Representative bureaucracy and seconded national government officials in the European Commission

The bureaucratic arms of modern international organizations increasingly consist of staff with ambiguous organizational affiliations. This article analyses the implications of this trend from the perspective of representative bureaucracy – using seconded national experts (SNEs) in the European Commission (Commission) as the empirical laboratory. Using a variety of datasets, we unveil Commission SNEs' profiles (to assess their passive representativeness) and link these profiles to their role perceptions (to evaluate their potential for active representation). This illustrates that Commission SNEs' background characteristics do not match those of their constituent population (i.e. the EU27 population) – suggesting a lack of passive representativeness. However, we also find that SNEs from countries favoring stronger national rather than European regulatory and policymaking powers are more likely to see themselves as a representative of their home country government. This suggests a potential for active representation in terms of SNEs' home country's policy preferences.     

One size does not fit all: an analysis of the corruption preventative approach of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in Bangladesh

ABSTRACT

This paper argues that the global citizens’ engagement movement against corruption does not always succeed in developing countries, such as Bangladesh. Drawing on the case of the preventative strategies of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in Bangladesh, this paper shows that government-driven citizens’ engagement processes through community-based organisations (CBOs) are a ceremonial adaptation in response to isomorphic pressure from the donors. The outcomes from isomorphic pressure suggest that such donor-funded actions produce ‘isomorphic mimicry’ of successful corruption prevention programmes from other countries that do not succeed in the recipient country. A micro-level analysis based on interviews with stakeholders in Bangladesh demonstrates why isomorphic mimicry has failed to produce a robust anti-corruption prevention approach in Bangladesh.     

Abolishing the Audit Commission: Framing,Discourse Coalitions and Administrative Reform

The abolition of the Audit Commission in England raises questions about how a major reform was achieved with so little controversy, why the agency lacked the institutional stickiness commonly described in the literature on organisational reform and why it did not strategise to survive. In this paper, we apply argumentative discourse analysis to rich empirical data to reveal the pattern and evolution of storylines and discourse coalitions, and the ways in which these interact with and affect the practices of Parliament, the media and the Audit Commission itself. Our analysis shows that the politics of administrative reform are as much about discursive framing and the ability of pro-reformers to gain discursive structuration and institutionalisation as they are about the material resources available to a newly elected government and its ministers. Questions of technical feasibility are unlikely to derail a reform initiative once its promoters gain discursive ascendency.     

The adult worker model family,gender equality and care: the search for new policy principles and the possibilities and problems of a capabilities approach

There is evidence that policy-makers in most Western welfare states are moving towards a new set of assumptions about the contributions that men and women make to families, based on an adult worker model. This paper first examines this shift in policy assumptions at the EU level and goes on to argue that there are real limits to the pursuit of a full adult worker model based on the commodification of care. In respect of gender equality, this in turn raises the issue of the terms and conditions on which such a shift in policy assumptions are made, particularly about the valuing and sharing of the unpaid work of care. The final part of the paper examines the possibilities offered by the capabilities approach of addressing these issues.     

Channelling Protest in Illiberal Regimes: The Cuban Case since the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Abstract

As part of the strategy for better governance, the European Commission has taken steps towards improved consultation and dialogue on European Union (EU) policy with interested parties. Opening up the policy process and getting interest groups involved are considered important for the democratic legitimacy of EU policy making. This article examines the public Internet consultation on the Commission proposal for a new European chemicals policy, the so-called REACH system. Being one of the most consulted issues in EU history, the chemicals policy review is considered as a critical test for the participatory mechanisms provided by the European Communities. By analysing more than 6000 contributions to the consultation, it is demonstrated that it invited broad participation, although industry was considerably better represented than NGOs and other civil society associations. Moreover, an overwhelming majority of participants were national actors from the largest member states rather than transnational actors. It is concluded that online consultations can invite broad participation in EU policy shaping but it is unlikely to bring about equal participation from different group of actors. Therefore it raises concern when measured against standards of democratic governance.     

Economic partnership agreements: African–EU negotiations continue

When they were first proposed by the European Commission to the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries — all signatories to the Lome and Cotonou agreements which provided them with preferential access to the European market — economic partnership agreements were presented as supporting regional integration and development. However, most African states regarded economic partnership agreements with suspicion, fearing that the agreements would limit their market access and their policy space. Progress on negotiations has been slow, and more than two years after they were supposed to have been concluded there are still a number of outstanding issues that the individual African regions and the European Commission have to resolve. This paper explores some of the difficulties and the progress made thus far, and proposes some measure that would address the concerns around development and regional integration in the context of the challenges posed by the global financial crisis.     

The international law commission of the United Nations: Legal vacuum or microcosm of world politics?

Classical realists and Utopian idealists have long disagreed over the nature of international law. While classical realists from E.H. Carr to Hans Morgenthau contend that law is the product of power realities in international relations, Utopian idealists reject such power explanations, focusing instead on the institutions that create international law. This study addresses that theoretic struggle by empirically examining the intervention of world politics in the debate process of the International Law Commission. A data base is created from the debate record of Law Commission members from 1983 to 1989. Content analysis is performed to test explicit hypotheses that examine the Utopian assumption of an apolitical Law Commission found in the Commission's Statute. The findings indicate that the Law Commission functions in a manner that is greatly constrained by global politics and power realities. The focus on institutions, prevalent in the literature, is misleading and fails to capture the essence of the debate process in the Commission. The strength of the findings underscores the necessity for students of international law to employ a more empirical, systematic methodology in their research.     

Network neutrality: Issues for Australia

The beginning of the 21st century saw the beginning of substantial debate on “open access” to the Internet and the related concept of “network neutrality”. This paper is a short introduction to some of the complexities of the debate, focussing on the difficulties of attempting to regulate rapidly developing technologies, as well as particular issues of price and market regulation in Australia. Generally, network neutrality advocates believe that without regulation, telecommunications companies will use their control over “last mile” infrastructure to engage in discriminatory and anti-competitive practices against content providers. Opponents argue that this concern is illusory, and regulatory restrictions requiring neutrality will in their turn restrict innovation by network providers. In Australia, most discussion has focussed on price and market regulation. However, many Australian opponents of network neutrality say that it is an American problem, irrelevant to Australia, because of different pricing models for the Australian broadband market.     

Lessons learned from the World Commission on Dams

The World Commission on Dams was an independent international body created under initiatives of the World Bank and the World Conservation Union in order to address environmental and social impacts of large dams. It published its final report in November 2000 after 2.5 years of extensive studies, public hearings, and discussions. The report included recommendations that were expected by some to become internationally acceptable standards for the planning, assessment, design, construction, operation, and monitoring of large dam projects. However, to date, none of these recommendations have been either officially accepted by major international financial institutions, including the World Bank, or by a large number of national governments, including China and India, which are the world’s top and third largest dam-building countries. Several factors have prevented their broad acceptance: (1) the World Bank lost its stake in the development of policy as the original scope of the review expanded from solely Bank-funded projects to cover all large dam projects in the world; (2), the World Bank was neither included in the secretariat nor did it provide Commissioners, thereby providing the Bank with an excuse not to accept the recommendations; (3) the Commission had the heavy tasks of carrying out both scientific study and developing policies, under serious time constraints, resulting in premature recommendations that were difficult to apply in the real world; (4) the character of the final recommendations was not clearly explained in the report, giving stakeholders unrealistic expectations.