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International Executives: Transformative Bureaucracies or Westphalian Orders?

02 Apr 2004-Vol. 8, Iss: 8, pp 4
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide a conceptual mapping and an empirical illustration of three important dynamics of IEs (intergovernmental, supranational and transgovernmental dynamics) and suggest five independent variables that affect the behavior and roles of IE civil servants.
Abstract: Public Administration is in an era of change. This article studies one under-researched part of public administration, the executive arms of International Governmental Organizations (IGOs). These are referred to as International Executives (IEs). The article provides a conceptual mapping and an empirical illustration of three important dynamics of IEs – intergovernmental, supranational and transgovernmental dynamics. The study also offers a middle-range organization theory perspective that suggests five independent variables that affect the behavior and roles of IE civil servants. The variables are (H1) the organizational properties of IEs, (H2) the degrees of institutionalization of IEs, (H3) the recruitment procedures of the IEs, (H4) characteristics of the relationships between IEs and external institutions, and finally (H5) demographic characteristics of the IE civil servants. The empirical illustrations are drawn from the European Commission, the OECD Secretariat and the WTO Secretariat. The article highlights that the IEs of the EU, the OECD and the WTO seem to share important behavioral dynamics due to organizational similarities. Kurzfassung Die offentliche Verwaltung befindet sich in einer Ara des Umbruchs. Dieser Artikel untersucht einen wenig erforschten Teil der offentlichen Verwaltung, namlich den Beamtenapparat der internationalen Regierungsorganisationen. Diese bezeichnet man als Internationale Exekutive (IE). Der Beitrag legt eine Begriffsbildung und empirische Besipiele fur die drei wichtigsten Dynamiken der IE vor – der zwischenstaatlichen, der supranationalen und der transnationalen. Die Studie bedient sich auch der Perspektive der Organisationstheorie mittlerer Reichweite, die funf unabhangige Variablen vorschlagt, die das Verhalten und die Rollen der internationalen Beamten beeinflussen. Die Variablen sind (H1) die organisatorischen Charaktieritika der IEs, (H2) der Grad der Institutionalisierung der IEs, (H3) die Einstellungsverfahren der IEs, (H4) die Eigenschaften der Beziehungen zwischen IEs und externen Institutionen und schlieslich (H5) die demographischen Eigenschaften der IE-Bediensteten. Die empirischen Beispiele stammen von der Europaischen Kommission, dem OECD -Sekretariat und dem WTO-Sekretariat. Der Artikel betont, dass sich aufgrund von organisatorischen Gemeinsamkeiten die IEs der EU, der OECD und der WTO offensichtlich wichtige Verhaltensdynamiken teilen.

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14 Jan 2005
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors unpack two supplementary models of Europeanisation, i.e., Europeanisation by innovation and Europeanization by imitation, to investigate the intimate relationships between domestic government decision-making and domestic policy.
Abstract: Whereas domestic public policy is increasingly penetrated by international organisations, domestic government institutions seem less adaptive. This puzzle triggers the following question: To what extent is the Europeanisation of domestic Research and Higher Educational policy (R&E policy) crafted by domestic government? Put more starkly, how intimate relationships exist between domestic government decision-making and domestic policy? The rationale of this article is to unpack two supplementary models of Europeanisation. First, a model of 'Europeanisation by innovation' derived from an organisation theory perspective emphasises a tight coupling of ministerial decision-making and R&E policy. Secondly, a model of 'Europeanisation by imitation' derived from a network approach advocates a loose coupling of government decision-making and R&E policy through transgovernmental processes of imitation. Reporting from the area of R&E policy and based on survey data on civil servants in the Norwegian Ministry of Research and Education (MRE) (N = 190), this study indicates that Norwegian R&E policy has become Europeanised whilst the decision-making processes of MRE has become only moderately Europeanised. The analysis merely indicates a partial de-coupling of MRE decision-making and the Europeanisation of R&E policy. The Europeanisation of Norwegian R&E policy seems only partly steered and forged by the domestic top ministerial leadership, and partly affected by the import of policy models from international governmental organisations.

6 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
04 Nov 2005
TL;DR: In this paper, four supplementary theoretical models reveal the different faces of Europeanisation of public administration: a hierarchical perspective, an organisational perspective, a network perspective, and a transformative perspective, where civil servants become re-socialised and develop new preferences, roles and identities that transcend the territory.
Abstract: This article outlines four supplementary theoretical models that reveal the different faces of Europeanisation of public administration: a hierarchical perspective, an organisational perspective, a network perspective, and a transformative perspective. The Europeanisation of public administration involves four supplementary processes: processes guided by the politico-administrative leadership, segmented and sectorally fragmented processes biased by the formal structure of the administrative system, professionally porous and loosely coupled processes steered by independent professional experts, and, finally, transformative processes whereby civil servants become re-socialised and develop new preferences, roles and identities that transcend the territory. Empirically, the study reveals that the Norwegian central administration has become embedded in a multilevel bureaucratic web towards the European Commission, challenging hierarchical control and command by the Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office. Secondly, the study demonstrates that the Norwegian regional and local administrations are only moderately involved in similar multilevel bureaucratic webs that challenge regional and local territorial government. Henceforth, whereas the Norwegian central administration has become incrementally transformed through processes of administrative integration towards the European Commission, the Norwegian regional and local administrations are only marginally transformed by similar processes.

1 citations

References
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TL;DR: The authors argue that norms evolve in a three-stage "life cycle" of emergence, cascades, and internalization, and that each stage is governed by different motives, mechanisms, and behavioral logics.
Abstract: Norms have never been absent from the study of international politics, but the sweeping “ideational turn” in the 1980s and 1990s brought them back as a central theoretical concern in the field. Much theorizing about norms has focused on how they create social structure, standards of appropriateness, and stability in international politics. Recent empirical research on norms, in contrast, has examined their role in creating political change, but change processes have been less well-theorized. We induce from this research a variety of theoretical arguments and testable hypotheses about the role of norms in political change. We argue that norms evolve in a three-stage “life cycle” of emergence, “norm cascades,” and internalization, and that each stage is governed by different motives, mechanisms, and behavioral logics. We also highlight the rational and strategic nature of many social construction processes and argue that theoretical progress will only be made by placing attention on the connections between norms and rationality rather than by opposing the two.

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TL;DR: In this article, a new institutionalism emphasizes the relative autonomy of political institutions, the possibilities for inefficiency in history, and the importance of symbolic action to an understanding of politics.
Abstract: Contemporary theories of politics tend to portray politics as a reflection of society, political phenomena as the aggregate consequences of individual behavior, action as the result of choices based on calculated self-interest, history as efficient in reaching unique and appropriate outcomes, and decision making and the allocation of resources as the central foci of political life. Some recent theoretical thought in political science, however, blends elements of these theoretical styles into an older concern with institutions. This new institutionalism emphasizes the relative autonomy of political institutions, possibilities for inefficiency in history, and the importance of symbolic action to an understanding of politics. Such ideas have a reasonable empirical basis, but they are not characterized by powerful theoretical forms. Some directions for theoretical research may, however, be identified in institutionalist conceptions of political order.

3,248 citations

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TL;DR: In this article, the authors set out a framework for understanding organizational changes from the perspective of neo-institutional theory and examined the processes by which individual organizations retain, adopt, and discard templates for organizing, given the institutionalized nature of organizational fields.
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2,518 citations