Structural adjustment and the structure of the economy of small towns in Zimbabwe

This paper focuses on the small rural towns as intermediaries between the rural economies.,on the one hand, and the formal, mainly urban based, national industry on the other. Theoretically, the paper rests on a network concept of the enterprise which is related both to the Scandinavian network approach and to the Anglo-saxon theory of flexible specialisation. In the network approach, the small enterprise is seen neither as completely dependent nor as independent, but as a node in a network of enterprises where it is linked to other enterprises both public and private, both large and small. The networking is seen as leading to a process of specialisation and market segmentation which is beginning to be visible in the small towns of Zimbabwe that have been the focus of research. The paper argues that in economies like that of Zimbabwe where a large part of the population remains in semi-subsistence production while formal trade and industry is highly concentrated both organisationally and geographically, rural industrialisation combines consolidation and concentration of rural small-scale activities with decentralisation of formal sector activities. The paper then discusses policy initiatives usually associated with structural adjustment programmes in the light of the theory and the observed small-town economic structure

Jurisdictional and Interstate Commerce Problems in the Imposition of Excess on Sales

I denne rapport argumenterer forfatterne for, at der i beskæftigelsespolitikken er behov for at flytte det strategiske fokus fra 'flexicurity' til 'mobication' ('mobility through education'), som indebærer, at man sætter kompetenceudvikling i centrum. Det er forfatternes vurdering, at 'flexicurity' fortsat udgør et vigtigt fundament for fleksibiliteten og sikkerheden for først og fremmest de ledige på arbejdsmarkedet, men at der er behov for en langt mere offensiv satsning på livslang uddannelse af hele arbejdsstyrken, hvis man skal sikre arbejdskraftens konkurrencedygtighed fremover. 'Mobication' sigter netop mod at styrke arbejdskraftens muligheder for at tilpasse sig og bevæge sig i forhold til de skiftende behov på et arbejdsmarked i en stadigt mere konkurrencepræget verdensøkonomi

A Revised Note on Understanding Institutional Change

This is a slightly revised version of an article I published in 1991 (Ove K. Pedersen, 1991, “Nine Questions to a Neo-Institutional Theory in Political Science”, Scandinavian Political Studies, vol. 14, no. 2, p. 125-148). The purpose of the article 16 years ago is the same as the purpose of presenting this note today - to point to a number of methodological and theoretical problems which have to be discussed in connection with a theory of institutional change. No analytical approach for the study of institutions will be presented. No description of actual institutions or institutional change will be given. Rather, nine philosophical-methodological questions rarely raised and never answered in institutional theory will be asked

Institutional Competitiveness - How Nations came to Compete

In recent years, the concept of international competitiveness has (re)emerged as a paradigm in public discourse. In this paper I introduce the concept of institutional competitiveness to show how the concept of international competition has been reformulated as part of a political project for initiating economic globalization. It is my intention to show how the concept of institutional competitiveness (CIC) has raised to become important in the last 25 years, moving from a simple conversation among academics into a political discussion with real-world effects. The purpose of the paper is to describe the rise and movement into the realm of practice. The purpose is also to show how the voyage has come to include institutional change as an important policy instrument and the use of institutional analysis as a key utensil for policy makers. It is my claim that discourses and institutions are used with the intention to enhance the competitiveness of nations and enterprises; why discourses and institutions have become a political phenomenon of interest and salience for policy makers and decision takers. It is also my claim that knowledge of institutions is applied to explain economic growth and to assess the potential relevance of institutional reforms; why interpretations of institutions has been become a policy tool for the implementation of globalisation. It is this dual role of discourses and institutions I describe in the following. The whole debate on the CIC will be looked upon as an example of how institutions (as a political phenomenon) and institutional analysis (as a policy tool) have become part of a policy approach. Two caveats are necessary. It is not my ambition to describe the conflicts of interests and the accidents of history involved in moving the process from dawn to mid-day. Neither is it my ambition to explain why the travel has happened in the first place. Even if the process is engulfed in conflicts – at several levels and including multiple interests – I will NOT identify these, nor describe them. The purpose of the paper is only to describe not to explain. The paper will be organised as follows. First, I describe how the concept of national and institutional competitiveness is discussed. In order to describe how the concept of competitiveness has been redefined over the past 20-25 years I include literature from economic theory and business analysis (Aiginger 2006b; Siggel 2006). It is in this context that the concept of Institutional Competitiveness is introduced. Second, I trace the institutionalization of the discussion into expert systems. Two examples will be emphasized. One is the development of "The post-Washington consensus” another is The Open Method of Coordination within the EU. The presentation is based on a reading of policy papers, reports and other primary sources from international organizations and national governments. Third, I point to how the institutionalization has included a number of welfare reforms and ignited a process towards the transformation of national welfare states. I draw on primary and secondary literature in presenting the concept of competition state (Cerny 1990, 2007; Stopford et al 1991; Jessop 1994, 2003; Hirsch 1995; but also Rosecranze 1999; Bobbit 2002; Weiss 2003). Fourth, and finally, I emphasize how state-society relations have been changed. The concept of competitive corporatism (Rhodes 1998; Molina & Rhodes 2002) is employed

