Colin Knox
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 311928 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Colin Knox |
| NOMBRES | Colin |
| APELLIDO | Knox |
| FIRMA | KNOX C |
| AFILIACIONES | University of Ulster |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4635-1204 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 89 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 396 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 87 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 2 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 1986 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 10 |
Meritocracy in authoritarian states
Purpose This paper aims to test whether Western-style meritocratic principles function authentically in authoritarian contexts, examining Chan’s (2024) proposition that authoritarian leaders prioritise political loyalty over administrative competence. Design/methodology/approach A survey of 4,650 civil/public servants across 35 national agencies in Kazakhstan (2021–2023) uses logistic regression to examine relationships between perceived merit-ba…
Post-Conflict Coercive Governance
Education, inequality and integration in Northern Ireland
Crossing the red lines? Academic ‘freedom’ in Central Asia
Political stability in authoritarian regimes
Public Administration Country Study
Kazakhstan is a post‐Soviet upper middle‐income country which claims to be a leader in regional governance in Central Asia. A key component of its development strategy since independence in 1991 has been public administration reform. This paper examines the post‐Soviet public administration legacy, its features, and how Kazakhstan has attempted to modernize. The country study considers the transition process from the Soviet period, factors which …
Local government in Northern Ireland
Variegated digital state repression in Central Asia
Existing research on digital activism in autocratic regimes tends to treat Central Asia as a homogenous entity with similar approaches to how new digital technologies are used for the purposes of state repression. Drawing on Feldstein's taxonomy of digital repression and new empirical evidence, this essay shows that digital state repression varies across the region. The presented findings add to current scholarship in three ways. First, we consid…
New Political Leadership, Plus Ça Change ? State-Civil Society Relations in Central Asia
Polarisation and inequality
This paper examines why, some 25 years beyond the Belfast-Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland (NI) remains a highly polarised society despite the return of devolution (in February 2024) after a 2-year hiatus. Using the theoretical lens of social capital, it draws on the Northern Ireland Life and Times survey and the World Values survey (the latter conducted for the first time in NI) to examine levels of trust as a pre-requisite to reconciliat…
Inequalities in undergraduate participation and performance in Irish higher education
This paper focuses on two aspects of gender inequality in Irish higher education: inequality in participation by gender and inequality of performance by gender, institution and subject. We use a rich set of data from the Higher Education Authority of Ireland which detail inter alia enrolment in institutions of higher education—Universities and Institutes of Technology—and record the class of degree received by graduating students, by subject and …
Sustainable development goals and good governance nexus
The Transforming the World 2030 agenda stresses the interconnectedness and indivisibility of sustainable development goals. This presents a major challenge for authoritarian states, specifically in implementing SDG16: promoting peaceful and inclusive societies, providing justice for all, and building effective and inclusive institutions. Existing research points to good governance as a sine qua non for implementing SDGs. Using Central Asia as a c…
Authoritarianism and civil society in Central Asia
The traditional narrative on state-civil society relations in the consolidated authoritarian regimes of Central Asia is one of coercion with little room for independent NGOs which challenge the states' discourse. There is however emerging evidence of a gradual shift in relationships. First, the distinction between independent organizations (NGOs) and government organized bodies (GONGOs) is becoming blurred as the former struggle to remain financi…
Devolution and local government
In the 25 years since the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, there has been an extensive focus on the devolved institutions in Northern Ireland. However, less attention has been paid to the subsequent overhaul of the wider system of public administration in the province, in particular local government. In 2015, a reformed local government system was introduced in Northern Ireland (NI), supposedly heralding a period of ‘super councils’. Using a fram…
Consultative Authoritarianism in Central Asia
Consultative authoritarianism is associated with regimes that provide mechanisms for citizens’ voice on public policy issues. The existing research considers the implementation of this concept through two mechanisms: civil society working in partnership with the state and public consultation channels that provide opportunities for citizens to influence government decision-making. This study examines consultative authoritarianism in Central Asia. …
Digital activism and authoritarian legitimation in post-Soviet Central Asia
Scholarly research on the role of digital activism in authoritarian settings has largely centered around debates on "liberation technology" versus "networked authoritarianism". In this article we aim to extend existing research by linking authoritarian legitimation theories with emerging scholarship on digital activism. We examine Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, two autocracies in post-Soviet Central Asia, and show how non-democratic regimes use digit…
Authoritarian and democratic states
