Dimensions of State Government Capability

Abstract

POLITICAL system performance depends to a great extent on institutional capacity. As a result, institutions are the objects of continuous attempts at reform and modernization. These transformational efforts are undertaken to attain the somewhat nebulous goals of improvement and capacity building. The frequency, comprehensiveness, and impact of these exercises are likely a function of the larger political context. The last twenty years have found state governments engaged in a congeries of activities aimed at improving institutional performance. Constitutional and statutory reforms of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches have substantially altered the structural and procedural characteristics of state government. The formal powers of the governors have been strengthened and executive authority has been consolidated in the governor's office, while state bureaucracies have become more professional and representative. State legislatures have increased in levels of institutionalization and professionalism, and their processes have been streamlined. Even the state judicial systems have been modernized through reorganizations and improved management practices. The reforms generally have consisted of efforts to improve the capability of state institutions to respond to increasingly rapid technological and socioeconomic changes in their jurisdictions, and to cope more effectively with new program and policy responsibilities resulting from New Federalism policies, national government retrenchment, and the growing incapacities of local governments. The scope and variety of these state reforms in have recently been documented by the U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (1985). Well over one-hundred structural and procedural changes have been widely adopted by the states in efforts to make them more capable by improving their effectiveness, efficiency, and representation. The avalanche of state capability1 building efforts during the past twenty years has not gone unnoticed by political scientists. Reforms in the executive branch and legislative branch have been described and analyzed thoroughly. Political scientists have also attempted to measure the impacts of various reforms, with conflicting results (Grumm 1971; Car-