Synopses & Reviews
Tremendous changes are affecting the institutions of government in many Western European countries. Globalisation, European integration, economic, technological, and societal developments have a major influence on public policies and governmental performance. These developments have furthered a framework in which governmental and non-governmental actors are linked by both reciprocal connections and more complex network relationships. This volume attempts to identify and analyse the effects, the change, and the formation of government institutions in relation to the above-mentioned developments. More specifically the following topics are discussed: the European Union as a system of multi-level governance, national government institutions and policies, change of government institutions and changing state-society relations, new public management reforms, ICT and changing organizational boundaries, political institutions and policy-oriented learning, management of public-private partnerships, interactive policy making, and structural legal institutions. This volume will be of particular interest to administrators, researchers, policy makers, and students in the field of public administration and public policy.
Table of Contents
Introduction: multi-level and multi-actor governance; O. van Heffen, et al. Part I: Effects of Government Institutions. The comitology game: European policymaking with parliamentary involvement; B. Steunenberg, D. Schmidtchen. Institutional change in the emerging European polity; K. van Kersbergen, et al. The secret and cost of success: institutional change and policy change; M.S. de Vries. The swamp of Dutch politics: how the impact of modernization on political behavior is modified by institutional context; K. Aarts, et al. Interactive decision making and representative democracy: institutional collisions and solutions; E.-H. Klijn, J.F.M. Koppenjan. Is mediation a suitable alternative to court trials? An assessment of institutional effects on the processing of disputes; M. Oude Vrielink. Institutionalism: state models and policy processes; O. van Heffen, P.-J. Klok. Part II: Change of government institutions. Restructuring a corporatist welfare state: managed liberalization and the role of the state, the social partners and the market in Dutch social security and labor market policy; R. van der Veen. Administrative conditions to institutional politics: federalism in an unitary state; T.A.J. Toonen. Public governance in Europe: a historical-institutional tour d'horizon; W.J.M. Kickert, J.L.M. Hakvoort. Information and communication technology and the redefinition of the functional and normative boundaries of government; V.J.J.M. Bekkers. Part III: Formation of government institutions. The mobilization of bias revisited: institutional design, cultural bias and policy-oriented learning; F. Hendriks. Interactive policy making as a serious alternative: Balancing between an open and closed approach; M. Esselbrugge. Process Management; H. de Bruijn, E. ten Heuvelhof. Managing public-private partnerships: influencing processes and institutional context of public-private partnerships; E.-H. Klijn, G.R. Teisman. Legal institutions as systems of legal norms; D.W.P. Ruiter. Contributors. Index.