The role of governance in realising the transition towards sustainable societies

It is widely known that governance is central to the successful implementation of sustainable development policies and measures. Yet, there is a paucity of research which explore the links between governance and sustainability. This paper attempts to address this research need by providing an analysis of the role of governance in enabling – and to some extent – fostering a transition towards sustainable societies. A set of indicators for assessing the capacity for and willingness and commitment to transition to a more sustainable society is presented, enabling identification of direction of change. This paper presents the results of a study, in the context of which sustainability governance has been comparatively investigated in a sample of European countries with, by methodological purpose, very different economic, environmental, political and social conditions (Denmark, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland). Lessons learnt and examples of good practice – which may be replicable elsewhere-are outlined. For instance, it is discussed that limited knowledge about sustainable development amongst municipal development planners and decision-makers, deficiencies in policy integration, intersectoral cooperation, municipality and stakeholder cooperation and urban management practices are major reasons for weak governance practices in sustainable development. Furthermore, some recommendations on the role of sustainability governance are made, so as to allow the integration of the principles of governance into sustainability practice and hence provide a more general basis upon which a transition towards sustainable societies may become a reality in different types of European countries and societies. The scientific value of this paper lies in identifying opportunities for integrating principles of governance into sustainability practice, as well as outlining the basis for sustainability transitions, providing a general picture of required policy measures. The paper offers a unique comparative analysis of sustainability governance in the Baltic Sea countries, outlining some of the challenges in sustainability governance in the Baltic Sea region

Science, technology and innovation in Europe: 2010 edition

"R&D is often considered to be a key element in the European Union’s bid to be the most dynamic and competitive economy in the world. R&D is defined as creative work undertaken systematically with a view to increasing the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications..."European Commissio

Innovation, Social Capital, and Regional Policy: The Case of the Communities First Programme in Wales

This paper analyses how and why different forms of social capital are associated with different forms of innovation within the Communities First programme in Wales. Quantitative analysis shows that the Communities First programme partnerships analysed in this research are supportive of building both bonding and bridging social capital. Different types of bonding social capital appear to be positively related with two of the three types of innovative activity; it is bridging social capital which is statistically more strongly related to innovation outcomes, with some types of bonding social capital actually negatively related to hidden innovation. Whilst social capital building should not be considered a panacea for increasing levels of innovative activity within policies such as the Communities First programme. The qualitative analysis reveals multiple ways in which the Communities First programme partnerships evaluated are actively encouraging the simultaneous formation of bonding and bridging social capital, with evidence of hidden innovation and in particular social innovation being simultaneously formed. It can be stated, therefore, that regional policy aiming to develop non-traditional forms of innovation should more closely and explicitly reflect the relevance of building and maintaining particular types of bonding and especially bridging social capital

Psychometric properties of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Abuse Short Form (ACE-ASF) among Romanian high school students

Objective: Child abuse is a major public health problem. In order to establish the prevalence of abuse exposure among children, measures need to be age appropriate, sensitive, reliable and valid. This study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire Abuse Short Form (ACE-ASF). Methods: The ACE-ASF is an 8-item retrospective self-report questionnaire measuring lifetime physical, emotional and sexual abuse. Data from a nationally representative sample of 15-year-old school-going adolescents (n=1733, 55.5% female) from the Romanian Health Behavior in School-based Children Study 2014 (HBSC) was analyzed. The factorial structure of the ACE-ASF was tested with Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and confirmed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Measurement invariance was examined across boys and girls and internal reliability and concurrent criterion validity were established. Results: Violence exposure was high: 39.7% physical, 32.2% emotional and 13.1% sexual abuse. EFA established a two factor structure: physical/emotional abuse and sexual abuse. CFA confirmed this model fitted the data well [χ 2 (df)=60.526(19); RMSEA=.036; CFI/TLI=.990/.986]. Metric invariance was supported across genders. Internal consistency was good (.83) for the sexual abuse scale and poor (.57) for the physical/emotional abuse scale. Concurrent criterion validity confirmed hypothesized relationships between childhood abuse and health-related quality of life, life satisfaction, self-perceived health, bullying victimization and perpetration, externalizing and internalizing behaviors and multiple health complaints. Conclusions: Results support the ACE-ASF as a valid measure of physical, emotional and sexual abuse in school-aged adolescents. Future research is needed to replicate findings in other youth populations and across different age groups

Regional Analysis of Public Capital Expenditure: To Which Regions Is Public Capital Expenditure Channelled - to 'Rich' or to 'Poor' Ones?

