TY - JOUR A1 - Smieliauskas, Wally A1 - Bewley, Kathryn A1 - Gronewold, Ulfert A1 - Menzefricke, Ulrich T1 - Misleading Forecasts in Accounting Estimates BT - a Form of Ethical Blindness in Accounting Standards? JF - Journal of business ethics N2 - The current financial reporting environment, with its increasing use of accounting estimates, including fair value estimates, suggests that unethical accounting estimates may be a growing concern. This paper provides explanations and empirical evidence for why some types of accounting estimates in financial reporting may promote a form of ethical blindness. These types of ethical blindness can have an escalating effect that corrupts not only an individual or organization but also the accounting profession and the public interest it serves. Ethical blindness in the standards of professional accountants may be a factor in the extent of misreporting, and may have taken on new urgency as a result of the proposals to change the conceptual framework for financial reporting using international standards. The social consequences for users of financial statements can be huge. The acquittal of former Nortel executives on fraud charges related to accounting manipulations is viewed by many as legitimizing accounting gamesmanship. This decision illustrates that the courts may not be the best place to deal with ethical reporting issues. The courts may be relied on for only the most egregious unethical conduct and, even then, the accounting profession is ill equipped to assist the legal system in prosecuting accounting fraud unless the standards have been clarified. We argue that the problem of unethical reporting should be addressed by the accounting profession itself, preferably as a key part of the conceptual framework that supports accounting and auditing standards, and the codes of ethical conduct that underpin the professionalism of accountants. KW - Ethical accounting estimates KW - Estimation uncertainty KW - IASB accounting conceptual framework KW - Accounting standards KW - Auditing standards Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3289-1 SN - 0167-4544 SN - 1573-0697 VL - 152 IS - 2 SP - 437 EP - 457 PB - Springer CY - Dordrecht ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hartmann, Eddie T1 - Symbolic Boundaries and Collective Violence. A New Theoretical Argument for an Explanatory Sociology of Collective Violent Action JF - Journal for the theory of social behaviour N2 - The sociology of violence still struggles with two critical questions: What motivates people to act violently on behalf of groups and how do they come to identify with the groups for which they act? Methodologically the article addresses these puzzling problems in favor of a relational sociology that argues against both micro- and macro-reductionist accounts, while theoretically it proposes a twofold reorientation: first, it makes a plea for the so called cognitive turn in social theory; second, it proposes following praxeological accounts of social action that focus on the dynamic interpenetration of cognition and socio-cultural practices. The argument is that symbolic boundaries constitute the “missing link” that allows for overcoming the micro-macro gap in violence research: Symbolic boundaries can cause people's participation in collective violence by providing the essential relational resources for violent action and by triggering the cognitive/affective mechanisms necessary for social actors to become drawn into mobilization processes that can cause their engaging in coordinated attacks on sites across the boundary. The article offers a new theoretical argument by drawing on knowledge from violence research, social action theory and cognitive science allowing for a non-reductionist theory of action that explains how and why people engage in collective violence. KW - action theory KW - collective violence KW - praxeology KW - symbolic boundaries KW - terrorist behavior KW - urban riots Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12093 SN - 0021-8308 SN - 1468-5914 VL - 46 SP - 165 EP - 186 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sawert, Tim T1 - Dead Languages as an Profitable Investment? JF - Zeitschrift für Soziologie N2 - How does the selection of a classical language at school affect prospects on the labor market? Even though research on the impact of horizontal educational inequalities on labor market outcomes has become prominent recently, this question has not yet attracted scholarly attention. Based on several differing approaches (Human Capital Theory, Signaling Theory, Homophily Principle), hypotheses are derived about the impact of the language profile at school on labor market prospects at career entry. To test these assumptions, a field experiment was conducted in which applications were submitted in response to job advertisements. Results show that choosing Latin and Ancient Greek has a positive impact on the chances of being invited to a job interview. KW - Social Inequality KW - Career Entry KW - Horizontal Educational