Building Resilient Capacities for “Sound Governance” in the Age of Transformational Changes with Challenges of Corruption and Accountability Problems for the Next Decades
Chair(s): Ali Farazmand (Florida Atlantic University)
This panel addresses the current and unfolding transformational changes in governance and public administration with significant implications for the future of governance and public service. It presents the changing dynamics in theory and practice of governance models facing challenges and suggests imperative capacity building in several core and related areas in governance and public administration. More specifically, capacity building works are needed to counter and overcome challenges that threaten the soundness of governance and offer significant empowering implications for 1) the professional role of public servants in sustaining quality in public service delivery, overcoming the problems of corruption, lack of accountability, and trust in governments. The panel offers specific tools and mechanisms to overcome the above challenges and prepare the governance and public management systems/models for the next decades to come. More concretely, this Panel offers several ideas and tools that include: (1) perfections in AI/Digitalization systems (technical); (2) public procurement reforms (financial and policy as well as technical); (3) anti-corruption, accountability, and transparency measures (policy, organizational, and managerial); (4) Crisis Management/Leadership; (5) citizen-engagement with transparency, responsiveness, and responsibility (theoretical, normative, as well as practical); and ( 6) legislative and Constitutional (legal), and more. Transformational changes cause significant human, technological, structural, cultural, and civilization impacts with massive implications for public governance, public administration, and public policy. Four major interrelated/overlapping components contribute to the totality of this panel. Consequently, while "Good or Sound Governance"(Farazmand, 2024, 2007, 2024; Darius the Great, 520-484 BC) and “Tolerant Governance” (Cyrus the Great, 550 BC) are selected as the conceptualizing notions and as the overriding track for the Panel, the following tracks of Ethics/Trust and Accountability, as well as Equity and Diversity as well as Tools equally serve as key integrated parts of the whole structure and functional elements and qualities of the Panel. Sustaining quality and clean from corruption public service delivery with diversity, equity, and inclusion is a noble function and essential role of governance and government, and empowering public servants through 'good and sound governance' through strong capacity building via normative values of 'trust', structural 'anti-corruption and accountability measures', and required effective 'tools' are the fundamentals in this critical age of profound transformational stage of modern human civilization. To capture the above, several global/international experts have agreed and committed themselves to participate in this panel by presenting their research papers with specific topics and substances that address the key parts of the panel. They represent a truly diverse in both the content/substance of presentations as well as the geographical regions of the world, see below. Another key feature of this Panel is its truly integrated, participatory nature of the "deeply engaging the audience on the floor" stye discussions, unless formal presentations become necessary during the panel session.
Presentations of the Symposium
Building Capacities for Sound Governance and Accountability in the Age of Rapid Change and Uncertainties: A Prescription for Survival in the 21st Century.
Ali Farazmand
Florida Atlantic University
Explains some of the fundamental capacities for more effective and efficient Governance with focuses on empowering public servants, such as trust, motivation, sustainability, diversity, and equity; crisis management via chaos and transformations, and anti-corruptions measures; offers ways and means by which those capacities to be developed and enhanced via good or sound governance policies and public management implementation processes and practices on the ground; and offers ways to building anti-corruption and accountability capacities via structural/organizational/regulative, cultural, and cognitive, as well institutionalized means and measures, enforced by the institutional logics/methods of appropriateness with behavioral consequences.
Calibrating public procurement as an accountably leverage for sound governance in a volatile environment
Tünde Tátrai1, Márton Gellén2
1Corvinus University of Budapest, 2Ludovika University of Public Service
A constantly changing environment requires dynamic capabilities from policymakers and public procurement market players to ensure supply at critical times. Uncertainty can arise from external circumstances such as pandemics or war. In this case, product shortages, volatile exchange rates or inflationary effects can indirectly lead to supply shortages even though contracting authorities have framework contracts that become unsustainable due to change. At the same time, the flexibility of supply chains does not necessarily mean that the market can react immediately to a sudden change. The best example is the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster in 2011 or the temporary period of unseaworthiness in the Panama Canal (for example in 25.05.2023). It is futile for a large procurement organisation to assume that it can overcome these difficulties by relying on the experience and flexibility of its suppliers if it takes time to find logistical solutions.
From a procurement policy point of view, this requires a response capable of maintaining the supplier base and finding alternative solutions quickly. However, solutions must not be opaque, based on sudden direct contracting or individual, uncontrolled agreements. Nor is it sufficient to ensure publicity, since contracts concluded without competition and rapid deliveries cannot be considered fair competition ex post. In volatile times, long-term procurement models such as framework agreements, dynamic purchasing systems, or pre-qualification systems should be used. Dynamic capabilities, particularly for central purchasing organisations and large contracting authorities, should allow organisations to secure supplies transparently. However, this does not only require choosing the simplest available models with the least administrative complexity and accountability. Based on the European Union Tenders Electronic Daily (2013-2023) public procurement database and focusing specifically on long-term procurement models, this research presents the solutions typically used by bigger European contracting authorities and central purchasing organisations and draws conclusions based on Teece et al's (1997) theoretical approach to dynamic capabilities. The essence of this approach is to enable the organisation to see itself in terms of continuous change rather than to perform its tasks assuming a stable, ceteris paribus environment (Tshoukas and Chia, 2002).
Policy-Oriented Learning as a Way to Promote Sound Governance for Making Evidence-Based Policies and Enhancing Performance with Empirical Data and Innovative Governance Tools
Yanzhe Zhang
Jilin University
Evaluates policy-oriented learning as a framework for facilitating effective evidence-based policy making, with a particular focus on the dynamics of policy transfer networks; finding of this research suggests that promoting the capacity of policy-oriented learning can significantly improve the effectiveness in evidence-based policy making & providing a systematic approach to enhancing sound governance and empowering public servants, enhancing crisis management, strengthening the AI/Digital capacity in public policy implementation and management, combating corruption incidences and promotes accountability in both policy and management of public sector organizations in China.
Probity and Accountability. Analyzing the Chilean Experience
Mauricio OLavaria Gambi
Universidad de Santiago de Chile
The presentation will cover Chilean experience since the 19th Century on Probity and Accountability. Chile has not been immune to corruption. Thus, the focus of the presentation will be how the Chilean political system has reacted and faced corruption episodes since the 19th Century to the present and offers ideas and measures to combat corruption for a better sound governance system.
Smart Technologies and AI-Driven Governance: Charting the Course for the Next-Generation Government
Younhee Kim1, Seunghwan Myeong2
1Penn State Harrisburg, 2Inha University
This study aims to investigate the perceptions of South Korean government officials regarding the potentials of AI technologies, with a specific focus on how the capacities of government structures and management practices influence the implementation of platform government and AI-driven governance. Offers important implications for the values of using effective and efficient TOOLS for sound/good governance capacity building, empowering public servants, and sustaining the noble public services for a more empowered world of civilizations in the 21st century.
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