Political Steering Research Articles

Political steering in the European Commission: a comparison of the energy and health sectors

ABSTRACT Upon taking office as President of the European Commission in 2014, Jean-Claude Juncker initiated a series of reforms to the internal workings of the EU executive. Existing research suggests that these have been successful in increasing political steering, creating a Commission which focuses on fewer fields, controls the policy activism of its officials and produces less legislative output. However, much of this research focuses on the Commission as a whole. This article addresses a gap in the literature by exploring how the Juncker reforms have impacted upon the policy-making structures and internal dynamics within two contrasting policy sectors – energy and health. It finds that the reforms have been successful in prioritising selected policy initiatives and increasing top-down steering of the Commission but that, whilst this has led to centralised coordination and reduced conflict in energy policy, it has served to curb purposeful opportunism and legislative activity in health policy.

Reviewing the Smart City Vienna Framework Strategy’s Potential as an Eco-Social Policy in the Context of Quality of Work and Socio-Ecological Transformation

In the face of an increasing awareness of environmental issues and the urgent need to tackle them without shifting the burden onto the most vulnerable social groups, calls for a socio-economic transformation are growing louder. However, there is no consensus on what transformative strategies should look like. Within the German-language literature one can broadly distinguish two transformative paradigms: the green economy paradigm, arguing for soft political steering mechanisms and technological innovations in order to green the current economic system and the degrowth paradigm, drawing the current growth-oriented economic system into question. In both approaches a tendency to marginalize issues of quality of work prevails. We argue that work is not only an integral part of one’s income, but also of one’s identity and psychosocial wellbeing as well as of social peace and cohesion and that it should therefore be at the heart of socio-ecological transformative strategies. We apply these theoretical considerations to the analysis of the Smart City Vienna Framework Strategy (SCWR), which is promoted as a holistic sustainability strategy paper. Additionally, we conducted expert workshops and interviews in order to analyze how stakeholders within the sectors with the highest CO2 emissions in Vienna perceive the SCWR in relation to work. We found that the SCWR does not live up to its potential as an eco-social policy as it remains tightly rooted within the green economy paradigm and does not account for the ecological dimension of work. The stakeholders’ perspectives on the SCWR vary according to the degree to which they are embedded within the green economy paradigm as well as their position within the economic system. However, generally the SCWR is not perceived as an eco-social policy and no connection is made between environmental issues and quality of work. We argue that transformative degrowth strategies could greatly benefit from making this connection explicit.

The scientific construction of the village. Framing and practicing rural research in a trend study in Germany, 1952–2015

This article presents a reconstructive analysis of village research conducted in Germany between 1952 and 2015. For more than 60 years, information was gathered to document socioeconomic and demographic developments in ten West German villages. In the early 1990s, four East German villages became part of that trend study as well. While the material (e.g., surveys, statistics, and field notes) is fragmented and heterogeneous, it nevertheless provides a unique opportunity for reflection on the changing latent concepts, ideas and motives at work in rural research throughout the years. In this paper, we want to reconstruct changing perspectives on the topos ‘village’ by focussing on three issues: (i) concepts of and attitudes towards village life, (ii) the roles assigned to the inhabitants in developing the village, and (iii) the role of science in providing policy advice. We can show how over time, the focus of the research shifted from an infrastructure-oriented perspective, overcoming ‘rural backwardness’ to focus on the village by asking about distinct local practices and identities. Concomitant to the changing view on the inhabitants' agency, perspectives on development strategies and policy recommendations changed from exogenous to endogenous approaches. The trend study in retrospect highlights how local development in its complexity is often beyond political steering or researchers' predictions.

Studying the Chinese Policy Process in the Era of ‘Top-Level Design’: the Contribution of ‘Political Steering’ Theory

Making sense of the Chinese policy process has been one of the most challenging endeavors for China scholars since the beginning of ‘reform and opening up’. Although a great deal of empirical knowledge has been gathered over the years on policy-making and implementation in many different fields, theorizing on the Chinese policy process has mostly been concerned with individual policy instruments or various modes of policy-making so far instead of looking at how these are interconnected. In this article, we propose ‘political steering theory’ as an integrative theoretical framework to fill in this gap. Originating from policy research conducted by German social scientists starting in the 1970s, we consider ‘political steering theory’ to be the most appropriate approach to the Chinese case, particularly in the current era of ‘top-level design’ led by Xi Jinping. We demonstrate how China recently recalibrated its political steering approach and propose new directions for research into the Chinese policy process under the current administration.