Inequality KW - Discrimination KW - Field Experiment Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1515/zfsoz-2015-1020 SN - 0340-1804 VL - 45 SP - 340 EP - 356 PB - Lucius & Lucius CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Seyfried, Markus T1 - Setting a fox to guard the henhouse? Determinants in elections for presidents of supreme audit institutions Evidence from the German federal states (1991-2011) JF - Managerial auditing journal N2 - Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence regarding the selection procedures for and characteristics of senior officials in supreme audit institutions (SIAs). Design/methodology/approach - This study follows a quantitative approach using original data collected for presidential elections of SIAs in the 16 federal states in Germany. A fractional logit model is calculated to test different theoretical assumptions in relation to structural, political and individual factors. Findings - The descriptive results confirm the findings of prior research that presidential candidates are elected with very high approval rates. The main determinants are the vote share of the ruling coalition and the executive experience of the presidential candidate. Research limitations/implications - This study focuses on 16 federal states in Germany, but an international comparative perspective covering subnational levels would further augment analysis through the variance of selection procedures and electoral outcomes. Social implications - Independence of auditors is a fundamental issue for the control of the executive, but it seems that there are inevitable trade-offs therein, such as between knowledge of the auditing objects or the politicization of the election process and the independence of the auditor. Originality/value - This study provides novel empirical insights into the election and selection procedures for senior SIA officials at the subnational level, and shows that the executive exerts strong, but functionally reasonable, influence on candidate selection. KW - Independence KW - President KW - Sub-national KW - Supreme audit institutions Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1108/MAJ-03-2015-1168 SN - 0268-6902 SN - 1758-7735 VL - 31 SP - 492 EP - 511 PB - Emerald Group Publishing Limited CY - Bingley ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ganghof, Steffen T1 - The Regime-Trilemma: On the Relationship between the Executive and Legislature in advanced Democracies JF - Politische Vierteljahresschrift : Zeitschrift der Deutschen Vereinigung für Politische Wissenschaft N2 - A comprehensive typology of basic executive formats is presented and linked to a discussion of tradeoffs in the design of executive-legislative relations. The focus is on the tradeoffs between three goals: (1) programmatic parties, (2) identifiable cabinets and (3) issue -specific legislative coalitions. To include semi-presidentialism into the typology in a logically consistent manner, a heretofore neglected executive format has to be defined, which is labelled semi-parliamentarism. Based on a discussion of Australian states, it is argued that semi-parliamentarism has the potential to mitigate the trilemma. KW - executive-legislative relations KW - semi-parliamentarism KW - bicameralism Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5771/0032-3470-2016-1-27 SN - 0032-3470 SN - 1862-2860 VL - 57 SP - 27 EP - + PB - Nomos CY - Hannover ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ganghof, Steffen T1 - Research Design in Political Science - Causal perspectives versus contrastive theory testing JF - Austrian journal of political science N2 - Die politikwissenschaftliche Literatur unterscheidet zwei Grundtypen von Forschungsdesigns: x- und y-zentriert. Dieser Beitrag argumentiert, dass ein „kontrastives“ Forschungsdesign als dritter Grundtyp abgegrenzt werden sollte. Die drei Designs unterscheiden sich durch die Anzahl der betrachteten Theorien und dadurch, ob mehrere Theorien konkurrierend oder komplementär sind. Die typologische Abgrenzung des kontrastiven Designs verdeutlicht auch die Vor- und Nachteile x- und y-zentrierter Designs. Anhand verschiedener Beispielstudien (experimentell und nicht-experimentell, quantitativ und qualitativ) werden die Charakteristika der drei Designs sowie ihre Kombinationsmöglichkeiten herausgearbeitet. Darüber hinaus wird das kontrastive Design als verbindendes Element zwischen den quantitativen und qualitativen Forschungs-„Kulturen“ hervorgehoben. The political science literature distinguishes two basic types of research designs: x- and y-centered. The article argues for the distinction of a third basic type: the "contrastive" design. The three designs differ in the number of relevant theories and in whether they see theories as competing or complementary. The typological differentiation of the contrastive research design helps to clarify the pros and cons of x- and y-centered designs. The article uses exemplary studies (experimental and observational, quantitative and qualitative) to illustrate the