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It is argued in this introductory article that the contemporary trend of “reinventing governance”, which began in the 1990s, has continued to expand globally to encompass many developing nations. However, there is no uniform and universal paradigm of government reinvention. In fact, there are certain cross-national and inter-regional differences, especially between developed and developing nations, in terms of the basic tenets, rationales, and implications of such reinvention. After presenting brief summaries of articles covered in this issue of the journal, it is suggested that due to unique contextual settings and people’s needs in developing nations, this reinvention model itself has to be reinvented or revised in order to make it relevant or useful to these countries

This article explains that in the current global context dominated by market ideology, there has been a significant shift in the nature of the state based on promarket neoliberal principles in most countries, including those in the developing world. Under this emerging neoliberal state characterized by the primacy of market forces and adoption of market-driven policies and programs, the role of the public service has also changed in terms of its increasing concern for streamlining public sector activities, enhancing economic efficiency, improving customer satisfaction, and so on. After exploring such impacts of the current neoliberal state formation on the public service's role, the article briefly examines the socio-political consequences of this changing role, especially in developing nations.

During recent decades, there has been a significant transition or “reinvention” in the mode of state governance in both developed and developing nations. In line with this global trend, most Southeast Asian countries have restructured the traditional state-centric mode of governance or the so-called “developmental state” in favor of market-led neoliberal reforms and policies, often under external pressure or persuasion. This new mode of state governance favoring global market forces has serious implications for economic sovereignty and self-reliant development in the region. In this regard, this article attempts to examine major domains and directions of reinvention in governance in Southeast Asian countries. It also explores the critical impacts of this recent market-driven reinvention on the economic sovereignty and self-reliance of these countries

The purpose of this paper is to report on the development of the excellence awards of the Dubai Government Excellence Program (DGEP). The programme reports directly to the Dubai government cabinet. The paper traces how changing priorities have over time been reflected in an evolving portfolio of excellence award categories.

The study followed a qualitative research approach, relying on interviewing within the DGEP, analysis of DGEP presentations and publicly available documents, informal conversations with senior UAE public sector managers, and ad hoc observations of the nature of public sector management and government in the UAE and Dubai.

The DGEP exhibited three key rationales since its inception in 1997. They were rationalisations of excellence, measured effectiveness, and efficiency. They overlapped with one another and were also overlain with additional rationales, such as e-government and teamwork. This evolution of rationales has been reflecting political priorities and global trends in public sector management.

The paper adds to the knowledge of successive rationales for the evolution of the excellence awards scheme of the world's first integrated, whole-government excellence initiative.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between public management reform and ethics management in the South African public service. A case study, the Department of Correctional Services, is used to illustrate the impact of reforms. The paper sets the foundation for further research and debate on the topic.

The paper is placed within the current theoretical discourse of corruption and its prevention. It is mainly the product of a literature review on the most recent publications on corruption and its prevention, as well as a survey of South African statutory and government publications and reports. With regard to the empirical research, a combination of qualitative and quantitative research approaches is used.

The paper is exploratory in nature. It sets the scene for further empirical research to determine the causal relationship between public management reform and ethics management in developing states. The haphazard implementation of management reform could lead to weaknesses in the management of ethics within the public service.

In addition to the evaluation of literature and a description of the most recent theoretical work on corruption, this paper aims to engage in substantial empirical research. This component of the research project, however, is at its initial stage.

The paper provides a starting point for debate on ethics management within developing states. Developing states, in particular, are subject to the negative consequences of corruption. It is argued that public management reform should be approached with caution, as it could have adverse consequences for the management of ethics.

This paper describes ethics management in the South African public service within the international discourse of public management reform. It explores the relationship between ethics management and the public management reform agenda, specifically within a context of developing states.

This paper seeks to outline the various elements of a public sector excellence awards programme, the Dubai Government Excellence Programme (DGEP), a unit reporting directly to the cabinet of the Dubai Government. It identifies how the programme seeks to overcome latent contradictions.

The approach relied on interviewing within DGEP, document analysis, conversations with public sector managers in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and more general observations of the nature of government in the UAE and especially Dubai. The notion of hybrids in governance is used to unpack the various components of the DGEP and their roles in its overall functioning paying particular attention to the monarchical context of Dubai and the United Arab Emirates.

The study found that the monarchical context of public sector management in Dubai acts as a strong influence to counteract the frequently observed inertia of public administration with regards to quality management initiatives. It traces how changing political priorities have been reflected in a changing portfolio of excellence award categories.

The paper describes an unusual case of an integrated excellence management approach to a whole government. It identifies monarchical context as an aid to pursuing a modern management approach, speculating that this might be a special case of a more general condition that might aid innovation in public sector contexts. The paper also suggests the usefulness of the notion of hybrids for the public sector governance literature.

