State capture from below? The contradictory effects of decentralisation on public spending

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 363-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Mueller ◽  
Adrian Vatter ◽  
Tobias Arnold

AbstractThis study analyses the contradictory effects of decentralisation on public spending. We distinguish three dimensions of decentralisation and analyse their joint and separate effects on public spending in the Swiss cantons over 20 years. We find that overall decentralisation has a strong, significant and negative effect on the size of the public sector, thus confirming the Leviathan hypothesis. The same holds for fiscal and institutional decentralisation. However, the extent to which political processes and actors are organised locally rather than centrally actually increases central and decreases local spending. This suggests that actors behave strategically when dealing with the centre by offloading the more costly policies. The wider implication of our study is that the balance between self-rule and shared rule has implications also for the size of the overall political system.

Author(s):  
Peter Dorey

Upon becoming Conservative leader in December 2005, David Cameron spoke passionately about the need for the Party to move on from Thatcherism. In so doing, he alluded to the need for a more compassionate and constructive Conservatism, one which was more sympathetic to the poor, and which also wanted to foster a partnership with professionals in the public sector. However, following the 2008 financial crash, the Conservative Party's policies became increasingly hostile both to welfare recipients and the public sector, whereupon the need to cut public spending was repeatedly invoked to justify major cuts in welfare provision and further marketisation or privatisation of the public sector. Regardless of Cameron's initially emollient rhetoric and allusions to One Nation Toryism, the trajectory of key Conservative policies since 2010 has remained firmly within a Thatcherite paradigm. Conservative modernisation has quietly been abandoned.


Author(s):  
Ana Campos Cruz

The need to reduce public spending has led Portugal to make administrative reforms. To that end, it called on the so-called e-government, using ICT as a mechanism to increase the quality and transparency of public services while lowering costs and operationalizing new public policies. Although administrative decentralisation is enshrined in the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, only recently has it been prioritised as one of the great objectives of the administrative reforms of the state. To this end, the transfer of the necessary financial and human resources are foreseen. This will imply the implementation of human resources management strategies and mechanisms that avoid surplus or shortage of human resources, both in Central and Local Administration. Therefore, in this chapter, the creation of the “Portal for Employees in the Public Sector” is proposed as a shared management tool.


2022 ◽  
pp. 659-679
Author(s):  
Ana Campos Cruz

The need to reduce public spending has led Portugal to make administrative reforms. To that end, it called on the so-called e-government, using ICT as a mechanism to increase the quality and transparency of public services while lowering costs and operationalizing new public policies. Although administrative decentralisation is enshrined in the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, only recently has it been prioritised as one of the great objectives of the administrative reforms of the state. To this end, the transfer of the necessary financial and human resources are foreseen. This will imply the implementation of human resources management strategies and mechanisms that avoid surplus or shortage of human resources, both in Central and Local Administration. Therefore, in this chapter, the creation of the “Portal for Employees in the Public Sector” is proposed as a shared management tool.


Significance Criticism of his reforms, which involve sweeping cuts to government positions and an anti-corruption drive, has mounted in recent weeks despite initially receiving strong support from Shia politicians. However, parliamentarians are now openly debating whether parliament should withdraw its support for the reforms, with some even suggesting that Abadi should step down. Impacts Abadi's reform drive may stall if he is forced to reverse his cuts to government positions and create new ones to rebuild his support base. Failure to rein in public spending will affect Iraq's attempts to seek international financial assistance. Abadi's weakening would strengthen the Shia militias, and thereby reduce prospects for reconciliation with the Sunni community. It would also increase attempts by hardliners to sideline the US military in the fight against ISG. Abadi may well climb down on the public sector salary issue and attempt to depoliticise it.


Subject Balance of powers in Mexico. Significance Since taking office last year, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) and his National Renovation Movement (Morena) have taken several measures to make savings in the public sector and to allocate resources to tackling poverty and corruption. Such goals enjoy widespread support, but some of the mechanisms employed to achieve them are concentrating power with the central government. The areas most affected include constitutionally autonomous entities within the administration, other branches of government such as the judiciary, and state governments. Impacts Given the role of poorly paid public servants in state capture, salary cuts may prove counterproductive in fighting corruption. Without a system that impartially investigates, prosecutes and sanctions wrongdoing by public servants, corruption will not abate. Centralisation will strengthen the administration initially but leave it vulnerable in the long term when things do not work as intended.


2017 ◽  
Vol 112 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
ARI HYYTINEN ◽  
JAAKKO MERILÄINEN ◽  
TUUKKA SAARIMAA ◽  
OTTO TOIVANEN ◽  
JANNE TUKIAINEN

We analyze the effect of municipal employees’ political representation in municipal councils on local public spending. We use within-party, as-good-as-random variation in close elections in the Finnish open-list proportional election system to quantify the effect. One more councilor employed by the public sector increases spending by about 1%. The effect comes largely through the largest party and is specific to the employment sector of the municipal employee. The results are consistent with public employees having an information advantage over other politicians, and thus, being able to influence policy.


