Suchergebnisse

In order to analyze the economic effects of various policy proposals for reforming the welfare state a model has been developed called MIMIC. The structure of this model is presented in the first part of this book. The model combines various modern labour market theories with a detailed description of relevant labour market institutions in an applied general equilibrium context. The second part of the volume contains an elaborate presentation of the simulation results of MIMIC, such as various tax policies, a reduction in benefits or the official minimum wage, individualization of the tax and social security system and the introduction of negative income tax. The model has proved to be a unique instrument for policy evaluation for the Netherlands.

"Günther Bächler explores the significance of state reform for transformation of war-tom areas. He points out that, especially for fragile states, state reform is a prerequisite for peaceful conflict resolution and democratic development and he argues that there is a need to involve the population in efforts to establish at least some 'islands' of security. The author presents three strategic approaches to state reform and conflict transformation. The first one consists of participatory strategies that might enhance social and political stability (democratisation, strengthening of civil society, dialogue-oriented approaches). The second encompasses all forms of institution-building and institutional reform, contributing to a stronger societal fabric (federalisation, decentralisation, the constitution and justice system). The third addresses security needs and demands (human rights, human security and absence of military threats). As the author concludes, there is widespread agreement among scholars that democracy is a necessary condition for stable peace. The debate revolves around whether it is a sufficient condition and which factors must be combined in order to prepare the ground for a constitution that will insulate society against violence. A number of open theoretical questions remain: Is there such a thing as 'democratic peace'? If so, which factors are important to it? How can a 'culture of dispute' be established or preserved in times of radical transition or rapid change in a society? " (author's abstract)

Considers why -- despite tremendous changes in government structure, especially the laws organizing decentralization since 1982 -- the institution of the Prefect, created in 1800 to implement central government policies throughout the whole territory, still exists. Currently, its objectives are combined with decentralization goals, which entail the transfer of responsibilities to elected bodies. Thus, the Prefect coordinates ministerial representative actions with those of the elected body. Focus is on the Prefect's limited capacity to mobilize relevant actors. The difficulty is the bringing together of information gathered by field services is addressed along with the valuation of proximity & its impact on Prefect action. It is concluded that the Prefect's framing of local action is more often accomplished through information diffusion rather than through authority. 27 References. Adapted from the source document.

The article intends to explain why although tremendous changes have occurred in the structure of government – especially the laws organizing decentralization since 1982 – the institution of the Prefect is still alive in the year 2000. Created in 1800, the institution of the Prefect derives from the will of the central authority to rely on its own representatives to ensure that public policies will be equally implemented over the whole territory. This objective remains but it has to be combined with the objectives of decentralization which are to transfer a number of responsibilities to elected bodies. Consequently, the task of the Prefect is to co‐ordinate locally the action of the representatives of the ministers with the action of the elected body. To study the conditions under which the institution carries out this task the article focuses primarily on the limited capacity of the Prefect to mobilize the relevant actors. The second point concerns the difficulty of bringing together the information produced by field services. The third point considers the valuation of proximity and its impact on the action of the Prefect. The article concludes that the function of the Prefect is still the framing of local action but within the new context this can be done more often through the diffusion of information and less often through authority.

Latin America suffered a profound state crisis in the 1980s, which prompted not only the wave of macroeconomic and deregulation reforms known as the Washington Consensus, but also a wide variety of institutional or "second generation" reforms. The State of State Reform in Latin America reviews and assesses the outcomes of these less studied institutional reforms. This book examines four major areas of institutional reform: a) political institutions and the state organization; b) fiscal institutions, such as budget, tax and decentralization institutions; c) public institutions in char

This article presents & discusses the state of the art in political science research on welfare state reform. While scholars first aimed at explaining the emergence & growth of the welfare state, national variation in its development, & crises of welfare state regimes, more recently the focus has shifted to the persistence & reform of the major welfare state institutions. Research in this direction has typically adopted an institutionalist perspective, stressing how institutional settings affect the feasibility & direction of reforms. These studies have shed light on important aspects of the question, in particular by demonstrating the role of path dependency & veto players in reform processes, but suffer from two main problems: (1) the difficulty of defining the dependent variable in an appropriate way, & (2) the neglect of the importance of power resources. 60 References. Adapted from the source document.