Public Management Reform. A Comparative Analysis

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Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed

Designs on Nature: Science and Democracy in Europe and the United States.BySheila Jasanoff. Princeton (New Jersey): Princeton University Press. $35.00 (hardcover); $18.95 (paper). xv + 374 p.; ill.; index. 0‐691‐11811‐6 (hc); 0‐691‐13042‐6 (pb). 2005.

Una perspectiva que despierta cada vez mayor interés por parte de administradores públicos, políticos y analistas es el de las llamadas políticas públicas. Se trata de un camino relativamente nuevo, que permite, por una parte, observar y analizar los asuntos públicos desde un ángulo singular vinculado a la transformación de la acción gubernamental y, por otra, idear mecanismos para atender o dar respuesta a lo que se percibe como problemas de orden público. Como es sabido, los problemas públicos son complejos y multideterminados. Su análisis requiere de herramientas que van más allá de lo que comúnmente ofrecen disciplinas como la sociología, la economía, la ciencia política, la administración pública o la psicología por sí solas. De hecho, lo que busca la “ciencia de las políticas”, como la bautizó uno de sus padres fundadores, Harold Laswell (1992: 105), es integrar los conocimientos provenientes de diversas disciplinas bajo un enfoque cuyo objetivo es advertir y “solucionar” problemas. Recientemente, el académico británico Wayne Parsons se ha dado a la tarea de reunir en una sola publicación los aspectos más relevantes del conocimiento que se ha producido alrededor de las políticas públicas. Bajo el título Public Policy: An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Policy Analysis, Parsons da cuenta de los temas y debates teóricos centrales de este enfoque, además de aportar múltiples referentes bibliográficos y detalles sobre estudios de caso que ilustran la riqueza de las políticas públicas, pues muestran no sólo cómo se aplican sino, sobre todo, qué explicaciones y respuestas pueden brindar. A ello se suma uno de los rasgos más valiosos del libro: poner en claro los dos ángulos de las políticas públicas que, con frecuencia, son ignorados en la bibliografía sobre la materia, a saber: el análisis del proceso de las políticas, por una parte y, por la otra, el análisis en y para el proceso de políticas, o, lo que es lo mismo, el uso del conocimiento y técnicas analíticas para el diseño, implementación y evaluación de las políticas públicas. Aunque ambos están intrínsecamente ligados, su especificidad determina su naturaleza y fin. Mientras el análisis del proceso de las políticas tiene fines

Public Policy: An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Policy Analysis

(2005) The Uniting of Europe: Political, Social, and Economic Forces, 1950–1957 History: Reviews of New Books: Vol 33, No 2, pp 82-82

The Uniting of Europe: Political, Social, and Economic Forces, 1950–1957

Many studies on evidence-based policy are still clinging to a linear model. Instead, we propose to understand expertise and evidence as 'socially embedded' in authority relations and cultural contexts. Policy-relevant facts are the result of an intensive and complex struggle for political and epistemic authority. This is especially true where science and policy are difficult to distinguish and the guidelines for validating knowledge are highly contested. To understand the mechanisms leading to policy-based evidence and the long-term consequences of these transformations more comparative research on the cultural and institutional 'embeddedness' of epistemic and political authority is needed. Language: en

When does evidence-based policy turn into policy-based evidence? Configurations, contexts and mechanisms

The Europeanization of sub-national institutions has been on the research agenda for some time. There are arguments both for presuming a growing power of regional actors, a gradual weakening of the nation states, and for emphasizing the continuous importance and renewal capacity of the states. The mechanisms by which this process takes place are less well known and there is a scarcity of comparative empirical studies presenting evidence for either of the above arguments. In order to shed light on the influencing factors in the process, this article analyses and discusses the Europeanization process in two unitary member states, Estonia and Finland. The policy area in focus is regional policy. The results suggest that the Europeanization process is not straightforward, but is conditioned largely by domestic policy practices and institutional constellations. In the Estonian case, the brief period of independence has been characterized by institutional turbulence, which has eventually led to a centralized st...

Europeanization of sub-national governance in unitary states: Estonia and Finland

This article examines and compares the status of Estonian, Finnish and German regional and local EU offices. The research data stem from structured interviews. We are interested in the status of different actors and their strategies for positioning their ideas in the policy-making and law-making procedures. While local and regional actors established new forms of representation and co-operation with EU institutions, these new channels and institutions are not equally open and accessible to all. Whilst the number of actors in Brussels has increased, this does not necessarily mean that they are all included in the decision-making process itself. Furthermore, it is not only institutions that matter but the actors themselves, the people involved in the day-to-day construction of Europe and the personal networks they create. In contrast to German regional offices, the regions' power houses in Brussels, the institutional position of Finnish and Estonian offices is rather weak. However, to the extent that intera...

Governing Europe: the Status and Networking Strategies of Finnish, Estonian and German Subnational Offices in Brussels

The notion of democratic network governance has attracted growing interest among students of local and regional governance in all the Nordic countries since the 1990s. This article examines whether research in this area reflects a particular Nordic account of democracy. The Nordic countries have strong traditions of local autonomy, local networks and the inclusion of civil society associations. The authors find reason to expect that the Nordic traditions of local and regional governance may have stimulated a common approach to democracy questions with the features of an integrative perspective. At the same time, the differences in the history of democratisation are likely to have urged the approach in different directions. Using evidence from a literature review, the article suggests that, rather than a fully fledged theory, democracy with an intriguing potential and with nuances exists as an issue in the Nordic governance studies.

Is there a Nordic Approach to Questions of Democracy in Studies of Network Governance

We examine incidents of workplace bullying by using an Internet-based survey. Our unique sample consists of 1,072 public-sector employees working in 12 Finnish ministries. Of those surveyed, 20.3% reported experiencing work task–related bullying multiple times per month, whereas 11.3% reported experiencing personal-level bullying. Supervisors were less likely to be bullied than subordinates, and women were more likely to experience bullying than men. Among victims who had experienced bullying during the past 12 months, nearly 60% reported that their problem had yet to be solved. To combat workplace bullying in public-sector organizations, we propose a proactive punitive strategy that includes stricter rules and severe administrative penalties to those who breach them.

Pekka Kettunen

Papers

When does evidence-based policy turn into policy-based evidence? Configurations, contexts and mechanisms

Europeanization of sub-national governance in unitary states: Estonia and Finland

Governing Europe: the Status and Networking Strategies of Finnish, Estonian and German Subnational Offices in Brussels

Is there a Nordic Approach to Questions of Democracy in Studies of Network Governance

Workplace Bullying in the Finnish Public Sector: Who, Me?