characteristics of the three designs as well as the possibilities of combining them. The contrastive design also constitutes a common element of the quantitative and qualitative research, "cultures". KW - Forschungsdesign, kausale Perspektiven, Theorietest, x-zentriert, y-zentriert, Experimente KW - research design KW - causal perspectives KW - theory test KW - effects of causes KW - causes of effects KW - experiments Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.15203/ozp.1037.vol45iss1 SN - 2313-5433 VL - 45 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Österreichische Gesellschaft für Politikwissenschaft CY - Wien ER - TY - JOUR A1 - de Guevara, Berit Bliesemann T1 - visits in zones of conflict and intervention JF - Journal of intervention and statebuilding N2 - This article explores the practice and political significance of politicians’ journeys to conflict zones. It focuses on the German example, looking at field trips to theatres of international intervention as a way of first-hand knowledge in policymaking. Paying tribute to Lisa Smirl and her work on humanitarian spaces, objects and imaginaries and on liminality in aid worker biographies, two connected arguments are developed. First, through the exploration of the routinized practices of politicians’ field trips the article shows how these journeys not only remain confined to the ‘auxiliary space’ of aid/intervention, but that it is furthermore a staged reality of this auxiliary space that most politicians experience on their journeys. The question is then asked, second, what politicians actually experience on their journeys and how their experiences relate to their policy knowledge about conflict and intervention. It is shown that political field trips enable sensory/affectual, liminoid and liminal experiences, which have functions such as authority accumulation, agenda setting, community building, and civilizing domestic politics, while at the same time reinforcing, in most cases, pre-existing conflict and intervention imaginaries. KW - field trips KW - on-site visits KW - battlefield tourism KW - sensory experience KW - affect KW - conflict knowledge KW - spaces of aid KW - liminality KW - German Bundestag KW - parliamentarians KW - German foreign policy KW - Lisa Smirl Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/17502977.2015.1137394 SN - 1750-2977 SN - 1750-2985 VL - 10 SP - 56 EP - 76 PB - Soil Science Society of America CY - Abingdon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weinbach, Christine T1 - Limited Inclusion as the General Case: Ascriptive Person Categories in the Political System of the Functional Differentiated Society JF - Tutorials in Quantitative Methods for Psychology N2 - Der vorliegende Beitrag interessiert sich aus differenzierungstheoretischer Perspektive am bundesdeutschen Beispiel für die Funktion askriptiver Personenkategorien im Politiksystem der funktional differenzierten Gesellschaft. Den Ausgangspunkt bildet die Geldabhängigkeit von Organisationen, welche die limitierte Inklusion von Individuen in die lebenslaufrelevanten Funktionssysteme zum Normalfall macht. Der nationale Wohlfahrtsstaat reagiert darauf mit der Regulierung des Arbeitsmarktzugangs durch die askriptiven Personenkategorien nationale Zugehörigkeit und Geschlecht, und erzeugt so eigene Formen limitierter Inklusion. Diese Personenkategorien werden im europäisierten Wohlfahrtsstaat durch die askriptive Personenkategorie des rationalen Akteurs mit individueller Agency, der sein Wollen in die Vertragslogiken des Arbeits marktes und des aktivierenden Sozialstaates stellt, ersetzt und der Arbeitsmarktzugang extensiviert. Bei allen Unterschieden zwischen dem nationalen und dem europäisierten Wohlfahrtsstaat begreift der Beitrag askriptive Personenkategorien als normative Strukturen einer Ebene sekundärer Ordnungsbildung, die sich zwischen Funktionssystem- und Organisationsebene schiebt und auf der Kategorien sozialer Ungleichheit im Wohlfahrtstaatsstaat produziert werden. The present article asks from the perspective of differentiation theory for the function of ascriptive person categories within the political system of the functionally differentiated society. For this purpose it takes the Federal German as a case study. The article starts with the fact of money dependence of organisations and that this leads to the generally limited inclusion of the individuals into the functional systems, which are life course relevant. The national welfare state refers to the limited inclusion and regulates excess to the labour market via the ascriptive person categories national affiliation and gender, and by this it produces own modes of limited inclusion. The Europeanised welfare state expands the excess to the labour market. Simultaneously it replaces the national person categories by the person category of the rational actor with individual agency who puts his or her own willingness into the contract logics of labour marked and activating welfare state. Despite all differences between the national and the Europeanised welfare state the article conceives ascriptive person categories as normative structures of a secondary order formation which is slot between the levels of functional and organisational systems. On this secondary order level categories of social inequality are reproduced. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5771/0038-6073-2016-2-159 SN - 0038-6073 VL - 67 SP - 159 EP - + PB - University of Montreal, Department of Psychology CY - Baden-Baden ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Borgnäs, Kajsa T1 - The Policy Influence of Sustainability Indicators: Examining Use and Influence of Indicators in German Sustainability Policy Making JF - German politics N2 - In 2002 Germany adopted an ambitious national sustainability strategy, covering all three sustainability spheres and circling around 21 key indicators. The strategy stands out because of its relative stability over five consecutive government constellations, its high status and increasingly coercive nature. This article analyses the strategy's role in the policy process, focusing on the use and influence of indicators as a central steering tool. Contrasting rationalist and constructivist perspectives on the role of knowledge in policy, two factors, namely the level of consensus about policy goals and the institutional setting of the indicators, are found to explain differences in use and influence both across indicators and over time. Moreover, the study argues that the indicators have been part of a continuous process of ‘structuring’ in which conceptual and instrumental use together help structure the sustainability challenge in such a way that it becomes more manageable for government policy. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/09644008.2016.1193160 SN - 0964-4008 SN - 1743-8993 VL - 25 SP - 480 EP - 499 PB - Elsevier CY - Abingdon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hustedt, Thurid A1 - Seyfried, Markus T1 - Co-ordination across internal organizational boundaries: how the EU Commission co-ordinates climate policies JF - Journal of European public policy N2 - Through an analysis of climate policy-making in the European Commission (EU), this article argues that co-ordination in the Commission displays the same characteristics as the co-ordination across ministries in central governments, i.e., the properties of negative co-ordination. The article is based on a survey among Commission officials. Overall, the article reveals that a public administration perspective on the Commission proves invaluable to gain insights on how decisions are made at the European Union level. The article contributes to the emerging literature viewing the Commission as an ordinary bureaucracy - as opposed to a unique supranational organization. KW - Bureaucratic organization KW - climate change policy KW - co-ordination KW - Directorate General KW - EU policy-making KW - European Commission Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2015.1074605 SN - 1350-1763 SN - 1466-4429 VL - 23 SP - 888 EP - 905 PB - Springer Publishing Company CY - Abingdon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Possamai, Adam A1 - Turner, Bryan S. A1 - Roose, Joshua M. A1 - Dagistanli, Selda A1 - Voyce, Malcolm T1 - "Shari'a" in Cyberspace. A Case Study from Australia JF - Sociologica : Italian Journal of Sociology online N2 - New forms of communication and greater accessibility of Islamic texts on-line allow Muslims to shape their own religiosity, to become less dependent on established sources of authority, and thereby to become more aware of their own cultural diversity as a community. New practices of transnational Islam, and the growth of new concepts of Muslim identities currently emerging in the on-line community, are relatively free from immediate constraints. This article provides the result of a sociological analysis of three Internet sites in Sydney which deliver on-line fatwas. Even if cyberspace has allowed the Muslim world to be de-territorialised and provides a way for people to distance themselves from traditional communities if they wish, this research points out a variety of approaches, including one case which is aiming at re-localising an Australian Muslim system of values. This case highlights ways in which first generation Muslims are re-territorialising Shari'a in a specific western country. KW - Shari'a KW - Fatwas KW - Cyberspace KW - De-territorialisation Process Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.2383/83882 SN - 1971-8853 VL - 63 SP - 143 EP - 159 PB - Società editrice il Mulino CY - Bologna ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sprinz, Detlef F. A1 - de Mesquita, Bruce Bueno A1 - Kallbekken, Steffen A1 - Stokman, Frans A1 - Saelen, Hakon A1 - Thomson, Robert T1 - Predicting Paris: Multi-Method Approaches to Forecast the Outcomes of Global Climate Negotiations JF - Politics and Governance N2 - We examine the negotiations held under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change in Paris, December 2015. Prior to these negotiations, there was considerable