Suchergebnisse

Institutional issues to likely be dealt with in an early 2000 Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) for all members of the EU are identified & discussed, arguing that the rationalization of current agreements & a focus on institutional functioning & legitimacy would be more desirable than attempting to draft a European Constitution or largely symbolical catalogues of constitutional EU rights & competences. To accomplish better institutional functioning after a year in which the entire committee was suddenly fired, (1) organizational efficiency, (2) institutional openness, & (3) the perception of democracy -- through an increased sense of proximity to residents, better representation of voters' choices in the EU institutions, & increased accountability of individuals & member states -- are deemed essential. S. Paul

Recent trends in election campaigns in Belgium & the Netherlands are compared from both political & historical perspective; it is stressed that primary reference is made to Flanders, & only occasionally to Wallonia, when the political landscape of Belgium is discussed. Developments since the 1960s in both countries are examined, identifying similarities & differences across the following areas: (1) the consociational democracy of Belgium & the Netherlands & its erosion with the formation of new political parties, growing polarization, & negative campaigning, (2) the election system & rules; the structure of parliamentary democracy in the two countries & its reflection in election campaigns; the voter's choices & influence on the composition of both houses of the parliament & the office of prime minister, (3) the content & form of election campaigns; campaign financing, presence in the traditional & new media; free TV time, (4) what is the campaign about & for whom is the vote cast? the principal role played by the party's first candidate on the list, (5) the election rules of the prime minister & new government formation; the role of party leadership. It is concluded that Belgium & the Netherlands still share some characteristics of consensus democracies, however, developments since the 1960s, in particular the growing division between the Flemish & French-speaking regions of Belgium, led to significant institutional changes in the latter country's election campaigns & its citizen's declining interest in this political process on both federal & regional levels. Election campaigns in the Netherlands seem to be more concrete & relevant to the voter. However, both countries suffer from voters' losing direct control over who is elected & over the composition of their future government. Z. Dubiel

Since the beginning of the 1980s the role of government has been discussed in the Netherlands and several other Western countries. In the Netherlands this discussion has led to severe changes in the structures and activities of several governmental organizations, particularly since 1985. Deregulation has been introduced, which has meant that, generally speaking, certain laws and rules have become less detailed or totally abolished. Moreover, there has been a tendency to introduce new organizational structures in governmental organizations. These new organizational structures could mean that certain tasks are relinquished, or that the way of organizing activities is changed. A general characteristic of these changes in organizational structures, which can take different forms and/or differ in specific details, is that governmental organizations are now governed in a less centralized way. The general concept of autonomization will be used in this paper to denote the different forms of decentralization. In general, autonomization of public organizations means that the political top management's direct control of certain tasks or activities will be diminished. External autonomization implies that, legally speaking, an independent organization comes into existence; and the politicians' responsibilities for the organization are diminished. In the case of internal autonomization the organization remains part of its parent organization, although it gains more freedom to conduct its own business. The political top management retains formal responsibility for the activities of the internally autonomized organization. Internal autonomization includes various forms of what is traditionally termed decentralization or divisionalization. Forms of external autonomization include, for example, privatization, contractorization (contracting-out) and the founding of a public corporation. So, autonomization comprises diverging forms of decentralization and internal and external contracting, of which privatization may be seen as the most extreme opposite of centralized governance. Generally speaking, a stronger form of autonomization means that the organization is subject to more direct influences of the market and/or is governed in a more "businesslike" way; i.e. in such a way that the principles and techniques of business administration play a more important role. This may also make the relationship with (what used to be) the parent organization more businesslike, inducing clearer agreements about prices, quantities and quality of goods and services. The introduction of these new organizational structures/forms can be considered an endeavour to maintain management control over governmental organizations. Management control is the whole range of means and activities through which political and civic managers try to ensure that an organization successfully adapts to changes in its environment, so that its continuity is safeguarded. This research project focuses on two elements, in particular, that may play an important role in management control (and that also might influence each other); i.e. changes in organizational structure (that is to say: the different forms of autonomization) and changes in the financial and economic management of the autonomized organization. Autonomization could be regarded as a change in governance structures or, more broadly, as a change in institutional structures or institutions. Generally speaking, neo-institutional economic theories see a striving for efficiency - or in stronger terms: the necessity for organizations to be efficient in order to survive - as the main reason for changes in organizational structure. The three following research questions were formulated: 1. is it possible to construct a theoretical concept, based on neo-institutional economics, to explain the management control and more specifically the autonomization of (parts of) governmental organizations?; 2. in the Dutch context what elements play a role in the choice of a particular form of management control and autonomization of governmental organizations?; 3. what changes occur in financial and economic management practices when governmental organizations are autonomized? These questions could be studied from, for example, the perspective of political science, sociology, or economics, or a combination of all these perspectives. Although non-economic aspects might also play an important role, the research problem is studied mainly from an economic point of view in this book. The main aim of this study is to gain an insight into the internal organizational processes and the effects of the autonomization of governmental organizations. The problem to be addressed is very complicated because the factors that may play a role are not at all clear. The phenomenon researched and its context cannot be separated clearly, causes and consequences cannot be separated easily, etc. Hence, the form of research that was chosen was case research. Case research was conducted for this study in six (parts of) governmental organizations which were autonomized to different degrees. In one case, autonomization had not been realized at the time of the research, because of serious delays. However, the information about the process of preparing for autonomization was sufficiently extensive and interesting in this case to justify its inclusion.