We present a technical case study on the Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs) for Public Health Challenge, a collaborative effort to safely leverage sensitive private sector data for social impact, specifically pandemic management. The project utilized Differential Privacy (DP) to create realistic, privacy-preserved synthetic financial transaction data, which was then combined with public health and mobility datasets. This approach successfully addressed the critical hurdle of sharing sensitive financial information for research and policy. The analysis demonstrated that this synthetic, DP-protected data possesses significant spatial-temporal and predictive power for public health. Key outcomes include the development of six reusable tools and frameworks supporting diagnostic nowcasting (e.g., Hotspot Detection, Pandemic Adherence Monitoring) and predictive forecasting (e.g., Mobility Analysis, Contact Matrix Estimation) for epidemiological decision-making. The study provides best practices for advancing data sharing in a privacy-compliant manner.
The rapid evolution of text-to-image (T2I) models has enabled high-fidelity visual synthesis on a global scale. However, these advancements have introduced significant security risks, particularly regarding the generation of harmful content. Politically harmful content, such as fabricated depictions of public figures, poses severe threats when weaponized for fake news or propaganda. Despite its criticality, the robustness of current T2I safety filters against such politically motivated adversarial prompting remains underexplored. In response, we propose $PC^2$, the first black-box political jailbreaking framework for T2I models. It exploits a novel vulnerability where safety filters evaluate political sensitivity based on linguistic context. $PC^2$ operates through: (1) Identity-Preserving Descriptive Mapping to obfuscate sensitive keywords into neutral descriptions, and (2) Geopolitically Distal Translation to map these descriptions into fragmented, low-sensitivity languages. This strategy prevents filters from constructing toxic relationships between political entities within prompts, effectively bypassing detection. We construct a benchmark of 240 politically sensitive prompts involving 36 public figures. Evaluation on commercial T2I models, specifically GPT-series, shows that while all original prompts are blocked, $PC^2$ achieves attack success rates of up to 86%.
Martin Baekgaard, Julian Christensen, J. Madsen
et al.
In times of severe international crises, such as wars and terrorist attacks, citizens tend to ‘rally around the flag’ and increase their support for political leaders. We ask if the rallying effects identified in the literature extend to the societal lockdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19-related lockdowns differ from crises studied in the existing literature because they are political crisis responses with severe and immediate negative effects on the economy. Using daily responses right before and after the announcement of the Danish lockdown on March 11, 2020, we study trust in democratic institutions among unemployed Danes over the first three weeks of a large-scale societal lockdown. OLS estimates show that trust in the Danish Prime Minister’s administration was higher immediately after the lockdown announcement. This increase lasted throughout the entire period of measurement (until the end of March). We find similarly increased trust in other institutions, most significantly the judicial system and the public sector at large, whereas findings for trust in parliament and the media are less clear. Interrupted time series estimates point to the same conclusions albeit they produce estimates with more noise. Overall, our findings are consistent with the idea that citizens tend to ‘rally around the flag’ in times of crisis and furthermore suggest that increased trust tends to spill over to institutions that are not involved in crisis management decisions.
The purpose of the research is to examine the mechanisms of influence of the South Korean Christian nationalist organization “Unification Church”2 in Japan. Particular attention is paid to its influence on the socio-political aspects of internal Japanese processes. It is argued that, through the hierarchical discipline inherent in religious structures, organized voting blocs can be created during election campaigns that are capable of influencing their outcome. It is concluded that, despite the discontent of the Japanese population, it is not possible to disband the Japanese branch of the organization. Firstly, the connections of this religious structure with Japanese political figures have been revealed more than once, so it can be concluded that there are systematic contacts. Secondly, since the organization became a topic of public debate after the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, committed by a victim of its activities, in the event of a positive decision to disband the Japanese branch, radical groups and individuals will, in essence, be given a signal that they can convey their demands to the government by force. This could negatively affect public order in the country.
Fithriyyah Shalihati, Ujang Sumarwan, Hartoyo Hartoyo
et al.
