Public Governance and Management

The Department of Public Governance and Management (PGM) is in charge of the study program

MBA in Public Governance and Management [1]

The Department of Public Governance and Management has the following research foci:

Governance for Innovation and Sustainable Development

Innovation and sustainable development are both highly visible target areas on the political agenda, and demand the appropriate governance structures for their promotion. Making progress on both sustainable development and technological innovation requires steering individual behavioral and societal change at the intersections of the social, economic, and ecological realms, and often involve managing and solving conflicts at multiple levels of government. The central challenge of governance, hence, is developing the institutional capacity to design, promote, gain agreement for, implement, and monitor effective strategies. What kinds of governance structures are most effective? Are new forms of cooperation and coordination needed? What are the benefits of the formation of networks and partnerships? What challenges and bottlenecks arise from these new organizational forms of governance?

The Role of Higher Education Institutions in Development

In the globalized, knowledge-based economy of the 21st century, organizations that produce and disseminate knowledge have a critical role to play in assisting cities, regions, and nations reach and sustain economic competitiveness. Responding to this recognition, the mission of many universities and other HEIs has expanded beyond teaching and basic research to include economic, business, and technology development. We address such questions as: how effective are HEIs in this new role? How are the norms, organization, and internal governance of HEIs changing, and what new conflicts and opportunities are arising from the expansion of their missions? What are the impacts of the enhanced mission of universities on civil society? How should HEIs participate as actors in local, regional and national governance?

Democracy in Transition
The experience of ‘democratization’ has taken many forms and led to diverse impacts in different societies and nations. How democratic development can be fostered in different conditions and societal contexts, and how social and economic development alters the perception of democracy form a core research focus and raise a number of interesting questions. For example, to what extent does the deepening of democracy by the inclusion of civil society actors in governance processes outweigh the weakening of democracy through the adoption of a more technocratic approach to policy-making? Does civic engagement and political participation increase or decrease with new forms of governance? And what are the prospects for putting in place democratic forms of governance in traditionally non-democratic and non-Christian states?

Tourism and Regional Development Policy

Tourism, for many cities and regions, is a propulsive source of economic vitality, and its economic health can profoundly influence the course of regional development and sustainability. In the last few decades there has been a paradigm shift in how we view the relationships among tourism, development, and sustainability. There is now greater emphasis on reducing social disparities, on maintaining acceptable levels of quality of life of residents, and maintaining environmental quality, biodiversity, and the conservation of non-renewal resources. Indeed there is a fragile interdependence between tourism, environmental quality, and regional economic well-being. Levels of tourism that negatively impact the environment and the quality of public services and infrastructure will, over time, erode the appeal of the city or region as a tourist destination as well as the quality of life for its residents, and can lead to loss of economic vitality. We address such questions as: how can stakeholder participation help to foster a sustainable level of tourism? How can tourism and regional development strategies be coordinated to achieve sustainable development? What are the best ways to monitor and benchmark progress on sustainability? What are the implications of exogenous factors such as climate change on regions whose economies depend upon tourism, and what types of regional policies are needed to manage such uncertainty and instability?

Program and Public Policy Evaluation

The expansion and deepening of new forms of governance, particularly for economic development and environmental sustainability, comes with increased demands for accountability for the use of public resources. How effective are public and public-private initiatives in achieving their intended outcomes? What types of organizational structures are most suitable under contingent conditions? How effective is the implementation process and how responsive are organizations to diverse needs? How can the data, measures, conceptual frameworks, and techniques for program and policy evaluation be improved?