Energy Efficiency as a New Paradigm of the European External Energy Policy: The Case of the EU–Russian Energy Dialogue

Energy efficiency has long since been a pillar of the European internal energy policy. It now takes on increasing importance in European external energy relations. It is, for instance, key to the EU–Russian Energy Dialogue. I analyse how energy efficiency has been institutionalised in EU external energy relations, in particular towards Russia. I examine whether energy efficiency can be seen as a new paradigm for understanding external energy relations. Based on this conceptual delimitation, I describe and assess the regulatory mechanisms proposed by the EU to implement this approach in practice.     

The Micro-Determinants of Public Policy: A Case of Thailand’s Trade Policy

As international trade is vital to Thailand’s economy, the implementation of trade policy has always been at the center of the country’s public administration. Apart from the analysis of the macro-determinants of trade policy formulation, the factors affecting trade policy at a micro level is also equally important. This paper looks at factors influencing individuals’ perception of international trade policy. It uses questionnaire data, collected from Bangkok residents in 2017. The binary, logit and probit, models with marginal effects are employed for the estimation. The results indicate the significance of variables representing individuals’ knowledge and understanding of international trade policy as well as variables relating to individuals’ exposure to the new environment. The government, therefore, should make sure that accurate information is widely disseminated and reaches all stakeholders. People’s better understanding of trade policy should allow policy administration to be more efficient, producing maximum benefits for the country and its people.     

The Post-Rose Revolution Reforms as a Case of Misguided Policy Transfer and Accidental Democratisation?

This article traces political and institutional developments in the Republic of Georgia after the Rose Revolution. Particular focus is placed on efforts by Georgian policy-makers to align Georgian political institutions with Western models. Drawing on the concept of policy transfer, the author demonstrates various pitfalls in this process. Based on the gathered evidence, it appears that Georgian policy-makers engaged in various processes of ‘incomplete transfer’, compounded by a lack of understanding or deliberately false conceptions of Western institutions. Despite democratic rhetoric and interlinkages with the West, Georgia moved to a novel form of ‘hyper-presidentialism’ and dismantled institutional checks and balances. Hence, the Rose Revolution initially served to reinforce the already existing institutions of ‘patronal presidentialism’ through a series of misguided institutional modifications. The author also discusses the outcome of the recent parliamentary and presidential elections, which may have ironically and accidentally further democratised the country.     

State as Transgressor: Šilingas versus the State—A Case Study

In a recent reflective essay written on his dual role as a scholar and public advocate, Paul Robert Magocsi with self-deprecation described himself as a loser on the margins. The sentiment of loss came with his emotional attachment to the wrong baseball team (the Dodgers rather than the Yankees) (“The Scholar as Nation-Builder”). What is clear, however, is that Magocsi is no loser in academia. My esteemed colleagues in this symposium are echoing what has become incontrovertible: Magocsi is a towering figure in Ukrainian Studies.     

Assessing the EU’s Transatlantic Regulatory Powers Using the Choice of Policy Instruments as Measurement of Preference Attainment

To what extent is the European Union (EU) exercising global regulatory power? This article investigates this question through a comparative study of two significant global policy fields: data-protection and banking with a special focus on the choice of policy instruments. Both cases suggest that the actual role of the EU is more complex than either exercising or being subjected to global regulatory power. This concerns not only the relationship between the EU and the member-states. The article suggests that the EU is in a better position to conclude global regulatory deals when the negotiating competencies sit with one EU institutional actor.     

Why Does Citizens' Knowledge of New Policy Vary Between Municipalities? The Case of the Social Support Act

Providing information to citizens is an important first step in the implementation of new policy. In this study we explain differences in the knowledge of citizens between municipalities of a newly introduced law in the Netherlands, the Social Support Act, 10 months after it became into force. This law is especially important for older people that need support in their daily functioning and participation. We focused on two aspects of knowledge related to the act, i.e. having heard of the new act, and knowing how voice with regard to policy on support is organised in the place of residence. Given that socialist local governments focus more on social topics than liberal local governments, we expected citizens of municipalities with socialist councils to have more knowledge about the new Social Support Act. Contrary to our expectations, citizens from municipalities where a liberal party or a collaboration of liberal/socialist parties is the largest, have a better understanding of how voice is organised. On the other hand, citizens in municipalities with an alderman from a combination of liberal/socialist parties have a lower chance of having heard of the Social Support Act. We argue that in view of the Social Support Act, the ideology of a local government related to citizens' responsibilities (liberal view) may have more influence on citizens' knowledge than being a government that pays attention to social issues (socialist view). As far as individual differences between citizens are concerned, as expected, older people that are more educated but in poorer health status have more knowledge about the new act. A higher educational level and an excellent mental health status are related to more knowledge about voice. Educational level is the most powerful predictor for knowledge about the act.     

