The political economy of Public Employment Services: measurement and disempowered empowerment?

Active Labour Market Policies (ALMPs) and Public Employment Services (PES) are related components of the European Union and member state labour market policy. Typically, PES are analysed in terms of a narrow concern with efficiency and effectiveness of service. In this paper, we argue that PES are constituents in broader processes. They are not just means to facilitate employment, they are also part of transmission mechanisms for a political economy of competitiveness. They play a particular role in governance processes, and so serve to produce and reproduce power relations that are intrinsic to those processes. We argue that the technical ways that PES have been managed over recent decades has contributed to broader processes of disempowering labour, through depoliticized management practices. We argue that attempts at even limited re-empowerment of labour would require a repoliticization of these management practices

Neoliberalisation, fast policy transfer and the management of labor market services

Neoliberalism has been a core concern for IPE for several decades, but is often ill-defined. Research offering greater definitional clarity stresses the role of contingent and local level factors in diverse processes of neoliberalisation. This paper contributes to that literature, addressing a surprising gap in critical IPE knowledge; the management practices by which pressures to activate the unemployed and to make them more competitive, are implemented. The paper suggests that performance management, is significant as both a depoliticising policy coordination mechanism and a highly politicised policy implementation practice. The paper invokes a scalar-relational approach which sees the pressure to innovate and compete at lower scales as driven by the political economy of competitiveness at the system scale. The paper reports on research undertaken within the empirical frame of EU meta-governance, showing how performance management is part of lower-scale attempts to adapt to system-scale pressures. It is neoliberalising in both form and content. It concludes by showing that while performance management may be a significant component of neoliberalisation there is scope for engagement and contestation motivated by egalitarian ideals. Critical IPE scholars interested in contesting neoliberalisation should therefore engage with the political economy of management practice as well as policy design.N/

Social Entrepreneurship and Its Implications for Hungary

The idea of social business is very attractive for scientists, because it enables solving both economic and social problems, it improves human life and society. Nevertheless, there is no universal definition of social entrepreneurship, social enterprise or social business, in general and in Hungary in particular. The idea is new in Hungary, but it is developing very rapidly. This paper clarifies the concept of social entrepreneurship, its legal aspects and the role it plays in society in general. Based on this theoretical foundation, it analyses the issue of social entrepreneurship in Hungary

State of the art. Overview of concepts, indicators and methodologies used for analyzing the social OMC.

This paper is a detailed analysis about the literature on the Social OMC from 2006-2010, focusing on how OMC research has been carried out. It specifically points to which theoretical framework/concepts are used, and how change is conceptualised and measured. It is organised in five sections. The first concerns visibility and awareness about the OMC; the second analyses research on the EU level coordination process; the third scrutinizes how features of the OMC have been analysed. The fourth and fifth sections, addressing how national integration of the OMC has been researched, respectively address substantive policy change as well as national policy-making. Strikingly, virtually all OMC research adopts theoretical frameworks derived from literature on Europeanisation and/or institutionalisation. Also, as the OMC is voluntary and sanction-free, it depends heavily on how and the the extent to which actors use it (agenda-setting, conflict resolution, maintaining focus on a policy issue, developing a policy dialogue, etc). OMC research has become nuanced and does highlight how, for which purpose and with which outcome actors engage with the OMC. Another finding is that there is data on policy issues addressed through the OMC, learning does take place and there is knowledge about domestic policy problems. However, the linkage between knowledge of an issue and direct use of the OMC for policy change in social policy is weak, but that may change with EU2020, where social policy has received a higher profile. Most research covers the EU-15, much more research needs to be undertaken in newer EU member states

Towards performance governance in the public sector and administrations at international level: three essays

