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1 – 10 of 15Samantha Melis and Dorothea Hilhorst
When a major landslide and floods devastated Freetown, Sierra Leone had just overcome the Ebola crisis, which had left its mark on socio-political relations between different…
Abstract
Purpose
When a major landslide and floods devastated Freetown, Sierra Leone had just overcome the Ebola crisis, which had left its mark on socio-political relations between different disaster response actors. With international disaster response frameworks increasingly shifting to local ownership, the national government was expected to assume a coordinating role. However, in “post-conflict” settings such as Sierra Leone, intra-state and state–society relations are continuously being renegotiated. This study aimed to uncover the complexities of state-led disaster response in hybrid governance setting at national and community levels in the response to the 2017 landslide and floods.
Design/methodology/approach
During the four months of fieldwork in Freetown in 2017, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with various state, aid and societal actors were conducted.
Findings
The findings show that a response to policy building on the idea of a uniform state response did not take into account intra-state power politics or the complexity of Sierra Leone's hybrid governance.
Practical implications
This paper argues for a more nuanced debate in humanitarian governance and practice on the localisation of aid in post-conflict and fragile settings.
Originality/value
The study's findings contribute to the literature on the disaster–conflict nexus, identifying paradoxes of localised disaster response in an environment with strong national–local tensions. The study highlights intra-local state dynamics that are usually overlooked but have a great impact on the legitimacy of different state authorities in disaster response.
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The purpose of this paper is to study the uneven geographies of corruption on the African continent. Corruption is an entrenched part of African political culture. However, the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the uneven geographies of corruption on the African continent. Corruption is an entrenched part of African political culture. However, the degree and impacts of corruption vary widely across the continent, ranging from failed states such as Somalia to the region’s bright spot Botswana. This paper first defines corruption and discusses its causes and effects. It then delves into the specifics of African corruption, including its causes and effects such as patrimonial political cultures, clientelism and the role of natural resource exports.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses data from Transparency International to assess African corruption empirically and geographically, and links its levels of severity using correlations to gross domestic product per capita, literacy, income inequality and freedom of the media.
Findings
The major findings are that while the vast majority of the continent’s one billion people live under very corrupt regimes, the impacts of corruption on economic growth are questionable. Few geographic studies of corruption exist.
Originality/value
The paper’s novelty stems in part from being the first to explore African corruption from a spatial perspective, illustrating its widely varying contexts and consequences.
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This study aims to critically analyse the Law 9 January 2019, n. 3, on “Measures to fight crimes against the public administration and on the transparency of political parties and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to critically analyse the Law 9 January 2019, n. 3, on “Measures to fight crimes against the public administration and on the transparency of political parties and movements” (so-called bribe-destroyer law).
Design/methodology/approach
This paper draws on reports, legal scholarship and other open-source data to examine a legislative innovation for the corruption in Italy in relation to the general guarantees of the trial process and with the controversial paradigm of the national perception index of bribery.
Findings
The Italian legislative initiative that will be examined is innovative in nature and goes beyond the constitutional and conventional principles on procedural guarantees. The new initiative needs to be integrated into the international and European action against bribery that targets criminal proceeds, and at the same time, be anchored in respect for human rights during the process.
Research limitations/implications
The new initiative needs to be integrated into the international and European action against bribery that targets criminal proceeds, and at the same time, be anchored in respect for human rights during the process.
Practical implications
Despite the aggressiveness and lofty proclamations by those who aspire to fight corruption from the highest levels, the goal of rehabilitating Italy from one of the seven “deadly sins” that delay economic growth still seems far off.
Social implications
In the absence of public ethics, the increase in criminalisation does not seem sufficient on its own to guarantee the containment of the phenomenon.
Originality/value
This study examines the strengths and weaknesses of the important new law, its compatibility with human rights standards and its relationship to international standards of anti-bribery policies. The aggressive legislation critically relies on the pervasive and persistent lack of perception of corruption as a crime. In the confiscation (and now also reparation) of equivalent that normally addresses assets accumulated in a lawful manner, the periculum is even presumed in re ipsa and the classical aims of caution undergo a total torsion revealing an authoritarian face that takes on the meaning of anticipating further sanctioning contents. Finally, the presence of many levels of sanctioning in relation to the same fact poses serious problems of violation of the ne bis in idem rule.
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This paper aims at comparing and contrasting the Ao Man-long scandal with the Ho Chio-meng case in Macau, drawing lessons from the two events and casting lights on the literature…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims at comparing and contrasting the Ao Man-long scandal with the Ho Chio-meng case in Macau, drawing lessons from the two events and casting lights on the literature on corruption scandals.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used documentary research and interpretative and analytical approaches.