Customer relationship management (CRM) has become a critical strategy for higher education institutions (HEIs) to enhance student engagement, institutional efficiency, and digital transformation. Despite its growing adoption, the evolution of CRM research in HEIs, including key contributors, dominant themes, and emerging trends, remains underexplored. This study conducts a bibliometric analysis of Scopus-indexed publications (2014–2024) to map the intellectual landscape of CRM research in higher education. Using Biblioshiny with Bibliometrix version 4.0 and VOSviewer version 1.6.20, this study analyzes publication trends, influential authors and institutions, keyword networks, and thematic developments. The findings indicate a transition from early research on service quality and academic reputation to advanced themes such as AI-driven CRM strategies, multi-channel communication, and social media analytics. While the United Kingdom, India, and Indonesia emerge as leading contributors, gaps persist in cross-cultural CRM applications, the integration of emerging technologies, and the development of standardized evaluation frameworks. This study contributes to CRM scholarship by mapping research trajectories, identifying underexplored areas, and offering actionable insights for future studies. It highlights the expanding role of CRM beyond student engagement, encompassing education quality, labor market, employment growth, technological progress and AI-driven decision-making. These findings emphasize the need for interdisciplinary approaches and robust academic performance to maximize CRM’s strategic potential in higher education.
Political institutions and public administration (General)
Objetivos: capacitar a los compradores públicos en el uso de la perspectiva estratégica del contrato y en las competencias no formales para alcanzar una mayor eficiencia en la calidad de la prestación y en la utilización de los fondos públicos. Obtener la máxima complicidad de los operadores económicos, especialmente de las PYME, en los procesos de compra pública. Metodología: análisis clásico de marco normativo, doctrina científica y administrativa y jurisprudencia, así como de competencias no jurídicas, tales como las capacidades de comunicación, negociación, empatía y gestión de proyectos y de riesgos, consustanciales a la buena administración. Resultados: estudio del grado de interiorización de las compras estratégicas y sus áreas de mejora, con ejemplos de clausulado con perspectiva social y medioambiental que incluir en los pliegos de cláusulas administrativas particulares. Conclusiones: la fundamental conclusión de este trabajo es que es posible progresar en la interiorización de la compra pública sociorresponsable dotando a los empleados públicos tramitadores de instrumentos que garanticen la seguridad jurídica y el control material, no formal, de los procesos, y promover una mayor participación de las pymes, mediante la mejora de las aquí denominadas competencias no formales, tales como las capacidades de comunicación, negociación, empatía, gestión de proyectos y flexibilidad de los compradores públicos.
Political science, Political institutions and public administration (General)
The 2008 global financial crisis marked the beginning of a decade dominated by fiscal austerity policies in much of the developed world. This paper presents a qualitative narrative review of an extensive collection of academic literature to synthesize evidence on the multifaceted effects of austerity. Following a thematic approach inspired by PRISMA guidelines, the economic, social, and political consequences of these measures are examined. The analysis reveals a majority consensus regarding the recessive effects of austerity, especially when implemented during economic crises, with negative fiscal multipliers that often exacerbate GDP contraction. Socially, austerity is associated with rising inequality, negative impacts on public health, disproportionate gender consequences, and a weakening of social safety nets. Politically, evidence links austerity to the erosion of trust in institutions, a rise in populism, and electoral instability. Despite the political narrative presenting austerity as an inevitable necessity for fiscal sustainability, academic literature underscores its high costs and questionable efficacy, advocating for more contextualized and equitable economic policy approaches.
This study examines how political engagement shapes public attitudes toward legal immigration in the United States. Using nationally weighted data from the 2024 ANES Pilot Study, we construct a novel Political Engagement Index (PAX) based on five civic actions: discussing politics, online sharing, attending rallies, wearing political symbols, and campaign volunteering. By applying weighted ordered logistic regression models, we find that higher engagement predicts greater support for easing legal immigration, even after adjusting for education, gender, age, partisanship, income, urban residence, and generalized social trust. To capture the substantive effect, we visualize predicted probabilities across levels of engagement. In full-sample models, the likelihood of supporting "a lot harder" immigration drops from 26% to 13% as engagement rises, while support for "a lot easier" increases from 10% to 21%. Subgroup analyses by partisanship show consistent directionality, with notable shifts among Republicans. Social trust and education are also consistently associated with more open attitudes, while older respondents tend to support less lenient pathways to legal immigration policies. These findings suggest that a cumulative increase in political participation is linked to support for legal immigration pathways, with varying intensity across partisan identities and socio-demographic characteristics.
Engaging in political discussions is crucial in democratic societies, yet many individuals remain politically disinclined due to various factors such as perceived knowledge gaps, conflict avoidance, or a sense of disconnection from the political system. In this paper, we explore the potential of personal narratives-short, first-person accounts emphasizing personal experiences-as a means to empower these individuals to participate in online political discussions. Using a text classifier that identifies personal narratives, we conducted a large-scale computational analysis to evaluate the relationship between the use of personal narratives and participation in political discussions on Reddit. We find that politically disinclined individuals (PDIs) are more likely to use personal narratives than more politically active users. Personal narratives are more likely to attract and retain politically disinclined individuals in political discussions than other comments. Importantly, personal narratives posted by politically disinclined individuals are received more positively than their other comments in political communities. These results emphasize the value of personal narratives in promoting inclusive political discourse.
