The GOVERNANCE blog

In the current issue of Governance (23.4, October 2010), Lu Zhang reviews The Chinese Worker After Socialism by William Hurst of the University of Texas Austin.  Zhang says that the book “stands out” for its careful examination of the fate of workers laid off by China’s state-owned enterprises: “The book is comprehensive, informative, and rich in details concerning several main issues regarding the laid-off SOE workers.” Read the review.  And Martin Painter reviews Change and Continuity in Public Sector Organizations, a festschrift in honor of SOG member Per Laegrid.  “The book is a showcase of the kind of public administration scholarship that Laegrid has exemplified,” says Painter. Read the review.

The G20 summit in Seoul on November 11-12 will trigger more debate about the representation of emerging economies in the institutions that shape global economic policy.  In Rethinking Fundamental Principles of Global Governance: How To Represent States and Populations in Multilateral Institutions (22.3, July 2009),  three authors — Vijaya Ramachandran, Enrique Rueda-Sabater and Robin Kraft — suggest a new way of thinking about “the constitutional foundations of an effective global governance system.”  They propose a model in which countries in the “Two Percent Club” — having either two percent of global GDP or global population — have their own seat at the table, while other countries are represented indirectly by regional representatives.   The authors call this a principled formula that draws on experience with federal constitutional arrangements.  UPDATE: This article is discussed in the October 21 issue of the Financial Times.

In the current issue of Governance (23.4, October 2010), Kathrin Frey of the University of Zurich examines the movement for “evidence-based policy making” and asks: When is systematic evidence about “what works” likely to be used by policymakers?  Frey develops a framework for examining this question and applies it to cases of road safety policy in Switzerland, a country whose political institutions encourage a high degree of popular participation and consensus in decisionmaking.  Frey finds that policymakers are most likely to question the relevance or quality of evidence in discussions about intrusive policy measures that engender a high level of conflict.  Read the article.

Read the article.

What happens to the European Union after the crisis triggered by the threat of Greek default in early 2010?  In her commentary in the current issue of Governance (23.4, October 2010), Vivien Schmidt says the EU must develop stronger mechanisms for responding to the economic crises of member states, as well as more flexible rules on fiscal and monetary policy, and better policies to remedy economic inequalities.  “Reform demands real political will,” says Schmidt, “at a time when inward-looking politics is on the rise.”  Download the commentary for free.