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Why do some political rulers engage in frequent shuffling of their governors while others allow their governors to serve longer? We argue that shuffling of governors reflects the level of a ruler's perception of insecurity. Building on perspectives about situational origins of distrust and paranoid cognition, we argue that democratic leaders, characterized by higher levels of existential security, practice less frequent shuffling of governors compared to authoritarian ones. We also suggest that governors in localities characterized by higher levels of ethnic conflict and poor electoral performance by a ruling government are more likely to be replaced. Utilizing an original dataset of all Ottoman and Turkish governors from 1875 to 2019, our empirical analyses show that governors last longer under more democratic governments, in provinces with lower levels of ethnic diversity conflict, and stronger electoral support for the government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decentralization is an important and commonplace type of reform, yet our understanding of its effects remains limited. This paper documents the effects of the 2009–10 wave of district creation in Uganda, which increased the country's districts by 42 percent, using rich data on subdistrict units to assess the effects of district creation on a broad range of post-decentralization outcomes in a difference-in-differences framework. The effects of decentralization are concentrated in newly split off—rather than split from—districts, and are heterogeneous across outcome types. Newly split-off districts have more per capita frontline workers, but appear to have worse quality infrastructure and lower economic development. The study also presents suggestive evidence that administrative capacity decreases for newly formed districts post-split. These findings demonstrate the importance of considering a broad range of outcomes when thinking about decentralization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Te Republic of Moldova is currently facing significant problems in terms of public administration, such as excessive bureaucracy, corruption, and low efficiency of public services. At the same time, there is a significant discrepancy between rural and urban areas, which negatively affects citizens’ access to public services delaying social and territorial cohesion. In this regard, analysing ways to optimize the administrative and territorial structure can be an important step in identifying the necessary administrative tools to improve citizens’ access to quality public services. This article proposes an analysis of the problems in the existing system of administrative-territorial organization in the Republic of Moldova and presents some visions on implementing the reform for territorial consolidation.

Copyright of Economica: Revistă Ştiinţifico-Didactică is the property of Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova (AESM) / Academia de Studii Economice din Moldova (AESM) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Different forms of integration into the European Union (EU) call for studies of the consequences of multilevel access structures. Similar to EU member-states, government officials from associated states interact closely with EU-level administrative institutions, notably the European Commission (Commission) and EU agencies. Benefiting from a large-N survey, this study demonstrates that bureaucrats from "third-countries", such as Norway, may exert sectoral policy influence in the EU, and that organizational features of the public administration may systematically shape such patterns. The study offers two distinct contributions to the extant literature: First, it presents original survey data on how domestic agency officials perceive their influence vis-à-vis the EUs executive branch. Secondly, it probes the effects of two distinct drivers of policy influence—bureaucrats' access to secondary structures and requisite administrative capacities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European Cohesion Policy is a complex scheme that allocates financial resources to European regions. The implementation of the policy is based on an articulated multi-level governance that involves local and national authorities and the European Commission. Local authorities often face difficulties in using structural funds due to limits in their administrative capacity (supply) and/or inefficiencies in adequately stimulating applications' submission (demand). By modelling and simulating the implementation of the policy, we explore how operations and decisions at the local authorities' and potential applicants' level (micro-foundations) explain emerging patterns of funds' absorption at a regional level (macro-behaviours). Building upon a mixed-methods approach combining field research and computer simulation, we develop a model capturing the key cause–effect relationships among agents and resources within the Cohesion Policy supply-and-demand system. The outcomes elucidate how poor local administrative capabilities, including staff skills, may entail delays and low absorption performances, while showcasing the factors affecting potential applicants' decision to submit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Administrative capacity depends on organisational and human factors that can enhance or diminish the performance of local governments. To analyse the effect of these factors, efficiency scores of municipal governments were calculated and regressed against organisational and staff characteristics, using double bootstrap data envelopment analysis, on a sample of 1470 Mexican municipalities. Of the variables related to staff characteristics, the proportion of employees with college education, and remunerations, have a positive and statistically significant effect on efficiency. Of the organisational characteristics of local governments, the number of computers per employee was the main variable explaining the efficiency of municipal governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past two decades have seen increasing interest in the quality of government as an explanatory factor for the performance of European Union (EU) Cohesion Policy. An under-researched strand of these studies is administrative capacity in Cohesion Policy. Against this background, this mini-special issue provides new perspectives on the theme of administrative capacity, providing new insights into the operation and effectiveness of administrative capacity-building measures implemented in the EU countries, particularly through the support provided by the Structural Funds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether