Public Governance, Administration and Finances Law Review

Missouri v. Biden: Governmental Efforts to Suppress Free Expression

Weaver Russell L. — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200

The development of the internet, along with the creations of social media platforms, has created a unique opportunity for governmental officials to control freedom of expression. This article examines how the Biden Administration requested, encouraged, pressured and even threatened social media platforms to censor certain types of speech, and even to ban certain individuals from their platforms, and it analyses the Biden Administration’s actions in light of U.S. free speech principles.

Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Everything and the Scope and Scale of Seduction at the Boundaries of Law

Losavio Michael M. — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Online and algorithmic systems can promote the emotional, intellectual and political seduction of people. The power and scope of these systems may create new threats against which traditional means of protection may be overwhelmed. We discuss possible legal and technical ways to combat such misconduct as to protect the innocent and the autonomy of the individual.

Speech as "Hybrid Warfare"

Zeno-Zencovich Vincenzo — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Long ago one used to say: “In a war truth is the first casualty.” The saying now should go: “In a modern war the first shot is a speech.” This paper wishes to point out how, over the last decade, informational activities have been classified as a form of “hybrid warfare” that should be countered and defeated. It analyses how traditional propaganda is now qualified as hybrid warfare and what are its consequences under international law, what does one mean for “disinformation” or “misinformation”, and how and who can determine it, as well as what are the consequences of the weaponisation of informational activity in a democratic system and in its public debate. The paper argues that a hybrid warfare is a catch-all expression which can include any kind of activity deemed as “hostile” by a country, the notion of disinformation is misleading and fuzzy, and is apt to include any sort of speech, from simple facts to statements of opinion, finally, the emphasis on hostile speech as a form of hybrid warfare has a spillover effect in domestic public debate with a powerful silencing effect on non-conventional views.

Legal Education in a Globalised Era

Hao Qian — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200

China’s legal education plays a unique and vital role in the national strategy to modernise its legal system, a foundation that has underpinned the country’s rapid ascent. This paper analyses this often-overlooked facet of China’s development by situating legal education within the broader framework of governmental initiatives. Faced with the challenge of establishing a functional legal infrastructure with extremely limited resources, China’s policymakers have adopted two primary approaches since the late 1970s. First, they have concentrated most legislative efforts on the large-scale transplantation of Western laws. Second, they have effectively transformed law schools into hubs for generating legislative knowledge and training legal professionals. The Foreign-Related Rule of Law initiative, the latest manifestation of the state-directed strategy, continues to shape legal education by introducing new objectives and challenges. This paper argues that to fully comprehend China’s path to modernisation, one must understand how legal education is embedded within its grand national development strategy.

Change Management and Sustainable Growth Rate

Ken Kalala Ndalamba, Nelma Irene Cardoso Manuel — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Effective change management creates value for firms prepared to respond to market challenges robustly and forthrightly to gain competitive advantage. This study identifies the role of effective change management in promoting the capabilities of firms to remain sustainable and resilient amid economic crises. After engaging with the concept of crises and change management, this study analyses the banking sector in Angola with a particular focus on commercial banks. The financial statements of banks were scrutinised over the period between 2013 and 2023 with a view to determine the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR), which is considered an indicator of sustainability and resilience. Only four banks managed to successfully navigate through the roller-coaster period of crisis with a positive SGR throughout the period of analysis. This case study attempts to bridge theories and praxis to inform both scholars and practitioners. The study concludes by identifying four important contributions and suggesting opportunities for further research and application.

Value-Informed Public Service

Turner Allison H. — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200

This paper introduces the concept of Value-Informed Public Service, emphasising the critical interrelationship between public service values, professionalism and information literacy in 21^stcentury public administration. Using a conceptual analytical methodology, the study explores how public administrators operate in complex environments characterised by competing values and discretionary decision-making. Key findings highlight that effective public service requires integrating individual value orientations, professional standards and information literacy to guide context-specific decision-making while maintaining legitimacy with citizens and colleagues. The paper recommends institutionalising this integrated framework within public affairs education to prepare competent civic professionals. The originality of this study lies in bridging the theoretical and practical elements of these often separately acknowledged concepts, providing an enduring framework that advances both the scholarship and practice of public administration.

Recent Trends in the Argumentation of the European Court of Human Rights on Children’s Rights

Lux Ágnes — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200

The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is a key human rights treaty ratified by all EU member states and beyond. Although it does not focus specifically on children, it includes relevant provisions and obliges states to protect the rights of all individuals, including children. Moreover, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN CRC) is ratified by all ECHR member states, which presumably contributed to the greater focus to the increase of child rights reasoning. This paper explores how ECHR provisions – particularly Article 8 on the right to privacy and family life, Article 3 on the prohibition of torture and other forms of cruel, degrading treatment, and Article 14 on non-discrimination – and recent European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) rulings contribute to the wider protection of children’s rights, analysing their use as rhetorical arguments in legal reasoning.

The Impact of Non-performing Loans on Bank Profitability

Kalkan Göktürk — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Non-performing loans (NPLs) are widely recognised as key indicators of the health of banks and, by extension, the broader economy. This study examines the impact of NPLs on the profitability of banks in Türkiye from 2003 to 2020, using Return on Assets (ROA) as the primary profitability measure. Panel data from 15 deposit banks were analysed using a robust least squares regression (with M-estimation) to address outliers and heteroscedasticity. Key variables include the NPL ratio, ownership concentration (OC), bank size, deposit ratio, consumer price index (CPI) and gross domestic product growth rate. The analysis shows a significant negative relationship between NPLs and ROA, indicating that higher NPL levels are associated with lower ROA. OC and CPI also exhibit negative effects on ROA, whereas bank size, deposit ratio and GDP growth rate have positive impacts on profitability. These findings underscore the need for effective NPL management to maintain the financial health of banks. The results highlight the importance of internal management efficiency, macroeconomic stability and robust regulatory frameworks in improving bank profitability in Türkiye.

After Authority

Varga Csaba — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Authority is a fundamental tool of social integration. By selecting the most laudable and exemplary patterns, behaviours, actions or events – whether real or merely imagined – from the entire range of potentialities, it creates a community capable of communal action, by transforming an undifferentiated mass of independent individuals into a somewhat cohesive social group able to find common ground on matters vital for their shared existence, thus turning mere quantity into quality. It is thus evident that the existence of a certain degree of authority is also the basis for the viability of public administration, public policy and public management – to name but a few – in any given society. This paper will examine the conditions, manifestations and correlations of authority in the various domains of its social context, in order to provide a comprehensive account of its existence, its inevitability, but also the dangers inherent in its weakening.