The Two Futures of Governing: Decentering and Recentering Processes in Governing. IHS Political Science Series Paper No. 114, January 2008

Reforms of the public sector have helped create a more efficient and effective public sector, but also have created a number of problems. Both, the New Public Management and “governance” reforms have contributed to the contemporary problems in governing. These problems have been political to a great extent, reflecting the tendency to emphasize administrative rather than democratic values. Governments have begun to react to the real and perceived problems within the public sector by developing a number of “meta-governance” instruments that can help steer public organizations but which involve less direct command and control. This paper addresses the contemporary governance tasks of restoring political direction and policy coherence while at the same supporting the autonomy of public organizations, and the involvement of policy networks, in governing

Institutional theory: problems and prospects

'Die theoretische Perspektive des Institutionalismus war in den letzten Jahren sehr erfolgreich, weist aber immer noch einige wesentliche theoretische und methodologische Probleme auf. Eines dieser Probleme ist, daß Institutionalismus oft sehr unbeweglich wirkt. Ein weiteres Problem bezieht sich auf die Schwierigkeiten Institutionen zu messen. Diese Probleme werden im vorliegenden Papier diskutiert und das Konzept der 'Institutionalisierung' kritisch beleuchtet, mit dem Ziel die Dynamik des Vorganges besser zu begreifen und bessere Erklärungen für soziale und politische Phänomene mit Hilfe des Institutionalismus zu erzielen.' (Autorenreferat)'Institutional theory in political science has made great advances in recent years, but also has a number of significant theoretical and methodological problems. The most important of these problems is the generally static nature of institutional explanations. Also, there is a nagging problem of the difficulties in measuring institutional variables in other than simplistic, nominal categories. As well as discussing these problems this paper addresses the static nature of institutional theory by examining the concept of 'institutionalization', and the creation (and tearing down) of institutional structures. The paper argues that by considering institutionalization as a continuous variable rather than a nominal variable we can begin to understand better the dynamics of institutions themselves, and therefore also develop better institutional explanations for other social and political phenomena.' (author's abstract)

Governance: a garbage can perspective

'Während der Arbeit zu diesem Papier wurde mir klar, dass es eine Reihe von Themen reflektiert, die in einem meiner ersten Bücher eine zentrale Stellung einnahmen. Dabei handelte es sich um den mit Richard Rose gemeinsam herausgegebenen Band 'Can government go bankrupt?' von 1978. Buch und Papier handeln beide von Autorität und Handlungskapazitäten von Regierungen. Dror (2001) analysierte Governance Kapazitäten, wobei ein großer Teil der Analyse sich mit Fragen der Legitimation und der Effektivität des Einsatzes von Steuerungsinstrumenten zur Erreichung erwünschter kollektiver Ziele beschäftigte. Im vorliegenden Papier werden die zentralen Punkte die Frage nach Governance auf der Ebene von zentralstaatlichen Instanzen und Multiebenen-Interaktionen sein - weniger als im internationalen System, obwohl auch dort die selbe Logik von Souveränität und Autorität zum Tragen kommt.' (Autorenreferat)'As I worked through the revisions of this paper I realized that I was to a great extent returning to the dominant themes from one of the first books I ever published. This was 'Can government go bankrupt?', written with Richard Rose and published in 1978. That book and this paper both deal with the authority of governments and their capacity to govern. Dror (2001) provides a very detailed analysis of governance capacity, but much of that analysis will actually come down to the presence of legitimacy for the governing system, and the capacity to use steering instruments effectively to reach desired collective goals. The issues to be raised in this paper are concentrated primarily on governance questions at the level of central governments and multi-level interactions, rather than of the international system, but much of the same logic of sovereignty/ authority is in operation.' (author's abstract)