There is a populist narrative that authoritarian regimes were better able to respond to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic because of their strict enforcement powers, compliance of citizens, and speed of autocratic decision-making in a crisis. Research evidence to date on this assertion is however inconclusive or inconsistent. This paper analyses data from democratic and authoritarian countries with the aim of finding out whether autocratic …
Political Patronage in Asian Bureaucracies
Political patronage is defined as political actors appointing individuals at their discretion to key positions in the public sector. The book examines this practice in the bureaucracies of 11 Asian countries through the use of a typological framework of patronage types. The framework is based on two key criteria: basis of trust and the major role of political appointees. Several countries with well-developed civil service systems showed minimal l…
Public sector reforms in developing countries
Developing countries have adopted or adapted public sector reform interventions based largely on the model of new public management (NPM). Since this model has now been rejected as a global ‘one‐size‐fits‐all’ framework, what does post‐new public management hold for developing countries? This paper offers a preliminary review of the literature on public sector reforms in developing countries. It charts scholarship which examined the evolution (in…
EU Peace funding
This article explores the intersection of policy implementation, conflict/peacebuilding, and the role of the EU PEACE program in Northern Ireland (NI). Conflict societies see a great investment of external funds, attempting to promote conflict resolution. Specifically, this article analyses the fourth wave of such funding in NI to examine why the EU PEACE program has not fully brought about its intended policy outcomes. Using Matland's conflict‐a…
Corruption, public procurement and political instability in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, seen as an example of political stability in Central Asia, recently descended into political turmoil. While the causes of the violence and unrest are the subject of ongoing analysis, their origins can be linked to systemic inequalities in a country rich in natural resources. Inter alia, Kazakhstan has failed to tackle insidious problems of corruption, particularly in public procurement contracts. Public procurement constitutes a signi…
Variegated Accountability
Devolution in the UK has now been in place for over 20 years. A key support mechanism for the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is the Public Account Committees (PACs). Aside from their formal role in ensuring financial regularity and probity, they aim to strengthen accountability at the regional level. This study examines the effectiveness of the PACs measured through the perception of key stakeholders (PAC members…
The ‘Eyes and Ears of Parliament’
Devolution in the United Kingdom heralded a significant change in democratic arrangements including associated accountability mechanisms in the form of public accounts committees (PACs) in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This paper investigates whether devolved arrangements have resulted in enhanced accountability. Based on documentary sources, survey data, and interviews with key stakeholders, this study finds that all three jurisdictions …
Open government and citizen empowerment in authoritarian states
The introduction of open government has been used in many countries to improve the transparency, accountability of the state, and promote participation by citizens in collaborative governance. Its potential for public services improvement, citizen empowerment, and a positive impact on reducing corruption have attracted scholarly attention. Set alongside this, open government initiatives have facilitated greater access to information which can be …
Development evaluation in authoritarian states
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland has been described as a ‘post conflict’ society with a stable political environment following the peace process, and yet it is a hugely segregated society with significant social deprivation. With peace came the promise of a ‘peace dividend’ for those most affected by the violence. This paper uses the Department for International Development's (DFID) ‘state building for peace’ model as a way of understanding and analysing the fra…
Bureau Shuffling? The Review of Public Administration in Northern Ireland
The Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement of 1998 resulted in the return of devolved government to Northern Ireland and, with it, a decision by the Executive and Assembly to conduct a radical review of public administration. The review is now reaching its final stages and this paper considers the likely outcomes. It both argues that the parameters of the review will limit its impact and describes the reform proposals as either structural changes or adm…
See No Evil, Hear No Evil'. Insidious Paramilitary Violence in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland has been variously described as having an ‘imperfect peace’ in which ‘acceptable levels of violence’ persist. Despite the endorsement of the main political parties to the principles of ‘democracy and non-violence’ enshrined in the Belfast Agreement, an insidious and brutalising form of paramilitary violence continues within communities. The government has opted to ‘see no evil, hear no evil’ given what is at stake in the wider po…
Establishing research legitimacy in the contested political ground of contemporary Northern Ireland
Despite the plethora of literature on the macro politics of Northern Ireland, there is a dearth of material on grassroots activity, in particular the dynamic between communities and paramilitary groups which enforce 'law and order' in working-class areas. Political progress in the form of the Belfast Agreement (1998) has overshadowed the ongoing level of violence at the micro level and the voice of victims remains unheard in the search to attain …
Open government and citizen empowerment in authoritarian states
