This article investigates the career paths of top officials in the highly politicised context of Central and Eastern Europe, with a specific focus on Slovakia. It examines the professional trajectories of directors of agencies (n = 1322) across all regions of Slovakia from the establishment of each agency to 2024. The goal of the study is to uncover patterns, experiences, and career trajectories in a context that has not been systematically explored before. The findings indicate a relatively frequent prior political experience, frequent absence of managerial backgrounds, and generalist education among the directors. These findings support the existing literature and point to specific areas, such as the intersection of political and managerial roles, that merit deeper investigation in future research. The research further highlights a persistent issue of limited data availability.
The development of a country's innovation potential is now regarded as an essential condition for economic modernisation and sustainable growth. This paper examines Kazakhstan's state innovation policy over the period 2001-2025. The relevance of the topic lies in the fact that, despite long-standing programme efforts and substantial public funding, systemic issues persist in the country's innovation policy, such as weak coordination, fragmented implementation and limited business involvement in the innovation process.The aim of this study is to identify the key factors shaping the effectiveness of Kazakhstan's state innovation policy through the use of both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Innovation policy effectiveness is assessed based on measurable innovation outcomes and stakeholder perceptions of state support mechanisms.The regression analysis shows that only investment in R&D has a statistically significant impact on the growth of innovation output. In contrast, industrial innovation expenditures and the share of active enterprises show a weaker correlation.Survey data highlight key barriers such as bureaucracy, lack of transparency, and regional disparities in access. The results of the survey suggest that without a systemic transformation of governance institutions, a revision of the grant allocation system and stronger incentives of innovation demand, sustainable progress is unlikely to be achieved. The findings may be of relevance to countries with emerging innovation systems.
The main concepts of indicators to measure the targets under SDG11 are presented. A long-term vision for the EU's rural areas up to 2040 and the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development stand out, providing a solid basis for understanding the context of this research. The objective of this study is to investigate the quality of life in commuter zones to propose and to test indicators and measures to support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, peri-urban and rural areas under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11. The methodology adopted for this research comprises statistical analysis of selected indicators on quality of life in commuter zones in Slovakia. Data were collected from the Supreme Audit Office of the Slovak Republic. The results revealed the importance of selected factors on the quality of life in commuter zones. The theoretical implications of this research point out the importance of indicators measuring the quality of life. The results can be applied in regional governance, policy, and planning by using quantifiable indicators that would measure the economic, social, and environmental goals set in action plans and other documents related to sustainable development under SDG11. This study contributes to the literature by proposing which indicators could be used to measure the targets under SDG11.
This paper examines the impact of Armenia's large-scale local government reforms- particularly municipal amalgamation and decentralisation-on service delivery and local democracy. Drawing on a mixed-methods design that combines interviews, focus group discussions, and policy documents, the study finds that while some communities reported improved access to services and administrative capacity, overall satisfaction with service delivery declined, particularly in larger and titular municipalities. The success of the reforms was strongly conditioned by multilevel governance and political- administrative relations, including trust levels, resource allocation, and administrative discretion. The paper contributes to decentralisation literature by showing that institutional restructuring alone does not ensure service or democratic improvements; outcomes are contingent on relational and political dynamics.
At the onset of COVID-19, regulating mass gatherings that were potential superspreader events was a key challenge for public administration. Before the national COVID-19 restrictions, decisions about mass events were debated at the local level, with team sensemaking a crucial tool in the decision-making process. This study uses data-frame theory to examine team sensemaking activities during the incubation period before a decision to allow a superspreader event in early March 2020 in Saaremaa, Estonia. By mapping the team sensemaking network, analyzing 17 media articles and conducting five stakeholder interviews, this article explores the team sensemaking activities behind the erroneous decision to allow the mass event. The results suggest that during the incubation period, errors in team-level sensemaking may stem not only from dysfunctional dynamics but also from a limited scope of team sensemaking activities. Team sensemaking during the incubation period seems limited to mapping data and elaborating on existing frames, reinforcing prevailing interpretations rather than reassessing them. Individuals engage in a broader range of sensemaking activities, such as questioning the frame or re-framing, but these insights do not translate to the team level. This study uncovers the complex dynamics of the incubation period team sensemaking and its crucial role in the early phases of crisis.
