Institutional Change Through Policy Learning: The Case of the European Commission and Research Policy

Research initiatives to enhance knowledge‐based societies demand regionally coordinated policy approaches. By analyzing the case of the European Commission, Directorate‐General Research and Innovation, this study focuses on examining the cognitive mechanisms that form the foundation for institutional transformations and result in leadership positions in regional governance. Drawing on policy learning theories, the study emphasizes specific mechanisms of institutional change that are often less noticeable but can gradually lead to mobilizing diverse groups of stakeholders. Through historical and empirical data, this study shows the importance of policy learning through communication processes, Open Method of Coordination initiatives, and issue framing in creating a stronger foundation for policy coordination in European research policy since the 2000s.     

The enabling role of institutional entrepreneurs in the adoption of IPSAS within a transitional economy: The case of Estonia

In the light of neoinstitutional theory and by adopting case study research methodology, this article explains the adoption of International Public Sector Accounting Standards for modernizing public sector accounting in Estonia. This article reveals that the smooth—yet gradual—adoption of International Public Sector Accounting Standards‐compliant accounting systems was enabled by the involvement of powerful actors (i.e., institutional entrepreneurs) with foreign and/or business backgrounds. In addition, the change in public sector accounting in Estonia was facilitated by the developments in its international positioning, characterized by the transition from a Soviet communist to a market economy and subsequent European Union membership and by the absence of past accounting practices, which could potentially hinder the change.     

The legitimacy of occupation authority: beyond just war theory

ABSTRACT

So far, most of the philosophical literature on occupations has tried to assess the legitimacy of military rule in the aftermath of armed conflicts by exclusively employing the theoretical resources of just war theory. In this paper, I argue that this approach is mistaken. Occupations occur during or in the aftermath of wars but they are fundamentally a specific type of rule over persons. Thus, theories of political legitimacy should be at least as relevant as just war theory for the moral evaluation of occupations. This paper, therefore, draws on both traditions and argues that just war theory plays a limited role in identifying the purposes and appropriate agents of occupation authority, but that theories of legitimacy are necessary for explaining why and under which conditions foreign actors have the right to rule in the aftermath of armed conflicts.     

积极发展现代农业是推进新农村建设的重要举措

党中央提出发展现代农业的任务,是推进新农村建设的重要举措,是解决"三农"问题的现实选择,是加快建设社会主义新农村的客观要求。文章认为,发展现代农业是我们新农村建设的着力点,也是保障农民持续增收,提高农业竞争力的重要途径,同时也是建设社会主义新农村的首要任务。     

租:公共政策的意蕴

本文从布坎南关于"租"的论述出发,运用新制度主义方法重新审视"租"的公共政策意蕴,认为公共政策是一种正式制度安排,本质上是关于规定个体和集体选择集的制度安排结构;在制度变迁中,由于不同体制、权利和组织设置而获得的额外收益就是"租",这是公共政策存在的理由;寻租是有成本的,表现为政治交易费用,政府创租和利益集团寻租是不同的两种政治交易过程,表现为公共政策议程;有效率的公共政策选择依赖于制度结构,是制度结构赋予成本和收益以意义。     

Globalization and institutional competitiveness

Only dead institutions do not change and only rarely do institutions change by themselves. To maintain performing institutions takes institutional entrepreneurs who are willing to take risks and who possess the capacity and the talent to innovate. A regulation discourse, in contrast to a marketization discourse, would not picture the relationship between globalization and institutional change as a deterministic one. Rather, it would expect that all kinds of actors play a large number of different roles in the course of ongoing institutional change. The result of such complex institutional change, at the level of welfare states, multinational businesses, public administration, and training systems, to mention just a few of the empirical areas covered in this special issue, cannot be fully understood by applying an overly rigid, static, and dualistic approach to modern capitalist economies. The concept of institutional competitiveness, on the contrary, allows for institutional entrepreneurship and institutional hybrids constituting pulsating polities.     

我国收入分配差距过大的制度原因分析

制度安排是影响收入分配最本质的根源。我国城乡二元经济体制加剧了城市居民与农民的收入差距；经济体制转型期的制度缺陷造成了阶层收入差距的扩大；政策的倾斜形成了地区和行业收入的巨大差距。针对收入分配差距过大的现状，我们必须加快产权制度改革，推进政府职能转变，不断打破垄断，尽快建立健全完善的社会保障体系。     

双重制度逻辑与县级人大常委会的成长——一种新制度主义视角的解析

就中国县级人大常委会这个新组织而言，其运作和成长的制度环境主要是具有内在紧张关系的双重制度逻辑并存，即自上而下和自下而上的责任逻辑。因此，中国县级人大常委会的组织运作和成长是在平衡矛盾性的制度逻辑、应对制度环境约束中进行的。     

试论清末民初的经济制度改革

清末民初虽然时间跨度不到 2 0年 ,但却是一个社会经济变迁较大时代。甲午战败 ,民族危机严重 ,以“振兴工商”为中心的“新政”成了濒临倾覆的清王朝挽救危机的主要手段。辛亥革命后 ,袁世凯政府也以“振兴实业”作为稳固其政权的重要方针。为此 ,相继颁行了一系列的经济政策。笔者运用新制度经济学理论探讨这一时期中国实行的由上而下的一系列经济制度改革 ,对中国资本主义的发展产生的作用和影响 ,由此揭示推进和制约近代中国资本主义发展的原因所在。     

Organising for mutual advantage: municipal associations in Bulgaria

Networks of local government support organisations (LGSOs) are critical to successful intergovernmental relations and effective local governance in democratic societies. Bulgaria had no such network of municipal associations when it began the transition from communist rule in the early 1990s. Using US and other external technical assistance, Bulgaria over the next decade overcame the impediments to collective action and established what appears to be an effective and sustainable system to back up its cities and towns. Important factors in mobilising support included a long‐term focus on institutional development, non‐partisanship, flexibility in implementation and a pragmatic orientation that focused on learning by doing. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.