The demand for advice at the European Union level: policy advice politicization in the European Commission

ABSTRACTThe study focuses on the role of policy advice brokers – political advisors – pertaining to the issue of politicization in the European Commission (EC). The study conceptualizes politicization as increased use of political advisors – known as “cabinets” in the EC context – by the Commissioners to ensure political direction over the work of the civil service. Commissioners’ private cabinets fulfil several functions, one of which is political steering of the policy work in the departments. The study argues that as a result of the NPM-style reform and strengthening of the civil service accountability to the political level, the political steering function of the cabinet advisors grew in importance. To examine whether the political steering function of cabinets became more important after the reform, the study analyzed the lists of cabinets’ responsibilities available online from the Prodi to the Junker Commissions. The content of the lists of responsibilities was first coded and then statistically analyzed testing for the effect of the reform on the structure of cabinets’ responsibilities.

Population Planning after the One-Child Policy: Shifting Modes of Political Steering in China

ABSTRACTSince late 2013, one of China’s most controversial policies—the one-child policy—has been gradually phased out, culminating in the reorganization of the National Health and Family Planning Commission in early 2018, which saw it drop the family planning part from its name. Has China forgone population intervention and started to pursue a liberal population policy? This article demonstrates that the Chinese political leadership is still determined to steer the direction of future demographic developments, even though it changed course and has to employ new modes of steering. In fact, it has even elevated political steering of demographic developments to new heights under the rubric of ‘top-level design’ (dingceng sheji). This study takes a comparative look at the two ends of the life course, birth and old age, to reveal the continuity and change in population planning and policy discourses in China. In sum, this article finds that while the ‘one-child policy’ is gone for good, population planning in a broader understanding—including policies on birth, aging, migration, and urbanization—is alive and well and it will stay here for the foreseeable future.

The Immanent Potential of Economic and Monetary Integration: A Critical Reading of the Eurozone Crisis

The Eurozone crisis revealed fundamental flaws in the institutional architecture of the Economic and Monetary Union. Its lack of political steering capacity has demonstrated the need for a broad but seemingly unachievable political union with shared economic governance and a common treasury. Agreement on further measures has been difficult to achieve, as different actors have imposed divergent external criteria for the success of the Eurozone. As part of their heritage in Western Marxism, the critical theorists of the Frankfurt School sought to overcome such problems by identifying internal standards for social criticism. Building on their understanding of immanent critique, I argue that the Eurozone already contains the normative principles necessary to support greater political integration. While the citizens of Europe must provide the democratic legitimation necessary to realize this latent potential, the flaws revealed by the crisis are already pushing Europe towards greater transnational solidarity.

Informal division of labour in EU foreign policy-making

ABSTRACTOn many issues in European Union (EU) foreign policy-making, political steering and operational action are provided by an informal, self-selected group of actors. Although this informal division of labour is an important phenomenon, it has largely escaped the radar of EU foreign policy scholars. This article aims to fill that gap. Applying an inductive approach, it presents empirical observations from the fields of crisis management and external climate policy, illustrating the occurrence of informal division of labour. It subsequently provides an analytical framework to map the key dimensions of its different manifestations: the enabling factors, starting point, subject, institutional embeddedness, exclusiveness and durability of informal division of labour. Four possible effects on EU foreign policy-making are then discussed: an increased internal and external effectiveness; and a strengthened internal and external legitimacy. The article concludes by presenting suggestions for further empirical research on this phenomenon, as well as for theorizing it.

Systemic rejection: political pressures seen from the science system

The emphasis on competitiveness and the knowledge-based economy in European policymaking has resulted in a heightened focus on monitoring and steering the science system, particularly through metric-based instruments. Policymakers’ general aims of fostering excellent research and breakthroughs are shared by researchers as well; however, below the surface is a paradox that is rarely discussed. The political system and the science system understand and pursue these concepts and objectives differently. Through two case studies on high-performing university-based research environments in Denmark and Sweden, this article uncovers the ways in which highly successful researchers often behave in ways that run counter to policy steering attempts. They do this by shielding themselves and their research group from steering pressures originating in the political system. Using Luhmann’s systems theory, the cases demonstrate why the relationship between the science system and the political system needs to be understood as a horizontal rather than a vertical relationship, and using concepts from organizational theory, provides a model and terminology for identifying and analyzing the types of mechanisms and strategic responses that the science system uses to shield itself from political steering pressures.

Health and social care management for older adults with multimorbidity: a multiperspective approach.

Multimorbidity, a condition common among older adults, may be regarded as a failure of a complex system. The aim of this study was to describe the core components in health and social care management for older adults with multimorbidity. A cross-sectional design included two methods: individual interviews and group discussions. A total of 105 participants included older adults with multimorbidity and their relatives, care staff and healthcare policymakers. Data were analysed using content analysis. The results show that seven core components comprise a multiperspective view of health and social care management for older adults with multimorbidity: political steering, leadership, cooperation, competence, support for relatives, availability and continuity. Steps should be taken to ensure that every older adult with multimorbidity has a treatment plan according to a multiperspective view to prevent fragmentation of their health care. This study provides relevant evidence developing a multiperspective model of health and social care management for older adults with multimorbidity.

