Regulatory Constructivism: Application of Q Methodology in Italy and China

Conventional view holds that beliefs play an important role in the development of regulations but there is little evidence to support this claim. We use Comparative Q Methodology to systematically map out and compare the beliefs of public officers in China and Italy, two countries with contrasting sets of institutions but have both adopted similar ideas about integrated water resource management. We find some similarities and differences in the beliefs of public officers in both countries. In particular, we find that in both countries beliefs on the regulation of water utilities are diverse and fragmented on issues such as ownership structure of water utilities, how water infrastructure development should be funded, and how tariffs should be regulated. Our findings have two implications for theory, methods and practice. First, the Q methodology is a useful tool for systematically mapping out the beliefs of regulators and managers. Second, systematically mapping out beliefs will help facilitate the development of an alternative regime of regulation such as negotiated rule making. This alternative regime can provide substantial benefits such as more efficient rule making, more cost effective enforcement and compliance, and more equitable in terms of balancing the interests of stakeholders

Using Analytic Narratives in Policy Analysis: An Explanation of the Implementation of the Water Reform in Italy (1994-2002)

Various critiques have been made of the analytic narrative, which is a methodological approach that combines historically oriented research with rational choice models. This paper discusses strengths and limitations of the approach and provides some suggestions for its inclusion in the repertoire of methodological tools at disposal for comparative policy studies. The argument is supported by evidence provided by the case study of the implementation of the water reform in Italy in the period 1994-2002. The case study shows how the interplay of game theoretic modeling and historical analysis results in the formulation of tentative hypotheses for explaining variation in the observed trajectory of policy reform implementation across time and space

Public Services Reforms in Neo-Patrimonial Systems: The Commercialization of Healthcare and Education in Saudi Arabia

Reforms of public services have been extensively researched in representative democracies, where they have been especially explained by ideological change, political turnover, financial crises and pressures from international organizations. Meanwhile, less attention has been paid to explaining them in countries whose institutions have been characterized as neo-patrimonial systems. This study aims to explain the commercialization of healthcare and education services that took place in Saudi Arabia since the 2000s. The analysis provides some ways to refine and expand existing theoretical accounts of public services reforms in regimes that differ from representative democracies

Managing the Process of Decentralization: Transforming Old Public Entities into New Agencies in the Agricultural Sector

In an effort to reconfigure the system for the delivery of agricultural services, the Regional Government of Sardinia in Italy decided, in 2006, to suppress five public entities, and to establish three regional agencies in their place. Based on interviews conducted with managers and staff within these agencies, this paper narrates the episode of implementing the organizational restructuring of this part of the regional government's agricultural policy. Drawing on this case, this paper then presents an explanation of the process of carrying out organizational transformations (namely, mergers and demergers) within sub-national governments' administrative systems. The study finds that policy process features and context conditions figure prominently as explanatory factors for the path and outcome of the implementation of the organizational restructuring. On the whole, the research argument made in this paper suggests some qualifications of existing generalizing arguments about the management of organizational transformations in the public sector