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

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.

The interactions between bureaucratic agencies and political actors shape governance outcomes, yet scholars disagree about how bureaucratic autonomy relates to government quality. Some claim that enhancing autonomy improves quality, whereas others maintain the opposite. An influential article by Fukuyama (2013) in Governance suggests a curvilinear relationship, moderated by capacity. This article evaluates the theory empirically, focusing on within-country variation and two dimensions of autonomy: independence and discretion. Drawing on an original survey of over 3200 public sector workers in Brazil and administrative data on 325,000 public servants, we find evidence suggesting that the relationship between perceived autonomy and quality depends on the type of perceived autonomy and level of capacity. Public servants' perceptions of independence from political actors are associated with increased perceptions about governance quality in a linear fashion. For perceived discretion, we find initial evidence of a Goldilocks relationship: too little reduces perceptions of government quality but so does too much, especially in low-capacity areas. Our findings offer initial evidence that may qualify claims that limiting bureaucratic discretion while increasing political oversight improves governance; instead, context may be crucial.

Using qualitative data from frontline police organizations in Punjab, Pakistan, this article investigates the role of street level management on creativity and improvisation in the frontline. Our findings show that the professional identities and attitudes of the street level managers play an important role in mediating creativity by the frontline workers, especially in the hierarchal organizational structure. If the managers adopted rule-following attitude, frontline workers often faced hindrances in the use of creativity, leading to alienation. In contrast, if managers adopted a defiant attitude, frontline workers engaged in moderated creativity as they assumed the risk of rule breaking. This shows that creativity and innovation in organizations with no formal mandate to improvize is a messy and political process. Our study indicates the need to extend the research on policy innovation to hierarchal bureaucracies and organisational contexts where team work is not encouraged.

This paper adds to the literature on urban diplomacy by focusing on the role of smaller cities with an active international engagement in migration matters. What are the motives driving the involvement of these “ordinary” cities in international groupings? What role do these cities play in the circulation of policies related to migration integration? How does it translate into local policies? To do so, we rely on a quantitative analysis of 64 networks around the world and on the case study of Amadora (Portugal). It is argued that “ordinary” cities may gain visibility when participating in transnational networks of cities. However, the research also shows that the city involvement is driven by the search for financial capacities, thereby nurturing a form of dependency from international subsidies. In addition, Amadora's involvement in city networks is not necessarily connected with actual activism in favor of migrant integration. The research shows the tensions between political discourses at national and local levels, and the loopholes of the “transnationalization” of migration governance.

Existing literature suggests bureaucrats shirk when political oversight is limited or inefficient. When civil servants engage in multitasking, elected office holders have neither the capacity nor the incentives to monitor bureaucrat–citizen interactions. I argue that under such circumstances, public servants prioritize responding to local anomalies which are located in the immediate vicinity of politicians. Using a novel dataset on geolocated citizen problem reports from 40 urban municipalities in Hungary (N = 24,149), matched against addresses of mayors, I find that proximity to mayors' domiciles is associated with more prompt responses from authorities. Results suggest politicians' local roots generate positive externalities for their neighbors, as civil servants are incentivized to put those reports on the back burner which are the most invisible for their political principals. Further analyses suggest response speed is also positively associated with incumbent mayors' re-election chances. The findings refine our understanding on political oversight of bureaucrats and voters' expectations about likely behavior of locally embedded civil servants.

Policy-making is a complex business. While scholars have studied the politics of policy-making for decades, we know surprisingly little about the role of individual ministries. We argue that and why individual ministries crucially shape policies' content, particularly their distributive profiles. We explain that it matters whether for example, a Ministry of Labor, of Finance, or of Home Affairs designs a policy. First, we systematically review existing literature on the factors that influence preferences of ministries and their power in policy-making. Second, we develop a theory explaining that and why ministries have substantive policy impact and introducing a typology of three different ministerial ideal-types: ministries follow a “social logic”, an “efficiency logic”, or a “law-and-order logic”. Third, we offer systematic empirical evidence: Using the least likely case of Germany, we introduce a novel content-coded dataset on all social policies in the Bundestag since 1969, showing that ministries shape policies' distributive profiles, even when controlling for rival explanations, such as the partisan affiliation of ministers, the policy field, or cabinet type. We conclude by developing a research agenda on ministerial politics and highlight important implications for representation and responsiveness.

Policy capacity plays a pivotal role in shaping the extent of global governmental responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. While scholars have primarily examined this phenomenon through individual case studies, focusing on demographic variables that influence governments' COVID-19 responses, little understanding exists regarding how existing policy capacities (systemic, organizational, and individual) have either constrained or empowered governments to navigate the pandemic diversely. To address this gap, our study focuses on the worldwide patterns of school closures and re-openings during COVID-19. Utilizing configurational analysis on data from 110 countries, we reveal that factors such as less professional organizational capacities, flawed individual leadership capacities, and contextual factors such as heightened political polarization serve as quasi-sufficient conditions for longer school closures, while their significant presence leads to extended periods of schools remaining open. The research is supported by detailed case studies of the US, Colombia, Israel, and South Korea, elucidating diverse policy trajectories and combinations influencing prolonged closures or swift re-openings.

As migration continues to shape urban societies, how cities deal with migration-based heterogeneity has become a salient issue. Much literature addressing immigrant policymaking has focused on current policy ideas and the different actors they involve; literature on urban governance has highlighted the role of collaboration between state and civil society actors. To date, however, limited research has taken a combined approach to see how municipalities forge collaboration with civil society in pursuit of (novel) policy ideas. The article draws on and combines immigrant policymaking, urban governance and urban regime literatures. It presents Mannheim as a heuristic case which shows how the city's immigrant policymaking reflects a combination of a shift towards 'diversity' as policy idea and discourse and long-term collaboration in policymaking. Positing the emergence of an “urban diversity regime” in Mannheim, the article reflects on the opportunities this heuristic notion presents for existing literature and for future research.