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Forprosjek

Dealing with abstraction: Case study generalisation as a method for eliciting design patterns

Developing a pattern language is a non-trivial problem. A critical requirement is a method to support pattern writers with abstraction, so as they can produce generalised patterns. In this paper, we address this issue by developing a structured process of generalisation. It is important that this process is initiated through engaging participants in identifying initial patterns, i.e. directly dealing with the 'cold-start' problem. We have found that short case study descriptions provide a productive 'way into' the process for participants. We reflect on a 1-year interdisciplinary pan-European research project involving the development of almost 30 cases and over 150 patterns. We provide example cases, detailing the process by which their associated patterns emerged. This was based on a foundation for generalisation from cases with common attributes. We discuss the merits of this approach and its implications for pattern development

Different Faces of Fiscal Bureaucracy

In light of the growing importance of finance ministries and the financial dimension in policy-making, opening up the “black box” of fiscal bureaucracies is more warranted than ever. Our paper addresses the following research question: What kinds of roles can be assumed by fiscal bureaucrats in fiscal policy-making and budgeting? We propose four dichotomies that can be employed for examining the roles played by fiscal bureaucracies: 1) Developers vs guardians; 2) Initiators vs followers; 3) Mediators vs insulators; 4) Calculators vs (gu)estimators. In developing these dimensions, we juxtaposed the insights from various streams of institutionalist research and also on literature on public budgeting and public policy with the themes that emerged from the interviews we conducted in four different countries: Estonia, Latvia, Sweden and Norway. We find that fiscal bureaucracies in Estonia and Latvia tend to be closer to the guardian-insulator-guestimator ends of the continuums, whereas the officials in Sweden and especially Norway lean towards the developer-mediator-modeller end of the scale. The division between the initiator vs follower roles is less clear-cut.Different Faces of Fiscal BureaucracypublishedVersio

Discipline, debt and coercive commodification:Post-crisis neoliberalism and the welfare state in Ireland, the UK and the USA

Ireland, the UK and the USA are heterogeneous examples of liberal worlds of welfare capitalism yet all three countries were deeply implicated in the 2008 global financial crisis. Examining these three countries together provides the opportunity to further develop an international comparative political economy of instability in the context of the globalised and financialised dimensions of Anglo-liberal capitalism and disciplinary governance. Our analysis is guided by the concept of disciplinary neoliberalism (Gill, 1995) through which we explore: (i) the dynamics that have shaped the impacts of and responses to the Great Recession; (ii) the ways in which state-market relations, shaped by differentiated accommodations to market imperative or market discipline, have been used as disciplinary tools and how these have interacted with existing social divisions and iii) the implications for shaping conditions for resistance. We suggest that the neoliberal pathways of each country, whilst not uniform, mark a ‘step-change’ and acceleration in the operation of disciplinary neoliberalism, and is particularly evident in what we identify as the coercive commodification of social policy

Monitoring the moneylenders: institutional accountability and environmental governance at the World Bank’s inspection panel

This article discusses how Independent Accountability Mechanisms (IAMs) such as an Inspection Panel have the potential to improve both the legitimacy and environmental governance of multilateral financial institutions such as the World Bank. The World Bank provides loans and credit to developing countries to stimulate social and economic development in an attempt to alleviate poverty, often investing in infrastructure projects such as pipelines, power plants, and oil and gas fields. With billions in annual lending, the World Bank is the largest international financial institution in the world. Between 1994, when it started operations, and June 2015, the World Bank Inspection Panel received 103 requests for inspection across more than 50 countries that resulted in 34 approved investigations. Based on a qualitative case study methodology, the study finds that institutional accountability has inherent value in improving the internal governance of an institution—in this case the World Bank—and its ability to achieve development and sustainability goals. Yet to be effective, collaborative governance needs steered by committed and independent leaders on all sides, and there are limits to what IAMs such as the IP can accomplish. Understanding the internal dynamics, processes, and accountability mechanisms of the World Bank offers a rare chance to test the efficacy of institutional accountability in practice. Moreover, this study shows how attributes reflecting independence, impartiality, transparency, professionalism, accessibility, and responsiveness are crucial to improving governance outcomes and more equitable decision-making processes— themes highly relevant to public policy and development studies as well as environmental governance and the extractive industries

Om teori på høyt og lavere nivå

Artikkelen framlegger og drøfter en typologi over teoribegreper i samfunnsvitenskapen. Et overordnet skille trekkes mellom tre forskjellige meta-metodologier: Standardmetodologien, den sosialfilosofiske metodologien og den pragmatistiske metodologien. Innen hver av disse skilles det mellom to teoribegreper. De to standardbegrepene er lovorientert teori (som i statistisk orienterte årsaksanalyser) og idealiserende teori (som i matematiserte modeller). De to sosialfilosofiske begrepene er rekonstruerende eller transcendental teori (om samfunnsvitenskapenes mulighetsbetingelser, som hos Habermas, Giddens, o.a.) og dekonstruksjonistisk teori (som i begrepshistorie og diskursanalyse). De to pragmatistiske begrepene er forklaringsorientert ("grounded theory": case-orientert og feltarbeids-inspirert) og kritisk teori (forskning som knytter seg til bestemte samfunnsgrupper som har legitime krav på samfunnsendring). Artikkelen sammenlikner teoribegrepene systematisk, både innenfor og på tvers av de tre forskjellige metodologiene. En revidert utgave er publisert i Johs. Hjellbrekke, Ole J. Olsen & Rune Sakslind (red.), Arbeid, kunnskap og sosial ulikhet. Festskrift til Olav Korsnes. Oslo: Unipub 2007, s. 333-375

Nordic economic policies in the 1980s and 1990s

Summary of a comparative research project carried out in the early 1990s. The paper is under revision and will be published in 2009 as part of a larger comparative report