Neo-Liberalism and the Decline of Democratic Governance in Australia: A Problem of Institutional Design?

2005 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Marsh
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Subsequent Evolution ◽  
Preliminary Attempt ◽  
Changing Patterns

This paper is a preliminary attempt to evaluate changing patterns of democratic governance, at least in Westminster-style parliamentary settings, and possibly more generally. It has two specific purposes: first, to propose a paradigm for evaluating the empirical evolution of democratic governance; and second, to illustrate the explanatory potential of this paradigm through a mini-case study of changing patterns of governance in one particular polity. The conceptual framework is drawn from March and Olsen's eponymous study (1995) from which polar (‘thick’ and ‘thin’) forms of democratic governance are derived. Four conjectures about its evolution are then explored. First, in its mass party phase, the pattern of democratic governance approximated the ‘thick’ pole. Second, the subsequent evolution of democratic politics has been in the direction of the ‘thin’ (minimalist or populist) pole. Third, the cause of this shift was a failure to adapt political institutions to changing citizen identities, which was masked by the ascendancy amongst political elites of the neo-liberal account of governance. Fourth, the paper considers the means by which democratic governance might be renewed. The approach is applied to explain changes in Australian politics over recent decades.

scholarly journals When Things Get Personal: How Informal and Personalized Politics Produce Regime Stability in Small States

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 393-412
Author(s):  
Wouter Veenendaal
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
Small States ◽  
Regime Stability ◽  
Informal Politics ◽  
Ideological Parties ◽  
Personalization Of Politics

AbstractThe personalization of politics, the decline of political parties and the weakening of political institutions in large democracies are considered to produce instability and to undermine democratic governance. Yet despite having extremely informal and personalized systems with non-ideological parties, small states around the world maintain significantly higher levels of democracy and regime stability than large ones. This article addresses this paradox by offering a systematic literature review of 167 case study publications on personalization and informal politics in 46 small states. The analysis reveals that personalized relations between political elites translate into either fragmentation or power concentration, while pervasive patron–client linkages structure the interaction between citizens and politicians. Despite the obvious downsides of these dynamics for democratic governance, the small state system is functional in the sense that it fulfils the needs of both citizens and politicians, which explains why small states have succeeded in maintaining their political stability.

The Priority of Democracy

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Knight ◽  
James Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Federal Reserve ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Institutional Choice ◽  
Democratic Process ◽  
Strong Case ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Relationship

Pragmatism and its consequences are central issues in American politics today, yet scholars rarely examine in detail the relationship between pragmatism and politics. This book systematically explores the subject and makes a strong case for adopting a pragmatist approach to democratic politics—and for giving priority to democracy in the process of selecting and reforming political institutions. What is the primary value of democracy? When should we make decisions democratically and when should we rely on markets? And when should we accept the decisions of unelected officials, such as judges or bureaucrats? This book explores how a commitment to pragmatism should affect our answers to such important questions. It concludes that democracy is a good way of determining how these kinds of decisions should be made—even if what the democratic process determines is that not all decisions should be made democratically. So, for example, the democratically elected U.S. Congress may legitimately remove monetary policy from democratic decision-making by putting it under the control of the Federal Reserve. This book argues that pragmatism offers an original and compelling justification of democracy in terms of the unique contributions democratic institutions can make to processes of institutional choice. This focus highlights the important role that democracy plays, not in achieving consensus or commonality, but rather in addressing conflicts. Indeed, the book suggest that democratic politics is perhaps best seen less as a way of reaching consensus or agreement than as a way of structuring the terms of persistent disagreement.

Proportional Representation and its Impacts on Multi Ethnic Society of Sri Lanka

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Seeni Mohamed Aliff
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Ethnic Violence ◽  
Institutional Affiliation ◽  
Secondary Data Sources ◽  
The Impact

This paper will examine the impact of PR electoral systems in a divided society. This research will explore the strength and weakness of the current electoral system and institutional design of Sri Lanka and will recommend changes to decrease the risk of minority exclusion in decision making and ethnic violence. The objectives of this research are to examine the character of the merits and demerits of the PR, and to investigate and assess the impacts of the PR in the multi ethnic societies of Sri Lanka. The study is a qualitative case study, and primary and secondary data sources have been employed to gather relevant data. The My Fieldwork was conducted in Sri Lanka, with the intention of gaining a better and more thorough understanding of the current situation. The interviews conducted were as such not structured or semi-structured, due to the interviewees’ varying professional background and institutional affiliation. Accordingly, unstructured interviews, as well as informal conversations and meetings, were conducted throughout Sri Lanka.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David K. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Care Act ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
State Control ◽  
Reform Legislation ◽  
Core Elements ◽  
Insurance Exchanges ◽  
Significant Health

