The state after modernism

In his book Democratic Governance Mark Bevir has highlighted a number of key issues facing those of us who want to understand the state and its role in governing. Not only has the role of the state changed significantly in the last 30 years but those changes need to be understood in terms of the implications for the nature of the state’s interaction with society and the ways in which the state exercises power within a democratic context. Perhaps what Bevir highlights most is how the conceptions of the state amongst elites is being challenged by changes in the form of government but more importantly by changes in the nature of knowledge and how citizens understand their relationship to the state. Whilst Mark Bevir is right to acknowledge the role and influence of ideas, he has a tendency to overemphasize their impact and as a consequence pays insufficient attention to the role that institutions and structures more generally play in mediating the way in which beliefs and ideas affect outcomes. This simplification leads to an overestimation of the degree of change that has occurred in Britain in particular and in states in general.     

The European Union and NATO enlargement debates in comparative perspective: A case of incremental linkage?

The end of the Cold War has led to growing pressures on the European Union and NATO to open up membership to the emerging democracies of East‐Central Europe. Following an initially cautious response to events in the region, both have developed enlargement policies, albeit in an ambiguous manner. Although there are no formal links between the two enlargement processes, it is argued in this article that ‘incremental linkage’ has occurred. Furthermore, although both institutions have formally commenced enlargement, there remain significant issues requiring attention.     

Integration in small steps: The European commission and member‐state aid to industry

Member states of the European Union traditionally have used a variety of aids to industry to develop national champions, rescue major enterprises in financial trouble, and to make industry more competitive internationally. Yet making the single European market operational and sustaining cohesion across member states with different abilities to aid their industrial enterprises requires that the European Commission monitor state aid closely. Most accounts of this tension point to the weak record of the Commission in rejecting aid packages proposed by member states. This article argues that the rate of rejection of aids by the Commission is a highly misleading indicator of the Commission's influence in this policy area. In fact, the Commission has developed substantial capacities to regulate state aid relative to the constraints within which it operates.     

State-Owned Enterprises in Less Developed Countries: Privatization and Alternative Reform Strategies

State-owned enterprises (SOEs) have typically played a much larger role in the economies of developing countries than developed countries. However, empirical evidence on the economic performance of SOEs generally yields negative results and suggests that SOEs are a major tax on the economies of developing countries reflected in the large operating subsidies required to sustain them. These inefficiencies seem in part attributable to ownership effects and partly to lack of competition effects. Empirical evidence on the effect of privatization of state-owned enterprises in both developed and developing countries suggests that this is often likely to lead to major improvement in economic performance. However, where privatization is not politically feasible, SOE reform alternatives such as management contracts, performance contracts, and greater exposure to competition may, in some contexts, enhance SOE performance, although typically they are second-best policy options to privatization.     

Police Complaints and Criminal Prosecutions

The police complaints process is the sole means by which criminal proceedings are initiated against police officers after allegations by members of the public that they were the victim of an offence committed by officers when in the execution or purported execution of their duty. Yet this state of the law has hardly figured in recent debate, which has seen the complaints process examined almost exclusively as the preliminary stage of the disciplinary process. This paper considers police complaints, the criminal liability of the officer and the implications for reform of the process after incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights.