The objective of this paper is to explore the progress of current reforms to government in the English regions through administrative decentralisation aimed at delivering economic…
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this paper is to explore the progress of current reforms to government in the English regions through administrative decentralisation aimed at delivering economic growth and greater accountability.
Design/methodology/approach
In addition to government documents the paper is informed by the views of a range of public and non‐governmental bodies on key aspects of the reforms, including the preparation of integrated regional strategies, accountability arrangements and institutional capacity.
Findings
While holding out the prospect of a more effective approach to regional policy making and delivery, implementation of the reforms carries risks for the delivery of key government policies. There is little evidence that they will assist in reversing disparities in economic growth rates between the English regions or tackle England's ingrained tradition of centralisation. There are also concerns that the prominence given to economic considerations is incompatible with delivering sustainable development.
Practical implications
Greater attention needs to be given to the coordination of national policies with a regional dimension and to the sub‐national institutional capacity required to both prepare and deliver integrated regional strategies.
Originality/value
Drawing on empirical evidence this paper offers insights into the administrative and policy tensions associated with ongoing reforms to sub‐national government in England.
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Throughout history, from ballads to requiems, music has played an important social role in reflection on mortality. Not only do musicians articulate their angst and thoughts about…
Abstract
Throughout history, from ballads to requiems, music has played an important social role in reflection on mortality. Not only do musicians articulate their angst and thoughts about death, but, in so doing, they enable listeners to explore their own feelings. While the relationship between music and mental health can be examined from a number of perspectives, two broad approaches can be taken: artist-centred approaches and listener-centred approaches. The first analyses the life and work of artists, focussing particularly on the ways in which they explore death and angst in their music. The second looks at the ways in which the life and work of an artist is interpreted by listeners. Within these general approaches, a complex set of questions emerge – often at the interface of both approaches. How is the music used by listeners in their reflection on mortality? How is music used to manage mental health? Does reflection on the life and work of an artist contribute to suicidal ideation? Is the reception of music altered by an artist’s suicide? Using both these approaches and drawing particularly on the work of Émile Durkheim, this discussion demonstrates the significance of popular music analysis for death studies, focussing particularly on the issues surrounding popular music’s relationship to suicidal ideation.
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Policy actors around the world are increasingly looking to the social economy – markets explicitly oriented towards meeting social needs, usually through the third sector – to…
Abstract
Purpose
Policy actors around the world are increasingly looking to the social economy – markets explicitly oriented towards meeting social needs, usually through the third sector – to underpin livelihoods and deliver welfare services. Once considered an adjunct to markets and states, and possibly even a residual, the social economy is being seen as a legitimate player in the plural economy, able to thrive through the effort of dedicated individuals and organisations committed to ethical entrepreneurship. The assumption is that future capitalism can accommodate, perhaps even requires as recession deepens, the energies of the social economy in making new markets and meeting welfare needs. While a body of research has emerged examining the economic characteristics of social enterprises and how they succeed or not in managing the interface between market and ethical priorities, little is known about what it is like to be involved in the social economy or about what different social actors gain from the experience. However, most academic and policy thinking assumes that engagement in the social economy is both rewarding and empowering. This paper aims to fill this gap.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper draws on sobering case evidence from Bristol relating to the experience of social entrepreneurs, employees and volunteers.
Findings
The critical question raised by this study is whether the role of the social economy should be that of returning the socially disadvantaged back into the formal economy. The evidence in this study tends to suggest that this expectation could be misguided and overly ambitious.
Originality/value
The paper offers insight into the backgrounds, motivations, experiences and futures of people involved in the social economy.
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The aim of this paper is to explore Whitehall motivations underpinning the Sub‐national Review of Economic Development and Regeneration.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to explore Whitehall motivations underpinning the Sub‐national Review of Economic Development and Regeneration.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on interviews conducted with senior Whitehall officials involved in regional working.
Findings
The Sub‐national Review seeks to streamline regional structures and provide regions with enhanced autonomy. However, findings indicate that there are distinct differences of opinion across Whitehall departments regarding the future trajectory of English regionalism and what powers and functions regional bodies should acquire. These contradictory positions raise questions about the implementation and effectiveness of the proposals.
Originality/value
An examination of these phenomena is intended to provide greater clarity regarding the opportunities and constraints presented by the latest phase of regional restructuring.
