Recruitment and Expertise in the European Commission

The article examines the changes in the European Commission’s recruitment practices from its creation in the 1950s until today. Based on the insight that recruitment shapes the role of professional experts in public bureaucracies, the article traces the emphasis on specialist skills and qualifications in the Commission’s recruitment competitions (the concours) over time. It finds that the selection of policy staff to the Commission has become more generalist since the 1960s, a surprising finding given that the organisation is often regarded as a ‘technocracy’ dominated by experts. The article attributes this development to the multinational character of the administration, as the need to integrate citizens from new member states has prompted the Commission to rely on one-size-fits-all recruitment tests. It also discusses whether the declining emphasis on specialist knowledge in staff selection can be seen as part of a broader trend towards a more generalist Commission, where officials are required to change jobs frequently and where expert functions are outsourced to other bodies.     

The Many Faces of Accountability: Comparing Reforms in Welfare,Hospitals and Migration

Welfare reforms involve trade‐off between different accountability types, such as political, administrative, legal and social accountability. This variety of accountability types is used to investigate consequences of reforms in three different welfare services in Norway; social services, hospitals and immigration. The study finds that more complex, dynamic and layered accountability forms are emerging, but that there are some differences across reform areas. The reforms in immigration seem to change accountability relations the most in hospitals, administrative and political accountability is up against professional accountability, and we see that politicians lack overall capacity and have to rely on administrative accountability in social services. In order to analyze how reforms affect accountability relations one has to study both the formal and informal changes, as well as the relationship between politics and professionalism.     

EU Legislation to Reduce Carbon Emissions from Cars: Intergovernmental or Supranational Policy Making?

This article examines the making and implementation of the 2009 European Union (EU) regulation on cars and CO₂ emissions (Regulation [EC] No 443/2009). As the first legally binding measure to target the CO₂ emissions of passenger cars, this regulation represents a milestone in EU efforts to reduce the climate impacts of road transport. The analysis draws on two central theoretical perspectives on EU policy making: liberal intergovernmentalism and supranationalism. Both offer important insights, but their explanatory power varies with the policy‐making phase in focus. The analysis shows that the Commission and the car industry were instrumental in shaping what eventually became an industry‐friendly regulation applicable in all EU countries. However, far from being a case of closed negotiations between the industry and the Commission, Germany and other EU countries defending the interest of manufacturers of high‐emission vehicles made use of their powers during the decision‐making phase and succeeded in watering down the Commission's proposal.     

Can budget ambiguity crowd out intrinsic motivation? Longitudinal evidence from federal executive departments

While some scholars have assessed how various features of organizational structure shape intrinsic motivation, the role of budgets and, in particular, programme funding has been overlooked. To address this gap in the literature, we examine how programme funding decisions impact employee motivation. Referencing previous work, we hypothesize that funding choices that emphasize some programmes over others signal clearer organizational goals for employees, thereby increasing intrinsic motivation. In contrast, departments that do not use their budgets to signal clear goals can run the risk of reducing their employees’ intrinsic motivation. We empirically investigate this hypothesis within the context of the US Federal executive departments, constructing a longitudinal dataset (2010–15) from multiple sources. Findings support our hypothesis. Employees in departments that more evenly fund their programmes report lower levels of intrinsic motivation.     

The gradual corporatization of transport infrastructure: The Danish case

The article introduces the theoretical perspective on gradual institutional change to the corporatization literature. This is achieved via a longitudinal case study on the institutionalization of the Danish state guarantee model (SGM) for transport infrastructure based on archival document studies of seven infrastructure projects and 31 interviews with elite actors and experts. The article explores with a detailed analysis how the gradual change mechanisms of layering, conversion and displacement coexist, are interrelated, and are coevolving over a long period. It contributes to the corporatization literature presenting the SGM as an alternative to public and private partnerships and government agencies.     

Skeletal identification by radiographic comparison: blind tests of a morphoscopic method using antemortem chest radiographs

This study investigated the value of antemortem (AM) and postmortem (PM) radiographs of the claviculae and C3-T4 vertebrae to identify skeletons of missing U.S. soldiers from past military operations. In total, 12 field-recovered skeletons and AM chest radiographs of 1460 individuals were used. For each skeleton, examiners analyzed an array of AM chest radiographs (up to 1000 individuals) and attempted to identify the correct PM/AM radiographic match. When examiners were able to compare all images within a single test, only true-positive identifications were made. When AM radiographs were presented one-at-a-time, in sequential order, and without examiners having knowledge of array size, erroneous identifications resulted but they were almost exclusively made by untrained examiners (accuracy = 35% vs. 90% for trained examiners). This study demonstrates the value of chest radiographs for the identification of disarticulated and even eroded skeletons, but only when methods are wielded by trained examiners.