III Governmental and Administrative Institutions / Institutions Politiques et Administratives
| Published date | 01 October 2019 |
| Date | 01 October 2019 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020834519880804 |
| Subject Matter | Abstracts |
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III
GOVERNMENTAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INSTITUTIONS
INSTITUTIONS POLITIQUES ET ADMINISTRATIVES
69.6188 ARTER, David — Idiosyncratic technocratic, democratic
or simply pragmatic? A parties’ perspective on electoral
system change in Finland, 1906-1969.Politiikka 61(1),
2019 : 34-53.
Whilst in Klaus Törnudd’s words [The Electoral System of Finland, Hugh
Evelyn, 1968: p. 57] “converting the Finnish electoral system into a
unique list system with votes for individual candidates”, the extent of
electoral system change in 1955 was relatively limited. In J. M. Carey
and M. S. Shugart’s [“Incentives to cultivate a personal vote: a rank
439; Abstr. 46.3891] terms, Finland shifted from the 1906 system of
“open lists with open endorsement and multiple votes” — voters could
rank order candidates — to a system in 1955 of “open lists with open
endorsement and a single vote”. I make the case that the 1955 reform
represented “simply pragmatic change”. I argue that, when viewed from
a parties’ standpoint, 1955 legislation gave statutory force to a progres-
sive de facto reduction in the preferential elem ent in the electoral system
that the parties had engineered over the previous half century. [R, abr.]
69.6189 BALBONI, Marco — The global reach of the principle of
subsidiarity: the case of Australia. Commonwealth and
Comparative Politics 57(2), 2019 : 193-207.
The diffusion of the principle of subsidiarity across countries and regions
has taken on a variety of forms. In the case of the EU and Australia, the
observed variation is most striking. The detailed comparison of the
governance arrangements in a quasi-federal system with those of a fully
established federation reveals a continuing divergence in the actual
recognition of subsidiarity concerns. [R] [See Abstr. 69.6028]
69.6190 BEGLEY, Philip, et al. — Assessing policy success and
failure: targets, aims and processes. Policy Studies 40(2),
March 2019 : 188-204.
Assessing policy success and failure is a significant challenge. This
article seeks to address this by utilizing two case studies of legislation
from the United Kingdom Parliament, the N ational Minimum Wage Act
1998 and the Academies Act 2010, so as to develop a nuanced under-
standing of how and in what ways policies have been successful, or
otherwise. Drawing on these two case studies, and the work of a variety
of authors, the article illustrates the complex nature of the challenge, but
suggests that by identifying “targets”, “aims” and “processes” it is possi-
ble to make reasonable judgements about the relative success of a
policy. It concludes that this framework therefore has considerable
potential utility. [R]
69.6191 BELLAMY, Richard — Was the Brexit referendum legiti-
mate, and would a second one be so? European Political
Science 18(1), March 2019 : 126-133.
This article suggests that common arguments questioning the legitimacy
of the first Brexit referendum prove flawed, as do certain others support-
ing the legitimacy of a second referendum. A different case for a second
referendum is offered that would have added to the legitimacy of the first,
but the opportunity for which has now passed. Nevertheless, it might be
legitimate to overturn the first referendum through a normal parliamen-
tary process should there be a significant level of Bremorse among the
public, or a general election supporting a change of policy. [R] [See
Abstr. 69.6628]
69.6192 BEZES, Philippe ; DESCAMPS, Florence ; VIALLET-
THÉVENIN, Scott — Bercy: empire ou constellation de
principautés? (Bercy [French Ministry of Economy and
Finance]: an empire or a constellation of principalities?).
Pouvoirs 168, Jan. 2019 : 9-28.
