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Decentralization, driven by the promise of improved governance, has gained prominence on policy agendas and in policy research. Yet, its practical implications for local governments remain underexplored. Concurrently, digitalization is gaining traction as a promising strategy to empower local governments, though its potential role in supporting decentralization processes is not fully understood. This research adopts a socio-technical perspective. It integrates Technology Affordances and Constraints Theory with a typology of technological perceptions to explore how digitalization can empower local governments in implementing decentralization. Empirically, the research is grounded in 36 focus groups involving nearly 250 participants and 11 expert interviews within nine Flemish local governments. Findings indicate that: (1) local governments primarily associate decentralization with an increased demand for capacity; (2) they recognize digitalization's potential specifically in enhancing administrative and policy capacities; yet (3) they predominantly perceive digital technologies through a narrow tool view. Overall, the findings reveal a persistent tendency among local governments to approach digitalization as a “magic bullet”, often overlooking its broader socio-technical context. These findings contribute to the theoretical understanding of digitalization and decentralization and offer practical implications for policymakers seeking to strengthen both processes.

This article applies Punctuated Equilibrium Theory (PET) to analyze the dynamics of budget change in Latin America. Using functional data on central government expenditures from 14 countries over more than two decades, the study provides a descriptive assessment of whether annual budget changes follow the leptokurtic distribution predicted by PET—marked by stability interspersed with infrequent but large shifts. The methodological strategy combines descriptive statistics, formal tests of normality, and logistic regression models to examine both distributional patterns and the probability of punctuation. The findings provide robust empirical support for PET. Across all countries, budget changes deviate from a normal distribution, exhibiting high kurtosis and fat tails. Moreover, the likelihood of punctuation varies systematically across policy sectors and national contexts. Volatility is concentrated in areas such as housing and economic affairs, while functions like education and public safety are more stable. Countries with stronger institutional frameworks display lower punctuation frequencies, suggesting a link between budget dynamics and broader governance characteristics. By applying PET to a diverse set of Latin American cases, the study contributes to the global validation of policy process theories and highlights the framework's flexibility in capturing fiscal dynamics under conditions of institutional heterogeneity and political complexity.

This article examines the impact of public deliberation on health policy development in Thailand over the past decade. It highlights how deliberative democratic principles have been operationalized within a middle-income country context. Drawing on qualitative data from document analysis, participant observation, focus groups, and in-depth interviews, the study investigates the institutional roles of the National Health Commission Office (NHCO) and the National Health Security Office (NHSO), which together provide a dual framework for upstream policy deliberation and downstream service governance. The analysis reveals that Thailand's deliberative infrastructure has contributed to greater inclusivity, improved responsiveness, and enhanced legitimacy in health policymaking. Key enabling factors include representative recruitment practices, culturally and linguistically adaptive engagement methods, iterative deliberative design, and mechanisms that facilitate the translation of public input into policy outcomes. However, the study also identifies ongoing challenges, including resource constraints, bureaucratic resistance, political fragmentation, and digital inequalities. These limitations affect the depth, consistency, and reach of deliberative practices. The article concludes by offering recommendations for institutional strengthening and adaptive design, emphasizing the importance of embedding deliberation within policy cycles to ensure its sustainability. Thailand's experience offers important lessons for scholars and practitioners of participatory governance in health systems globally.

The evolution of national security throughout history is undeniably dynamic. New domains and threats continue to emerge alongside economic, societal, and technological developments, requiring both international and national actors to adapt their governance approaches. One of the most prominent domains of contemporary security is the security of digital technologies. The emergence of these new domains brings with it alternative models of governance that shift away from traditional reliance on political authority and coercive power, emphasizing instead expertise and regulation. The European Union exemplifies this shift with its regulatory security governance model. Whether this model can be effectively applied at the nation-state level is examined through a case study of the Czech Republic's National Cyber and Information Security Agency (NÚKIB). The study builds upon a methodological framework previously used to analyze European supranational institutions and draws primarily on the agency's official publications and semi-structured interviews with its personnel. This article contributes to the ongoing debate about the interaction between positive and regulatory security governance exercised by international and national actors. The findings highlight the complex nature of cybersecurity governance and offer insights into how epistemic authority and expert-driven legitimacy influence the national cybersecurity landscape.