Decoding Rahul Gandhi's public deliberation with experts

This is summary of comments on Rahul Gandhi's much publicised discussions with experts on prescriptions to deal with COVID-19 pandemic and its impact. The article questions the purpose of theses deliberations and comments on the political impact of this public spectacle on brand Rahul Gandhi. There is no doubt that perception and symbolism sometimes matter more than reality in politics but then it should be consciously cultivated to portray the right image. The political space is dominated by super human leaders like Prime Minister Modi who claim mastery on everything. Rahul Gandhi needs to understand his key capabilities ensure that the right message effectively reaches his target audience through the offline and online media.

Parties, Patronage and COVID-19 Vaccination Distribution in Indonesia

During the COVID-19 pandemic, as Indonesia mobilized to deliver vaccines to the population, an unexpected phenomenon occurred: political parties became directly involved in the vaccine delivery effort. In this article, we draw on online reports and interviews to demonstrate that these campaigns acted as an extension of the patronage politics that dominate the country's political arena. The involvement of political parties had little effect on the national vaccination effort, as parties delivered a relatively small number of vaccines and often targeted areas that already had high coverage. Instead, parties and politicians used these events to strengthen links with constituents and supporters. We identify three main pathways that allowed political parties to access the vaccines: lobbying by members of the national legislature's health commission;through local governments;and by direct executive government access to the national Ministry of Health. This "hijacking" of a national policy for clientelistic purposes provides insight into the presence of intra-party coordination of patronage goods but also demonstrates the personalization and fragmentation of patronage distribution highlighted in the existing literature. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for the quality of public healthcare and other services in Indonesia.

October 2022 to January 2023

In the June to September report, I noted that Boris Johnson had announced his resignation as leader of the Conservative Party on 7 July and had been replaced as Prime Minister by Liz Truss on 6 September. Little did anyone imagine that she, in turn, would be replaced by Rishi Sunak on 25 October after only 50 days in office and a disastrous mini budget presented by her Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, which Sunak's replacement as Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, then repudiated almost in its entirety.

When the Going Gets Tough, Leaders Use Metaphors and Storytelling: A Qualitative and Quantitative Study on Communication in the Context of COVID-19 and Ukraine Crises

Metaphors and storytelling are important communication tools that play a significant role in leadership and organizational life. Leaders have used metaphors and storytelling to enhance their written and verbal communication from ancient times, since Aristotle, to the modern age. In the present research, we focus on the use of storytelling and metaphors by leaders in times of crisis. We perform a qualitative analysis of the public statements and addresses of the leaders of two different countries in the context of recent worldwide crises: The prime minister of Greece during the COVID-19 health crisis and the president of Ukraine during the outbreak of the conflict with Russia in 2022. Based on existing evidence, their effectiveness in convincing their subordinates and conveying their intended meaning either nationally or internationally during the aforementioned crises has been widely recognized. Our analysis reveals that both leaders have consistently utilized metaphors and storytelling in their efforts to be more convincing and empowering. We also find that the higher the intensity of the crisis, the more pronounced the use of metaphors and stories. We accordingly provide an analysis of the types and frequency of use of the aforementioned communication tools. Reflecting on our findings, we provide specific insight for practice by leaders, discuss theoretical implications, and suggest directions for future research.

U.S. SINGAPORE RELATIONS *

Though geographically only about three times the size of Washington, DC, and with a population of about 5.9 million, the city-state of Singapore exerts economic and diplomatic influence on par with much larger countries. Its stable government, strong economic performance, educated citizenry, and strategic position along key shipping lanes afford it a large role in regional and global affairs. For the United States, Singapore has been a partner in both trade and security initiatives and an advocate of a strong U.S. role in the Asia-Pacific region. At the same time, Singapore's leaders have aimed to maintain close relations with China, and to maintain positive ties with all regional powers.

One Earth, One Humanity Versus the Virus: Examining the Global COVID-19 Social Partnership Communication Networks on Social Media

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed severe challenges that require collaborative efforts from multi-sector organizations. Guided by an institutional theory framework that considers how both organizational fields and national level contexts affect organizations' social partnership communication, the current study examines the COVID-19-related social partnership communication network on social media. The cross-national study using semantic network analysis and exponential random graph models (ERGMs) first maps the meaning of COVID-19 social partnership network, and then investigates the role of organizational fields and a country's political system, economic system, educational system, and cultural system on the formation of interorganizational communication ties surrounding the relief efforts of COVID-19. Results reveal the importance of the political system—such as the presence of populist government, economic disparity, and uncertainty avoidance cultural orientation in shaping the social media-based social partnership communication network. In addition, NGOs from multiple issue areas are actively engaged in the network, whereas corporations from manufacturing and financial industries are active players.

The Etymology of Despair in the Americas

Halfway into White Noise, Don DeLillo's novel from 1985, Jack Gladney packs his family in the car and leaves town running from a black chemical cloud. The "airborne toxic event” had triggered an emergency evacuation plan: floodlights from helicopters, sirens, unmarked cars from obscure agencies, clogged roads, makeshift shelters at a Boy Scout camp where the Red Cross would dispense juice and coffee. People are confused, they seek information wherever they can, "[s]mall crowds collected around certain men.” Among generalized bewilderment, Gladney observes a few individuals moving faster and more assertively than the rest, then getting into a Land Rover. In the chaotic scene of crisis, their confidence gets his attention. "Their bumper stickers read GUN CONTROL IS MIND CONTROL” Gladney reads. And his mind wanders: "In situations like this, you want to stick close to people in right-wing fringe groups. They've practiced staying alive.”

A Prime Minister's Register of Governance Sins: Using Cybernetic Leadership Levers to Study and MaximizeCommand Effectiveness and Helm Longevity

According to conventional wisdom, one of the main reasons for the spectacular failure of former British Prime Minister Liz Truss during her extremely short stint in the top job was her allegedly radical and obstinate "Brexit ideology." However, this off-the-cuff explanation misses the point since it lacks a solid theoretical base and reliable evidence. Instead, using state-of-the-art scientific concepts-especially the new "cybernetic leadership levers" framework-and sound empirical methods, it is possible to pinpoint the real objective causes for stunning derailment at the top, as witnessed in the case of Liz Truss, the shortest-serving prime minister in the history of the United Kingdom. Viewed in comparative perspective, the striking difference between her failed approach towards governing and the successful, transformational and sustainable leadership methods used by the Russian Federation's president, Vladimir Putin, coupled with his concomitant significantly longer political life, serves as a vivid illustration of the four key factors contributing to effective "helm longevity."

Risk governance during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A quantitative content analysis of governors' narratives on twitter

The current study addresses the communication aspect of risk governance during the COVID‐19 pandemic by examining whether governors' tweets differ by political party, gender and crisis phase. Drawing on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Crisis Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) model and framing literature, we examined the salience of five CERC's communication objectives, namely acknowledge crisis with empathy, promote protective actions, describe preparedness/response efforts, address rumours and misunderstanding and segment audience. Using a deductive and inductive approach, we analysed 7000 Twitter messages sent by the 50 US state governors during the period of 13 March 2020 to 17 August 2020. Our findings suggest that governors' tweets aligned with CERC's communication objectives to a varying degree. We found main and interaction effects of political party, gender and crisis phase on governors' communication objectives. New emergent communication objectives included attention to mental health, call for social influencers and promoting hope. Implications are discussed.

E-management: Tools and Techniques of Leaders in Non-Profit Organizations for Online Volunteer Work

This paper analyzed the tools and techniques used by the leaders of five NGOs, used for online volunteer work. Due to the prominent role that NGOs play in the development sector we consider that it was necessary to talk about this issue that face volunteers ' leaders. The descriptive research used a cross-sectional design, and the data was collected using qualitative research method. There were conducted 5 online interviews with 5 top managers in different NGOs that located in Lebanon, Spain, Qatar, Turkey. The results approved the research hypothesis of the efficacy of democratic leadership style with volunteers ' teams online. Furthermore, social media impact, communication, engagement, and skills development with volunteers and lead to plenty of achievement in terms of work through efficient virtual management.

US-China Higher Education Links in Crisis: Behind the Curtain of Suspicion

Has America's complex academic relationship with China been a largely positive experience, or has it eroded our national security by enabling Chinese Communist academic espionage and influence operations to take root at US colleges and universities? For almost forty years beginning in 1978, US-China education links were widely considered a clear benefit to both countries. Today, academic relationships have become a focal point of the current crisis in US-China relations. A web of suspicion has come down over Chinese students and scholars in the United States, as well as Chinese scientists and entrepreneurs. Some members of the Trump administration have even talked about cancelling all Chinese student visas. This article focuses on Chinese students and scholars in the United States. It examines the flashpoints of academic espionage and China's influence operations on American campuses, looks at how American institutions are responding, and closes with recommendations and reflections.

Introduction to the Special Issue

The US presidential election in November will therefore be a critical juncture, either deepening disputes and hardening attitudes if Donald Trump is reelected, or possibly opening a new chapter in relations if Joe Biden wins. On the three global issues—trade, climate change, and the pandemic —that dominate US-China debate, Gregory Chin shows that while the Trump administration has brought "major global institutions to the point of legal or political crisis," China has seized opportunities to stand as the guardian of globalization in multilateral institutions, notably the World Trade Organization and the World Health Organization. [...]Chin ends on a cautiously optimistic note, namely, that a Biden White House might be open to cooperation with China on climate change and global health, while also rejoining multilateral institutions such as WHO and the Paris climate accords. [...]he cautions that the future will be non-zero-sum and messy.