The purpose of this paper is to explain and come to an understanding of origin and growth relating to the concept of environment and sustainable development in domestic and international laws; also to show the rationality of enlisting the right to the environment as a basic right in the constitution, that would help to protect this value from the detrimental activities of private entities and states, and also to show the rationality of institutional development.

This paper attempts to focus on environment and sustainable development in Bangladesh. The research is based upon theoretical sources and empirical data.

An environment is a set of natural, artificial or man‐made, physical, chemical and biological elements that make the existence, transformation and development of living organisms possible. The appearance of the environmental law arose from the need to conserve the environment in order to avoid its destruction and, as a result, the danger that an adequate quality of life might disappear. By conservation, we understand all those measures that are necessary to preserve the environment and natural resources. In modern times, human development corresponds to the concept of sustainable development and environment. It is a transverse theme derived from joint consideration of the issue of the environment and environmental protection, and of all that concerns production in the development of a country or nation.

The paper is original in calling for making the constitution a weapon, in as much as the environment should be fit for human development so that productive activities may meet present needs without compromising those of future generations. The environment is an independent value and needs as strict protection as other commonly agreed values, such as the right to property, or the right to life and health.

Like every other sector, educational institutions have also been suffering immensely due to COVID-19 pandemic. Many educational institutions are now adopting digital classroom services. However, an online platform with the need for appropriate technology and infrastructure from the students’ perspective poses a severe challenge to developing countries like Bangladesh. The paper aims to figure out the relevant factors that affect the extent of student satisfaction with digital classroom services at the school and tertiary levels.

It is a quantitative study of 450 students from Bangladesh who encountered online classes during the pandemic of COVID-19. An equal number of students from all levels, including schools, colleges and tertiary stages, participated in the survey. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses are used to interpret the data. Structural equation modeling using AMOS graphic software is incorporated to test the study’s hypothesis.

Among all the four determinants of student satisfaction during this critical era, all levels look satisfied with the three underlying influences: technological, convenience and resource-related factors. However, school-level students found the digital classroom services abrasive with Internet connectivity and technical structures during online classes and exams.

A comprehensive study can assess the difference between private and public university students in this regard. In addition, the impact of gender and/or location (rural/urban area) can be assessed by using the same model of the study.

Having the experience of the students’ satisfaction level during this pandemic, the government, educational institutions and other stakeholders can take away the findings of the results to have a better plan for Internet-based education at every level.

The study is unique to see the readiness of developing nations such as Bangladesh to focus on the sudden uncertainty like a pandemic in introducing the digital education platform. The study can add value to achieving the country’s sustainable development goal of becoming a digitally enabled regional education hub.

It is evident that the local small and medium enterprises of Bangladesh suffered in the competition because of the strong presence of foreign brands in the market. The purpose of this study is to figure out the factors influencing consumers to purchase a foreign brand predominantly among young consumers.

It is a quantitative study considering 257 young demographics as respondents. They are drawn randomly. Confirmatory factor analysis, regression analysis and a path model of structural equation model using AMOS graphics software are used in this study to analyze the data.

This study finds two out of three identified variables are influencing the foreign product purchase for the young Bangladeshi consumers. Brand value and product features of the given foreign product are the most dominant factors behind this adoption. However, a significant relationship between product quality and brand choice is not evident in this study.

It will give a clue to the small or medium startup of the country that normally target the young customer but face challenges to understand their mind and sometimes lagging because of the strong presence of the international brands.

A comprehensive review of the literature suggests that not so many studies took place that determines the respective factors behind the purchase of foreign brands particularly among young demographics of a lower middle income developing nation.

This study considered organizational politics as a source of stress and examined its spillover effects on the family domain. By integrating the work–home resource theory and transactional theory of stress, the authors developed a moderated mediation model that examined the moderating role of family support in the relationship between employee's perceptions of organizational politics and their family satisfaction through work-to-family conflict.

The authors examined the moderated mediation model using a sample of 223 full-time employees in Bangladesh. Data were collected using a three-wave survey research design.

The results indicate that organizational politics is negatively related to family satisfaction; work-to-family conflict medicates this relationship. Besides, family support attenuates the mediating effect of work-to-family conflict on the relationship between organizational politics and family satisfaction.

Managers should reduce the extent of organizational politics to avoid its impact on the nonwork domain. Moreover, social support from family members might play a crucial role in reducing the negative consequence of organizational politics in the family domain. By taking human resource practices such as training, increased communication, family-friendly policies, organizations may improve the ability of workers to cope with the negative consequences of organizational politics.

The current study uncovered the spillover effect of organizational politics on the nonwork domain. This research contributed to the burgeoning stream of organizational politics and work–family interface literature by investigating the influence of organizational politics in undermining family satisfaction and exploring the mediating mechanism linking organizational politics and family satisfaction as well as the boundary conditions of family social support.