@misc{Franzke2019, author = {Franzke, Jochen}, title = {Rezension zu: The Routledge handbook of international local government / edited by Richard Kerley, Joyce Liddle and Pamela T. Dunning. - London: Routledge, 2018. - 528 pp. - ISBN: 978- 11-3823-472-7, ISBN: 978-1-31530-627-8}, series = {Local government studies}, volume = {46}, journal = {Local government studies}, number = {1}, publisher = {Routledge}, address = {Abingdon}, issn = {0300-3930}, doi = {10.1080/03003930.2020.1702771}, pages = {163 -- 165}, year = {2019}, abstract = {When I took up the task of writing a review of the Routledge handbook of international local government, it occurred to me, as a member of the generation of the 1950s, that I had not even considered whether such compendiums were even necessary in times of easy internet searching. This review will look at whether that is indeed the case. Social-science handbooks naturally are very broad. This also applies to the particular handbook under review. It comprises six content-thematic parts with 33 chapters by 73 authors from 21 countries, with the UK and USA dominant. The focal points, discussed in more detail below, are local elections and local governance, local governments in different jurisdictions, the challenges of local government services, citizen engagement in local affairs, and local authorities in multi-level finance systems that shape how municipal governments 'get and spend' public money. These are exactly the topics actually discussed in the international community of political scientists. As a preliminary, the editors work out the theoretical-methodological foundations of the topic. They define 'the local' as 'geographically defined sub-national state administrative or political divisions' (p. 3). As next steps, they analyse the difference between government and governance, and investigate whether local government is globally important and relevant. Fortunately, they conclude that this is indeed the case. Part I of the handbook illustrates 'substantive variations' in the local electoral systems and 'notable divergences in the values and assumptions of local governance among democratic countries' (p. 23). That topic is indeed central to local authorities' legitimacy in democratic political systems. The focus of this part of the handbook is on current research and debates around local electoral systems, the challenges of local political leadership and the councillor's role in modern local policy. Current trends at the local level are analysed from the actors' perspectives or from an economic point of view by comparing institutionalised differences in city managers, mayors and council members across different jurisdictions. Sections that investigate traditional leadership and local government in Pacific Island countries are of particular interest to most Western readers, because in Europe and North America we know too little about such issues in that part of the world. Part II of the handbook presents current development processes and challenges in various local government systems. The chapters are territorially oriented around nation states or sub-national regions. This part of the handbook deal with local government in the Pacific Islands, Latin America, and New Zealand and in the Caribbean. However, the rationale behind country selection is not always clear; important countries like China, India and Nigeria, just to name a few, are absent. Unfortunately, there is no summary article highlighting similarities and differences, as well as the challenges in local government, relating to the countries studied in the book. The development of local services is the focus of Part III of the handbook, however, the definition of local services remains highly controversial and their scope varies widely between the countries. From the 1980s onwards, there was a long-term trend towards the marketisation and economisation of local politics, but since the turn of the millennium, there has been a counter-trend of the return of municipalities and third sector in the fields of local public services (Wollmann 2018). The book analyses the US and Georgia as case studies for development trends, finding that local government entrepreneurship remains an important factor in promoting economic development and strengthening capacities. I was pleased to see that Part IV, the next and most extensive part of the handbook, deals with citizen engagement, because the future of local self-government across the world depends not only on top down activities by local governing elites, but above all on the commitment of the inhabitants of cities and municipalities. Practices and challenges of citizen participation in local government are analysed in inspiring case studies of mid-sized cities in Russia and the United States. The contribution on urban governance of austerity in Europe is also of particular interest. The 2008 global financial crash and the subsequent severe budgetary pressure on municipalities in many