Policy Styles and the Swiss Executive Federalism: Comparing Diverging Styles of Cantonal Implementation of the Federal Law on Unemployment

This article focuses on the implementation of the federal law on unemployment insurance (LACI) by the Swiss cantons. Starting in the mid 90s, the second revision of the LACI reformed the Swiss labour market policy. Resulting from a political compromise at the federal parliament between left and right wing parties, this law juxtaposes instruments of reinsertion of the unemployed into the labour market with instruments of control of the unemployed. Thus, the implementation of this federal law varies not only by the degree of application but also by the orientation of application. Some cantons implement the reinsertion instruments and neglect the control instruments, others make intensive use of the control instruments and neglect the reinsertion instruments. Some cantons make an intensive use of both types of instruments while a last group of cantons implements the law in a very sketchy way. The second part of this article deals with the concept of policy style, operationalised around four variables, as an explanation of the diversity of LACI cantonal implementation modes. One quantitative variable—the scope of state intervention—is statistically tested in the entire range of Swiss cantons. The other variables—style of state intervention, co‐ordination and interaction modes of social actors and the main traits of the regional political culture—are examined in six cantonal case studies of the LACI implementation process.     

Freedom of information acts and public sector corruption

Various countries have recently implemented Freedom of Information acts believing that greater transparency can reduce public sector corruption. To test this, we analyze annual data on 128 countries between 1984 and 2003 using a variety of propensity score matching techniques and overall find no significant relationship with one exception: In the developing world, FOI acts are significantly associated with rising levels of corruption. Further investigation suggests this may be due to the fact that the effectiveness of FOI acts appears to be conditioned by a country’s institutional arrangements.     

Street-level Enforcement Style: A Multidimensional Measurement Instrument

This study investigates street-level bureaucrats’ enforcement style and its underlying dimensions by developing and validating a multidimensional measurement scale. Developing a measurement scale for enforcement style is relevant because the number of underlying dimensions is contested and studies developing measurement scales are scarce. This complicates cross-sector and cross-national comparisons. Using a survey among inspectors of the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, street-level enforcement style is found to comprising three dimensions: (1) legal, (2) facilitation, and (3) accommodation. This study contributes to more validated measurement instruments by presenting a 13-item measure that can be used to study street-level bureaucrats’ enforcement style.     

Why do public agencies seek accountability? The role of audiences

Accountability-seeking behaviors of public agencies are said to be motivated, among others, by attempts at pre-empting stricter mandatory provisions, logic of appropriateness motives, Machiavellian opportunism, reputational considerations, and a perceived need to compensate for the inadequacy of traditional arrangements. However, we do not know when a particular rationale, or a combination thereof, prevails. This study therefore examines how public agencies seek accountability, to whom and for what reason. Relying on data from 15 interviews with top-level managers/directors and 75 survey responses, it demonstrates that the type of audience to whom the account is rendered is a key explanatory factor as to why specific mechanisms become “activated.” This study furthermore uncovers why certain rationales are associated with specific types of audiences. Thus, rather than a “holy grail” of one set of driving motivations, our study suggests, one should look at the audience to understand why a public agency seeks accountability.     

Developing Identification with Humanity and Social Well-Being Through Social Identification with Peer Groups in Adolescence

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Developmental literature highlights that cognitive, moral, and affective development proceeds from concrete operations to more abstract ones. However, it is not...     

Reconstructing the Role of the Working Class in Communist and Postcommunist Romania

This article examines the position of the industrial working class in Romania before 1989, its role in the overthrow of the communist regime during the December 1989 revolution, and its status during the postcommunist transition to democracy after 1989. The subordination of labor interests by both communist and postcommunist regimes to ideologies that underestimated the issue of class differentiation is emphasized throughout the paper. This analysis is undertaken at two levels, namely, the rewriting of the history of communism after 1989 and the obstacles encountered during the process of democratic transition. The later aspect refers to the problematic relationship between the intellectuals and the working class and labor's lack of involvement in shaping the post-1989 economic and political reforms. The argument that I pursue is that many of the setbacks experienced during the democratization process are partly rooted in the status of labor as an important absentee from the discourse and agenda of both incumbent governments and intellectual elites. It has been a significant factor in pushing the working class towards an illiberal right-wing politics and ideologies of a populist, xenophobic, and anti-intellectual nature.