Polihot

JPART — 2026-07-08 Original The voice of the voiceless: refugees’ perceptions of participation under constraint

PMR — pp. 1-25 2026-07-08 Original Public value as care within and for practices Per Skålén Abstract This article draws on practice theory and care theory to conceptualize public value as care within and for the practices to which citizens are entitled. In doing so, it contributes by theoretically integrating major strands of public value research. More specifically, it shows that strategic management of public value depends on the sustained care for practices; that contestation over public value centres on struggles over what should be cared for; that the cocreation and codestruction of public value depend on the extent to which practices are carefully sustained; and that public values are normatively grounded in care and become visible through enacted practices. The article also outlines practical implications for addressing pressing collective challenges through policy design and demonstrates how legitimacy, management, and accountability are reconfigured when public value is understood as care within and for the practices to which citizens are entitled.

PSJ 54/3 2026-07-07 Original Imagined Integration: The Logics of Japanese Immigrant Integration Policy Mariri Niino, William L. Allen Abstract ABSTRACT As governments develop immigrant integration policies, they draw on and express conceptions about what successful integration looks like—what we call “imagined integration.” Yet this imagination likely displays variation that matters for implementation: integration policymaking is increasingly multilevel as it involves subnational layers of bureaucracy, and it may differ across national contexts which have distinct immigration experiences and political dynamics. In response, we trace the logics within Japan's approach to integrating a range of immigrants (“multicultural coexistence”) as its objectives pass through to subnational (prefectural) governments. As a major industrialized economy, Japan is instructive because its centrally organized approach to integration differs from Western cases, and yet its growing policy attention to integration typifies trends in neighboring Asian countries facing similar demographic and economic challenges. Through the first comprehensive content analysis of all available prefectural plans regarding multicultural coexistence ( N = 31 as of 2025), we identify how subnational policymakers conceive coexistence, its justification, and its successful achievement on paper. Our study contributes to better connections between empirical understanding of important policies affecting immigrants in a key world region, as well as to theorization about the ideational aspects of policymaking.

CQ — pp. 1-23 2026-07-06 Original The Emergence of Local Digital Platform Vehicles in China Wenjia Song, Tianguang Meng Abstract Abstract As China’s land-financed development model faces increasing constraints, local governments have turned to public data as a new strategic resource. However, there is a governance puzzle with public data: how can the state mobilize a resource whose ownership remains legally and politically unresolved? This article examines Local Digital Platform Vehicles (LDPVs), hybrid corporations that have proliferated since the early 2010s. Drawing on data gathered from extensive interviews and an original nationwide dataset of LDPVs from 2014 to 2025, we argue that these entities enable local governments to exercise “control without ownership” by asserting authority over data flows rather than through formal property rights. Internally, control is achieved through co-shareholding, task approval, personnel and strategic partner selection, which bind market actors to local developmental objectives. Externally, LDPVs extract value by internalizing subcontractor profits, pursuing data financialization and shifting towards platform-based models. The article shows how China’s local developmental state is developing new organizational instruments for governance in the digital age.

JPART — 2026-07-06 Original Representative bureaucracy and administrative burdens: exploring the intersection of lived experience, gender, and professional qualities Ryan J Lofaro, Elizabeth Bell, Colt Jensen

JPART — 2026-07-06 Original Playing with time: data manipulation within the performance evaluation cycle Jiayuan Li, Zhibin Chen, Manqian Cui, Xuelian Zhang Abstract Abstract Understanding why public organizations manipulate performance data has become an essential theme in public administration scholarship. While prior research has extensively explored the individual and contextual drivers of gaming, the temporal dimension—specifically when manipulation occurs—remains remarkably underexplored. Moving beyond the impact of sporadic political events, this study examines the routine, institutionalized rhythms of the bureaucratic calendar. Utilizing satellite nighttime light data as an objective benchmark to detect distortion in officially reported GDP across 271 Chinese cities (2013–2020), we uncover a systematic, cyclical pattern of strategic gaming. Manipulation is substantial in the first quarter, consistent with political pressure for a “good start,” recedes during the middle of the year; and surges to its annual peak in the fourth quarter (Q4) as the final performance assessment looms. Furthermore, we show that this Q4 effect is contingent on local context: cities with lower fiscal autonomy and reduced marketization exhibit a significantly greater propensity to inflate year-end figures. By uncovering a routine form of manipulation embedded in bureaucratic practices, our study advances theories of performance gaming and sheds light on the strategic use of time in public management.

JOP — 2026-07-06 Original Indirect Influence: How Elite Attacks on Information Providers Affect Public Opinion Formation Erik Peterson, Allison M.N. Archer, Kishan Bhakta, Sho Izumisawa

JCC — pp. 1-20 2026-07-05 Original “Top-Down Communitarianism”: The Purposes and Limitations of China’s Point System Governance

GOV 39/3 2026-07-04 Original Informational Crowding‐Out? Targeted Transparency, Environmental Nonprofits, and Public Concern in China

PMR — pp. 1-30 2026-07-02 Original The promise and performance of social impact bonds Clare J. FitzGerald, Alec Fraser, Carolyn J. Heinrich, Mikkel Munksgaard Andersen Abstract This article examines social impact bonds (SIBs), first scrutinizing early discourse on their promises—increased accountability through competitive public-private partnerships, outcomes measurement, and a learning approach to performance management—drawing on theories of New Public Management and New Public Governance. Then, a structured review of empirical research is used to evaluate SIB performance against their public management reform promises. Findings show that while SIBs sometimes foster intersectoral collaboration, they can also surface power imbalances, institutionalize gaming, and inadvertently reduce public accountability. A faltering commitment to robust outcomes measurement is also demonstrated, with negative implications for effective governance and public value.