scholarly journals Street-Level Bureaucrats and Intersectional Policy Logic: a Case Study of LGBTQ Policy and Implementation Barriers

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 96-112
Author(s):  
Amy Castro Baker ◽  
Amy Hillier ◽  
Monique Perry
Keyword(s):  
Implementation Barriers ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats

scholarly journals Modification of Public Policies by Street-Level Organisations: An Institutional Work Perspective

2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 709-728 ◽  
Author(s):  
ERIC BREIT ◽  
TONE ALM ANDREASSEN ◽  
ROBERT H. SALOMON
Keyword(s):  
Pension Reform ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Managerial Control ◽  
Institutional Work ◽  
Retirement Pension ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats ◽  
Heuristic Device ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe literature on policy implementation is divided with regards to the impact of street-level bureaucrats on the implementation of public policies. In this paper, we aim to add to and nuance these debates by focusing on ‘institutional work’ – i.e. the creation, maintenance and disruption of institutions – undertaken by central authorities and street-level bureaucrats during public reform processes. On the basis of a case study of the organisational implementation of a retirement pension reform in the Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration, we argue that institutional work is a useful heuristic device for conceptualising the variety of responses available to street-level bureaucrats during public reforms. We also argue that the responses demonstrate the impact of street-level bureaucrats in these reforms in the context of managerial control and regulation. Finally, we argue that the effectiveness of policy change is dependent on the institutional work of street-level bureaucrats and, in particular, on institutional work that supports the institutions created by politicians and public administrations.

scholarly journals Deserving of Social Support? Street-Level Bureaucrats’ Decisions on EU Migrants’ Benefit Claims in Germany

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Nora Ratzmann
Keyword(s):  
Market Integration ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
German Language ◽  
Cultural Performance ◽  
Host Society ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Societal Norms ◽  
Welfare Fraud ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats

Migration raises the question of how street-level bureaucrats treat non-citizens when it comes to the distribution of limited welfare resources. Based on a German case study, this article reveals how local social administrators rationalise practices of inclusion in and exclusion from social assistance receipt and associated labour market integration services for mobile EU citizens, who are perceived first and foremost as ‘foreigners’. The findings from fifty-five qualitative interviews with job centre representatives show how politics of exclusion are justified by nationalistic and ethnic criteria of membership. Insofar as EU migrants are considered outsiders to the imagined welfare community of their host country, they are seen as less deserving than German-born claimants. However, mobile EU citizens can earn their legitimacy to access benefit receipt through sustained participation in the host society, demonstrating knowledge of the German language and societal norms so as to appear ‘German’. Such a cultural performance-based logic of deservingness tends to be intertwined with nationality-based and racialising stereotypes of welfare fraud to frame exclusionary practice.

Restructuring Probation in England and Wales: Lessons from an American Experience

1996 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 331-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
JUDITH RUMGAY ◽  
MARY BREWSTER
Keyword(s):  
Juvenile Court ◽  
Probation Officers ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Professional Ideology ◽  
American Experience ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Probation Service ◽  
British System ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats

The authors examine current proposals to restructure the probation service in England and Wales. A case study of a midwestern American juvenile court is used to explore the possible consequences of imposing change and constraints on the practice of probation officers, when such change conflicts with their professional ideologies. The authors explore differences between this case example and the British system of probation, in terms of professional ideology, organizational arrangements and networks of influence, arguing that the British system benefits from particular attributes that may be exploited to preserve its traditions and methods of practice in a hostile policy climate. As “street-level bureaucrats,” probation officers have considerable power to subvert policies to which they object.

Does Core Task Matter for Decision-Making? A Comparative Case Study on Whether Differences in Job Characteristics Affect Discretionary Street-Level Decision-Making

2015 ◽  
Vol 50 (8) ◽  
pp. 1125-1147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Didde Cramer Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Job Characteristics ◽  
Systematic Variation ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats

This article sets out to test the hypothesis that differences in fundamental job characteristics (service vs. regulation) affect discretionary street-level decision-making. The hypothesis was tested by examining whether systematic variation could be found in the moral assessments on which street-level bureaucrats performing different types of core tasks base their decisions. The issue was addressed in a comparative case study comprising three institutions, which differ systematically as far as variables of tasks are concerned. Findings showed that differences in core tasks do affect discretionary decision-making, as divergent moral assessments determine and justify decision-making across different core tasks.

