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Extensive previous research has investigated environmental conflict management issues in networked settings and the design of policy networks, but the emergence and evolution of self-organizing policy networks are still not fully understood. Especially misunderstood is the problem of how the multiple motivations or incentives of competing policy actors in conflictual situations affect their structures of interaction, as this issue has not been studied systematically. This book aims to address the following research questions: how do policy stakeholders cope strategically with collective action or environmental conflict resolution? How do they utilize or maintain formal and informal policy networks to resolve problems effectively? What motivates them to engage or be involved in collaborative or conflictual networks? What influences their networking or their decisions on partner selection for conflict resolution? This book consists of four studies. The goal of the first study is to examine the form of a policy network by focusing on how policy networks emerge and evolve at the micro-level to solve collective action dilemmas endemic to decentralized and democratized policy decision-making processes, particularly in the environmental conflict resolution arena. The goal of the second study is to examine the main policy actors and structural characteristics of network governance evolution in the dynamic process of environmental conflict resolution. The goal of the third study is to highlight the role of policy tie formality in the evolution of multiplex ties in the environmental conflict resolution process. The goal of the fourth study is to demonstrate the relationships between patterns of interactions among policy actors and their modified and adjusted strategic behaviours within policy networks and across advocacy coalitions.

Agenda setting is critical to public policy due to impacts on subsequent policy processes. On July 25, 2012, the Zambian Government issued a policy pronouncement directing the Road Development Agency to apply a 20% mandatory subcontracting to all road contracts valued above ZMW30 million. The policy directive aimed to improve the capacity of local contractors, create jobs and address concerns of declining local participation due to the dominance of foreign contractors. This pronouncement triggered the implementation of a policy initiative based on road subsector guidelines, but several studies have reported implementation challenges. Applying the multiple-streams framework, this study identifies both the failure of agenda setting to lead to policy formulation and the fragmentation of the construction sector policy community as initial sources of implementation challenges. The study recommends revisiting agenda setting and conducting research on defragmenting the construction policy community.

Amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, a variety of public health strategies have been implemented by governments worldwide. However, the fact that strict government mandates focus on physical distancing does not mean that social connectedness for voluntary risk communication among citizens should be sacrificed. Furthermore, we lack an understanding of citizens' behaviors regarding the voluntary adoption of public health measures and the control of mental wellbeing in the age of physical distancing. Key variables in the response to the global pandemic are the emergence of risk deliberation networks, voluntary compliance with government guidelines, and the restoration of citizens' subjective health. However, little is known about how citizens' health-related behaviors coevolve with social connections for sharing information and discussing urgent pandemic issues. The findings show that selection and social influence mechanisms coexist by affecting each citizen's health-related behaviors and community-led risk discourses in the face of the urgent health crisis.

AbstractAfter the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in March 2011, the new community currency experiment for supporting disaster recovery, Fukkou Ouen Chiiki Tsuka, was introduced by community‐based organizations in these earthquake‐damaged areas. However, little is known about how perceived community resilience coevolves with interactions in the disaster recovery process. Using Simultaneous Investigation for Empirical Network Analysis techniques, this study shows the coevolutionary dynamics between perceptions of community resilience and the formation of supportive links among residents through a community currency ("Domo") in Kamaishi. This study also provides policy implications for how mutual reinforcement between community residents' engagement in network establishments and building a sense of community resilience among those affected functions as a potential mechanism for facilitating disaster recovery.