The role of public relations in shaping service ecosystems for social change

Purpose>Wicked problems require holistic and systemic thinking that accommodates interdisciplinary solutions and cross-sectoral collaborations between private and public sectors. This paper explores how public relations (PR) – as a boundary-spanning function at the nexus of corporate and political discourse – can support societies to tackle wicked problems.Design/methodology/approach>This conceptual paper synthesizes literature on PR with a service ecosystem perspective. The authors use the service ecosystem design framework to structure the PR literature and develop a model of service ecosystem shaping for social change, which highlights the important role that PR can play in shaping processes.Findings>The authors explicate how PR can (1) facilitate value cocreation processes between broad sets of stakeholders that drive positive social change, (2) shape institutional arrangements in general and public discourse in particular, (3) provide a platform for recursive feedback loops of reflexivity and (re)formation that enables discourse to ripple through nested service ecosystems and (4) guide collective shaping efforts by bringing stakeholder concerns and beliefs into the open, which provides a foundation for collective sense-making of wicked problems and their solutions.Originality/value>This paper explains the complexity of shaping service ecosystems for positive social change. Specifically, it highlights how solving wicked problems and driving social change requires reconfiguration of the institutional arrangements that guide various nested service ecosystems. The authors discuss in detail how PR can contribute to the shaping of service ecosystems for social change and present a future research agenda for both service and PR scholars to consider.

Deconsolidation of Liberal Democracy in the Baltic States. The Issue of Compliance with the EU Standards at Institutional and Value Levels

This article analyses compliance of the post-Soviet Baltic States with the EU liberal-democratic standards, at both institutional and value levels. The authors prove that fulfilment of the Copenhagen criteria for EU accession did not determine an enhancement of the quality of democracy in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. This study highlights that, in recent years, the Baltic States have entered a phase of stagnation of liberal-democratic transformations and that they need a more active position of the state on institutional reforms and resocialization of citizens to strengthen adherence to the political and legal values that the EU is based on. The article emphasises how the global financial crisis of 2008, the European migration crisis (2015) and the current coronavirus pandemic have all had an impact on the quality of democracy in the Baltic States. The authors focus on the incomplete process of value reforming among the Baltic population against the EU liberal-democratic standards. The article highlights that the post-totalitarian rotation of values in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania is slow and faces rejection of European liberal-democratic values to a greater or lesser extent. It underlines the preservation of the totalitarian (Soviet) vestiges of political culture, which contradict the EU paradigm of values and prevent the Baltic States from improving the quality of democracy. It is noted that, in terms of the radicalization level in defending national interests, the Baltic countries take the intermediate position between the Nordic and the V4 countries, particularly Hungary and Poland that develop illiberal democracy patterns.

Becoming the Public Health Leaders We Need to Be

[...]from her vantage points as a medical student, a resident, an emergency room doctor, a public health professional, and a political commentator, Wen provides a capsule history of several major public health events of the last few decades, including the continuing burden of HIV, the opioid epidemic, food insecurity, the Affordable Care Act, the rising toll of gun violence, the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate emergency, and more. [...]Wen describes her interactions with a glittering cast of mentors and role models as well as her efforts to pay this support forward by advising, assisting, and advancing the careers of her colleagues and students and the life success of her patients. Wen devotes limited space to a very public phase of her career, her brief stint as president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA).7 Hoping to provide a new direction for PPFA, she reports she had taken the job with the goal of repositioning the organization from being a leading advocate for abortion and reproductive rights into becoming a women's health organization that speaks for the health care needs of all women.

Addressing the Next State Fiscal Crisis: Toward an Ex Ante Scheme of Federal Assistance to States in Fiscal Distress

