Public governance and administration: research perspectives and experiences in Central and Eastern European countries

Christopher Koliba (University of Vermont, USA) Krzysztof Opolski (University of Warsaw, Poland) Piotr Modzelewski (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Introduction

You are cordially invited to submit your manuscript(s) to the Central European Economic Journal. Authors are invited to submit papers for publication which may result from empirical or theoretical work on public administration, public governance, and governance networks of actors from the public, private and non-profit sectors. We aim to inform authors of the decision on their manuscript(s) within four weeks of submission.

Motivation

Central and Eastern European countries have seen dynamic changes since the 1990s, when the transition to a market economy began. These changes are visible in many areas including the way the public sector is organized and the way public and merit goods are delivered. Many of the reforms have been successful, but in the current literature from around the world relatively few publications on the public sector come from Central and Eastern European countries. In recent years, many areas of public governance in these countries have successfully implemented concepts used elsewhere in the world. The specificity and pace of change that took place in Central and Eastern Europe makes a strong argument for disseminating their achievements and experience. There are many phenomena in these countries that are universally relevant and would be valuable in global discussions.

An interesting study was conducted on the number of publications on public governance models in the new European Union member states (NMS), the old UE member states (OMS), and other countries (Ropret, Aristovnik & Kovac, 2018). The proportion of publications from NMS in the world literature is definitely smaller than that from OMS. Even after the largest EU enlargement in 2004, many more publications were still concerned with OMS. In addition, NMS more frequently had issues related to efficiency and reforms, however issues related to effectiveness and rule of law remained predominant. In the OMS countries, topics related to modernization and rule of law appeared most frequently. Many publications on NMS concerned New Public Management, but there were some about good governance, post-NPM models, alternative or hybrid models of governance, digital era governance models, and even the Weberian model. Although there are many examples of the implementation of the latest public governance concepts in these NMS, there is still too few publications on alternative or hybrid governance models, network governance or post-NPM models in these countries.

This call for papers aims to help fill this gap and increase the number of publications on public governance and public service delivery in Central and Eastern Europe, and ensure these papers are available worldwide and in English. In some transition, emerging or developing countries there have been similar challenges in reforming public administration. Therefore, articles from these countries are welcome in this issue of the journal as they are equally valuable comparisons with Central and Eastern European countries. We look forward to discussions and mutual exchange of valuable experience and research perspectives.

In this context, the following questions have been formulated:

What are the effects of implementing new concepts of public governance (Osborne, 2010), and network governance (Koliba, Meek, Zia & Mills, 2018), and the resultant new models and tools of public service delivery? What are the economic barriers and challenges related to these new products in the context of the specificity of individual types of services and specific conditions of public administration in individual countries?
What are the effects of implementing the concepts of good governance, rule of law and the effects of public sector reforms at the level of both central and local government?
What is the experience of various actors from the public, non-governmental and private sectors regarding cooperation and collaboration in providing public services? What makes cooperation in service delivery networks produce positive effects? What are the barriers to this cooperation and what are the effects of possible conflicts?
What are the research and methodological challenges in individual countries when examining modern public governance systems?
What are the consequences of the implementation of new concepts of public governance with respect to behavioural, social, environmental, psychological, systemic or value systems, stimuli or work culture conditions? How is the phenomenon of bounded rationality of actors in governance networks taken into account (O’Toole Jr., 1996)? What roles are played by trust (Opolski, Modzelewski & Kocia, 2019), commitment, leadership, conflict management in networks (Kickert, Klijn & Koppenjan, 1997) and inclusiveness of citizens?
How are the challenges related to the so-called “wicked problems” addressed through the implementation of network governance or other concepts and tools? “Wicked problems” include homelessness, health care, climate change, waste management, circular economy, water shortages, the crumbling of transport and energy systems, efficiency and efficacy of justice systems, recurring crises in the housing market, infectious disease, illegal arms trade (Emerson & Nabatchi, 2015, p. 6) and emergency management (Koliba, Mills & Zia, 2011).
What economic methodologies and tools are used in regulatory impact assessment under the new public governance concept? Are they adequate? How effective are they?

We invite you to submit an article using quantitative methods, qualitative methods (e.g., observations, interviews, narrative studies, etc.) and mixed methods (Tashakkori & Creswell, 2007). The article may present the results of research using a theoretical or empirical approach. It may cover social, administrative, technical public services, as well as crisis management, regulatory or other areas of public policy and public sector economics. We invite researchers from Central and Eastern European countries, as well as from transition, emerging and developing countries from all around the world.

References

Kickert, W. J. M., Klijn, E.H. & Koppenjan, J. F. M. (1997). Managing Complex Networks. Strategies for the Public Sector. London: Sage Publications.

Koliba, C. J., Meek, J. W., Zia, A & Mills, R. (2018). Governance Networks in Public Administration and Public Policy. Second edition. London: Routledge Press.

Koliba, C. J., Mills, R. M. & Zia, A. (2011). Accountability in Governance Networks: An Assessment of Public, Private, and Nonprofit Emergency Management Practices Following Hurricane Katrina. Public Administration Review, 71(2), 210-220.

Emerson, K. & Nabatchi, T. (2015). Collaborative Governance Regimes. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.

Opolski, K., Modzelewski, P. & Kocia, A. (2019). Interorganizational Trust and Effectiveness Perception in Collaborative Service Delivery Network. Sustainability, 11(19), 5217.

Oborne, S. P. (Ed.). (2010). The New Public Governance? Emerging perspectives on the theory and practice of public governance. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

O’Toole Jr., L. J. (1996). Rational Choice and Public Management of Interorganizational Networks. In D. F. Kettl, & H. Brinton (Eds.). The State of Public Management. Milward, USA: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Ropret, M., Aristovnik, A. & Kovac, P. (2018). A Content Analysis of the Rule of Law within Public Governance Models: Old vs. New EU Member States. NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy, 11(2), 129-152.

Tashakkori, A. & Creswell, J.W. (2007). The New Era of Mixed Methods. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 1, 3–7.