Perceptions of Discretion in Street-Level Public Service: Examining Administrative Governance in Romania

ABSTRACT

Street-level bureaucrats have long been seen as key figures in program and policy implementation, often occupying unique positions that encompass executive, legislative, and judicial functions. Osborne’s concept of the New Public Governance addresses concepts of policy implementation and interpretive activities that characterize street-level bureaucracy. Current understanding of street-level bureaucracy is, however, dominated by research focused on the United States and the United Kingdom, both of which demonstrate differences from countries in Eastern Europe. This study uses survey data to examine street-level bureaucracy in Romania, with attention to the determinants of bureaucratic perceptions of discretion. Results indicate that proactive personality, prosocial motivation, autonomy, job satisfaction, and years of experience are related to individual perceptions of discretionary latitude among front-line workers.     

Transnational Advocacy Networks and Corporate Accountability for Gross Human Rights Violations in Argentina and Colombia

This article examines the activity of two transnational advocacy networks concerned with holding corporations and their representatives accountable for gross human rights violations committed during the last Argentinean dictatorship and the ongoing Colombian armed conflict. Based on these case studies, it illustrates how various experts and scholars construct and promote different visions of justice and best practices of dealing with corporate violence according to their own professional backgrounds and political beliefs. While transnational networks play an important role in reckoning with political and economic violence, their mobilization also creates a fragmented field of knowledge and practice where different professionals and networks seek to achieve justice, but also to impose themselves as the legitimate agents of these accountability processes.     

‘The association that dissociates’ – narratives of local political resistance in Kosovo and the delayed implementation of the Brussels Agreement

ABSTRACT

The existing literature on the EU’s transformative role in the Balkans looks at EU conditionality as a unidirectional system of rewards that is expected to motivate local elites to comply with EU rules. This article raises a different question: how do local actors bypass the implementation phase of EU conditionality and what kind of political resistance narratives do they use for this purpose? The analysis attempts to tackle these inter-related questions by focusing on the delayed implementation of the Brussels Agreement between Belgrade and Pristina as a case study, using the interpretive method of narrative analysis. The article aims to link fieldwork empirics with theoretical discussions in the field of EU compliance literature by stressing the importance of local actors’ resistance to EU incentives. Three levels of analysis will be conducted in order to address the research question: (1) mapping different types of actors at the local level and stressing their heterogeneity; (2) understanding how local resistance to EU pressure evolved in the period 2013–2016; and (3) showing how their policy narratives influenced the implementation phase and the maintenance of the status quo. In conclusion, the analysis shows that the EU’s mediation strategy of ‘constructive ambiguity’ favours local actors’ political resistance, particularly in the implementation phase. The main findings show that ‘dividers’ outnumber ‘connectors’ in local actors’ narratives, thus strengthening political resistance to EU pressure.     

Simultaneous Use of Public and Private Specialist Services as a Potential Strategic Behaviour in Access to the National Health Service: Is There a Pattern by Socio-economic Level?

Social Justice Research - Under national health services (NHS), non-urgent access to specialist doctors is not straightforward and sometimes leads to long waiting times. Consequently, some citizens...