countries was a key event in the history and development of local self-government, confronting municipalities with 'the harsh realities of political economy' (p. 293). Several articles analyse the causes of the declining confidence of the citizens in local authorities in some countries. In contrast, the open budget tool in Brazil is as a positive example of collaborative stakeholder engagement. Part V deals with multi-level governance. With the exception of Australia, it is all about Europe, especially the role of municipalities in the EU's multilevel system. The authors conclude that 'local authorities are essential for executing EU legislation, and this turn allows them to shape EU policies' (p. 401). This part of the handbook includes the issue of local territorial reforms, which are central to local autonomy, combined with analyses of redesigning regional government and local-level Europeanisation. Subsequently, by comparing the local government systems of Southern Europe (France, Italy, Portugal and Spain), the authors underline convincingly the role of traditions, identity, legal frameworks and institutions in local government. Part VI of the book deals with the financial dimension of local self-government under the heading 'Getting and spending'. This is indeed the 'key source of dispute between local and central government' (p. 467) and the crucial factor shaping true local autonomy. Meritoriously, this part also contains a chapter on the fight against corruption and unethical behaviour by public servants. Based on research linking corruption to transparency and accountability, two case studies describe how Tbilisi (Georgia) and Lviv (Ukraine) try to reduce corruption in government budgeting and procurement. Enhancing Value-For-Money audit in local government highlights another important side of local finance. An interesting comparison reveals significant differences in local government revenues in European Union member states between 2000 and 2014. Of course, even in a 530-page book, some important aspects remain underexposed. Above all, I would have liked more attention on some of the enormous future challenges facing democratic systems and with them local governments all over the world, such as digitisation (e.g. in smart cities), the integration of migrants or climate change. The international networking of municipalities should also be given greater prominence. To sum it up, The Routledge Handbook on International Local Government is indeed 'ambitiously titled' as the editors underline. Yet, despite my critical objections about its focus on current issues rather than future challenges, they largely fulfil this promise and their general approach has worked well. Across continents and political-administrative cultures, illustrated with many new research findings, they have created an outstanding publication focusing on the challenges and policy of local self-governmental authorities and other local stakeholders. There is a good chance that this handbook will belong in future to the social science standard works on local issues, and be included in academic political science teaching. May the publisher's wish come true; that this book stimulates its readers to develop further research ideas. Finally, I come back to my initial question. 'Old fashioned' printed handbooks like these continue to make sense, even in modern digital times.}, language = {en} } @misc{vanHeldenReichard2018, author = {van Helden, Jan and Reichard, Christoph}, title = {Management control and public sector performance management}, series = {Baltic Journal of Management}, volume = {14}, journal = {Baltic Journal of Management}, number = {1}, publisher = {Emerald Group Publishing Limited}, address = {Bingley}, issn = {1746-5265}, doi = {10.1108/BJM-01-2018-0021}, pages = {158 -- 176}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether and how evolving ideas about management control (MC) emerge in research about public sector performance management (PSPM). Design/methodology/approach This is a literature review on PSPM research through using a set of key terms derived from a review of recent developments in MC. Findings MC research, originating in the management accounting discipline, is largely disconnected from PSPM research as part of public administration and public management disciplines. Overlaps between MC and PSPM research are visible in a cybernetic control approach, control variety and contingency-based reasoning. Both academic communities share an understanding of certain issues, although under diverging labels, especially enabling controls or, in a more general sense, usable performance controls, horizontal controls and control packaging. Specific MC concepts are valuable for future PSPM research, i.e. trust as a complement of performance-based controls in complex settings, and strategy as a variable in contingency-based studies. Research limitations/implications Breaking the boundaries between two currently remote research disciplines, on the one hand, might dismantle "would-be" innovations in one of these disciplines, and, on the other hand, may provide a fertile soil for mutual transfer of knowledge. A limitation of the authors' review of PSPM research is that it may insufficiently cover research published in the public sector accounting journals, which could be an outlet for MC-inspired PSPM research. Originality/value The paper unravels the "apparent" and "real" differences between MC and PSPM research, and, in doing so, takes the detected "real" differences as a starting point for discussing in what ways PSPM research can benefit from MC achievements.