Biosphere reserves are distinctive landscapes where the relationship between ecological integrity and cultural heritage provides a basis for sustainable living. By applying principles of endogenous and place-based regional development, this paper evaluates the potential of biosphere reserves as model territories for sustainable development and examines the role of nature and culture as key elements shaping community life. The study explores the main factors influencing quality of life within biosphere reserves, identifies the importance of local community involvement and participation in sustainable development processes, and considers the limitations of these efforts. This comprehensive analysis helps test the research assumption that biosphere reserves offer an effective framework for implementing sustainable development principles with the support of local communities.A mixed-methods approach was applied, integrating secondary data analysis with primary data collected through surveys and interviews with local residents and stakeholders. The findings indicate that nature and culture are viewed by the local population as the primary assets of the Po & lcaron;ana Biosphere Reserve, with a strong appreciation for preserved traditions, crafts, folklore, and the natural landscape. Factor analysis further confirmed that the potential for natural and cultural development, along with participation and partnerships, represent the most significant dimensions influencing the perceived quality of life in the area.The results confirm that biosphere reserves function as learning environments where environmental, socio-cultural, and economic dimensions are closely interconnected. Local residents perceive the biosphere reserve designation as an opportunity for development, particularly in the areas of sustainable tourism and agrotourism. At the same time, the findings highlight that environmental and cultural aspects of life within biosphere reserves are evaluated very positively by the local population.The study concludes that biosphere reserves managed through participatory governance and active community involvement can serve as model territories for integrating environmental protection, socio-cultural values, and locally rooted economic development. Such territories can effectively support the implementation of sustainable development goals, although certain limitations remain. Community participation, traditional knowledge, and a strong place-based identity play a crucial role in ensuring long-term sustainability and resilience.Overall, the research contributes to broadening the discussion on biosphere reserves by extending it beyond ecological perspectives to also include socio-economic and spatial planning dimensions.
The public interest has traditionally been the foundation of public administration, but its interpretation remains fragmented as governance evolves. This study argues that this fragmentation arises from a gap between the changing nature of public administration and the epistemological frameworks used to understand it. While social contract theory outlines core legitimating principles such as authority, rights, and collective will, its potential as an epistemological foundation remains underexplored. In contrast, positivism, pragmatism, and constructivism offer limited insights, resulting in a paradigmatic pluralism lacking cohesion. To bridge this gap, this article introduces the Philosophical-Reflective-Dialectical (P-RD) Model, which synthesizes principles from the social contract tradition, dialectical tensions in administrative reality, and reflective learning for ethical adaptability. Through a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) and abductive reasoning, this study reveals that contradictions in administrative practice, such as values versus procedures, centralization versus participation, and efficiency versus equity, drive epistemological growth. The findings suggest that legitimacy and public interest are dynamic outcomes of the interaction between normative ideals, institutional evolution, and reflective interpretation. The P-RD model provides a coherent epistemological foundation, linking philosophy, governance dynamics, and administrative practice, and framing public administration as a discipline capable of adaptive learning within complex democratic systems.
This study investigates the relationship between satisfaction with the quality of public transport in Almaty and passengers' willingness of passengers to participate in collective forms of representation, including the establishment of a Passenger Union. Using data from an online survey of 250 urban transport users, an analysis showed that a decrease in the overall satisfaction is positively associated with the intention to join the Passenger Union. These findings affirm the applicability of the Exit-Voice-Loyalty model in an urban context and expand its empirical foundation. Survey participants demonstrated interest in engaging with the future Union's activities, including financial support, contingent upon transparency, accessible information, and a well-defined governance structure. The study offers evidence-based recommendations for municipal transport authorities, highlighting the importance of institutionalized feedback mechanisms between passengers, operators, and policymakers. It is anticipated that future research employs longitudinal designs and qualitative interviews to gain deeper insights into the factors influencing passenger participation.
World experience demonstrates that public participation in the budget process and transparency in the public sector are required prerequisites for the State's proper economic strategy. Financial openness, in its broadest sense, is now a crucial component of sound fiscal and monetary policy. In a narrower sense, it is more often associated with the transparency of the budget process, particularly at the local level. Financial transparency helps to ensure the efficient collection and allocation of public resources. It increases government accountability, builds citizen trust, and eliminates potential for corruption. Research on fiscal transparency in Belarus shows a noticeable gap compared to other post-Soviet countries, linked to the significant centralisation of Belarusian governance. The study is based on the main theoretical principles of principal-agent theory, as well as on the theory and practice of fiscal transparency. The purpose of this study is to assess the online openness and transparency of local budgets in Belarus at the basic administrative-territorial unit (ATU) level. The developed methodology involves the use of two criteria: (1) the level of transparency of local budgets and (2) an assessment of the authority's efforts in ensuring transparency of local budgets. Based on expert judgments of the significance and actual availability of this information, we conducted an integrated assessment of the information content of local government websites in 2020. As a result, we calculated the Online Local Budget Index of Transparency. In addition, we evaluate which factors (financial, geographical, and demographic) affect transparency levels. We found that the degree of transparency is not sufficiently correlated with local budget size, revenue, area, or population.
