencia de la cooperación internacional.

La Intermunicipalidad, entendida como la articulación institucionalizada de gobiernos locales interconectados e interdependientes para ejecutar colectivamente una o más políticas bajo un principio de coordinación horizontal, es un fenómeno emergente de la agenda municipal en Argentina desde 1990. Emerge como una forma alternativa de gestión local para resolver los problemas de fragmentación territorial argentina.
El objetivo de nuestra investigación fue el análisis del proceso hasta el presente. en este artículo presentamos algunos resultados que permiten dimensionar su cuantía, así como algunas contribuciones sobre la intermunicipalidad en Argentina: la existencia, en proporciones iguales, de microrregiones y mancomunidades; las pocas redes nacionales; la debilidad de los casos transfronterizos; la concentración en pocas provincias; la debilidad institucional y la poca incidencia de la cooperación internacional.

Inter-municipality, understood as the institutionalized articulation of interconnected and interdependent local governments to collectively implement one or more policies under the principle of horizontal coordination, is an emerging phenomenon of the municipal agenda in Argentina since 1990. It has emerged as an alternative form os local management to solve issues related to Argentinian territorial fragmentation.
The aim of our research was to analyze the process to date. In this paper we present some results that enable us to measure their magnitude, as well as some contributions about inter-municipality in Argentina: the existence, in equal proportions, of micro-regions and groupings of municipalities; the few national networks; the weakness of cross-border cases; its concentration in a few provinces; the institutional weakness and the low incidence of international cooperation.

The resilience of the Indian Constitution stands testimony to the collective wisdom of the members of the Constituent Assembly. Though criticisms have been leveled against the unrepresentative composition of the Constituent Assembly, one cannot deny the fact that the members did give a voice to the concerns of the under-represented sections of the society. A dispassionate appraisal of the Constituent Assembly would involve not just a stock taking of its limitations but also an appreciation of the foresight of the Assembly.

When the Constituent Assembly met for the first time on 9 December 1946 it was acutely conscious of the expectations that the people of India held. The Constituent Assembly stood on the shoulders of nationalist struggle that had constantly harped on the principle of self determination and it had to formulate a constitutional design which could bring about equality in a highly unequal society. Steered by individuals of impeccable integrity, the Constitution held out a vision for the future, which was couched in a liberal world view tweaked to suit the peculiar conditionality of the country. The Constituent Assembly despite being a product of the circumstances of that time had a futuristic mission and envisaged an institutional structure that was expected to withstand the test of time.The resilience of the Indian Constitution stands testimony to the collective wisdom of the members of the Constituent Assembly. Though criticisms have been leveled against the unrepresentative composition of the Constituent Assembly, one cannot deny the fact that the members did give a voice to the concerns of the under-represented sections of the society. A dispassionate appraisal of the Constituent Assembly would involve not just a stock taking of its limitations but also an appreciation of the foresight of the Assembly.

La inminente entrada en vigor del nuevo sistema de justicia penal en junio de 2016 y la larga lista de modificaciones que está trayendo consigo al nuevo sistema de litigación oral (no solamente para la materia penal) coloca en el centro la noción de igualdad de armas entre las partes de un proceso.
Como lo manifiestan Magaloni y Elizondo en su artículo,1 la libertad
del juez “de elegir una de las muchas posibles soluciones jurídicas que tiene el asunto, coloca al juzgador en una posición delicada entre las partes”. Al formar parte del staff que organizó la primera reunión internacional que se tiene registro a escala de cuatro continentes (convocada en 2012 por la Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación (SCJN) para llevarse a cabo a puerta cerrada), coincido con los autores antes citados en que se trata de uno de los aspectos que más llamó la atención entre los juzgadores extranjeros que asistieron a la Cumbre de Presidentes de Cortes Supremas, Constitucionales y Regionales.2 El asombro generalizado entre los invitados refiere a la normalidad con la que los jueces mexicanos (incluidos los de la SCJN)
acuerdan audiencias privadas a todo aquel que lo solicite; en particular las partes de los procesos que se encuentran pendientes de resolución.

Mi ensayo parte de una reforma constitucional que analizo siguiendo
las líneas que trazó nuestro apreciado colega Diego Valadés en la conferencia magistral que nos antecedió. Parafraseo su afirmación, en el sentido de que nuestra constitución ha tenido unos desarrollos recientes que con frecuencia se identifican con la imagen que proyecta un espejismo. Muchas promesas sin cumplir; una excesiva generación de normas, pero márgenes de cumplimiento que se difuminan en el paisaje y dejan mucho que desear. Y sin embargo, son transformaciones que debemos entender sin asumir la posición catastrofista de quienes anuncian el advenimiento de tiempos caóticos, donde el inmovilismo se antepone al cambio.

