Polihot

PSJ 54/3 2026-07-15 Original A Comprehensive Taxonomy of Rules for Nuanced Analysis of Governance Systems Diego Arahuetes‐de la Iglesia, Alicia Tenza‐Peral, Laura Ximena Estévez‐Moreno, Andrea Martín‐Suárez, Francisco Javier Lacosta‐García, Ismael Lare‐David, Irene Pérez‐Ibarra

PMR — pp. 1-29 2026-07-13 Original Strategic narratives and the processes of goal achievement in municipal strategic planning Fabien Eymas Abstract This study examines how strategic narratives shape strategic planning processes in ways that support the pursuit of municipal goals. Drawing on a longitudinal case study of a French municipality and combining analysis of council deliberations, documentary materials, and interviews, it shows that strategic narratives link planning to implementation. The findings reveal how temporality, positioning, and performative intent interact to generate municipal strategic capacity by sustaining coherence, structuring multi-actor alignment, and mobilizing engagement over time. The study contributes to public management research by integrating a narrative perspective with strategic planning scholarship and showing how strategic narratives become embedded in municipal practices.

JPART — 2026-07-13 Original Bureaucratic turnover under new governments: the moderating effect of bureaucratic and political layering Bjørn Mo Forum Abstract Abstract Politically motivated personnel turnover affects government bureaucracy’s legitimacy and performance. To understand the conditions of meritocracy, the article explores how variability in hierarchy moderates the effect of government transitions on bureaucratic turnover. Event history analysis of the careers of 948 Norwegian senior bureaucrats (1884–2024) reveals that the organizational layers separating bureaucrats from ministers moderate the effect of government change differently depending on the layer’s political or bureaucratic nature. Bureaucrats directly exposed to political appointees experience heightened turnover during government transitions, while the turnover of bureaucrats separated from appointees by an intervening layer of career employees is unaffected by government transitions. Further analysis of different time periods and senior bureaucratic roles shows that layering alone does not fully explain political influence on bureaucratic careers. Positions must be hierarchically exposed (lacking intervening bureaucratic layers), functionally politicized (involved in tasks that are strategically important to political leadership), and subject to administrative politicization (by being under the purview of political appointees) to be vulnerable to politically motivated turnover. The article advances scholarship on the politicization of senior bureaucrats in merit bureaucracies by examining 140 years of politically induced turnover through a theory of how layering moderates political dynamics.

PMR — pp. 1-29 2026-07-13 Original A social enterprise management framework for creating hybrid value within public service ecosystems Madeline Powell, Alex G. Gillett, Bob Doherty

PAR — 2026-07-12 Original Rethinking Local Choice: Experimental Evidence on Taxpayer Sentiment and Public School Funding Edward N. Gamble, Richard G. Vanden Bergh, Thomas Chittenden

GOV 39/3 2026-07-10 Original Institutional Backsliding Under Liberal Democratic Backsliding: Central Bank Independence Reversal in Türkiye Caner Bakir Abstract ABSTRACT Despite the importance of research strands in identifying the micro‐mechanisms underpinning illiberal governance and democratic backsliding under populist or patrimonial rule in both liberal and illiberal democracies, the implications of populist‐patrimonial interventions by strong political leaders aiming for institutional backsliding have not been studied in detail. Drawing on a within‐case temporal comparison of erosion of central bank independence in Turkiye under the prolonged rule of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, this article focuses on the backsliding of legal‐rational institutional logic (e.g., loyalty to legal and professional rules and practices such as impersonality, neutrality, professionalism, and meritocracy) that informs political leader and bureaucrat interactions and their replacement with patrimonial institutional logic (e.g., absolute personal loyalty to a leader). It argues that the disruptive (defensive) institutional work of populist‐patrimonial strongman (insiders) is most likely to be effective in achieving institutional backsliding (maintenance) in public administration when the political regime structure, its main institutions, and agential‐level factors motivate and empower his prolonged, consistent, and persistent disruptive (defensive) institutional work.

PA — 2026-07-09 Original Resolving Agile Ambidexterity: Between Ambivalence, Adaptation, and Accommodation Ines Mergel Abstract ABSTRACT Public bureaucracies address challenging and complex problems by applying agile work practices when standard operating procedures or routines fail. In these situations, public managers need to decide whether to exploit existing bureaucratic routines or explore novel solutions through non‐routine agile work practices. This study shows how public managers maneuver between different adoption decisions: (1) remain ambivalent and reject agile, (2) accommodate the needs of the bureaucracy and adjust agile work practices to align with administrative routines, or (3) adapt in an ambidextrous manner by becoming agile literate and choosing the appropriate work practices depending on the public management problem. This study contributes to the literature on agile governance by incorporating the notion of ambidexterity into the existing theory of 21st‐century bureaucracy.

PMR — pp. 1-26 2026-07-09 Original Navigating challenges at the frontline: evidence from Youth Outreach Unit (YOU) in marginalized communities Vernise Estorcien, Sanghee Park Abstract Police-led youth programs provide mentorship and support for youth in marginalized communities, yet limited research examines their implementation challenges and adaptive strategies. This qualitative study investigates the Youth Outreach Unit (YOU) in Miami-Dade County, Florida, using virtual semi-structured interviews with program leaders and officers. Findings identify three key implementation challenges: resource constraints, understaffing and limited expertise, and unclear goals and performance metrics. We further identify three pathways for improvement: formal partnerships and community collaboration, strategic use of goal ambiguity, and clearer metrics, protocols, and accountability mechanisms. The study offers policy implications for designing and supporting community-based youth programs.

PAR — 2026-07-09 Original Key Practices of Knowledge Mobilization in Local Policy Settings Rosie Havers, Hannah Durrant, James Downe, Steve Martin Abstract ABSTRACT The literature on knowledge mobilization (KM) acknowledges the complex processes involved in the application of evidence to policy. However, the everyday activities employed by knowledge mobilizers to facilitate these processes have proved difficult to capture and codify. We address this gap in current understanding through empirical analysis of the practices used to mobilize knowledge in local policy making. We find that effective KM is characterized by relational interactions with diverse actors across research, policy and practice settings; constant and consistent engagement with the local and policy contexts in which evidence is being applied; and the integration of different types of knowledge (including research findings, professional expertise and lived experience) to collectively respond to policy and practice needs. These practices of KM have important implications for how evidence is defined, validated, and used by policymakers and practitioners.

JCC — pp. 1-22 2026-07-09 Original Chinese State-Owned Enterprise Workers at the Margins: Evidence from a Sichuan Case Study Shan Huang Abstract This article examines workers’ changes in a Sichuan state-owned enterprise established during Third Front initiative. Taking qualitative research methods based on in-depth interviews and fieldwork, it demonstrates how SOE reforms reshaped workers’ capital resource and social status, transforming the formerly secure working class into wage-dependent labour through workers’ narratives on their work and life histories. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of capital and Marxist class analysis, the study tracks workers’ capital losses through welfare shrinkage, declining skill value, and work-unit network disintegration, explaining how these shifts represent changed labour relations, as institutional protection gave way to market control. The case points out widening divisions among workers, indicating a fragmented working class and a redefined class structure in post-reform China.