Governance-An International Journal of Policy Administration and Institutions最新文献

Literatures on institutional, ideational and policy change have made great strides in dynamically conceptualizing agency within structure. What continues to be insufficiently understood, however, is how actors actually work with ideas, that is, how broad policy ideas become concrete and implementable. One concept that has gained some traction in understanding actors' application of ideas is bricolage, understood as the stabilization or changing of institutions through a creative recombination of existing ideational and institutional resources. We theorize bricolage as a process of working with ideas by testing their cognitive, normative and strategic capacity. In contrast to much of the existing literature, we theorize this ideational policy entrepreneurship as collective agency. This gives greater analytical weight to how different bricoleurs work together—simultaneously and across time—to develop the ideas that come to shape policy. The empirical relevance of the theoretical argument is corroborated with an analysis of the work of bricoleurs in the paradigm shift of German pension policy.

Did the financial and economic crisis (2008/2009) induce a permanent shift to more economic intervention in the advanced democracies? Three relevant theoretical perspectives are considered. First, the crisis could have led all governments to intervene more, irrespective of their partisan composition. Second, voter demand could have shifted towards more intervention due to the crisis, again inducing all governments to expand economic intervention. Third, increasing salience of economic issues could have led to an accentuation of partisan differences in economic policy which should have led to an expansion of economic intervention under left governments only. We present data from a new index of economic intervention, which show that governments increased economic intervention during the immediate crisis but returned to liberalization afterward. Similarly, statistical analyses show that partisan differences disappear during the acute crisis but return thereafter. Hence, the financial and economic crisis did not constitute a game-changer in economic policymaking in advanced democracies.

Ensuring equitable local service delivery requires sustained investments that are often beyond the reach of local governments in poor countries. In many developing countries, access to basic education is achieved primarily through the complementary efforts of state, municipal, non-governmental and international development agencies — what I call the complementary “quartet” of service delivery. While the current literature acknowledges the individual roles of this “quartet,” it has not given much attention to the influence of their complementary efforts on access and quality of education outcomes. Using a unique (2013–2015) dataset of 260 Ghanaian municipalities in a cross-sectional pooled regression analysis, the study finds that state assistance has broader influence on both access and quality of education outcomes, while municipal capacity, international development assistance and the presence of education focused non-governmental organizations are associated with access (enrollment).

Street-level bureaucrats (SLBs) are central to the implementation of government policies, which becomes crucial in the context of democratic backsliding. Their willingness to carry out policies developed by “unprincipled” principals influences the final impact of backsliding on citizens. Research on civil servants and anecdotal evidence indicate that SLBs may engage in various dissent activities when they disagree with politicians and their policies. However, the scale of this behavior depends on how many of them perceive the government as “unprincipled.” Hence, to understand the potential for dissent activities in the face of democratic backsliding, we need to examine SLBs' support for the ruling government. This paper focuses on Poland, an important case of democratic backsliding, analyzing the approval of the opposition parties and the protests in the wake of democracy-undermining reforms among the SLBs. By analyzing Polish Center for Public Opinion Research survey data, it concludes that SLBs' support for the opposition was not overwhelming, rendering significant scale of dissent activities at the street level unlikely.

This study examines a collaborative strategic planning initiative undertaken by Pennsylvania's Office of Medical Assistance Programs (OMAP) to enhance service delivery for children with medical complexity in Medicaid Managed Care. By engaging a broad spectrum of stakeholders OMAP employed a structured yet adaptable process to collaborative strategic planning that resulted in multiple actionable recommendations. Analysis of the process provides insights for strategic management practice and research by identifying key process design features and process context factors. Findings reveal that success was primarily driven by effective leadership, strategic stakeholder engagement, and robust cross-sector collaboration. The initiative exemplifies how structured, yet adaptable collaborative strategic planning can result in innovations to public service delivery. This case not only provides vicarious learning but also underscores the importance of systemic and inclusive approaches to public management.

The deliberative democracy and governance literature indicates that the challenge of participatory mechanisms (e.g., participatory budgeting, citizen assemblies) is to be inclusive of all citizens, especially marginalized ones from the political system. Immigrants as a marginalized group are a target of inclusion. Asking the circumstances under which these mechanisms promote immigrants' effective inclusion is still a pending question. This article proposes a theoretical model centered on their inclusion in these mechanisms. We apply our model to the incorporation of immigrants into Barcelona's Neighborhood Council Meetings, revamped under the radical-left Barcelona en Comú-led government (2015–2023). Findings show that opening participatory mechanisms for immigrants did not build de facto inclusionary dynamics in Barcelona. We explained such findings on the mismatch between the political quest to deepen democracy and promote social justice through participatory mechanisms and the limitations to implement practices leading to a pluralist engagement with immigrants.

Corruption in healthcare is widespread and consequential. Informal payments (IPs) are a common form of petty corruption, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Using data from the Life in Transition Survey encompassing 33 countries across Europe and Central Asia, I analyze the prevalence and reasons behind IPs made to public health providers. In addition to individual- and system-level factors often used in literature, I also introduce a latent measure of social norms related to high levels of corruption. These are associated with a significantly higher prevalence of paying informally. This paper also bridges a gap between the corruption literature and health-related research by introducing a typology of IPs based on why they were made. I find that the association between health system characteristics and IPs prevalence differs based on the reason for payment. This difference is further exacerbated by the existence of corruption-related social norms. The results of this analysis highlight the need to revisit existing anti-corruption policies and align them to the underlying social norms.

In 2023, a major earthquake struck Turkey, leaving thousands dead and exposing the country's corruption problems. The current Turkish president Erdoğan was sworn into power in 2003. Erdoğan's government has completely transformed the country with construction projects that have provided a huge economic boost. However, successive amnesties and non-compliance with building regulations have uncovered cases of corruption. This paper analyses the evolution of corruption in Turkey during Erdoğan's rule. Several indicators are considered, such as the Corruption Perception Index, the Index on Impartial Administration or the V-Dem Indicator on Political Corruption. The results indicate that two distinct stages can be distinguished during Erdoğan's term in office. The first stage was marked by a reduction in the perception of corruption, and the second stage was marked by an increase in the number of tenders for public works and corruption. Finally, several policy recommendations are proposed to reduce corruption in Turkey.