Discover the latest news and updates about the Politics and Public Governance research group: new publications, activities and events, our members in the news,...
2025
11 March 2025 | Visiting researcher Federico presented his work in a PPG x STRATEGO research seminar. Federico Cuomo is one of the visiting researchers supported by the STRATEGO Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence. In February and March 2024, he is hosted by the Politics & Public Governance research group under the supervision of prof. Wouter Van Dooren. In the PPG x STRATEGO research seminar, Federico presented a draft book chapter with the preliminary title "How can localities foster robust governance? The case of school closures in Estonia, Belgium, and Italy". The chapter is written together with Wouter Van Dooren and Chiara Russo (UAntwerpen) and several other researchers in the framework of the EU-funded ROBUST project.
- Abstract: As national governments were trying to contain the spread of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, many European countries implemented school closures as part of emergency response strategies. Whether taken through the consultation of epidemiology experts or a more diverse set of actors, this decision had considerable consequences both for the children – and their cognitive and social skills, mental and physical health – and their parents. While the magnitude of such crisis ramifications is partly still unknown as we witness children born during the pandemic now starting their formal education trajectories, it is clear that it is within the local level that we can recognize the most robust efforts to mitigate context vulnerability and preserve children’s wellbeing. More specifically, this chapter argues that it is within multi-layered networked localities that we can observe inspiring examples of how to adapt and innovate in the face of the turbulence brought forward by school closures. We understand multi-layered networked localities as clearly delineated geographical areas where it is possible to observe the interactions of crisis responses from the local, national, and international level (Torfing et al., 2021). It is indeed through established policy field networks, actors’ variety and openness, and adaptation and innovation of tools, that the consequences on children’s well-being were limited and counterbalanced. Employing illustrations from three European countries – Estonia, Belgium, and Italy – this research underlines the essential role of localities in robust crisis governance. This also implies moving beyond the focus on the local government, to encompass the whole range of interconnected crisis responses implemented in a certain geographical area by a multitude of actors working together towards the same goal: uphold key public functions, goals and values – such as quality education and children’s wellbeing – by transforming the delivery of public services.
20 Feb 2025 | Professor Petra Meier has recently become a member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts (KVAB). This is an association consisting of artists, business leaders and scientists and it entails a lifetime membership. Members join one of the following four classes: Natural sciences, Arts, Technical Sciences and Human Sciences. Petra Meier belongs to that latter class.
24 Jan 2025 | Professor Petra Meier has been awarded the Francqui Chair at UCLouvain, Belgium. The Francqui Chair is a recognition for academics from other universities who excel in their field. The holder gives a series of lectures, shares their expertise, and stimulates academic collaboration. The mission of the Francqui Foundation is to promote excellence in the disinterested fundamental research by fostering higher education and scientific advancement in Belgium. The Francqui Chair, existing since 1933, is one of the cornerstone initiatives of the Foundation. This Chair encourages collaboration and exchanges between (mostly Belgian) universities. This, in turn, enriches academic environments, advances academic excellence and interdisciplinary research, and also contributes to strengthening the different universities’ reputations.
As part of the Francqui Chair, Petra Meier will teach a lecture series. The inaugural lecture is titled "Démocratie et pouvoir de la représentation", and will take place on Wednesday 12 February 2025, 11h00 at Aula Magna, Foyer royal in Louvain-la-Neuve. More information about the lecture series.
24 Jan 2025 | Koen Verhoest presented and discussed his research within the Horizon Europe TIGRE project on "Trust and Distrust in Governance and Regulation in Europe" in a KUDoS Seminar on 24 January 2025. KUDoS is the Kozminski University Doctoral School, part of Kozminski University in Warsaw, Poland. The seminar explored challenges in researching trust across sectors like financial regulation, food safety, and data protection, combining innovative methods such as surveys, social network analysis, interviews, and legal coding. The session sparked lively discussions, with participants asking numerous questions and sharing thoughtful comments. The level of engagement was truly remarkable, and it showcased the depth of interest in this critical topic. Following the seminar, participants had the opportunity to network, exchange ideas, and continue the conversations in a more informal setting. The seminar was made possible thanks to the NAWA - Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange, who supported the initiative.
21 January | New article titled "Does the Background of the Regulator Matter? The Role of Expertise and Diversity on the Perceived Competence of Regulatory Bodies", authored by Ixchel Perez-Duran, Yannis Papadopoulos, Bastiaan Redert, and Juan Carlos Triviño-Salazar published (open access) in Regulation & Governance.
- Abstract: This paper examines expertise and professional diversity within new (agencies and central banks) and traditional (ministries) regulatory bodies (RBs) and assesses their effect on the perceived competence of RBs. In particular, we address the following research questions: To what extent do members of RBs have expertise and display diversity in terms of their professional trajectories? How do expertise and professional diversity affect the perceived competence of RBs? By using two empirical sources of data, this article provides core information on the educational and professional profiles of RBs staff. In addition, the paper provides evidence that both professional diversity and expertise among RBs do not have a significant effect on their perceived competence by regime actors. However, the study also suggests that regime actors that are more closely aligned to the professional trajectory of RB members (i.e., other regulators and members of the executive branch) tend to have a more positive perception of the competence of RBs. Conversely, societal actors tend to be more critical toward RBs, suggesting that a lack of a shared language creates a greater distance from the regulators.