Findings
The two cases show considerable administrative discretion on the part of the principal officials involved, and remedial measures along the line of having more rigorous and frequent internal auditing may be necessary.
Originality/value
Original analyses were conducted together with literature review and documentary research. This paper would be of interest to scholars and practitioners concerned with how Macau combats corruption.
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The purpose of this paper is to debate on how to achieve, in countries that have invested in the North American model of the regulatory state, the greatest efficiency in creating…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to debate on how to achieve, in countries that have invested in the North American model of the regulatory state, the greatest efficiency in creating norms for the organization of public and private activities in order to guarantee the autonomy and technical impartiality required for the proper functioning of regulatory agencies.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper describes the development of the legal framework regarding regulatory agencies in Brazil. The research was based on bibliographical data, media reports, and the Brazilian Supreme Court decisions.
Findings
The regulation dissemination through regulatory agencies in Brazil has given rise to a series of controversies concerning the limits of their performance and the extent of their technical discretion. According to the findings, it is concluded that these independent agencies should be guided by the following four pillars: (1) the legal rule of fixed-term in office; (2) the principle of lesser control intensity (deference) of the agency acts; (3) the prohibition of contingency of agencies’ budgetary resources; and (4) the prohibition of agency powers suppression. Otherwise, the institutional capacity of agencies will be diminished and their neutral action in technical matters will be compromised.
Originality/value
This paper shows how enhanced autonomy and technical impartiality can be useful for better regulatory governance in other countries, preventing them from suffering from the same problems that have occurred in Brazil.
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This study aims to investigate why anti-corruption statutes are not efficient in Nigeria’s upstream petroleum industry.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate why anti-corruption statutes are not efficient in Nigeria’s upstream petroleum industry.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is a doctrinal legal research that embraces a point-by-point comparative methodology with a library research technique.
Findings
This study reveals that corruption strives on feeble implementation of anti-corruption legal regime and the absence of political will in offering efficient regulatory intervention. Finally, this study finds that anti-corruption organisations in Nigeria are not efficient due to non-existence of the Federal Government’s political will to fight corruption, insufficient funds and absence of stringent implementation of the anti-corruption legal regime in the country.
Research limitations/implications
Investigations reveal during this study that Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) operations are characterised with poor record-keeping, lack of accountability as well as secrecy in the award of oil contracts, oil licence, leases and other financial transactions due to non-disclosure or confidentiality clauses contained in most of these contracts. Also, an arbitration proceeding limit access to their records and some of these agreements under contentions. This has also limited the success of this research work and generalising its findings.
Practical implications
This study recommends, among other reforms, soft law technique and stringent execution of anti-corruption statutes. This study also recommends increment in financial appropriation to Nigeria’s anti-corruption institutions, taking into consideration the finding that a meagre budget is a drawback.
Social implications
This study reveals that corruption strives on feeble implementation of anti-corruption legal regime and the absence of political will in offering efficient regulatory intervention. Corruption flourishes due to poor enforcement of anti-corruption laws and the absence of political will in offering efficient regulatory intervention by the government.
Originality/value
The study advocates the need for enhancement of anti-corruption agencies' budgets taking into consideration the finding that meagres budgets are challenge of the agencies.
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José Valverde-Roda, Salvador Moral-Cuadra, Minerva Aguilar-Rivero and Miguel Ángel Solano-Sánchez
This paper aims to replicate a model already proven in previous research in this field. This will make it possible to explain the possible relationships that may occur among the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to replicate a model already proven in previous research in this field. This will make it possible to explain the possible relationships that may occur among the motivations, perceived value, satisfaction and loyalty of the tourist towards the Alhambra and Generalife inscribed as World Heritage Site (WHS) in 1984.
Design/methodology/approach
From a dataset containing 1,612 surveys, a model a model based on structural equations has been carried out through SmartPLS software, focus the analysis on the model dependent variables’ predictive power, as well as the size of the effect and the statistical inference of the structural relationships.
Findings
The main conclusions include the influence of perceived value on satisfaction as well as the influence of the latter on loyalty. it is remarkable the effect that the perceived value has on satisfaction, and satisfaction on loyalty. This implies that a positive assessment of world heritage destinations leads a subsequent loyalty to them.
Practical implications
The results obtained in this research can be used as a starting point for the establishment of new strategies for the promotion of the destination in terms of tourism and heritage.
Originality/value
The inclusion in the list of WHS is recognition in terms of material and historical quality, as well as a stimulus for tourism because it increases the number of visits to the destination. Several studies carried out in these types of destinations have shown the existence of a relationship between motivations, perceived value, satisfaction and loyalty. However, there are no previous studies carried out in the Alhambra and the Generalife that sustain this relationship. This work makes a contribution that completes the academic literature on the study of the emotional bonds between the historical and monumental heritage and the tourist who visits it and its behaviour.
