Size, density and small scale elections: a multi-level analysis of voter turnout in sub-municipal governments

What are the consequences of fragmenting political and administrative authority within municipalities? Portugal provides an excellent setting to study the effects of sub-city institutional fragmentation because each of its 308 municipal governments is divided into sub-municipal governments (SMUs). The 4259 SMUs deliver services to the residents and its executive leader serves on the city council. In this paper we investigate the determinants of voter turnout in these SMUs. We argue that the size and density of SMUs affects electoral participation, but this effect is mediated by the municipal context. High levels of population concentration and low levels of territorial fragmentation at the municipal level are expected to improve voter mobilization efforts and mitigate the negative effect of size and density on voter turnout. Hierarchical linear analysis of municipal and SMU data finds strong support for size and density effects and moderate support for multilevel relationships.This research is partially supported by the “Programa Operacional da Região Norte”, NORTE2020, in the context of project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000037 (SmartEGOV) and by the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) [Grant n. º PEst-OE/CJP/UI0758/2014], and the Estonian Research Council Grant PUT-1142. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation

Inter-municipal cooperation and austerity policies: obstacles or opportunities?

The profound challenges experienced by European countries as a consequence of the fiscal crisis, combined with the increase in the scope, size, and diversity of inter-municipal cooperation (IMC), justify a closer look at whether and how austerity policies have shaped the developments of IMC across different countries. Has IMC become more prevalent in countries affected by the fiscal crisis? Have austerity policies presented obstacles or opportunities for IMC initiatives? We conducted a survey of experts in 11 selected countries, including both countries that were hit hard by the fiscal crisis and implemented extensive austerity policies and countries where IMC is known to be or becoming prevalent. The results of this exploratory analysis indicate that in five of the countries included in our sample (Italy, Portugal, Iceland, the Netherlands, and the UK), IMC has emerged as a solution to deal better with fiscal stress

Best of both worlds? independent lists and voter turnout in local elections

How does the presence of independent lists influence voter turnout in municipal and sub-municipal elections? Despite the persistence of independent lists in local elections of European countries, this question has remained underexplored. Our paper examines the influence of independent lists on voter turnout both theoretically and empirically. In the theoretical discussion, we outline two competing hypotheses. On one hand, the best of both worlds hypothesis predicts that owing to increased choice for the voters, the presence of nonpartisan lists would increase voter turnout. On the other hand, the competing hypothesis suggests the opposite due to higher information costs associated with independent lists. We test our hypotheses using data from four election cycles of Portuguese municipal and sub-municipal levels of government. Since 2001, Portugal’s electoral law allows the participation of nonpartisan lists of candidates in local elections. The empirical analysis employs fractional probit and beta regression models and finds strong support for the best of both worlds hypothesis, both at the municipal and the sub-municipal levels.FundingThis work was supported by the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional DevelopmentFund (EFDR) [SmartEGOV: Harnessing EGOV for Smart Governance (F]; the Portuguese Science and TechnologyFoundation (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) [PEst-OE/CJP/UI0758/2014], and the Estonian Research Council[PUT-1142]

How getting the right actors involved can help successful local policies spread across the country

One of the oft-cited advantages of the US system of government is that it gives state and local governments the ability to innovate in policymaking. But how can policies which are successful in one area be taken up elsewhere? In new research which examines the introduction by states of drug courts for non-violent offenders, James W. Douglas, Ringa Raudla, and Roger E. Hartley write that the spread of such policies is influenced by other governments who have already adopted the policy, state and local governments, and professional, national, and regional associations and lobby groups. Without the support of such key actors, they write, successful local policy innovations are unlikely to spread widely

Literature review on cutback management

Introduction The literature review at hand is the first deliverable of Work Package no. 7 The global financial crisis in the public sector as an emerging coordination challenge of the EU Seventh Framework program project Coordinating for Cohesion in the Public Sector of the Future (COCOPS). The main purpose of the review is to give an overview of the cutback management literature and its findings of cutback strategies in the public sector in the 1970-80s. The aim is to look at the application and impact of various cutback management and decision-making practices and discuss whether lessons could be learnt for the current crisis. The recent global financial and economic crisis, followed by fiscal crisis, have lifted the topic of cutback management back on the research agenda, as many governments in Europe and elsewhere either plan or have already implemented austerity measures in order to cope with the concurrent problems of lower revenues and high public debt. It can be expected that the large-scale cutbacks, undertaken by numerous governments, would lead to changes in public administration practices. Thus, the impacts of the global crisis and the subsequent retrenchment on public administration and governance is and will continue to be a challenging issue for several years to come (Pollitt 2010; Thynne 2011; Coen and Roberts 2012). Looking at the patterns of cutback management during the previous era(s) of austerity can therefore provide useful insights for coping with the current crisis. ..

Detsentraliseeritud konkurentsipõhise teadusrahastuse mõju finantsjuhtimisele Eesti ülikoolides

TIPS poliitikaanalüüsKäesolev poliitikaanalüüs käsitleb detsentraliseeritud teadusrahastamise mõju ülikoolide finantsjuhtimisele Eestis. Poliitikaanalüüsi empiiriline osa põhineb intervjuudel 35 uurimisgrupiga (IKT, biotehnoloogia, energia- ja keskkonnatehnoloogiate valdkonnast) ning nelja suurema avalik-õigusliku ülikooli finants- ning teadus- ja arendustegevuse osakondade administraatoriga. Läbiviidud analüüsi põhjal võib väita, et detsentraliseeritud ja projektipõhine teaduse rahastamine Eestis on oluliselt mõjutanud finantsjuhtimise praktikaid nii teadusgruppide ja instituutide kui ka ülikoolide kui terviku tasandil ning toonud kaasa mitmeid väljakutseid ja probleeme.http://tips.ut.ee/index.php?module=32&op=1&id=365

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