TY - THES A1 - Niroomand, Kian T1 - Wandlungsfähige Verwaltungen BT - Können öffentliche Verwaltungen im Angesicht unerwarteter Umweltveränderungen schnell, effizient und selbst agieren? Y1 - 2021 SN - 978-3-95545-400-5 PB - gito CY - Berlin ER - TY - THES A1 - Radtke, Ina T1 - Organizing immigration BT - German ministerial bureaucracies in a dynamic policy field N2 - Immigration constitutes a dynamic policy field with – often quite unpredictable – dynamics. This is based on immigration constituting a ‘wicked problem’ meaning that it is characterized by uncertainty, ambiguity and complexity. Due to the dynamics in the policy field, expectations towards public administrations often change. Following neo-institutionalist theory, public administrations depend on meeting the expectations in the organizational field in order to maintain legitimacy as the basis for, e.g., resources and compliance of stakeholders. With the dynamics in the policy field, expectations might change and public administrations consequently need to adapt in order to maintain or repair the then threatened legitimacy. If their organizational legitimacy is threatened by a perception of structures and processes being inadequate for changed expectations, an ‘institutional crisis’ unfolds. However, we know little about ministerial bureaucracies’ structural reactions to such crucial momentums and how this effects the quest for coordination within policy-making. Overall, the dissertation thus links to both policy analysis and public administration research and consists of five publications. It asks: How do structures in ministerial bureaucracies change in the context of institutional crises? And what effect do these changes have on ministerial coordination? The dissertation hereby focusses on the above described dynamic policy field of immigration in Germany in the period from 2005 to 2017 and pursues three objectives: 1) to identify the context and impulse for changes in the structures of ministerial bureaucracies, 2) to describe respective changes with regard to their organizational structures, and 3) to identify their effect on coordination. It hereby compares and contrasts institutional crises by incremental change and shock as well as changes and effects at federal and Länder level which allows a comprehensive answer to both of the research questions. Theoretically, the dissertation follows neo-institutionalist theory with a particular focus on changes in organizational structures, coordination and crisis management. Methodologically, it follows a comparative design. Each article (except for the literature review), focusses on ministerial bureaucracies at one governmental level (federal or Länder) and on an institutional crisis induced by either an incremental process or a shock. Thus, responses and effects can be compared and contrasted across impulses for institutional crises and governmental levels. Overall, the dissertation follows a mixed methods approach with a majority of qualitative single and small-n case studies based on document analysis and semi-structured interviews. Additionally, two articles use quantitative methods as they best suited the respective research question. The rather explorative nature of these two articles however fits to the overall interpretivist approach of the dissertation. Overall, the dissertation’s core argument is: Within the investigation period, varying dynamics and thus impulses for institutional crises took place in the German policy field of immigration. Respectively, expectations by stakeholders on how the politico-administrative system should address the policy problem changed. Ministerial administrations at both the federal and Länder level adapted to these expectations in order to maintain, or regain respectively, organizational legitimacy. The administration hereby referred to well-known recipes of structural changes. Institutional crises do not constitute fields of experimentation. The new structures had an immediate effect on ministerial coordination, with respect to both the horizontal and vertical dimension. Yet, they did not mean a comprehensive change of the system in place. The dissertation thus challenges the idea of the toppling effect of crises and rather shows that adaptability and persistence of public administrations constitute two sides of the same coin. KW - Ministerial bureaucracy KW - coordination KW - institutional crisis KW - immigration KW - migration KW - refugee crisis KW - Ministerialbürokratie KW - Koordination KW - institutionelle Krise KW - Immigration KW - Migration KW - Flüchtlingskrise Y1 - 2020 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Veit, Sylvia ED - Varone, Frédéric ED - Jacob, Steve ED - Bundi, Pirmin T1 - Evaluation of and in public administration T2 - Handbook of public policy evaluation N2 - This chapter addresses the role of evaluation of and in public administration. We focus on two analytical key dimensions: a) the provider of the evaluation and b) the subject of the evaluation. Four major types of evaluation are distinguished: (1) external institutional evaluation, (2) internal institutional evaluation, (3) external evaluation of administrative action/results, (4) internal evaluation of administrative action/results. Type 1 and 2 refer to evaluation of administrative structures and processes as the subject of administrative reform. Type 3 and 4 represent different versions of evaluation in public administration, because the subject is administrative action and its outputs. The chapter highlights salient approaches and organizational settings of evaluation and provides insights into the institutionalization of an evaluation function in public administration. Finally, the chapter draws lessons regarding strengths and potentials but also remaining weaknesses and challenges of evaluation of and in public administration. KW - administrative reform KW - new public management KW - public administration KW - institutionalization of evaluation KW - typology of evaluation KW - better regulation Y1 - 2023 SN - 9781800884892 U6 - https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800884892.00023 SP - 220 EP - 237 PB - Edward Elgar Publishing CY - Cheltenham, UK ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Seyfried, Markus ED - Vigoda-Gadot, Eran ED - Vashdi, Dana R. T1 - Comparative methods B BT - comparative methods in public administration – the value of looking around T2 - Handbook of research methods in public administration, management and policy N2 - This chapter outlines the relevance and value of comparative approaches and methods in studying Public Administration (PA). It discusses the roots and current developments of comparative research in PA and discusses various methodological venues for cross-country comparisons, such as most similar/dissimilar systems designs, the method of concomitant variation and the difference-in-difference method. Besides the description of these approaches, we highlight their conceptual value for theory-driven empirical comparative research. Drawing on selected pieces of comparative research, the chapter furthermore provides examples for the application of comparative methods in practice presenting empirical findings and highlighting strengths and weaknesses. The chapter finally emphasizes that the methodological development in comparative PA research has by far not yet reached its end, and that some future challenges need to be addressed, such as the issues of causality, generalizability, and mixed-methods approaches. Y1 - 2020 SN - 978-1-78990-347-8 SN - 978-1-78990-348-5 U6 - https://doi.org/10.4337/9781789903485.00017 SP - 181 EP - 196 PB - Edward Elgar Publishing CY - Cheltenham, UK ER - TY - BOOK A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Dumas, Benoît Paul A1 - Heuberger, Moritz T1 - The capacity of local governments in Europe BT - autonomy,responsibilities and reforms N2 - This book compares local self-government in Europe. It examines local institutional structures, autonomy, and capacities in six selected countries - France, Italy, Sweden, Hungary, Poland, and the United Kingdom - each of which represents a typical model of European local government. Within Europe, an overall trend towards more local government capacities and autonomy can be identified, but there are also some counter tendencies to this trend and major differences regarding local politico-administrative settings, functional responsibilities, and resources. The book demonstrates that a certain degree of local financial autonomy and fiscal discretion is necessary for effective service provision. Furthermore, a robust local organization, viable territorial structures, a professional public service, strong local leadership, and well-functioning tools of democratic participation are key aspects for local governments to effectively fulfill their tasks and ensure political accountability. The book will appeal to students and scholars of Public Administration and Public Management, as well as practitioners and policy-makers at different levels of government, in public enterprises, and in NGOs. KW - local government KW - public sector reform KW - Europe KW - local autonomy KW - self-governance KW - new public management Y1 - 2022 SN - 978-3-031-07961-0 SN - 978-3-031-07962-7 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07962-7 SP - 7 EP - 55 PB - Palgrave Macmillan CY - Cham ER -