The introduction of open government has been used in many countries to improve the transparency, accountability of the state, and promote participation by citizens in collaborative governance. Its potential for public services improvement, citizen empowerment, and a positive impact on reducing corruption have attracted scholarly attention. Set alongside this, open government initiatives have facilitated greater access to information which can be …
Peace Building in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland has witnessed significant political progress with devolution and a power sharing Executive in place since May 2007. These political achievements, however, conceal a highly polarised society characterised by sectarianism and community divisions, the legacy of a protracted conflict. This paper is located in the theoretical discourse between consociationalists who argue that antithetical identities cannot be integrated and advocates…
Crossing the Divide
Despite the elusiveness of a `solution' to the Northern Ireland problem, either politically or militarily, many public policy issues (education, housing, employment) have been re-examined to address the underlying causes of divisiveness between the two communities. This article looks at the contributions of one such policy initiative, a `bottom-up' community-based approach to peace under the auspices of local authorities. Qualitative evidence fro…
Recent Political Difficulties of Local Government in N. Ireland
Local government in N. lreland has frequently been associated with political controversy particularly since May 1985 following the election of Sinn Fein councillors and the subsequent signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement. This paper traces Unionist reaction to both events, the impact on local services and the government’s role in the affair. The authors argue that the Unionist protest has failed in the face of legal reprimands, additional powers …
Devolution—The Northern Ireland Way
Devolution in Northern Ireland followed directly from the 1998 Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement which provided, inter alia, for a democratically elected Assembly “inclusive in its membership, capable of exercising executive and legislative authority, and subject to safeguards to protect the rights and interests of all sides of the community”. More than six years on, the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly are in suspension for the fourth time …
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is at a political and administrative cross‐roads. Politically the Good Friday Agreement has paved the way for devolved government, and administratively the system of Direct Rule from Westminster will come to an end. This article examines the major problems of accountability linked to Direct Rule government and sets out a policy agenda for the new Northern Ireland Assembly
Public councils in Kazakhstan
As Kazakhstan aims to become one of the top 30 developed countries by 2050, it is increasingly turning to ways which will improve its governance, one of which is greater participation by its citizens in the decision-making processes of state agencies. A new initiative aimed at doing just that, the establishment of public councils, received legal backing in January 2016. The aim of public councils is to ‘strengthen democracy and the quality and re…
State-Society Relations
Kazakhstan has provided the economic exemplar for other Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries since its independence in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union. It has been classified by the World Bank as an ‘upper middle income’ country and witnessed sustained growth in spite of the global recession. Political reforms however have been slower to realize, and the Presidential Republic still remains a highly centralized and au…
Segregation, inequality, and educational performance in Northern Ireland
Cohesion, Sharing, and Integration in Northern Ireland
The devolved government in Northern Ireland pledged to work for a ‘shared and better future for all’ in its Programme for Government 2008–11. In pursuit of this goal it launched a consultation document entitled Programme for Cohesion, Sharing and Integration which challenged the assumption that division and segregation is a ‘normal’ pattern of living. I locate the policy proposals contained within the new programme in the research on community co…
Tackling Racism in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland has been dubbed by the media as the ‘race hate capital of Europe’ and attracted recent international criticism after one hundred Roma families were forced to flee their homes following racist attacks. This paper examines the problem of racism in Northern Ireland from a number of perspectives. First, it considers the effectiveness of the Government's response to racism against its Racial Equality Strategy 2005–10 using performance…
Towards ‘a New Era’? Some Developments in Governance of Northern Ireland
For Better or Worse? Community Relations Initiatives in Northern Ireland
The last ten years have seen the most sustained attempt by the British government to address the underlying problems of segregation and division in Northern Ireland through a reexamination of public policy issues (housing, education, and employment). This paper examines the contribution of one such policy initiative, a “bottom‐up” approach to community relations under the auspices of the Central Community Relations Unit. Official evaluations of t…
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and joined the Commonwealth of Independent States. Since then it has witnessed a remarkable economic transformation under the leadership of President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Pursuing a policy of `economy first and then politics', Kazakhstan is under growing pressure to engage in political reforms which include a modernization agenda to improve public service provision. Recent consti…
Policy making in Northern Ireland
