@article{CreutzigBeckerBerrilletal.2024, author = {Creutzig, Felix and Becker, Sophia and Berrill, Peter and Bongs, Constanze and Bussler, Alexandra and Cave, Ben and Constantino, Sara M. and Grant, Marcus and Heeren, Niko and Heinen, Eva and Hintz, Marie Josefine and Ingen-Housz, Timothee and Johnson, Eric and Kolleck, Nina and Liotta, Charlotte and Lorek, Sylvia and Mattioli, Giulio and Niamir, Leila and McPhearson, Timon and Milojevic-Dupont, Nikola and Nachtigall, Florian and Nagel, Kai and N{\"a}rger, Henriette and Pathak, Minal and Perrin de Brichambaut, Paola and Reckien, Diana and Reisch, Lucia A. and Revi, Aromar and Schuppert, Fabian and Sudmant, Andrew and Wagner, Felix and Walkenhorst, Janina and Weber, Elke and Wilmes, Michael and Wilson, Charlie and Zekar, Aicha}, title = {Towards a public policy of cities and human settlements in the 21st century}, series = {npj urban sustainability}, volume = {4}, journal = {npj urban sustainability}, number = {1}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, address = {London}, issn = {2661-8001}, doi = {10.1038/s42949-024-00168-7}, pages = {1 -- 14}, year = {2024}, abstract = {Cities and other human settlements are major contributors to climate change and are highly vulnerable to its impacts. They are also uniquely positioned to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lead adaptation efforts. These compound challenges and opportunities require a comprehensive perspective on the public policy of human settlements. Drawing on core literature that has driven debate around cities and climate over recent decades, we put forward a set of boundary objects that can be applied to connect the knowledge of epistemic communities and support an integrated urbanism. We then use these boundary objects to develop the Goals-Intervention-Stakeholder-Enablers (GISE) framework for a public policy of human settlements that is both place-specific and provides insights and tools useful for climate action in cities and other human settlements worldwide. Using examples from Berlin, we apply this framework to show that climate mitigation and adaptation, public health, and well-being goals are closely linked and mutually supportive when a comprehensive approach to urban public policy is applied.}, language = {en} } @article{Kuhlman2024, author = {Kuhlman, Sabine}, title = {Back to bureaucracy?}, series = {Journal of policy studies}, volume = {39}, journal = {Journal of policy studies}, number = {2}, publisher = {Graduate School of Public Administration}, address = {Seoul}, issn = {2799-9130}, doi = {10.52372/jps39202}, pages = {11 -- 44}, year = {2024}, abstract = {In this contribution, the emergence of the neo-Weberian state (NWS) is analyzed with regard to German public administration. Drawing on the concept of a governance space, which consists of a hierarchy, markets, and networks, we distinguish between four empirical manifestations of the NWS, namely, the NWS as (1) come back of the public/ re-municipalization; (2) re-hierarchization; (3) de-agencification; (4) de-escalation in performance management. These movements can, on the one hand, be interpreted as a (partial) reversal of New Public Management (NPM) approaches and a "swinging back of the pendulum" (see Kuhlmann \& Wollmann, 2019) toward public and classical Weberian principles (e.g., hierarchy, regulation, institutional re-aggregation). This reversal re-strengthened the hierarchy within the overall governance space to the detriment of, but without completely replacing, market mechanisms and networks. NPM's failure to deliver what it promised and its inappropriateness as a response to more recent challenges connected to crises and wicked problems have engendered a partial return of the public and a move away from the economization logic of NPM. On the other hand, post-NPM reversals and managerial de-escalation gave rise to hybrid models that merge NPM and classic Weberian administration. While some well-functioning combinations of NPM and Weberianism exist, the hybridization of "old" and "neo" elements has also provoked ambivalent and negative assessments regarding the actual functioning of the NWS in Germany. Our analysis suggests that the NWS is only partially suitable as a model for reform and future administrative modernization, largely depending on the context surrounding reform and implementation practices.