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The authors analyze the reasons for the establishment of a regulatory regime for international financial markets in accordance with the ideas of liberal internationalism. They argue that the system of international markets is affected by polymorphy, indicating the existence of different forms of regulation. Five factors produce this polymorphy: the non-existence of a homogenous object of steering, the dynamic nature of these objects, the fact that the purpose of governance is not clearly defined, the dominance of governance by the USA and Great Britain, and governance as a result of a multi-level game with various coalitions.
World market governance
(2014)
Democratic capitalism or liberal democracy, as the successful marriage of convenience between market liberalism and democracy sometimes is called, is in trouble. The market economy system has become global and there is a growing mismatch with the territoriality of the nation-states. The functional global networks and inter-governmental order can no longer keep pace with the rapid development of the global market economy and regulatory capture is all too common. Concepts like de-globalization, self-regulation, and global government are floated in the debate. The alternatives are analysed and found to be improper, inadequate or plainly impossible. The proposed route is instead to accept that the global market economy has developed into an independent fundamental societal system that needs its own governance. The suggestion is World Market Governance based on the Rule of Law in order to shape the fitness environment for the global market economy and strengthen the nation-states so that they can regain the sovereignty to decide upon the social and cultural conditions in each country. Elements in the proposed Rule of Law are international legislation decided by an Assembly supported by a Council, and an independent Judiciary. Existing international organisations would function as executors. The need for broad sustained demand for regulations in the common interest is identified.
In the past decades, development cooperation (DC) led by conventional bi- and multilateral donors has been joined by a large number of small, private or public-private donors. This pluralism of actors raises questions as to whether or not these new donors are able to implement projects more or less effectively than their conventional counterparts. In contrast to their predecessors, the new donors have committed themselves to be more pragmatic, innovative and flexible in their development cooperation measures. However, they are also criticized for weakening the function of local civil society and have the reputation of being an intransparent and often controversial alternative to public services. With additional financial resources and their new approach to development, the new donors have been described in the literature as playing a controversial role in transforming development cooperation. This dissertation compares the effectiveness of initiatives by new and conventional donors with regard to the provision of public goods and services to the poor in the water and sanitation sector in India.
India is an emerging country but it is experiencing high poverty rates and poor water supply in predominantly rural areas. It lends itself for analyzing this research theme as it is currently being confronted by a large number of actors and approaches that aim to find solutions for these challenges .
In the theoretical framework of this dissertation, four governance configurations are derived from the interaction of varying actor types with regard to hierarchical and non-hierarchical steering of their interactions. These four governance configurations differ in decision-making responsibilities, accountability and delegation of tasks or direction of information flow. The assumption on actor relationships and steering is supplemented by possible alternative explanations in the empirical investigation, such as resource availability, the inheritance of structures and institutions from previous projects in a project context, gaining acceptance through beneficiaries (local legitimacy) as a door opener, and asymmetries of power in the project context.
Case study evidence from seven projects reveals that the actors' relationship is important for successful project delivery. Additionally, the results show that there is a systematic difference between conventional and new donors. Projects led by conventional donors were consistently more successful, due to an actor relationship that placed the responsibility in the hands of the recipient actors and benefited from the trust and reputation of a long-term cooperation. The trust and reputation of conventional donors always went along with a back-up from federal level and trickled down as reputation also at local level implementation. Furthermore, charismatic leaders, as well as the acquired structures and institutions of predecessor projects, also proved to be a positive influencing factor for successful project implementation.
Despite the mixed results of the seven case studies, central recommendations for action can be derived for the various actors involved in development cooperation. For example, new donors could fulfill a supplementary function with conventional donors by developing innovative project approaches through pilot studies and then implementing them as a supplement to the projects of conventional donors on the ground. In return, conventional donors would have to make room the new donors by integrating their approaches into already programs in order to promote donor harmonization. It is also important to identify and occupy niches for activities and to promote harmonization among donors on state and federal sides.
The empirical results demonstrate the need for a harmonization strategy of different donor types in order to prevent duplication, over-experimentation and the failure of development programs. A transformation to successful and sustainable development cooperation can only be achieved through more coordination processes and national self-responsibility.
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.
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.
The Government will create a motivated, merit-based, performance-driven, and professional civil service that is resistant to temptations of corruption and which provides efficient, effective and transparent public services that do not force customers to pay bribes.
— (GoIRA, 2006, p. 106)
We were in a black hole! We had an empty glass and had nothing from our side to fill it with! Thus, we accepted anything anybody offered; that is how our glass was filled; that is how we reformed our civil service.
— (Former Advisor to IARCSC, personal communication, August 2015)
How and under what conditions were the post-Taleban Civil Service Reforms of Afghanistan initiated? What were the main components of the reforms? What were their objectives and to which extent were they achieved? Who were the leading domestic and foreign actors involved in the process? Finally, what specific factors influenced the success and failure Afghanistan’s Civil Service Reforms since 2002? Guided by such fundamental questions, this research studies the wicked process of reforming the Afghan civil service in an environment where a variety of contextual, programmatic, and external factors affected the design and implementation of reforms that were entirely funded and technically assisted by the international community.
Focusing on the core components of reforms—recruitment, remuneration, and appraisal of civil servants—the qualitative study provides a detailed picture of the pre-reform civil service and its major human resources developments in the past. Following discussions on the content and purposes of the main reform programs, it will then analyze the extent of changes in policies and practices by examining the outputs and effects of these reforms.
Moreover, the study defines the specific factors that led the reforms toward a situation where most of the intended objectives remain unachieved. Doing so, it explores and explains how an overwhelming influence of international actors with conflicting interests, large-scale corruption, political interference, networks of patronage, institutionalized nepotism, culturally accepted cronyism and widespread ethnic favoritism created a very complex environment and prevented the reforms from transforming Afghanistan’s patrimonial civil service into a professional civil service, which is driven by performance and merit.
The seven deadly sins of quality management: trade-offs and implications for further research
(2019)
Quality management in higher education is generally discussed with reference to commendable outcomes such as success, best practice, improvement or control. This paper, though, focuses on the problems of organising quality management. It follows the narrative of the seven deadly sins, with each ‘sin’ illustrating an inherent trade-off or paradox in the implementation of internal quality management in teaching and learning in higher education institutions. Identifying the trade-offs behind these sins is essential for a better understanding of quality management as an organisational problem.
The concept of the virtual corporation (VC), which describes a modern form of collaboration among organizations, was introduced in the scientific discussion in the mid 1990th. The practice shows that VCs need new forms of governance because the traditional mechanisms of control, management, and steering are hardly applicable. Until now there is only a few research related to the question how to govern VC. The main problems to govern a VC are to coordinate the communication among dispersed partners and to motivate employees to actively involve themselves into the network. Open source projects are confronted with similar problems. As several governance mechanisms are already analyzed in this context, the authors analyze and adopt governance concepts from open source projects to extract a governance framework for virtual corporations. This new approach leads to innovative insights in governing virtual corporations by using community techniques as an appropriate way for communication and collaboration purposes.
While the intergovernmental climate regime increasingly recognizes the role of non-state actors in achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement (PA), the normative linkages between the intergovernmental climate regime and the non-state dominated 'transnational partnership governance' remain vague and tentative. A formalized engagement of the intergovernmental climate regime with transnational partnerships can increase the effectiveness of partnerships in delivering on climate mitigation and adaptation, thereby complementing rather than replacing government action. The proposed active engagement with partnerships would include (i) collecting and analyzing information to develop and prioritize areas for transnational and partnership engagement; (ii) defining minimum criteria and procedural requirements to be listed on an enhanced Non-state Actor Zone for Climate Action platform; (iii) actively supporting strategic initiatives; (iv) facilitating market or non-market finance as part of Article 6 PA; and (v) evaluating the effectiveness of partnerships in the context of the enhanced transparency framework (Article 13 PA) and the global stocktake (Article 14 PA). The UNFCCC Secretariat could facilitate engagement and problem solving by actively orchestrating transnational partnerships. Constructing effective implementation partnerships, recording their mitigation and adaptation goals, and holding them accountable may help to move climate talks from rhetoric to action.
Lehrkräftefortbildungen bieten in Deutschland im Rahmen der dritten Phase der Lehrkräftebildung eine zentrale Lerngelegenheit für die Kompetenzentwicklung der Lehr-kräfte (Avalos, 2011; Guskey & Yoon, 2009). In dieser Phase können Lehrkräfte aus einem Angebot an berufsbegleitenden Lerngelegenheiten wählen, die auf die Anpassung und Weiterentwicklung ihrer professionellen Kompetenzen abzielen. Im Rahmen dieser Professionalisierungsmaßnahmen haben Lehrkräfte Gelegenheit zur Reflexion und Weiterentwicklung ihrer Unterrichtspraxis. Deshalb sind Lehrkräftefortbildungen auch für die Entwicklung von Unterrichtsqualität und das Lernen der Schüler:innen bedeutsam (Lipowsky, 2014).
Ergebnisse der Nutzungsforschung zeigen jedoch, dass das Fortbildungsangebot nicht von allen Lehrkräften im vollen Umfang genutzt wird und sich Lehrkräfte in dem Nutzungsumfang dieser beruflichen Lerngelegenheiten unterscheiden (Hoffmann & Richter, 2016). Das hat zur Folge, dass das Wirkpotenzial des Fortbildungsangebots nicht voll ausgeschöpft werden kann. Um die Nutzung von Lehrkräftefortbildungen zu fördern, werden auf unterschiedlichen Ebenen verschiedene Steuerungsinstrumente von Akteuren eingesetzt. Die Frage nach der Steuerungsmöglichkeit im Rahmen der dritten Phase der Lehrkräftebildung ist bislang jedoch weitestgehend unbearbeitet geblieben.
Die vorliegende Arbeit knüpft an die bestehende Forschung zur Lehrkräftefortbildung an und nutzt die theoretische Perspektive der Educational Governance, um im Rahmen von vier Teilstudien der Frage nachzugehen, welche Instrumente und Potenziale der Steue-rung auf den unterschiedlichen Ebenen des Lehrkräftefortbildungssystems bestehen und wie diese durch die verschiedenen politischen und schulischen Akteure umgesetzt werden. Außerdem soll der Frage nachgegangen werden, wie wirksam die genutzten Steuerungsinstrumente im Hinblick auf die Nutzung von Lehrkräftefortbildungen sind. Die übergeordnete Fragestellung wird vor dem Hintergrund eines für das Lehrkräftefortbildungssystem abgelei-teten theoretischen Rahmenmodells in Form eines Mehrebenenmodells bearbeitet, welches als Grundlage für die theoretische Verortung der nachfolgenden empirischen Untersuchungen zur Fortbildungsnutzung und der Wirksamkeit verschiedener Steuerungsinstrumente dient.
Studie I nimmt vor diesem Hintergrund die Ebene der politischen Akteure in den Blick und geht der Frage nach, wie bedeutsam die gesetzliche Fortbildungspflicht für die Fortbildungsbeteiligung von Lehrkräften ist. Hierzu wurde untersucht, inwiefern Zusammenhänge zwischen der Fortbildungsteilnahme von Lehrkräften und der Zugehörigkeit zu Bundesländern mit und ohne konkreter Fortbildungsverpflichtung sowie zu Bundesländern mit und ohne Nachweispflicht absolvierter Fortbildungen bestehen. Dazu wurden Daten aus dem IQB-Ländervergleich 2011 und 2012 sowie dem IQB-Bildungstrend 2015 mittels logistischer und linearer Regressionsmodelle analysiert.
Studie II und Studie III widmen sich den Rahmenbedingungen für schulinterne Fortbildungen. Studie II befasst sich zunächst mit schulformspezifischen Unterschieden bei der Wahl der Fortbildungsthemen. Studie III untersucht das schulinterne Fortbildungsangebot hinsichtlich des Nutzungsumfangs und des Zusammenhangs zwischen Schulmerkmalen und der Nutzung unterschiedlicher Fortbildungsthemen. Darüber hinaus wird ein Vergleich zwi-schen den beiden Angebotsformaten hinsichtlich des jeweiligen Anteils an thematischen Fortbildungsveranstaltungen vorgenommen. Hierzu wurden Daten der Fortbildungsdatenbank des Landes Brandenburg ausgewertet.