Les chercheurs comme les praticiens soutiennent que la participation du public aux processus administratifs ou politiques est un aspect important de la réforme démocratique. Malgré l'importance de ces mécanismes de participation, rares sont les études qui s'intéressent au lien entre participation à l'administration et participation politique. La présente étude a pour but d'identifier ce chaînon manquant en vérifiant de manière empirique les fonctions de médiation de l'efficacité politique entre les deux types de participation publique. En reliant participation administrative et participation politique au moyen de l'efficacité politique, nous entendons démontrer que la participation citoyenne dans l'administration joue un rôle déterminant pour remédier à la baisse de participation politique. Pour les tests empiriques, nous avons recueilli des données transversales auprès des juridictions locales en Corée au moyen de questionnaires d'enquête et utilisé une série de modèles par équation structurelle pour identifier les relations causales entre ces variables. Nos observations indiquent que la participation à l'administration n'influence la participation politique que dans le cadre de l'efficacité politique, tandis que la demande de participation à l'administration est liée à la participation politique soit directement, soit dans le cadre de l'efficacité politique interne. À l'inverse, la participation politique n'encourage la participation à l'administration que dans le cadre de l'efficacité politique. Compte tenu des données empiriques, la participation à l'administration et la participation politique se renforcent mutuellement, et l'efficacité politique joue un rôle essentiel dans la médiation des deux types de participation publique.. Remarques à l'intention des praticiens Dans la présente étude, nous empruntons la notion d'efficacité politique pour examiner sous un angle théorique un chaînon manquant entre participation administrative et politique. Les praticiens doivent se rendre compte que la mise en place de programmes administratifs authentiques est un bon moyen de remédier à la baisse de participation démocratique. Les praticiens se doivent de proposer une série d'idées bien précises sur la manière d'encourager l'efficacité politique des citoyens au moyen de la participation publique. Cela pourrait permettre d'éveiller politiquement les citoyens, ce qui les inciterait à participer davantage. Dans ce sens, la présente étude est une première étape dans l'étude des avantages démocratiques éventuels produits par les mécanismes de participation publique au-delà des avantages normatifs et instrumentaux.

PurposeCommunity currency (CC) is used as a tool for reviving local communities by promoting economic growth and facilitating the formation of social capital. Although the Japanese CC movement has stagnated since mid-2005, a new experiment,Fukkou Ouen Chiiki Tsuka(CC for supporting disaster recovery), was introduced across disaster-damaged areas after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami of March 2011. Previous studies assessing the role of CC in these earthquake-damaged areas are rare; the purpose of this paper is to examine the micro processes of community rebuilding that underlie the transactional networks mediated by one of the experiments,Domo, in Kamaishi.Design/methodology/approachUsing transactional records capturing residents' CC activities during the five-month pilot period before actual implementation ofDomosimultaneous investigation for empirical network analysis techniques identify the network configuration dynamics representing the multiple observed forms of social capital in this disaster-affected local community.FindingsThis study of the five-month pilot for theDomosystem revealed: intensive dependence on the coordinating role of core members (i.e. the creation of weak ties), a lack of balanced support among members and the resulting uni-directional transactions (i.e. the avoidance of generalized exchanges), and the reinforcement of previous transactional ties via reciprocation or transitive triads (i.e. the formation of strong ties).Originality/valueThis study provides guidance for practitioners, researchers, and policy makers on how community residents' engagement in CC activities could function as a potential tool for generating positive socio-economic effects for local communities in disaster areas.

Public participation in administrative or political processes has been advocated as an important democratic reform by scholars and practitioners. Despite the importance of such public participation mechanisms, the relationship between participation in administration and political participation remains unexplored. This study aims to connect the missing link by empirically testing the mediating roles of political efficacy between two types of public participation. By connecting administrative and political participation through political efficacy, we intend to demonstrate that citizen participation in administration plays a pivotal role in remedying declining political participation. For the empirical tests, cross-sectional data from local jurisdictions in Korea were collected by survey questionnaires, and a series of Structural Equation Models are used to identify the causal relationships among these variables. The findings demonstrate that participation in administration influences political participation only through political efficacy, while the demand for participation in administration is connected to political participation either directly or through internal political efficacy. Conversely, political participation fosters participation in administration only through political efficacy. Given the empirical evidence, participation in administration and political participation reinforce each other, and political efficacy plays a critical role in mediating the two types of public participation.Points for practitionersBorrowing the concept of political efficacy, this study sheds theoretical light on a missing link between administrative and political participation. Practitioners need to realize that devising authentic administrative programs is a useful way to remedy waning democratic participation. Practitioners need to suggest many specific ideas on how to foster citizens' political efficacy through public participation. By doing this, citizens could be politically awakened, which would lead to their increased participation. In this sense, this study is an initial step in exploring the possibility of democratic benefits produced by public participation mechanisms beyond the normative and instrumental benefits.

AbstractStudies aiming to evaluate the effectiveness of channels for participating in administration have been conducted mainly in democratic, developed countries. However, outcomes from those settings may not apply to developing or less developed countries where democracy has yet to be consolidated. In Mozambique, which has an authoritarian regime, the effectiveness of participatory channels from the public point of view remains unexplored. Therefore, based on participants' motives for participation, this study empirically examines citizens' perception of channels for participating in administration with specific reference to Gaza Province and suggests that policy makers and administrators design participation channels for local governments to ensure and protect citizens' authentic participation in administration.