Suchergebnisse

This entry has been realised in the framework of the H2020-MSCA-RISE-2018 project "LoGov - Local Government and the Changing Urban-Rural Interplay". LoGov aims to provide solutions for local governments that address the fundamental challenges resulting from urbanisation. To address this complex issue, 18 partners from 17 countries and six continents share their expertise and knowledge in the realms of public law, political science, and public administration. LoGov identifies, evaluates, compares, and shares innovative practices that cope with the impact of changing urban-rural relations in five major local government areas: (1) local responsibilities and public services, (2) local financial arrangements, (3) structure of local government, (4) intergovernmental relations of local governments, and (5) people's participation in local decision-making. The present entry represents the general introduction of the LoGov Report on Argentina providing an overview to the system of local government in the country. To access the full version of the report on Argentina, the various practices in the five above-mentioned areas of interest, and to receive more information about the project, please visit: https://www.logov-rise.eu/. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 823961.

AbstractOver the last three decades, public–private partnerships (PPPs) have become an increasingly large part of the infrastructure program of governments around the world. They have been met with a high degree of academic interest, much of which has been critical. A significant strand of this criticism has focused on the drivers of governments that have chosen to employ PPPs. This article brings together an analysis of these scholarly criticisms and considers these assumed drivers against an agency theory framework. Until now, no scholarly article has considered the role of agency theory in the assumed drivers for governments to use PPPs. This paper finds that agency theory has strong explanatory power for the emergence of PPPs as the infrastructure delivery model preferred by governments and, in particular, has helped governments to manage the conflicting interests of citizen groups.

Social media use in government has gained a rapid growth in the last few years around the world. China has witnessed a boom in social media use in government, especially government microblogging. In this study, we employ social representation theory as the primary theoretical lens to investigate Chinese government microblogging. We hope the employment of social representation theory could help us overcome the limitation that previous studies focused on the technology and government side. Interviewing data are drawn from a number of Chinese citizens for eliciting their understandings of Chinese government microblogging, followed by structural analytical procedure on the collected data. The social representation elements are obtained and presented in a map. The findings indicate that (1) social media use in government in China is at the stage of fast growth but at low interaction level; (2) governance and social media user experiences are two new but significant concepts that might have been missed in literature; (3) government microblogging does improve citizens' perceptions toward government; however, the final outcomes like trust and accountability cannot be achieved by relying on social media use in government alone. Theoretical contributions and practitioner implications are then discussed, followed by the limitations. Finally, we present the concluding remarks for this study.

PurposeThe objective of this article is to describe processes of substantiations and contributions across contexts and over time through theory building towards theory in business research.Design/methodology/approachThe article provides a seed for discussion, debate and consideration regarding scholarly substantiations and contributions through theory building towards business theory.FindingsThe importance of cumulative processes in terms of substantiations and contributions in business research should not be neglected, but its logic and value is currently argued to be often underestimated or ignored.Research limitations/implicationsSound theory requires sound foundations based upon processes of substantiations and contributions. It is essential that the processes of substantiations and contributions are cumulative and parallel through theory building towards theory.Practical implicationsAn important lesson learned is that an original study should not be seen as providing a genuine substantiation and making a solid contribution to business theory until it has been successfully replicated and validated across contexts and over time.Originality/valueThe author concludes that current practices of substantiations and contributions through theory building towards theory are insufficient and contain fatal flaws potentially undermining the well‐being of business research and the perception of business theory being seen as a solid and credible management discipline among other academic disciplines in the worldwide research community.

The article deals with the fundamental problem of hermeneutics and the whole study of language as a means of communication - the ability of language to reflect reality. The study begins with an overview of the problem and the authors who dealt with it. This is followed by a detailed review of referential theory as the main and oldest theory in the study of language functions. The next part of the article discusses one of the modern theories in philosophy – the theory of dictionaries by Richard Rorty. It is concluded that the referential theory, although useful and fundamental, is very far from a full and comprehensive explanation of the functioning of language. It is correct in its basis, but does not explain most cases of language use, when the meanings of words and expressions are variable, ambiguous and contextually adaptive. Instead, Richard Rorty's theory of dictionaries is more flexible, broad, and explains those aspects of language use that are not covered by reference theory. The theory of dictionaries is essentially a pragmatic theory. It reflects the attempts of postmodern philosophers to free all spheres of human activity (including speech) from authoritarianism and the fixation of more traditional approaches.

AbstractThe constituent power theory, which served critical functions for several years, has outlived its utility as the preeminent yardstick to measure the normative legitimacy of a constitution. As the theory stands, it cannot apply on its own terms to most instances of modern constitution-making. At the same time, it is highly susceptible to being used to legitimize authoritarian outcomes. The scholarly literature that attempts to reimagine or expand the theory is scant and unable to overcome its problems. In response, this article develops an alternative standard: the theory of equitable elite bargaining. This theory provides that a constitution is normatively legitimate if it is the product of an equitable bargain between elites from most major political groups in society at the moment of constitution-making. The theory of equitable elite bargaining is applicable to the realities of modern constitution-making and makes it more difficult to legitimize authoritarian constitutions. Further, both representation-based and consequentialist arguments can justify a constitution drafted in accordance with the theory as normatively legitimate. The theory imposes a standard that can result in arduous constitution-making processes and moderated constitutional content. Additionally, its focus on elites poses challenging questions. However, this article will argue that the net benefits of this theory warrant its consideration as a new standard to assess normative constitutional legitimacy.