How Public Officials Gain Policy Influence—Lessons from Local Government in Sweden

That public officials influence public policy is generally agreed upon, but the issue of how individual officials gain this influence is less developed in the literature. Here, the stories and experiences of 10 officials, active in local environmental governing in Sweden, are used to identify, describe, and discuss key strategies for gaining policy influence. The result shows the importance of accessing key politicians; avoiding isolation within the administration; developing long-term strategies; and being skilled in communication, networking, and generating external resources. The way these officials act and think challenges some well-established theoretical notions and adds empirical insights to the democratic dilemma of bureaucratic power.     

Organisations as Epistemic Capital: the Case of Independent Children’s Rights Institutions

Why do national organisations proliferate in practically all areas of policymaking and organisational life, and why are they involved in supranational networks and organisations? The article approaches this mystery by exploring how organisations are built and used as authorities in domestic policymaking. The empirical focus is on the establishment of the institution of children’s ombudsman and its uses in influencing Finnish child policy. The theory developed in the article suggests that organisations are accumulations of authority, here termed epistemic capital, which is the primary reason that they are established and sustained. Once these are institutionalised, various actors can use the authority of organisations to legitimate their policy objectives. The case of independent children’s rights institutions shows how this mechanism operates in child policy. The Finnish office of the ombudsman for children has worked actively to become an established ontological and moral authority in child policy, and it has also attempted to utilise the mandate and authority of the United Nations and the Convention on the Rights of the Child to pressure the state into more child-friendly policy decisions.     

Preventing the Emergence of Self-Determination as a Norm of Secession: An Assessment of the Kosovo ‘Unique Case’ Argument

When Kosovo declared independence, in February 2008, it was stated that the move was not an act of self-determination. Instead, the key states that supported the decision insisted that the case for statehood arose from a unique set of circumstances. Kosovo was not a precedent; it was a sui generis case in international politics. This essay considers the arguments underpinning this claim to exclusivity and argues that, taken either individually or collectively, the main justifications used to support Kosovo's ‘unique’ statehood—such as the abuse of human rights—in fact have serious consequences for other separatist conflicts elsewhere.     

Understanding Impact in Policy Advisory Systems: The Australian Case of the “Thinker in Residence”

The dynamics of policy advice giving in a policy advisory system (PAS) is complex, multifaceted, and relational. Research on policy advice has shifted from a “first wave” to a “second wave” that places a greater focus on the dynamics of PASs. This article expands our understanding of the impact of advice giving in a PAS by developing a framework that integrates supply, demand, content, and contextual factors. This article introduces a new type of policy actor (the “thinker in residence”) to better understand the relational dynamics of a PAS and compare why some actors achieve greater impact than others.     

A Balanced Budget with Side Effects—A Case Study of Implementation of a Hospital Cost Savings Program in Sweden

This study examines the implementation of a hospital cost savings program in a Swedish county hospital to understand how and why a downsizing intervention works and what outcomes it produces. Data were gathered from interviews and documents. Substantial differences were found among the healthcare professionals’ perceptions of the downsizing process. These diverse perceptions likely limited the scope of staffs’ participation and innovations of new savings strategies. Our findings stress the need for impact analyses addressing both intended aims and unintended side effects. Full attention should be paid to communication processes required to establish a trustful and committed change climate.     

Harsh State Repression as a Cause of Suicide Bombing: The Case of the Palestinian–Israeli Conflict

Although students of social movements have established that state repression strongly affects protesters’ choice of tactics, this finding has been ignored by most analysts of suicide bombing. Based on data collected from various sources, including 88 interviews the author conducted in 2006 with senior leaders of six Palestinian political organizations and close relatives and friends of Palestinian suicide bombers, this article argues that harsh state repression is a major cause of suicide bombing. It shows that understanding the effect of state repression is crucial to clarifying many of the unsolved puzzles concerning the rationales of organizations that employ suicide bombing, the motivations of individual suicide bombers, and the reasons why this tactic has become popular in some societies. The article concludes that there are three types of organizational rationales underlying the use of suicide bombing. Suicide bombing may be an extreme reaction to extreme state repression, a combined reactive and strategic action, or a purely strategic action. Different contexts and organizations typify these organizational rationales.     

