DEVOLVED RESPONSIBILITY AND CENTRALIZATION: EFFECTS OF EEC ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

The European Community is still a community of nation states in the sense that the obligations created by Community legislation fall on the member states who then have to implement them.
A point much commented upon is that this involves a loss of sovereignty or power for national parliaments and governments. What is less frequently noticed is that it can also centralize into a national government's hands some powers that had previously been devolved to local and other authorities. Since the Community deals largely with national governments, what had previously been local functions have to become national government functions the moment they fall within a Community policy.
This process can be seen at work as a result of the Community's environmental policy. In Britain a variety of administrative agencies have exercised considerable discretion in handling pollution matters. Some functions are handled by district councils, some by county councils, some by specialized regional authorities, eg water authorities, and some by specialized national agencies, eg the Industrial Air Pollution Inspectorate. As a result of the Community's environmental policy, the central government now has greater powers. If the erosion of the tradition of devolved responsibility is not to be resented, it must be justified on the grounds that some larger purpose is being served.     

THE POLITICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE CONSEQUENCES OF JUDICIAL REVIEW

Academic analysis of judicial review is confined largely to juridical commentaries in legal journals. This article, written from an administrator's viewpoint, examines its consequences for the power of government, for administrative behaviour, for constitutional dynamics, and for the scientific study of policy-making. It distinguishes a four-fold effect on administrators, including a substantial element of inhibition, and highlights the uncertainty created by the incremental and inconsistent development of the principles of judicial review. In constitutional terms, while the courts eschew national security and economic policy, they have in other fields explicitly created a process of accountability parallel to that of Parliament, and have resisted statutory attempts to limit their jurisdiction. Analysed in terms of political science, judicial review imposes unrealistic standards of administrative conduct, entrenches the role of pressure groups, and places on public bodies legalistic requirements that they may not be equipped to fulfil. The combination of these pressures, exacerbated by further expansion of the scope of the judicial review, are likely to increase friction between judiciary and government, possibly precipitating a crisis.     

COMPETING TRADITIONS OF GOVERNANCE AND DILEMMAS OF ADMINISTRATIVE ACCOUNTABILITY: THE CASE OF DENMARK

This article offers a study of the changing role of the state in Denmark under the condition of the overall transformation from government to governance with particular emphasis on the corresponding transition from process accountability to performance accountability. It is argued that although new modes of governance have been introduced, and new interpretations of accountability have been proliferated, neither conventional modes of governance nor older interpretations of accountability disappear. Thus, what we see is a co-existence of competing traditions of governance and different and sometimes contradictory interpretations of administrative accountability, which create potential dilemmas and contradictions for the individual civil servant. Employing an interpretative approach to governance and public administration, the article analyses the constitution of competing traditions of governance and interpretations of accountability, and the way in which these competing traditions and interpretations lead to accountability dilemmas for the individual civil servant.     

ADMINISTRATIVE PROFESSIONALS AND THE DIFFUSION OF INNOVATIONS: THE CASE OF CITIZEN SERVICE CENTRES

This article examines how administrative professionals affect the diffusion of one‐stop shops in the form of integrated citizen service centres (CSC) in a Danish local government setting. CSCs are an example of a new organizational form: functionally integrated small units (FISUs). The diffusion of the CSCs among municipalities is used to analyse how administrative professionals act as drivers in the process of organizational level innovation. Furthermore, it is examined how institutional, political and economic characteristics of municipalities influence the likelihood of adoption. The findings highlight that a high concentration of administrative professionals indeed make the adoption of CSCs more likely. Additionally, the findings confirm three commonly stated hypotheses from the diffusion of innovations literature, namely that need based demands, wealth and the regional supply of CSC increase the likelihood of its adoption.     

ADMINISTRATIVE REORGANIZATION AND POLICY CHANGE: THE CASE OF HER MAJESTY'S INSPECTORATE OF POLLUTION

Environmental protection nowadays is a major issue of policy and administration. It is well recognized that an effective approach to pollution control requires it to be integrated, but UK governments have been slow to respond to this need. The creation of a new unified pollution inspectorate in England and Wales must be set in the context of a general transition in British pollution control practice, where the incorporation of more formal procedures is taking place within a tradition of emitter self-policing, client-regulator mutual respect, and regulatory adaptability. This article examines the circumstances that led to the formation of the new pollution inspectorate and considers the challenges that it faces.     

PRIVATE INITIATIVE AND COMMUNITY RESPONSIBILITY: A STRATEGY FOR THE BLACK COMMUNITY

In Britain black leaders are generally less well integrated into community agencies and local administration than their counterparts in the United States. This is partly explained by reference to the American 'arms length' approach to funding community development which, in contrast to the more centralized British approach, enables black leaders to work 'within the system' apparently without sacrificing too much of their political independence. In this context the paper views the activities and funding of the US community action and development agencies and British community relations councils.     

TOWARDS GOOD GOVERNANCE: A HALF CENTURY OF INDIA'S ADMINISTRATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Since independence, India has undertaken a number of efforts to establish an effective development-oriented, citizen-friendly and responsive system of administration to contribute toward good governance. While the traditional system of public administration was appropriate for the pre-independence period, subsequent social, economic and political changes necessitated radical changes in policies and their implementation. A set of new issues called for a thorough reorientation of the system of public administration. Administrative development had, therefore, to be planned and executed in the face of ever-growing conflicts between various non-state actors/institutions and the state. The strategies for administrative development adopted not only included evolving appropriate politico-administrative institutions for democratic governance, but also a consistent effort on reorienting the formal and informal aspects as well as improving the techno-professional skills of bureaucracy at all levels. In addition to this an appropriate balance and cooperation between the public and private sectors was essential in the context of growing liberalization and globalization.The experience of India emphatically demonstrates that an active and consociational association of citizens at all levels of the governmental structure is critical to the process of modernization of the state and administration. The dispersion of political and administrative power among various groups and regions emerges as a useful strategy for ensuring the continuity of the state and democracy in a vast country with numerous ethnic, religious and linguistic divisions.     

