Review article: Towards a context-driven research:a state-of-the-art review of resilience research on climate change

Since the 1970s, Holling’s socio-ecological systems (SES) approach has been a most predominant theoretical force in resilience research in the context of the climate crisis. From Holling’s approach, however, two contrasting scientific approaches to resilience have developed, namely, naturalism and constructivism. While naturalist resilience research takes SES as complex systems marked by non14 linearity and evolutionary changes, constructivist resilience research focuses on the embeddedness of SES in heterogenous contexts. In naturalist resilience research resilience is defined as a system property, while in constructivist resilience research resilience is politically loaded and historically contingent. The aim of this paper is to review and structure current developments in resilience research in the field of climate change studies, in terms of the approaches, definitions, models and commitments that are typical for naturalism and constructivism; identify the key tension between 20 naturalist and constructivist resilience research in terms of the widely discussed issue of adaptation and transformation, and discuss its implications for sustainable development; and propose a research agenda of topics distilled from the adaptation-transformation tension between naturalist and constructivist resilience research.<br/

Social Media and the New Organization of Government Communications: An Empirical Analysis of Twitter Usage by the Dutch Police

Do social media de-bureaucratize the organization of government communications? Key features of the bureaucratic ideal-type are centralized and formalized external communications and disconnection of internal and external communications. Some authors argue that this organizational model is being replaced by a less bureaucratic model that better fits the communication demands of the information society. To explore this argument empirically, the use of twitter by Dutch police departments is investigated through an analysis of 982 accounts and 22 interviews. The empirical analysis shows that most twitter communication takes place through decentralized channels. While a minority of police officers use personal names on twitter, most use their formal identity. Twitter is mostly used for external communication but the mutual interest in the twitter communications of other police officers is substantial. The study nuances the idea of transformative change: the old bureaucratic and the new models manifest themselves in the hybrid organization of social media communication

The successful transposition of European provisions by member states:application to the Framework Equality Directive

The present study aims to explain variation between member states in compliance with provisions of a European Union (EU) law. Predictions are derived about the effects of technical fit, discretion, Commission warnings, and conflict in the Council on the probability of member-state transposition of separate EU policy requirements. Hypotheses are tested on the level of compliance of 15 member states with 27 major provisions laid down in the Framework Equality Directive (2000/78/EC). Extensive analysis of documents and reports from key informants provided information on member-state transposition progress at the end of 2004 and 2006. Results show that the domestic adaptation costs to a provision play an important role for member-state transposition success: high levels of fit and provisions granting discretion improve member-state transposition success. Formal warnings by the Commission lead to a better compliance record, while conflict in the Council does not affect the successful transposition of provisions

What matters in the local adaptation of Western social innovation to China : deep core beliefs, institutional boundary conditions or managerial practices?

The article tests three contextual factors, including institutional boundary conditions, core beliefs and professional managerial practices, to analyse the local adaption of a Western social innovation to China. With a case study of 23 semi-structured interviews of stakeholders in China and the Netherlands and content analysis of these data, the article aims to examine the facilitating and hindering effects of institutional isomorphism on transnational social-innovation diffusion. The results indicate that social innovations face diverse pressures of isomorphism that necessitate their capitulation to homogeneity within the environment. Some isomorphic processes within the organization, however, may counterbalance external pressures in the long run. This article contributes to a better understanding of the transnational diffusion of social innovation between two different institutional and cultural settings.Peer reviewe

Probleemperceptie en beleidseffectiviteit 1992-1995

Decisionmaking in local politics. Data on actorlevel, network level and outcome level. Policy implementation, political control, policy deviation, neo-institutional models, collective decision making, welfare policy