K08 - Risk, Security and Policy Design
Date: Jun 3 | Time: 08:45am to 10:15am | Location:
Navigating Risk Regulation Regimes to Improve Disaster Risk Management and Prevention in Local and Regional Municipalities in Quebec: Catherine P. Perras (École nationale d'administration publique), Julie-Maude Normandin (École nationale d'administration publique), Marie-Christine Therrien (École nationale d'administration publique)
Abstract: In Quebec, the responsibility for public safety, and more specifically for disaster risk management, is shared between all government levels, the private sector and civil society. Within this structure, local and regional administrations are expected to adopt an all-hazards risk management approach and to implement appropriate prevention measures (Ministère de la Sécurité publique, 2008). Municipalities are concerned with hazards as varied as coastal erosion, flooding, heat waves or the transportation of dangerous goods. However, this task is complicated by the multiplicity of stakeholders involved, who often pursue different interests, and the variability in the distribution of responsibilities and resources for different types of risks.
Research on risk regulation regimes highlights how governance structures are organized differently for various types of hazards. These differences can be explained by context elements such as the type of risk, public opinion, and the existence and power of influence of interests groups (Hood, Rothstein and Baldwin, 2001). Other studies have discussed the conditions allowing for the structure of urban risk regulation regimes to be transformed in order to become more sustainable (Solecki, Pelling and Garschagen, 2017).
Based on a documentary analysis of risk management public policy as well as a series of interviews with local, regional and provincial officials, this communication aims to identify transformational mechanisms in order to facilitate the adoption of a risk management approach and prevention measures by regional and local administrations.
Global Indexes, Lesson Drawing and Policy Design in Cyber-security: Ryan Deschamps (University of Waterloo), Bessma Momani (University of Waterloo)
Abstract: Setting policy goals in Cybersecurity must balance protection from cyberattacks with the principle benefits of a free and open internet. As a result, most developed and many developing countries have turned to cyber-security strategies to inform the public and set priorities for government action. Existing research is inconsistent in its view of these strategies, leading to a debate about whether national cybersecurity strategies reflect divergent policies based on a country’s cultural values and/or political interests, or global convergence influenced by industry interests through formal ranking indices such as the Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI). Using the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) framework (from which the GCI is derived) we used content analysis of the cybersecurity documents to produce a correspondence analysis of 25 countries. Based on the extent that content refers directly to the TCU frameworks main concerns (legal, technical, cooperative, organizational and capacity building), we test the extent to which international instruments such as the GCI influence the production of these documents, and whether different countries have different preferences for these groups of policy instruments. The existence of content outside this framework suggests that domestic concerns such as trade dependency or imminent risk of cyber-attacks also factor into cyber-strategy documents. As a result we argue that the divide among nations in cybersecurity comes from necessity, rather than values and reflects a policy design perspective rather than cultural and geo-political concerns.
Going in Opposite Directions? The Reform of Health Care in Ontario: Paul Barker (Brescia University College)
Abstract: Going in Opposite Directions? The Reform of Health Care in Ontario
In early 2019, the new Ford government announced the outlines of a new arrangement for health care in Ontario. The fourteen regional health care authorities which had responsibility for many of the health services would be transformed into a single authority. With this decision, it appeared that the province had ended its experiment with regionalization, for the action rejected the belief that bringing the management of care closer to local communities would address concerns with the provision of health care. However, the new initiative also included the establishment of at least 30 health teams located throughout the province. Prominent health care providers and others with an interest in health care were expected to come together to provide an integrated set of services for populations ranging up to half a million residents. The resulting health teams would allegedly be in a better position than their predecessors to respond to the specific health-care needs of the various areas. The reform thus also suggested a strong commitment to a regional or decentralized approach.
The intent of the proposed paper is to discover the theoretical basis for the new approach for health care in Ontario and to assess the prospects for success. Initial investigations indicate that the plan relies partly on a theory of self-organization that would allow the health teams to emerge without the kind of formal organizational apparatus that hindered the efforts of the fourteen regional health authorities.