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Martin Burch, Alan Harding and James Rees
The purpose of this paper is to ask how the UK Government can currently hold such incommensurable positions, explicitly and implicitly, in respect of spatial development…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to ask how the UK Government can currently hold such incommensurable positions, explicitly and implicitly, in respect of spatial development priorities within England, and suggest a research agenda that might produce a better understanding of such contradictions.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper contrasts evidence on the changing spatial economic geography of the UK with data on recent trends in identifiable regional public expenditure. Current spatial development policy is analysed in detail and contrasted with a range of implicit development decisions made by central government in recent years. The paper considers the adequacy of the literature on metropolitan dominance within UK political and economic life in explaining the discrepancies between what government says and does in terms of spatial development.
Findings
Significant discrepancies are found between formal spatial development aspirations as expressed in the Public Service Agreement on Regional Economic Performance and the outcomes of actual spatial development decisions, which are likely to widen rather than reduce the gap between regional growth rates. An important part of the explanation for this divergence is the metropolitan dominance of London but further work is needed on how this might better be conceptualised and measured.
Practical implications
A number of key lines of enquiry for further research on the future of UK metropolitanism and the sustainability of current policy choices are outlined.
Originality/value
This paper makes an original contribution to detailing the disjuncture between formal and implicit spatial development priorities, which will be of value to academics and policy makers.
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Stuart Cooper and Graham Pearce
This paper aims to consider how climate change performance is measured and accounted for within the performance framework for local authority areas in England adopted in 2008. It…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to consider how climate change performance is measured and accounted for within the performance framework for local authority areas in England adopted in 2008. It critically evaluates the design of two mitigation and one adaptation indicators that are most relevant to climate change. Further, the potential for these performance indicators to contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation is discussed.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors begin by examining the importance of the performance framework and the related Local Area Agreements (LAAs), which were negotiated for all local areas in England between central government and Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs). This development is located within the broader literature relating to new public management. The potential for this framework to assist in delivering the UK's climate change policy objectives is researched in a two‐stage process. First, government publications and all 150 LAAs were analysed to identify the level of priority given to the climate change indicators. Second, interviews were conducted in spring 2009 with civil servants and local authority officials from the English West Midlands who were engaged in negotiating the climate change content of the LAAs.
Findings
Nationally, the authors find that 97 per cent of LAAs included at least one climate change indicator as a priority. The indicators themselves, however, are perceived to be problematic – in terms of appropriateness, accuracy and timeliness. In addition, concerns were identified about the level of local control over the drivers of climate change performance and, therefore, a question is raised as to how LSPs can be held accountable for this. On a more positive note, for those concerned about climate change, the authors do find evidence that the inclusion of these indicators within the performance framework has helped to move climate change up the agenda for local authorities and their partners. However, actions by the UK's new coalition government to abolish the national performance framework and substantially reduce public expenditure potentially threaten this advance.
Originality/value
This paper offers an insight into a new development for measuring climate change performance at a local level, which is relatively under‐researched. It also contributes to knowledge of accountability within a local government setting and provides a reference point for further research into the potential role of local actions to address the issue of climate change.
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This paper aims to study a major aspect of the recent Treasury‐led Review of Sub‐national Economic Development and Regeneration in attempting to integrate work currently performed…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study a major aspect of the recent Treasury‐led Review of Sub‐national Economic Development and Regeneration in attempting to integrate work currently performed under the separate economic and spatial strategies through the preparation of single regional strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper analyses several aspects of the existing work of regional development agencies (RDAs) to illustrate where they could be better informed to undertake their anticipated role in regional spatial planning.
Findings
The Labour Government has been forced to change its approach to reforms at the sub‐national level. In November, 2008 it performed a late compromise in response to the consultation on the Review, in giving equal status to the work of local authorities and RDAs in writing single regional strategies. This is welcomed, as is a strengthening of the scope of sub‐regional governance. Nonetheless the reforms do little to address the socio‐economic disparities between regions.
Practical implications
The paper informs approaches to the preparation of single regional strategies and highlights the need to give greater attention to the links between policy making and delivery at national, regional and local scales.
Originality/value
The paper draws on the perspectives of a senior academic who has also worked both as a civil service research officer in regional economic planning and as a member of local, district and county committees in local governance. This experience suggests that the Government's approach to reform was informed by an agenda that was too biased towards economic and too little to environmental and social priorities.
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Markus J. Milne and Suzana Grubnic
This paper aims to set out several of the key issues and areas of the inter‐disciplinary field of climate change research based in accounting and accountability, and to introduce…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to set out several of the key issues and areas of the inter‐disciplinary field of climate change research based in accounting and accountability, and to introduce the papers that compose this AAAJ special issue.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper provides an overview of issues in the science of climate, as well as an eclectic collection of independent and inter‐disciplinary contributions to accounting for climate change. Through additional accounting analysis, and a shadow carbon account, it also illustrates how organisations and nations account for and communicate their greenhouse gas (GHG) footprints and emissions behaviour.