uncertainty about whether an agreement would be reached, particularly given that the world’s leaders failed to do so in the 2009 negotiations held in Copenhagen. Amid this uncertainty, we applied three different methods to predict the outcomes: an expert survey and two negotiation simulation models, namely the Exchange Model and the Predictioneer’s Game. After the event, these predictions were assessed against the coded texts that were agreed in Paris. The evidence suggests that combining experts’ predictions to reach a collective expert prediction makes for significantly more accurate predictions than individual experts’ predictions. The differences in the performance between the two different negotiation simulation models were not statistically significant. KW - climate policy KW - climate regime KW - expert survey KW - forecasting KW - global negotiations KW - Paris agreement KW - prediction KW - simulation Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v4i3.654 SN - 2183-2463 VL - 4 SP - 172 EP - 187 PB - Cogitatio Press CY - Lisbon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Terhalle, Maximilian T1 - Transnational Actors and Great Powers during Order Transition JF - International studies perspectives N2 - This article rests on the assumption of the “complexity, messiness, power relations, and contested character of the contemporary dualistic system,” which comprises great powers and “superimposed, functionally differentiated global subsystems of world society” (Cohen 2012:5). The article argues that this framework is being shaped by the current transition of global order. In turn, this raises the question how the state-led negotiation of today's order transition can be understood against the backdrop of a post-Westphalian environment. The article challenges the widespread argument pertaining to the “autonomy of transnational actors” by suggesting that the influence of nonstate actors is dependent on a particular institutional context in which the key political questions framing a social order are settled. Whereas research on international institutions and their design simply assumes that this is the case, here it is argued that unless these framing patterns are agreed upon by major powers, the respective order and its elements, that is, institutions and regimes, remain contested or deadlocked. When this happens, the political impact of non-state actors is largely neutralized or strongly weakened and their effective autonomy from great powers is minimized. KW - transnational actors KW - great powers KW - order transition KW - unqual power Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/insp.12077 SN - 1528-3577 SN - 1528-3585 VL - 17 SP - 287 EP - 306 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Reusswig, Fritz A1 - Braun, Florian A1 - Heger, Ines A1 - Ludewig, Thomas A1 - Eichenauer, Eva A1 - Lass, Wiebke T1 - Against the wind: Local opposition to the German Energiewende JF - Utilities Policy N2 - A growing number of local energy conflicts around wind power and power-grid extensions are slowing down the deployment of the German Energiewende. In this paper, a local conflict on wind energy in the state of Baden-Württemberg is analysed in detail. In the little community of Engelsbrand, local opposition against a planned wind park was able to turn around a set of favourable a priori conditions, such as a supporting state government planning process, a local supporter group, a transparent planning process, including a majority vote pro wind energy, and a round table discussion. Distancing itself from the NIMBY-explanation (‘Not In My Back Yard’), the paper applies insights from discourse network analysis and micro-sociology in order to study the local conflict dynamics. Special attention is given to the resource mobilisation strategies of the opponents, including social networks, mass and social media use. The paper ends by drawing some general conclusions for the German Energiewende. KW - Energy conflicts KW - Acceptance of wind energy KW - Discourse networks KW - Conflict dynamics Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jup.2016.02.006 SN - 0957-1787 SN - 1878-4356 VL - 41 SP - 214 EP - 227 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ebinger, Falk A1 - Richter, Philipp T1 - Decentralizing for performance? A quantitative assessment of functional reforms in the German Lander JF - International review of administrative sciences : an international journal of comparative public administration N2 - In the last 10 years, the governments of most of the German Länder initiated administrative reforms. All of these ventures included the municipalization of substantial sets of tasks. As elsewhere, governments argue that service delivery by communes is more cost-efficient, effective and responsive. Empirical evidence to back these claims is inconsistent at best: a considerable number of case studies cast doubt on unconditionally positive appraisals. Decentralization effects seem to vary depending on the performance dimension and task considered. However, questions