ABSTRACT Concern over democratic resilience has grown in recent years, as observers identify threats including populist leadership, weak institutions, flawed elections, rising inequality, and polarization. Yet many democracies appear more resilient than anticipated. In the face of dual crises—a severe pandemic and austerity‐driven budget cuts—how might democratic regimes promote human development and high living standards? We answer this question by examining the extent to which subnational democracy provides insulation from national crises, drawing on Brazilian municipal responses to the COVID‐19 pandemic and sharp cuts to public health funding. We pose two competing hypotheses: Deterioration —that the pandemic and budget austerity are associated with inferior social outcomes (e.g., rising infant and maternal mortality); and Resilience —that robust local democratic institutions and municipal state capacity would be associated with superior social outcomes during the crises. Through a unique dataset covering Brazil’s 5570 municipalities from 2006—2022, we find evidence of subnational democratic governance generating resilient health outcomes in crisis periods as well as in normal times. Municipalities with three democratic pathways—institutionalized participatory governance, citizenship‐enhancing social programs, and rights‐based state capacity—sustain better performance in infant and maternal health outcomes. These results show that the long, slow construction of subnational democratic institutions can support lower mortality rates and more resilient social performance during periods of national crisis.
ABSTRACT Not all policy change is expansive, yet non‐expansive trajectories remain underexamined. This article introduces the concept of dead ends: a stage of the policy process in which initiatives cease to develop or be implemented in their existing form, structuring subsequent policy change such as rollback, redirection, or termination. To examine such trajectories, the article combines large‐scale analysis of 27,103 policy experiments announced in the People's Republic of China between 2013 and 2018 with qualitative case studies. The findings suggest that a substantial majority—up to 90%—of experiments reach dead ends. These dead ends are associated with leadership turnover, policy complexity, and misalignment with bureaucratic incentives and socio‐economic conditions. Altogether, the article provides new frameworks for understanding alternative directions of policy change. In doing so, it also sheds new light on the adaptive capacity and structural constraints of China's governance system.
This study analyzes government responsiveness to patchouli oil price fluctuations in Gayo Lues Regency and identifies factors shaping price dynamics. The issue is important because policy support emphasizes production and quality improvement, while price uncertainty affects farmers’ income sustainability. The study adopts a descriptive qualitative approach informed by Dwiyanto’s responsiveness framework. Data were collected through observation, in-depth interviews, and documentation, with informants selected using purposive and accidental sampling. Data were analyzed through data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion drawing. The findings reveal that government responsiveness remains suboptimal. Government interventions have included production assistance, capacity building, mentoring, production facilities, and efforts to improve patchouli oil quality; however, these measures have not been accompanied by price protection instruments that address farmers’ concerns. Price fluctuations are primarily shaped by global market dynamics, variations in oil quality, and farmers’ dependence on collectors, which constrains their bargaining power. The study implies a need to shift policy from production-oriented support toward economic protection through stronger farmer cooperatives, transparent price information, direct market access, improved processing facilities, and reference price mechanisms. The originality of this study lies in integrating government responsiveness with commodity price protection at the local level, extending agricultural governance research toward farmer welfare and sustainability while strengthening farmers’ institutional capacity to manage market uncertainty.
This study aims to analyze policy alternatives for circular economy based waste management in Pesisir Selatan Regency, addressing low waste segregation at source as a problem. The study is important because strengthening the circular economy requires behavioral change, institutional capacity, and policy support so that waste management extends beyond collection and disposal. A qualitative descriptive approach was employed through in depth interviews with key stakeholders and analysis of policy documents and waste management documents. Data were analyzed using the Bardach framework to compare four policy alternatives across technical, economic, political, and administrative dimensions. The findings show that strengthening environmental literacy from an early age is the feasible alternative, scoring 16 out of 20 and outperforming incentive based strategies, institutional capacity building, and multi stakeholder collaboration. The priority policy involves integrating circular economy concepts into formal and nonformal education, developing school based waste banks, training environmental cadres, and supporting implementation through enforceable regional regulations. The study implies the need for district policies that mainstream environmental literacy in schools, strengthen community empowerment programs, and provide incentive mechanisms to increase public participation. The originality of this study lies in applying the Bardach framework to prioritize policy interventions according to the underlying causes of source segregation problems in Pesisir Selatan Regency, generating recommendations for a sustainable circular waste system and fostering socio ecological transformation through sustained, structured, consistent, participatory behavioral change supported by institutions.