territorial characteristics and, in particular, regional administrative capacity influence the effects of European Union (EU) Cohesion Policy support to firms. A novel two-step methodology is applied. First, the effects of Cohesion Policy on employment growth of supported manufacturing firms are estimated separately for the regions of six different EU countries. Second, potential territorial factors influencing these effects are explored using meta-analysis techniques. The empirical results point to a significant relationship between firm-level policy effects and territorial capital, especially mixed-materiality assets, as well as administrative capacity as proxied by citizen engagement and administrative efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does the quality of government improve the administrative performance of regions in European Union (EU) Cohesion Policy? This article analyses the relationship between the quality of government and multiple dimensions of administrative performance in Cohesion Policy. Using primary data on government quality combined with EU performance data for the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in the period 2007–13, regression analysis is undertaken for 173 European regions. The results confirm that government quality is a key determinant of administrative performance in terms of financial compliance, timely spending and outcomes. The findings support the need for capacity-building in regions with low quality of government to improve policy implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examines the implementation of urban development strategies in Scotland, UK, and the Veneto Region of Italy and fills an important gap in the knowledge about the capacity-building potential of such strategies. Following a principal-agent approach, the investigation shows that narrow delegation models incentivize compliance, are less conducive to capacity-building and reinforce an administrative capacity paradox. By contributing an original framework for the study of delegation models, a fine-grained understanding of administrative capacity that acknowledges the importance of agency for the success of capacity-building initiatives and policy recommendations for the period 2021–27, the research will be of interest to scholars and practitioners alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the link between the pace of utilizing the awarded intergovernmental grants and the administrative capacity of recipient government organizations. Past research focused on the relationship between higher administrative capacity and obtaining grants. However, there is a lack of attention to how capacity affects grant funds utilization, which is critical for achieving societal impact. To address this issue, the study analyzes the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) established by the CARES Act to aid state and local governments with COVID-19-related expenses. The study justifies and performs multiple regression analyses using data from various sources, including the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Census Annual Survey of Public Employment and Payroll, and the Government Finance Officers Association. The study discovered that financial administrative capacity was positively linked to the proportion of funds spent early in the CRF program rollout, a finding that withstood scrutiny when employing various measures of administrative capacity. However, the connection between capacity and spending tapered off toward the end of the program rollout, potentially due to workload stabilization, increased program clarity from the federal government, capacity-building by recipients, and the use of external experts. The findings of this study carry significant implications for both research and practice, underlining the necessity of studying the implementation stage of government grant programs and investing in building administrative capacity within recipient organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regulation plays a central role in modern governance; yet, we have limited knowledge of how subjects of regulation—particularly, private actors—act in the face of potentially adverse regulatory decisions. Here, we document and examine a novel lobbying strategy in the context of competition regulation, a strategy that exploits the regulator's finite administrative capacities. Companies with merger cases under scrutiny by the European Commission's Directorate General for Competition appear to be employing a strategy of 'spamming the regulator,' through the strategic and cumulative submission of economic expert assessments. Procedural pressures may result in an undeservedly favourable assessment of the merger. Based on quantitative and qualitative analyses of an original dataset of all complex merger cases in the European Union 2005–2020, we present evidence of this new strategy and a possible learning process among private actors. We suggest remedies to ensure regulatory effectiveness in the face of this novel strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the EU response to the COVID-19 crisis follows a pattern much like its response to earlier public health threats. Though each time the EU commits to being prepared for the next cross-border threat to health, as the immediate crisis recedes, so does the momentum to build the necessary administrative capacity, leaving the EU unprepared to take a leadership role when the next public health crisis emerges. The literature on administrative capacity, identifies authority, autonomy, and resources as three crucial dimensions of administrative capacity. An examination of the efforts to build administrative capacity after several recent public health crises (SARS, Avian Flu, MERS and COVID-19) shows that the EU has made only modest progress in granting such capacity to its supranational agency, The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Despite the claims that COVID-19 was a new level of public health threat that demanded supranational action, the EU response again seems to fall back into a familiar pattern of making minor adjustments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the main causes that can contribute to the decrease of fish stocks with economic value in the Danube River, based on an analysis of both the recorded fishing catches and the quantities of fish retained following the control actions carried out by the authorities with the right of inspection and control with the aim of combating fish poaching, as well as the normative regulatory acts in the field of fishing. A broader perspective involves analysing the environmental factors and their role in the decline of economically valuable fish species in the Danube. From the analysed data, it was found that following the specific actions organized and carried out by the competent authorities, significant quantities of fish with economic value, originating from illegal fishing, were confiscated, thus resulting in the fact that both the regulations that sanction acts of poaching and the capacity of the responsible authorities are insufficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai, Iurisprudentia is the property of Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In an era of urbanization, urban livability is a critical concern. This study explores the relationship between administrative capacity and urban livability in Türkiye's 81 provinces. Recent global attention to administrative capacity highlights its role in governance and societal progress. The research emphasizes the importance of enhancing administrative capacity for positive outcomes, including improved urban livability, and examines the impact of provincial administrative capacity on urban livability geographically. A robust administrative capacity is crucial for effective public institutions, from local to international levels. Recent research shows it fosters better institution performance, economic growth, democracy, policy effectiveness, conflict prevention, counterterrorism, and local democracy. Among such contributions administrative capacity is also key to a city's success, attracting residents and businesses, enhancing urban livability. In order to reveal such dynamic, the study covers all 81 Turkish provinces, testing geographic variations in the impact of administrative capacity on livability. It uses provincial administrative capacity and Forbes Magazine's livability index in global and geographical regression models. The results confirm a strong relationship between provincial administrative capacity and urban livability. Geographically, this impact varies across regions. In conclusion, the research reveals the importance of administrative capacity in shaping urban livability. Policymakers and urban planners should focus on enhancing administrative competence to improve residents' quality of life, fostering informed decision-making and policy formulation for livable cities.

This article addresses performance management of coordinating agencies in the field of societal security by examining what kind of administrative capacity their parent ministries focus on. It examines the performance contracts issued to the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection and Emergency Planning and the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency. Based on a structural-instrumental and a cultural perspective, the importance of coordination, delivery, analytical and regulatory capacities is analyzed. A main finding is that the different governmental models of Sweden and Norway affect the number of performance objectives, while tasks and external shocks have some effect on the distribution of the different types of capacity. Despite being set up to act as boundary spanners in the policy field, both organizations are hybrid and compound agencies combining coordination capacity objectives with analytical, delivery and regulatory capacity objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Policy Analysis is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In an era of urbanization, urban livability is a critical concern. This study explores the relationship between administrative capacity and urban livability in Türkiye's 81 provinces. Recent global attention to administrative capacity highlights its role in governance and societal progress. The research emphasizes the importance of enhancing administrative capacity for positive outcomes, including improved urban livability, and examines the impact of provincial administrative capacity on urban livability geographically. A robust administrative capacity is crucial for effective public institutions, from local to international levels. Recent research shows it fosters better institution performance, economic growth, democracy, policy effectiveness, conflict prevention, counterterrorism, and local democracy. Among such contributions administrative capacity is also key to a city's success, attracting residents and businesses, enhancing urban livability. In order to reveal such dynamic, the study covers all 81 Turkish provinces, testing geographic variations in the impact of administrative capacity on livability. It uses provincial administrative capacity and Forbes Magazine's livability index in global and geographical regression models. The results confirm a strong relationship between provincial administrative capacity and urban livability. Geographically, this impact varies across regions. In conclusion, the research reveals the importance of administrative capacity in shaping urban livability. Policymakers and urban planners should focus on enhancing administrative competence to improve residents' quality of life, fostering informed decision-making and policy formulation for livable cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dam failures that cause significant adverse downstream impacts continue to occur globally. Hence, effective, adequately resourced dam safety regulation is critical for the safety of dams and downstream communities. This paper explores options for regulatory funding and resourcing according to a selected set of relevant key factors along a continuum of dam safety assurance. An international comparative analysis of 15 jurisdictional case studies against the key factors identifies trends representing indicative precedents. A procedure is developed to help identify increasingly relevant precedents for guiding target jurisdictions on potentially suitable options. Illustrative application to a real case in Australia is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This material aims to bring to the fore, through an empirical approach, corroborating the literature with the authors' view, the main features of key people in public projects, problems in organization planning, team arrangements, on the one hand, but also the directions of use of this information both, against the background of conditions for improving the performance of team management in public projects. This study combines significant elements of economic epistemology: performance management, project team management, organisation planning, role, responsabilty, in order to grow the level of public administration capabilities. Public administration reflects the institutional foundations of how countries are governed. Public administration responds to the needs of society and operates on the basis of organizational structures, processes, roles, relationships, policies and programs.