of generalizability arise as these findings have not yet been backed by more ‘objective’ archival data. We provide empirical evidence on decentralization effects for two different policy fields based on two studies. Thereby, the article presents alternative avenues for research on decentralization effects and matches the theoretical expectations on decentralization effects with more robust results. The analysis confirms that overly positive assertions concerning decentralization effects are only partially warranted. As previous case studies suggested, effects have to be looked at in a much more differentiated way, including starting conditions and distinguishing between the various relevant performance dimensions and policy fields. KW - decentralization KW - de-concentration KW - federalism KW - local government KW - performance measurement KW - public service delivery KW - social and environmental administration Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/0020852315586916 SN - 0020-8523 SN - 1461-7226 VL - 82 SP - 291 EP - 314 PB - Sage Publ. CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ganghof, Steffen T1 - Reconciling Representation and Accountability: Three Visions of Democracy Compared JF - Government & opposition : an international journal of comparative politics N2 - An egalitarian approach to the fair representation of voters specifies three main institutional requirements: proportional representation, legislative majority rule and a parliamentary system of government. This approach faces two challenges: the under-determination of the resulting democratic process and the idea of a trade-off between equal voter representation and government accountability. Linking conceptual with comparative analysis, the article argues that we can distinguish three ideal-typical varieties of the egalitarian vision of democracy, based on the stages at which majorities are formed. These varieties do not put different relative normative weight onto equality and accountability, but have different conceptions of both values and their reconciliation. The view that accountability is necessarily linked to ‘clarity of responsibility’, widespread in the comparative literature, is questioned – as is the idea of a general trade-off between representation and accountability. Depending on the vision of democracy, the two values need not be in conflict. KW - visions of democracy KW - political equality KW - accountability Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1017/gov.2015.15 SN - 0017-257X SN - 1477-7053 VL - 51 SP - 209 EP - 233 PB - Cambridge Univ. Press CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Frieß, Nina A. T1 - "From Russia with Blood". Stalinist Repression an the Gulag in Contemporary Crime Fiction JF - (Hi-)Stories of the Gulag : fiction and reality Y1 - 2016 SN - 978-3-8253-6534-9 SP - 281 EP - 302 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schulze, Kai A1 - Tosun, Jale T1 - RIVAL REGULATORY REGIMES IN INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS: THE CASE OF BIOSAFETY JF - Public administration N2 - The literature on international regulatory regimes has highlighted how rival standards can create different points of convergence. Scholarly attention has also focused on how the European Union (EU) and the United States (USA) attempt to ‘export’ their environmental standards internationally. Here, we explore the effectiveness of these attempts by means of third states' decisions to ratify the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity, a multilateral environmental agreement regulating genetically modified organisms that is promoted by the EU but opposed by the USA. Our findings confirm that both rivals are able to influence the ratification decision of states, but they also suggest that these effects may have different origins. Countries relying more heavily on US markets for food exports tend to be less likely to ratify the Cartagena Protocol, while countries that have applied for EU membership are more likely to ratify the protocol. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12176 SN - 0033-3298 SN - 1467-9299 VL - 94 SP - 57 EP - 72 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Wayenberg, Ellen T1 - Institutional impact assessment in multi-level systems: conceptualizing decentralization effects from a comparative perspective JF - International review of administrative sciences : an international journal of comparative public administration N2 - Comparative literature on institutional reforms in multi-level systems proceeds from a global trend towards the decentralization of state functions. However, there is only scarce knowledge about the impact that decentralization has had, in particular, upon the sub-central governments involved. How does it affect regional and local governments? Do these reforms also have unintended outcomes on the sub-central level and how can this be explained? This article aims to develop a conceptual framework to assess the impacts of decentralization on the sub-central level