Bureaucracies and Policy Ideas

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Bach
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Behavior ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Policy Proposal ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Policy Ideas ◽  
Organizational Perspective ◽  
Better Regulation ◽  
Policymaking And Implementation ◽  
Main Activity ◽  
Policy Problems

The idea of a clear separation between policymaking and implementation is difficult to sustain for policy bureaucracies in which public officials have “policy work” as their main activity. A diverse body of scholarship indicates that bureaucrats may enjoy substantial levels of discretion in defining the nature of policy problems and elaborating on policy alternatives. This observation raises questions about the conditions under which bureaucratic policy ideas make their way into authoritative policy decisions, the nature of those policy ideas, and how bureaucratic policymaking has evolved. A main point is that bureaucratic policy ideas are developed in a political context, meaning that bureaucrats have to anticipate that political decision makers will eventually have to endorse a policy proposal. The power relations between politicians and bureaucrats may, however, vary, and bureaucrats may gain the upper hand, which is likely if a bureaucracy is professionally homogenous and able to develop a coherent policy idea. Another perspective concerns the origins of policy ideas. There is limited evidence for individual-level explanations of policy ideas, according to which bureaucrats pursue exogenously defined preferences to maximize their own utility. A competing organizational perspective, which considers policy preferences as the result of organizational specialization, the development of local rationalities, and the defense of organizational turf, stands out as a more plausible explanation for the origins of bureaucratic policy ideas. The policymaking role, and thereby the importance of bureaucratic policy ideas, is being challenged by the rise of ministerial advisors, agencification, and better regulation reforms. Those developments have the potential to change the substance of bureaucratic policy ideas, but they may also generate strategic behavior, which should be of interest to scholars of the politics of bureaucracy.

Firms

2021 ◽  
pp. 73-98
Author(s):  
Swethaa S. Ballakrishnen
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Identity ◽  
Women Professionals ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Law Firms ◽  
International Firms ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Organizational Perspective ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Domestic Law

This chapter extends the analysis of novelty from the individual level to a more organizational perspective. No doubt the advantage of newness played a big part in scripting how individuals were viewed and treated, but equally important were the ways in which novelty moderated how organizations identified and wanted to be seen. In exploring the ways in which this organizational identity was presented and negotiated, the chapter reveals the building blocks for another counter-intuitive finding — that it was domestic law firms, rather than local offices of international firms, where women professionals seemed to flourish. It shows that this unique structural premise forces them to use two distinct logics of emergence. First, firms use a differentiation logic to distinguish themselves from traditional firms that foreign clients are likely to see as “traditional” and kinship based — and therefore not modern and sophisticated enough. Second, they use a mimicking logic that mirrors global processes to aggressively signal compatibility and likeness with their global peers.

scholarly journals Support for a universal basic income: A demand–capacity paradox?

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary Parolin ◽  
Linus Siöland
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
Policy Proposal ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Welfare Benefits ◽  
Power Resources ◽  
Country Level

Debate around a universal basic income (UBI) tends to focus on the economic and social implications of the policy proposal. Less clear, however, are the factors influencing support for a UBI. Using the 2016 European Social Survey, we investigate how trade union membership and left political ideology (central to power resources theory) and attitudes towards immigrants’ access to welfare benefits (central to welfare state chauvinism) affect individual support for a UBI. We also investigate how country-level differences in levels of social spending moderate individual-level UBI support. Results from multi-level models suggest that a broader coalition of UBI supporters can generally be found in countries where social spending is low. Specifically, we find that welfare state chauvinism is more likely to be associated with negative attitudes towards a UBI in countries with high levels of spending, but has only a weak association with UBI support in low-spending countries. Similarly, political ideology is more consequential in explaining UBI support in countries with higher levels of spending. These tensions form a demand–capacity paradox: the countries which are presumably least equipped to implement a UBI see the most broad-based support for the policy.

scholarly journals Power Relation and White-Collar Crime: Case Study of Coastal Reclamation in Indonesia

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 1647-1662
Author(s):  
Dedy Anung Kurniawan ◽  
Mohammad Kemal Dermawan ◽  
Arthur Josias Simon Runtrambi
Keyword(s):  
White Collar Crime ◽  
White Collar ◽  
Power Relation ◽  
State Agencies ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Crime Theory ◽  
Better Regulation ◽  
Coastal Reclamation ◽  
Depth Interviews

This research aims to understand the power relation and white-collar crime on managing the coastal reclamation and its implication in Indonesia that is very significant at the ontological and sociological level. The problem is very interesting to be analyzed by conducting a qualitative research method based on power theory and crime theory. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, observation, and documentation related to coastal reclamation and its implication in Indonesia. Data were analyzed by using interactive models are data reduction, data display, data verification, and supported by triangulation. The results were based on ontological and sociological levels using criminology perspective for understanding the coastal reclamation and its implication in Indonesia that are needed for providing information to stakeholders related to the regulations and sanctions. This result provides inputs for making better regulation on coastal reclamation policy in Indonesia for state agencies as public officials and practitioners.

