P03 Innovative ‘Good Governance’ Models: Comparative Perspectives on Addressing Grand Challenges

Panel & Corresponding Chair

Dr Zlatko Bodrožić, University of Leeds, UK

Email: Z.Bodrozic@leeds.ac.uk

Review group chair

Prof Giuseppe Grossi, Kristianstad University, Sweden; Nord University, Norway

Co-chair

Alfred Tat-Kei Ho, City University of Hong Kong, China

Description

We find ourselves in a period of environmental, financial and social crises, intertwined with yet other grand challenges (societal problems of significant scale and impact) such as sustainability and climate change, weakening democracy and political instability, armed conflicts, inequality, poverty, precarious work, migration, modern slavery, organized crime, food and water insecurity, and global diseases – to name some of the most pressing ones (George et al., 2016). Throughout history, periods of crises have often served as catalysts for radical paradigm shifts in what counts as “good governance” (Agere, 2000). Notwithstanding some pioneering work on the ‘entrepreneurial state’ and the ‘mission economy’ (Mazzucato, 2015, 2021), contemporary public management scholars and practitioners seem to struggle in responding to these grand challenges effectively and adequately (Neumann, 1996; Howard-Grenville et al. 2014). The current crisis is provoking new debates about good governance—about the respective roles of the public sector, private sector, and civil society, and about the potential of novel forms of hybrid governance (Vakkuri and Johanson, 2021). These debates, however, often stall because they occur within the confines of the dominant paradigms of public administration and sister disciplines. This panel aims at broadening our perspectives by inviting public managers and scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds and various countries to present fresh ideas and insights on emerging public governance models.

Abstracts

We invite the submission of 500-word abstracts centered around the theme of innovative models of good governance. We encourage contributions that leverage a diverse array of disciplinary, national, and theoretical perspectives to reimagine the concept of good governance. Possible topics and questions include, but are not limited to:

• Challenges and new possibilities to re-conceptualize and re-define “good governance” in the current multi-cultural, politically fragmented, and ecologically fragile era;
• Grand challenges in contemporary society and how these connect to accounting, calculation, and accountability practices;
• Good governance insights synthesized from best practices within a specific country from the Global North, South, East or West;
• Good governance insights emerging from the dynamic interplay among the public sector, private sector and civil society;
• Good governance insights based on the best practices of a specific international organization (e.g., OECD, UN, WB, WHO);
• Good governance insights drawn from applying specific theoretical lenses from public management, management and organization studies, public policy, and other relevant fields;

Format for Abstracts

Authors should follow the standard instructions provided by the IRSPM Conference guidelines for submitting their abstracts.

Format of panel

• Authors will present their accepted contributions in ‘critical sessions’ that will complement the ongoing discussions in other panels.
• References
• Agere, Sam (2000). Promoting Good Governance. Commonwealth Secretariat.
• George, G., Howard-Grenville, J., Joshi, A., & Tihanyi, L. (2016). Understanding and Tackling Societal Grand Challenges through Management Research. Academy of Management Journal, 59(6), 1880-1895.
• Howard-Grenville, J., Buckle, S. J., Hoskins, B. J., & George, G. 2014. Climate change and management. Academy of Management Journal, 57(3), 615-623.
• Mazzucato, M. (2015). The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths. New York NY: Anthem Press.
• Mazzucato, M. (2021). Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism. New York NY: Harper Business.
• Neumann, F. (1996). What makes public administration a science? Or, are its “Big Questions” really big? Public Administration Review 56(5), 409-415.
• Vakkuri, J. and Johanson, J.-E. (Eds), Hybrid Governance, Organisations and Society. Value Creation Perspectives, Routledge, Abingdon, New York