}, language = {en} } @misc{Reiners2021, author = {Reiners, Nina}, title = {Rezension zu: Milewicz, Karolina M.: Constitutionalizing world politics : the logic of democratic power and the unintended consequences of international treaty making. - Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020. - 354 S. - ISBN: 978-1-108-83509-1}, series = {Politische Vierteljahresschrift : PVS : German political science quarterly}, volume = {62}, journal = {Politische Vierteljahresschrift : PVS : German political science quarterly}, number = {3}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Berlin}, issn = {0032-3470}, doi = {10.1007/s11615-021-00333-y}, pages = {575 -- 577}, year = {2021}, language = {de} } @misc{FuhrHickmannKern2017, author = {Fuhr, Harald and Hickmann, Thomas and Kern, Kristine}, title = {The role of cities in multi-level climate governance}, series = {Current opinion in environmental sustainability}, volume = {30}, journal = {Current opinion in environmental sustainability}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {1877-3435}, doi = {10.1016/j.cosust.2017.10.006}, pages = {1 -- 6}, year = {2017}, abstract = {The past two decades have witnessed widespread scholarly interest in the role of cities in climate policy-making. This research has considerably improved our understanding of the local level in the global response to climate change. The present article synthesizes the literature on local climate policies with respect to the 1.5 degrees C target. While most studies have focused on pioneering cities and networks, we contend that the broader impacts of local climate actions and their relationship to regional, national, and international policy frameworks have not been studied in enough detail. Against this backdrop, we introduce the concept of upscaling and contend that local climate initiatives must go hand in hand with higher-level policies and be better integrated into the multi-level governance system.}, language = {en} } @misc{Liese2022, author = {Liese, Andrea}, title = {Rezension zu: The power of global performance indicators / Hrsg.: Judith G. Kelley ; Beth A. Simmons. - Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020. - 450 p.}, series = {Perspectives on politics / American Political Science Association}, volume = {20}, journal = {Perspectives on politics / American Political Science Association}, number = {1}, publisher = {Cambridge Univ. Press}, address = {Cambridge}, isbn = {978-1-108-48720-7}, issn = {1537-5927}, doi = {10.1017/S1537592721003716}, pages = {380 -- 382}, year = {2022}, language = {en} } @misc{Knobloch2021, author = {Knobloch, J{\"o}rn}, title = {Rezension zu: Manow, Philip: (Ent‑)Demokratisierung der Demokratie. - Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2020. - 215 S. - ISBN: 978-3-518-76552-4}, series = {Politische Vierteljahresschrift : PVS : German political science quarterly / hrsg. vom Vorstand der Deutschen Vereinigung f{\"u}r Politikwissenschaft}, volume = {62}, journal = {Politische Vierteljahresschrift : PVS : German political science quarterly / hrsg. vom Vorstand der Deutschen Vereinigung f{\"u}r Politikwissenschaft}, number = {1}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Berlin}, isbn = {978-3-518-12753-7}, issn = {0032-3470}, doi = {10.1007/s11615-020-00292-w}, pages = {171 -- 173}, year = {2021}, language = {de} } @misc{SchulzeGabrechten2019, author = {Schulze-Gabrechten, Lena}, title = {An organizational approach to public governance}, series = {Public administration}, volume = {97}, journal = {Public administration}, number = {2}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {0033-3298}, doi = {10.1111/padm.12590}, pages = {483 -- 485}, year = {2019}, abstract = {In this volume, Egeberg and Trondal put forward an 'organizational approach to public governance' (p. 1) that, in their view, complements existing explanations for organizational change and behaviour in governance processes ('Understanding') and produces relevant advice for practitioners, specifically anyone involved in reorganizing public administration ('Design'). Following the authors' introduction of the theoretical reasoning behind their approach (chapter 1), they present supporting findings that are based on new material (chapters 2 and 9), but mainly draw on six previously published research articles (chapters 