TY - JOUR A1 - Tsebelis, George A1 - Thies, Michael A1 - Cheibub, José Antonio A1 - Dixon, Rosalind A1 - Bogéa, Daniel A1 - Ganghof, Steffen T1 - Review symposium BT - beyond presidentialism and parliamentarism JF - European political science N2 - Steffen Ganghof’s Beyond Presidentialism and Parliamentarism: Democratic Design and the Separation of Powers (Oxford University Press, 2021) posits that “in a democracy, a constitutional separation of powers between the executive and the assembly may be desirable, but the constitutional concentration of executive power in a single human being is not” (Ganghof, 2021). To consider, examine and theorise about this, Ganghof urges engagement with semi-parliamentarism. As explained by Ganghof, legislative power is shared between two democratically legitimate sections of parliament in a semi-parliamentary system, but only one of those sections selects the government and can remove it in a no-confidence vote. Consequently, power is dispersed and not concentrated in the hands of any one person, which, Ganghof argues, can lead to an enhanced form of parliamentary democracy. In this book review symposium, George Tsebelis, Michael Thies, José Antonio Cheibub, Rosalind Dixon and Daniel Bogéa review Steffen Ganghof’s book and engage with the author about aspects of research design, case selection and theoretical argument. This symposium arose from an engaging and constructive discussion of the book at a seminar hosted by Texas A&M University in 2022. We thank Prof José Cheibub (Texas A&M) for organising that seminar and Dr Anna Fruhstorfer (University of Potsdam) for initiating this book review symposium. KW - semi-parliamentary government KW - presidentialism KW - parliamentary government KW - separation of powers KW - legislatures KW - executives KW - parliamentary democracy Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1057/s41304-023-00426-9 SN - 1680-4333 SN - 1682-0983 PB - Palgrave Macmillan CY - Basingstoke ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Turner, Bryan S. T1 - Introduction BT - waves of democracy JF - The condition of democracy : Volume 1: Neoliberal politics and sociological perspectives Y1 - 2022 SN - 978-1-00-040191-2 SN - 978-1-00-315836-3 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - Routledge CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ullmann, Andreas J. A1 - von Staden, Andreas T1 - A room full of ‘views’ BT - introducing a new dataset to explore compliance with the decisions of the UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies’ individual complaints procedures JF - Journal of conflict resolution N2 - Quantitative research into the effectiveness of the UN human rights treaty bodies (UNTBs) in eliciting remedial responses from states is impeded by a lack of usable data on how states respond to their decisions. The new Treaty Body Views Dataset (TBVD) aims to fill this gap. It comprises details on all published decisions in individual complaints cases issued by the UNTBs between 1979 and 2019 and matches these with information on their state of compliance. The TBVD can be used for research on the activities of the treaty bodies, the nature of the decisions themselves, or state behavior following a decision. An empirical application illustrates how the TBVD can advance knowledge about the factors that correlate with compliance with adverse UNTB decisions. Results show that the likelihood of implementation hinges critically on decision-level characteristics, and reveal differences and similarities between compliance with UNTB decisions and regional human rights court judgments. KW - human rights KW - international institutions KW - second-order compliance KW - individual complaints procedures KW - UN human rights treaty bodies Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/00220027231160460 SN - 0022-0027 SN - 1552-8766 VL - 68 IS - 2-3 SP - 534 EP - 561 PB - Sage Publications CY - Thousand Oaks ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wanckel, Camilla T1 - An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure BT - building capacities for the use of big data algorithm systems (BDAS) in early crisis detection JF - Government information quarterly N2 - Public sector organizations at all levels of government increasingly rely on Big Data Algorithmic Systems (BDAS) to support decision-making along the entire policy cycle. But while our knowledge on the use of big data continues to grow for government agencies implementing and delivering public services, empirical research on applications for anticipatory policy design is still in its infancy. Based on the concept of policy analytical capacity (PAC), this case study examines the application of BDAS for early crisis detection within the German Federal Government—that is, the German Federal Foreign Office (FFO) and the Federal Ministry of Defence (FMoD). It uses the nested model of PAC to reflect on systemic, organizational, and individual capacity-building from a neoinstitutional perspective and allow for the consideration of embedded institutional contexts. Results from semi-structured interviews indicate that governments seeking to exploit BDAS in policymaking depend on their institutional environment (e.g., through research and data governance infrastructure). However, specific capacity-building strategies may differ according to the departments' institutional framework, with the FMoD relying heavily on subordinate agencies and the FFO creating network-like structures with external researchers. Government capacity-building at the individual and organizational level is similarly affected by long-established institutional structures, roles, and practices within the organization and beyond, making it important to analyze these three levels simultaneously instead of separately. KW - big data algorithm system (BDAS) KW - artificial intelligence (AI) KW - early crisis detection KW - policymaking KW - policy analytical capacity (PAC) KW - central government organizations KW - neo-institutionalism Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2022.101705 SN - 0740-624X SN - 1872-9517 VL - 39 IS - 4 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wanckel, Camilla T1 - Introducing a digital tool for sustainability impact assessments within the German Federal Government BT - a neo-institutional perspective JF - International review of administrative sciences N2 - This study examines the institutionalization of information technologies for policy formulation by investigating the case of eNAP. The digital tool was introduced in the spring of 2018 with the aim of supporting and improving sustainability impact assessments (SIAs) within the German Federal Government. Applying a neo-institutional perspective, this study shows how a tool like eNAP is embedded into prevailing regulative, normative, and cultural–cognitive structures. Findings from 10 semi-structured interviews indicate that the application of eNAP varies according to intra-ministerial coordination practices and portfolio-specific information-processing schemata. Overall, the tool serves to translate the abstract regulation to conduct an SIA, as well as to translate the vague norm of “sustainability” into a concrete assessment requirement, thereby helping increase policy officials’ awareness of sustainability goals. However, consistent with previous studies, great importance is not attached to SIAs in policy formulation, and prevailing norms and routines make the implementation of eNAP to increase the use of evidence or in-depth considerations of policy alternatives and their consequences unlikely. Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/00208523211047093 SN - 0020-8523 SN - 1461-7226 VL - 89 IS - 2 SP - 433 EP - 449 PB - Sage CY - Los Angeles, California ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weaver, Catherine A1 - Heinzel, Mirko A1 - Jorgensen, Samantha A1 - Flores, Joseph T1 - Bureaucratic representation in the IMF and the World Bank JF - Global perspectives N2 - The legitimacy and effectiveness of international organizations are often linked directly to issues of representation—not only on their high-level governing boards and in top leadership but also within their staff. This article explores two key questions of bureaucratic representation in the critical cases of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. First, we seek to unpack three essential dimensions of staff representation—nationality, education, and gender—to explain how representation may matter for international organizations. Second, we aim to describe the multiple dimensions of representation in the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank over the past twenty years by deploying a novel dataset on staff demographics, focusing on ranks with decision-making authority within the institutions. Our descriptive analysis reveals that the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have made considerable efforts to diversify their bureaucracies. Nonetheless, representation remains uneven; for example, nationals from middle- and low-income countries, women, and staff without economics degrees from prominent US- or UK-based universities are less present in key leadership positions. These results may be well explained by the particular needs of the institutions’ technical mandates and limits in the supply of qualified staff and, as such, need not be seen as suboptimal. Nonetheless, perceived imbalances in representation may continue to pose external legitimation and operational challenges to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in a complex political environment where such multidimensional representation is important to sustaining the buy-in of donor and borrower countries alike. To this end, we recommend that the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank enhance their diversity and inclusion efforts by increasing transparency via reporting disaggregated data on workforce composition and introducing annual requirements to publish progress reports with management feedback to strengthen internal and external accountability. KW - representation KW - international bureaucracy KW - multilateralism KW - World Bank KW - IMF Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1525/gp.2022.39684 SN - 2575-7350 VL - 3 IS - 1 PB - University of California Press CY - Oakland, CA ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weiß, Norman T1 - Origin and Further Development JF - The Council of Europe Y1 - 2017 SN - 978-0-19-967252-3 SP - 3 EP - 22 PB - Oxford University Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wenzel, Bertolt T1 - Rational instrument or symbolic signal? BT - Explaining coordination structures in the Directorate-General for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs of the European Commission JF - Public Policy and Administration N2 - This article examines the reorganization of formal coordination structures in the Directorate-General for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs of the European Commission. While rational approaches in organization theory emphasize functional efficiency as an explanation for organizational design and coordination structures, the findings of this study indicate that the reorganization was not driven primarily for reasons of efficiency and to increase the coordination capacity of the organization. The study demonstrates that, even in a highly technical policy area such as fisheries management in the European Union, the (re-)design of formal organizational structures does not follow primarily a technical-instrumental rationale. Instead, the formal coordination structures have also been adapted to live up to changing expectations in the institutional environment, to modern management concepts in marine governance, and to ensure the legitimacy of the organization. However, although the empirical findings of this study substantiate the theoretical assumptions of an institutional perspective, institutional explanations alone are insufficient to comprehensively understand why organizational structures are reorganized and changed. KW - Coordination structures KW - European Commission KW - fisheries policy KW - marine governance KW - organizational reform KW - organization theory Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/0952076716683764 SN - 0952-0767 SN - 1749-4192 VL - 33 IS - 2 SP - 149 EP - 169 PB - Sage Publ. CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wolf, Hannah T1 - Permanent liminality? BT - Housing insecurity and home N2 - After more than eight years of multifaceted crisis and extreme austerity policies, the programmes of financial assistance to Greece ended in August 2018, only to be replaced by a strict surveillance plan which leaves little room for manoeuvre towards more socially sensitive policies. In this context, the paper focuses on three major issues of argument between the creditors and the Greek government: property ownership and taxation, reduction of pensions, and continued austerity. Based on research in Athens and starting from the premise that behind figures and statistics lie embodied subjects, the paper discusses these issues drawing from particular people’s experiences. Y1 - 2020 SN - 978-0-429262-28-9 SN - 978-0-367-20564-5 SP - 99 EP - 118 PB - Routledge CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wolf, Hannah A1 - Mackert, Jürgen T1 - Introduction JF - Urban Change and Citizenship in Times of Crisis N2 - The processes of neo-liberalisation, coined as ‘actually existing neo-liberalism’ are by their very nature variegated and context-specific and can appear in multi-faceted and contradictory forms. Consequentially, sociological reflection has tried to conceptualise ongoing processes of transforming the city under the concept of urban neo-liberalism which is generally understood as the contextually specific and path-dependent realisation of neo-liberal restructuration projects, embedded in varying social, political, economic, and cultural ‘regulatory landscapes’. As much as neo-liberalism as ideology and political programme aims at erasing any democratic participation in society, its proponents have taken sides pushing ahead the re-conceptualisation of the city as a market with the right of the stronger ‘to do down the weaker’. The city has become a focal point for neo-liberalism’s war against democracy and citizens. Turning social relations into market transactions in order to restructure cities is not a new idea from the neo-liberals but one of the non-negotiable dogmas of their religion called science. Y1 - 2020 SN - 978-0-429-26228-9 SN - 978-0-367-20564-5 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Routledge CY - London ER -