Corruption is arguably one of the most ominous threats to the democratic public order. Recent work in normative political theory (Ceva & Ferretti 2021) has characterized corruption as an internal enemy of public institutions in the form of a deficit of office accountability. The core of corruption is, in this view, about officeholders’ exercise of the public power entrusted to their institutional roles. What happens to the core of corruption when the officeholders’ power is either not purely public or not entrusted according to democratic standards? To address this question, the study of corruption in the field of political theory must move from its core to its margins. The project explores corruption at the margins of democracies by looking at the forms this institutional dysfunction takes in hybrid regimes. It also studies the manifestations of corruption at the margins of the public sector by looking at the dysfunctions of nonprofit organizations and business corporations. In so doing, the project aims at testing whether the idea of a deficit of office accountability can seize the special character of corruption across a large spectrum of institutional set ups and uses of power of office. This inquiry has also far-reaching methodological implications. The project will employ a mixed theoretical and empirical methodology to enhance the awareness of the limits of analytical and normative methodologies when approaching nonideal matters in political theory. It will thus re-draw disciplinary boundaries by fostering crosscultural and transdisciplinary dialogue through the launch of a new Research Center for Corruption Studies at the University of Geneva.

En todos los países, las empresas luchan por influir más y más la agenda de decisiones fundamentales de lo público en función de prioridades diseñadas en el seno de asambleas de accionistas que sesionan incluso en distintos continentes. La gobernanza global presenta la posibilidad del ciudadano común de influir en la toma de decisiones colectivas a partir de una exigencia fundamental a la que aspiramos todas las democracias constitucionales, que consiste en lograr que el catálogo de derechos contenido en la Constitución se amplíe y se vuelva una realidad para todos por igual.
La universalidad de los derechos implica entonces que toda persona sea tratada a partir de un zoclo de igualdad, que le permita realizar sus planes personales, con la seguridad de que las instituciones nacionales le servirán como garantía principal e inconmovible del interés que todo individuo tiene por progresar. Desde ahora conviene preguntarnos si esta nueva forma de tomar decisiones, donde conviven muy distintas influencias provenientes de muy diversos ámbitos (sobre todo económicos), llevarán a las instituciones de cada país a plegarse ante tales presiones del exterior, o si los gobiernos serán capaces, como instancias estatales, de reivindicar el reconocimiento de instituciones democráticas, donde los órganos representativos avanzarán en la búsqueda de la confianza ciudadana.

Résumé

Cet article examine la pertinence d’une analyse en termes d’interactions de classes pour l’étude des relations entre des agents d’institutions publiques et la population d’un quartier populaire, à partir d’une enquête menée dans les permanences d’un centre social. La caractérisation des positions sociales relatives est complexe, du fait de la disparité des trajectoires des agents, et de la différenciation interne à la population. Une gamme de relations, allant de l’entraide à la mise à distance, s’instaure ainsi entre les employées et leur public. Des processus de cristallisation de positionnements sociaux se déroulent néanmoins au sein des permanences, pour les agents comme pour les habitants. En particulier, la distance entre employées et habitants les plus précaires s’accuse, confortant la perception des clivages entre fractions de la population.

Abstract

Relations at the service window: Interactions of class and social classification

This article assesses the utility of a class analysis for the study of relations between the personnel of public institutions and the population of a popular neighbourhood. The data come from a study of a social centre. Characterisation of social positions is complicated, given the variety of backgrounds of the personnel and the internal differences in the population served. A range, from supportive to distanced, characterise relations between workers and their public. Processes of stabilisation of social relations nonetheless do take place in these offices, both for the personnel and the population served. In particular, there is a clear distancing between the most precarious of the population and the workers, one which reinforces the perception that there are cleavages among fractions of the population.

The aim of the paper is to discuss the possibilities and challenges in building an ‘ethics infrastructure’ in Czech civil service. First, we describe the recent history and current state of civil service ethics in the Czech republic and zoom in on several ongoing reforms, such as the revision of the Code of Ethics for Czech Civil Servants. Then we focus on the methods and preliminary results of our research project on developing an ethical cultural at the Ministry of Transport. We highlight what we have learnt from our hand-on experience about the prospects and challenges of the ongoing initiatives and suggest some conclusions that we consider as most important with regard to further directions of the development of Czech civil service ethics.