The public policy-making process in Northern Ireland during the period of direct rule from Westminster (1972–99) was dominated by senior civil servants working for busy British ministers preoccupied with wider constitutional and security issues. The recent return to devolved government after its fitful start has ushered in a new era of policy making informed to a much greater extent by evidence gathering. This article considers a significant poli…
Authoritarianism and civil society in Central Asia
The traditional narrative on state-civil society relations in the consolidated authoritarian regimes of Central Asia is one of coercion with little room for independent NGOs which challenge the states' discourse. There is however emerging evidence of a gradual shift in relationships. First, the distinction between independent organizations (NGOs) and government organized bodies (GONGOs) is becoming blurred as the former struggle to remain financi…
The Politics of Local Government Reform in Northern Ireland
A major review of public administration in Northern Ireland has resulted in proposals for radical reforms in health, education and local government services. Although originating from the devolved government of 1999, intermittent suspensions resulted in Direct Rule Ministers taking over responsibility for the review. This article traces the influence of a sizeable body of research evidence on the outcomes of the review, specifically controversial…
Corruption, public procurement and political instability in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, seen as an example of political stability in Central Asia, recently descended into political turmoil. While the causes of the violence and unrest are the subject of ongoing analysis, their origins can be linked to systemic inequalities in a country rich in natural resources. Inter alia, Kazakhstan has failed to tackle insidious problems of corruption, particularly in public procurement contracts. Public procurement constitutes a signi…
Public Policy, Philanthropy and Peacebuilding in Northern Ireland
This book examines the role played by one important external stakeholder, Atlantic Philanthropies, a limited-life foundation, in helping to build peace and promote reconciliation in Northern Ireland
The contribution of ‘shared education’ to Catholic–Protestant reconciliation in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland has achieved political stability and its devolved government is now tackling public policy issues neglected during periods of sectarian violence. Notwithstanding the prevailing political optimism, one legacy of the conflict is a deeply divided society. This is particularly manifest in the education system where around 90% of children attend either state (controlled) schools ( de facto Protestant) or Catholic (maintained) schools,…
Improving Public Services
The devolved government in Northern Ireland set about the task of putting in place 'a modern and effective system of public administration that can deliver high quality public services to our citizens'. It did so through a review of public administration launched in June 2002. This article offers a formative evaluation of the quest to improve the quality of public services, now being taken forward by a British minister since the suspension of dev…
A review of the 1985 local government election in Northern Ireland
Political symbolism and leisure provision in Northern Ireland local government
The 1985 local government elections in Northern Ireland
"The 1985 local government elections in Northern Ireland." Irish Political Studies, 1(1), pp. 103–110
Territorialism
The pattern of council leisure provision in Northern Ireland can be viewed in territorial terms. There are examples of leisure and community centres sited to serve one community to the exclusion of another. The corollary of such an approach is to blame district councils for using leisure services, in the absence of other major functions, in an overtly political and sectarian manner. Such a stricture ignores many other factors which have influence…
Local government in northern Ireland — a crossroads
Recent Political Difficulties of Local Government in N. Ireland
Local government in N. lreland has frequently been associated with political controversy particularly since May 1985 following the election of Sinn Fein councillors and the subsequent signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement. This paper traces Unionist reaction to both events, the impact on local services and the government’s role in the affair. The authors argue that the Unionist protest has failed in the face of legal reprimands, additional powers …
Measuring housing effectiveness
Effectiveness within housing as a publicly‐provided service has been neglected to a large extent with a concentration on needs assessment and probity of spending. Little attention is paid to the impact of housing services on the ultimate recipients—tenants. This paper, through a case study in the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, attempts to assess the usefulness of customer evaluation as one element of performance measurement The value of invo…
Sinn Fein and Local Elections
Journal Article SINN FEIN AND LOCAL ELECTIONS: THE GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSE IN NORTHERN IRELAND Get access Colin Knox Colin Knox Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Parliamentary Affairs, Volume 43, Issue 4, October 1990, Pages 448–463, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.pa.a052268 Published: 01 October 1990
The 1989 local elections in Northern Ireland
Policy evaluation in leisure services — The Northern Ireland case
Public policy evaluation in leisure has been largely ignored until recently when attempts have been made to assess the impact of capital and revenue expenditure and its value-for-money consequences. Two recent studies — the Roberts' Report: Community response to leisure provision in Belfast (1989) and the Local Government Audit study (DoE, 1989) on indoor provision in Northern Ireland — highlight the difficulties in evaluating leisure policy. A d…
Policy Differences Within the United Kingdom