Institutional design and good governance

Der Autor untersucht in seinem Beitrag den Zusammenhang zwischen der institutionellen Struktur von politischen Systemen und der Qualität von Governance, die in einer demokratischen Regierung, z. B. in Präsidialsystemen und im Parlamentarismus zu beobachten ist. Er bezieht sich bei seiner Analyse der Korruptionsursachen in verschiedenen politischen Systemen auf die Theorie des soziologischen Neo-Institutionalismus, demzufolge Institutionen das Akteursverhalten beeinflussen. Er verweist unter anderem auf die Forschungsarbeiten von James G. March und Johan P. Olsen, die versucht haben, den Einfluss von Institutionen auf korruptes Verhalten herauszuarbeiten. Ein korruptes Verhalten tritt demzufolge dann auf, wenn sich entweder die zuvor bestandene Sinngebungsfunktion der Institution ändert und in einer aggregativen Institution eine individualistische Nutzenmaximierung proklamiert wird, oder wenn sie diese Sinngebungsfunktion gänzlich verliert und dadurch Orientierungslosigkeit und Unsicherheit entstehen. Einige Versuche, die Effizienz von Regierungssystemen und die Qualität der Demokratie durch "Good Governance" zu fördern, können nach den Analysen des Autors paradoxerweise auch unintendierte Folgen haben, indem sie mehr Gelegenheiten für Korruption schaffen. (ICI

Što poslije javnog menadžmenta? Povratak političkim i strateškim prioritetim

The paper attempts to identify future directions for public administration in the context of changes in the political system, and especially changes in the executive branch of government. Administrative reforms in the past few decades have been characterized by the New Public Management, democratic governance, public participation, empowerment, etc. At the same time, the political executive itself has been undergoing a range of significant changes. Also, the role of the political executive within the political process has been changing, especially within parliamentary systems. »Presidentialization« of politics in parliamentary systems is connected with domination of prime ministers over their cabinets and political processes in general. The result of such administrative and political processes is a paradoxical position of the political leadership that concentrates more power on the peak of the political system, while it has diminished power over administration and implementation. However, there are some mechanisms for maintaining many of the gains of modern administrative reforms while allowing firmer political steering. Four of them are analysed: soft steering, priority setting, the use of a »golden thread«, and performance management. Maintenance of a career and stable civil service is crucial for resolving disjuncture between current political and administrative processes.U radu se pokušava predvidjeti razvoj javne uprave u kontekstu promjena u političkom sustavu, naročito promjena u izvršnoj grani vlasti. Upravne promjene zadnjih desetljeća karakteriziraju novi javni menadžment, širi krug subjekata u javnom upravljanju, sudjelovanje javnosti, ovlašćivanje, itd. Istodobno, izvršna vlast se značajno mijenja, kao što se mijenja i njezina uloga u političkim procesima, naročito u parlamentarnim sustavima. Prezidencijalizacijom politike u parlamentarnim sustavima označava se dominacija premijera nad vladom i političkim procesima uopće. Rezultat takvih procesa upravnih i političkih promjena je paradoksalna pozicija političkog vodstva koje koncentrira više vlasti na vrhu političkog sustava, uz istodobno umanjivanje njegove moći nad upravom i procesima provedbe javnih politika. Ipak, određeni mehanizmi omogućavaju zadržavanje mnogih postignuća modernih upravnih reformi istodobno s jačanjem političkog vođenja. Analizirana su četiri takva mehanizma: mekše vođenje, utvrđivanje temeljnih političkih prioriteta, upotreba »zlatnog mjerila«, te mekše mjere upravljanja izvršenjem. Očuvanje karijerne i stabilne upravne službe je od ključne važnosti za razrješenje divergentnih političkih i upravnih procesa