La ricerca nasce dal dibattito a livello internazionale sui Sistemi pubblici manageriali orientati alla “performance” ed affronta il tema attraverso un approccio trasversale a livello sia di policy che di amministrazione nel contesto di entità istituzionali di tipo multilaterale, quali, in particolare, il sistema delle Nazioni Unite. Il focus dell’ analisi è la connessione tra performance e governance, investigando, nello specifico, la possible graduale transizione verso un sistema di “performance governance”, caratterizzato da condivisione di “poteri” e interazioni dinamiche tra i vari stakeholders coinvolti nei processi decisionali e di implementazione degli interventi amministrativi e di policy, affine di incrementarne l’efficacia e l’impatto sulla società. Attraverso una raccolta di tre saggi a cura dello stesso autore della ricerca, si studiano, in particolare, le seguenti realtà istituzionali, avvalendosi di una metodologia qualitativa improntata sul case-study: Servizi pubblici per l’impiego in Europa (capitolo 1 sezione II); Agenzie internazionali – UNESCO (capitolo 2 – sezione II); Organizzazioni mondiali – Sistema ONU (capitolo 3 – sezione II).The study moves from the international debates about performance-based public management systems and its purpose is to answer critical questions at both policy and administrative level through a cross-cutting issues approach (institutional-political, cultural and administrative) in multi-entity settings, such as, in particular, the United Nations System. Our main objective is indeed to explore the connection between (complex and inter-related aspects of) governance and performance and especially if/how the latter may be improved by “manipulating” the former within complex environments, thus designing a possible evolutionary path towards “performance management” and ideally “performance governance” where “power-sharing” and dynamic interactions between the network members are based on defined rules and shared objectives. Through a collection of three essays by the author herself, we therefore explore, through a qualitative methodological approach based on case-study, the functioning of public sector institutions and their societal impacts through improved policies and programs effectiveness across several levels: Employment Services at European level (chapter 1 section II); International Agencies – UNESCO (chapter 2 - section II); World-wide Organisations - United Nation System (chapter 3 – section II)