This paper examines the crisis management learning by the Norwegian government after the COVID-19 pandemic by focusing on types of learning based on the concepts of governance capacity and legitimacy. Using unique interview data with 36 elite administrative and political executives in Norway, the study finds varied learning by the involved actors, and most learning about coordination between ministries and agencies, which are amplified by the lack of knowledge related to analytical capacity. The study contributes to advance the analytical understanding of crisis management learning and provides insight into what a high performing government in the pandemic attempts to learn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have sought to explain variation in protection recognition rates between EU member states with, however, limited explanatory power. Surprisingly, few have contemplated the role of the administration, despite it being at the centre of the process through which asylum claims are examined. We posit that recognition rates are significantly affected by administrative capacity, although the administration's action may be mitigated by political factors. Our findings show that administrative effectiveness and experience in asylum matters yield higher recognition rates. We show that government preferences and the overall political context affect protection recognition, too. Importantly, we also find that the mechanisms at play are different if we consider the different forms of protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The paper’s primary goal is to analyze the effects of politics and administrative capacity on countries’ innovative performance. The inquiry comparatively examines possible correlations between democracy, political competition, income inequality, bureaucratic capacity, and corruption/transparency with countries’ innovation results. The dependent variables are three performance indicators of the Global Innovation Indexes (GII). After presenting the theory and the descriptive data analysis on the research variables, the paper runs multivariate regression models to test the hypotheses. The empirical analysis reinforced that political and administrative dimensions are relevant to understanding the national innovation systems’ achievements. However, democracy, bureaucracy quality and corruption/transparency are not influential factors in countries’ innovative results as the normative assumptions would suppose. On the contrary, political competition and inequality considerably impact how economies innovate. In conclusion, the paper brought original and intriguing findings that put in perspective the claim that there is a unique path or rule of thumb for innovation growth. Consequently, the inferences provide insights to scholars and stakeholders, public and private, to improve the debates and decisions regarding the priorities for government actions in times of evidence-based policymaking.