This study analyzes process failures in implementing the Family Hope Program (PKH) by applying McConnell's policy framework in the context of Indonesian decentralization. The study focuses on four main indicators: goal and tool maintenance, legitimacy, coalition, and support for the process. Two districts were compared: North Aceh and Bantul, using a qualitative approach with NVivo thematic coding to identify patterns of failure that developed from tolerable to conflict to total failure. Findings indicate that varying levels of local governance capacity significantly influence the stability of the implementation process. North Aceh experienced significant process failure due to limited coordination, inaccurate poverty indicators, and weak institutional infrastructure.In contrast, Bantul was more adaptive through data integration, formal cross-sector coordination, and more consistent social support. However, both regions remain vulnerable to legitimacy conflicts, coalition fragmentation, and inconsistencies in vertical coordination. By emphasizing the significance of local coordination capacity, the integrity of implementing actors, and data governance as critical elements for robust policy processes in decentralized systems, this study theoretically broadens McConnell's paradigm. Practically speaking, the study's findings highlight the need for better interagency coordination systems, stronger institutional integration between national and local administrations, and unified data governance. In conclusion, this study provides insightful, factual and analytical information to enhance the implementation of social protection programs in developing countries.
The existence of active and participating citizens is an essential part of a democratic society. In recent years, the concept of political participation has expanded, and new ways of involving individuals and groups in community or local decision-making processes have emerged. Participatory budgeting is one of the ways citizens participate in public decision-making. This research provides a comparative analysis on development of selected factors influencing the sustainability of participatory budgeting in regional cities (urban regional centres) in Czechia and Slovakia. The analysis is complemented by case studies in two cities that run the participatory budgeting the longest (Brno in Czechia, Bansk & aacute; Bystrica in Slovakia). The findings indicate relatively low interest in participatory budgeting in both countries and conflicting goals for ensuring sustainability, e.g. development in the amount allocated for PB. The paper summarises the latest developments of PB in the analysed urban regional centres. It adds to the knowledge of this tool in the context of the Central and Eastern Europe region and helps policymakers focus on important factors influencing the sustainability of participatory budgeting.
This paper examines how international indices can confer liberal democratic legitimacy on a hybrid, competitive authoritarian regime. By examining the case of Georgia and employing discourse analysis in the style of the Essex School, it demonstrates that reputed international organizations have depoliticized key concepts in their rankings to varying degrees across the spheres of budget transparency, economic freedom, corruption, and the rule of law. "Depoliticization" and "repoliticization" are understood in relation to "politics," conceived as the power-laden nature of human relationships operating at the macro level of an entire regime. The paper outlines three modes of depoliticization - technicalization, economicization, and criminalization - and illustrates how these contribute to the construction of authoritative international indices. It then shows how, in certain instances, the Georgian government repoliticized the previously depoliticized concepts and used Georgia's ranking achievements to assert its liberal democratic credentials. The paper argues that the legitimizing discourse surrounding international indices can take on a peculiar character, in which depoliticization leads to a powerful form of repoliticization, contradicting the original aim of international rankings to promote liberal democratic values and institutions. It concludes by discussing the implications of these findings for understanding the complex relationship between non-democratic regimes and the international liberal community, and suggests directions for future research.
Government communication is central for raising awareness about policy decisions and influencing citizen behaviour. Social media allows public authorities to involve the population in policy actions via interactive exchanges. This article investigates the link between vaccination-related posts published by government bodies in five Central and Eastern European states on Facebook and citizen engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic. It uses innovative topic modelling and clustering techniques and tests the association between content and engagement. Our study reveals significant differences in social-media engagement across various vaccination communication strategies on Facebook. We found that rational types of content-relying on facts and data-led to the highest levels of citizen engagement.
