Governance and State Capacity

Matthews, Felicity

doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199560530.013.0020

Cited by 29 publications

(18 citation statements)

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“…Although authors have interpreted the coming about of the post‐NPM reform movement partly as a reaction to the fragmentation that followed from NPM reforms, typical post‐NPM measures have, arguably, not profoundly challenged the organizational arrangement achieved in the previous period. Instead, the ‘whole of government approach’ seems to be characterized less by radical organizational devices, such as complementing existing structures (‘capacity‐building’) rather than replacing them (Matthews ). Thus, post‐NPM reforms have been interpreted as being installed in order to compensate for widespread sectoral and vertical specialization in the primary structure; however, without fundamentally challenging such specialization (Christensen and Lægreid ; Lægreid et al , p. 4).…”

Section: Living With the Coordination Dilemmamentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Strong Coordination at One Level of Government Is Incompatible With Strong Coordination Across Levels (And How to Live With It): The Case of the European Union

Egeberg

Trondal

2015

Public Administration

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The European Union (EU) inherited ‘indirect administration’ from classical international organizations: policies adopted by the international organization are subsequently to be implemented nationally by member states themselves, and not by bodies owned by the international organization. This arrangement has often led to legislation being incorporated and applied rather differently across countries. In order to harmonize implementation practices within the EU, we have witnessed a development from ‘indirect administration’ to more ‘direct administration’ in the sense that national agencies work closely with the European Commission, EU agencies and sister agencies in other member states, partly bypassing national ministries. Thus, stronger coordination across levels may counteract strong coordination at the national level. This ‘coordination dilemma’ seems to have been largely ignored in the literatures on EU network governance and national ‘joined‐up government’, respectively. The ambition of this article is twofold: first, the coordination dilemma is theoretically and empirically illustrated by the seeming incompatibility between a more direct implementation structure in the multilevel EU administrative system and trends towards strengthening coordination and control within nation states. Second, the article discusses organizational arrangements that may enable systems to live with the coordination dilemma in practice.

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Section: Living With the Coordination Dilemmamentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Strong Coordination at One Level of Government Is Incompatible With Strong Coordination Across Levels (And How to Live With It): The Case of the European Union

Egeberg

Trondal

2015

Public Administration

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“…This suggests that a crucial factor influencing the nature of local governance arrangements is the level of internal capacity within the municipality (Pierre 2014), defined as the local authority's ability to achieve its policy objectives without having to rely on other actors for resources (Holgate 2007;Matthews 2012). Critically, we should not confuse capacity with autonomy, which refers to the degree of freedom from central direction.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who shapes local climate policy? Unpicking governance arrangements in English and German cities

Eckersley

2017

Environmental Politics

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A new framework for analysing subnational policy-making is applied to climate governance in the 'twin towns' of Newcastle upon Tyne and Gelsenkirchen. Low levels of resource interdependence between central and local government in England mean that Newcastle Council has to rely heavily on other horizontal actors to achieve its climate objectives. In contrast, Gelsenkirchen Council receives substantial support from higher tiers of government, which gives it greater control over policymaking within the locality. Greater independence between tiers of government can make it more difficult for subnational bodies to adopt the kind of ambitious policies that may be necessary to combat wicked and/or significant policy challenges such as climate change. Instead, interdependent 'joint-decision' systems, which facilitate mutual support across tiers of government, may be better equipped to ensure that subnational public bodies have the capacity to act appropriately.

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“…Formulating and implementing public policy in Europe has been a prerogative of national administrations. The capacity of the state has largely been determined by ‘the [administrative] capacity of the state to effectively achieve the chosen policy outcomes’ (Matthews , p. 281). This article has shown how these prerogatives have become complemented with the rise of EU‐level administrative capacities for independent recruitment.…”

Section: Concluding Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Building Foreign Affairs Capacity in the Eu: The Recruitment of Member State Officials to the European External Action Service (Eeas)

Murdoch

Trondal

Gänzle

2013

Public Administration

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The Treaty of Lisbon introduced common action capacities in the EU's external relations administration, notably the European External Action Service (EEAS). One essential capacity is staff resources. This article analyses to what extent and under what conditions the practice of staff recruitment to the EEAS is independent of government influence, and in particular the recruitment of officials temporarily assigned from EU member states. The data draw on interviews with officials from all 27 member states as well as the EEAS which is charged with the selection of national public servants to the EEAS. Key findings suggest substantial independence of recruitment to the EEAS, and this independence is facilitated under two particular conditions: (i) the supply of administrative capacities at EU level strengthens the capacity of the EEAS to nurture the independent recruitment of its personnel; and (ii) the recruitment of EEAS personnel is conditioned by pre‐existing organizational traditions, practices, and formats.

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Governance and State Capacity

Cited by 29 publications

References 0 publications

Why Strong Coordination at One Level of Government Is Incompatible With Strong Coordination Across Levels (And How to Live With It): The Case of the European Union

Why Strong Coordination at One Level of Government Is Incompatible With Strong Coordination Across Levels (And How to Live With It): The Case of the European Union

Who shapes local climate policy? Unpicking governance arrangements in English and German cities

Building Foreign Affairs Capacity in the Eu: The Recruitment of Member State Officials to the European External Action Service (Eeas)

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