Administrative Reforms in Swiss Municipalities over the Last Twenty Years – The end of New Public Management?

There has been much talk about the end the NPM in recent years. Our comprehensive monitoring of Swiss municipalities, however, reveals that a lot of municipalities have continued to reform their political and administrative system along the ideas of NPM. It is the reform discourse that has changed. They stopped referring to them as NPM. Some of the core elements of NPM related to new forms of political steering, however, proved to be less popular. The reforms can therefore be termed as “NPM light”. When it comes to explaining the spread of the different reform activities within the country, we find evidence for the historical and sociological neo-institutionalism. There are considerable differences between language areas and between smaller and larger municipalities. Party preferences of local executives and of the citizens do not matter. The results shed new light on the debate about the assumed failure of NPM reforms.

Political steering: how the EU employs power in its neighbourhood policy towards Morocco

Although the European Union’s engagement beyond its borders is ultimately about power, the concept remains under-utilized in empirical analyses of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). This article therefore proposes political steering as an analytical framework to conceptualize and track the empirical use and entanglements of diverse forms of power, highlighting genuine soft mechanisms. These bind actors to discursive practices because formalized sanctions or institutions are absent. This case study of the EU’s human rights and rule-of-law promotion in Morocco reveals how such soft mechanisms are intertwined with indirect steering mechanisms to achieve technicalization of policy reform at the governmental level and parallel politicization at the societal level.

EU Governance of Governance: Political Steering in a Non-Hierarchical Multilevel System

This article analyses 65 years of European governance as a process that has evolved from a simple model, based on hierarchical means of political steering, to a complex system of governance, using both hierarchical and non-hierarchical governance modes and combining them in innovative ways. The central thesis is that European governance constitutes a system of governance of governance, aimed at shaping and directing the governance of the member states. The article elaborates a conceptual framework by drawing on Kooiman's concept of three orders of governance. It identifies European governance as predominantly second order governance, focussing on the creation of appropriate procedures and institutional settings that structure governance processes. Empirically, the article provides an overview of the emergence and consolidation of a system of governance of governance in four phases. Furthermore, it analyses the creation of appropriate procedures and institutional arrangements in three selected policy areas. It thus highlights how second order governance is incrementally shaped. The article concludes that the evolving system of governance of governance reflects the multilevel structure of the EU and the need to balance permanently the contradictory policy objectives, governance modes and implementation strategies of the European and the national government levels, as well as the divergences among the member states.

Anstößiges Anstoßen? – Kritische Beobachtungen zur „Nudging“-Diskussion im deutschen Kontext

Nudging refers to a much-debated political steering approach that relies on gentle interventions in decision architectures of individuals with the aim to shape their behaviour in a direction that is beneficial for them and/or for the society as a whole. For some, nudges have the potential to address grand societal challenges in an efficient and effective manner; others regard nudges as inappropriate means of political steering that open the door for manipulating citizens. But the existing criticism is characterized by dramatization, lack of differentiation, normative exaltation, problematic demarcations and comparisons as well as numerous omissions. However, a more differentiated, contextualized and politicized discussion would open the view for the specific potential of democratically legitimized pro-social nudges to contribute to tackling grand societal challenges.

Reward or Punish? Understanding Preferences toward Economic or Regulatory Instruments in a Cross-National Perspective

This study is interested in cross-national differences in public preferences toward different forms of political steering. Using data from the International Social Survey Programme it was found that there is quite substantial variation between countries in policy preferences. It is suggested that this variation can be explained by the variation in the quality of public institutions (i.e. Quality of Government, QoG). Low QoG is associated with a preference for coercive regulatory instruments and an aversion toward reward-based instruments. The explanation provided is that low QoG is correlated with low social trust, which produces suspicion of defection and an urge to punish free-riders with strong or coercive instruments. Meanwhile, the aversion toward reward-based instruments decreases as the level of QoG increases. The public administration then has the bureaucratic capacity to deal with policies that demand bureaucratic discretion and actors are less likely to free-ride, generating a preference for reward-based incentives and less need for regulation.