This article examines, through a case study of housing, the extent to which national housing policies under the Thatcher government were modified or deflected at the N. Ireland regional level. Three aspects of housing policy ‐ housing expenditure, public sector rents and the ‘right‐to‐buy’ legislation are considered and the roles of key actors within the territorial community described. Although similarities with GB housing policy emerge, there i…
Leisure in the 1990s
Accountability and Local Budgetary Policy
The desire to improve local accountability has been at the heart of recent reforms to local government finance in Britain. Local government in Northern Ireland remains immune from these reforms with the government arguing that the same problem of lack of accountability does not apply there. The government’s arguments are reviewed and measures of local accountability are developed. The claim that local government in Northern Ireland is different, …
Compulsory competitive tendering in Northern Ireland local government
Conflict Resolution at the Microlevel
Although much attention is paid to the high profile political initiatives aimed at tackling the seemingly intractable problems of Northern Ireland, little has been written about the United Kingdom government's strategy to achieve equality of opportunity and equity of treatment across the two communities at grassroots level. This article selects one initiative—the community relations programme in local authorities—as part of a broader thrust by go…
Equality and equity
A series of equality and equity measures has been introduced by the British Government to tackle the seemingly intractable problems of Northern Ireland. These measures represent a range of initiatives in the areas of social need, fair employment, education reform and community relations. The implementation of the community relations programme is considered in some detail as a case study in improving equality and equity in Northern Ireland. Qualit…
Local Government and Community Relations
Local government and community relations could appear, to the sceptical observer of events in Northern Ireland, as a contradiction in terms. As early as 1922 the unionist government consolidated its grip on local politics through the Local Government (NI) Act which replaced proportional representation with majority voting, redrew ward boundaries and altered the franchise by incorporating property ownership as a qualification for the vote (O’Dowd …
Concept Mapping in Policy Evaluation
Ideal experimental design conditions rarely exist in public policy evaluation. It is not uncommon for evaluators to be faced with a situation where a collection of programmes is being implemented in pursuance of a public policy, couched in nebulous terms, which is more politically defensible than pragmatic. The individual programmes, which collectively equate to 'the policy', may have had staggered starting times with no baseline measurements and…
Cross‐community contact
Since 1989 a community relations programme has been undertaken by Northern Ireland's local authorities. The programme is based upon ‘contact’ between the two communities, with the aim of improving mutual understanding and respect for different cultural traditions. Similar ‘encounter’ programmes have been in operation over a longer period in Israel. This article traces the theoretical underpinnings for such contact schemes, describes the backgroun…
Policy Evaluation
There is a growing recognition that obtaining feedback from users is a fundamental and integral part of measuring effectiveness and without such a perspective, policy evaluation will have limited legitimacy. There is still, however, widespread uncertainty about how best to carry this out or in what circumstances, given methodological and other constraints, such an approach is likely to be worthwhile. The aim of this article is not to rehearse in …
Compulsory competitive tendering in Northern Ireland local government
Social and economic influences on voting in Northern Ireland
This paper seeks to undertake an electoral ecology approach to voting behaviour in Northern Ireland. The returns of the 1991 population census and the 1993 local election results are examined in order to explore the demographic and socio‐economic characteristics of voting behaviour. Two aspects are considered: the party share of first preference votes and turnout. While the analysis confirms that some of the basic divisions remain strongly in evi…
Political Context and Program Evaluation
Program evaluations have assumed a much greater importance as pressure on public expenditure increases. This article eschews evaluation designs that are politically vacuous by drawing attention to the importance of contextual variables in a case study of a community relations program based in Northern Ireland. The research illustrates the dilemma now faced by evaluators in the United Kingdom. The demands of short-term, context-stripped, value-for…
Crossing the Divide
Despite the elusiveness of a `solution' to the Northern Ireland problem, either politically or militarily, many public policy issues (education, housing, employment) have been re-examined to address the underlying causes of divisiveness between the two communities. This article looks at the contributions of one such policy initiative, a `bottom-up' community-based approach to peace under the auspices of local authorities. Qualitative evidence fro…
For Better or Worse? Community Relations Initiatives in Northern Ireland
The last ten years have seen the most sustained attempt by the British government to address the underlying problems of segregation and division in Northern Ireland through a reexamination of public policy issues (housing, education, and employment). This paper examines the contribution of one such policy initiative, a “bottom‐up” approach to community relations under the auspices of the Central Community Relations Unit. Official evaluations of t…
Political science (84 obras) · Sociology (63 obras) · Law (55 obras) · Law (52 obras) · Public Administration (50 obras) · Irish and British Studies (48 obras) · Public Administration (44 obras) · Politics (43 obras) · Economics (41 obras) · Northern ireland (39 obras)