JOP — 2026-06-05
Original Representation Behind Closed Doors: The Effect of Electing Women Mayors on Domestic Violence
Maya Dalton, Giancarlo Visconti
Abstract
（原文未提供摘要）
中文 闭门之中的代表：选举女性市长对家庭暴力的影响
Maya Dalton, Giancarlo Visconti
PAR — 2026-06-02
Original Rethinking Budgeting? An Analysis of Budget Theory and Reform for Modernizing Municipal Practice
Emily Boykin, Clifford McCue, David Goldman
Abstract
ABSTRACT This study examines the persistent gap between budget theory and practice in local governments, using the Government Finance Officers Association's (GFOA) Rethinking Budgeting Initiative as a case study. Analyzing 32 GFOA publications from 2020 to 2024, we identify four key themes in the GFOA's attempt to modernize budgetary decision‐making: public values, behavioral science, coordination and collaboration, and fiscal prudence. Through a narrative synthesis grounded in budget theory, we find normative theories align with reforms emphasizing participatory practices and public values, while descriptive theories underpin traditional fiscal approaches. The endurance of incremental budgeting, despite reformist rhetoric, underscores the challenge of transforming budget practice. Our findings suggest meaningful reform depends on integrating behavioral insights, stakeholder collaboration, and value‐driven goals with theoretical frameworks. Ultimately, this study contributes to scholarly discourse by highlighting opportunities to advance budget theory and improve practitioner engagement, offering a pathway for more adaptive and responsive local government budgeting practices.
PAR — 2026-05-31
Original Framing Decolonization: Case Study of the Pan‐Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change
PSJ — 2026-05-29
Original When Reforms Becomes Symbolic: Decabinetisation in Portugal and Beyond
Arthur Meert, Patricia Silva
Abstract
ABSTRACT Decabinetisation—policies that reduce or restrict ministerial cabinets—presents a paradox in contemporary executive politics. Despite growing reliance on these structures for political coordination and policy steering, governments occasionally move to limit their reliance on these political staff structures, either by reducing staff numbers or by imposing stricter rules on appointments, recruitment, and remuneration. While several such reforms have been documented, we still lack a clear understanding of why governments would deliberately limit the resources and authority of the very actors that support their political and policy work. Using the 2012 Passos Coelho reform in Portugal as an in‐depth case study, this article demonstrates that decabinetisation often functions as a symbolic response to mounting political and societal demands for restraint. Although Prime Minister Passos Coelho initially aimed to implement an ambitious overhaul, internal governmental dynamics during the design and implementation stages enabled continuity actors to dilute the reform's most transformative elements. The findings highlight decabinetisation as a strategic response to a policy trap: governments must be seen to act but lack the capacity or incentive to alter institutional dependence on MCs. These dynamics extend beyond Portugal, helping to explain similar initiatives in other systems with cabinetised executives.
PSJ — 2026-05-29
Original Studying Advocacy Coalitions: Conceptual Choices and Methodological Approaches
Alejandra Medina, José Sánchez, Allegra H. Fullerton, Christopher M. Weible
PSJ — 2026-05-29
Original Media Coverage Shifts and Policy Overreactions: Evidence on Government Serial Processing and Information Saturation
Daniele Guariso, Omar A. Guerrero
Abstract
ABSTRACT We investigate the causal link between societal signals and policy changes through novel data and a unique empirical setting. Using a corpus with all the opinion columns published in 2017 in the nine major Mexican newspapers (the signals) and data on the universe of individual expenditure programs (the policies), we provide quantitative evidence about government overreactions (in terms of overspending) to differentiated media coverage across various policy topics. First, we test formal models of serial and parallel information processing that relate to the debate between punctuated equilibrium and incrementalism. We find empirical support for the serial processing hypothesis. Second, we frame a natural experiment exploiting two earthquakes that took place in September of the same year. By leveraging the disparity in coverage of opinion columns across both earthquakes, we employ a difference‐in‐differences design and find evidence of the causal relationship between coverage shifts and policy overreactions. Our study sheds new light on a central topic in the study of policy changes and agenda‐setting, and provides quantitative evidence difficult to obtain under conventional empirical frameworks.
GOV 39/3 2026-05-29
Original Do Medical Health Ministers Make Different Health System Choices?
Marcello Antonini, Joan Costa‐Font, Nicolas Marchi, Debra Winberg
PSJ — 2026-05-27
Original Polarization Entrepreneurs: Dividing to Conquer in the Trump Era
Christoph H. Stefes, Kayla M. Gabehart, Kristin Olofsson
Abstract
ABSTRACT The policy process literature has long theorized about the role of policy entrepreneurs, whom Paul Cairney calls the “hero... who knows that the pursuit of ambitious aims such as ‘evidence‐based policymaking’ requires framing a problem, having a solution ready, and exploiting the motive and opportunity of policymakers to select it” (2018, 199). The research agenda on policy entrepreneurs also holds great potential for another type of policy actor that we aim to introduce into the policy process lexicon: the polarization entrepreneur. These polarization entrepreneurs aim not to resolve the specific policy conflict at hand, but to advance broader strategic goals, such as solidifying their ideological base, expanding their influence across several policy subsystems, or gaining electoral advantage. We introduce the polarization entrepreneur as a policy actor who strategizes within policy spaces in ways we have not yet fully comprehended or theorized. We thus draw on the Multiple Streams Literature (MSF), the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) literature, as well as the political rise of Donald Trump to theorize about how these polarization entrepreneurs operate. We suggest a research agenda that presents a wealth of opportunity for policy scholars to better understand the policy system of our day.
PAR — 2026-05-26
Original Context, Mechanism, and Outcome: Explaining Gendered Administrative Burdens on Abortion Access in Italy
Debra Lanfranconi, Markus Hinterleitner
Abstract
ABSTRACT Abortion access in Italy provides a case to examine how gendered administrative burdens emerge through the interplay of legal provisions, informal frontline practices, and contextual influences. Drawing on the Context–Mechanism–Outcome framework from realist evaluation, the analysis shows how legal access to abortion is constrained by procedural requirements, widespread conscientious objection among healthcare providers, and the institutional presence of anti‐abortion actors. Using qualitative data from Obiezione Respinta— a user‐generated platform mapping abortion access barriers across Italy—we demonstrate how everyday bureaucratic processes (re)produce gender inequalities. Three contributions follow. First, the analysis extends the gendered administrative burden literature by highlighting how informal policy design and contextual factors contribute to gender inequality. Second, it introduces the C‐M‐O framework to administrative burden research as a structured yet parsimonious approach to studying how burdens emerge. Third, it centers on women's experiences to offer a qualitative account of how burdens are perceived and navigated.
PMR — pp. 1-30 2026-05-25 Original Limits to New Public Governance in Türkiye: the case of the 6 February 2023 earthquakes