ILR School Ph.D. Dissertations

Compiled by Susan LaCette.ILRSchoolPhD.pdf: 4022 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

Multilateral political party assistance on societies in transition to democracy: a critical review

Several international actors have been engaged in democracy promotion initiatives devoted to supporting and assisting democratisation reforms. Various projects were implemented to assist political parties in societies in transition. In this paper, I will integrate the debate concerning political party aid with the international dimensions of democratisation and theories of cooperation. This is motivated by the fact that most research on the development of political parties and party systems in transitional societies is still very much concentrated on internal factors, neglecting the intervention and the potential impact of democracy promotion initiatives. I begin with a clarification of the main concepts in discussion, followed by a critical assessment of the theoretical approaches proposed in the literature, focusing in the impacts for societies in transition. I argue that disaggregating democracy aid into its components is a more promising analytical strategy. In terms of donors’ strategies, two tendencies emerge clearly: there is a preference for the model of influence by consent and a tendency to formulate linear assumptions on the attitudes and strategies of the actors in the recipient country

Faculty Research in Progress, 2018-2019

The production of scholarly research continues to be one of the primary missions of the ILR School. During a typical academic year, ILR faculty members published or had accepted for publication over 25 books, edited volumes, and monographs, 170 articles and chapters in edited volumes, numerous book reviews. In addition, a large number of manuscripts were submitted for publication, presented at professional association meetings, or circulated in working paper form. Our faculty\u27s research continues to find its way into the very best industrial relations, social science and statistics journal

Bridging Organizational Silos

{Excerpt} A silo is a tall, self-contained cylindrical structure that isused to store commodities such as grain after a harvest. It is also a figure of speech for organizational entities—and their management teams—that lack the desire or motivation to coordinate (at worst, even communicate) with other entities in the same organization. Wide recognition of the metaphor intimates that structural barriers in sizable organizations often cause units to work against one another: silos, politics, and turf wars are often mentioned in the same breath. An organization is a social arrangement to pursue a collective intent. Coordination, and the requisite communication it implies, is fundamental to organizational performance toward that. Yet, many organizations grapple with the challenge of connecting the subsystems they have devised to enhance specific contributing functions. Here and there, organizational, spatial, and social boundaries impede—when they do not block—the flows of knowledge needed to make full use of capabilities. High costs are borne from duplication of effort, inconsistencies, and inefficiencies. Everywhere, large organizations must move from managing silos to managing systems

Institutional theory and legislatures

Institutionalism has become one of the dominant strands of theory within contemporary political science. Beginning with the challenge to behavioral and rational choice theory issued by March and Olsen, institutional analysis has developed into an important alternative to more individualistic approaches to theory and analysis. This body of theory has developed in a number of ways, and perhaps the most commonly applied version in political science is historical institutionalism that stresses the importance of path dependency in shaping institutional behaviour. The fundamental question addressed in this book is whether institutionalism is useful for the various sub-disciplines within political science to which it has been applied, and to what extent the assumptions inherent to institutional analysis can be useful for understanding the range of behavior of individuals and structures in the public sector. The volume will also examine the relative utility of different forms of institutionalism within the various sub-disciplines. The book consists of a set of strong essays by noted international scholars from a range of sub-disciplines within the field of political science, each analyzing their area of research from an institutionalist perspective and assessing what contributions this form of theorizing has made, and can make, to that research. The result is a balanced and nuanced account of the role of institutions in contemporary political science, and a set of suggestions for the further development of institutional theory

Subject: Groups and Organizations

Compiled by Susan LaCette.GroupsandOrganizations.pdf: 992 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

Subject: Psychology and Sociology

Compiled by Susan LaCette.PsychologyandSociology.pdf: 3180 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

Leading with political astuteness: A study of public managers in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom

Combining quantitative survey data from over 1000 middle and senior public managers, as well as qualitative data from 42 in-depth interviews, the study sheds light on how managers understand politics in their work; how they rate their own and their colleagues’ political skills; how they use their political skills; and how these skills were developed. The report also sets forth recommendations to improve the development of managers’ political astuteness at the level of the individual, the organisation, and the professional body/training provider