Findings
The research shows that accounting for carbon and other GHG emissions is immensely challenging because of uncertainties in estimation methods. The research also shows the enormity of the challenge associated with reducing those emissions in the near future.
Originality/value
The paper surveys past work on a wide variety of perspectives associated with climate change science, politics and policy, as well as organisational and national emissions and accounting behaviour. It provides an overview of challenges in the area, and seeks to set an agenda for future research that remains interesting and different.
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Enrique Ogliastri, John Ickis and Ramiro Casó
The purpose of this study is to test the universality of the behavioral theory of negotiation developed in the United States, particularly the integrative/distributive models, and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to test the universality of the behavioral theory of negotiation developed in the United States, particularly the integrative/distributive models, and to find negotiators' prototypes in international negotiations conducted in a Latin American country.
Design/methodology/approach
An open questionnaire was administered to a convenience sample of 104 resident foreigners (expatriates) who reported the negotiation patterns of Costa Ricans. The qualitative data were coded in 52 variables (inte-rater reliability Fleiss' Kappa K= 0.65). A total of ten variables were selected to measure distributive/integrative patterns of negotiations. Latent class analysis (LCA) uncovered the latent structure of negotiations.
Findings
(1) The distributive (70% found in the sample) and integrative (30%) negotiation models hold in this culture. (2) The incorporation of handling emotions and interpersonal orientation in the integrative model seem to be an important theoretical and practical trend.
Research limitations/implications
(1) A larger sample size is needed to compare with data from other countries of the region and the world. (2) The use of emotions and interpersonal orientation in the integrative negotiation paradigm require further investigation. As practical implications, detailed negotiation advice is offered to Costa Ricans as well as to expatriates working there.
Originality/value
To identify negotiation patterns in an understudied region of the world, the distributive/integrative models of the behavioral theory of negotiations are a key focus with which to extend the literature. There are important elements of culture within the negotiation patterns, in line with trends of an evolving paradigm of integrative crosscultural negotiations.
Objetivos
Verificar la utilidad en un contexto latinoamericano de la teoría del comportamiento en las negociaciones, particularmente los modelos distributivo e integrativo. Identificar prototipos de negociadores latinoamericanos en un contexto intercultural.
Metodología
Se recogió una muestra de conveniencia mediante un cuestionario cualitativo a 104 extranjeros que viven y negocian en Costa Rica, quienes identificaron la manera como les negocian los locales. Estas encuestas fueron codificadas para tener una base de datos cuantitativa (coeficiente entre-evaluadores Fleiss de Kappa = 0.65) de 52 variables. Se escogieron 10 variables asociadas a los modelos integrativo y distributivo de negociación. Se realizó un Análisis de Clases Latentes en los datos (LCA en inglés) para descubrir la estructura latente de las negociaciones.
Resultados
(1) Los modelos de negociación distributivo (70% encontrado en la muestra) e integrativo (30%) tienen cabida en esta cultura. (2) El modelo integrativo de negociación está asociado al manejo de emociones y la orientación interpersonal, parte de una tendencia teórica y práctica en las negociaciones interculturales.
Limitaciones/Implicaciones
(1) Se requiere ampliar la muestra, y comparar con datos de otros países de la región y del mundo. (2) Orientar un estudio teórico sobre el manejo de emociones y la orientación interpersonal en el paradigma del modelo integrativo. Como implicaciones prácticas, se presentan consejos de negociación para los costarricenses, y también para los extranjeros que trabajan en el país.
Originalidad
Reconocer los patrones de negociación en una región poco estudiada. Los modelos distributivo e integrativo de la teoría del comportamiento en las negociaciones son una base para ampliar la literatura. Añadir el manejo de emociones y la orientación interpersonal al paradigmático modelo integrativo parece marcar una tendencia teórica y práctica de la negociación intercultural.
Details
Keywords
- Negotiation theory
- Latin America
- Latent class analysis
- Distributive negotiations
- Integrative negotiations
- Costa Rica
- Qualitative/quantitative methods
- Teoría de la negociación
- América Latina
- Análisis de clases latentes (LCA)
- Negociación distributiva
- Negociación integrativa
- Costa Rica
- Metodología cualitativa y cuantitativa