}, language = {en} } @article{Thomeczek2024, author = {Thomeczek, Jan Philipp}, title = {The voting potential of B{\"u}ndnis Sahra Wagenknecht}, series = {Political studies review}, journal = {Political studies review}, publisher = {Sage Publications}, address = {London}, issn = {1478-9299}, doi = {10.1177/14789299241264975}, pages = {1 -- 9}, year = {2024}, abstract = {A new challenger seeks to enter the German party system: B{\"u}ndnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW). With her new party, former Die Linke politician Sahra Wagenknecht combines a left-authoritarian profile (economically left-leaning, but culturally conservative) with anti-US, pro-Russia and anti-elitist stances. This article provides the first large-n academic study of the voter potential of this new party by using a quasi-representative sample (n = 6,000) drawn from a Voting Advice Application-like dataset that comes from a website designed to explore the B{\"u}ndnis Sahra Wagenknecht's positions. The results show that congruence with foreign policy positions and anti-elitism are strong predictors of the propensity to vote for the B{\"u}ndnis Sahra Wagenknecht. In contrast, social/welfare and immigration policies are less predictive for assessing the party's potential. Among the different socio-demographic groups, the B{\"u}ndnis Sahra Wagenknecht has a strong potential among baby boomers, the less educated and East Germans. Regarding party voters, the B{\"u}ndnis Sahra Wagenknecht is favoured by supporters of some minor parties like dieBasis, Freie W{\"a}hler and Die PARTEI, but also non-voters. Among the established parties, the party's potential is high among Die Linke voters and, to a lesser extent, voters of the Social democrats (SPD) and Alternative for Germany (AfD). A potential below the average is reported for the supporters of the Liberals (FDP) and Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and most clearly for Green and Volt voters.}, language = {en} } @article{KuhlmannFranzkePetersetal.2024, author = {Kuhlmann, Sabine and Franzke, Jochen and Peters, Niklas and Dumas, Beno{\^i}t Paul}, title = {Institutional designs and dynamics of crisis governance at the local level}, series = {Policy design and practice}, journal = {Policy design and practice}, publisher = {Taylor \& Francis}, address = {London}, issn = {2574-1292}, doi = {10.1080/25741292.2024.2344784}, pages = {1 -- 21}, year = {2024}, abstract = {This article analyses the institutional design variants of local crisis governance responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and their entanglement with other locally impactful crises from a cross-country comparative perspective (France, Germany, Poland, Sweden, and the UK/England). The pandemic offers an excellent empirical lens for scrutinizing the phenomenon of polycrises governance because it occurred while European countries were struggling with the impacts of several prior, ongoing, or newly arrived crises. Our major focus is on institutional design variants of crisis governance (dependent variable) and the influence of different administrative cultures on it (independent variable). Furthermore, we analyze the entanglement and interaction of institutional responses to other (previous or parallel) crises (polycrisis dynamics). Our findings reveal a huge variance of institutional designs, largely evoked by country-specific administrative cultures and profiles. The degree of de-/centralization and the intensity of coordination or decoupling across levels of government differs significantly by country. Simultaneously, all countries were affected by interrelated and entangled crises, resulting in various patterns of polycrisis dynamics. While policy failures and "fatal remedies" from previous crises have partially impaired the resilience and crisis preparedness of local governments, we have also found some learning effects from previous crises.}, language = {en} } @article{MarienfeldtWehmeierKuhlmann2024, author = {Marienfeldt, Justine and Wehmeier, Liz Marla and Kuhlmann, Sabine}, title = {Top-down or bottom-up digital transformation?}, series = {Public money \& management}, journal = {Public money \& management}, publisher = {Taylor \& Francis}, address = {Abingdon}, issn = {0954-0962}, doi = {10.1080/09540962.2024.2365351}, pages = {10}, year = {2024}, abstract = {This article analyses incremental institutional change and subsequent organizational and performance outcomes of the digital transformation from a comparative perspective. Through 31 expert interviews, the authors compare two digitalized public services in Germany. Two digitalization approaches are identified. The voluntary, decentralized bottom-up approach involves layering of new rules, limited organizational restructuring, and performance deficits. Conversely, the compulsory, top-down approach with centralized control facilitates displacement of existing rules and far-reaching organizational change; in this study, it is also associated with improved performance.