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the most significant health reform legislation enacted in generations. However, politics does not end after a bill is signed into law. This chapter outlines why states were given such a prominent role in the implementation of core elements of the ACA, including the health insurance exchanges. This sets the stage for the question of this book: given that state leaders say they want flexibility and that Republicans say they prefer market-oriented reforms, why did so many states reject state control over exchanges? I outline the four main insights from the case study chapters: (1) the importance of governors, (2) the power of the Tea Party, (3) the ways in which differences in institutional design and procedures shaped policy outcomes, and (4) the importance of leadership. I ask whether this episode supports or undermines the federalism notion of states as laboratories of learning.

Economic structure, power and institutions: A conceptual framework for analysing the historical transformation of US industrial strategy

2021 ◽  
pp. 102452942110154
Author(s):  
Mattia Tassinari
Keyword(s):  
Structural Change ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Economic Structure ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
Illustrative Case ◽  
Alexander Hamilton ◽  
The Government ◽  
Distribution Of Power ◽  
Illustrative Case Study

An industrial strategy emerges from possibilities for structural change, that depend on material constraints and opportunities afforded by economic structure, the distribution of power in society and the institutional arrangements organized at the political level. Building on a structural political economy perspective, this article develops a structure–power–institutions conceptual framework to describe how economic structure, the distribution of power, and institutions interact through a ‘circular process,’ which is useful for analysing the historical transformation of industrial strategy. In this framework, an industrial strategy refers to the institutional arrangements through which the government manages emerging conflicts or agreements between different powers and influences structural change. As an illustrative case study, the structure–power–institutions framework is applied to analyse the historical transformation of US industrial strategy from the era of Alexander Hamilton to that of Donald Trump.

scholarly journals Moral economy, solidarity and labour process struggle in Irish public transport

2019 ◽  
pp. 0143831X1989123
Author(s):  
Emma Hughes ◽  
Tony Dobbins ◽  
Doris Merkl-Davies
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Public Transport ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Moral Economy ◽  
Process Theory ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
Competitive Tendering ◽  
Labour Process

This article empirically applies Knut Laaser’s integrated conceptual framework, combining Sayer’s moral economy (ME) theory with labour process theory (LPT), to examine how two rival Irish unions engaged with an uneven moral economy and consciously sought to build collective worker solidarity during a dispute over competitive tendering and marketization. Using qualitative data from a case study of BusCo in Ireland’s public transport sector, the article enriches sociological understanding of trade union solidarity, and how it is engendered, contested and experienced.

Centripetal Democratic Governance: A Theory and Global Inquiry

2005 ◽  
Vol 99 (4) ◽  
pp. 567-581 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN GERRING ◽  
STROM C. THACKER ◽  
CAROLA MORENO
Keyword(s):  
Economic Policy ◽  
Human Development ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
Constitutional Level ◽  
Quality Of Governance ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Dominant Paradigm

Why are some democratic governments more successful than others? What impact do various political institutions have on the quality of governance? This paper develops and tests a new theory of democratic governance. This theory, which we label centripetalism, stands in contrast to the dominant paradigm of decentralism. The centripetal theory of governance argues that democratic institutions work best when they are able to reconcile the twin goals of centralized authority and broad inclusion. At the constitutional level, our theory argues that unitary, parliamentary, and list-PR systems (as opposed to decentralized federal, presidential, and nonproportional ones) help promote both authority and inclusion, and therefore better governance outcomes. We test the theory by examining the impact of centripetalism on eight indicators of governance that range across the areas of state capacity, economic policy and performance, and human development. Results are consistent with the theory and robust to a variety of specifications.

CHANGES IN MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION. CASE STUDY IN ROMANIA

2021 ◽  
Vol 14(63) (1) ◽  
pp. 71-84
Author(s):  
Maria Popescu ◽  
Lidia Mândru
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Modern Approach ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Public ◽  
Management Perspective

"The paper addresses to the Public Administration (PA) from the management perspective. The first part of the study defines the conceptual framework of the two management doctrines, generically called the New Public Management and New Public Government. The second part of the paper reviews the transformation movement in PA management and governance in Romania in the last two decades. The methodology of the study consists in the analysis of the recent theoretic studies on PA modern approach, and official documents, national and European reports, and other publications related to the PA reform in Romania. "

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