Between the system and lifeworld: despite adopting social media tools, public administrators remain in a legitimacy dilemma

Social media platforms theoretically align with many aspects of Habermas’ ideal of “authentic communication”. However, Claire Knox writes that this does not make them automatically applicable to public participation in governance structures. For example, while we see evidence of “cautious experimentation” among public administrators, there remains a lack of “institutional imagination” to maximise the democratic potential of social media tools

Building a More Resilient University Campus: Lessons Learned from Six Emergency Management Service Learning Projects

Emergency management students must be prepared to enter the evolving and challenging work environment with practical and theoretical knowledge. Yet, linking the two forms of knowledge in a meaningful way remains an educational challenge. One pedagogical approach gaining popularity in the emergency management discipline is service learning. University of Central Florida graduate students in the Managing Emergencies and Crises course are collaborating for the first time with the university’s Office of Emergency Management on six service-learning projects. The six projects are: (1) Develop an evacuation plan for the main campus; (2) Develop an evacuation and housing plan for resident students living on campus; (3) Research various types of technology used in Emergency Operations Centers (EOC) in institutions of higher education; (4) Research the placement of an Office of Emergency Management in an institution of higher education organizational chart; (5) Develop measurable objectives and a pre/post test to measure the impact of public outreach for active shooter awareness educational program; and (6) Research emergency notification systems at institutions of higher education. This presentation will briefly review national trends in using service learning in the emergency management discipline, highlight the final products of this semester’s service-learning projects, and conclude with lessons learned from the student, professor, and client perspectives

Capacity to Implement Performance Measurement in Small Nonprofits

The use of performance measurement systems in the nonprofit sector has gained momentum in the last decade; however, little is known about the implementation of these systems in small to midsized nonprofit organizations. By performing a pathway case study of nine nonprofit organizations, we apply a capacity-building framework to examine performance measurement implementations designed by a performance management consulting team. This study offers a detailed description, in some cases using nonprofit leaders’ own words, on how this approach may work in small to midsized nonprofits. The results are used to develop research propositions on leadership, technical competency, feasible execution, and institutionalization of performance measurement for small nonprofits

Applying Habermas's critical theory to public administration and policy: A case study of Florida Everglades restoration program

The foundation of Habermas's argument, a leading critical theorist, lies in the unequal distribution of wealth across society. He states that in an advanced capitalist society, the possibility of a crisis has shifted from the economic and political spheres to the legitimation system. Legitimation crises increase the more government intervenes into the economy (market) and the "simultaneous political enfranchisement of almost the entire adult population" (Holub, 1991, p. 88). The reason for this increase is because policymakers in advanced capitalist democracies are caught between conflicting imperatives: they are expected to serve the interests of their nation as a whole, but they must prop up an economic system that benefits the wealthy at the expense of most workers and the environment. Habermas argues that the driving force in history is an expectation, built into the nature of language, that norms, laws, and institutions will serve the interests of the entire population and not just those of a special group. In his view, policy makers in capitalist societies are having to fend off this expectation by simultaneously correcting some of the inequities of the market, denying that they have control over people's economic circumstances, and defending the market as an equitable allocator of income. (deHaven-Smith, 1988, p. 14). Critical theory suggests that this contradiction will be reflected in Everglades policy by communicative narratives that suppress and conceal tensions between environmental and economic priorities. Habermas’ Legitimation Crisis states that political actors use various symbols, ideologies, narratives, and language to engage the public and avoid a legitimation crisis. These influences not only manipulate the general population into desiring what has been manufactured for them, but also leave them feeling unfulfilled and alienated. Also known as false reconciliation, the public's view of society as rational, and "conductive to human freedom and happiness" is altered to become deeply irrational and an obstacle to the desired freedom and happiness (Finlayson, 2005, p. 5). These obstacles and irrationalities give rise to potential crises in the society. Government's increasing involvement in Everglades under advanced capitalism leads to Habermas's four crises: economic/environmental, rationality, legitimation, and motivation. These crises are occurring simultaneously, work in conjunction with each other, and arise when a principle of organization is challenged by increased production needs (deHaven-Smith, 1988). Habermas states that governments use narratives in an attempt to rationalize, legitimize, obscure, and conceal its actions under advanced capitalism. Although there have been many narratives told throughout the history of the Everglades (such as the Everglades was a wilderness that was valued as a wasteland in its natural state), the most recent narrative, “Everglades Restoration”, is the focus of this paper.(PDF contains 4 pages

Peeking Behind the Curtain: The Operations and Funding Priorities of Rural Private Foundations

This article examines the operations and funding priorities of rural private foundations in Florida, using data from the U.S. Census, the Urban Institute’s National Center for Charitable Statistics, and interviews with foundation leaders. The study found that grantmaking by rural foundations is split between out-of-state and in-state giving, determined by the intent of a benefactor or the personal choices of a foundation founder and/ or family. This finding presents opportunities for nonprofit organizations and community groups in rural counties to communicate community needs in order to retain a larger amount of foundation dollars in the foundation’s home state and county

A nexus perspective on competing land demands: Wider lessons from a UK policy case study

As nations develop policies for low-carbon transitions, conflicts with existing policies and planning tools are leading to competing demands for land and other resources. This raises fundamental questions over how multiple demands can best be managed. Taking the UK as an empirical example, this paper critiques current policies and practices to explore the interdependencies at the water-energy-food nexus. It considers how current land uses and related policies affect the UK’s resilience to climate change, setting out an agenda for research and practice relevant to stakeholders in land-use management, policy and modelling. Despite recent progress in recognising such nexus challenges, most UK land-related policies and associated science continue to be compartmentalised by both scale and sector and seldom acknowledge nexus interconnections. On a temporal level, the absence of an over-arching strategy leaves inter-generational trade-offs poorly considered. Given the system lock-in and the lengthy policy-making process, it is essential to develop alternative ways of providing dynamic, flexible, practical and scientifically robust decision support for policy-makers. A range of ecosystem services need to be valued and integrated into a resilient land-use strategy, including the introduction of non-monetary, physical-unit constraints on the use of particular services

Measurement of Saccade Parameters in Relation to Adaptation to Homonymous Hemianopia

Purpose: To report saccade parameters in participants during adaptation to post-stroke homonymous hemianopia. Methods: In a prospective observational case cohort study, adult stroke survivors with new onset homonymous hemianopia were recruited. Using quantitative measurement, saccade parameters were measured and compared between the hemianopic and non-hemianopic sides. Two participants with longitudinal measurements were compared with age-matched controls. Results: Of 144 clinical study participants, quantitative saccade measurements were only possible in 14 due to an inability to visualise targets on the hemianopic side in the majority. In 9 of the 14 participants, at four weeks post-stroke, mean (±SD) saccade latency was significantly longer to the hemianopic (328.4 ± 105.9 ms) compared to the non-hemianopic side (234.7 ± SD53.6 ms; t = 4.2, df = 8, p = 0.003). The number of correct saccadic responses out of 50 was significantly lower to the hemianopic side (36.6 ± SD14.1) in comparison to the non-hemianopic side (44.4 ± SD7.5; t = –3.1, df = 8, p = 0.014). In two participants studied over an eight-week time period, saccadic differences to the hemianopic side persisted despite apparent recovery of visual field. Conclusion: As participants with residual visual field loss were unable to perform quantitative assessments, the widespread use of this approach in this setting is limited. However, in those whom measurements were possible, there were statistically significant differences in saccade parameters between hemianopic and non-hemianopic sides that persisted post-visual recovery. Exploration of saccades in relation to adaptation to hemianopia and response to saccadic scanning/search training requires further examination