The Institute for Public Policy and Administration

The Institute for Public Policy and Administration was created to provide an organizational base for better utilizing the resources of Governors State University in working with citizens and their elected or appointed officials for the improvement of public policy and administration in our region . Its purpose is to offer research, service , and training in cooperation with those who serve the public. The Institute is funded by grants , contracts, and contributions . While federal and state agencies have provided for our early development , most applied research , service, and training are offered on a contractual basis or are supported by project grants . The Institute also receives significant individual and corporate financial support from contributions through the GSU Foundation. (From the 1980 brochure) This brochure reports the faculty and staff of the Institute, and program goals and objectives

Discovering and Identifying the Opportunities and Challenges of our Aging Population: Statewide Focus Groups and Utah Agencies Identify Concerns and Issues on the Impact of the Aging Baby Boom Generation

The following document is the result of the information discovery process and seeks to answer the question: what are the issues and potential impacts of the aging Baby Boomers? The Utah Aging Initiative hosted seven focus groups statewide in 2004 and interviewed officials from state government agencies to learn about and identify the issues facing Utah as the population ages. This report presents what was discovered and contains two sections: the Focus Group Summary, and the Interviews with State Agencies Summary

Decentralization of public administration in the process of building a democratic society

Full integration of Ukraine into the European political and economic environment requires further democratization of social processes. A complete transition from an authoritarian or totalitarian regime to a democracy is essential for the creation of a new economic basis of society. This transformation of public consciousness, as an inevitable stage in the construction of a market economy requires new forms of organization of state regulation of all the processes in different sectors and at different levels. The modern concept of Public administration is firmly established as the standard form of organization of processes and technological support of public administration in Ukraine. The using of a certain unified model of decentralization of Public administration in the framework of Local Self Government will ensure the necessary level of transparency in dealing with many of the common problems of regional development, including those in the context of economic liberalization

Assessing the Mediating Effect of the Role of Public Managers between Service Quality and Public Satisfaction of Various Ethnicities in Local Governments in Sumatra, Indonesia

An excellent quality of public services is a way to improve the public satisfaction index. The public will be satisfied if the performance of public services tends to be higher than community expectations. Multi-ethnic Indonesia has different perceptions about the quality of public service. Thus, in this case, this study aims to see the effect of service quality on public satisfaction through the role of public managers in the tourism sector of various ethnic groups in Sumatra, Indonesia. This research is an associative quantitative study conducted on people of multiple ethnicities. Determination of the sample using the Cluster Random Sampling technique and continued with convenience sampling. The sample of this research is 1,499 respondents. The Likert scale questionnaire, previously tested for reliability and validity regarding content and empirical test items, was used for data collection in the field. The collected data was then analysed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) Analysis Moment of Structural (AMOS) statistics and continued with the Sobel test. The literature study also supports data collection. The study’s results prove a significant direct effect between service quality variables and the role of public managers on satisfaction. Moreover, this analysis found that service quality variables indirectly impact satisfaction through the manager’s role. Thus, the research results provided evidence that the research model can be utilisedas an academic reason to strengthen the theories and models that have been reviewed in this research study

POLITICAL BUDGET CYCLES AND MAYORAL INFLUENCE IN LATVIAN MUNICIPALITIES: AN EXAMINATION OF REVENUE, EXPENDITURE, AND ELECTORAL DYNAMICS