The paper's primary goal is to analyze the effects of politics and administrative capacity on countries' innovative performance. The inquiry comparatively examines possible correlations between democracy, political competition, income inequality, bureaucratic capacity, and corruption/transparency with countries' innovation results. The dependent variables are three performance indicators of the Global Innovation Indexes (GII). After presenting the theory and the descriptive data analysis on the research variables, the paper runs multivariate regression models to test the hypotheses. The empirical analysis reinforced that political and administrative dimensions are relevant to understanding the national innovation systems' achievements. However, democracy, bureaucracy quality and corruption/transparency are not influential factors in countries' innovative results as the normative assumptions would suppose. On the contrary, political competition and inequality considerably impact how economies innovate. In conclusion, the paper brought original and intriguing findings that put in perspective the claim that there is a unique path or rule of thumb for innovation growth. Consequently, the inferences provide insights to scholars and stakeholders, public and private, to improve the debates and decisions regarding the priorities for government actions in times of evidence-based policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates China's efforts to develop the administrative capacity of its border agents to effectively provide border security. It does so by contextualizing national efforts in relevant multilateral cooperation on border and immigration management. Regional frameworks such as ASEAN and Greater Mekong Subregion follow a regional border management approach that challenges Beijing's notion of sovereign border management. However, China and the border provinces selectively engage in cross-border cooperation. These cooperation projects include training programmes for immigrants, standardizing and facilitating immigration procedures at the border, joint efforts against human trafficking and illicit border mobilities, and enhancing local cross-border relations. Against this background, this article investigates how norms – such as administrative capacity and cooperation through border liaison mechanisms – are negotiated, adapted, and practised in the different regional organizations, as well as how they are implemented locally in national immigration laws and procedures in Yunnan Province. The analysis builds on a multi-method approach including fieldwork, policy, and institutional analysis. The article finds that while Chinese local and regional security interests are closely intertwined, norm dynamics are not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses in an essay style the challenges currently facing many of our local communities and national governments, and society more generally, which are substantial and profoundly concerning. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has only added another layer of complexity. The author notes the increasing fragility of democratic institutions in many nations and the growing prevalence of autocratic leadership in countries that traditionally have been perceived as stable democracies. There are two critical issues discussed more in-depth. These are, first, a significant decline, especially in democratic nations, over the past several decades in government resources and capacity. This increasingly limits the ability of these countries to respond to the most critical needs of their societies. Second is the profoundly destabilizing, worldwide growth in inequality which frequently underlies the declining public confidence in democratic governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a monographic issue on the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan and administrative capacity in Spain. It emphasizes the importance of reflecting on the deficiencies in the administrative capacities of some Spanish administrations. The temporary recovery instrument Next Generation EU (NGEU) is mentioned, as well as its objective of financing reforms in six priority areas. Additionally, the article highlights the link between NGEU and the political ambitions of the institutional cycle 2019-2024 and the multiannual financial framework 2021-2027. The article explores the concept of administrative capacity and its relationship with resource mobilization for the implementation of plans and programs. It also analyzes the impact of the reform of local public procurement on the efficiency of managing EU investments in Spanish municipalities, and examines the role of Parliament in improving administrative capacity and democratic control of the execution of European funds. [Extracted from the article]

In July 2020, the European Commission agreed on an aid package, the so-called Recovery and Resilience Mechanism (RRM), for which Spain would receive no less than 140 billion. For its management, the government developed the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan where, in addition, it would establish not only what investment project would be made but also the reforms to be applied. However, the recent experience of the Spanish administration revealed a significant difficulty in executing the European funds associated with the Multiannual Financial Framework 14-20. This difficulty, of which both the Spanish administration itself and the European Commission are aware, forces us to review the determinants of administrative capacity in our country as well as the possible necessary changes. In this paper we explore the relationship between administrative capacity and execution of funds as well as the necessary actions that must be carried out to improve the capacity and efficiency of administrations in the execution of funds that will be decisive for the future of Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature emphasizes the importance of strengthening the administrative capacity of States to guarantee an efficient use of EU funds. In the context of the Spanish Plan of Recovery, Transformation and Resiliency to distribute Next Generation EU funds, this article explores the role of the Spanish parliament in the improvement of this administrative capacity. We argue that it can contribute in two ways. First, reinforcing the accountability of public administration. Second, promoting the participation of authorities and public officials