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While politicians are often seen as being motivated by narrow self-interest, this article offers an alternative view. The relationship between two pro-social dimensions - Commitment to the Public Interest (CPI) and User Orientation (UO) - and behavioural outcomes among local councillors is analyzed. The raison d'etre for the local councils is to define the public interest. In line with this, CPI, which is directed towards doing good for the public interest, is associated with working hours and political influence; this is much less so for UO, which is directed towards doing good for individual citizens. Behavioural outcomes are thus greater if there is a fit between the personal motivation and the organizational environment. This has implications for democracy, as a fit could lead to a race to the top. The data are based on a survey of local councillors in Denmark in 2009. Adapted from the source document.

While politicians are often seen as being motivated by narrow self‐interest, this article offers an alternative view. The relationship between two pro‐social dimensions – Commitment to the Public Interest (CPI) and User Orientation (UO) – and behavioural outcomes among local councillors is analyzed. The raison d'être for the local councils is to define the public interest. In line with this,CPI, which is directed towards doing good for the public interest, is associated with working hours and political influence; this is much less so forUO, which is directed towards doing good for individual citizens. Behavioural outcomes are thus greater if there is a fit between the personal motivation and the organizational environment. This has implications for democracy, as a fit could lead to a race to the top. The data are based on a survey of local councillors in Denmark in 2009.

In this article, insights from diverging institutional perspectives on the concept of ideas are integrated into a sequential analysis of mechanisms of transfer & transformation. The analysis of the introduction of eco-taxation into two policy sectors in the Scandinavian countries shows that, as the idea of eco-taxation transfers, a well-known instrument can be framed as rational & legitimate, & policy-makers 'hook' on to the idea in order to solve problems with institutionalized areas of responsibility. In this way, what at one point may be regarded as a virus-like attack of a regulatory idea is influenced by the more stable configuration of administrative bias & organized interests when transformed into actual regulation. Tables, References. Adapted from the source document.

Abstract.  There is a missing link between studies that investigate how regulation is becoming more similar, on the one hand, and studies that focus on how national policy styles and administrative traditions create patterns of stable diversity on the other. This article attempts to bridge these views in an analysis of how ideas transform as they transfer. The article shows that the idea of creating independent regulatory authorities (IRAs) has become institutionalized as a 'script' regarding how the regulation of liberalized electricity markets ought to be organized. This script has transferred to the European Union 15 Member States (EU‐15) in processes moving from mimetic and normative to more coercive isomorphism, but the transformation is influenced by the way the need for credibility is mediated by contextual factors. Thus IRAs have more formal independence in countries formerly dominated by state ownership, where policy makers are perceived as corrupt and where decentralization is low. In this way, the analysis reveals how impulses of institutional change from the international arena are mediated by more stable and robust institutional factors at the domestic level.

The impact of European integration differs over time and between states. This article demonstrates how the increasing europeanisation of CO2 regulation in the Scandinavian countries has lead to increasing convergence in the regulatory systems for very important target groups. The same system is being implemented in EU-member states (Denmark and Sweden) and an EEA member state (Norway), but at this stage the implementation is dissimilar in the sense that the established CO2 tax delimits where quotas are introduced in Norway. In contrast, however, the quota systems in Sweden and Denmark delimit to a higher extent where the CO2 taxation continues to exist. However, at this stage, it cannot be concluded that the variation is due to different degrees of Europeanisation.

CO2 taxes on industry increased in the Scandinavian countries over the course of the 1990s, whereas taxation on agricultural emissions of nitrogen stagnated or decreased. Variations between the two policy fields can in part be explained by contrasting ideational viabilities. Two diverging expert communities exist in the agricultural sector: the first is dominated by agricultural scientists, whose analytical vantage point is field production; the other is dominated by economists; whose analytical vantage point comprises overall socio-economic benefits. In the debate between these diverging models of cognition, the taxation of nitrogen is increasingly perceived as inefficient & unfair. Administrative bias & the position in the ministerial hierarchy affect the advice passed on to policy makers. The political viability of nitrogen taxes consequently decreases as politicians hesitate to employ a policy measure that can be cast into doubt on scientific grounds by the political opposition & agricultural organisations. Instead, alternative instruments developed by agricultural scientist are employed. Thus, the interaction between ideas & interests can contribute to our understanding of why the idea of externality taxation gains more political trenchancy in relation to the taxation of industrial CO2 emissions than in the taxation of nitrogen emissions from agriculture. 64 References. Adapted from the source document.

The impact of European integration differs over time & between states. This article demonstrates how the increasing europeanisation of CO2 regulation in the Scandinavian countries has lead to increasing convergence in the regulatory systems for very important target groups. The same system is being implemented in EU-member states (Denmark & Sweden) & an EEA member state (Norway), but at this stage the implementation is dissimilar in the sense that the established CO2 tax delimits where quotas are introduced in Norway. In contrast, however, the quota systems in Sweden & Denmark delimit to a higher extent where the CO2 taxation continues to exist. However, at this stage, it cannot be concluded that the variation is due to different degrees of Europeanisation. Figures, References. Adapted from the source document.