The Turnover and Politicisation of Lithuanian Public Sector Managers

This article presents the results of our research on party patronage and state politicisation in different Lithuanian public sector organisations (government agencies and agencies under the ministries, state-owned enterprises, personal health care and educational institutions). Although repeating alterations of governments best explained the frequent turnover of some public sector heads, their politicisation was related to the length of party rule in power, beliefs of the political and administrative elite and density of the party networks. The legal protection of civil service jobs was only important in the case of the agencies under the ministries whose managers always held career civil service positions. Furthermore, substantial variation in the scope of politicisation was related to such administrative factors as the political salience of policy areas and organisational functions, as well as budget size, which suggested different motivations and opportunities of party patronage in the Lithuanian public sector.

Political-Knowledge Regimes: Building a New Concept from Selected Policy-Change Events in the Tabaré Vázquez Administration (Uruguay, 2005–2009)

In recent years authors have paid increasing attention to the study of contextual factors that shape the use of research into a country’s public policies. One of the most significant recent contributions to this body of literature is Campbell and Pedersen’s concept of Knowledge Regimes, which focuses on the central characteristics of the relevant social research in a given country. This article is a critique of this concept based on the study of three key policy-change events during the Tabaré Vázquez administration in Uruguay. In order to explain the dynamics of social research it is not merely enough to understand the main features of the supply side; it is also necessary to study the demand. This critical perspective has led to the construction of a new concept.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

In their response to our article »Office Hours«, Nicole Deitelhoff and Lisbeth Zimmermann issue three major points of critique towards our proposal of a critical approach to norm research: They criticize, firstly, our discussion of constructivist norm research, secondly, our use of the concepts of local and Western and, thirdly, the overall critical potential of our proposed approach, which they criticize as going merely beyond an unmasking gesture. We take our response to our critics, firstly, as an opportunity to clarify some of the arguments made in our article. Secondly, we confront the points of criticism outlined above and show that Deitelhoff’s and Zimmermann’s critique can only be maintained if one accepts their specific reading of our article. Moreover, it gets tangled up in three major contradictions and is built upon a problematic understanding of the relation between empirical facticity and normative evaluation.

Social Changes within Insurgent Groups as a Result of Collective Punishment during National Crises

During the Intifada (1987–1993) Israel has closed educational institutions in the Territories as part of its coping with the rising violence. This paper analyses the ramifications of closing those institutions, on Palestinian society, its reaction to it and the changes which occurred as a result. In the short run, the Palestinian society has tried to find educational alternatives to the official frameworks; classrooms were opened out of school area and new curriculums were produced. But in the long run, the ramifications were most severe: a decrease in the academic levels and achievements brought universities in Arab countries to refuse to admit students from the territories; students dropped out of schools; and above all, changes in students’ behavior led to significant changes in the Palestinian society. Among them: a decrease in the status and influence of traditional figures, a rise in the level of violence among teenagers and religious radicalization amidst the youth.

Office Hours: How (Critical) Norm Research Can Regain Its Voice

Social Science research cannot be neutral. It always involves, so the argument of this article, the (re)production of social reality and thus has to be conceived as political practice. From this perspective, the present article looks into constructivist norm research. In the first part, we argue that constructivist norm research is political insofar as it tends to reproduce Western values that strengthen specific hegemonic discursive structures. However, this particular political position is hardly reflected on in norm research. Hence, it is our goal in the second part of the article to outline research strategies potentially useful in reflective and critical norm research. We propose a critical research program based upon three central methodological steps that are inspired by post-structuralism: first, the questioning of global hegemonic values; second, the reconstruction of marginalized knowledge; and third, the explicit reflection of one’s own research perspective.