}, language = {en} } @article{FleischerDanielsenNebyetal.2024, author = {Fleischer, Julia and Danielsen, Ole A. and Neby, Simon and Nykvist, Rasmus}, title = {The state as a marketizer vs. the marketization of the state}, series = {Public organization review : a global journal}, journal = {Public organization review : a global journal}, publisher = {Springer Science + Business Media B.V.}, address = {Dordrecht}, issn = {1566-7170}, doi = {10.1007/s11115-024-00769-x}, pages = {16}, year = {2024}, abstract = {Governments engage in corporatization by creating corporate entities or reorganizing existing ones. These corporatization activities reflect an interplay between political agency and environmental pressures, including (changing) notions of state-market relations. This paper discusses two ideal-typed organizational models of corporatization: the state as a marketizer and the marketization of the state. Whereas the first emphasizes the role of political design and agency in corporatization, the second emphasizes the role of (actors in) the environment for corporatization. Both models are assessed across five corporatization episodes in Norway and Sweden, where we also demonstrate the interplay between political agency and environmental pressure.}, language = {en} } @article{Thomeczek2024, author = {Thomeczek, Jan Philipp}, title = {B{\"u}ndnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW): left-wing authoritarian—and populist?}, series = {Politische Vierteljahresschrift}, journal = {Politische Vierteljahresschrift}, publisher = {Springer VS}, address = {Wiesbaden}, issn = {0032-3470}, doi = {10.1007/s11615-024-00544-z}, pages = {18}, year = {2024}, abstract = {Germany's relatively stable party system faces a new left-authoritarian challenger: Sahra Wagenknecht's B{\"u}ndnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) party. First polls indicate that for the BSW, election results above 10\% are within reach. While Wagenknecht's positions in economic and cultural terms have already been discussed, this article elaborates on another highly relevant feature of Wagenknecht, namely her populist communication. Exploring Wagenknecht's and BSW's populist appeal helps us to understand why the party is said to also have potential among seemingly different voter groups coming from the far right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and far left Die Linke, which share high levels of populist attitudes. To analyse the role that populist communication plays for Wagenknecht and the BSW, this article combines quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative analysis covers all speeches (10,000) and press releases (19,000) published by Die Linke members of Parliament (MPs; 2005-2023). The results show that Wagenknecht is the (former) Die Linke MP with the highest share of populist communication. Furthermore, she was also able to convince a group of populist MPs to join the BSW. The article closes with a qualitative analysis of BSW's manifesto that reveals how populist framing plays a major role in this document, in which the political and economic elites are accused of working against the interest of "the majority". Based on this analysis, the classification of the BSW as a populist party seems to be appropriate.}, language = {en} } @article{BersalliTroendleHeckmannetal.2024, author = {Bersalli, Germ{\´a}n and Tr{\"o}ndle, Tim and Heckmann, Leon and Lilliestam, Johan}, title = {Economic crises as critical junctures for policy and structural changes towards decarbonization}, series = {Climate policy}, volume = {24}, journal = {Climate policy}, number = {3}, publisher = {Taylor \& Francis}, address = {London}, issn = {1469-3062}, doi = {10.1080/14693062.2024.2301750}, pages = {410 -- 427}, year = {2024}, abstract = {Crises may act as tipping points for decarbonization pathways by triggering structural economic change or offering windows of opportunity for policy change. We investigate both types of effects of the global financial and COVID-19 crises on decarbonization in Spain and Germany through a quantitative Kaya-decomposition analysis of CO2 emissions and through a qualitative review of climate and energy policy changes. We show that the global financial crisis resulted in a critical juncture for Spanish CO2 emissions due to the combined effects of the deep economic recession and crisis-induced structural change, resulting in reductions in carbon and energy intensities and shifts in the economic structure. However, the crisis also resulted in a rollback of renewable energy policy, halting progress in the transition to green electricity. The impacts were less pronounced in Germany, where pre-existing decarbonization and policy trends continued after the crisis. Recovery packages had modest effects, primarily due to their temporary nature and the limited share of climate-related spending. The direct short-term impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on CO2 emissions were more substantial in Spain than in Germany. The policy responses in both countries sought to align short-term economic recovery with the long-term climate change goals of decarbonization, but it is too soon to observe their lasting effects. Our findings show that crises can affect structural change and support decarbonization but suggest that such effects depend on pre-existing trends, the severity of the crisis and political manoeuvring during the crisis.