13 January | Prof. dr. Hans Bruyninckx talks in an article of 'Trends' about the consequences of climate change and how both national and international politics should deal with it.
2024
19 December | Prof. dr. Ria Janvier explains in 'Het Laatste Nieuws' the seven new measures on pensions that will come into force in 2025.
9 December | Prof. dr. Ria Janvier is interviewed by 'De Morgen' about future pension reforms by the next Belgian federal government and their consequences.
3 December | New article titled "How do elite core actors assess trust in national and EU authorities? The varying role of generalised trust at diferent governmental levels", authored by dr. Moritz Kappler, prof. dr. Rahel Schomaker, dr. Edoardo Guaschino and prof. dr. Koen Verhoest, published in Comparative European Politics.
- Abstract: In this paper, we position generalised trust as central to the debate on elites’ assessments of trust in EU multi-level governance. We leverage one of the most influential factors in explaining political trust in single-government studies to understand variations in trust towards political authorities at various levels. Departing from existing studies, we hypothesise the dual nature of generalised trust: while it influences how individuals assess their trust in political authorities, its impact varies depending on different degrees of perceived similarity of these authorities at either the national or the EU level. To test our hypotheses, we conducted an elite vignette experiment involving 567 decision-makers from public and private stakeholders within regulatory regimes in eight countries. The results reveal a significant positive effect of generalised trust on political trust when evaluating a national-level regulatory agency. However, trust assessments of EU-level regulatory agencies appear to be largely unaffected by generalised trust levels. Furthermore, we observed notable differences in trust assessment between private and public stakeholders, reinforcing our argument that similarity and community belonging underlie the influence of generalised trust on political trust. Our study suggests that EU-level political authorities may derive less benefit from high levels of generalised trust, compared to national political authorities. However, in instances where generalised trust is low, political authorities at the EU level have comparatively more opportunities to cultivate trust in them.
29 November | Prof. dr. Marijn Hoijtink is in a podcast of BNR where she talks about the use of AI in warfare.
22 November | Prof. dr. Hans Bruyninckx publishes an article in newspaper 'De Morgen'. In this, he explains four gaps of the climate conference in Baku and emphasises which ethical principles should be central in such climate conferences.
15 November | New article titled "A reputational perspective on structural reforms: How media reputations are related to the structural reform likelihood of public agencies", authored by prof. dr. Jan Boon, prof. dr. Jan Wynen, prof. dr. Koen Verhoest, prof. dr. Walter Daelemans and dr. Jens Lemmens, published in the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory.
- Abstract: Despite recurrent observations that media reputations of agencies matter to understand their reform experiences, no studies have theorized and tested the role of sentiment. This study uses novel and advanced BERT language models to detect attributions of responsibility for positive/negative outcomes in media coverage towards 14 Flemish (Belgian) agencies between 2000-2015 through supervised machine learning, and connects these data to the Belgian State Administration Database on the structural reforms these agencies experienced. Our results reflect an inverted U-shaped relationship: more negative reputations increase the reform likelihood of agencies, yet up to a certain point at which the reform likelihood drops again. Variations in positive and neutral reputational signals do not impact the reform likelihood of agencies. Our study contributes to understanding the role of reputation as an antecedent of structural reforms. Complementing and enriching existing perspectives, the paper shows how the sentiment in reputational signals accumulates and informs political-administrative decision-makers to engage in structural reforms.
4 November | New article titled "Performing policy conflict: A dramaturgical analysis of public participation in contentious urban planning projects", authored by Lisa De Roeck and prof. dr. Wouter Van Dooren, published in Policy Sciences.
- Abstract: Whether endemic or overt, conflict is an intrinsic part of policymaking. Public participation promises to give a place to those conflicts in a more inclusive and productive way. Previous research has primarily focused on the substance and discourse of conflict, studying what conflicts are about and how actors give meaning to conflicts. Less attention has been given to how conflicts are enacted and performed when citizens and the state meet. Using a dramaturgical approach, this paper explores how the performances, staging practices, and scenography of public participation influence policy conflicts. The research concentrates on two contentious urban projects in the Belgian city of Genk, employing ethnographic observation of participatory moments to expose the performative elements of participation. The analysis uncovers the artifacts and communicative methods that narrow the conflict scope, determine the micro-politics of the participatory meetings, and influence whose voices are heard. Using a dramaturgical analysis framework sheds light on some underexplored, micro-level dynamics of participatory efforts that may limit the scope of policy conflict. Understanding these micro-mechanisms is essential for a more inclusive and equitable urban transformation policy.