Mobilization Against the Left? Partisan Consequences of Voter Turnout in the Post-Communist Context

Does higher turnout support left-wing parties, as many previous studies assume? Theoretical discussions thus far have been relatively inconclusive. This study proposes three different explanatory mechanisms for examining an aggregate-level relationship between turnout and electoral support for political parties in the post-communist milieu. The conventional hypothesis, based on the assumptions of a successful re-stratification of society and the relevance of class voting, states that higher turnout benefits the left. The second hypothesis is derived from the Michigan model of party identification. In this case, political parties with less loyal electorates would be expected to profit from higher rates of electoral participation. However, this article makes the case for a third possible explanation, termed simply “mobilization against the left,” which reverses the conventional hypothesis. The idea is that the more people come to the polls, the stronger the post-communist right-wing parties will be. This analysis includes two Czech regions that can be said to be farthest away from each other in terms of their socioeconomic and political characteristics. Having analyzed the 2010 Czech parliamentary election results across 1444 electoral districts in two regions, Central Bohemia and Moravia-Silesia, we conclude that there is certain empirical evidence that supports the proposed explanatory mechanism regarding the relationship between voter turnout and share of votes for political parties.

Lonely Riders and Cooperation Networks: Member of Parliaments’ Private Motions in the Finnish Parliament 1999–2010

Members’ of Parliament (MP) private motions in the Finnish parliament Eduskunta are explored. During 1999–2010, the Finnish MPs introduced nearly 20,000 motions, from which 75% turned out to be budget amendments while legislative motions constituted some 10%. Roughly half were single signer motions while the rest were sponsored by various MP combinations. Only few motions were processed in committees and even fewer got accepted. A growing amount of party motions sponsored by one party group were found. Motions sponsored by MPs from the same electoral district were found as well. A handful of motions sponsored by the absolute majority of Eduskunta were also found. Comparing the sponsor networks with the Swedish parliament, where the MPs tend to cooperate with their group comrades, reveals the Finnish MPs cooperating significantly more often over the party lines. While analyses of plenary voting primarily divide the Finnish MPs into government and opposition blocs the analysis of private motions results in a completely different pattern of cooperation. In Eduskunta matters are initiated somewhat freely while at the stage of decision party discipline steps in.

The Distribution of E-democracy and E-participation Tools in Slovenian Municipalities

Paper analyses the usage of e-democracy in Slovenian municipalities from the viewpoint of e-participation tools. Theoretical origin of the paper is the theory of e-democracy in connection with the information and communication technology (ICT). ICT allows participation and inclusiveness to the citizens in the processes of decision making with the usage of various tools of e-participation (e-contact, e-forum, e-survey, e-petition, etc.). We analyzed official web pages of all 211 Slovenian municipalities and found out that all municipalities offer e-access and various forms of e-consultations to its citizens, but other e-tools can only be sparsely found. In addition, the comparative analysis of the survey results from 2006 and 2009 shows that the number of municipalities, which offer diverse tools of e-participation, is slowly decreasing.

Ideology and Tradition: An Epistemological View of Neoconservatism

The paper aims to give an account of the emergence of American neoconservatism, approaching its subject from a theoretical point of view. Its main thesis is that the defining difference between neoconservatism and older, more traditional kinds of conservatism can be found in their relation to political knowledge. While traditional conservatism completely rejects a rationalist-ideological approach to political knowledge, accepting only tradition as a guide to political action, neoconservatism holds that among the circumstances of modern politics, especially in the US, relying on abstract ideas and general principles in the form of an ideology is a prerequisite of effective political performance. Neoconservatives use the classical liberal tradition of American political thought to forge a modern ideology that can be employed in contemporary political battles. The first part of the paper gives an outline of the theoretical framework regarding the roles of tradition and ideology as rival forms of political knowledge, using the works of Michael Oakeshott and Friedrich Hayek as representatives of two related, but opposing positions. The second part sketches the basic character of neoconservatism through the writings of primarily Irving Kristol, focusing on his drawing a distinction between a tradition-minded British conservatism and a more ideological American neoconservatism. In this part, we briefly mention the influence of Leo Strauss on the development of neoconservative political thought in the US Finally, the paper proceeds to show the duality of idealism and realism (loosely corresponding to ideology and tradition) in American neoconservative foreign policy thought in the 1970s and 1980s through the writings of Jeane Kirkpatrick.