}, language = {en} } @article{StaufferMengeshaSeifertetal.2022, author = {Stauffer, Maxime and Mengesha, Isaak and Seifert, Konrad and Krawczuk, Igor and Fischer, Jens and Serugendo, Giovanna Di Marzo}, title = {A computational turn in policy process studies}, series = {Complexity}, volume = {2022}, journal = {Complexity}, publisher = {Wiley-Hindawi}, address = {London}, issn = {1076-2787}, doi = {10.1155/2022/8210732}, pages = {17}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The past three decades of policy process studies have seen the emergence of a clear intellectual lineage with regard to complexity. Implicitly or explicitly, scholars have employed complexity theory to examine the intricate dynamics of collective action in political contexts. However, the methodological counterparts to complexity theory, such as computational methods, are rarely used and, even if they are, they are often detached from established policy process theory. Building on a critical review of the application of complexity theory to policy process studies, we present and implement a baseline model of policy processes using the logic of coevolving networks. Our model suggests that an actor's influence depends on their environment and on exogenous events facilitating dialogue and consensus-building. Our results validate previous opinion dynamics models and generate novel patterns. Our discussion provides ground for further research and outlines the path for the field to achieve a computational turn.}, language = {en} } @article{KuhlmannHellstromRambergetal.2021, author = {Kuhlmann, Sabine and Hellstrom, Mikael and Ramberg, Ulf and Reiter, Renate}, title = {Tracing divergence in crisis governance}, series = {International review of administrative sciences : an international journal of comparative public administration}, volume = {87}, journal = {International review of administrative sciences : an international journal of comparative public administration}, number = {3}, publisher = {Sage Publ.}, address = {London}, issn = {0020-8523}, doi = {10.1177/0020852320979359}, pages = {556 -- 575}, year = {2021}, abstract = {This cross-country comparison of administrative responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in France, Germany and Sweden is aimed at exploring how institutional contexts and administrative cultures have shaped strategies of problem-solving and governance modes during the pandemic, and to what extent the crisis has been used for opportunity management. The article shows that in France, the central government reacted determinedly and hierarchically, with tough containment measures. By contrast, the response in Germany was characterized by an initial bottom-up approach that gave way to remarkable federal unity in the further course of the crisis, followed again by a return to regional variance and local discretion. In Sweden, there was a continuation of 'normal governance' and a strategy of relying on voluntary compliance largely based on recommendations and less - as in Germany and France - on a strategy of imposing legally binding regulations. The comparative analysis also reveals that relevant stakeholders in all three countries have used the crisis as an opportunity for changes in the institutional settings and administrative procedures. Points for practitioners COVID-19 has shown that national political and administrative standard operating procedures in preparation for crises are, at best, partially helpful. Notwithstanding the fact that dealing with the unpredictable is a necessary part of crisis management, a need to further improve the institutional preparedness for pandemic crises in all three countries examined here has also become clear. This should be done particularly by way of shifting resources to the health and care sectors, strengthening the decentralized management of health emergencies, stocking and/or self-producing protection material, assessing the effects of crisis measures, and opening the scientific discourse to broader arenas of experts.}, language = {en} }