in the design and analysis of public policies. With the goal to explore how the parliament has developed these functions, the article analyzes the parliamentary control activity on public administrations during the period 1979-2019, based on the study of parliamentary questions introduced in plenary sessions and committees. It also take into account all the parliamentary appearances of public officials and authorities for the period 1986-2019. Results illustrate, on the one hand, that political control on public administrations is very low and, even if it has diversified compared to the eighties, it has significantly decreased over time. On the other hand, the participation of public officials and authorities takes place mainly on economy and budget issues, and through posts of political confidence, more than with a technical profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The success of EU cohesion policy, as it happens more generally with the public policies that are made at the EU level, is dependent on the administrative capacity of the public organizations with implementing powers within each Member State, including the regional and local tiers. The necessity to develop these skills in different territories and sectors, to guarantee the execution of the investments assigned, has required the European Commission, in cooperation with the OECD in some initiatives, to provide diverse tools for national Administrations to help them to strengthen these skills. This contribution reviews the conceptual literature on policy capacity, and it clarifies the definition of administrative capacity. Furthermore, it examines various empirical papers that deal with the link between administrative capacity and the absorption of EU funds, along with the main projects for administrative capacity development that have been conducted by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Amme Idaresi Dergisi is the property of Public Administration Institute for Turkey & the Middle East (TODAIE) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Although policy integration research has been burgeoning over the past decade, numerous blank spots exist in our understanding of the rationale, the policy-making implications and implementation challenges of integrated policy designs. This study aims at improving our knowledge in this field by reflecting on the relevance of administrative capacities for the development and implementation of integrated policies. Based on an in-depth analysis of the implementation of European Union (EU) policies for sustainable urban development in two meso-level authorities (Scotland and Veneto), evidence is provided that both administrations have introduced a range of capacity-building provisions in order to enable the replacement of sectoral policies with a comprehensive integrated strategy. However, the specific policy and governance settings designed with the purpose of enhancing administrative capacities differed significantly between the two contexts, largely depending on public administrations’ strategies and on the salience of EU policies in the respective political arenas.

This article explores how the Chinese government aims to maintain social stability by encouraging citizens to become volunteers. We propose that a new type of governance, namely, "state-enlisted voluntarism," is being deployed in which public security volunteers are mobilized and monitored by the state. Analysis based on ten-year nationwide empirical data gathered from local areas in China suggests that the government intentionally enlists citizens into its hierarchical system to strengthen its administrative capacity and maintain a stable society without the risk of domestic threats. We find that direct enlistment approaches empower citizens as state proxies, and that indirect enlistment approaches ensure that various social stakeholders are comprehensively controlled. In general, the Chinese government has four reasons to institutionalize the state enlistment of voluntarism: to increase human resources at the grassroots; transform social organizations into subordinates; frame policy innovations as political credits; and to avoid blame. Our findings also suggest that China's party-state system mobilizes citizens into implementation-oriented activities rather than engages them in policymaking to maintain social stability at the grassroots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Migration & Ethnic Themes: MET / Migracijske i Etničke Teme is the property of Institut za istrazivanje migracija / Institute for Migration Research (IMIN) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In recent years, regional policy at European Union level has entered a new planning paradigm, promoting the implementation of integrated territorial investment as a tool for intervention on the sustainable development of territories. In this regard, the study of the administrative capacity of regional planning is extremely relevant and useful. The aim of this study is to outline the main competencies of planning specialists in the implementation of integrated territorial investments as a tool of regional development policy. Research tasks have been set to achieve this aim. The modern approaches for regional development, the policy for sustainable development at regional level and the specific features of the integrated territorial investments are considered. Research emphasis is placed on the organizational and administrative aspects for the implementation of integrated territorial investments, both in the EU and in Bulgaria. Based on empirical research, an expert assessment of the capacity for planning public policies is given, by applying the new impact tool. The planning of the regional development, based on competencies, is considered and a conceptual competence profile of the planning specialist is proposed. Using methods such as induction, deduction, synthesis, comparative analysis and content analysis, the main points of regional development planning based on competencies, including information and communication ones, are derived. As a result, identified weaknesses and challenges are highlighted and the prospects for planning science and practice in general are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three phenomena that undermine the U.S. administrative state were taken to extremes under President Trump, contributing to democratic backsliding. The first is delegitimization: a suspicion of the public sector that has