Cross-border and non-traditional peace and security issues affect state stability, human security and social cohesion in Southeast Asia. However, experiences of insecurity and state security responses are shaped by gender and ethnic inequalities. The Women, Peace and Security agenda has highlighted how gender and ethnicity norms often constrain the protection and participation of women and minority groups in governance structures. In this paper, we ask whether and how these norms impact people’s capacity to prevent and/or respond to insecurities in the Southeast Asian region? We studied this question in Cambodia and Laos where communities confront insecurity and conflict arising from land dispossession, climate change, drug use, forced migration and gender-based violence. Utilizing a mixed-method research design, we surveyed 2091 respondents and conducted more than 84 key informant interviews across four provinces in the two countries. Our analysis reveals how unequal gender and ethnicity norms are reinforced within communities and institutions, undermining effective conflict prevention and security responses. This gender-sensitive evidence on perceptions of insecurity and the gender confidence gap in security responses should inform efforts to strengthen peace and security efforts.
Work from anywhere (WFA) creates a practical tension for public bureaucracy: spatial flexibility is viable only when accountability, supervision, coordination, and service continuity remain controllable. This study examines a short-duration WFA implementation in Makassar City government, Indonesia, focusing on digital traceability, supervisory validation, task differentiation, and service-continuity safeguards. Using a qualitative exploratory single-case design, it draws on interviews with 36 participants, direct and digital observation, and policy and administrative documents, analyzed through hybrid inductive-deductive thematic analysis supported by NVivo 12. The findings show that WFA did not replace bureaucratic control. Physical attendance was supplemented by digital evidence of task completion, while working-hour rules, deadlines, reporting obligations, and supervisory review remained in force. Flexibility also varied by function: back-office and coordination tasks were more compatible with remote work, whereas frontline and field-based services retained stronger requirements for on-site availability. The study conceptualizes this pattern as bounded flexibility within a hybrid governance arrangement: spatial discretion becomes administratively defensible when digital traces are substantively validated, task characteristics shape the permissible degree of flexibility, and continuity safeguards protect services that cannot be detached from physical presence.
IntroductionThis study examines the implications of Nigeria's 2025 Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue-sharing reform under the Tinubu administration for fiscal federalism, economic equity, and subnational development. The revised formula increases the weight of the derivation principle, directing a greater share of VAT proceeds to states with stronger consumption bases and revenue-generating capacity.MethodsThe study employed a qualitative research design. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 20 stakeholders from federal institutions, state governments, academia, the private sector, and civil society across Nigeria's six geopolitical zones. Relevant policy documents were also analyzed.Results and discussionThree main patterns emerged. First, approximately four-fifths of respondents viewed the new formula as favouring economically advanced states particularly Lagos, Rivers, and the Federal Capital Territory while limiting the fiscal space of less-developed states. Second, respondents associated the reform with improved tax compliance and revenue effort in high-consumption states, but questioned whether states with weaker structural capacity could respond to these incentives. Third, participants warned that the reform could deepen existing regional development disparities without robust equalisation transfers and targeted capacity-building. Overall, the findings suggest that the reform may improve efficiency and accountability in revenue generation, but also poses risks to fiscal equity and national cohesion unless supported by effective redistributive safeguards. The study contributes evidence-based perspectives to the literature on fiscal decentralization and Nigeria's evolving VAT system, particularly on the challenge of balancing efficiency, equity, and subnational development within a federal framework.
Public–private and multi-actor collaboration has become increasingly relevant to Smart City development, particularly where municipalities seek to combine public capabilities with external knowledge, technological expertise, and resources. This study examines the collaborative configuration of a Smart City initiative through an exploratory qualitative case study of B-Smart Famalicão, Portugal. The study draws on documentary analysis and a semi-structured interview with a key informant from the Municipality of Vila Nova de Famalicão. The findings identify a collaborative ecosystem involving the municipality and a range of private, associative, technological, and institutional actors, although the perspectives of these actors are not directly captured through interviews. The evidence suggests that collaboration in B-Smart combines contractual, relational, and network-based forms of coordination rather than corresponding exclusively to a conventional contractual public–private partnership. The case also indicates, based on the municipal account and supporting documentation, a prominent coordinating role for the municipality in connecting actors, facilitating experimentation, and aligning external contributions with public objectives. The findings further highlight the relevance of local embeddedness, stakeholder complementarity, knowledge sharing, and public control over strategically relevant resources and data. Rather than establishing a general model of hybrid governance, the study illustrates how different modes of collaboration may coexist within a Smart City initiative and identifies associated challenges concerning accountability, data governance, coordination, and the balance between collaborative flexibility and public responsibility. The study contributes to the literature by providing an empirically grounded illustration of multi-actor collaboration in Smart City development and by identifying governance mechanisms that warrant further investigation through comparative and multi-stakeholder research.