The two futures of governing: decentering and recentering processes in governing

'Die in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten durchgeführten Reformen des öffentlichen Sektors haben zu mehr Effizienz und Effektivität geführt, aber auch eine Reihe von Problemen mit sich gebracht. Der Einzug von Ideen des New Public Management und des 'Governance'-Ansatzes hat zu den Problemen des Regierens, wie wir sie heute beobachten können, beigetragen. Diese Probleme sind vor allem politischer Natur, da die Reformen zu einer Überbetonung administrativer gegenüber demokratischen Werten geführt haben. Auf die realen und die wahrgenommenen Probleme haben die Regierungen mit einer Reihe von 'Meta-Governance-Instrumenten' reagiert, die zur Steuerung öffentlicher Verwaltungen beitragen können, aber weniger direkte hierarchische Kontrolle voraussetzen. Dieser Beitrag diskutiert Möglichkeiten, wie die politische Kontrolle über den öffentlichen Sektor und die Kohärenz staatlicher Programme wieder hergestellt und gleichzeitig die Autonomie öffentlicher Organisationen sowie die Einbindung von Policy-Netzwerken gestärkt werden können.' (Autorenreferat)'Reforms of the public sector have helped create a more efficient and effective public sector, but also have created a number of problems. Both, the New Public Management and 'governance' reforms have contributed to the contemporary problems in governing. These problems have been political to a great extent, reflecting the tendency to emphasize administrative rather than democratic values. Governments have begun to react to the real and perceived problems within the public sector by developing a number of 'meta-governance' instruments that can help steer public organizations but which involve less direct command and control. This paper addresses the contemporary governance tasks of restoring political direction and policy coherence while at the same supporting the autonomy of public organizations, and the involvement of policy networks, in governing.' (author's abstract)

Governance and Policy Coordination : the Case of Birth Registration in Peru

The Paper explores coordination through the lens of civil registration and vital statistics, with particular reference to birth registration in Peru. It focuses on the role that coordination can play in making birth registration function effectively. While the capacity of governments to deliver the function of birth registration is central to this paper, the role that understanding coordination can play in improving public services is examined, especially services for children. The capacity to register the births of children is a long-standing function of governments, and can be seen as a test of government effectiveness. In Peru, backward mapping showed that the trails from local and district registrars to the government registration organization (RENIEC) stopped almost immediately. This seems to point towards the centralized structure and top-down approach of RENIEC; to sustain its achievements to date and to reach the final three per cent of unregistered births it should consider incentivizing and empowering local and community administrations

Zombie Ideas: Policy pendulum and the challenge of effective policymaking

Ideas are important as a foundation for public policy, but they can also become ‘zombie ideas’ which survive even though they have been proven to be ineffective. Both the political right and the political left have their own zombie ideas, and when there is a change in government old ideas may return. This article presents the concept of zombie ideas and discusses its relevance for policy in New Zealand

Over-reaction and under-reaction in climate policy: an institutional analysis

In what circumstances do organizations react to changes in their operating environment by adopting proportionate policy responses? And drawing on institutional theory, what expectations can we formulate in relation to the proportionality of policy responses to climate change? These two research questions frame this article, which seeks to make new connections between the emerging perspective of proportionality in policy-making and existing institutional theories. We find that institutional theories are well suited to formulating expectations concerning the (dis)proportionality of policy responses, but their explanatory power can be further improved by taking the characteristics of specific climate policy problems into account. While there are many different problems nested in the ‘meta’ problem of climate change, we find that most of them have characteristics which suggest that policy under-reactions are more, not less likely. Amongst institutional theories, rational choice institutionalism provides the clearest expectation that proportionate policy responses are unlikely. Policy entrepreneurship is identified as one obvious way in which to stimulate proportionate policy responses, through fostering new ways of thinking within organizations

Roles, trust and skills: a typology of patronage appointments

This article contributes to the study of the politics of patronage appointments by creating a typology of patronage roles based on the nature of trust between patrons and appointees and on the skills patrons seek in appointees. Our classification brings together the dispersed literature on patronage roles and can be applied to the study of modalities of patronage across and within countries. We offer preliminary evidence from our study of the politics of patronage appointments in Latin America suggesting that variations in patronage roles can be related to variations in party systems institutionalisation and to the nature of the links between political actors and voters. Finally, we explore whether the categories identified in our empirical study can be found in other settings. We conclude that our typology can contribute to the study of the impact of modalities of patronage on the quality of the public administration and on political governability