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The purpose of this paper is to investigate forest fires and their relationship to prevention and mitigation strategies based on the empirical problems raised by this study. Public policy implementation (in this case, the policy of forest fire management) is influenced by the role played by government and by the participation of the public and stakeholders (in this case, companies), as well as the effects of good governance. Thus, from the empirical problems associated with theoretical problems and normative problems, this study raises the influence of the role of central and local government on the implementation of forest fire prevention policy in Indonesia, which is moderated by the good governance variable.

This study used a quantitative approach by adopting survey methodology. The study has aimed to assess both large and small population groups, by selecting and reviewing carefully chosen samples of the population to find the incidence, distribution and relative interrelation of the variables considered (Kerlinger and Lee, 2000). The survey was undertaken in areas of Indonesia that have a high level of vulnerability to forest fires. There are currently six provinces – Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, East Kalimantan and South Kalimantan – that have the highest intensity of forest fires. The study population was taken from 105 villages in those six major provinces experiencing forest fires. Sample size precision was determined by using Slovin’s formula with a precision of 10 percent and, thus, a sample size of 52 was obtained.

The central government’s activities have no significant effect on regional forest fire prevention. However, the results found that there is a significant effect caused by the interaction between the central and local governments and their governance of forest fire prevention. Even though the direct effect is not significant, the interaction effect significantly influences the forest fire prevention governance variable, which is a pure moderator. This study found that the role of central government has no effect on forest fire prevention. If the role of the central government is high, it will not impact the effectiveness of forest fire prevention, which is reflected in the aspects of prevention and early warning, reward and punishment, the improvement and management of ecosystems by reviewing courts, law enforcement and national and regional synergy.

This is one of the few public administration science studies to have investigated the relationship between good governance and forest fire policy in Indonesia, particularly the combined roles played by central and local governments.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of Special Administrative Region (SAR) performance on the “trust” of Hong Kong and Macau people, who “live” under similar context of “one country, two systems,” toward Beijing Central Government. The different perceptions, relating to the abovementioned issue, of the young peoples’ are also investigated. Implication for civic education in these two societies will be brought to light.

This study adopts secondary data analysis on the captioned topic. To further illustrate the said issue, this study reviews and analyzes data from protest campaigns in both societies.

This paper finds that the performance of Hong Kong and Macau SAR Governments has different impacts on the peoples’ “trust” toward Central Government. It may attribute to the different perceptions about the role of Central Government and levels of democratization in these societies. Civic education emphasizing the “core spirit” of “One country, two systems,” roles of SAR and Central Governments could enable young people better comprehend their relationship with Mainland China and their role as SAR–Chinese citizens.

This paper is an exploratory study for providing implications for further research on this topic.

Drawing on network and fiscal federalism theories, we investigated central government patronage and donor aid as antecedents of budget performance in local government (LG). A mixed methods design with data collected from 18 LGs, two ministries, and four donor agencies in Uganda was employed. Results revealed that both central government patronage and donor aid predict budget performance. Moreover, autonomy does not mediate the interactions as initially hypothesized. Implications for theory and practice are discussed and future research direction is provided.

This paper presents new research on the potential pathways for integrated adaptation that could make England's suburbs more resilient to future climate conditions. It focuses on the role of central government, local agencies and householders in making adaptations to the built and natural environment.

This paper uses evidence from three facilitated workshops run with built environment and policy professionals associated with climate change adaptation in three cities in England: Oxford, Bristol and Stockport. The workshop contributions are presented in relation to the potential role that central government, local agencies and residents could play in adapting suburbs.

Central government, local agencies and householders form an interconnected network of agents responsible for adaptive action in suburbs. Professional and institutional stakeholders expect central government to take a lead and ensure planning policies and building regulations support effective adaptation. However, those local authorities and agencies that are expected to offer leadership locally do not have the resources to make adaptation happen on the ground. Overall, the stakeholders in this research believe that effective adaptation in suburbs may only happen once householders and government have experienced worsening climatic conditions. This could be a very costly stance in the long term.