Verwaltungskrise im Migrationsfeld

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-406
Author(s):  
Lisa Riedel
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
Task Execution ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Administrative Behavior ◽  
Implementation Phase ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats

Analyses of how crises affect political agendas and policy formulation are widespread in political science literature. However, what is missing so far is a consideration of crisis effects during the implementation phase. In particular, the effects of crises on street-level bureaucrats implementing certain policies are examined insufficiently. Some authors reflect upon the consequences of single elements of crises, like burden or work overload, on individual administrative behavior. Nonetheless, what is missing so far is a multidimensional understanding of crisis and a consideration of how crisis situations affect public authorities concretely. Accordingly, it is the aim of this contribution to evaluate, if a crisis and its perception as such leads to deviating administrative behavior. With the help of a case study considering migration authorities in Bremen, this contribution can show that subjectively perceived crises can lead to an adjusted administrative pattern of task execution of street-level bureaucrats. A selective style of implementation for the benefit of the clients is characteristic for this, so-called, crisis implementation style.

scholarly journals How citizens’ dissatisfaction with street-level bureaucrats’ exercise of discretion leads to the alternative supply of public services: the case of Israeli marriage registrars

2020 ◽  
pp. 002085232097217
Author(s):  
Niva Golan-Nadir ◽  
Nissim Cohen ◽  
Aviad Rubin
Keyword(s):  
Policy Implementation ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Governmental Organization ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Street Level ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats ◽  
Alternative Sources ◽  
Exercise Of Discretion

Can street-level bureaucrats’ exercise of discretion lead to clients’ dissatisfaction with policy implementation? If so, under what conditions could such disaffection lead to the alternative supply of public services? Building on Albert Hirschman’s model of exit, voice, and loyalty, this article contributes to the literature by pointing to street-level bureaucrats’ exercise of discretion as influencing citizens’ dissatisfaction with policy implementation. We identify three main elements—personal, organizational, and environmental—influencing discretion informally, causing clients’ dissatisfaction. We also point to a combination of three conditions triggering the creation of an alternative supply of services: (1) citizens’ dissatisfaction with policy implementation; (2) street-level bureaucrats’ monopoly over policy implementation because only one supplier exists; and (3) clients’ perceptions of participation channels as blocked. Using a qualitative case study approach, we test our claims by analyzing the case of Israeli marriage registrars. We demonstrate how Israeli citizens’ dissatisfaction with how government bureaucrats implement marriage regulations led to the creation of the Tzohar non-governmental organization that provides alternative marriage services. Points for practitioners In situations in which street-level bureaucrats have a monopoly over policy implementation and citizens feel they cannot exercise their voice about that implementation, their dissatisfaction with how street-level bureaucrats use their discretion in implementing the policy may eventually lead to the creation of alternative sources of public services.

Policy Refiners and Street-Level Lesson Learners

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alastair Stark
Keyword(s):  
Policy Evaluation ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats ◽  
Central Level ◽  
Government Level ◽  
Inquiry Lesson

This chapter explores agents who are influential in terms of inquiry lesson-learning but have not been examined before in inquiry literature. The key argument is that two types of agent—policy refiners and street-level bureaucrats—are important when it comes to the effectiveness of post-crisis lesson-learning. As they travel down from the central government level, street-level actors champion, reinterpret, and reject inquiry lessons, often because those lessons do not consider local capacities. Policy refiners, however, operate at the central level in the form of taskforces, implementation reviews, and policy evaluation processes. These refiners examine potentially problematic inquiry lessons in greater detail in order to determine whether and how they should be implemented. In doing so, these ‘mini-inquiries’ can reformulate or even abandon inquiry recommendations.

A case study of bureaucratic discretion: heterogeneous application of market entry regulation in Germany

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Petrik Runst
Keyword(s):  
Market Entry ◽  
Case Managers ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
Entry Regulation ◽  
Quantitative Evidence ◽  
Bureaucratic Discretion ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Actual Application ◽  
Uniform Manner

Abstract All law is relatively coarse after its initial implementation as the legislature cannot foresee all contingencies that can arise in the actual application of the law. Therefore, decisions need to be made by street-level administrators as novel and particular circumstances arise. Economists have largely ignored the political science literature on street-level bureaucrats, such as policemen, welfare case managers, or regulatory agents. I present a case study in the context of market entry regulation in Germany. Qualitative and quantitative evidence suggests that bureaucratic discretion exists, that is, administrative actions can be found on different ends of a decision space, and that its effects are potentially large. Administrators do not apply legislation in a uniform manner and we observe a systematically different application of rules across subnational jurisdictions.

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