IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/poango/v4y2016i3p50-61.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Image and Substance Failures in Regional Organisations: Causes, Consequences, Learning and Change?

Author

Listed:
  • Meng Hsuan Chou

    (Public Policy and Global Affairs Programme, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)

  • Michael Howlett

    (Department of Political Science, Simon Fraser University, Canada, and Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, Singapore)

  • Kei Koga

    (Public Policy and Global Affairs Programme, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)

Abstract

States often pool their sovereignty, capacity and resources to provide regionally specific public goods, such as security or trade rules, and regional organisations play important roles in international relations as institutions that attempt to secure peace and contribute to achieving other similar global policy goals. We observe failures occurring in these arrangements and activities in two areas: substance and image. To analytically account for this, we distinguish four modes of substance and image change and link these to specific types of failure and (lack of) learning. To empirically ground and test our assumptions, we examine instances of image failure in ASEAN (political/security policy) and substantive policy failure in EU labour migration policy. In so doing, this article contributes to several different fields of study and concepts that have hitherto rarely engaged with one another: analyses of policy failure from public policy, and regional integration concerns from area studies and international relations. We conclude with suggestions for ways forward to further analyse and understand failures at the international and supranational levels.

Suggested Citation

  • Meng Hsuan Chou & Michael Howlett & Kei Koga, 2016. "Image and Substance Failures in Regional Organisations: Causes, Consequences, Learning and Change?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 4(3), pages 50-61.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v4:y:2016:i:3:p:50-61
    DOI: 10.17645/pag.v4i3.619
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/619
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/pag.v4i3.619?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lloyd S. Etheredge & James Short, 1983. "Thinking About Government Learning," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(1), pages 41-58, January.
    2. McCONNELL, ALLAN, 2010. "Policy Success, Policy Failure and Grey Areas In-Between," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 30(3), pages 345-362, December.
    3. Thomas, Gerald B., 1999. "External Shocks, Conflict and Learning as Interactive Sources of Change in U.S. Security Policy," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(2), pages 209-231, May.
    4. Paul Shrivastava, 1983. "A Typology Of Organizational Learning Systems," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(1), pages 7-28, January.
    5. George P. Huber, 1991. "Organizational Learning: The Contributing Processes and the Literatures," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 88-115, February.
    6. Gallarotti, Giulio M., 1991. "The limits of international organization: systematic failure in the management of international relations," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(2), pages 183-220, April.
    7. Peter J. May, 1999. "Fostering Policy Learning: A Challenge for Public Administration," International Review of Public Administration, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 21-31, June.
    8. Claire A. Dunlop & Claudio M. Radaelli, 2013. "Systematising Policy Learning: From Monolith to Dimensions," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 61(3), pages 599-619, October.
    9. Busenberg, George J., 2001. "Learning in Organizations and Public Policy," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(2), pages 173-189, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Meng Hsuan Chou & Michael Howlett & Kei Koga, 2016. "Image and Substance Failures in Regional Organisations: Causes, Consequences, Learning and Change?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 4(3), pages 50-61.
    2. Alastair Stark, 2019. "Policy learning and the public inquiry," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 52(3), pages 397-417, September.
    3. Nachiketa Tripathi & Sonia Nongmaithem, 2007. "Differences in Organizational Learning Processes: A Study of Two Organizations," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 32(3), pages 301-320, August.
    4. Julien Batac & Olivier de La Villarmois, 2003. "Les Interactions Controle / Apprentissage Organisationnel : Proposition D'Une Grille D'Analyse," Post-Print halshs-00582732, HAL.
    5. Böhling, Kathrin, 2009. "Symbolic knowledge at work: Comitology and learning from experts in European technology policy [Symbolisches Wissen in der europäischen Technologiepolitik: Experten, Lernen und das Ausschusswesen]," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Global Governance SP IV 2009-301, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    6. Tsang, Eric W. K., 2002. "Learning from overseas venturing experience: The case of Chinese family businesses," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 21-40, January.
    7. Michael Zarkin, 2017. "Policy Learning Mechanisms and the Regulation of US Drinking Water," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 275-291, June.
    8. Laura Castaldi & Claudio Turi & Clelia Mazzoni & Angela Delli Paoli, 2015. "Antecedents and constituents of alliance management capability: the role of valuable alliance experience and governance mechanisms for learning," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 19(4), pages 797-823, November.
    9. Nancy Beauregard & Louise Lemyre & Jacques Barrette, 2015. "The Domains of Organizational Learning Practices: An Agency-Structure Perspective," Societies, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-21, October.
    10. Agulles, Remei & Prats, Mª Julia, 2011. "Learning in practice: What organizational and management literature can contribute to professional and occupational development," IESE Research Papers D/938, IESE Business School.
    11. Florence Allard-Poesi, 1998. "Representations And Influence Processes In Groups: Towards A Socio-Cognitive Perspective On Cognition In Organization," Post-Print hal-01490579, HAL.
    12. Joanne M. Lye, 2006. "Performance Measurement in the Public Sector: A Clarification and Agenda for Research," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 16(39), pages 25-33, July.
    13. Chenhall, Robert H., 2005. "Integrative strategic performance measurement systems, strategic alignment of manufacturing, learning and strategic outcomes: an exploratory study," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 395-422, July.
    14. Siyuan Yu & Yang Zhang & Jin Yu & Xuanzhi Yang & Abbas Mardani, 2021. "The Moderating Impact of Organizational Identity Strength between Strategic Improvisation and Organizational Memory and Their Effects on Competitive Advantage," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-19, March.
    15. Devaki Rau & Thorvald Haerem, 2010. "Applying an organizational learning perspective to new technology deployment by technological gatekeepers: A theoretical model and key issues for future research," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 287-297, July.
    16. Michael Howlett & M. Ramesh, 2016. "Achilles' heels of governance: Critical capacity deficits and their role in governance failures," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(4), pages 301-313, December.
    17. Jasmina Dzinic, 2015. "Correlation Between The Administrative Leadership Style And Inclination Towards Organizational Learning In Local Administrative Organizations," Economic Thought and Practice, Department of Economics and Business, University of Dubrovnik, vol. 24(1), pages 3-26, june.
    18. Peter Gordon Roetzel, 2019. "Information overload in the information age: a review of the literature from business administration, business psychology, and related disciplines with a bibliometric approach and framework developmen," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 12(2), pages 479-522, December.
    19. Antje Witting, 2017. "Insights from ‘policy learning’ on how to enhance the use of evidence by policymakers," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 3(1), pages 1-9, December.
    20. Atif Ahmad & Kevin C. Desouza & Sean B. Maynard & Humza Naseer & Richard L. Baskerville, 2020. "How integration of cyber security management and incident response enables organizational learning," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 71(8), pages 939-953, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v4:y:2016:i:3:p:50-61. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.