Social Equity and COVID-19: The Case of African Americans

Emerging statistics demonstrate that COVID-19 disproportionately affects African Americans. The effects of COVID-19 for this population are inextricably linked to areas of systemic oppression and disenfranchisement, which are further exacerbated by COVID-19: (1) healthcare inequality; (2) segregation, overall health, and food insecurity; (3) underrepresentation in government and the medical profession; and (4) inequalities in participatory democracy and public engagement. Following a discussion of these issues, this article shares early and preliminary lessons and strategies on how public administration scholars and practitioners can lead in crafting equitable responses to this global pandemic to uplift the African American community

Varieties of Participation in Public Services: The Who, When, and What of Coproduction

Despite an international resurgence of interest in coproduction, confusion about the concept remains. This article attempts to make sense of the disparate literature and clarify the concept of coproduction in public administration. Based on some definitional distinctions and considerations about who is involved in coproduction, when in the service cycle it occurs, and what is generated in the process, the article offers and develops a typology of coproduction that includes three levels (individual, group, collective) and four phases (commissioning, design, delivery, assessment). The levels, phases, and typology as a whole are illustrated with several examples. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for research and practice

Collaborative Governance Model on Agricultural Business in Banten, Indonesia

One of the problems that become a threat to food security in Indonesia is agricultural degeneration. Recently, to perceive the food security issues is how collaborative governance works and how many actors engage to create food security. the problematic issue is the function of agricultural land occurs in the form of changes in the use of agricultural land into commercial lands such as housing, industrial areas, business, and trade centers. This research tries to elaborate on farming in Banten-Indonesia. Jawara Farm is one of the agriculture business models in Banten who drove by young people of Banten. This model business very interesting for alternatives in regeneration and business model in farming especially in Banten. Using qualitative methods and Collaborative governance approach, this research looking forward to the model of young farmers in Banten as a model in collaborative governance. This research found several challenges about the collaboration model between the young farmers, the government, and the private sector

What Makes an Organization Public? Managers’ Perceptions in the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment System

The question “What makes an organization public?” is a leading point of scholarly inquiry in the field of public administration. This study supplements existing theory on publicness by further exploring the primary influences on an organization’s publicness—influences identified by analyzing data from in-depth interviews with senior-level managers of mental health and substance abuse treatment facilities. Results from a grounded theoretical analysis of these managers’ perceptions provide support for a conceptual framework of organizational publicness in which political authority, horizontal engagement, and public engagement are associated with higher levels of publicness. Better understanding of the prism through which senior managers conceptualize publicness may enhance managerial awareness of the most salient structural and institutional mechanisms that empower treatment facilities to effectively support individuals suffering from mental health disorders such as substance abuse, emotional distress, and depression

Four Perspectives on a Sustainable Future in Nosara, Costa Rica

The town of Nosara on Costa Rica’s Nicoya peninsula is home to a vibrant community of diverse residents and is adjacent to an important turtle nesting site. However, tensions between lifelong residents, more recent transplants, visitors, and developers have increased as more of the world discovers this once-isolated haven. Climate change, income inequality, and alienation from a distant government apparatus have further complicated effective land-use planning and fractured social cohesion. Using a mixed-method approach of in-depth interviews (n = 67), Q methodology (n = 79), and public deliberation (n = 88), we explored residents’ priorities for the future of their town. The results indicate four different perspectives on Nosara’s future. Despite the tensions among those four perspectives, they show consensus on one overarching community issue: the need for a sustainable development plan. The case also shows how Q-methodology can assist scholars and practitioners who embrace participatory approaches to policy development and conflict resolution in the environmental arena

Public Involvement in the London Mining Hearing Process

Greenland constitutes one of the youngest democracies in the world and is a society characterised by significant social, economic and political inequality. Centuries as a Danish colony have left it with relatively weak institutional structures and with limited tradition for public dialogue. Today, as the country is at the verge of new large-scale industrial developments, calls for increasing public involvement in decision-making are mounting in a desire to strengthen the legitimacy of decisions. This thesis constitutes a case study of the hearing process on a proposed large-scale iron ore project by the company London Mining carried out in the autumn of 2012. The study is based on deliberative theory and argues that the hearing was characterised by a number of challenges in terms of reaching its deliberative potential, most notably the ones arising from the structural inequalities that continue to pervade and segregate society. While the challenges associated with power asymmetries and inequality of resources are not easily accommodated by a simple redesign of the hearing, the possible gains from improving conditions for deliberation in Greenland are substantial, leading this thesis to argue that targeted and sustained efforts at strengthening the deliberative component of decision-making processes remains worthwhile and should be pursued