A Postcolonial Approach

학위논문(박사) -- 서울대학교대학원 : 사범대학 협동과정 글로벌교육협력전공, 2021.8. YOO Sung Sang.Despite being a long-standing, prominent and controversial aid, international scholarship remains as an understudied subject of inquiry within the international development field. Research on the topic is still in a state of academic infancy and merely gaining increasing attention as it rose to become a global target SDG4b in 2015. With this background, the study aims to problematize the research field: uncover the overlooked politics of knowledge concerning its research scholarship and seek to rethink it. Using Postcolonial Theory as critical lens, this study explores how colonial legacies limit the way researchers conceptualize and research international scholarships over the years. To uncover forms of domination, marginalization and resistance within the research field, 167 grey literature, 72 peer-reviewed academic journals and 7 books on the topic of international scholarships from 2000-2020 were examined using Postcolonial Critical Discourse Analysis as methodology. Concepts of Connell’s Northern/Southern Theory, Alatas’ Academic Dependency and Captive Mind, De Sousa Santos’ epistemologies of the North/South were used for analysis. Findings suggest that there is colonial gaze within the research field: dominated by Northern experts as researchers with limited research agendas, theories and approaches under Northern epistemologies. And while there are emerging researches that serve as forms of resistance, these initiatives still remain under Northern epistemologies and missing alternative ways of knowing. These findings imply that without addressing the monological research paradigm, international scholarship research remains parochial, marginalizing Southern epistemologies, perspectives and voices. As a response, the study calls not only to resist status quo by diversifying research agendas or voices, but disrupting colonial research paradigm that is largely unchallenged in the field and to welcome ecologies of knowledges. Aligned with this insight, this dissertation also includes my critical reflexivity as an international scholarship researcher. This reflexivity serves as a meta-critique and contemplation concerning the research process: confronting the colonial nature of my research and re-imagining international scholarship research under alternative paradigm. As recommendation, four international scholarship researches under epistemologies of the South are enumerated at the end of the study for researchers to consider in order to rethink international scholarship research using alternative ways of knowing/being. This dissertation proposes that the entire international scholarship community must sincerely take steps in rethinking the research field beyond colonial paradigm and start re-imagining international scholarship for future possibilities, together.오랫동안 주요한 논란이 되고 있는 원조이지만, 국제 장학금은 지금도 국제개발 분야에서 연구가 적게 된 주제이다. 이 주제에 대한 연구는 여전히 학술적 초기 단계에 머물러 있으며 2015 년 유엔의 지속가능한 개발목표 (SDG4b) 로 지정되면서 겨우 관심을 얻기 시작했다. 이러한 배경에서, 본 연구는 기존 연구분야를 문제화하여 그동안 간과되어온 지식의 정치적 측면을 발견하고자 한다. 탈식민주의론을 비평적 렌즈로 활용하여 본 연구는 국제 장학금의 식민지 유산이 그동안 어떻게 국제 장학금을 개념화하고 연구하는 방식을 제한해 왔는지 살펴본다. 본 연구에서는 비평적 담론 분석에 대한 탈식민주의적 접근법을 방법론으로 하여, 2000 년부터 2020 년까지 국제 장학금 주제에 대한 167 건의 회색문헌, 72 건의 동료심사를 받은 학술지, 그리고 7 권의 단행본을 검토했다. 연구결과, 기존의 연구문헌들은 북부 중심의 헤게모니를 반영하고 있으며 해당 연구 분야의 연구 의제, 이론, 대표성은 제한적임을 보여준다. 또한 저항이 있긴 하지만 여전히 이러한 연구가 주도적 위치를 차지하고 있다. 이러한 연구결과는 기존의 권력 불균형을 해결하지 않는다면 국제 개발 장학금의 연구는 주로 북부 우위의 관점에서 이루어지고 대안적 관점, 의견 그리고 인식론을 소외시킨다는 사실을 보여준다. 이에 본 연구는 국제 장학금을 재고하는 방식으로서 연구 의제를 다양화하여 기존 헤게모니에 저항할 뿐만 아니라 국제 장학금 연구를 탈식민지화할 것을 요청한다. 이러한 탈식민지화를 위해서는 연구자들이 비평적 의식을 발휘하고 서양중심의 인식론을 넘어서는 다양한 인식론을 사용하는 데 개방적이어야 한다. 제언으로 대안적 인식론을 사용하는 연구을 본 논문의 후반부에 열거했다. 이는 그동안 간과해온 지식의 정치학적 특성을 검토하고 비평적이고 세심한 담론의 전환을 추구함으로써 진정으로 미래의 유망주들을 위한 국제 장학금을 다시 상상할 수 있을 뿐 아니라 본 연구분야를 재고하는 데 한 걸음 나아갈 수 있음을 보여준다.CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 1.1. Background 2 1.2. Statement of the Problem 3 1.3. Purpose of the Study 5 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 14 2.1. International Scholarship Research Landscape 14 2.1.1. Multiple Meanings of ‘International Scholarship’ 15 2.1.2. Three Waves of Research Production: From Pre-2015 to Post-2015 18 2.2. Common Critical Perspectives on International Scholarship 33 2.2.1. Scholarship Aid as Disputed Aid 33 2.2.2. Paradox of Scholarships 42 2.2.3. Post-2015 SDG4b as Incongruent Global Target 52 2.3. The Need for Alternative Critique: Dismantling Politics of Knowledge 55 2.3.1. Challenging the Normativity of the Research Field 55 2.3.2. Putting International Scholarship Research under Postcolonial Lens 57 CHAPTER 3: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 58 3.1. International Scholarship as Dev’t Aid under Postcolonial Lens 58 3.1.1. Western Vision of Development and Hierarchical Ontologies 59 3.1.2. Knowledge Hierarchy within International Scholarships 60 3.1.3. Rethinking Development towards “Otherwise” 66 3.2. Epistemologies in Knowledge Production 66 3.2.1. Connell’s Northern and Southern Theory 66 3.2.2. Alatas’ Academic Dependency and Captive Mind 69 3.2.3. De Sousa Santos’ Epistemologies of the North/South 71 3.3. Postcolonial Politics of Voice and Representation in Literature 74 3.3.1. ‘Other’ as Hegemonic Perspectives and Voices 75 3.3.2. Subaltern Voice as Silenced Perspectives and Voices 76 3.3.3. Re-presentation and Writing Back as Resistance 77 3.4. Conceptual Framework 78 CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY 81 4.1. Methodological Approach 81 4.1.1. Critical Research Paradigm 81 4.1.2. Postcolonial Critical Discourse Analysis as Methodology 83 4.2. Data Collection and Analysis 87 4.2.1. Data Collection: Process and Limitations 88 4.2.2. Data Analysis Process 94 4.3. Transparency, Trustworthiness and Reflexivity 96 4.3.1. Issues on CDA as Methodology 96 4.3.2. Trustworthiness and Transparency 98 4.3.3. Personal, Epistemic and Methodological Reflexivity 99 CHAPTER 5: FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS 110 5.1. Three Research Genres under Northern Lens 112 5.1.1. UNESCO Global Report: Datafication of Aid Donors and Recipients 112 5.1.2. Alumni Tracer Studies: Recipients as Other 127 5.1.3. Academic Literature: Diversification under Northern Lens 139 5.2. Scholarship of Other: Common Themes Across Research Genres 151 5.2.1. Subject-Object Relations 151 5.2.2. Axiology of Productivity and Progress 153 5.2.3. Monologic Research Inquiry 154 5.2.4. Resistance from Within 156 5.3. My Dissertation as Resistance: A Meta-Critique and Contemplation 158 5.3.1. Swimming in the Colonial Unconscious: Confronting Captive Mind 160 5.3.2. Questioning the Critical Scholar in Resistance 162 5.3.3. Scholarship of Liberation: Expanding Radical Imagination 165 5.3.4. Healing Transgenerational Epistemic Trauma 185 CHAPTER 6: DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS 187 6.1. Scholarship of Other: Research under Northern Lens 188 6.1.1. Expert Gaze and Dominance of Northern Agenda 188 6.1.2. Missing Complexities and Vulnerabilities under Northern Lens 192 6.1.3. Erasure under Northern Gaze: Transgenerational Epistemic Violence 195 6.2. International Scholarship Researchers in Resistance 198 6.2.1. Research Diversification under Epistemologies of the North 198 6.2.2. Radical Resistance with Captive Mind: Missing Epistemologies of South 199 6.2.3. Role of Western Research Culture in Limited Rethinking 201 6.3. Scholarship of Otherwise: Rethinking Int’l Scholarship Research 204 6.3.1. Epistemic Bayanihan as Ecologies of Knowledges 205 6.3.2. Kapwa (Shared Being) as Relational Ontology 206 6.3.3. Pakikipagkwentuhan (Storytelling) as Inquiry of Shared Vulnerability 207 6.4. Implications 208 CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 211 7.1. Summary 211 7.2. Way Forward: Researching with Alternative Ways of Knowing/Being 215 7.3. Limitations and Future Directions 229 7.4. Conclusion 232 REFERENCES 233 APPENDICES 261 Appendix A: List of International Scholarship Programs 261 Appendix B: List of Literature (Data) 262 Appendix C: Student Movement Advocacy 286 KOREAN ABSTRACT 293 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 294박

