Includes countries in Central, East European, Caucasus, Central Asian Countries in Transition (PARinCEECCA)
WG Programme Coordinators:
Veronica Junjan, Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration, Faculty of
Behavioural, University of Twente, School of Management and Governance,
Enschede, The Netherlands E-mail:V.Junjan@utwente.nl
Assistant Professor at the Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Science, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands. Her current research focuses on investigating decision-making processes and public performance management, particularly within the mechanisms and dynamics of public sector reform associated with EU multi-level governance. Since 2008 she has been involved as co-Chair in the coordination of the work of, first the Panel, then the Working Group on Public Administration Reform in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Diana-Camelia Iancu, Senior Lecturer of European Governance, National School of Political
Studies and Public Administration, Faculty of Public Administration,
Bucharest, Romania E-mail:dciancu@gmail.com
Diana-Camelia Iancu is a Senior Lecturer of European Governance and serves as Dean of the Faculty of Public Administration at the National School of Political Studies and Public Administration. She was public policy consultant for different international donors (OECD, World Bank Group) and managed a European Social Fund project dealing with blended learning and quality assessment of public administration teaching programmes in Romania. Her research interests include international development and administrative capacity building in transitional countries.
Main focus and working aims Founded in 2007, the Working Group on Public
Administration Reform has traditionally been an arena for debating and
comparing the dynamics of institutions and organisations promoting a
professional, merit-based and neutral civil service. Its initial focus on new
EU Member States from Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltics has developed
and today, the Group also benefits from the research contributions and
grassroots experiences of academics and practitioners from Europe, Central Asia
and beyond.
Specific goals For 2018, the Group aims to channel discussions around
the core values of public action – such as well-being and happiness, and their
reflection in current state leadership.
Whilst some scholars have increasingly focused on
finding what makes people happy and why policy-makers should learn about that
(Helliwell et al. 2014, Clark et al. 2017), others have critically approached
the measurement of well-being and suggested alternatives to the existing trends
(Diener et al. 2009, Daeton 2012).Additional researches investigated resilience (at individual, organisational
and community level) as the capacity to endure, adjust to, and recover from
unexpected events. Resilience, such as the capacity to recover, was seen to be important
in the process of re-constructing well-being at different societal levels.
Given the multiple waves of reforms and challenges of the recent years (ranging
from economic and financial crises to climate change), resilience needs to be
better understood as part of providing societal well-being.
As such, and following the commitment from OECD (2016)
"to put people’s well-being at the centre of governments’ efforts” and the
conditions necessary for achieving their happiness, as described in The World
Happiness Report (2017): "high levels of mutual trust, shared purpose,
generosity and good governance”, the Working Group on Public Administration
Reform welcomes researches that explain and reflect on the current political,
social and economic turmoil and its impact on the traditional scope of
governance. What roles should governments undertake in order to support the
sustainable growth of their respective communities? How could think tanks,
community leaders and ordinary citizens contribute to making policy-makers aware
of their misery or well-being? What impact does the ideological envelope of
good governance bear and what stories does the research on development aid have
to share? Comparative analyses on different policy choices in support of
sustainable growth, as well as innovative models for measuring well-being and
resilience are especially welcome.
Guidelines for contributors All submitted
papers will receive comments and recommendations of the Working Group’s
co-chairs. The selection of papers will be based on the relevance of the
proposed topics considering the present Call, the pertinence of the research
and/or policy proposals as well as the impact on current literature of
(comparative) public administration. Preference will be given to analytical
papers based on empirical evidence, which support regional and cross-sectoral
comparisons. Practitioners are also kindly invited to join the Working Group,
by presenting their experience with providing well-being in their respective
organisations and countries.