LIST OF PANELS

Panel Title: The AIM of Governance in the 21st Century: Actors Instrumentation and Modes of Governance Co-chairs: Prof Helen Sullivan, Melbourne School of Government (helen.sullivan@unimelb.edu.au) Prof Jenny M. Lewis, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne (jmlewis@unimelb.edu.au) Dr Damon Alexander, Melbourne School of Government (dta@unimelb.edu.au) Overview Governance is the act of governing.  It is what a governing body does and how rules are decided upon and implemented.  Its purpose is to make policy and deliver services but also to steer society more generally, which signals that it is a more dynamic concept than ‘government’.  In a social, economic and political environment marked by increasing complexity, meeting these governance challenges relies upon three interrelated factors: Actors: The skills, creativity and expertise of actors involved in governance and policy processes and their capacity to work together  in designing, co-producing, implementing and coordinating well targeted policy responses  and service delivery programs; Instruments: The [re]design and application of new, innovative and well-targeted governance tools, mechanisms and instruments; Modes of governance: The [re]conceptualization, [re]configuration, and [re]generation of formal and informal institutions, relationships and processes. Understanding the prerequisites for effective governance in the 21st century and designing and building the necessary capacities, institutions and processes to meet contemporary challenges requires us to work across these three broad levels: the micro level where our focus is primarily on the capacity of individual actors and/or teams; the meso level where our focus is primarily upon governance instrumentation; and the macro level where our focus is primarily upon architecture or modes of governance.  This panel will bring together leading scholars working across each of these fields and will explore the contribution that actors, instrumentation and new modes of governance can make to better understanding and meeting the challenges of effective governance in the 21st century. Key areas for panel participants will include: Exploring how individual actors (politicians, political staff, public servants, citizens) understand and make sense of their roles; how they develop the skills and expertise necessary to perform them effectively; and how they interact with broader institutional and organisational contexts to shape the development of governance systems, public policy and the delivery of public services;  Developing a more detailed and nuanced picture of the policy design process and the crafting of responses to complex policy problems; examining new and emerging developments in policy and governance instrumentation and testing their application; Examining the evolution, design, application and effectiveness of hierarchical, market-based, network-based and hybrid modes of governance; We invite papers that examine either one or several of these three aspects at the local, national or international level. We are particularly interested in receiving comparative papers that examine multiple policy sectors in a single jurisdiction, or single policy sectors, such as health, education, environmental or urban policy, across multiple jurisdictions.

Governance is the act of governing.  It is what a governing body does and how rules are decided upon and implemented.  Its purpose is to make policy and deliver services but also to steer society more generally, which signals that it is a more dynamic concept than ‘government’.  In a social, economic and political environment marked by increasing complexity, meeting these governance challenges relies upon three interrelated factors: Actors: The skills, creativity and expertise of actors involved in governance and policy processes and their capacity to work together  in designing, co-producing, implementing and coordinating well targeted policy responses  and service delivery programs;  Instruments: The [re]design and application of new, innovative and well-targeted governance tools, mechanisms and instruments;  Modes of governance: The [re]conceptualization, [re]configuration, and [re]generation of formal and informal institutions, relationships and processes.    Understanding the prerequisites for effective governance in the 21st century and designing and building the necessary capacities, institutions and processes to meet contemporary challenges requires us to work across these three broad levels: the micro level where our focus is primarily on the capacity of individual actors and/or teams; the meso level where our focus is primarily upon governance instrumentation; and the macro level where our focus is primarily upon architecture or modes of governance.  This panel will bring together leading scholars working across each of these fields and will explore the contribution that actors, instrumentation and new modes of governance can make to better understanding and meeting the challenges of effective governance in the 21st century. Key areas for panel participants will include:  Exploring how individual actors (politicians, political staff, public servants, citizens) understand and make sense of their roles; how they develop the skills and expertise necessary to perform them effectively; and how they interact with broader institutional and organisational contexts to shape the development of governance systems, public policy and the delivery of public services; Developing a more detailed and nuanced picture of the policy design process and the crafting of responses to complex policy problems; examining new and emerging developments in policy and governance instrumentation and testing their application;  Examining the evolution, design, application and effectiveness of hierarchical, market-based, network-based and hybrid modes of governance.