Towards performance governance in the public sector and administrations at international level: three essays

La ricerca nasce dal dibattito a livello internazionale sui Sistemi pubblici manageriali orientati alla “performance” ed affronta il tema attraverso un approccio trasversale a livello sia di policy che di amministrazione nel contesto di entità istituzionali di tipo multilaterale, quali, in particolare, il sistema delle Nazioni Unite. Il focus dell’ analisi è la connessione tra performance e governance, investigando, nello specifico, la possible graduale transizione verso un sistema di “performance governance”, caratterizzato da condivisione di “poteri” e interazioni dinamiche tra i vari stakeholders coinvolti nei processi decisionali e di implementazione degli interventi amministrativi e di policy, affine di incrementarne l’efficacia e l’impatto sulla società. Attraverso una raccolta di tre saggi a cura dello stesso autore della ricerca, si studiano, in particolare, le seguenti realtà istituzionali, avvalendosi di una metodologia qualitativa improntata sul case-study: Servizi pubblici per l’impiego in Europa (capitolo 1 sezione II); Agenzie internazionali – UNESCO (capitolo 2 – sezione II); Organizzazioni mondiali – Sistema ONU (capitolo 3 – sezione II).The study moves from the international debates about performance-based public management systems and its purpose is to answer critical questions at both policy and administrative level through a cross-cutting issues approach (institutional-political, cultural and administrative) in multi-entity settings, such as, in particular, the United Nations System. Our main objective is indeed to explore the connection between (complex and inter-related aspects of) governance and performance and especially if/how the latter may be improved by “manipulating” the former within complex environments, thus designing a possible evolutionary path towards “performance management” and ideally “performance governance” where “power-sharing” and dynamic interactions between the network members are based on defined rules and shared objectives. Through a collection of three essays by the author herself, we therefore explore, through a qualitative methodological approach based on case-study, the functioning of public sector institutions and their societal impacts through improved policies and programs effectiveness across several levels: Employment Services at European level (chapter 1 section II); International Agencies – UNESCO (chapter 2 - section II); World-wide Organisations - United Nation System (chapter 3 – section II)

besolidary! : Influencia de factores económicos y sociales en la acción voluntaria y su aplicación en el desarrollo de una herramienta informática para el fomento del voluntariado

