The legislation and regulations which seek to guarantee good governance in the Caribbean parts of the Dutch Kingdom are similar to the Netherlands. Nevertheless, the administrative performance in the West is significantly inferior to that of the latter. To explain this difference, this thesis highlights the fact that the legislation in the West codifies norms of conduct that are dominant in modern Western societies. However, due to the small-scale, the poverty and the stratification of the insular societies other norms of conduct are dominant in the Caribbean parts of the Dutch Kingdom. To maintain their position politicians depend on electoral support. Therefore they should act according to the norms of conduct that are generally accepted within society. As a result an incentive for politicians is manifest to act contrary to the appropriate line. In the practice of the Caribbean overseas territories this incentive results especially in political patronage. Yet, the examples of Barbados and Anguilla learn that despite the fact that small-scale, poverty and social stratification are unalterable good governance is still possible. Where, however, the high quality of governance in Barbados should especially be ascribed to the de-politicization of the distribution power of public goods of the executive branch, the high quality of governance in Anguilla is mainly due to the supervision of London. Because it should not to be expected that the administrative elite in the Caribbean parts of the Dutch Kingdom will adjust their state system on their own initiative, good governance will in the first place depend on the willingness of the Netherlands to play an active role in the local administrative affairs of the islands in the West.
The energy transition reflects fundamental changes in energy supply. During that transition, society also expects the high-quality nature of the energy supply to be maintained. The energy transition is therefore confusing and makes people have to deal with uncertainty. They not only experience changes in the energy supply, but also a change from a consumption paradigm (purchasing of energy) to an exploitation paradigm (self-generating and consumption of energy). The objective of the research is to gain insight into whether and how parties (public, private, citizens) are able to involve everyone in a community in the development of renewable energy production and consumption. The thesis' presents the 'analysis framework for steering on public value in sustainable development'. The framework shows what parties do to support the ambition of renewable energy for everyone. It is based, amongst others, on Elinor Ostrom's 'institutional analysis and development framework', on Mark Moore's work on public value, and on the collaborative governance philosophy, in particular Ansell & Gash's 'contingency model of collaborative governance'. The framework provides an instrument for recording and analyzing the input of diverse disciplines in public value creation and in this way combines policy development and system development. The ambition of 'renewable energy for everyone' implies that renewable energy is to be viewed as a 'common-pool resource', one type of goods according to Elinor Ostrom's typology of goods. It has two characteristics. One characteristic is that the use of a good by one is at the expense of the possibilities for the other to also use that good. The other characteristic is that excluding a party from a good is considered to be socially undesirable or unacceptable, and may therefore incur social costs. The analysis framework illustrates that public administrators are committed to ensure access to and developers are committed to unlock renewable energy. For evaluation purposes a 'two-dimensional public ...
In: Acta politica: AP ; international journal of political science ; official journal of the Dutch Political Science Association (Nederlandse Kring voor Wetenschap der Politiek), Band 22, Heft 3, S. 327-346
Findings are presented from a survey of political scientists (N = 221) who graduated from 6 Dutch Us in 1984-1986. It is shown that their unemployment rates are lower than for social scientists in general. The labor market is weakest in international relations, & strongest in public policy & in methodology. Growth in employment since 1974 occurred primarily in the private sector. Training is appropriately related to practical skills required for jobs for the 16.5% of graduates who were hired in jobs specifically meant for political scientists. Opinions of Rs about good & bad aspects of their U training are also noted. 10 Tables. Modified HA
The need for a normative (ie, ethical) theory of political action is discussed. After evaluating the idea that politicians & rulers have the right to use violence, lies, & ruses to combat violence & ruse within the community, some important conclusions are drawn from the general democratic principle "no power without control & possibility of sanction by those being subject to that power." Applied to the problem of corruption, this principle can be used as a guideline for a systematic exploration of the structural sources of corruption, defined in a general way as abuse of power (detournement de pouvoir). The main thesis -- that the sources of corruption are found in "deficiencies of the system" that create opportunities for a particular pressure of power to exert an overwhelming influence (without possibilities of control & sanction) in the processes of defining the "public interest" or the "common good" -- is elaborated by an analysis of such "deficiencies" in the Belgian political-administrative system (most of which are not peculiar to the Belgian situation). Suggestions for preventing corruption (mainly through legislation) are offered. Modified HA.
For the Benefit of the Common Good? A Historical View on the Flemish Provinces as an Intermediary at the Level of AdministrationThe nation state of Belgium saw its provinces chiefly as intermediary administrative entities from which political dispute had to be excluded. Nevertheless, they disposed of elected provincial councils and enjoyed fiscal autonomy. Although the provincial governments underwent a slow process of politicisation, the effects of the broad socio-political developments over the course of the last two centuries on this level remained far less tangible, due above all to the slow democratisation of the provincial suffrage. The provinces only had a modicum of public visibility and a very limited scope for policymaking. To argue their relevance, the provincial governments referred occasionally to the shared history of their respective inhabitants or to their cultural coherence(s). But this discourse was not powerful enough to shape a common provincial cultural identity. Moreover, it clashed on the artificial borders of the provinces and with the much stronger feelings of local and regional coherence. By clustering these expressions of (sub)regionalism, the provincial governments may have provided building stones for the creation of identity-structures on a higher level. However, this role too remained very modest and can hardly be used to substantiate the institutional tenacity of this level of government.
In: Bogt , H J T 1998 , ' Neo-institutionele economie, management control en verzelfstandiging van overheidsorganisaties : overwegingen voor verzelfstandiging en effecten op efficiëntie en financieel-economische sturing ' , Doctor of Philosophy , University of Groningen .
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.