Main Conference Theme Session
Governance and Citizens' Rights
in the Era of Europeanisation, Globalisation and Digitalisation
- Norbert Kersting, Professor, Institute of Political Science, University of Münster, Germany, kerstinn@uni-muenster.de
Prof. Norbert Kersting is holding the chair for "Comparative Politics-Local and Regional Policies” at the Department of Political Science at the University of Muenster (Germany). From 2006 to 2011 he was holding the "Willy Brandt Chair on transformation and regional integration” at the Department of Political Science, University of Stellenbosch. He was a fellow at the Institute of Political Science at the University of Marburg and Electoral Integrity Project (Sydney). He was visiting Professor at the University of Koblenz-Landau and the University of Kassel. He is vice chair of International Political Science Association’s (IPSA) Research Committee 10 on „Electronic democracy” and chair of the Board Research Committee 5 on „Comparative Studies on Local Government and Politics”.
He published various articles and books on polical participation with a strong emphasis on Africa. His Phd focueed on political participation and sel help in high density area in Zimbabwe”. In the last years he worked on blended participation combining offline and online participation and he edited book "Electronic democracy” (2012) in the IPSA series: World of Political science. Here he analyses democratic innovations from the global South and Africa in particular. He co-authored book on "Local Governance reform in global perspective” (VS-Springer 2009) and he co-edited books on "Local Government Reform in Europe” (VS-Springer 2004, with Angelika Vetter), "Poverty and democracy ”( Zed-books 2005, with Dirk Berg Schlosser), "Electronic voting and democracy”(Palgrave 2004, with Harald Baldersheim), etc.. (Norbert.Kersting@unimuenster.de).
He published various articles and books on polical participation with a strong emphasis on Africa. His Phd focueed on political participation and sel help in high density area in Zimbabwe”. In the last years he worked on blended participation combining offline and online participation and he edited book "Electronic democracy” (2012) in the IPSA series: World of Political science. Here he analyses democratic innovations from the global South and Africa in particular. He co-authored book on "Local Governance reform in global perspective” (VS-Springer 2009) and he co-edited books on "Local Government Reform in Europe” (VS-Springer 2004, with Angelika Vetter), "Poverty and democracy ”( Zed-books 2005, with Dirk Berg Schlosser), "Electronic voting and democracy”(Palgrave 2004, with Harald Baldersheim), etc.. (Norbert.Kersting@unimuenster.de).
- Anamarija Musa, associate professor, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, Croatia, amusa@pravo.hr
Anamarija Musa is an associate professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, Croatia. Her research and teaching topics include public administration reform and Europeanisation, regulation and regulatory governance, transparency and participation, e-government, local government and organisation theory. Besides academic work, she gained wide practical experience in projects and law drafting in Croatia (access to information, RIA, ombudsman, state administration, civil service, and administrative procedure) and SEE region, as well as the Croatian Information Commissioner 2013-2018.
- Mirko Klaric, Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Split, Croatia, klaricmirko@gmail.com
Call for papers:
After several decades of deepening and widening, the EU and the Europeanisation processes, both bottom-up and top-down, face new challenges and issues whose ramifications are complex and broader than Europe and its structures. At the same time, citizens’ dissatisfaction and instability not only pose challenges to governance and to the regulatory solutions to everyday problems, but also in regard to sustainability, climate, food, energy, unemployment, terrorism and organised crime, etc. Similarly, globalisation forces strongly affect the responses of political and economic actors worldwide, creating disparities, conflicts, and insecurities, and increasingly lead to the self-centred regulatory solutions, despite all the evidence on the global interconnectedness of economies and societies. Finally, and perhaps most profoundly, digitalisation has been changing our societies and raising new generations that may soon find our traditional political, legal, administrative and economic systems too obsolete and unfit for the future. We are witnessing how the ubiquitous and ever-expanding information and communication technology (ICT) affect the way societies are governed, by the broadening of the possibilities for participation, diversifying the service delivery modes, as well as changing the other traditional functions of public administration at all levels, from regulation and policy formulation or analysis, to decision-making or inspections. The potential of new technologies to change traditional structures and processes in public administration may float between adaptation and genuine transformation. The transformative capacity is already visible in the political sphere, with the fading of the traditional cleavages and the changing role of key political institutions. The rising trends of populism, the rise of political outsiders and fake news threats, as well as the economic sphere, such as the increasing role of the sharing economy and the dominance of tech companies in economic growth all play a roll. The public administration is strongly affected by these changes, but also is one of the key actors which is expected to formulate the responses to these changes, in terms of policy, governance instruments and protection of citizens’ rights.
The main session thus focuses on innovative and adaptive structures and processes that respond to the governance and regulation challenges, emerging from various contextual factors within the broader frameworks of Europeanisation, globalisation and digitalisation. The session welcomes papers from a wide range of topics and perspectives (public administration, public policy, political science, law, sociology, economics and others) which focus, but are not limited to, the following questions:
• What are the current and emerging forms of governance responses to societal and economic challenges? What actors and structures support them and to what extent are these embodied within European or global processes, including technological factors?
• What roles are taken by different actors in the governance process, especially at the political and administrative level of government/public administration (politicians, advisors, civil servants), and especially the politico-administrative nexus? And what relationships and alliances are formed with parliaments, courts, civil society, or business?
• To what extent (if any) has the regulatory process changed and what factors influence that change? Is the mobilisation for regulation the new norm or are the incentives to regulate coming from within the system? What is the role of political entrepreneurs in regulation/policy, especially above national jurisdictions? What factors influence the global regulatory process that deals with the global problems and citizens’ rights all over the world?
• What kind of adaptation challenges is the internet revolution posing for public administration and public policy and what are their distinctive features that may have a transformative impact? What kind of invented space for online citizen participation is implemented? What is the role of new ICT in policy preparation, communication and service provision of public administration? How especially is the ICT affecting local government?
• What is the position of citizens and their rights towards the government and administration and what constellations contribute to the strengthening of their position (and vice versa)? Are citizens’ rights in danger and what factors influence the constitutional and administrative guarantees of the rule of law? Is democratic innovation opening the participatory space? What role in the protection of citizens’ rights can be assigned to public administration, especially in relation to current challenges (privacy, security, discrimination, social issues)? Can we expect more innovation or are the administrative systems about to converge around the common core?
• To what extent are administrative systems and practices in Central and Eastern European countries (CEEs) following a global or European path? Do they exhibit a specific pattern of development in terms of governance and citizens’ rights and public administration (ideas, interests, institutions)? Is more convergence to be expected among CEEs in terms of policy and administrative responses?
This session welcomes papers which provide theoretical reflections on the above processes and issues, as well as empirically based papers. In addition, theoretically based expert analyses providing insight into administrative and policy practices are welcome. The papers are expected to address issues or topics at national or local as well as EU or international level. Comparative papers, as well as single country studies, are welcome.