El auge y democratización de las nuevas tecnologías ha provocado que casi cualquier ciudadano tenga al alcance de su mano un dispositivo con conexión a internet, teniendo así disponible todo el conocimiento humano en la palma de su mano. Sin embargo, el interés cada vez más creciente por obtener un rédito económico de la explotación de las TIC ha dejado en un segundo plano la aplicación de estas tecnologías a ámbitos solidarios y sin ánimo de lucro. Por ello, en este proyecto se propone la creación de una fundación -cuyo fin último será la promoción y mejora de la solidaridad con ayuda de la tecnología- y la elaboración de una aplicación informática capaz de fomentar el número de acciones solidarias realizadas por los ciudadanos. No obstante, llevar a cabo un proyecto de estas características requiere conocimientos amplios en cuanto a la solidaridad, el voluntariado y la sociedad se refiere. Por ello, el proyecto se realiza de forma conjunta con una estudiante de Sociología de la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Paula Pascual Zamora). De esta forma, se consiguen analizar y comprender todas las aristas del proyecto: sociales, económicas y tecnológicas. Para ello, en primer lugar se realiza un análisis de entorno y una evaluación económica del proyecto para corroborar la viabilidad del mismo. Si bien no existe ánimo de lucro, se busca garantizar la supervivencia de la fundación y la aplicación. Elaborar el Plan de Negocio en primer lugar es imprescindible, pues permite estudiar la viabilidad del proyecto y, además, muchas de las características fundamentales de la aplicación informática -que son, a su vez, una ventaja competitivasurgen del estudio pormenorizado de la sociedad y la colaboración y de las necesidades de los usuarios y entidades sin ánimo de lucro que harán uso de la misma. Por otra parte se realiza un análisis cuantitativo de qué factores demográficos y socio-económicos son los que más afectan al voluntariado y cuál es el perfil de las personas que realizan acciones solidarias, de forma que estos estudios sirven para complementar la investigación sociológica llevada a cabo por Paula Pascual Zamora y las conclusiones extraídas del Plan de Negocio. Como resultado de estos análisis cuantitativos se deduce qué factores, como la tasa de paro, la edad media y el número de asociaciones de una región, influyen directamente en el número de habitantes de esa región que realizan voluntariado. Además, se concluye que es posible realizar perfiles fiables de las personas que realizan acciones solidarias. Fruto de todos estos procesos previos surgen los requisitos de usuario para el diseño y desarrollo de la aplicación informática, que se lleva a cabo bajo una metodología RUP adaptada a procesos ágiles. El objetivo principal de la misma es poner en contacto a las organizaciones que realizan algún tipo de ayuda con los usuarios que realizan acciones solidarias. Para ello, se contemplan todo tipo de acciones de ayuda mutua (voluntariado, donaciones económicas y en especie y prestación de servicios no remunerados), sin incluir ningún tipo de limitación como sí hacen plataormas ya existentes. Así mismo, se elabora un buscador y un meta-buscador propios para poner a disposición del usuario no sólo las peticiones de ayuda de las entidades sin ánimo de lucro inscritas en la plataforma que aquí se desarrolla, sino también las peticiones de otras entidades externas a la plataforma. Para incrementar la diferenciación de esta aplicación con respecto a las ya existentes -y, por ende, crear una nueva ventaja competitiva- se implementa un algoritmo de aprendizaje automático capaz de analizar los tipos de perfiles de personas solidarias existentes y así poder recomendarles contenidos personalizados, fomentando así, aún más si cabe, la realización de acciones de ayuda mutua. Durante todo este proceso se trata, por tanto, de conocer y comprender mejor los factores del entorno e individuales que afectan a la cantidad y el tipo de acciones solidarias que llevan a cabo los individuos, y de aplicar estos conocimientos al desarrollo de una aplicación informática capaz de fomentar el voluntariado y la solidaridad. Para garantizar la supervivencia de este proyecto sin ánimo de lucro se lleva a cabo un análisis económico y un Plan de Negocio, que marca los pasos a seguir para la consecución satisfactoria del proyecto. Todo ello realizado, en un primer momento, como proyecto piloto en la ciudad de Madrid y con el apoyo de diferentes fundaciones, asociaciones y organismos gubernamentales que han decidido hacer un seguimiento del proyecto como Entidades Promotoras Observadoras. VIIIDoble Grado en Ingeniería Informática y Administración de Empresa