Evaluation in and of Public-sector Reform: The Case of Denmark in a Nordic Perspective

The purpose of this article is to shed light on the twinned development of public-sector reforms and evaluation in Denmark. While there is a substantial literature on both public-sector reforms and on evaluation, focus has only recently been put on the relations between these phenomena. The case of Denmark has, however, not been included in the international comparison. This article therefore discusses the case of Denmark, comparing it briefly to Finland, Norway and Sweden. The article analyses both 'evaluation in' and 'evaluation of' public-sector reform. 'Evaluation in' refers to the question to what extent evaluation (in line with other elements such as, e.g. privatization and performance management) has been part of the content of reforms. 'Evaluation of' refers to the questions of whether and how reforms themselves have been evaluated. The analysis shows that although the rhetoric of reforms have been similar in the Nordic countries, reform actions and especially the twinned development of reforms and evaluation have differed between the countries.     

Migration,citizenship and race in Europe: Between incorporation and exclusion

Abstract. The article examines four recent studies, which represent the scholarly divisions in and the strengths and the weakness of current research on migration, citizenship and race in Europe and, to a lesser degree, the USA. Organising the review around three themes — the causes of post–war migration, integration and race, and the relationship between citizenship and state sovereignty, it reviews the studies in the context of broader debates about postnational citizenship, the decline of state sovereignty and the role of theory in the study of citizenship. It argues that the studies of postnationalism (Jacobson) and race and racism (Solomos & Back) suffer from faults common to macro–sociological approaches and unfocused attempts to blend normative theory and causal explanation, while the studies of integration (Favell) and citizenship, immigration and the state (Joppke) are exemplars of approaches that successfully pair an interest in theory with detailed causal analysis. The article concludes by suggesting that the debate between 'nationalists' and 'postnationalists' can now be transcended. Postnationalism, it concludes, contains two theses, not one: an empirical and a causal. The empirical thesis — that universal personhood has decoupled rights and identity – is incontrovertible; the causal — that this development resulted from the 'internationalisation' and 'universalisation' of human rights legislation and discourse — is, in the light of Joppke's and other's research, false. The sources of third–country nationals' social and economic status, the foundations of the distinction between rights and identity, are domestic.     

The median voter model in public choice theory

The changing perception by public choice theorists about the relevance of the median voter model is a result of excessive extrapolation of the conclusions of theoretical models to the real world. Early in the 1970s the median voter model was often accepted as implying that the output produced in the public sector was what was most preferred by the median voter. This claim is excessive because the median voter model is only a model of demand aggregation under majority rule and has little to say about the supply side of the public sector. In the late 1970s many scholars identified several circumstances under which the model would not apply in theory, but these critiques of the model were often viewed as reasons to abandon the median voter model altogether. The model went from having excessive claims that made the model appear to be more powerful than it really is to excessive claims that made the model appear to be less powerful than it really is. These latter claims were often in response to the earlier claims rather than to the model, appropriately applied.Pointing out that the model might not be valid under some circumstances in no way implies that the model is never valid. In fact, this paper has reviewed strong arguments, both empirical and theoretical, suggesting that the median voter model is a good approximation of demand aggregation in the public sector for many issues. One paper will not change the opinions of public choice theorists on the median voter model. But the argument given here is that there is a large amount of theoretical and empirical evidence supporting the median voter model as a good foundation for the development of the theory of public sector demand. Once the overly ambitious claims that have been made for the model are set aside, the median voter model is in a good position to provide a base for the development of a theory of political structure that is analogous to the theory of market structure in economics.     

The Downsian model of electoral participation: Formal theory and empirical analysis of the constituency size effect

This paper applies a game-theoretic model of participation under uncertainty to investigate the negative relationship between constituency size and voter turnout rates: theconstituency size effect. We find that this theoretical model accounts for almost all of the variation in turnout due to size in cross sectional data from school budget referenda.     

Deliberative Democracy and the Deliberative Poll on the Euro

Focus on the concept of deliberative democracy has increased rapidly within recent decades. However, the concept is weakly defined, if at all. 'Deliberation' is defined as an unconstrained exchange of arguments that involves practical reasoning and potentially leads to a transformation of preferences. Throughout the 1990s several innovative democratic experiments have flourished focusing on citizens' involvement and deliberation. The Deliberative Poll in focus here is, according to many parameters, the most ambitious one. The article presents the results from the Danish National Deliberative Poll on the single currency. In August 2000, 364 repres-entative Danish citizens assembled to deliberate on Denmark's participation in the single currency. The Deliberative Poll is described as a quasi-experiment set out to explore the empirical potentials of deliberative democracy. The focus is whether the claimed potential of deliberative democracy is present in the experimental setting. The participants' answers reflect a deliberative process dominated by considerable changes in opinion, an increase in knowledge and an improved ability to form a reasoned opinion. Mutual understanding among the participants prevailed. At the same time, self-interest and domination were also part of the deliberative process. Thus, this article encourages the development of deliberative democratic theory in order to incorporate these features of politics.