This paper provides empirical evidence on how stakeholders engaged in suburban adaptation are making changes now, and on how they envisage change in the future. It reveals clearly the challenges involved in integrating mitigation and adaptation actions and highlight the complexities around implementation on the ground.

The Youth Justice Board (YJB) was established in 1998 as a central part of the Labour government's radical programme of youth justice reform. Yet while it has had a central role in directing the culture, organisation and activities of youth justice in England and Wales, it is poorly understood. As its future hangs in the balance, this paper seeks to draw on a unique empirical study of the operation of the YJB to explore what it is, what it does and why it is so difficult to describe.

The research involved 18 months' ethnographic fieldwork. For one calendar year (2006‐2007), research focused on the internal operation of the YJB including observations of meetings, depth interviews and documentary analysis. A second strand of research explored the regional operation of the YJB. This involved observations of regional monitors and assessment processes and interviews and focus groups with Youth Offending Teams staff.

The research shows that the YJB is an inherently ambiguous organisation. This ambiguity has made it simultaneously highly insecure and extremely productive, enabling it to extend its influence and activities beyond those initially envisaged in New Labour's reforms. However, the difficulty in defining the YJB also suggests the full effect of its activities will only become clear once it has gone.

While there has been much academic interest in the YJB, this research is the only empirical study of it. It, therefore gives a unique insight into the organisation and culture of the English and Welsh youth justice system.

The purpose of this paper is to review and illustrate historical milestones and evolutionary stages of public sector reforms in such a typical transitional society as Kazakhstan through the prism of existing e-government development strategies, implementation models and institutional regulations.

The research is mostly based on a retrospective analysis of technology-driven public sector reforms and content analysis of various e-government strategies and platforms implemented by national and local executive authorities in Kazakhstan for the last two decades.

The results of the analysis has confirmed previously made assumptions that typical developing states tend to adopt different non-linear and multidimensional implementation strategies in advancing e-government reforms in comparison with developed countries. As it turns out, the continuity of actual stages or levels of such development not always corresponds in a consecutive manner to the formal phases of the most popular e-government maturity models proposed previously in academic literature.

One of the fundamental limitations of the case study is that its findings and recommendations could relate only to a limited number of countries that have similar political, socioeconomic and administrative contexts. Taking into account the fact that Kazakhstan is not only a typical developing economy but also a transitional post-communist and post-totalitarian society that has its own unique political and socioeconomic features of governance, the results of case study could not be generalized and extrapolated to all developing countries, presumably narrowing them only to a very limited number of similar states, mostly, in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia.

The main practical contribution of the article is that it provides a close review of e-government politics in Kazakhstan that could be helpful for policy makers and practitioners in evaluating, learning and improving the work of various technology-driven public sector projects in the area, especially from a regulatory point of view.

This inherently ethnographic narrative, which is based on the analysis of e-government legislation and implementation strategies derived from diverse administrative practices, could be interesting for those who seek to understand an ever-changing truly evolutionary nature of technology-driven public sector reforms in a typical transitional society.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the background of the proposal contained in the coalition government's Police and Social Responsibility legislation to replace police authorities with directly elected police and crime commissioners (PCCs) and to evaluate the potential problems that will arise from this reform.

The research is library‐based, utilising a range of primary and secondary sources. The objectives of the research are addressed by examining a number of key themes: the creation of police authorities; the evolution of police authorities; the target regime; consequences of increased central control over policing; the Community Empowerment agenda; the reform of police authorities; the 2010 coalition government and PCCs; problems posed by PCCs; and the progress of reform.

The research established that the role performed by police authorities in the governance of policing was in need of reform, in particular because of their inability to ensure that local concerns were adequately addressed by their police forces. However, it is argued that replacing an authority with one single person possessing considerable powers over policing poses significant dangers which include the potential of this reform to politicise the police.

