Political Control Of Bureaucracy Research Articles

Perceptions of council member-department head interactions in local government

In this article, we use data collected from municipal council members and department heads in Michigan municipalities with over 10 000 residents to determine how, and why, they view the quality of their interactions with one another. Building theories of small group dynamics and political control of bureaucracy, we test several hypotheses and conclude that council members and department heads hold divergent views of their interactions with one another and that their views are determined by government form and community characteristics. We conclude with simple steps that local government officials and administrators can take to improve their small group dynamics and governing performance. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

POLITIKŲ IR BIUROKRATŲ SĄVEIKA: KAS DOMINUOJA?

Straipsnyje bandoma atsakyti į klausimą, kodėl šiuolaikiniai tyrinėtojai laikosi priešingų normatyvinių požiūrių į tai, kas ką turi kontroliuoti – politikai biurokratus ar biurokratai politikus. Atsakymas grindžiamas politikų ir biurokratų tarpusavio kova dėl viešosios politikos kontrolės. Šioje kovoje dominuoja tai vieni, tai kiti, nes dominavimas yra kintantis, priklauso nuo įvairių veiksnių. Tyrinėtojai, įžvelgiantys valstybės tarnybos dominavimą, pabrėžia būtinybę politiškai kontroliuoti biurokratiją, o įžvelgiantieji politikų dominavimą, biurokratijoje mato jėgą, galinčią neleisti politikams piktnaudžiauti galia.

Politics of E‐Government: E‐Government and the Political Control of Bureaucracy

This case study reports an innovative e‐government experiment by a local government in Seoul, South Korea—Gangnam‐gu. A new local political leadership in Gangnam made strategic use of e‐government applications to exert greater political control over the local civil service bureaucracy. The authors find that e‐government applications possess political properties that can be applied effectively by the political leadership as instruments to improve control over the government bureaucracy as well as to enhance essential government accountability and transparency. The political circumstances underlying e‐government development as well as its impact on local government are reported, along with key variables associated with this innovation and directions for future research.

BETTER REGULATION IN EUROPE: BETWEEN PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND REGULATORY REFORM

Can the European regulatory state be managed? The European Union (EU) and its member states have looked at better regulation as a possible answer to this difficult question. This emerging public policy presents challenges to scholars of public management and administrative reforms, but also opportunities. In this conceptual article, we start from the problems created by the value‐laden discourse used by policy‐makers in this area, and provide a definition and a framework that are suitable for empirical/explanatory research. We then show how public administration scholars could usefully bring better regulation into their research agendas. To be more specific, we situate better regulation in the context of the academic debates on the New Public Management, the political control of bureaucracies, evidence‐based policy, and the regulatory state in Europe.

Political Control of Bureaucracy in India

Political Control of Bureaucracy in India

The Political Control of Bureaucracies under Asymmetric Information

We analyze a model of interest group influence where this influence arises from a group's ability to provide relevant information to political actors about regulatory performance. The model rests on three premises: (I) bureaucrats possess an informational advantage, vis-a-vis their political overseers, concerning policy relevant variables; (2) this informational advantage is potentially exploitable by the agency; and (3) politicians anticipate this exploitation and adapt to it in their design of agencies. We show that a major consequence of this anticipation and adaptation is service to organized interest groups.