The increasingly difficult art of comparative European politics

Abstract. Those writing textbooks on comparative European politics, or the cross–national study of European democracies, have a number of key choices to make. They must decide whether to cover Western Europe as well as Central and Eastern Europe; whether to focus on a limited number or a broad range of countries; whether to include the EU in the analysis or exclude it; whether to adopt a thematic or a country–by–country approach; whether to survey events or test a broader argument; and whether to focus on the politics of institutions and representation or to include more social and economic–oriented concerns as well. The evidence from the most recently published texts in this area is that different writers make different choices. Moreover, the context within which European politics now operates also suggests that their choices are becoming increasingly difficult ones to make.     

The heterogeneity of consumer sentiment in an increasingly homogenous global economy

Recent investigations concerning consumer confidence in the U.S. have shed light on both the economic and political forces that contribute to its dynamics. And yet, as the recent financial crisis makes clear, the world economy is an increasingly interdependent place. This paper explores whether, in fact, consumer confidence responds differently to economic events in different political and institutional contexts. Our preliminary findings indicate that consumer confidence has shared variance in four countries for which we have data, but also unique variance with origins in national politics.     

Building organizational reputation in the European regulatory state: An analysis of EU agencies' communications

Organizational‐reputation literature has advanced our understanding about the U.S. regulatory state and its agencies. However, we lack contributions on what a reputational account can add to our knowledge about the European regulatory state, the strategic behavior of supranational agencies, and their endeavors to legitimize themselves in a multilevel political system. We know little of how reputation‐management strategies vary across EU agencies and why. The study offers the very first mapping of organizational‐reputation‐management patterns across all EU agencies, as well as the first empirical assessment on how reputational considerations guide supranational agencies' legitimation strategies. The results indicate that EU agencies facing higher reputational threats revert to their avowed raison d'être (i.e., technical conduct). We find that regulatory agencies utilize a more diverse set of reputational strategies by emphasizing the technical, procedural, and moral reputations more than nonregulatory agencies, whereas social‐policy agencies foster their technical reputation more than economic‐policy agencies.     

The decentralization of health care in developing countries: organizational options

The complex ways in which decentralization is practised in the field of government health services are examined. Organizationally, decentralization means a choice between different types of public institution, which vary in terms of: the areas over which they have jurisdiction, the functions delegated to local institutions; and the way decision-makers are recruited, so producing institutions. There is little agreement about the optimum size of areas, either in terms of population or territory. Areas cannot be delimited without consideration being given to the powers to be exercised at each level. The specification of functions always assumes certain things about who will exercise the delegated powers. The two issues cannot be separated. Five structures of decentralization are distinguished, each of which could in principle be created at regional, district and village/community level: the multi-purpose local authority, the single-purpose council, the hybrid council, the single purpose executive agency, the management board, field administration, health teams, and interdepartmental committees. Whatever the institutions used for decentralization, the choice of structures and the ensuing process of decision-making will be highly charged politically. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Public management and organizational performance: The effect of managerial quality

This paper presents the first large study of public management quality and its effect on program performance. Using 5 years of data from more than 1000 Texas school districts, the authors measure quality as the additional salary paid to school superintendents over and above the normal determinants of salary. This measure of managerial quality is positively correlated with 10 of 11 performance indicators covering organizational goals ranging from standardized tests to school attendance. These relationships hold even in the presence of controls for other determinants of program success. The measure has the potential to be used in tests of existing management theories, thus moving the literature beyond case studies to more systematic research involving many subjects. © 2002 by the Association for Public Policy and Analysis and Management.     

The retention of state governors

In this paper, we have provided some support for several hypotheses about the determinants of which governors get reelected. The benefit from being a member of a particular party varies from state to state and from year to year. Personal characteristics such as age are also important. The logits give some support to the importance of coalition formation; reelection is easier in states with low voter turnout and in farm states. The paper is most concerned with the connection between the economic performance and the electoral success of incumbent candidates for governor, and we find support for a model of electoral acountability, in which governors are powerful in state governments and state governments have the ability to differentially tax fixed factors relative to neighboring states.This paper raises some important issues regarding the measurement of variables in political economy, which have wide applicability to other studies in the economics of politics. Peltzman (1988) finds that the difference between the growth rate in state personal income and the national growth rate over a one to four year period prior to the election does not affect gubernatorial electoral outcomes. Concurrently, we find that the current year's growth rate in state personal income and its difference from the national growth rate are not significantly related to electoral success but that the average deviation from predicted state personal income during the governor's tenure in office is significantly related to the odds of getting reelected. That is, the data reject simplistic views of voter behavior and support a sophisticated model of voter behavior. Similarly, Peltzman (1988) has greater success using more sophisticated, cumulative measures of national economic performance.     

Corporate Psychopaths and organizational type

This paper looks at one of the members of the ‘dark triad’ of managers with malevolent personalities and investigates whether Corporate Psychopaths are to be found at greater levels of incidence in any particular type of organization. The paper introduces the topic of research into the characters of leaders and explains why this is important. It then discusses who Psychopaths and Corporate Psychopaths are in comparison with the other members of the ‘dark triad’; Machiavellians and Narcissists. The paper discusses some of the theoretical implications of having Corporate Psychopaths in organizations and then presents some evidence that they are to be found at greater incidence levels in financial service institutions and the civil service rather than in primary industries and retail services. The paper looks at the implications of the presence of Corporate Psychopaths in terms of lower levels of corporate social responsibility and mentions that Corporate Psychopaths also influence productivity and organizational constraints. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

9/11 and the FBI: The organizational roots of failure

Public discussion about the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks has focused on the human causes of tragedy – on individual mistakes, failures of leadership, and the power plays between intelligence officers in the field and policymakers in Washington. But closer examination of the FBI suggests that organizational weaknesses are the root cause of poor agency performance. Longstanding deficiencies in the FBI's organizational structure, culture, and incentive systems proved crippling in the 1990s, when the Cold War ended and the terrorist threat emerged. These lingering weaknesses ultimately prevented the bureau from capitalizing on 12 separate opportunities that might have disrupted the 9/11 plot.     

跨越官僚制再造组织文化--我国公共部门"企业家文化"的构建

公共部门组织文化是以“公共服务理想”和“公共精神”为基础的一套价值观体系。在我国政府再造过程中 ,公共部门组织文化发挥着巨大的作用。我们应打破传统官僚文化的影响 ,实施文化战略 ,创建适合我国国情的“企业家文化”。     

The capitalist state and political practice

Text reviewed:

N. Poulantzas (1978) State, Power, Socialism London, New Left Books, pp. 269, £7.50.     

Enhancing organizational effectiveness in developing countries: The training and visit system revisited

Improving the effectiveness of public sector organizations in developing countries has become a major focus for national governments and foreign aid agencies. This study reviews the experience of a major organizational reform strategy, the training and visit system of extension, that has operated for more than 20 years. Several lessons drawn from this experience are that aid donors must: (i) eschew their preference for organizational blueprints and recognize the contingent nature of reforms; (ii) recognize that many public sector organizations have only a small ‘controlled’ decision-making space and thus pay more attention to ‘influenceable’ decision-making opportunities; (iii) acknowledge that machine model approaches are likely to reinforce the negative aspects of hierarchical control in bureaucracies, and; (iv) pay much more attention to organizational sustainability in terms of finance and strategic management capacity.