2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 153-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shepherd Dhliwayo

Public-sector entrepreneurship (PSE) is a relatively new area of enquiry. Though it is now universally agreed that the public sector can be entrepreneurial just like its private sector counterpart, it is not clear what makes up the PSE construct. The study proposes three dimensions of what makes up PSE. The three are, economic facilitation and regulation, the civil–political service agent and commercial market participation. The dimensions are based on the different roles the state plays in trying to optimally provide public value to its citizens. This study offers a conceptual definition that could more broadly represent PSE. As with any new concept, this conceptual framework still has to be tested for efficacy and be validated through future research.


Author(s):  
Liudmyla Herasina

Problem of setting. Public government – it political practice of power which is carried out within the limits of the constitutionally political system and has a direct influence on all industries of life of socium is important. An effective public management in Ukraine must provide the state of stability, implementation of social obligations the states, deserving a condition for realization of congratulatory, financial, spiritual and social necessities of citizens; but him high-quality indexes far imperfect and characterized the plural of problems. Recent research and publications analysis. The questions of modernization and reforms of the system of state administration, constructions of the legal, social state, social and political processes are actively probed in the scientific mind of Ukraine, by the necessity of achievement of balance between the vital necessities of societies and interests of the state. Quite a bit Ukrainian scientists were engaged in researches of these questions - V. Kostytsky, І. Kostytska, O. Koban, A. Kovalenko, O. Batanov, I. Reznik, G. Chapala, M. Pukhtinskiy et al. Paper objective – ground of position, that a public management in Ukraine, which is carried out by public organs, local self-government, political parties and groups of political influence, must correlate with public resonance, to support the legitimity and answer to the innovative tendencies. Paper main body. A management in the public sphere of the state is very difficult professional activity, and foresees state and legal responsibility and account of public interests and expectations. However, disfunctions and destructions of public management can draw social and political instability, cutback of economic activity or regress, even weakening of sovereignty of the state. The criteria of political modernization matter very much for modern Ukraine: capacity of the political system for perception of innovations and mobilization of resources of power, structural and functional perfection of institutes of policy, powerful «social elevators» for equal access of people to imperious positions, effectiveness of principle of «equality all before a law». To Ukraine, as to the young state which passed by democratic transit, naturally peculiar strategy of reforms. Reformation is a not workaday situation for a country, it generates calls and problems. Among them most difficult is destructive of political power, what democratic development of country and becoming of civil institutes is braked through. Sociological researches rotined that a population considered: «The state must take more responsibility in providing of life of citizens» (68,6%). Stably negative is attitude of people toward a department judicial, which loses a «social capital» through inability to the just legal proceeding and mercenary political interests. In the end, unique reform 2014, that purchased positive social resonance is the process of decentralization the public power and strengthening of local self-government, which is mainly approved by citizens. Conclusions of the research. Problems of public management and collision of reforms are the sign of modern democracies which are modernized. The political system and public management can be effectively modernized at the maintainance of their integrity, institutional memory and, at the same time, harmonious relationships with a social environment.


Author(s):  
Ol'ga Kryshtanovskaya

The Russian political system has remained stable for many years. Now we are approaching the period of the so-called transit of power, associated with the end of the fourth legislature of President Vladimir Putin in 2024. Experts, politicians, scientists are hypothesizing about how Russia will develop in the future, who will replace the leader, will the transition be smooth or will we face a difficult period of political upheaval. Usually, analysts are guessing about a future Putin’s successor without striving to understand deeper processes of establishment of a new generation of governors who will carry out the transition of power. However, Russia’s development strategy depends on who is going to manage the economy, the public sector, and security area in short term. The authors attempt at creating a collective portrait of the governance elite of the so-called second echelon of power, who will come to the front in the nearest future. The paper aims at identifying the key trends in the establishment of this group, as well as the specifics of the life path of people who are now at the springboard of power.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arkadiusz KUSTRA ◽  
Robert RANOSZ ◽  
Barbara KOWAL

The article analyzes the process of preparing annual technical and economic plans in the public sector, on the example of the mining industry. Qualitative methods in the form of in-depth interviews (IDIs) were used in the analysis, consisting in conducting extensive interviews concerning the analyzed issues with representatives of coal companies. According to the study, the main aspect in creating a TEP for the analyzed mining companies is coal production. Taking into account the market environment and the reality of Polish coal companies, it was concluded that the starting point for the development of the TEP should not be the coal production or the pursuit of maximizing output volumes, but the sales market and demand for the raw material offered by individual companies. Three dimensions of TEP planning were also proposed.


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