“Cultures of populism: institutions and hegemonic practices” – a brief introduction

ABSTRACT

This short Introduction sets the context for the nine articles included in Safundi’s special issue on “Cultures of Populism: Institutions and Hegemonic Practices” (Vol. 21, no. 3) by establishing connections with the colloquium of the same name that was hosted at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg from 10th until 13th July 2019. At the conference, populism (whether of the political right or the left) was examined in relation to democracy, the role of elites, and possible futures for the Humanities. Drawing on a range of theoretical perspectives, papers considered the diverse histories of populism, as well as varied occurrences of this phenomenon across the globe.     

Institutional Suicide and Elite Coordination: The Spanish Transition Revisited

ABSTRACT

In the literature on democratisation, the Spanish case has a paradigmatic status, especially for the negotiations between the regime and the opposition. While these negotiations did stabilise the new regime, the transition was driven by the regime’s elites. The key event was the approval of the Law for Political Reform in November 1976, when the legislature voted its own demise. The change was done according to the rules of the system. To explain this reform, we offer a formal model of coordination and a statistical analysis of an original dataset of the 531 legislators. The reform was possible because of elites’ belief coordination.     

政府在征地过程中的作为与不作为

政府在征地过程中的价值选择与目标定位,是政府作为与不作为的重要前提。政府作为扭曲的根源主要在于政绩变态的惯性、政府利益的驱动、征地程序的缺陷、监督制约的不力、寻租活动的影响以及违法追究过轻等。矫治政府作为扭曲,政府角色回归、征用行为人本定位和制度创新三者缺一不可。     

日本的行政改革及启示

日本的行政改革是在经济低迷与政局混乱中启动并完成的.其改革内容是全面的,体现了市场化、分权化与绩效化的趋向,在行政机构重新设置的过程中,完成了对传统官僚制的根本性改造,同时还实现了政府职能的重新清理与定位.改革过程中突出政治领导,充分利用内生动力,并尽力遏制部门利益,以及最终强化了政府首脑及内阁府的行政权力和综合协调功能等做法与结果为各国的行政改革提供了一定的借鉴与参考.     

政府架构与运行机制研究:经验与启示

自上世纪80年代以来,西方主要国家进行了一系列卓有成效的政府改革与创新。基于对英国、美国、日本、澳大利亚、新西兰等西方主要国家中央政府机构架构及运行机制的前期研究,本文就政府运行机制及其管理变革的规律性特点及趋势、政府机构设置及管理的趋势、促使政府高效运作的基本保障机制与措施等三个方面进行了分析和总结。     

英法大部门政府体制的实践与启示

本文对英法大部门政府体制的理论起源、部门构成与演变、部门内外协调机制进行了分析,总结了其成功的经验和实施的制度基础,指出完善的市场经济、成熟的社会自治、政府职能的及时更新、配套改革措施到位是英法大部制成功运作的基础。与此相应,在我国推动相应的改革必须着力强化部门首长的协调与控制能力、围绕职能行使效率设计部门结构、推进相应的综合配套改革。     

地方政府债务的效应及形成机制新探

地方政府债务是在我国社会主义市场经济体制改革进程中,伴随着计划经济体制向市场经济体制的转轨和政府职能的转换而产生的一种社会经济现象。地方政府债务包括地方政府从商业银行获得的贷款、中央政府将国债部分收入转贷给地方政府和地方政府为企业担保等形成的隐性债务等。地方政府债务的迅速膨胀已对社会经济发展产生了诸多负面影响。这种债务的形成和扩张既有显性的正式预算制度的制约,也有非正式预算制度、地方政府间财政竞争和地方政府债务动态发展机制等因素的拉动。     

Strategic drift in international non‐governmental development organizations—putting strategy in the background of organizational change

Although the use of strategic planning has become widespread in INGDOs they have often been accused of strategic drift—continuous change in their strategic directions with plans only loosely coupled to their activities. However, the way that they prioritize their activities, and the reasons why strategic drift occurs has generally escaped in‐depth research. This article draws on detailed, qualitative research of strategic planning meetings at the executive levels in a major INGDO, carried out between July 2006 and December 2007 to identify the reasons why strategic drift occurs and the role of strategic planning. It was found that by deliberately crafting multiple, ambiguous, and ambitious strategies, managers were able to effect organizational change, not by literal strategy implementation, but by using these strategies as metaphors to harness consensus and legitimacy in key stakeholder groups. Senior managers utilize the symbols, language and deliberative arenas of formal strategic planning to effect organizational change; however, strategy, in rational terms, needs to be located in the background for its role to be properly understood. The research unpacks complex decision‐making processes in an INGDO and, contrary to normative literature, recommends that, in order to avoid inflationary planning, managers should not take their strategy literally. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dynamics of NGO legitimacy: how organising betrays core missions of INGOs

International non‐governmental organisations (INGOs) are prominent actors in the international arena, aiming to improve the life of disadvantaged people. However, INGOs often do not succeed in doing this. Consequently, INGO legitimacy is regularly questioned. Increased transparency and tightened accountability mechanisms are often‐mentioned solutions to this problem. Based on an analysis of four dimensions of INGO legitimacy—normative, regulatory, cognitive and output legitimacy—we argue that this is not necessarily adequate. We conclude that INGO mission statements create a normative source of legitimacy, but that this, in itself, is not enough to ground INGO legitimacy: it also needs to be institutionalised and organised. However, as a result of power relations and resulting pressures for accountability and transparency, as defined by their external stakeholders, INGOs experience a permanent struggle to reconcile their mission with the requirements for regulatory, cognitive and output legitimacy. The more these stakeholders press for increased organisation of INGO work, the more the pursuit of the core objectives of INGOs is obstructed. We illustrate this argument with the case of the post‐Tsunami humanitarian intervention (2004/2005). Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The curious case of Ali Cenani Bey: the story of a génocidaire during and after the 1915 Armenian genocide

While there exists an extensive body of literature addressing the Armenian genocide, certain gaps persist. The processes and events of the genocide have been unearthed and examined, but genocide is not a phenomenon set in motion by a force of nature. On the contrary, the systematic destruction of Ottoman Armenians was designed and executed by a cadre of individuals, most of whom are little known today. Kurt’s aim here is to recover the story of one such actor from a particular town, Aintab, modern-day Gaziantep—situated on the boundaries of Cilicia (today the southern part of Anatolia) and Syria, near both the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Alexandretta—thereby revealing the perpetrators and their active involvement in the destruction of Armenians at the local/provincial level. Kurt’s article seeks to shed light on such a perpetrator by analysing the objective features of his background and career. Highlighting the human dimension of the genocide allows for an examination of the actors—their motives and their acts—that ultimately bore responsibility for the catastrophic loss of life. Kurt focuses on the life story of Ali Cenani (1872–1934): his background and involvement in the 1915 Armenian deportation and genocide as well as his career in post-genocide Turkey.