Budget allocation and budget planning can be used in different ways. In addition, it can be part of a political budget cycle. Previous research has highlighted the political budget cycle’s existence in European countries, demonstrating its impact on public revenue and expenditure near elections. However, citizens often lack awareness of this phenomenon, underscoring the need for vigilant scrutiny. In addition, elected politicians increasingly rely on voters for support, targeting them during budget allocation and election campaigns. In Latvia, the mayors have a role in budget planning because they work full-time and are the head of the financial commission. In Latvia, despite a lack of trust in local politicians, there is a tendency for most of the mayors to be re-elected. The article aims to examine what kind of role the council’s chairperson has in the local government’s budget allocation process and what factors affect the budget allocation process in Latvia. The article’s scope encompasses the years 2009 to 2017, spanning two election terms (2009-2013; 2013-2017), and focuses on eight state cities in Latvia, excluding the capital city, Riga. Notably, local governments with a higher percentage of council members from the mayor’s party tend to exhibit higher expenditure levels. The findings of this study suggest that various socio-economic and political factors impact the financial performance of local governments in Latvia. These results underscore the significance of population and unemployment in shaping local government expenditures. Simultaneously, this research has highlighted the importance of political factors such as the majority in the local government and time spent in the mayor’s position. Moreover, it reveals that long-serving mayors and a majority in the council also influence budget allocation decisions. This article’s implications can guide policymakers in making informed decisions regarding municipal budget expenditures and revenues

The Modern State Agricultural Policy of Ukrainia: problems of countries with transition economy

This article analyzes the changes in macroeconomic indicators, the role and significance of agriculture in the Ukrainian economy. A political economic analysis of the preconditions of turning the Ukrainian agriculture into agricultural holdings was carried out. The article estimated hypothetical losses of added value and jobs from the export of grain crops in comparison with the production of pork and milk, an unfavorable conjuncture in the world markets of agricultural goods. The revealed structural distortions in the distribution of newly created value among key contractors of land relations in the form of: profit and depreciation charges for land users are as follows: rent regarding owners of land plots; wages regarding employees; taxes and deductions regarding state and local budgets. The scientific generalized idea about the forthcoming challenges to the principles of balanced rural development in implementing the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement due to the conflict between the interests of society and large capital. Conceptual proposals have been made on improving the organizational and economic mechanism to encourage agricultural holdings to take social responsibility for the development of human and social capital of local communities and the level of global competitiveness of the country‘s agricultural sector

To what extent is social media used in city government policy making? Case studies in three asean cities

Social media has a significant impact on political and social life, particularly in policy making. In order to examine social media use in policy making, the researchers obtained and analyzed data on Twitter or Facebook using a NodeXL program from January to June 2016 in three ASEAN cities, Bandung (Indonesia), Iligan (Philippines) and Pukhet (Thailand). Research found that Bandung City has made significant achievement at the engagement level by engaging with the city community in daily city affairs. Meanwhile, Iligan City and Pukhet City are still in the stage of transforming their respective internal organizations. The pivotal factors of social media use in three cities is top and middle leader role, legal standing for social media use, policy framework and internal change management

Внедрение модели «3-р» в концепцию стратегического управления муниципальными образованиями

России механизмы реализации местного самоуправления недостаточно разработаны. Это приводит к тому, что деятельность органов власти ныне неэффективна. Актуальность исследования заключается в разработке модели, которая позволит улучшить систему муниципального управления. При разработке теоретической модели «3-р» авторами был выдвинут ряд гипотез с применением метода бенчмаркинга и анализа мировой практики организации муниципального управления. Для проверки разработанной теоретической модели авторами было проведено социологическое исследование, что позволило усовершенствовать элементы модели «3-р», исключив не подтвердившиеся гипотезы и добавив выявленные немаловажные компоненты. Созданная авторами модель – самоорганизуемая система, в ней присутствуют обратные связи, возможно усиление потока ресурсов и получение синергетического эффекта

Collaboration Turn: towards understanding stakeholder empowerment for agrarian policy making

In the wake of Brexit, the change scenarios discussed by the EU speak of a higher decision independence in member states. Therefore, Lithuania faces a task to essentially review the practice of policy of agriculture. Also, the changes in balance of the power of stakeholders have become mandatory in consideration of global market, changing consumers’ needs and technological progress. Thus, a current tradition where interest groups represent the stakeholders’ rather than participate in protecting joint interests, should be changed. With respect to the relevance, the goal of the article is to propose the conceptual model of balanced stakeholder power in the processes of decision making when forming agrarian policy. Theoretical approach of collaborative governance was invoked along with meta-analysis of publications on stakeholder participation, collaboration and empowerment