EU–China Regional Policy Dialogue: Unpacking the Mechanisms of an Unlikely Policy Transfer

Abstract

This article investigates EU–China dialogue on regional policy, a puzzling exercise in policy transfer because such policy is by its nature inward-oriented and the intricacies of regional development imply uncertainty about its effects in different contexts. The article sheds light on the reasons of both sides for engaging in this unlikely policy learning effort and identifies its actors and mechanisms. It also critically assesses this process, stressing its one-way nature and the active role of the EU as a ‘policy-sender’, in contrast to most policy transfer literature citing demands by the policy-recipient as the predominant reason to engage in such cooperation.     

Policy Transfer as a “Contested” Process

Policy transfer studies have commonly assumed that changes to policies borrowed from abroad are either the result of deliberate efforts to adjust/translate them to fit its receiving environment, or an adaptive response to the cultural and institutional circumstances of the latter. In introducing the concept of “contested policy transfer,” this article will argue that differences between the “original model” and the borrowed one might be actually due to the series of conflicts and negotiations which take place among key bureaucratic actors at the “importer” jurisdiction. The article will illustrate the concept by analyzing the transfer of the Chilean “Programa de Mejoramiento de la Gestión” to the Mexican government, a process which took place between 2005 and 2010.     

Ethnic Identity and the Nation?CState in the Era of Globalization: the Case of Cyprus

This paper addresses the philosophical question whether the nation?Cstate will be entering a final phase of demise or whether it will continue to prosper within the framework of the era of regional blocs and globalization. In order to do so, we briefly put forward some theoretical premises in relation to the nation?Cstate and globalization and how they have affected each other. This discussion also draws from the recent experiences of the international economic crisis and how the EU reacted in relation to the serious economic crisis of Greece. We also assess the case of Cyprus within the framework of this discussion. The question raised in relation to Cyprus is whether there can be an integrated society that encourages a particular common value system and also respects the ethnic identity of citizens and communities. A major question is whether the EU can offer the framework for such an outcome.     

Fixers as Shadow “Public Servants”: A Case Study of Israel

Fixers can thrive in any level of political, bureaucratic, or institutional development. Paradoxically the academic research of the phenomenon of fixers is in its infancy. There exists no accepted definition of fixers; the boundaries between fixers and lobbyists remain murky, in terms of comparative administration only limited knowledge about the forces that breed different types of fixers in different political settings is available; and no deductive theory was articulated that might determine when and how fixing might become dysfunctional and corruptive. In an attempt to better understand the phenomenon of fixers more theoretically; this study analyzes fixers in view of three theories of bureaucratic corruption, and in view of the emerging theory of alternative politics. Using Israel as a case in point, the study shows that within certain national and local branches of government fixers not only create a shadow copy of official institutions, but also foster institutional corruption.     

Education Policy and Philanthropy—The Changing Landscape of English Educational Governance

This article explores some hitherto neglected but nonetheless important aspects of the changing landscape of education policy and governance in England. It sketches some particular features of the increasingly complex and “congested” terrain of the education state and traces some of the primary discourses that currently inform and drive education policy (and, indeed, social policy more generally) both in relation to governance and substance. The article draws on an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC–-funded study (RES–000–22–2682), “Philanthropy and Education Policy.” This research involved three sets of activities; extensive and exhaustive Internet searches around particular (corporate) philanthropies, philanthropists, and philanthropically funded programs; interviews with some key “new” philanthropists and foundations interested and involved in education; and the use of these searches and interviews to construct “policy networks.” Together these constitute a “method” of “network ethnography.”     

The International–Domestic Nexus in Anti-corruption Policy Making: The Case of Caspian Oil and Gas States

This article looks at the application, in the anti-corruption realm, of the analytical framework developed for transnational human rights advocacy by Risse, Ropp, and Sikkink. Focusing on Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan, this article shows that the level of integration with Western actors on the state and corporate levels determined the degree to which the transnational anti-corruption regime has been accepted in the Caspian region. As the transnational regime does ultimately lack coercive powers, the tension between transnational demands and national political elites does not translate into serious conflict, as a broader formal acceptance of the transnational anti-corruption regime offers national actors only limited opportunities to genuinely promote the issue.