The paper presents a detailed analysis of a key aspect of coalition government policing policy and seeks to establish that what is proposed contains serious weaknesses which must be addressed in order to provide for a workable system of police governance. It is of relevance to those engaged in delivering policing, crime prevention and community safety agendas.

The purpose of this study is to develop an ecosystem-based DRR concept and explore how far the concept can be applied in a disaster-management context.

The authors used the ecosystem concept established by Tsujimoto et al. (2018) as the foundation of this study. They then conducted a literature search to adapt the ecosystem concept to fit the context of disaster management. Thus, they developed an ecosystem-based DRR concept. They used a case study method to test whether the adapted ecosystem concept can be applied to examine a real-life case of disaster management. For data collection, they used qualitative methods; a semi-structured interview with practitioners and other actors involved in disaster-management practice as well as document review. For data analysis, they used thematic analysis to find themes within the data.

By using this concept, the authors found some actors fulfil their role in the ecosystem toward the DRR effort, some actors are ill-equipped, and some actors are actively working against DRR effort. There are also implementation challenges, as numerous programs are only halfway done due to a lack of resources. However, the main problems of this disaster can be summarized into three categories: technical problems, socio-economic problems and law-enforcement problems. All three problems need to be addressed altogether because even neglecting only one problem would lead to a flawed solution.

One of the limitations is the respondents' bias. This research aims to find out their part, or more accurately what they are representative of, regarding disaster management for forest and land fire case. As some of the questions may reveal unflattering action or may even hurting their credibility, respondents might not have provided an entirely honest answer. Another limitation is the differing respondents' roles within the disaster. As each of the respondents is a representative of an actor in disaster management, they all have different traits. Thus, this situation makes it challenging to produce similar quality and quantity data for each of them.

As concluded, the ecosystem-based DRR concept can be used as a framework to examine a real-life case of disaster management. It can be utilized to explain roles, relationships and the whole network of disaster-management actors. The authors hope that this concept could help decision-makers in designing their policies.

The main problems of this disaster can be summarized into three categories: technical problems, socio-economic problems and law-enforcement problems. All three problems need to be addressed altogether for even neglecting only one problem would lead to a flawed solution. However, the yearly reoccurrences of fires and the widespread of illegal and dangerous practice, slash and burn agriculture, are evidence that the government mishandles the other two problems. There is a need for reform within legal institutions and government's treatment regarding local farmers. There is a need for trust, cooperation and synergy between disaster-management actors.

The ecosystem concept has been used widely in the field of management of technology and innovation. However, while ecosystem concept is commonly used in the management of technology and innovation, it is rarely used in a disaster-management context.

Access to higher education (HE) has been on the global policy agenda for decades. Higher education institutions (HEIs) are inherently biased toward serving the needs and expectations of the middle classes, to the detriment of more disadvantaged groups. This creates a significant dilemma in democratic contexts, as in the country of this study: Indonesia. This chapter focuses on the (missing) link between actors who have the potential to influence the development of the sector, consisting of; government, HEIs, industry, and local stakeholders. Evidence based on the data suggests that there is a missing link on how influential the different actors in civil society are regarding developing and implementing policies, and how this is affecting widening participation in HE.

The Guiding Principles on Civil Service Reform were endorsed by the Special Programme of Assistance for Africa (SPA) as a tool for better co‐ordination of donor support. Because of the range of administrative problems, and the economic and political urgency of solving them, African governments need a strategic framework for civil service reform. This should be based on a vision of the role of the state, and take into account leadership, commitment, governance, economic reforms, sequencing, ministerial restructuring, decentralisation, downsizing, pay and incentives, capacity building, service delivery, aid mechanisms, and change management processes. Because of the enormity and political sensitivity of the task, and the severe limitations on capacity to manage reform, such a framework will take 10‐20 years to implement fully in most countries. Civil service reform is an art, not a science. Committed reformers within the concerned government know best what they need, and how to get there. The role of donors should be mainly facilitation: identifying committed reformers (or potentially committed ones), and then empowering them to design and carry out needed changes.