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This article discusses the growing importance of operational reforms in the context of welfare state transformation processes, and the role that principles of new governance play in shaping these reforms. It focuses specifically on one social policy area considered crucial in reforming welfare states: the provision of activation services that aim at increasing the employability and labour‐market participation of people dependent on benefits or social assistance. The article argues that besides the reforms of the programmatic aspects of social policies and social services (formal policy reforms), reforms of the way in which policies and services are organized, administered and delivered (operational policy reforms) have received increasing attention as a 'second strand' of welfare state reforms. It illustrates this by analysing and comparing reforms of the provision of activation services in two European countries: Italy and The Netherlands. The article not only reveals the growing emphasis in both countries on operational policy reforms which are to an important degree inspired by principles of new governance, but also shows significant similarities and differences in their concrete manifestations, which could be interpreted as pointing out processes of 'path‐dependent convergence'.

This article develops a conceptual framework to indicate the type of resistance reform efforts may stimulate, and the factors shaping perceptions of risk involved in pursuing reform. It provides tools for identifying the room for manoeuvre by political elites, in terms of the extent that formal and informal institutions will accommodate change, and the chances of a positive response to reform from elites and civil society. It considers the incentives that drive politicians when weighing up reform options, the institutions that shape those incentives, and the impact that institutions, particularly informal ones, can have on the reform process. Rather than concentrate on the internal processes and mechanisms of institutions, however - as has perhaps too often been the case - the connections between state and society and the way these impact on reform are examined. Adapted from the source document.

Network governance can enhance democratic practice by furnishing new routes for actors to deliberate, make, and execute public policy. But it is hindered by a lack of political oversight, limited democratic competence of new organizational forms, and informality of operation. Little research has been conducted on the democratic performance of governance networks, and the methodology is poorly developed. Quality‐of‐democracy studies of national governmental and political systems offer a starting point. Their criteria‐based method is useful in accessing the democratic "hardware" of formal entities, such as partnerships and hybrids, but it does not enable data to be gathered on democratic "software"—the informal day‐to‐day practices of actors in networks. Interpretive approaches offer a way forward. Narrative analysis, qualitative interviews using a criteria‐based instrument, and Q‐methodology provide routes into democratic software. They enable the researcher to move beyond the analysis of institutional nodes and to understand the democratic performance of the wider governance network.

Over the past decade the governance of global climate change has evolved into a complex, multi-level process involving actors and initiatives at multiple levels of social organization from the global to the local in both the public and private spheres. This article analyzes the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) as one component of this multilevel governance system. Specifically, it evaluates the CEC as a site of regional climate governance based on three potential advantages of governance through regional organizations: a small number of actors, opportunities for issue linkage, and linkage between national and global governance systems. On each count I find that the benefits of a CEC-based climate governance system are limited and argue for greater consideration of how such a system would interact with other forms of climate governance in North America.

Almost immediately after taking power in 1999, Pakistan's fourth military regime articulated a seven point agenda that in large measure entailed governance policy shifts - the key being decentralization of powers and democratic local governance. Pakistan's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) articulated these goals in the pro-poor growth framework. The international aid community favoured this reform climate and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) took a lead in supporting public sector reforms especially by way of improving sub-national governance in a federal context. This paper focuses on the reform agenda articulated through ADB assisted Balochistan Public Resource Management and the complementary devolved social services programs. While it is still early to assess the impact of these policy shifts, we conclude that improved service delivery through better fiscal management is a long term goal. The ongoing reforms are located within and impacted by historically difficult federal-province relations and a highly contested political climate. There is an inherent danger of institutional reforms being appropriated by entrenched elites. In conclusion, subnational reforms cannot be isolated from the imperatives of federalism, local patrimonial structures i.e. the political economy context. Development agenda[s] should overtly address politics in designing and implementing governance reform programs. Adapted from the source document.

On the basis of research conducted in Indonesia, the author investigates a key transition in the production of timber for export. The analysis is based on a rich literature focusing on commodity chains. In addition to economic factors, the author gives attention to structures of governance, including the formation and dissolution of political alliances and coalitions. From the late 1980s through 1998, Indonesian plywood producers consolidated power in a state-supported domestic oligopoly, forged a transnational alliance that circumvented the power of Japanese trading houses, and supported domestic accumulation. The Asian crisis of 1997 to 1998 and structural adjustments imposed by the International Monetary Fund radically transformed Indonesia's options, diminishing its capacity to compete, as China emerged as a major producer of wood-related products. The Indonesian case may well illustrate processes of market remarginalization resulting from the implementation of neoliberal policies. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright 2007 The American Academy of Political and Social Science.]