The GOVERNANCE blog

SOG co-chair Philippe Bezes is the author of a new book, Réinventer l’État, published by Presses Universitaires de France.   Details about the book– a study of administrative reform in France from the sixties to now, with a neo-institutionalist perspective — are available here.

SOG is the Structure and Organization of Government Committee of the International Political Science Association, the sponsor of Governance. Details on how to join SOG are available here.  SOG memberships include a subscription to Governance.

The Structure and Organization of Government Research Committee (SOG), the academic sponsor of Governance, had a successful series of discussions during the IPSA annual conference in Santiago, Chile on July 12-16.  SOG hosted four panels at the conference, featuring the contributions of scholars from fifteen countries.  Photo: Governance co-editor Robert Cox of the University of Oklahoma reports to the SOG executive board on July 13.

In the current issue of Governance, Adrian Kay and Robert Ackrill challenge the view that the 1994 Uruguay Round Agreement was a “singular event in the international governance of agriculture,” marking a sudden leap to liberalization.   Kay and Ackrill provide historical context for the 1994 Agreement, showing that it was proceeded by a decades-long process of learning through bargaining and rule enforcement.  The significance of the Uruguay Round commitments, they argue, is “a matter of nuance and evolution.”  Kay and Ackrill also speculate that the 1994 agreement may complicate further bargaining because it “locked in” a high degree of specificity in trade rules.  Read more: Institutional Change in the International Governance Agriculture: A Revised Account, 22.3 (July 2009).

A new study of privatization decisions by US country governments from 1992 to 2002 challenges the assumption that fiscal stress is a major reason for privatizing public services.  “There is no evidence that fiscal stress induces privatization,” says Roland Zullo in the current issue of Governance.  Nor is there clear evidence that politically conservative regions favor privatization, or that labor-friendly laws impede it.  Surprisingly, says Zullo, “the results suggest that private and intermunicipal contracting expand when government grows . . . this reflects a pragmatic use of external suppliers for trial, temporary and contingent services.”  Read more: Does Fiscal Stress Induce Privatization? 22.3 (July 2009).

In the current issue of Governance, Victor Lapuente and Marina Nistotskaya challenge conventional wisdom about the factors that lead to the adoption of merit-based civil service systems.  Their research — examining 35 developing countries and 39 Russian regions — suggests that rulers who have more security in office are more likely to pursue reform, because they know they will reap its long-term economic benefits.  Other considerations — including the level of democratization, electoral competition, or fragmentation of political authority — prove not to be so important as determinants of reform.  Lapuente and Nistotskaya caution that “normative implications” about the relative virtues of authoritarian and democratic regimes cannot be inferred from their research.  Read more: To the short-sighted victor belong the spoils: Politics and merit adoption in comparative perspective, July 2009 (22.3).

SOG member David Coen is the co-editor (with Jeremy Richardson) of a new book, Lobbying the European Union: Institutions, Actors, and Issues, published by Oxford University Press.   Details about the book- and information on how to obtain a 20 percent discount on its price — are available here.

SOG is the Structure and Organization of Government Group of the International Political Science Association, the sponsor of Governance. Details on how to join SOG are available here.  SOG memberships include a subscription to Governance.