EFTERORD

Jeg har fundet megen inspiration ved at læse de forskellige bidrag og takker for muligheden for at reflektere over dem alle. Det skal jeg gøre ved først at rette tre misforståelser og i den forbindelse formulere et par præciseringer. Derefter skal jeg vise, hvordan de mange bidrag har inspireret mig til at pege på yderligere forskning i, hvordan transformationen fra velfærdsstat til konkurrencestat foregår. Med misforståelser mener jeg, hvad jeg selv anser som fejlagtige læsninger af bogen Konkurrencestaten (Pedersen 2011), både i den generelle debat og i dette tidsskrift. Jeg udelukker ikke, at jeg selv har ansvar for flere – eller alle – og bruger derfor ikke ordet misforståelse til at klandre nogen, men til at præcisere, hvad der øjensynligt kan fejltolkes og er blevet det. &nbsp

Interest Organisations and European Integration

This paper examines the influence of European integration on the relationship between state administration and private interests in the four Nordic countries – Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. By private interests I mean interest organizations, private corporations and independent experts. The paper focuses exclusively on the national policy processes that are involved with managing European Union (EU) issues. More specifically, this paper discusses two aspects of multi-level governance. First is the important role of private interests in the coordination of decision making at the national level preceding their government’s representation of national interests in the European Council of Ministers and other EU organizations. Second is the effect of all this on national democratic systems

Et essay i forbindelse med fagbladet Folkeskolens 125 års jubilæum.

Lærernes fagblad Folkeskolen fylder 125 år. Tillykke med det! Hermed kan vi fejre et af de mest citerede fagblade, som udgives af en af de mest indflydelsesrige, danske interesseorganisationer, og samtidig en af de vigtigste af alle faggrupper, nemlig folkeskolelærerne. Først af alt kan vi dog fejre den danske folkeskole. Uden den, ingen lærere, og uden lærere ingen forening og intet medlemsblad. Sammen med fagbladet Folkeskolen kan vi derfor også tillade os at fejre skolen; også selvom det er usikkert hvornår folkeskolen opstod, og hvorfra den skal dateres. Opstod den med kirkeordinantens om ”børneskoler” i 1539, med anordningen om ”almueskoler” i 1814, eller med lov om forskellige forhold vedrørende folkeskolen i 1899? Svaret er ikke ligegyldigt, men irrelevant i denne sammenhæng. I dette bidrag skal jeg hylde Danmarks Lærerforening, dets medlemmer, og deres fagblad, og jeg vil gøre det ved at påstå, at der er ét forhold, som i alle bladets 125 år og i alle DLF’s 134 år har optaget medlemmerne mere end noget andet - og det er folkeskolens formål. Folkeskolen fik sin første egentlige formålsparagraf i 1937, men lang tid før var dens opgaver fastsat ved ordinants, ved forordning, anordning eller lov. Det er derfor også ved sådanne bestemmelser, at skolen har fundet sin berettigelse og lærerne deres mission. Ligesom det er ved sådanne bestemmelser, at lærerforeningen har defineret, hvad der udmærker dens medlemmer, hvad der gør dem til en særlig profession, eller giver dem deres kaldelse