RC32 - Public Policy and Administration

The purpose of the workshop is thus to apply the concepts of policy formulation and policy design thinking to the social policy sphere. Papers at the workshop will apply the central concerns in public policy evaluation ‑ effectiveness, efficiency, equity, security, sustainability etc – to different policy tools configurations in order to understand their potential use and limitations across problems and socio-economic contexts. In addition, papers will examine the manner in which policymakers and client groups learn from past experiences, or not, in their design, creation and enactment of social policy.

Challenges of increasing expectations and austerity have a particularly strong impact on the “hard sectors” of service delivery such as public transport, water and electricity. These sectors entail fixed and extensive infrastructure systems to deliver services (Newbery, 2002). However, the current infrastructure is in dire need of maintenance and investment, as it is reaching the end of its lifespan. At the same time, state funding is being cut, service-quality expectations are rising, and there is a split between a system-overload in urban areas and an over-dimensioned system in rural areas.

Liberalizing the hard sectors has been pursued as a means to address these challenges (Prosser, 2005). Such changes in the governance means lead to key questions of accountability due to marketization, outsourcing and a general decoupling of the operators from politicians. The hard sectors have largely been under-theorized at IRSPM conferences and in related academic literature (Saetren 2005).

Call for Papers, November 16 Deadline

Public Administration Theory Network Annual Conference, May 29-31, 2015 Metropolitan Hotel, Vancouver, British Columbia

Anti-Government: Different this time?

WIPCAD Midterm Conference (4 - 6 December 2014) “Contested Public Organizations: Knowledge, Coordination, Strategy”

Organizations commonly operate under conditions of high complexity, uncertainty, and ambiguity. Rapidly changing environments exert pressures to which organizations have to respond in order to gain and maintain legitimacy. Public organizations are particularly exposed to such external demands because they are typically embedded in a complex nexus of stakeholders, which often have inconsistent expectations and are ultimately assessed by political criteria. Emergent tensions may not only destabilize organizational structures and routines, but call into question conventional methods of administration. Contestation occurs in at least three areas of core organizational activity: knowledge use and transfer; internal and external coordination; and strategy building.

The WIPCAD Midterm Conference invites researchers to submit proposals for papers that critically examine the dynamics between environments and organizational core activities. The conference theme focuses on how public organizations deal with changing conditions in terms of: (1) knowledge use and transfer; (2) coordination; and (3) strategy building. How do they react to and/or proactively seek to shape environmental conditions in order to gain legitimacy and maintain effectiveness?

Dates have been announced for -

• the second International Conference on Public Policy (following the first in Grenoble in 2013), which will be in Milan from 1-3 July 2015

• the tenth Interpretive Policy Analysis Conference, which will be held in Lille (NE France) from 8-10 July.

More detail later.

WIPCAD Midterm Conference (4 - 6 December 2014) “Contested Public Organizations: Knowledge, Coordination, Strategy” Organizations commonly operate under conditions of high complexity, uncertainty, and ambiguity. Rapidly changing environments exert pressures to which organizations have to respond in order to gain and maintain legitimacy. Public organizations are particularly exposed to such external demands because they are typically embedded in a complex nexus of stakeholders, which often have inconsistent expectations and are ultimately assessed by political criteria. Emergent tensions may not only destabilize organizational structures and routines, but call into question conventional methods of administration. Contestation occurs in at least three areas of core organizational activity: knowledge use and transfer; internal and external coordination; and strategy building.

The WIPCAD Midterm Conference invites researchers to submit proposals for papers that critically examine the dynamics between environments and organizational core activities. The conference theme focuses on how public organizations deal with changing conditions in terms of: (1) knowledge use and transfer; (2) coordination; and (3) strategy building. How do they react to and/or proactively seek to shape environmental conditions in order to gain legitimacy and maintain effectiveness?

Social Innovation Research Conference (SIRC):

Innovations in public and social policy and in public services delivery - policy and management perspectives on reforming the delivery of public services

Hosted by the School of International Affairs and Public Affairs, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

21st – 22nd May 2015

Following a successful first year, the second Summer School on Research Methods in Social Sciences will be held at METU, on 18-29 August 2014. The first program of its kind in Turkey and its neighborhood, the Summer School will bring together prominent international scholars as well as METU faculty to offer PhD students, early career academics and professionals cutting edge qualitative and quantitative social science research methods over a period of two weeks.

The Graduate School in Social and Political Sciences of the University of Milan is pleased to announce that Application are OPEN for

Summer School Research Strategies in Policy Studies (ResPoS)

DETECTING CAUSALITY

Villa Durazzo • Santa Margherita Ligure June, 16-20 2014