Neben der Untersuchung der Fortbildungsteilnahme im Zusammenhang mit administrativen Vorgaben und der Nutzung des schulinternen Fortbildungsangebots auf Schulebene wurde zur Bearbeitung der übergeordneten Forschungsfrage der vorliegenden Arbeit in der Studie IV darüber hinaus eine Untersuchung des Einsatzes von Professionalisierungsmaßnahmen im Rahmen schulischer Personalentwicklung durchgeführt. Durch die qualitative Studie IV wurde ein vertiefender Einblick in die schulische Praxis ermöglicht, um die Kenntnisse aus den quantitativen Studien I bis III zu ergänzen. Im Rahmen einer qualitati-ven Interviewstudie wurde der Frage nachgegangen werden, wie Schulleitungen ausgezeichneter Schulen Personalentwicklung auffassen, welche Informationsquellen sie hierbei mit einbeziehen und welche Maßnahmen sie nutzen und in diesem Sinne Personalentwicklung als ein Instrument für Organisationsentwicklung einsetzen.
Im abschließenden Kapitel der vorliegenden Arbeit werden die zentralen Ergebnisse der durchgeführten Studien zusammenfassend diskutiert. Die Ergebnisse der Arbeit deuten insgesamt darauf hin, dass Akteure auf den jeweiligen Ebenen direkte und indirekete Steuerungsinstrumente mit dem Ziel einsetzen, die Nutzung des zur Verfügung stehenden Angebots zu erhöhen, allerdings erzielen sie mit den genutzten Instrumenten nicht die gewünschte Steuerungswirkung. Da sie weder mit beruflichen Sanktionen noch mit Anreizen verknüpft sind, fehlt es den bestehenden Steuerungsinstrumenten an Durchsetzungsmacht. Außerdem wird das Repertoire an möglichen Steuerungsinstrumenten von den beteiligten Akteuren nicht ausgeschöpft. Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit bieten somit die Grundlage für anknüpfende Forschungsarbeiten und geben Anreize für mögliche Implikationen in der Praxis des Fortbildungssystems und der Bildungspolitik.
Widespread flooding in June 2013 caused damage costs of €6 to 8 billion in Germany, and awoke many memories of the floods in August 2002, which resulted in total damage of €11.6 billion and hence was the most expensive natural hazard event in Germany up to now. The event of 2002 does, however, also mark a reorientation toward an integrated flood risk management system in Germany. Therefore, the flood of 2013 offered the opportunity to review how the measures that politics, administration, and civil society have implemented since 2002 helped to cope with the flood and what still needs to be done to achieve effective and more integrated flood risk management. The review highlights considerable improvements on many levels, in particular (1) an increased consideration of flood hazards in spatial planning and urban development, (2) comprehensive property-level mitigation and preparedness measures, (3) more effective flood warnings and improved coordination of disaster response, and (4) a more targeted maintenance of flood defense systems. In 2013, this led to more effective flood management and to a reduction of damage. Nevertheless, important aspects remain unclear and need to be clarified. This particularly holds for balanced and coordinated strategies for reducing and overcoming the impacts of flooding in large catchments, cross-border and interdisciplinary cooperation, the role of the general public in the different phases of flood risk management, as well as a transparent risk transfer system. Recurring flood events reveal that flood risk management is a continuous task. Hence, risk drivers, such as climate change, land-use changes, economic developments, or demographic change and the resultant risks must be investigated at regular intervals, and risk reduction strategies and processes must be reassessed as well as adapted and implemented in a dialogue with all stakeholders.
Widespread flooding in June 2013 caused damage costs of €6 to 8 billion in Germany, and awoke many memories of the floods in August 2002, which resulted in total damage of €11.6 billion and hence was the most expensive natural hazard event in Germany up to now. The event of 2002 does, however, also mark a reorientation toward an integrated flood risk management system in Germany. Therefore, the flood of 2013 offered the opportunity to review how the measures that politics, administration, and civil society have implemented since 2002 helped to cope with the flood and what still needs to be done to achieve effective and more integrated flood risk management. The review highlights considerable improvements on many levels, in particular (1) an increased consideration of flood hazards in spatial planning and urban development, (2) comprehensive property-level mitigation and preparedness measures, (3) more effective flood warnings and improved coordination of disaster response, and (4) a more targeted maintenance of flood defense systems. In 2013, this led to more effective flood management and to a reduction of damage. Nevertheless, important aspects remain unclear and need to be clarified. This particularly holds for balanced and coordinated strategies for reducing and overcoming the impacts of flooding in large catchments, cross-border and interdisciplinary cooperation, the role of the general public in the different phases of flood risk management, as well as a transparent risk transfer system. Recurring flood events reveal that flood risk management is a continuous task. Hence, risk drivers, such as climate change, land-use changes, economic developments, or demographic change and the resultant risks must be investigated at regular intervals, and risk reduction strategies and processes must be reassessed as well as adapted and implemented in a dialogue with all stakeholders.
