Policy and power: A conceptual framework between the ‘old’ and ‘new’ policy idioms

During the last few decades, both policy practices and policy idioms have drastically changed. Concepts such as interactive planning, network management, stakeholder dialogue, deliberative democracy, policy discourses, governance, etc. have replaced older ones such as public administration, policy programmes, interest groups, institutions, power, and the like. Although we recognise the relevance and importance of this shift in vocabulary, we also regret related ‘losses’. We particularly regret that the concept of power has – in our view – become an ‘endangered species’ in the field of public policy analysis. We therefore will develop a framework to analyse power – being a multi-layered concept – in policy practices in this article. We will do so on the basis of the so-called policy arrangement approach, which combines elements of the old and new policy vocabularies. In addition, we draw upon different power theories in developing our argument and model. As a result, we hope to combine the best of two worlds, of the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ idioms in policy studies, and to achieve our two aims: to bring back in the concept of power in current policy analysis and to expand the policy arrangement approach from a power perspective.     

The effect of membership rules and voting schemes on the success of international climate agreements

We empirically test the role of membership rules and voting schemes for climate change coalitions with the STAbility of COalitions model (STACO). The model comprises twelve world regions and captures long-run effects of greenhouse gas accumulation. We apply three stability concepts that capture the notion of open membership and exclusive membership with majority and unanimity voting. We show that exclusive membership leads to superior outcomes than open membership and that unanimity voting is preferable to majority voting in welfare and environmental terms. Our results suggest restricting membership in future international environmental agreements and they provide a rationale for unanimity voting as applied in many international organizations.     

From Cash to Accrual Budgeting and Accounting in the Public Sector: The Dutch Experience

Traditionally, governments used to deploy input‐based budgeting systems and cash‐based accounting systems. However, these systems do not provide the information that is necessary for a government to operate efficiently and effectively. Therefore, a growing number of countries have already shifted or are planning to shift from cash‐based to some form of accrual accounting in the public sector. Usually, the implementation of some accrual‐based system is linked to wider financial management reforms including performance management requiring information on cost. This paper focuses on the Dutch experience with the shift from cash‐based accounting and budgeting systems to an accrual‐based system.     

Corporate governance in Germany: The changing role of the banks

The article analyses the different channels ‐ industrial stakes, supervisory board mandates, proxy voting ‐ by which German banks can exert influence on industrial companies. The central thesis is that even where the banks have such influence they do not dominate the companies. A recent empirical study on the effects of the alleged bank dominance over industrial companies with detrimental effects on their performance is shown to contain major methodological mistakes. The relationship between banks and industry is undergoing some distinct changes. Banks have substantially reduced their industrial stakes as well as their representation on supervisory boards, which underlines that they are not striving for industrial leadership. Despite a clear trend in the German corporate sector to pay increasing attention to shareholder value and to provide more transparency in accounting, it seems premature to expect the German capital market, including the corporate governance system, to incorporate fully the Anglo‐Saxon model in the immediate future.     

Effects of Budgetary Constraints on HR Reforms in Central Public Administrations and the Importance of Institutional Context

A standard criticism toward New Public Management has been its focus on efficiency and cost saving. As a consequence, other important reform objective aspects and administrative values such as quality, fairness, engagement, trust, and sustainability would be neglected. In the field of HRM, this again would result in many (un-)intentional reform effects, such as more demotivation, less engagement, and less trust of the workforce in leadership. Unfortunately, many of these claims have not been tested empirically.Especially in the field of HRM, there is very little comparative evidence on how costs are being cut on a grand scale in different institutional contexts, Human Resource Management policies, with regard to different HR instruments and how these cuts impact on Human Resource Management.This study investigates the current HR reforms in central public administration in 32 OECD countries. Using recent OECD data (OECD Data Set, 2015), the study analyses the impact of budgetary constraints with regard to 40 HR issues and HR instruments. These issues were grouped into different HR bundles. The analysis reveals a strong correlation between budgetary constraints and cost-cutting measures. As a consequence, HRM as such is changing dramatically in some countries. Whereas the past reform trends in most OECD countries were characterized by a move away from the classical bureaucratic model, the present focus is on the implementation of ad hoc reforms in order to save resources. Neither is there a common trend toward one alternative high-work performance model nor a reformed universal “bureaucracy-lite mode.” Overall, data show that HR management is not seen as a strategic factor in the reform process in many countries. In fact, most countries have focused on cost reductions and downsizing and not on responsible restructuring.