The public image of the ministry of Economy and Finance is one of an
unequivocal place, a sometimes besieged but most of the time conquer-
ing power fortress. The article analyses the mechanisms of this domina-
tion and its limits. On the one hand, it shows that the power of the minis-
try stems from its central role in the reorientation of many major public
policies and, on the other, it stresses the importance of its organizational
fragmentation between numerous historical directorates which tend to be
autonomous and in charge of policies that are often competing and
contradictory. However, these centrifugal tendencies are constrained by
numerous initiatives pointing to integration and coordination, such as the
strength of the networks and the ethos of the ministry, in addition to the
permanent movement of absorption and fusion of organizations. [R] [First
article on a thematic issue on “Bercy [French Ministry of Economy and
Finance]”. See also Abstr. 69.6132, 6206, 6219, 6220, 6229, 6234, 6240,
6243]
69.6193 BHATTACHARYA, Caroline ; PAPAGEORGIOU, Achillefs —
Are backbenchers fighting back? Intra-party contestation
in German Parliament debates on the Greek crisis. Par-
liamentary Affairs 72(2), Apr. 2019 : 425-444.
Over the course of the Eurozone crisis, we have witnessed a disintegra-
tion of the pro-European consensus in the German Bundestag. This
study focuses on patterns of intra-party contestation by examining indi-
vidual-level determinants of the growing party disunity. Party leaders
constrain the room of maneuver of individual legislators, but the degree
of party control they face varies depending on their position within the
party, and we expect this to be reflected in their behavior. Our compre-
hensive case study of plenary debates on the Greek crisis in the Bundes-
tag (2010-2015) analyzes legislative speech, voting defection and expla-
nations of vote. Our results show that an MP’s rank, experience, electoral
mandate and gender matter in their inclination to voice dissent. Here, the
frontbencher-backbencher categorization shows the most consistent
effect. [R] [See Abstr. 69.6203]
69.6194 BINDMAN, Eleanor ; KULMALA, Meri ; BOGDANOVA, Elena
— NGOs and the policy-making process in Russia: the
case of child welfare reform. Governance 32(2), Apr. 2019 :
207-222.
This article explores the issue of the major reform of the child welfare
sector that has been carried out in Russia in recent years. Focusing on
deinstitutionalization and a child's right to a family, this reform moves
Russia in the direction of international trends in this area and represents
a break with previous state- and institution-dominated approach to
“problem families.” The article explores how and why this process has
come about in a traditionally top-down hybrid regime and applies the
Multiple Streams Framework first developed by J. Kingdon to argue that
Russian child welfare NGOs have acted in concert with government
officials to act as policy entrepreneurs in framing the policy problem and
presenting solutions to it in a way that has influenced national priorities in
this area. [R, abr.]
69.6195 BODEA, Cristina ; GARRIGA, Ana Carolina ; HIGASHIJIMA,
Masaaki — Economic institutions and autocratic break-
down: monetary constraints and fiscal spending in domi-
nant-party regimes. Journal of Politics 81(2), Apr. 2019 :
601-615.
In dominant-party regimes, party cadres’ participation in decision-making
constrains dictators from arbitrarily changing policy. Dominant -party
regimes are also better at mobilizing supporters in exchange for exten-
sive patronage. The conventional wisdom is that these two mechanisms
work together to prolong dominant-party regimes. However, under certain
conditions, the elite-level constraints restrict autocratic leaders’ ability to
engage in patronage distribution. We focus on monetary institutions,
arguing that when central bank independence overlaps with the collective
decision-making in dominant-party regimes, dictators have diminished
control over the central bank. Thus, the central bank is effective enough
to restrict expansionary fiscal policy, reducing the mobilization of sup-
porters through patronage and increasing authoritarian breakdown risk.
Analyses on data from 1970 to 2012 in 94 autocracies find that high
central bank independence in dominant-party regimes increases the
likelihood of breakdown. [R, abr.]
69.6196 BOLGHERINI, Silvia ; DALLARA, Cristina ; PROFETI, Stefan-
ia — A shallow rationalisation? “Merger m ania” and side-
effects in the reorganisation of public-service delivery.
Contemporary Italian Politics 11(2), June 2019 : 112-136.
This article focuses on the m ix of reorganization measures recently
adopted by Italian governments in the delivery of public services in four
policy sectors that are (co)managed at different levels of government, but
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