Widespread flooding in June 2013 caused damage costs of (sic)6 to 8 billion in Germany, and awoke many memories of the floods in August 2002, which resulted in total damage of (sic)11.6 billion and hence was the most expensive natural hazard event in Germany up to now. The event of 2002 does, however, also mark a reorientation toward an integrated flood risk management system in Germany. Therefore, the flood of 2013 offered the opportunity to review how the measures that politics, administration, and civil society have implemented since 2002 helped to cope with the flood and what still needs to be done to achieve effective and more integrated flood risk management. The review highlights considerable improvements on many levels, in particular (1) an increased consideration of flood hazards in spatial planning and urban development, (2) comprehensive property-level mitigation and preparedness measures, (3) more effective flood warnings and improved coordination of disaster response, and (4) a more targeted maintenance of flood defense systems. In 2013, this led to more effective flood management and to a reduction of damage. Nevertheless, important aspects remain unclear and need to be clarified. This particularly holds for balanced and coordinated strategies for reducing and overcoming the impacts of flooding in large catchments, cross-border and interdisciplinary cooperation, the role of the general public in the different phases of flood risk management, as well as a transparent risk transfer system. Recurring flood events reveal that flood risk management is a continuous task. Hence, risk drivers, such as climate change, land-use changes, economic developments, or demographic change and the resultant risks must be investigated at regular intervals, and risk reduction strategies and processes must be reassessed as well as adapted and implemented in a dialogue with all stakeholders.
This open access book presents a topical, comprehensive and differentiated analysis of Germany’s public administration and reforms. It provides an overview on key elements of German public administration at the federal, Länder and local levels of government as well as on current reform activities of the public sector. It examines the key institutional features of German public administration; the changing relationships between public administration, society and the private sector; the administrative reforms at different levels of the federal system and numerous sectors; and new challenges and modernization approaches like digitalization, Open Government and Better Regulation. Each chapter offers a combination of descriptive information and problem-oriented analysis, presenting key topical issues in Germany which are relevant to an international readership.
Improving society's ability to prepare for, respond to and recover from flooding requires integrated, anticipatory flood risk management (FRM). However, most countries still focus their efforts on responding to flooding events if and when they occur rather than addressing their current and future vulnerability to flooding. Flood insurance is one mechanism that could promote a more ex ante approach to risk by supporting risk reduction activities. This paper uses an adapted version of Easton's System Theory to investigate the role of insurance for FRM in Germany and England. We introduce an anticipatory FRM framework, which allows flood insurance to be considered as part of a broader policy field. We analyze if and how flood insurance can catalyze a change toward a more anticipatory approach to FRM. In particular we consider insurance's role in influencing five key components of anticipatory FRM: risk knowledge, prevention through better planning, property‐level protection measures, structural protection and preparedness (for response). We find that in both countries FRM is still a reactive, event‐driven process, while anticipatory FRM remains underdeveloped. Collaboration between insurers and FRM decision‐makers has already been successful, for example in improving risk knowledge and awareness, while in other areas insurance acts as a disincentive for more risk reduction action. In both countries there is evidence that insurance can play a significant role in encouraging anticipatory FRM, but this remains underutilized. Effective collaboration between insurers and government should not be seen as a cost, but as an investment to secure future insurability through flood resilience.