Polityczne sterowanie systemem wymiaru sprawiedliwości PRL po 1956 r. Casus funkcjonowania „zespołów” do spraw procesów politycznych w latach 1964–1982

Political Steering of the Administration of Justice in People’s Poland until 1956. The Functioning of “Teams” Dealing with Political Trials in 1964–1982 This article describes the mechanism of the impact exerted by Party authorities upon the form, course, and outcome of numerous political trials conducted after 1956. The presented findings are based on the results of an extensive survey carried out in the documentation of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party (CC PUWP), the General Prosecutor’s Office of the People’s Republic of Poland, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Security Service. Preserved documents makes it possible to prove and characterise Party influence upon trials involving several most important political cases during the 1964–1982 period: the trials of Kuro n and Modzelewski, the student opposition Komandosi and Taternicy , the conspiratorial Ruch organisation, KSS–KOR (Social Self–defence Committee – KOR/ Workers Defence Committee/), KPN (Confederation for an Independent Poland), and the so– called Jedenastka , i.e. the leaders of “Solidarity” and chief advisers of the trade unions – members of the democratic opposition. The analysed sources testify that the ultimate shape of the indictments and the course of a given trial were established during meetings held by a small group, often described as a “team”. Such “team” sessions were attended by representatives of the CC PUWP (the Administration Department of the CC), the Prosecutor’s Office, the Ministry of the Interior, and often the representatives of the Ministry of Justice or even the Supreme Court. Much indicates that these solutions functioned for years to come and were of a systemic character. They guaranteed taking into account the political interests of the Political Bureau and a matching staging of the trials’ course.

The Municipality as Negotiator in Multilevel Governance of Health Care

AbstractThis article focuses on the new role of municipalities–as negotiators in multilevel governance of health services. The 2012 health care coordination reform in Norway involves a partnership between health services at the national and municipal levels. Negotiations in these regional partnerships result in regionally different solutions concerning the provision of health services. What does this new role of municipalities require with regards to political steering and administrative management? From interviews in nine municipalities and two regional health authorities, the authors find that the formal cooperation agreements have affected the interaction between municipalities and regional health authorities, with a shift from professional deliberation to strategic negotiations. The new negotiating role of the municipalities requires political will to clarify the room of maneuver for the negotiating actors and support the negotiating solutions when these are within the defined frames. The negotiations stimulate integration between management and professionals, in order to inform the chief executive officer, who is often the negotiator. The negotiators assume an essential role as bridge-builders between the political and professional world in the municipalities, and the professional world of the hospitals and regional health authorities.

Rural development and the entwining of dependencies: Transition as evolving governance in Khorezm, Uzbekistan

We develop an analytical framework that allows to grasp the evolving patterns of rules and roles in rural transitions, and the concomitant changes in the functions of expertise. Institutional change is understood as governed by a combination of path dependence, interdependence and goal dependence. We illustrate and develop the framework by means of an in-depth analysis of rural transition in the Khorezm province, Uzbekistan. In Khorezm, the Soviet actors were tightly coupled in order to contribute to shared goals – first of all cotton and grain production. After independence, dissolution of collective farms, a diminished interest in planning and policy coordination, and locally different styles of political steering, led to a much less coordinated rural governance, to a scattering of expertise and to opacity regarding its supply and demand. We reflect on the implications of our findings for the analysis of rural transitions more broadly, and especially the impact of policies and plans aiming at a rural transition in a specific direction.

Hybrid Organizations in Social Service Delivery in Quasimarkets

With the introduction of quasimarket principles in the mid-1990s, the German social service sector faced several challenges from above (the state), within (the organizations), and outside (new competitors and “players”). Within the social services, considerable differences prevail between subsectors; although all reforms have been oriented at the principle of (quasi)markets, the governance arrangements implemented have been rather divergent across subfields. This article compares the effects of the introduction of quasimarket principles in two subfields with very different governance architectures: youth welfare and old-age care. Basic findings include different degrees and variants of hybridity at the meso-level of local welfare arrangements as well as at the micro-level of the organizations in the field. The analysis shows a considerable effect of different governance regimes on the openness of the subfields to new competitors (profit-oriented and voluntary), the reactions of established third sector organizations (internal reforms and hybridization), and the modes of political steering (with varying degrees of informality and oversight).

Reintegration Failure and Outsourcing Upside: Organisation of Public Transport in Norway

After two decades of public sector outsourcing, debates for reintegration of services back into the public sector have emerged. However, so far outsourcing remains prevalent and reintegration is sparsely utilised. An in-depth analysis of the reorganisation of public transport in a Norwegian county, Sør-Trøndelag, provides three key reasons as to why there is an ‘outsourcing upside’. Firstly, existing structures limit available alternatives for legislators, thereby making reintegration of public services back into public hands difficult. Secondly, under certain conditions competitive tendering may enhance political steering and thus make outsourcing politically desirable. Thirdly, the establishment of a quasi-autonomous agency allows the opportunity for economies of scale through cooperation with other counties and cities, thereby improving co-ordination in the public transport system.