from a comparative and policy-oriented perspective. This framework is intended to outline the major patterns and models of decentralization and the theoretical assumptions regarding de-/re-centralization impacts, as well as pertinent cross-country approaches meant to evaluate and compare institutional reforms. It will also serve as an analytical guideline and a structural basis for all the country-related articles in this Special Issue. Points for practitioners Decentralization reforms are approved as having a key role to play in the attainment of ‘good governance’. Yet, there is also the enticement on the part of state governments to offload an ever-increasing amount of responsibilities to, and overtask, local levels of government, which can lead to increasing performance disparities within local sub-state jurisdictions. Against this background, the article provides a conceptual framework to assess reform impacts from a comparative perspective. The analytical framework can be used by practitioners to support their decisions about new decentralization strategies or necessary adjustments regarding ongoing reform measures. KW - administrative reform KW - comparison KW - coordination KW - effectiveness KW - efficiency KW - impact assessment KW - institutional reform KW - local government Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/0020852315583194 SN - 0020-8523 SN - 1461-7226 VL - 82 IS - 2 SP - 233 EP - 272 PB - Sage CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Reiter, Renate T1 - Decentralization of the French welfare state: from 'big bang' to 'muddling through' JF - International Review of Administrative Sciences N2 - This article analyses the decentralization of the French welfare state focusing on the transfer of the Revenu minimum d’insertion (RMI) welfare benefit to the departments in 2003 and 2004. We map and explain the effects of the reform on the system and performance of the subnational provision of welfare tasks. To evaluate the impact of decentralization on the RMI-related action of the departments, we carry out a qualitative document analysis and use data from two case studies. The RMI decentralization offers an exemplary insight into the incremental implementation of French decentralization. We find many unintended effects in terms of the performance and outcome of the subnational welfare provision. This is traced back to the combining of institutional and policy reforms and the inadequate translation of high political expectations into an inadequate action programme both resulting in excessive demands on the local actors. Points for practitioners The decentralization of public tasks is associated with high expectations in terms of the effects on the performance of public services and public governance on the subnational levels. For an in-depth measure the range of administrative performance and political systems effects should be taken into account. We propose a five-dimensional scheme allowing for the determination of decentralization effects on the resource input to and the operative output of subnational public services, on the horizontal coordination between subnational task holders and the affected non-public stakeholders, on the vertical intergovernmental coordination, and on the democratic accountability of subnational authorities. KW - decentralization KW - France KW - incremental reform KW - welfare state Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/0.1177/0020852315583194 SN - 0020-8523 SN - 1461-7226 VL - 82 IS - 2 SP - 255 EP - 272 PB - Sage CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Bogumil, Jörg A1 - Hafner, Jonas T1 - Verwaltungshandeln in der Flüchtlingskrise BT - Die Erstaufnahmeeinrichtungen der Länder und die Zukunft des Verwaltungsvollzugssystems Asyl JF - Verwaltung & Management : VM ; Zeitschrift für moderne Verwaltung N2 - In dem Beitrag werden das Verwaltungshandeln in der Flüchtlingskrise und mögliche Ursachen der aufgetretenen Vollzugsprobleme untersucht. Im Fokus stehen vor allem die Vollzugsrealität und die Verwaltungsvarianz im Bereich der Erstaufnahme von Flüchtlingen auf der Länderebene sowie die durch das BAMF als auch die Bundes länder mittlerweile begonnenen Reformen im Verwaltungsvollzugssystem. Leitfrage des Aufsatzes ist, ob das bestehende Verwaltungsvollzugssystem nicht nur in den jeweiligen Zuständigkeiten reformbedürftig ist, sondern ob es auch zu einer neuen Zuständigkeitsverteilung im Bundesstaat kommen sollte. Y1 - 2016 SN - 0947-9856 IS - 3 SP - 126 EP - 136 PB - Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft CY - Baden-Baden ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Bogumil, Jörg A1 - Hafner, Jonas T1 - Verwaltungshandeln in der Flüchtlingskrise BT - Vollzugsdefizite und Koordinationschaos bei der Erstaufnahme und der Asylantragsbearbeitung JF - Die Verwaltung : Zeitschrift für Verwaltungsrecht und Verwaltungswissenschaften Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3790/verw.49.2.289 SN - 1865-5211 VL - 49 IS - 2 SP - 289 EP - 300 PB - Duncker und Humblot CY - Berlin ER -