3-8). Egeberg and Trondal conclude with possible 'design implications' of said findings (chapter 9). Their 'organizational approach' focuses on the impact of selected organizational characteristics on decision-making in and on behalf of government organizations in policy-making generally ('public governance') and administrative politics more specifically ('meta-governance'). The authors concentrate on three sets of 'classical' organizational characteristics: structure (mainly vertical and horizontal specialization), demography (personnel composition), and locus (geographical location). The conceptual part of the volume convincingly summarizes 'formal organization matters'—arguments from the literature for each of the individual organizational factors. Their main, already well-established argument is that the way an organization is formally set up makes some (reform) decisions more likely than others—a line of reasoning that the authors present as neglected in governance literature. In the following five empirical chapters, the authors show that aspects of horizontal and vertical specialization—mainly operationalized by Gulicks' principles of horizontal specialization and the idea of primary versus secondary affiliation of staff—affect organizational behaviour. Readers learn that whether government levels are organized according to a territorial or non-territorial principle impacts the power relationship between levels: non-territorial organization at the supranational level tends to empower the centre against lower levels of government. There are two chapters on the decision-making behaviour of commissioners and officials in the European Commission, both showing that organizational affiliation trumps demographic background factors such as nationality, even with temporary staff. Chapter 5 addresses coordination dynamics in the European multi-level system and finds that coordination at the territorially organized national level thwarts non-territorially organized coordination at the supranational level, resulting in the phenomenon of 'direct' national administration bypassing their national executives. Further, the authors show that vertical specialization—while controlling for other factors such as issue salience—has an effect on officials' behaviour at the national level: agency officials in Norway report significantly less sensitivity towards political signals from the political executive than their colleagues in ministries. Chapter 7 discusses the relevance of geographical location for the relationship between subordinated organizations and their political executive. The authors find that the site of Norwegian agencies does not significantly affect their autonomy, influence, or inter-institutional coordination with the superior ministry. The last empirical chapter focuses on the effect of formal organization on meta-governance, that is, administrative politics. Based on a qualitative case study of a reorganization process in Norway in 2003 involving the synchronized relocation of several agencies after many failed attempts, the authors conclude that administrative reforms can be politically steered and controlled through the organization of the reform process. They argue that amongst other factors the strategic exclusion of opposing actors from the reform process as well as the deliberate increase in situations demanding quick decisions ('action rationality', p. 119) by political leaders helps explain the reform's unexpected success. The last chapter is dedicated to the synthesis of the results and to design implications. Supported by new data from a 2016 survey among Norwegian public officials, the authors conclude that organizational position is the most important influencer of decision-making behaviour, with educational background and previous job experience also playing a large role (p. 135). Consequently, their suggestions for practitioners involved in meta-governance processes concentrate on aspects of the deliberate crafting of organizational specialization to shape organizational positions, and spend less time discussing location and employee demographics. The authors illustrate and contextualize their recommendations with the help of three empirical examples: organizing good governance by balancing political control and independence in the case of agencification, organizing for coping with boundary-spanning challenges such as climate change through inter-organizational structural arrangements, and designing permanent organizational structures for innovative reforms in the public sector (pp. 137 ff.). This volume is an excellent compilation of theoretically informed applications of the all too often undefined 'organization matters' argument. It juxtaposes—particularly in the theory chapter and in the last chapter on design implications—organizational arguments against other explanations of organizational change like historical institutionalism or the garbage can model of decision-making. However, two major