Institutional gaps and the governance dilemma in hybrid regimes
- Are formal institutions always the rules of the game? In hybrid regimes, the surprising answer is no. Formal institutions regularly fail to shape actor expectations and guide behavior. As a result, gaps between formal rules and their actual implementation or longer term effects are a typical feature of these regimes in the gray area between democracy and authoritarianism. Such gaps occur and persist depending largely on the level of government control, the strength of the institutional environment, and the existence of informal institutions. They affect various actors and can present important governance dilemmas for NGOs and the state. This study draws on extensive field work, semistructured interviews, document retrieval, and participant observation to explain the sources and implications of gaps by comparing the two policy fields of social protection and criminal justice in post-Soviet Armenia and Georgia. The arguments resulting from the systematic analysis of the four in-depth case studies are extended by a comparison of gaps across regime types, and a discussion of gap varieties in hybrid regimes as diverse as Malaysia, Kenya, and Russia. By proposing a middle-range theory on institutional gaps in hybrid regimes, this research advances institutional theory by counterbalancing the empirical emphasis on advanced capitalist democracies with insights from hybrid regimes. It also contributes to NGO research by suggesting a context-sensitive approach to organizational behavior and extends a nascent research agenda on the day-to-day governance of hybrid regimes.
Document Type: | Doctoral Thesis |
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Language: | English |
Author(s): | Mariella Falkenhain |
Advisor: | Helmut K. Anheier |
Referee: | Christoph Stefes |
Hertie Collections (Serial Number): | Dissertations submitted to the Hertie School (08/2017) |
Publication year: | 2017 |
Publishing Institution: | Hertie School |
Granting Institution: | Hertie School |
Thesis date: | 2017/09/02 |
Number pages: | 282 |
Release Date: | 2018/07/10 |
Notes: | Published as "Falkenhain, Mariella (2020): Weak Institutions and the Governance Dilemma: Gaps as Traps." https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-hsog/frontdoor/index/index/start/0/rows/10/sortfield/score/sortorder/desc/searchtype/simple/query/falkenhain/docId/3444 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39742-5 |
Notes: | Shelf mark: 2017D010 + 2017D010+1 |
Hertie School Research: | Publications PhD Researchers |
Licence of document (German): | Metadaten (öffentlich), Volltext (zugriffsbeschränkt) |