scholarly journals Abuse of Power on Managing the Health Care Services Policy for the Indonesian National Army Forces and its Implication on Marginalized Soldier’s Health

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 1677-1689
Author(s):  
Ida Bagus Purwalaksana ◽  
Sumartono Sumartono ◽  
Bambang Santoso Haryono ◽  
Wike Wike ◽  
Bambang Slamet Riyadi
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
State Agencies ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Abuse Of Power ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Better Regulation ◽  
Service Policy

This research aims to understand the abuse of power on managing the health service policy and its implication that is very significant in reducing marginalized soldiers’ health due at the ontological level and sociological level. The problem is very interesting to be analyzed by conducting a qualitative research method based on public policy theory, abuse of power theory, and health services theory. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, observation, and documentation related to managing the health service policy cases in Indonesia. Data were analyzed by using interactive models are data reduction, data display, data verification, and supported by triangulation. The results were based on ontological level and sociological level using public policy perspective and power perspective for improving health service policy and practice for The Indonesian Army Forces. Vision and mission of public policy on managing health service policy are needed for providing information to stakeholders related, regarding the regulations and sanctions in health service policy. This result provides inputs for making better regulation on health service policy in Indonesia for state agencies as public officials and practitioners.

INVASIVE YET INEVITABLE? PRIVACY NORMALIZATION TRENDS IN EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sejin Paik ◽  
Kate K. Mays ◽  
Rebecca F. Giovannetti ◽  
James E. Katz
Keyword(s):  
Technology Acceptance ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Emerging Technology ◽  
Representative Survey ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Private Companies ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Dna Collection ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Using Data

In the last few years, smart security and physical identification technologies have grown exponentially; people are increasingly installing smart video devices to monitor their homes and buying DNA kits to collect and analyze their genetics. As the number of users and profits of these businesses increase, so too does the potential for privacy violations and exploitation. To explore these dynamics of privacy in emerging technology, we conducted a U.S. nationally representative survey (N=1,587) and asked respondents for their perceptions of a number of emerging technologies such as facial recognition, DNA collection and biometrics monitoring. We also measured individual-level traits that have been found to influence technology acceptance. The results show that the actor wielding the technology matters for people’s acceptance. Respondents were overall more comfortable with public officials and airlines using more invasive technologies to guarantee people’s safety, as compared to private companies or non-profits using data for research. When keeping the actor constant across privacy technologies, there was an overwhelming preference for less invasive means of privacy data sharing. These findings indicate how the concept of normalization, social context and agents of control play a critical role in the way people accept emerging technology into their lives.

scholarly journals Bribing Behaviour and Sample Selection: Evidence from Post-Socialist Countries and Western Europe

2015 ◽  
Vol 235 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Artjoms Ivlevs ◽  
Timothy Hinks
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Social Trust ◽  
Sample Selection ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Public Official ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Biased Estimates

Summary We study the individual-level determinants of bribing public officials. Particular attention is paid to the issue of respondents’ non-random selection into contact with public officials, which may result in biased estimates. Data come from the 2010 Life in Transition Survey, covering 30 post-socialist and five Western European countries. The results suggest that the elderly tend to be less likely to bribe public officials, while people with higher income and, especially, low trust in public institutions are more likely to bribe. Several determinants of bribery - ethnic minority status, the degree of urbanisation, social trust - are context specific, i.e. they change signs or are statistically significant according to the geographical region or the type of public official. The results show that not accounting for sample selection effects may produce a bias in estimated coefficients.

Global School Funding Debates and Reforms

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa Di Gregorio ◽  
Glenn C. Savage
Keyword(s):  
Student Achievement ◽  
School Funding ◽  
Public Schooling ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Private Schooling ◽  
Policy Ideas ◽  
Australian Case ◽  
Policy Problems ◽  
The Relationship