Lokale Politiknetzwerke werden sowohl in der öffentlichen Sozialstaatsdebatte als auch in der sozialwissenschaftlichen Forschung als vielversprechende Instrumente zur Optimierung von Wohlfahrtsmärkten propagiert. So auch in der Diskussion um den deutschen Pflegemarkt und seine Steuerungsdefizite. Im Gegensatz zu den mit dem Steuerungsinstrument Pflegekonferenz verknüpften Erwartungen, sind dessen genaues Steuerungspotential und mögliche Erklärungsfaktoren bisher jedoch nicht systematisch untersucht worden. Den methodologischen Kern dieser Arbeit bilden eine strukturelle Politikfeldanalyse des deutschen Pflegemarktes in Kombination mit einer empirischen Einzelfallstudie zu den Steuerungsleistungen einer Pflegekonferenz. Grundlage ist ein spezifisches Analyseraster auf Basis des akteurzentrierten Institutionalismus, welches die Aufmerksamkeit in der Analyse der Erklärungsfaktoren auf die Kombination der Koordinationsinstrumente Markt und Netzwerk sowie die Ausgestaltung des institutionellen Rahmens durch Gesetzgebung und Selbstverwaltung lenken soll. Im Rahmen der empirischen Erhebung konnten kaum direkte und nur wenige indirekte Steuerungsleistungen nachgewiesen werden. Als Ergebnis der Analyse lässt sich festhalten, dass lokale Politiknetzwerke im Umfeld des deutschen Pflegemarktes grundsätzlich mit erheblichen Herausforderungen hinsichtlich ihrer Steuerungsfunktion zu kämpfen haben. Dies lässt sich zum einen darauf zurückführen, dass ein gemeinsames Steuerungsinteresse der Akteure nur in wenigen Bereichen vorhanden ist, da die Grundbedingung der Interdependenz selten gegeben ist und auch nur sehr eingeschränkt innerhalb von Pflegekonferenzen entwickelt werden kann. Zum anderen sind die steuerungsrelevanten Handlungsressourcen oftmals lokal nicht verfügbar, wodurch erschwerend die Steuerungsmöglichkeiten eingeschränkt werden. Je nach Steuerungsbereich sind diese Faktoren jedoch verschieden ausgeprägt, sodass sich unterschiedliche Steuerungspotentiale ergeben.
This article provides a conceptual framework for the analysis of COVID-19 crisis governance in the first half of 2020 from a cross-country comparative perspective. It focuses on the issue of opportunity management, that is, how the crisis was used by relevant actors of distinctly different administrative cultures as a window of opportunity. We started from an overall interest in the factors that have influenced the national politics of crisis management to answer the question of whether and how political and administrative actors in various countries have used the crisis as an opportunity to facilitate, accelerate or prevent changes in institutional settings. The objective is to study the institutional settings and governance structures, (alleged) solutions and remedies, and constellations of actors and preferences that have influenced the mode of crisis and opportunity management. Finally, the article summarizes some major comparative findings drawn from the country studies of this Special Issue, focusing on similarities and differences in crisis responses and patterns of opportunity management.
Die Kernfrage der vorliegenden Arbeit lautet: Sichert die Schuldenbremse die fiskalische Nachhaltigkeit in Deutschland? Zur Beantwortung dieser Frage wird zunächst untersucht, welche Vor-Wirkungen die Einführung der Schuldenbremse im Zeitraum 2010-16 auf die deutschen Bundesländer zeitigte. Dafür wurden die beobachtete Konsolidierungsleistung und der 2009 bestehende Konsolidierungsanreiz bzw. –druck der Bundesländer mit Hilfe einer eigens zu diesem Zweck entwickelten Scorecard evaluiert. Mittels multipler Regressionsanalyse wurde dann analysiert, wie die Faktoren der Scorecard die Konsolidierungsleistung der Bun- desländer beeinflussen. Dabei wurde festgestellt, dass beinahe 90% der Variation, durch die unabhängigen Variablen Haushaltslage, Schuldenlast, Einnahmenwachstum und Pensionslast erklärt werden und der Schuldenbremse bei der Konsolidierungsepisode 2009-2016 eher eine untergeordnete Rolle zugefallen sein dürfte. Anschließend wurde mithilfe der in 65 Expertinneninterviews gesammelten Daten analysiert, welche Grenzen der neuen Fiskalregel in ihrem Wirken gesetzt sind, bzw. welche Risiken zukünftig die Einhaltung der Schuldenbremse erschweren oder verhindern könnten: Kommunalverschuldung, FEUs, Eventualverpflichtungen in Form von Bürgschaften für Finanzinstitute und Pensionsverpflichtungen. Die häufig geäußerten Kritikpunkte, die Schuldenbremse sei eine Konjunktur- und Investitionsbremse werden ebenfalls überprüft und zurückgewiesen. Schließlich werden potentielle zukünftige Entwicklungen hinsichtlich der Schuldenbremse und der öffentlichen Verwaltung in Deutschland sowie der Konsolidierungsbemühungen der Länder erörtert.