Governance will publish special issue on effects of financial crisis
Jon Blondal speaks at Suffolk University roundtable on impact of financial crisis
The next issue of Governance (25.1, January 2012) will feature a series of articles that examine the effect of the financial crisis on public governance. The papers were prepared for roundtables held at Suffolk University Law School and the School of Public Policy, University College London. Contributors include:
Paul Posner (George Mason University) and Jón Blöndal (OECD), “Democracies and Deficits: Prospects for Fiscal Responsibility in Democratic Nations”
Colin Provost (University College London) and John Gieve, Ideas and Coordination in Policy Making: The Financial Crisis of 2007-09″
Martin Lodge (LSE) and Christopher Hood (Oxford), “Into an Age of Multiple Austerities? Public Management and Public Service Bargains across OECD countries.”
Matt Andrews (Harvard Kennedy School), “Developing Countries Will Follow Post-Crisis OECD Reforms, But Not Passively This Time”
Michael Moran (Manchester), “Stories and Interests in Finance: Agendas of Governance Before and After Financial Crisis”
John Zysman (Berkeley) and Dan Breznitz (Georgia Tech), “Double Bind: Governing the Economy in an ICT Era”
Delegating tough decisions on healthcare: Explaining different national approaches
Policymakers in many countries are increasingly delegating complicated and political sensitive decisions about provision of health care to specialized bodies. In the current issue of Governance (24.4, October 2011), Claudia Landwehr and Katharina Böhm of Goethe-Universität am Main examine the trend. They find significant differences in the approach to delegation, and provide a framework for explaining those differences. Policymakers are engaged in “strategic institutional design,” but subject to two important constraints, Landwehr and Böhm conclude. The first is the weight of institutional and administrative tradition, and the second is the pressure toward policy convergence that arises out of international networks. Read the article.
Open access: Christopher Hood on “WikiLeaks World”
To mark International Right to Know Day (September 28), Governance is providing open access to the lead commentary in the new issue of Governance (24.4, October 2011). Christopher Hood, Gladstone Professor of Government at University of Oxford, examines the rise of WikiLeaks World, in which transparency comes from direct action rather than official machinery for releasing or publishing information. The WikiLeaks phenomenon “represents a new chapter in the transparency story,” Hood argues. But there may be unexpected consequences, as governments “ramp up their spin operations” to maintain control over the public agenda. Read the commentary now.
Governance announces Levine Prize committee, seeks nominations
Dr. Kutsal Yesilkagit of the Utrecht School of Governance will chair the committee to award the 2012 Levine Book Prize. Other members of the committee are Dr. Eliza Lee, University of Hong Kong, and Dr. Victor Lapuente, University of Gothenburg. The deadline for nominations is March 31, 2012. More details about the prize are here: LEVINE Announcement 2012. | Read about previous Levine winners here.
Book reviews: Democracy in Latin America, Olsen on institution building, public administration in Singapore
In the current issue of Governance (24.3, July 2011), Stephanie L. Smith of the University of New Mexico reviews Participatory Innovation and Representative Democracy in Latin America, edited by Andrew Selee and Enrique Peruzotti. The book “expands our knowledge of how participatory institutions emerge under less than ideal conditions,” says Smith. Read the review. Jozef Bátora of Comenius University considers Governing Through Institution Building, by Governance board member Johan P. Olsen. Olsen’s book “argues persuasively that European integration has not produced any new and substantial theoretical innovation in political science.” Read the review. And John Burns of the University of Hong Kong reviews Public Administration Singapore-Style by Jon S.T. Quah — “a book of immense value not only to the academic community but also those doing business in Singapore.” Read the review.Call for Papers: IPSA Madrid July 8-12, 2012
The IPSA research committee on the Structure and Organization of Government, which sponsors Governance, will organize up to six panels at the next IPSA conference in Madrid on July 8-12, 2012. The call for papers can be downloaded here. The deadline for submitting proposed is October 17, 2011.
How governance reform improved performance of New Zealand’s public sector corporate entities
In the current issue of Governance (24.3, July 2011), Krishna Reddy, Stuart Locke and Frank Scrimgeour (University of Waikato) examine the effect of corporate governance practices on the performance of New Zealand’s public sector corporate entities. New Zealand’s reforms of the 1980s emphasized the need for public sector organizations to emulate the practices of private sector companies. “Public sector corporate entities in New Zealand have complied with the Securites Commission’s guidelines for good governance practices,” they conclude, “and that compliance has improved financial performance.” Read the article: The Relationship Between Corporate Governance Practices and Financial Performance in Public Sector Corporate Entities.
How changes in EU legislative procedures change the substance of EU legislation
In the current issue of Governance (24.3, July 2011), Christian Jensen (University of Iowa) shows how new processes for adopting legislation in the European Union affected the content of that legislation. The new “codecision” process bolstered the power of the European Parliament, which responded by adopting more legislative amendments designed to give more implementing discretion to member states. On the other hand, the European Council became more aggressive in rejecting parliamentary amendments that limit discretion of the European Commission. “Procedure matters” in explaining why the European Union adopts legislation that locates discretion in different places, Jensen concludes. Changes in legislative procedures have administrative consequences. Read the article: Procedural Change and and the Sources of Ex Ante Constraints in EU Legislation.
Mapping the global networks that drive public sector reform
National public sector reform agendas are increasingly driven by global public policy networks. But how do we describe those networks? Much research has proceeded inductively, starting with organizations like the OECD that have a high-profile role in disseminating ideas. In the current issue of Governance (24.3, July 2011), Kathleen McNutt (University of Regina) and Leslie Pal (Carleton University) offer an alternative approach for systematically mapping the “virtual policy networks” focussed on six areas of public sector reform. The results sometimes contradict common understandings about the structure of these policy networks, the authors conclude. In three of the policy networks, “there is an extremely strong US presence,” while in the other three, “international governmental organizations dominate.” Read the article: Mapping Global Public Policy Networks.Book reviews: The privatization of security, and the myth of fiscal control
In the current issue of Governance (24.3, July 2011), Renée de Nevers of Syracuse University reviews States, Citizens, and the Privatization of Security by Elke Krahmann. It is “a valuable addition to the study of private military contractors,” says de Nevers. The book examines how domestic ideologies have shaped the expansion of privatization in the security sector in the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany. Read the review.
And Richard Allen of the World Bank reviews Legislatures and the Budget Process: The Myth of Fiscal Control by Joachim Wehner of the London School of Economics. The book enters into the ongoing debate about proper role of legislatures in fiscal policy and the extent to which they aggravate or moderate problems of budgetary indiscipline. The empirical analysis, says Allen, is “rigorous and thorough.” Read the review.