In recent decades, important changes have taken place in terms of how governments debate, manage, and allocate funding for schools. These changes have been strongly influenced by a diversification of actors contributing to the school funding. For example, although governments continue to provide the majority of funding resources for schools across member nations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), many nations have witnessed an increased presence of nongovernment actors, such as philanthropies and corporations, in contributing to the funding of both government and nongovernment schools. Many nations have also seen increases in private parental contributions, which has contributed to the expansion of private schooling relative to traditional public schooling. Despite significant diversity in funding models across OECD nations, debates about funding are increasingly informed by a transnational field of policy ideas, practices, and evidence. The OECD has been a central force in facilitating this “global conversation” about the complexity of school funding trends and impacts, particularly in relation to the impacts of funding on student achievement and equity. A key question in these evolving debates is whether “more money” alone will improve outcomes or whether the focus needs to shift more toward “what schools do” with money (i.e., a “what works” approach). In response to this question, the OECD has played a leading role in steering global debates away from a historically dominant focus on whether more funding makes a difference or not to student achievement, toward a different narrative that suggests the amount of money only matters up to a certain point, and that what matters most beyond that is what systems and schools do with money. At the same time, the OECD has been central to producing a rearticulated “numbers-driven” understanding of equity, which understands equity primarily in terms of the relationship between a young person’s background and his or her performance on PISA, and which frames equity as primarily important from an economic perspective. Importantly, however, while schooling funding reforms are increasingly informed by global conversations, policy reforms remain locally negotiated. Recent Australian school funding reforms illustrate this well. Over the past decade, two prominent federal school funding reviews have sought to address funding issues in Australia’s federal system. These reports have been deeply shaped by the distinctive conditions of possibility of Australian federalism, but at the same time have been heavily informed by broader transnational reform narratives and the work of the OECD specifically. Yet while both reviews position the OECD at the center of their respective rationales, each does so in different ways that speak to different policy problems. An exploration of the Australian case and how it relates to broader global conversations about school funding offers important insights into how policies are simultaneously globally and locally negotiated.

scholarly journals Conspiracy Thinking in Europe and America: A Comparative Study

2020 ◽  
pp. 003232172097261
Author(s):  
Annemarie S Walter ◽  
Hugo Drochon
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Magical Thinking ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Individual Traits ◽  
Political Spectrum ◽  
The Right ◽  
Conspiracy Thinking

What explains conspiracy thinking in Europe and America? This is the first and largest comparative study of conspiracy thinking to date, presenting findings using a representative sample of 11,523 respondents in nine countries. First, it shows that the overall level of conspiracy thinking in Europe is equal to or slightly lower than the United States, contradicting the notion that conspiracy theories is an especially American phenomenon. Second, people more inclined to conspiracy thinking position themselves towards the right of the political spectrum, engage in magical thinking, feel distrust towards public officials and reject the political system. Finally, we find that – surprisingly – the country context in which respondents reside has hardly any effect as predictor of levels of conspiracy thinking or as a moderator of individual-level determinants. Heterogeneity in conspiratorial thinking seems to be largely a function of individual traits.

Are organizations committed to stress management interventions?

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 1309-1325
Author(s):  
Dorota Molek-Winiarska ◽  
Katarzyna Molek-Kozakowska
Keyword(s):  
Stress Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Know How ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Management Interventions ◽  
Organizational Perspective ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Related Stress ◽  
Psychosocial Costs

PurposeWork-related stress causes individual, societal and economic costs. Stress management interventions (SMIs) are implemented to decrease those costs, reduce the psychosocial harms and increase workers' productivity. This article reports on a study of a substantial sample of enterprises to verify what types of SMIs they implemented and how they assessed the results of these interventions.Design/methodology/approachSpecially designed surveys were collected in 2015–2017 from 408 organizations of different sizes and sectors in Poland, including multinationals. The reliability of the questionnaire was satisfactory (Cr. 0.84).FindingsResults show that 59% of enterprises are aware of SMIs but only about 30% implemented one within the last three years. The implementations usually covered both organizational and individual-level interventions. The assessment of SMI effectiveness was conducted in just about one-third of the organizations and was based on estimations of the levels and sources of stress. Hardly any companies compared economic and psychosocial costs of stress before and after SMIs.Research limitations/implicationsThe most important recommendation from this study is to increase the awareness of causes of stress among managing directors. Also, organizations and HR staff need more assistance from specialists who know how to measure and help reduce work stress.Originality/valueThe literature on stress interventions at work usually focusses on their psychological effects. This paper explores the organizational perspective and the commitment to implement the interventions in companies.

Political parties and policy analysis

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary Albert ◽  
Raymond J. La Raja
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Policy Proposal ◽  
Party Organizations ◽  
Policy Ideas ◽  
Formal Organizations ◽  
The Relationship

The role of political parties in developing public policy is a thoroughly understudied topic. We argue that, to understand the role of formal party organizations in the policy process, researchers must examine the relationship between parties and ideologically similar but informally affiliated groups – called the ‘extended party network’ (EPN) – such as interest groups and think tanks. We show that parties are focused on electoral pursuits and should thus be viewed as demanders of policy ideas. The organizations in their extended network, however, have the resources and incentives to invest in developing public policy ideas. We argue that groups in the EPN supply their preferred party with policy ideas, and formal party actors filter these ideas and choose a policy proposal acceptable to these supporters. Conceiving of parties beyond their formal organizations should therefore clarify their role in the policy process.

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