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Mhamed Biygautane, Stewart Clegg and Khalid Al-Yahya
Existing public–private partnership (PPP) literature that explicitly adopts neo-institutional theory, tends to elucidate the impact of isomorphic pressures and organizational…
Abstract
Purpose
Existing public–private partnership (PPP) literature that explicitly adopts neo-institutional theory, tends to elucidate the impact of isomorphic pressures and organizational fields and structuration on PPP projects. This paper advances this literature by presenting the institutional work and micro-level dynamics through which actors initiate and implement a new form of project delivery. The authors show how actors enact responses to institutional structuration in the expansion and transformation of an airport from a public entity into a PPP in Saudi Arabia.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use a single case study design that offers an empirically rich and thick description of events such as the dynamic processes, practices and types of institutional work carried out by actors and organizations to deliver the project under investigation.
Findings
Religious symbolic work as social integration triggered system integration work, which expanded the power capabilities of individual actors leading the project. Repair work then followed to alleviate the negative effects of disempowering the agency of actors negatively affected by the PPP model and to streamline the project implementation process.
Practical implications
This research offers several practical implications. For PPPs to operate successfully in contexts similar to the Gulf region, policymakers should provide strong political support and be willing to bear a considerable risk of losses or minimal outcomes during the early phases of experimentation with PPPs. Also, policymakers should not only focus their attention on technical requirements of PPPs but also associate new meanings with the normative and cultural-cognitive elements that are integral to the success of PPP implementation. In order to design strategies for change that are designed to fit the unique cultural and sociopolitical settings of each country, policymakers should empower capable individual actors and provide them with resources and access to power, which will enable them to enforce changes that diverge from institutionalized practices.
Social implications
This research connected the PPP literature with theoretical frameworks drawn from neo-institutional theory and power. It would be valuable for further research, however, to connect ideas from the PPP literature with other disciplines such as psychology and social entrepreneurship. PPP research examines a recent phenomenon that can potentially be combined with non-traditional streams of research in analyzing projects. Expanding the realm of PPP research beyond traditional theoretical boundaries could potentially yield exciting insights into how the overall institutional and psychological environments surrounding projects affect their initiation and implementation.
Originality/value
The paper contributes new insights regarding the roles of religious symbolic work, allied with social and system integration of power relations in implementing PPP projects. It suggests a theoretical shift from structures and organizational fields – macro- and meso-levels of analysis – to individuals – micro-level – as triggers of new forms of project delivery that break with the status quo.
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This article aims to advance the literature on the effects of corruption and its relationship to human rights violations. The article also presents an overview of existing…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to advance the literature on the effects of corruption and its relationship to human rights violations. The article also presents an overview of existing legislative measures as well as those expected to be implemented at the national level to tackle corruption and its impacts on fundamental rights.
Design/methodology/ approach
The study draws on the literature that addresses the relation between corruption and human rights, and analyses a single well-known case in Brazil (Operation Car Wash) in order to discuss both the violation of citizens’ political rights and of those being investigated.
Findings
The article suggests that the Brazilian State has failed to guarantee fundamental rights as well as to effectively control electoral corruption. By exploring the complex structure of illegal campaign financing in Brazil, the article exposes how Operation Car Wash evidenced the violation of both of the right to participate public affairs and to vote in authentic elections in Brazil.
Originality/value
Considering that the literature shows it is difficult to link the breaches of human rights with incidences of corruption, this article debates the macro context in which the Car Wash case is inserted and demonstrates the evidence that link the corrupt acts involved in this operation to the violation of specific fundamental human rights: the political rights.
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Renato Cader Da Silva, Luciana Betiol, Teresa Villac and Raquel Nonato
The purpose of this paper is to report the experience of the Federal Public Institution with sustainable public procurement through the mechanism of shared acquisitions.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report the experience of the Federal Public Institution with sustainable public procurement through the mechanism of shared acquisitions.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis adopted a qualitative approach and an empirical investigation of MPF’s experience, based on a documentary research and participant observation.
Findings
The results allow the authors to demonstrate the economic, environmental and social advantages of the procurement made by MPF, thus granting to this new model of acquisition governance, the adherence to the organization’s institutional mission.
Research limitations/implications
This is a single case study.
Practical implications
It is a promising path that optimizes the institution’s use of its budgetary, human, logistical and information technology resources, focusing on the quality and sustainability of public biddings.
Social implications
The process of collective construction, improvement of knowledge management, standardization, procedural and scale economies, and the use of sustainability criteria are the main reasons for the implementation of the sustainable shared acquisitions system in the institution.
Originality/value
This is a development process of a new paradigm of procurement at MPF.
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