aspects of the book's approach are less convincing. First, supplementary explanations such as the garbage can model that are discussed in the reflections on meta-governance are neither argumentatively nor empirically applied to public governance; why should, for example, the 'solutions in search of a problem' idea only be applicable to decisions on reform policy, but not to decisions in all other policy areas? Similarly, it would have been nice to read more on the authors' idea on the interaction between organizational factors and between them and other explanations in the empirical cases on public governance—this would have allowed the reader to get a better idea about how much formal organization matters. The view on bureaucrats' demographic background is slightly confusing: it is presented as a competing approach (p. 7), but also as one of the main organizational factors (p. 12). Second, as the authors themselves state, the concept of governance is about 'steering through collective action' (p. 3) and focuses on interactive processes, and explicitly includes non-governmental actors in the policy-making equation. Against this background it seems unfortunate that most of the work presented in the book takes an exclusively governmental perspective and the justification for it remains rather superficial. It would be preferable and even necessary to see the organizational arguments—at least theoretically or through discussing appropriate literature—applied to interactive governance processes involving other actors and/or to non-bureaucratic organizations. Regarding its methodology, the specifics of the proposed approach deserve to be addressed more systematically and critically in the book. Except for chapters 2, 3 and 5 (literature-based studies) as well as chapter 8 (single case study), the empirical studies follow a quantitative logic and are informed by data on self-reported behaviour through large-N panel surveys with public officials. In terms of analysis, descriptive statistics or basic inferential statistics (linear regression) are employed. Certainly, the authors are aware of the limitations of their data sources, such as the results being possibly affected by social desirability, and they discuss and justify them in the chapters individually (e.g., on pp. 47, 89). Still, their approach could be strengthened with a more cautious account on the extent to which their choice of data and methods is able to uncover the 'causal impact of organizational factors in public governance processes' (p. 131, emphasis added) and with some suggestions for widening their methodological toolbox in the future. On this note, the survey method presented as new on p. 135 is not a particularly convincing choice. The authors do not lay out a research agenda; a surprising omission. This is, however, somewhat made up for by the concluding chapter's stimulating discussion of the possible real-world implications of their findings and perspective, skilfully using organization theory as a 'craft' (p. 29).}, language = {en} } @misc{Hickmann2019, author = {Hickmann, Thomas}, title = {Rezension zu: Andonova, Liliana B: Governance Entrepreneurs: International Organizations and the Rise of Global Public-Private Partnerships. - Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017. - XI,275 S. - ISBN 978-1-107-16566-3}, series = {Global environmental politics}, volume = {19}, journal = {Global environmental politics}, number = {2}, publisher = {MIT Press}, address = {Cambridge}, issn = {1526-3800}, doi = {10.1162/glep_r_00510}, pages = {175 -- 177}, year = {2019}, language = {en} } @misc{Vasel2015, author = {Vasel, Johann Justus}, title = {Anne Peters, Jenseits der Menschenrechte. Die Rechtsstellung des Individuums im V{\"o}lkerrecht [rezensiert von Johann Justus Vasel]}, series = {MenschenRechtsMagazin : MRM ; Informationen, Meinungen, Analysen}, volume = {20}, journal = {MenschenRechtsMagazin : MRM ; Informationen, Meinungen, Analysen}, number = {1}, issn = {1434-2820}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-84301}, pages = {66 -- 67}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Buchbesprechung: Anne Peters, Jenseits der Menschenrechte. Die Rechtsstellung des Individuums im V{\"o}lkerrecht, Mohr Siebeck, 2014, 535 Seiten, ISBN 978-3-16-152749-4, 104,00 €.}, language = {de} } @misc{Heilinger2015, author = {Heilinger, Jan-Christoph}, title = {Christine Chwaszcza, Menschenrechte und Staatlichkeit [rezensiert von Jan-Christoph Heilinger]}, series = {MenschenRechtsMagazin : MRM ; Informationen, Meinungen, Analysen}, volume = {20}, journal = {MenschenRechtsMagazin : MRM ; Informationen, Meinungen, Analysen}, number = {1}, issn = {1434-2820}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-84316}, pages = {67 -- 69}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Buchbesprechung: Christine Chwaszcza, Menschenrechte und Staatlichkeit, Duncker \& Humblot, 2013, 60 Seiten, ISBN 978-3- 428-14227-9, 19,90 €.}, language = {de} }