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The first comprehensive historical overview of the OECD's role in the concept of economic growth becoming an international norm.
This book explains the increasing demand for evaluation as a result of the increasing frequency of reforms to local services, influenced by the New Public Management doctrine, the severe austerity policy in many European countries, and the wish to increase quality and reduce costs of public services, especially at the local (sub-national) level. Positioned at the interface of local services and evaluation research, it will enable the utilization of evaluation-generated knowledge in evidence-based policy making by focusing on the lessons learned from evaluation of local service delivery. It encompasses local public and social services (including waste, water, public transport, healthcare, education and eldercare) and examines the hypothesis that there is a North-West–South-East divide in Europe in terms of the evaluation of local service reforms. Particular attention is devoted to the explanatory function of evaluation. Providing fresh insight into the functioning of local government machinery in contemporary Europe, this book will appeal in particular to practitioners and students of local government, public economy, public administration and policy.
Judith Clifton, Francisco Comín and Daniel Díaz Fuentes in Privatisation in the European Union reject the two dominant explanations provided in literature, which include a simple 'Americanisation' of policy and a 'varied' privatisation experience without a common driving force. Using a systematic comparative analysis of privatisation experiences in each country from the 1980s to the beginning of the twenty first century, the authors show how the process of European integration and the need for internationally competitive industries have constituted key driving forces in the quest for privatisation across the EU. As privatisation slows down at the turn of the millennium, what future can citizens expect for public enterprises? Privatisation in the European Union is essential reading for researchers, students and policy-makers interested in privatisation, EU policy and the history of public enterprises.
Progress in European market integration over the past two decades has come at the expense of growing flexibility, or differentiation, in the laws that govern the Single Market (SM) as well as the way that these laws are implemented. This volume examines how the completion of the SM has been held back in the varied implementation of European Union competition policy, variation in national policies on services, corporate law, telecommunications, energy, taxation, and gambling, and the EU’s uneven transportation network. These sectors and issue-areas form the frontier at which the main political struggles over the future shape of the SM have taken place in the past decade. Broadly, progress i...
Although the idea that existing policies can have major effects on politics and policy development is hardly new, the last three decades witnessed a major expansion of policy feedback scholarship, which focuses on the mechanisms through which existing policies shape politics and policy development. Starting with a discussion of the origins of the concept of policy feedback, this element explores early and more recent contributions of the policy feedback literature to clarify the meaning of this concept and its contribution to both political science and policy studies. After exploring the rapidly expanding scholarship on policy feedback and mass politics, this element also puts forward new research agendas that stress several ways forward, including the need to explain both institutional and policy continuity and change. Finally, the element discusses the practical implications of policy feedback research through a discussion of its potential impact on policy design. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Though in its infancy, the European enterprise has the power to change both the perception and the actual face of Europe. This book evaluates the future potential of this new type of enterprise. The contributors look for European convergence at all levels of the economy: firm, branch, state, and EU. They stress various points of view, using diverse methods, and propose different measures.
This Element comprehensively scrutinizes the key issue of the accountability of policy-makers in democratic governance. The electoral punishment of the incumbents, parliamentary control of the government, and sanctions in the case of administrative misconduct or negligence are the most visible manifestations of accountability in politics. However, the phenomenon is much more complex, and fully understanding such a multifaceted object requires bridging bodies of work that usually remain disjointed. This Element assesses the effectiveness of vertical accountability through elections and how interinstitutional accountability operates in checks-and-balances systems, along with the growing role of the courts. It evaluates how the accountability of the bureaucracy has been affected by managerial reforms and different governance transformations. It also scrutinizes to what extent mediatization and policy failure boost accountability, before zooming in on the feelings and reactions of those who are held accountable. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
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In assessing Carlos Salinas' socio-economic reforms the authors question the extent to which the Mexican state has been radically transformed, and possibly dismantled. The authors show that the changes which have occurred are uneven, limited and reversible. Despite the aura of reform it is the degree of continuity which is the most noticeable feature. In many respects the Mexican State remains highly authoritarian.