Yuan Zhang, Michael Amsler, Laia Castro Herrero
et al.
Incivility refers to behaviors that violate collective norms and disrupt cooperation within the political process. Although large-scale online data and automated techniques have enabled the quantitative analysis of uncivil discourse, prior research has predominantly focused on impoliteness or toxicity, often overlooking other behaviors that undermine democratic values. To address this gap, we propose a multidimensional conceptual framework encompassing Impoliteness, Physical Harm and Violent Political Rhetoric, Hate Speech and Stereotyping, and Threats to Democratic Institutions and Values. Using this framework, we measure the spread of online political incivility in Brazil using approximately 5 million tweets posted by 2,307 political influencers during the 2022 Brazilian general election. Through statistical modeling and network analysis, we examine the dynamics of uncivil posts at different election stages, identify key disseminators and audiences, and explore the mechanisms driving the spread of uncivil information online. Our findings indicate that impoliteness is more likely to surge during election campaigns. In contrast, the other dimensions of incivility are often triggered by specific violent events. Moreover, we find that left-aligned individual influencers are the primary disseminators of online incivility in the Brazilian Twitter/X sphere and that they disseminate not only direct incivility but also indirect incivility when discussing or opposing incivility expressed by others. They relay those content from politicians, media agents, and individuals to reach broader audiences, revealing a diffusion pattern mixing the direct and two-step flows of communication theory. This study offers new insights into the multidimensional nature of incivility in Brazilian politics and provides a conceptual framework that can be extended to other political contexts.
David Sabin-Miller, Mary McGrath, Marisa C. Eisenberg
The concept of ``ideology" is central to political discourse and dynamics, and is often cast as falling primarily on a one-dimensional scale from ``left-wing/liberal" to ``right-wing/conservative", but the validity of this simple quantitative treatment is uncertain. Here we investigate and compare various high-resolution measures of ideology, both internal (individuals self-identification and policy-stance agreements) and external (estimating the ideological position of political opinion statements). We find strong consistency between internal measures, although policy-stance agreement ideology yields a systematically centralizing and liberalizing portrait relative to subjective measures. More remarkably, we find that external assessments of ideology, while noisy, are largely consistent across observers, even for highly dissonant ideas and regardless of speaker identity markers. This supports the use of these responses as meaningful, comparable quantities, which general members of the public reliably project from the abstract space of political thought onto a shared one-dimensional domain. We end with observation of some broad initial patterns of political opinion acceptance, feelings towards the major political parties, and propensity for extreme thinking, finding mostly ideologically symmetric results strongly stratified by strong/lean/Independent political party identity. We hope these perspectives on quantification of political ideology serve as an invitation for a broader range of quantitative scientists to model and understand this vital societal arena.
Research Aims: This study aims to evaluate the role of institutional frameworks, accountability, and transparency in mitigating corruption, with particular focus on the differing effectiveness of these mechanisms across various regions. It examines global trends in corruption related to public financial management over the period 2014-2024. Design/methodology/approach: A systematic literature review was conducted across interdisciplinary fields such as political science, public administration, economics, and legal studies to develop a comparative analytical framework and identify emerging patterns. Research Findings: The results indicate that while robust institutional structures significantly curb corruption, many developing countries continue to struggle due to weak institutional capacity and governance challenges. Theoretical Contribution/Originality: This study contributes a comparative perspective by analysing how accountability, institutional integrity, and transparency function in different geopolitical contexts, offering insights beyond the general discourse on corruption in governance. Research limitation and implication: The future research should explore the effectiveness of anti-corruption initiatives in fragile institutional settings, particularly in developing nations. Moreover, the role of digital tools such as e-government platforms in enhancing transparency and curbing corruption warrants further studies
The paper aimed to assess the concept and limitations of public policy analysis in Nigeria. The objective of the paper is to assess the concepts and limitations of public policy analysis. Despite the effort of government to formulate and implement policies aimed at improve the living standard of the populace, yet the living standard has not been improved due to misplacement of priorities by government and lack of problem identification, corruption, frequent change of government policies, as well as conflict among governmental institutions, etc. There are public problems facing the society such as insecurity, unemployment, poverty and inflation, education, health care and access to portable water etc, rather than focusing on policies that is in consistent with the public interest such as; removal of subsidy and banning of the freedom of expression. The paper employed explanatory research design based on documentary data, the paper relied on secondary sources such as journals, magazine, unpublished dissertations and internet, also content analysis was used for the presentation and analysis of data. The study concluded that public policy is characterized by public problems; policies are implemented without clear identifications of the problem concerning the general populace. Also the study concluded that lack of accurate and reliable data, frequent change in government policies, problem of choice as well as conflict among the governmental institutions cripple the activities of government and distort public policy to resolve socio economic and political problems faced by the society. The paper reveals that the Federal Government decision that is against the public interest and a denial of fundamental human right is the prohibition of freedom of expressions. Additionally, people were not allowed to express their opinions and right by non-peaceful means like protest and demonstration. Government at all levels should implement policies that serve the public interest and enhance the overall wellbeing of the people. Additionally, people should permit to peacefully exercise their freedom and rights.