curdled into claims that public officials are deep state enemies of the people. This undermines belief in the capacity of government to deliver on democratic promises. Second is deconstruction, which includes undermining administrative capacity and delivery of services, making it harder for institutions to deliver on democratic promises, or to do so in ways that are transparent or generative of conditions in which the public sees government helping. The third is political control, in which loyalty to the political leaders is a primary virtue: this weakens structural protections of public employees and the capacities of government agencies to pursue their statutory mission or respond to other sources of democratic control such as Congress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public land management agencies, such as the USDA Forest Service (USFS), confront challenges in leveraging limited administrative capacity to effectively manage landscape-scale, cross-boundary disturbances. Using case study methods, we investigated the ~1996–2016 outbreak of mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) in the Black Hills, a 1.5 million acre region in South Dakota and Wyoming. We identified four practices that can promote the leveraging of administrative capacity: (1) establishing multilevel governance networks; (2) performing both distinct and shared ("redundant") partner roles; (3) maximizing the collaborative toolbox: drawing upon the variety of policy tools (older, newer) and modes of use (conventional, experimental); and (4) engaging a multilevel, multiorganizational network, with attention to the ways that a variety of network linkages can deploy a variety of policy tool types. This case demonstrates how the government-led model of network governance can be applied to leverage administrative capacity. These findings point to strategies to promote landscape-scale, cross-boundary management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cybernetic dream of regulatory ‘dashboard control’ has taken off in the German higher education system. Both government regulators and university managers are engaged in the creation of waves of increasingly fine-grained quantitative data. Yet a wide range of recent case studies of the German higher education sector attest that in spite of this ‘datafication’ frenzy, the impact of the collected data mass on regulatory and managerial decision-making capacities seems to have remained relatively limited. This article explores why, in spite of the considerable investment in quantitative data infrastructures in the German higher education sector, this did not result in significant overt analytical capacity building. It explores three hypotheses: 1) a legal hypothesis according to which quantification is curbed by legal protections under the Rechtsstaat; 2) a dysfunctionality hypothesis which holds that decision makers reject quantification as a flawed and impracticable pursuit; and 3) an egalitarian federalism hypothesis which argues that Germany’s federal states seek to prevent commensurability to avoid comparison and competition. The article finds that, in spite of its inconspicuousness, quantification indeed does inform various central decision-making processes. However, different legal, political, and relational factors prompt decision makers to engage in a hybrid, tempered and, overall, untransparent application of numerical data.

The article advances a new explanation of the role of administrative capacity in compliance with European Union (EU) rules. I argue that strong administrative capacity fosters not only compliance but creative compliance where capable civil servants aid determined governments in following formal EU rules while challenging their substance. I develop this argument by comparing two new member states that increased levels of state aid post-crisis but on different types: 'neoliberal' Estonia reporting proportionally more on 'bad' vertical aid than purportedly 'illiberal' Hungary. Drawing on original empirical data, I explain that Hungary has engaged in more creative compliance due to more cohesive ideological commitment to state intervention (a will) and stronger administrative capacity to achieve objectives while minimizing EU scrutiny and sanction (a way). Creative compliance with single market rules presents another challenge to the EU's ability to enforce uniform rules to ensure a 'level playing field' within the single market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the framework of the present study, the attention is focused on the financial management and control of public funds and activities, and, in particular, on the problems in the structuring and building the administrative capacity of the internal audit in the public sector organizations in Bulgaria. Based on relevant information presented in the Consolidated Annual Reports on Internal Control in the Public Sector in the Republic of Bulgaria of the Ministry of Finance, existing problems in this aspect of the contemporary internal audit and opportunities for overcoming them are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assessment of the administrative capacity of a municipality provides an opportunity to answer the questions where is its place among the others and which activities need improvement. To answer these questions, it is necessary to identify those policy areas for which the local authority is responsible, which will be evaluated, and on what criteria the evaluation will be carried out. If we limit ourselves to the notions of administrative capacity, it is clear that individual authors and organizations sometimes put different meanings into them. When politics intervenes, things are completely used in the direction of one or another view of right and wrong. Therefore, most researchers refrain from specifically defining administrative capacity, instead focusing on developing the structural elements that are supposed to form capacity. Capacity cannot be observed directly, information about it can be obtained only by noting the characteristics or values of obvious (observable) factors that indicate its hypothetical or real presence. This logic is also followed in the assessment methodology proposed in the report, as the capacity requirements are determined on the basis of current regulations governing the responsibilities of local government and on the basis of good practices registered at home and abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]