Blazek J. and Maceskova M. Regional analysis of public capital expenditure: to which regions is public capital expenditure channelled - to 'rich' or to 'poor' ones?, Regional Studies. The paper aims to contribute to the debate on the regional dimension of sectoral (that is, non-regional) policies and to demonstrate empirically the huge discrepancy between both the volume and the regional pattern of sectoral public capital expenditure policies, on the one hand, and official regional policy, on the other. Analyses were based on a unique database of public investment in the Czech Republic covering the years 1995-2005. Their results show significant conflicts in policy objectives and thus represent a clear argument in favour of pursuing territorial impact assessment (TIA) of sectoral policies. [image omitted] Blazek J. et Maceskova M. Une analyse des depenses en capital publiques: vers quelles regions les depenses en capital publiques sont-elles canalisees - vers les regions riches ou les regions pauvres?, Regional Studies. Cet article cherche a contribuer au debat sur la dimension regionale des politiques sectorielles (c'est-a-dire, qui ne sont pas a but regional) et a demontrer de facon empirique l'ecart sensible entre le volume et la distribution regionale des politiques sectorielles pour ce qui concerne les depenses en capital publiques d'un cote, et la politique regionale officielle de l'autre cote. Les analyses sont fondees sur une base de donnees unique sur l'investissement public en Republique tcheque de 1995 a 2005. Il s'avere d'importants conflits entre les objectifs de politique, et les resultats representent donc un argument clair en faveur de la poursuite d'une etude de l'impact territorial des politiques sectorielles. Impact regional des politiques qui ne sont pas a but regional Politiques sectorielles Etude de l'impact territorial Politique regionale Depenses publiques en capital Republique tcheque Blazek J. und Maceskova M. Regionalanalyse offentlicher Investitionen: In welche Regionen werden offentliche Investitionen gelenkt - in 'reiche' oder 'arme'?, Regional Studies. Mit diesem Artikel mochten wir zur Debatte uber die regionale Dimension sektoraler (d. h. nicht-regionaler) Politiken beitragen und empirisch nachweisen, dass zwischen dem Volumen und regionalen Muster sektoraler offentlicher Investitionspolitiken einerseits und der offiziellen Regionalpolitik andererseits eine gewaltige Diskrepanz besteht. Die Analysen stutzten sich auf eine einzelne Datenbank offentlicher Investitionen in der Tschechischen Republik in den Jahren von 1995 bis 2005. Die Ergebnisse lassen auf signifikante Konflikte hinsichtlich der politischen Ziele schliessen und stellen somit ein klares Argument fur eine Untersuchung der territorialen Auswirkungen sektoraler Politiken dar. Regionale Auswirkungen nicht-regionaler Politiken Sektorale Politiken Untersuchung territorialer Auswirkungen Regionalpolitik Offentliche Investitionen Tschechische Republik Blazek J. y Maceskova M. Analisis regional de inversion de capital publico: �A que regiones se canaliza la inversion de capital publico: a las 'ricas' o a las 'pobres'?, Regional Studies. El objetivo de este articulo es contribuir al debate sobre la dimension regional de politicas sectoriales (es decir, no regionales) y demostrar empiricamente las enormes discrepancias entre el volumen y el modelo regional de las politicas de inversion de capital publico sectorial, por una parte, y la politica regional oficial, por otra. Los analisis se han fundamentado en una unica base de datos de la inversion publica de la Republica Checa que abarca los anos 1995-2005. Sus resultados muestran conflictos significativos en objetivos politicos y, por tanto, representan un claro argumento a favor de obrar con arreglo a una evaluacion del impacto territorial de las politicas sectoriales. Impacto regional de politicas no regionales Politicas sectoriales Evaluacion del impacto territorial Politica regional Inversiones publicas Republica ChecaRegional impact of non-regional policies, Sectoral policies, Territorial impact assessment, Regional policy, Public investments, Czech Republic,