To contract out public services or deliver them internally? Transaction costs, as part of the total costs for a public service, should represent an important factor when choosing how a public service should be delivered. Despite this, previous domestic and foreign literature shows that oftentimes, the service provider is unable or unwilling to calculate these costs, even if it might result in finding the most effective service delivery option. The goal of this paper is to analyse the situation in Slovak municipalities regarding transaction costs associated with public procurement and producer monitoring for the service of municipal waste management. The primary data from 254 Slovak municipalities, obtained through an online questionnaire, reveal a certain level of ignorance regarding transaction costs, as most municipalities were unable to provide the necessary data required to calculate the transaction costs associated with the selected service.
This study analyzes the social status of civil servants by examining survey data from 10,942 civil servants and conducting 22 expert interviews. The research aims to define the social status of civil servants and analyze the factors influencing this status in Kazakhstan. The findings reveal that, according to international practices, several key factors impact the social status of civil servants. These include economic conditions, public perception and the professional competencies of civil servants. Socioeconomic conditions of civil servants significantly influence how civil servants are perceived and valued in society. Additionally, the behavior of civil servants in public settings and their professional skills play a critical role in shaping their social status. Effective management of these factors can enhance the perception of civil servants and contribute to their social status. This comprehensive analysis provides valuable insights for improving the status and public perception of civil servants in Kazakhstan and beyond.
The application and utilization of Artificial Intelligence (AI) have increased recently in all organizations, including those in the public sector. From an organizational perspective, AI utilization should generate both economic and social gains. In this context, it is necessary to address the automation-augmentation paradox. Namely, this paradox stems from the question of whether AI replaces humans in performing tasks (i.e., automation) or whether the application of AI necessitates an increase in AI-human interactions (i.e., augmentation). The starting point of the research is the POSDCORB framework, which delineates the core functions of a manager and offers a classical perspective on their administrative responsibilities. AI shall increasingly transform the POSDCORB framework by streamlining management functions and enhancing decision-making accuracy. The main research question is what can be automated using AI for management functions, and what requires augmentation between AI and humans for these functions? To assess AI's impact on POSDCORB managerial functions in public sector organizations, the study uses both qualitative and quantitative data sources, enhancing validity through data triangulation. The research findings indicate that AI's impact varies across management functions, with public managers particularly preferring augmentation for strategic planning tasks, coordination, reporting, and potential dynamic financial adjustments. Finally, public managers' report ongoing tension due to a tendency to switch between automation and augmentation as tasks evolve.
Tax enforcement, applied in cases of unpaid tax liabilities, plays a crucial role in securing public revenue, as tax revenues are essential for financing common needs. The effectiveness of enforcement is strongly influenced by the legal framework governing enforcement procedures, which seeks to balance the public interest with the protection of taxpayers' rights. This article presents a comparative legal analysis of tax enforcement in Slovenia and the Czech Republic, examining how these frameworks affect the effectiveness of tax enforcement. By analysing annual reports from both countries' tax administrations, the article assesses how differences in legal regulation correspond to performance in tax collection. Additionally, it employs analytical methods and synthesis to integrate findings from various sources and identify key patterns. The findings suggest that Slovenia's tax enforcement system offers more detailed procedural safeguards and has demonstrated comparatively higher tax collection efficiency than that of the Czech Republic. These differences are primarily attributed to the legal structure of enforcement regimes, though organisational factors also play a role. The results offer insights into potential improvements to enhance tax enforcement results, including recommendations for regulatory reforms and better implementation practices.
The paper analyses the links between the global crisis of civilisation and the development of the European Union and European nation-states. It specifies the substantive content of the polycrisis and the inadequate capacity of politics at the global, European, and national levels to respond to it in a timely and effective manner. Considering how past civilisational formations have emerged, evolved, and collapsed raises questions and potential answers about how this crisis can be addressed by public policy and administration at both the European and national levels.
Type 2 diabetes (DM2), a major lifestyle disease, extends beyond medical issues, with social sciences offering solutions such as changing eating habits through nudging interventions. This study examines the acceptability of 33 food-nudging interventions among Czech diabetics (N = 456) via an electronic questionnaire, assessing responses on a scale from 1 (acceptable) to 4 (unacceptable). With 87.8% of nudges scoring within the acceptable range, the highest support was for shopping trolleys promoting fruits and vegetables (1.27), while reduced portions in public canteens had the lowest (3.31). Findings suggest that non-digital nudges are widely accepted and can inform effective DM2 preventive strategies and health policy recommendations.