AUSTRALIAN ADMINISTRATIVE LAW: INSTITUTIONS, REFORMS AND IMPACT

Over the last decade the Australian Government has enacted a package of legislative reforms dealing with administrative law, some aspects of which are radical and innovative. The reforms comprise the establishment of a general appeals tribunal to review certain administrative decisions on their merits, the appointment of a Commonwealth ombudsman, changes to the procedures and principles concerning judicial review of administrative action, the enactment of freedom of information legislation and the creation of an advisory body to monitor the new system of administrative law. The key features of these reforms are described in this article and some general observations are also made on the impact that the reforms have had on federal public administration.     

THE TRADITION OF MINISTERIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ITS ROLE IN THE BUREAUCRATIC MANAGEMENT OF CRISES

This article explores the relationship between the United Kingdom's doctrine of ministerial responsibility and bureaucratic efforts to control four contemporary crises. Evidence emerges from a series of interviews with experienced crisis managers, which draws attention to the way in which this convention: (1) tacitly conditioned the thinking and behaviour of bureaucratic crisis actors through their sensitivity to political risk; and (2) was reinterpreted and utilized instrumentally by political and bureaucratic agents in response to the dilemmas posed by each crisis. The analysis of these themes connects governance and crisis literatures together by shedding light on the interaction between governance ‘traditions’, 21st century crisis episodes and the requirements of crisis management.     

TASK COMPLEXITY,ORGANIZATION SIZE,AND ADMINISTRATIVE INTENSITY: THE CASE OF UK UNIVERSITIES

The task complexity and size of public service organizations are arguably key determinants of the proportion of resources devoted to administration. Moreover, the combined effect of these two variables is also likely to have important implications for the scale of the administrative function. To explore the separate and combined effects of task complexity and size on administrative intensity in public service organizations, we examine the determinants of the relative proportion of resources allocated to central administration rather than academic departments in UK universities between 2003 and 2008. The results suggest that there is a non‐linear U‐shaped impact of both task complexity and size on administrative intensity, and that in combination these characteristics lead to a bigger central administrative component in universities. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

THE ROLE OF POLITICS AND INSTITUTIONS IN THE ITALIAN ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM TRAJECTORY

This article applies broad conceptual categories of comparative politics to the explanation of administrative reforms in Italy. It takes as its argument some lines of influence on public sector reform of the features of the party system in Italy, the executive‐legislative balance, the politician‐bureaucrat relationship, and the role of administrative law. In the search for explanations for the trajectory of administrative reform, pre‐existing political and institutional factors also have to be interpreted through the lens of negotiated change occurring via processes of conversion and layering involving new and old institutions that has taken place in Italy since the ‘political crisis' began in 1992.     

ADMINISTRATIVE TRADITION AND REFORMS IN SPAIN: ADAPTATION VERSUS INNOVATION

The main purpose of this paper is understanding public administration formation and change in Spain. Its development before and since the years of Franco from 1939 to 1975, is noticeably path dependent in nature. As this paper will show, the foundations were laid before the Franco regime. Then came a period of political domination of the bureaucracy and the emergence of a key structural element of Spanish administration, the special corps. The paper covers the period of political transition, democratic consolidation, and the many processes of administrative reforms. These include the reforms of the Spanish civil service as well as the deep processes of reform.     

HOW POLITICIANS AND BUREAUCRATS NETWORK: A COMPARISON ACROSS GOVERNMENTS

Effective public administration relies on the passage of information through interpersonal communication networks. While we have a vast research literature concerning formal structures and roles in organizations, including public agencies and government institutions, we know far less about the flow of information through semiformal, voluntary interactions. In this paper we use a large survey to explore the networking patterns of politicians and bureaucrats and to compare these with the more formal structural attributes of hierarchy and functional specialization. Social network analysis and standard quantitative measures are used to examine which actors are most central in advice and strategic information networks and how this varies across governments. The results suggest that the communication networks of politicians and bureaucrats differ substantially, with politicians being surprisingly peripheral in their patterns of interaction. Differences across governments are also observed with some municipalities being markedly more hierarchical, cross‐organizational, and externally focused in their networking behaviour.     

A COMMENT ON ADAMS AND BALFOUR: DIGNITY VIOLATIONS,AN ALTERNATIVE VIEW OF ‘ADMINISTRATIVE EVIL’

The major focus of Adams and Balfour’s article in this volume is on what they call ‘administrative evil’ where ‘evil’ is not intended but somehow inherent in modern ‘technical rationality’. Adams and Balfour draw inspiration from Bauman’s (1989) work and, further, use the interesting metaphor that administrative evil is ‘masked’. This means it is difficult to recognize – unlike intentional evil which is ‘unmasked’, that is, readily recognized. Common to both forms is that ‘evil’ implies ‘depriving of humanity’ or to ‘make someone suffer’, and there is no reason to question this. A basic aim of the article is thus to draw attention to ‘masked evil’, phenomena Adams and Balfour believe are insufficiently attended to. There is a broad variety of problems which Adams and Balfour do not touch on but which more or less appropriately can be subsumed under the label ‘masked evil’. Adams and Balfour mention a continuum according to degree of deliberation on consequences. There are, however, no examples given of acts which do not occur at any extreme of deliberation. A related point is that there are historical and cultural determinants of whether (and to what extent) we regard some forms of suffering as ‘evil’ or not.