Is the Aotearoa New Zealand Policy Process: fit for purpose?

New Zealand is generally thought to be well governed by international standards, with low levels of corruption, innovative policies in some sectors, and high levels of trust in the system of government. But all is not well in the public policymaking system. Rather, the system resembles an endless conveyor belt of unsolved, or partially solved, policy problems that have a tendency over time to become bigger ‘crises’. Effective public policymaking is hard and policy ‘stuff-ups’ happen worldwide. But New Zealanders should not accept policy failures as a fact of life. Our central thesis is that, via a series of reforms, the policymaking process could become much more effective in achieving successful policy outcomes

Government‒business relations in multilevel systems: the effect of conflict perception on venue choice

In multilevel systems, organised interests, including business firms, can pursue their political goals at different levels. At the same time, national systems of interest representation provide important incentive structures for corporate political behaviour. In this context, corporate political strategy is guided by firms’ perceptions of their relationship with policy-makers. If this relationship is under strain in one venue, firms shift their lobbying effort to alternative venues, subject to constraints reflecting national institutional legacies. Using survey data on 56 large German and British firms, the article investigates empirically how perceptions of government‒business relations and national systems of interest representation interact to shape the political behaviour of large firms in multilevel systems. The analysis shows that perceived conflict with public authorities at the national level leads to increased business lobbying at the EU level. Furthermore, national types of interest representation shape relative business engagement at the EU level as well as the readiness of firms to shift venue

Government‒business relations in multilevel systems: the effect of conflict perception on venue choice

In multilevel systems, organised interests, including business firms, can pursue their political goals at different levels. At the same time, national systems of interest representation provide important incentive structures for corporate political behaviour. In this context, corporate political strategy is guided by firms’ perceptions of their relationship with policy-makers. If this relationship is under strain in one venue, firms shift their lobbying effort to alternative venues, subject to constraints reflecting national institutional legacies. Using survey data on 56 large German and British firms, the article investigates empirically how perceptions of government‒business relations and national systems of interest representation interact to shape the political behaviour of large firms in multilevel systems. The analysis shows that perceived conflict with public authorities at the national level leads to increased business lobbying at the EU level. Furthermore, national types of interest representation shape relative business engagement at the EU level as well as the readiness of firms to shift venue

"Women's rights, the European Court and Supranational Constitutionalism"

This analysis examines supranational constitutionalism in the European Union. In particular, the study focuses on the role of the European Court of Justice in the creation of women’s rights. I examine the interaction between the Court and member state governments in legal integration, and also the integral role that women’s advocates – both individual activists and groups – have played in the development of EU social provisions. The findings suggest that this litigation dynamic can have the effect of fueling the integration process by creating new rights that may empower social actors and EU organizations, with the ultimate effect of diminishing member state government control over the scope and direction of EU law. This study focuses specifically on gender equality law, yet provides a general framework for examining the case law in subsequent legal domains, with the purpose of providing a more nuanced understanding of supranational governance and constitutionalism

Progressive Europe? Gender and Non-discrimination in the EU

[Introduction by series editor]. THE ISSUE OF EQUAL RIGHTS between women and men—at least in the workplace—has long been one of the most prominent examples of "positive integration" in the European Union, and arguably the most far-reaching element of EU social policy. In recent years, the EU’s traditional emphasis on sex equality in the workplace has been supplemented by a commitment to the "mainstreaming" of gender issues, the upgrading of sexual equality as a common objective in the Treaties, and the insertion of a new Treaty provision relating to the principle of nondiscrimination more generally. These and other developments have led some authors to present the EU as a "progressive polity" in its commitment to gender equality and non-discrimination. In this Forum, four authors assess this claim of a "progressive Europe," focusing on the evolution of EU gender policy (Sonia Mazey, Jo Shaw, R. Amy Elman) and the development of a broader policy regarding non-discrimination on the basis of factors such as race, age, and sexual orientation (Mark Bell). Taken together, the essays reveal the impressive legal and constitutional foundations of EU gender and non-discrimination policies, as well as the significant weaknesses of EU policy practice, the problematic relationship between gender and other grounds for discrimination such as race and age, and the difficulty of measuring what constitutes "progress" in the first place

La Commission européenne : une bourse pour les idées et les intérêts

The European commission : a bourse for ideas and interests This article examines the relationship between the European Commission and the increasing number and range of interest groups actively involved in the European policy-making process. It argues that the Commission plays a pivotal role as a bourse, for the now high levels of interest group mobilisation within the European Union. The relationship between Commission officials and organised interests is symbiotic in nature. The former, charged with the task of drafting feasible legislative proposals, need to mobilise cross-national advocacy coalitions of groups in favour of policy change. Affected interests lobby the Commission in order to ensure favourable policy outcomes. The proliferation of EU lobbying is now recognised to be a problem by Commission officials, who have increasingly sought by ad hoc means to rationalise the process of group consultation. The considerable influence wielded by some groups within the Commission has also compounded concern about the EU's democratic deficit. In response, the European Commission is currently introducing new measures, designed to increase the transparency of Commission-group relations.mobiliser des coalitions de groupes transnationales favorables aux changements de politique. Les intérêts concernés agissent auprès de la Commission pour obtenir que la politique formulée leur soit favorable. Le lobbying européen a pris une ampleur telle qu'il est aujourd'hui considéré comme un problème par les fonctionnaires de la Commission, qui cherchent de plus en plus des moyens ad hoc pour rationaliser le processus de consultation des groupes. L'influence considérable exercée par certains groupes au sein de la Commission intensifie les inquiétudes relatives au «déficit démocratique» de l'UE. Face à cette situation, la Commission européenne introduit de nouvelles mesures destinées à accroître la transparence des rapports entre la Commission et les groupes.Mazey Sonia, Richardson Jeremy John. La Commission européenne : une bourse pour les idées et les intérêts. In: Revue française de science politique, 46ᵉ année, n°3, 1996. pp. 409-430