IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/vrs/njopap/v8y2015i1p21-40n2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Influence of Government Priorities on Public-Administration Reforms in Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Nakrošis Vitalis

    (Professor in public administration at the Institute of Intemational Relations and Political Science, Vilnius University, Lithuania.)

Abstract

The article assesses how and the extent to which political or policy priorities of European governments condition reform processes and their results in times of crisis. This research is based on desk research and statistical analysis of the 2013 EUPAN survey data on public-administration reform initiatives in Europe. The article finds that the place of public-administration reforms on the governmental agenda partially explains the process of public-administration reforms, but it cannot account for the variation in the (perceived) reform results. Also, the results of this research confirm that EU-13 and (potential) candidate countries face more difficulties in reform implementation due to a combination of comprehensive reform strategies and weak administrative capacities. If the quantitative analysis was able to uncover some broad trends common to European public administrations, more qualitative approaches (causal process-tracing and case studies) are needed to capture specific contexts and changing processes in different European public administrations on which delivery progress is inevitably contingent. In order to explain why some windows of opportunities are seized while others are missed during the process of public-administration reforms, it is important to undertake process-tracing in within-case and between-case analysis and focus on causal configurations in the study of particular reform cases.

Suggested Citation

  • Nakrošis Vitalis, 2015. "The Influence of Government Priorities on Public-Administration Reforms in Europe," NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy, Sciendo, vol. 8(1), pages 21-40, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:njopap:v:8:y:2015:i:1:p:21-40:n:2
    DOI: 10.1515/nispa-2015-0002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/nispa-2015-0002
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/nispa-2015-0002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling, 2009. "Sustainability of Civil Service Reforms in Central and Eastern Europe Five Years After EU Accession," SIGMA Papers 44, OECD Publishing.
    2. Christiansen, Peter Munk & Klitgaard, Michael Baggesen, 2010. "Behind the Veil of Vagueness: Success and Failure in Institutional Reforms," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 30(2), pages 183-200, August.
    3. Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling, 2012. "Civil Service Professionalisation in the Western Balkans," SIGMA Papers 48, OECD Publishing.
    4. John Williamson, 1994. "The Political Economy of Policy Reform," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 68, April.
    5. Christopher Pollitt, 2009. "Structural change and public service performance: international lessons?," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(5), pages 285-291, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bryan Caplan & Edward Stringham, 2005. "Mises, bastiat, public opinion, and public choice," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 79-105.
    2. Guillermo A. Calvo, 2008. "Crises in Emerging Markets Economies: A Global Perspective," Central Banking, Analysis, and Economic Policies Book Series, in: Kevin Cowan & Sebastián Edwards & Rodrigo O. Valdés & Norman Loayza (Series Editor) & Klaus Schmidt- (ed.),Current Account and External Financing, edition 1, volume 12, chapter 3, pages 085-115, Central Bank of Chile.
    3. Rosta, Miklós, 2013. "New Public Management: opportunity for the Centre, thread for the Periphery," MPRA Paper 68474, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Pitlik, Hans & Wirth, Steffen, 2003. "Do crises promote the extent of economic liberalization?: an empirical test," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 565-581, September.
    5. Bernd Hayo & Doh Shin, 2002. "Popular Reaction to the Intervention by the IMF in the Korean Economic Crisis," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(2), pages 89-100.
    6. Prato, Carlo & Wolton, Stephane, 2018. "Rational ignorance, populism, and reform," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 119-135.
    7. Cossu Elena, 2023. "Clustering and Analysing Relevant Policy Dimensions of Populist, Left-Wing, Centrist, and Right-Wing Parties across Europe," Central European Journal of Public Policy, Sciendo, vol. 17(1), pages 41-54, June.
    8. McCourt, Willy, 2003. "Political Commitment to Reform: Civil Service Reform in Swaziland," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 1015-1031, June.
    9. Hendrik P. van Dalen, 2003. "Pluralism in Economics: A Public Good or a Public Bad?," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 03-034/1, Tinbergen Institute, revised 18 May 2004.
    10. Karen L. Remmer, 2004. "Does Foreign Aid Promote the Expansion of Government?," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 48(1), pages 77-92, January.
    11. Daniel L. Nielson, 2003. "Supplying Trade Reform: Political Institutions and Liberalization in Middle‐Income Presidential Democracies," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 47(3), pages 470-491, July.
    12. Monasterolo, Irene & Benni, Federica, 2013. "Non parametric methods to assess the role of the CAP in regional convergence in Hungary," Studies in Agricultural Economics, Research Institute for Agricultural Economics, vol. 115(3), pages 1-9, December.
    13. Fernandes, Ana M., 2007. "Trade policy, trade volumes and plant-level productivity in Colombian manufacturing industries," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 52-71, March.
    14. Alice Nicole Sindzingre, 2015. "‘Policy Externalisation’ Inherent Failure: International Financial Institutions’ Conditionality in Developing Countries," Post-Print hal-01668367, HAL.
    15. Agnello, Luca & Castro, Vitor & Jalles, João Tovar & Sousa, Ricardo M., 2015. "What determines the likelihood of structural reforms?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 129-145.
    16. Luciano Marcello Milone, 2015. "Structural Reforms in the European Union after the Global Crisis: Problems and Prospects," Working Papers in Public Economics 171, Department of Economics and Law, Sapienza University of Roma.
    17. Corbo, Vittorio & Fischer, Stanley, 1995. "Structural adjustment, stabilization and policy reform: Domestic and international finance," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Hollis Chenery & T.N. Srinivasan (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 44, pages 2845-2924, Elsevier.
    18. Christoph A. Schaltegger & Martin Weder, 2014. "Fiscal adjustment and the costs of public debt service: evidence from OECD countries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(22), pages 2593-2610, August.
    19. Robbie Mochrie, 2000. "An Appraisal of Debt Relief for Poor Countries," CERT Discussion Papers 0005, Centre for Economic Reform and Transformation, Heriot Watt University.
    20. Irina Denisova & Markus Eller & Timothy Frye & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya, 2007. "Who Wants to Revise Privatization and Why? Evidence from 28 Post-Communist Countries," Working Papers w0105, New Economic School (NES).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:vrs:njopap:v:8:y:2015:i:1:p:21-40:n:2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.sciendo.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.