Why the improvements in the business environment and deregulation of labour markets do not result always in the reduction of the unemployment rate and more vigorous growth? This question is addressed by looking at the relation between the level of regulatory burden for doing business and the unemployment rates in the six Western Balkan countries and territories (WB6). The WB6 countries managed, during the past five years, to shorten the distance to the frontier, but that did not result in a significant drop in the unemployment level and more vigorous growth. To explain why, I look into political variables, such as the strength of public (political) institutions in the WB6. It is these political institutions, which substantially differ between the most advanced industrial countries and the WB6 countries and territories that undermine the positive effect of economic reform on the business environment in the latter.

This paper presents a conceptual framework tohelp policymakers, researchers, practitioners and donors better define windows of opportunity in different contexts to focus efforts on promoting better interaction between knowledge and policy. The framework comprises six facets or ‘dimensions’ of context that any government institution aiming to improve the use of knowledge in public policy (as well as those working with these agencies) should consider carefully. These six dimensions fall into two categories: external and internal. The first two external dimensions are (1) macro-context; and (2) intra- and inter-relationships with state and non-state agents. The four internal dimensions are: (3) culture; (4) organizational capacity; (5) management and processes; and (6) core resources.

Este artículo tiene dos objetivos: el primero es describir el tipo de violencia que pueden experimentar los usuarios de instituciones públicas de salud y de justicia en México cuando acuden a ellas. El segundo objetivo es presentar algunas de las estrategias de estos usuarios para luchar contra los obstáculos que, a menudo, estas instituciones les imponen para acceder a sus derechos. El artículo parte de una investigación cualitativa que se ha realizado en la Ciudad de México, Guanajuato y Yucatán, y se basa en el estudio de 22 casos graves de violencia institucional y en entrevistas a profundidad con usuarios, funcionarios públicos y activistas.

Los resultados muestran que, después de darse cuenta de que lo que vivieron fue un agravio, la gente suele acercarse al conocimiento experto para atreverse a criticar legítimamente a la institución (aunque no lo hagan públicamente); hace lo que le piden aparentando estar de acuerdo con las instituciones; y también, pero sólo algunos, intentan poner una queja formal por la violencia padecida. Se concluye que los ciudadanos son realmente capaces de hacer frente a la violencia, aun cuando esta les deja muy poco margen de acción. Sin embargo, mientras se tenga que luchar para acceder a los derechos, la violencia institucional se seguirá reproduciendo, pues el entrar en esta lucha legitima de alguna manera el maltrato, el abuso y las negligencias de las instituciones públicas.

The Role of Corruption in Determining Levels of Trust in Public Institutions: A Quantitative Institutional Analysis, Utilising the Individual Unit of Observation - Abstract

This paper takes a holistic interdisciplinary approach to corruption, utilizing the disciplines of anthropology and sociology, focusing on the individual’s role within the functioning of society, and observation of the aggregate individual affects a state-centric analysis. The examination of the mechanisms functioning to affect the relationship between the levels of corruption observed at the individual-unit in local government and trust in public institutions; providing the basis for an alternate method of analyzing the effects of corruption at the institutional level-of analysis. Drawing together the micro unit-of-observation with meso-level analysis, to infer the macro, by providing country aggregate individual analyses of corruption on trust in public institutions. This cross-country analysis provides a comparative institutional analysis of corruption transformation based on country specific contexts, cultures and social norms, rather than stark inter-state comparisons of state perceptions by “hegemonic discourses of corruption”, detrimental to the individual state and open to bias at the state and international level. Employing a quantitative research design, using harmonized barometer survey data from the Global Barometer Surveys Study, allows for comparative cross-country institutional analysis, with the latent inclusion of contextual, cultural and social norms specific to that country within individual responses. Multivariate OLS regressions are used to test the strength of the relationship between aggregate individuals’ responses on the levels of corruption in their local governments and their trust in public institutions, including both local and national government, the president or PM, parliament, political parties, the police, the military and the courts, political parties and police. This paper finds significance in the aggregate individuals’ responses on satisfaction with democracy; government working to lessen a visible economic divide between the rich and the poor, in order to preserve social justice; trust in society and reliance of immediate social networks as mechanisms functioning between corruption and trust in public institutions.

The proposed paper discusses the role of public institutions in fostering innovation of public services, focussing on the emergent nature of innovation. In particular it analyses the opportunity for urban administrations to play the role of " growers " (i.e. " capturers, " , drivers and facilitators) of scaling-up processes, of urban forces showing innovation potentials and self-organizing ability in facing socio-urban problems. Hence, it explores how public administrators can identify and respond to the real public needs by effectively and responsibly capturing the intrinsic innovative potentials of complex urban systems.