The GOVERNANCE blog

Vivienne Schmidt, Jean Monnet Chair of European Integration at Boston University, discussed her forthcoming commentary in the October issue of Governance at Suffolk University Law School in Boston today.  Schmidt’s commentary examines the reforms needed to European Union institutions following the crisis triggered by the threat of Greek default earlier this year.

September 28 is International Right to Know Day.  To mark the day, Governance is providing free access to an article in its new issue (23.4, October 2010).  Ben Worthy examines how the UK Freedom of Information Act, which went into force in January 2005, has changed UK central government.  Worthy says that the law has improved transparency and accountability but that several secondary objectives — such as improved trust and public understanding of government decisions — have not been achieved.  “These goals were not realistic,” says Worthy, “The political environment presents too many obstacles” to their achievement.  Download the article for free.

In the current issue of Governance (July 2010), Ringa Raudla of Tallinn University of Technology explains the evolution of budgetary institutions in Estonia between 1993 and 2008.  The country initially chose highly centralized budgetary institutions, in response to fiscal stress.  But  concentration of power in the hands of the finance minister created tensions in coalition governments composed of ideologically diverse parties.  Soon new restrictions were placed on the power of the finance minister.  Political actors also learned how to manage the relationship of parliamentarians in the budget process.  Read the article: “The Evolution of Budgetary Institutions in Estonia: A Path Full of Puzzles?“

In 2003 the French government implemented a new automated system for detecting and punishing speed limit violations. In the current issue of Governance (July 2010), Fabrice Hamelin of the French National Institute for Transport and Safety Research examines how this “rapid, radical break” in policy on speed limit enforcement came about.  Underlying the change in policy was a more fundamental shift in thinking about the role of central government in this policy domain, Hamelin says.  “The adoption of Automated Speed Enforcement confirms that the state — and with it French statism — has not said its last word . . . The instrument chosen enables a comeback by the state.”  Read the article, “Renewal of Public Policy via Instrumental Innovation: Implementing Automated Speed Enforcement in France.”

“Why do some public organizations grow old and others die young?”  This is the question posed by Arjen Boin, Sanneke Kuipers and Marco Steenbergen in the current issue (23.3) of Governance.  Their article, “The Life and Death of Public Organizations,” examines the lives of organizations established in the early years of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal.  It finds that certain aspects of institutional design play an important role in determining organizational viability.  But  institutional “birth characteristics” that help organizations to survive their early years may work against them later on.  “Our capacity to design public organizations for the long run is limited,” the authors suggest.  “There is no silver bullet — no magic combination of design options — that will guarantee organizational survival.”  Read the article.