Kathleen McNutt

Devolution and Neoliberalism in the Canadian Welfare State Ideology, National and International Conditioning Frameworks, and Policy Change in British Columbia

The Canadian welfare state has changed significantly in the last decade with the federal devolution of policy responsibilities creating opportunities for some provinces to adopt American social policy ideas. Given the expectations of resilience and non-convergence, in the welfare state literature, this article addresses the issues of policy change by demonstrating that the movement of British Columbias labour and social policy towards international neoliberal norms, including policy examples set in many US jurisdictions, have produced limited convergence. We suggest that this indicates that more change has occurred and is occurring in the Canadian welfare state than the resilience model or comparative public policy literature would indicate.

Virtual Policy Networks: Where all Roads Lead to Rome

Abstract. Public sector websites are heavily invested in influencing policy outcomes throughinformation provisioning and dissemination. Traditionally e-government research has focusedon the internal functions of e-government studying service delivery, horizontal information pro-cessing integration and levels of implementation maturity.This paper shifts the analytical focusto external-facing e-government to consider the macro presentation of state-sponsored sites onthe Web. To evaluate the external face of Canadian e-government this project measures theweb-based impact of public sector websites in virtual policy networks. Virtual policy networksare web-based issues networks containing content on a specific policy topic and connectedthrough hyperlinks. It is argued that government’s online nodality in these networks is an indi-cator of public sector websites’ authority and influence on the Web. Resume. Les sites Internet du secteur public sont fortement consacres a influencer les resul-tats des politiques publiques en offrant et en disseminant de l’information. Par le passe, larecherche sur l’e-gouvernement s’est concentree sur ses fonctions internes, en etudiant la dis-tribution des services, l’integration horizontale du traitement de l’information et les niveaux dematurite de la mise en œuvre. Cet article deplace la focale analytique vers les fonctions externesde l’e-gouvernement, en considerant une macropresentation de sites etatiques sur la toile. Afind’evaluer la dimension externe de l’e-gouvernement canadien, ce projet mesure l’impact Inter-net de sites du secteur public dans des reseaux virtuels de politiques publiques. Les reseauxvirtuels de politiques publiques sont des reseaux Internet traitant de questions particulieres; ilscontiennent des renseignements sur des questions precises de politiques publiques et sont reliesentre eux par des hyperliens. L’auteure soutient que la nodalite en ligne du gouvernement dansces reseaux est un indicateur de l’autorite des sites Internet du secteur public et de leur influ-ence sur le reste de la toile.

Nodal Governance: The Diffusion of Power in Global Forest Governance Networks

The growing importance of non-state actors in global and transnational politics is a persistent theme in the global governance literature, providing a key motivation for going beyond the older international regime framework. The latter’s stress on intergovernmental negotiation leading to the creation of hard international law and the existence of durable international organizations has been under attack for some time. For every effort at global coordination that proceeded according to the regime model, it seemed there were many more that achieved significant results in other ways. And, as the climate change ‘regime’ clearly demonstrates, even where the model of negotiation, framework convention and protocol was followed to the letter, it is sometimes hard to discern much progress on the ground. Dissentient voices unhappy at the mainstream policy choices proceeded with their own initiatives, altering the calculus of cost and benefits for the main regime actors and introducing new modes of coordination based on their own rules and procedures. The ‘governance’ idea is intended to capture such developments (Okereke et al., 2009; O’Neill, 2009).

Wicked policy issues in regenerative medicine and the need to explore new avenues for public engagement

Regenerative medicine is often celebrated for its potential to both enhance our understanding of human development and improve clinical options for a wide range of conditions. However, the field is not without its challenges including various policy issues such as, for example, questions about how best to regulate this fast-moving field of research [1]. In many cases, the policy issues associated with different areas of regenerative medicine are highly complex and engage a wide variety of potential stakeholders including governments, scientists, research institutions, industry and patients, among others, many of whom have varied and sometimes competing perspectives and priorities. Addressing these multifaceted policy challenges in a way that balances the diverse interests at play, while also supporting the long-term health of this promising field, is not an easy task. It requires effective stakeholder education and engagement strategies which are, we suggest, areas about which there is much to learn. In this brief commentary, we discuss public information campaigns and network governance strategies and consider the potential value they may bring to addressing complex policy challenges in the field of regenerative medicine. Our goal is to contribute to and encourage discussion and further research in this area. We will use the market for unproven stem cell interventions as an example of the kind of wicked policy issue in the regenerative medicine sphere that may benefit from advancing understanding of how to effectively disseminate information and encourage public engagement.

Leveraging social media in the stem cell sector: exploring Twitter's potential as a vehicle for public information campaigns

AIM Our aim in this project was to explore Twitters potential as a vehicle for an online public information campaign (PIC) focused on providing evidence-based information about stem cell therapies and the market for unproven stem cell-based interventions. METHODS We designed an online, Twitter-based PIC using classic design principles and identified a set of target intermediaries (organizations with online influence) using a network governance approach. We tracked the PICs dissemination over a 2-month period, and evaluated it using metrics from the #SMMStandards Conclave. RESULTS Participation was limited but the PIC achieved some reach and engagement. CONCLUSION Social media based online PICs appear to have potential but also face challenges. Future research is required to better understand how to most effectively maximize their strengths.

Is Learning Without Teaching Possible? The Productive Tension Between Network Governance and Reflexivity

ABSTRACT Theories of reflexive governance are closely linked with the claim that more traditional modes of coordination have been replaced by networked structures, allowing reflexivity to emerge and reflexive learning to function as a steering mechanism in rapidly changing policy contexts. This paper explores this connection between reflexivity, governance, learning and networks in societal transitions, focusing particularly on the claim that networks will deliver reflexive learning. Using network theories from both policy networks and network governance and a case study of the Canadian agricultural biotechnology (agbiotech) policy network, it suggests that the kind of learning produced in networks will be a function of network structure. In particular, higher order reflexive learning will be compromised by the inevitability of the political struggle for nodality or central place in networks and the ensuing distribution of opportunities for bridging and bonding activities. Networks such as the Canadian agbiotech policy network that may promote learning but not necessarily reflexive learning are increasingly disadvantaged in contemporary policy settings.

Implementing an Integrated Governance Strategy: The Quest for Gender Mainstreaming in Canada

There is strong evidence that gender mainstreaming (GM), a gender equality governance strategy, is performing poorly across jurisdictions. While many national and regional governments have adopted gender equality policy tools, developing and implementing an integrated GM strategy requires substantive reforms to existing procedures and institutional settings. The goal of the article is to demonstrate that, in Canada, current gender equality policy using a gender-based analysis (GBA) approach does not feature the same governance arrangement as the alternative GM approach would entail. Using the Canadian federal government as a case study, the gender equality policy instrument mix is examined to demonstrate how different problem definitions result in suboptimal performance. The article concludes that Canada’s current gender equality policy regime only advances the mainstreaming of GBA, and not the mainstreaming of gender equality in general.