ABSTRACT This article examines administrative leadership at the top of the European Parliament by exploring the role played by Secretaries-General. Employing an institutional approach, administrative leadership is defined as behaviour that shapes the institutional character of an organization, infusing it with values and missions. The article aims to understand the behaviours that constitute the administrative leadership of the Secretary-General in the European Parliament and whether these behaviours focus solely on administrative and management tasks or also encompass the political aspects of the European Parliament as an institution. Drawing on four high-level interviews with Secretaries-General who led the European Parliament’s administration from 1986 to 2022, the study reveals that administrative leadership exhibits an institutional character, focusing on strengthening the powers of the European Parliament through both management and involvement in tasks with a political dimension. Findings show that the institutional development of the European Parliament has been shaped by a collaborative effort between its political and administrative leaders. The conclusion underscores the necessity of studying political and administrative leadership together as public leadership to comprehend how the European Parliament leads within the European Union, particularly in addressing contemporary democratic challenges.
The study examines the fluctuating voting behavior of states in the United Nations General Assembly resolutions on the war in Ukraine. Following the Eleventh Emergency Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on February 28, 2022, the study investigates the factors influencing states' voting patterns and the discursive strategies employed to articulate national interests. Grounded in realism, the analysis focuses on Latin America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, with particular attention to Brazil, Thailand, and Israel. Employing Van Dijk's Critical Discourse Analysis, the study deciphers the rhetoric of representatives from these countries to reveal the role of the United Nations General Assembly and how countries utilize this platform. The findings reveal that the discourse of Brazil, Israel, and Thailand was predominantly driven by their national interests, focusing on promoting peaceful dialogue and critiquing the liberal international order. This study contributes to the broader academic literature on political realism showcasing the limitation of international institutions in addressing the global issues. We believe this study will be interesting for academics, policymakers, and practitioners seeking insights into the intricacies of international relations in times of crisis.
Introduction. The research of domestic lawyers in the field of good governance is largely focused on the organization of the public power apparatus, while the "human dimension" mostly remains outside the boundaries of scientific discourse, which does not correspond to the challenges facing Ukraine in the context of European integration of work. In general, reforms in the field of public administration should receive a clearer humanistic orientation, for which it is necessary to translate them into the plane of the legal status of a person. One of the important tasks on this path is the adoption into the national legal system of the right to proper administration, enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. Such a reception requires a proper doctrinal basis. The purpose of this article is to determine the right of legal nature to proper administration, its content and scope, its place in the system of fundamental rights of a person, as well as its relationship with the concepts of appropriate management and proper administration. Summary of the main results of the study. The functioning of the administration (first of all, the executive power and its subsystems, as well as local self-government bodies) is fundamental for determining the quality of the democratic system as a whole. In general, we can say that the quality of administrative functioning is achieved by proper administrative practice (which includes the observance of fundamental rights) or, conversely, by the presence of improper management. Proper administration developed in administrative-legal theory and practice within the framework of the general concept of proper administration, which includes effective and democratic power with the simultaneous implementation of public interests and guaranteed rights of the parties to defense in administrative cases. The principle of proper administration arose in the case law of the EU Court and the Court of First Instance and is based on the existence of the Union, which governs the rule of law and puts forward criteria for the quality of the functioning of the official apparatus. For the first time at the regulatory and legal level, the right to proper administration was enshrined in Article 41 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. This document is innovative as per the list of rights that are fixed in it. The adoption of the Charter can be seen as a decisive step in the codification of the right to proper administration of EU constitutional law. This right applies not only to EU citizens, but to any person who contacts the relevant institutions. There is no clear definition of the principle of proper administration in EU legislation. This concept has been repeatedly used by both the Court of First Instance and the ECJ, but the case law still does not have a clear form. Under these conditions, the specific content of the right to proper administration is largely determined by the precedent practice of EU courts. At the same time, the content and scope of the right to proper administration under Article 41 of the CSCE is significantly different from what is covered by the concept of proper administration. Conclusions. The concept of proper administration is derived from the concept of proper management and is its continuation in the procedural aspects of the activities of public authorities, especially those exercising executive and administrative powers. The right to proper administration is based on the concept of proper administration and represents the integration of this concept into the foundations of a person's legal status. In the most general plan, the right to proper administration can be understood as a metanorm, which, on the one hand, recognizes a person's subjective right to be properly administered, and on the other hand, requires those in power to respect human rights and fulfill the relevant requirements under time of conducting public affairs. Ordinary citizens are not passive recipients of decisions and actions by the government, but instead have claims to be governed in a certain way that promotes the realization of human rights. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU became the first constitutional-legal document in the world, which officially recognized and established the right to proper administration as an integral element of the foundations of a person's legal status. However, the drafters of the Charter approached the normative consolidation of this right very pragmatically: Article 41 included only those substantive elements of this right that are procedural in nature and can be protected by applying to jurisdictional bodies. The content and scope of the right to proper administration is constantly clarified and specified by the precedent practice of EU judicial institutions and has a tendency to expand. The powers provided for in Article 41 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU apply only to EU subjects, but member states also recognize and ensure the right to proper administration at the level of national legislation. Ukraine, as a candidate state for EU membership, although it does not use the term "proper administration" in its national legal system, it is already trying to implement the corresponding concept in administrative legislation. At the same time, the issue of official recognition of the right to proper administration in Ukraine as one of the main political rights of Ukrainian citizens remains unresolved.
This study provides an in-depth analysis of problems and policy proposals related to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) Movement in light of public administration (PA) theories. We examine the extant literature focusing on three PA paradigms: Classical, New Public Management (NPM), and Postmodernism (combined with New Public Administration—NPA). Based on a content analysis of BLM activists’ demands, Congressional bills, and resolutions, this study categorizes the problems and solutions according to the area of concern and PA paradigms. Results indicate that postmodern theories offer crucial lenses to understand BLM activists’ demands. However, Congressional bills and resolutions align more with Classical and NPM paradigms. We conclude that BLM policy proposals are more likely to be implemented if framed within NPM and “soft” postmodern perspectives. Similarly, policymakers and practitioners should know that the BLM movement reflects a postmodern approach. This study provides contributions that are relevant to both practitioners and academics.
Social Sciences, Political institutions and public administration (General)
This study aims to explore the links between the efficiency of public sector e-services and sustainable competitive advantage. In line with the emerging approach, the instrumental case study design and the mixed research strategy were used as the most appropriate methodology to answer the general research question that was raised for this study. In this context, we present the positive experience that we have discovered via the Lithuanian case study. A unified model of evaluation of the e-services development system in the public sector was developed. The model explains the application of various e-services development systems methodologies and methods in the public sector and underpins the platform for the interaction of efficiency and sustainable competitive advantage processes. The model developed helps to make the assessment of e-services more effective and demonstrates a personalised outcome that can be applied by other public sector organisations. The paper discusses the efficiency trends in the development of e-services in the public sector in order to achieve Sustainable Development Goals, as well as distinguishes and highlights procedural steps that help to improve the development of e-services and sustainable competitive advantage.
Political institutions and public administration (General)
A number of data governance policies have recently been introduced or revised by the Indian Government with the stated goal of unlocking the developmental and economic potential of data. The policies seek to implement standardized frameworks for public data management and establish platforms for data exchange. However, India has a longstanding history of record-keeping and information transparency practices, which are crucial in the context of data management. These connections have not been explicitly addressed in recent policies like the Draft National Data Governance Framework, 2022. To understand if record management has a role to play in modern public data governance, we analyze the key new data governance framework and the associated Indian Urban Data Exchange platform as a case study. The study examines the exchange where public records serve as a potential source of data. It evaluates the coverage and the actors involved in the creation of this data to understand the impact of records management on government departments’ ability to publish datasets. We conclude that while India recognizes the importance of data as a public good, it needs to integrate digital records management practices more effectively into its policies to ensure accurate, up-to-date, and accessible data for public benefit.
Information technology, Political institutions and public administration (General)