The Brookings Institute projects that state and local revenues will decline $155 billion in 2020 (5.5%), $167 billion in 2021 (5.7%), and $145 billion in 2022 (4.7%).4 Dwindling revenues are insufficient to cover mounting costs, and budget shortfalls are mounting.5 The looming state economic crisis has spurred a debate about the proper federal response.6 One position, often represented by governors or Congressional Democrats, advocates for massive federal aid to distressed states.7 In talks regarding the second COVID-19 stimulus, for example, Democrats pushed for more than $900 billion in federal aid to states, reasoning that states are unable to cope independently with their financial troubles.8 Without federal funds, argue the proponents of federal assistance, states may collapse, bringing the nation's economy with them.9 The other position, often represented by congressional Republicans, objects to using federal funds for state bailouts.10 According to this view, states should handle their own finances, and federal funds should not be handed out to poorly-managed ("blue") states.11 In lieu of federal aid, a state bankruptcy solution is offered.12 Bankruptcy law, it is argued, can reduce the states' debt overhang and spread their losses among their creditors, obviating the need for federal funds.13 But both of the suggested federal responses, bankruptcy law and ex post federal aid, seem problematic. [...]states don't have the resources to finance their rising costs, and a state economic crisis develops. [...]opposite to the directives of standard economic theory, in times of recession states cut spending and investments, and these measures damage not only the distressed states, but also the national economy. [...]as emphasized by opponents of federal bailouts, federal aid creates moral hazard problems. if states know that the federal government will provide financial assistance when they fall on hard times, they have little motivation to save or follow prudent financial policies.17 Second, and no less importantly, the Article shows that because federal aid is provided through a political process, it is dispensed according to politicians' personal interests and not necessarily pursuant to the beneficiaries' financial needs.

The Association Between COVID-19 Mortality And The County-Level Partisan Divide In The United States

Partisan differences in attitudes toward the COVID-19 pandemic and toward the appropriateness of local policies requiring masks, social distancing, and vaccines are apparent in the United states. Previous research suggests that areas with a higher Republican vote share may experience more COVID-19 mortality, potentially as a consequence of these differences. In this observational study that captured data from a majority of Us counties, we compared the number of COVID-19 deaths through October 31, 2021, among counties with differing levels of Republican vote share, using 2020 presidential election returns to characterize county political affiliation. Our analyses controlled for demographic characteristics and social determinants likely to influence COVID-19 transmission and outcomes using state fixed effects. We found a positive dose-response relationship between county-level Republican vote share and county-level COVID-19 mortality. Majority Republican counties experienced 72.9 additional deaths per 100,000 people relative to majority Democratic counties during the study period, and COVID-19 vaccine uptake explains approximately 10 percent of the difference. Our findings suggest that county-level voting behavior may act as a proxy for compliance with and support of public health measures that would protect residents from COVID-19.

At the Crossroads of Possibilities. What Social Innovations Against Social, Environmental and Epistemic Injustices?: Revue Canadienne de Recherche sur les OSBL et l'Économie Sociale (ASERJ)

[...]in this strong conception of social innovation, the need to co-construct knowledge and practice calls for contributions from researchers to the socio-ecological transition, in a context of epistemic injustice and a current questioning of the role of universities and of knowledge from outside academe. In addition to demonstrating an interest in the transformational potential of social innovations, they reflect a commitment to social debate on the part of their authors, either from a distance or side-byside with the people under observation. In "UK financialization of public service delivery goes global," Leslie Huckfield analyzes reforms to public service in the United Kingdom whose keywords include "impact measurement," "social investment," and "the financialization of social security." Sara Zirari's article is entitled "How can including multiply disabled residents in the process of recruiting professionals contribute to reducing social, symbolic, and epistemic injustices in a specialized care centre?" Her case study is based on participatory action research, in a process that foregrounds social justice (Fraser

SPECIFIC DEONTOLOGICAL RULES APPLICABLE FOR THE PUBLIC MANAGER IN THE CONTEMPORARY ROMANIAN SOCIETY

[...]life in the community necessarily involves certain areas and services that cannot be ensured by private organizations (some not at all and others not exclusively): defense of the territory, protection of citizens from possible violations of their fundamental rights (right to life, to physical and mental integrity, the right to health, the right to education, etc.). In this context, it was natural to be taken over a series of ideas, principles and functions, including from the private environment, that would lead to a higher the efficiency of the Good administration and good governance can only be achieved through a permanent and efficient cooperation of political representatives with career officials. "14 Also in the sphere of public manager capacities are the aspects related to a better integration in the European Union structures "by implementing and following the enforcement of the European Community aquis, within the public authority or institution where it carries out its activity".15 In the opinion of some authors, to which we agree, "the manager is the one who, after systematizing and synthesizing the information, it holds through the position held, adopts the most adequate decisions within the institution it manages, decisions which it then communicates to its subordinates and determines who and how will be involved in carrying them out, so as to reach the proposed standards in the most efficient way. In the subsequent normative act, GEO no. 92/2008, the motivation is slightly different, compared to the new economic and social realities regarding aspects such as "taking away some dysfunctions occurred in the management of the professional body of public managers, which attracts the risk of lowering the interest in accessing and remaining in this professional body"21 and strengthening "the administrative capacity of the Romanian public administration and the reform process in general, by developing a coherent system of public managers, based on merit and performance, expanding the selection base to the whole public sector which whould attract and keep in the system people with the required skills and potential"22.