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This working paper is part of the research programme on Institutions, Governance and Longterm Economic Growth, a partnership between the French Development Agency AFD and the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance Maastricht University UNUMerit. The research builds on the Institutional Profiles Database IPD, jointly developed by AFD and the French Ministry of the Economy since 2001.What is state capacity and how does it affect development The concept of state capacity acquired centrality during the late seventies and eighties, sponsored by a rather compact set of scholarly works. It later permeated through several disciplines and has now earned a place within the many governance dimensions affecting economic performance. The present article aims to provide a historical account of the evolution and usage of the state capacity concept, along with its various operationalizations. It examines in particular a the growing distance in the usage of the concept by different disciplinary and thematic fields; b the process of branching out of the concept from restricted to more multidimensional definitions; c the problems with construct validity and concept stretching, and d the generalized lack of clarity that exists regarding the institutional sources of state capacity.
Recent literature models leadership as a process of communication in which leaders’ rhetorical signals facilitate followers’ co-ordination. While some studies have explored the effects of leadership in experimental settings, there remains a lack of empirical research on the effectiveness of informational tools in real political environments. Using quantitative text analysis of federal and sub-national legislative addresses in Russia, this article empirically demonstrates that followers react to informational signals from leaders. It further theorizes that leaders use a combination of informational and non-informational tools to solve the co-ordination problem. The findings show that a mixture of informational and non- informational tools shapes followers’ strategic calculi. Ignoring non-informational tools — and particularly the interrelationship between informational and non-informational tools - can threaten the internal validity of causal inference in the analysis of leadership effects on co-ordination.
We address leadership emergence and the possibility that there is a partially innate predisposition to occupy a leadership role. Employing twin design methods on data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we estimate the heritability of leadership role occupancy at 24%. Twin studies do not point to specific genes or neurological processes that might be involved. We therefore also conduct association analysis on the available genetic markers. The results show that leadership role occupancy is associated with rs4950, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) residing on a neuronal acetylcholine receptor gene (CHRNB3). We replicate this family-based genetic association result on an independent sample in the Framingham Heart Study. This is the first study to identify a specific genotype associated with the tendency to occupy a leadership position. The results suggest that what determines whether an individual occupies a leadership position is the complex product of genetic and environmental influences, with a particular role for rs4950.
One of the most important changes in the history of codecision has been the steep increase in early agreements since 1999. Early agreements have enhanced the efficiency of European Union legislation, but they have been criticized for giving a subset of actors disproportionate control over the legislative agenda and negotiation process. Yet, no study has systematically shown whether and how early agreements have indeed redistributed influence between actors within the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. Our contribution fills this gap by comparing actors’ bargaining success across readings under codecision in a dataset of salient files. Contrary to our theoretical predictions, we do not find evidence of distributional consequences when controlling for inter-institutional conflict and file characteristics. Where codecision is concluded early, the final legislative outcomes are not located closer to the policy positions held by the party group of the Parliament's rapporteur or by the Council Presidency.
The European Union (EU) has experienced a remarkable degree of change during its history: it legislates in an ever wider range of policy areas, and its institutions and decision-making processes have been reformed repeatedly. One of the most important institutional changes was the introduction of the codecision procedure in 1993, which empowered the European Parliament (EP) and transformed the EU system of governance. Following the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon the majority of legislation is now subject to codecision under the ordinary legislative procedure. Consequently, the operation of codecision has major implications for our understanding and analysis of the EU's legislative outputs and for studies of supranational policy-making and systemic evolution more generally. This collection takes stock of 20 years of practising and studying codecision and examines the procedure's long-term implications for the EU's institutions, politics and policies.
This article investigates a widespread yet understudied trend in EU politics: the shift of legislative decision making from public inclusive to informal secluded arenas and the subsequent adoption of legislation as “early agreements.” Since its introduction in 1999, “fast-track legislation” has increased dramatically, accounting for 72% of codecision files in the Sixth European Parliament. Drawing from functionalist institutionalism, distributive bargaining theory, and sociological institutionalism, this article explains under what conditions informal decision making is likely to occur. The authors test their hypotheses on an original data set of all 797 codecision files negotiated between mid-1999 and mid-2009. Their analysis suggests that fast-track legislation is systematically related to the number of participants, legislative workload, and complexity. These findings back a functionalist argument, emphasizing the transaction costs of intraorganizational coordination and information gathering. However, redistributive and salient acts are regularly decided informally, and the Council presidency’s priorities have no significant effect on fast-track legislation. Hence, the authors cannot confirm explanations based on issue properties or actors’ privileged institutional positions. Finally, they find a strong effect for the time fast-track legislation has been used, suggesting socialization into interorganizational norms of cooperation.
[en] Die europäischen Bildungsminister beschlossen 1999 einen einheitlichen europäischen Hochschulraum zu schaffen; der so genannte Bologna Prozess wurde in Gang gesetzt. Mit der Unterzeichnung der Kopenhagener Erklärung nur drei Jahre später entschlossen sich die Nationalstaaten, auch im Bereich der beruflichen Bildung stärker zusammenzuarbeiten. Vor allem soll die nationale wie internationale Vergleichbarkeit von Bildungsabschlüssen verbessert werden. Beide Prozesse zielen darauf ab, Durchlässigkeit zwischen den organisatorischen Feldern berufliche Bildung und Hochschulbildung zu erhöhen, und zwar mit Hilfe von gemeinsam entwi- ckelten Standards wie dem Europäischen und Nationalen Qualifikationsrahmen, einem System zur Validierung und Anerkennung unterschiedlicher Lernformen, der Ermöglichung flexibler Bildungswege und der Einführung von Kreditpunkte- systemen (Powell/Solga 2008, 2010, 2011).
Heute, nach einem Jahrzehnt seit Beginn dieser Prozesse stellt sich die Frage, wie diese in den europäischen Nationalstaaten bisher schon gewirkt und wie sie das Verhältnis von Hochschul- und Berufsbildung verändert haben – Veränderungen, die mit vielfältigen Implikationen für die Bildungs- und soziale Mobilität einherge- hen können (Bernhard/Powell/Graf 2010): Die Frage nach Durchlässigkeit zwi- schen beruflicher und Hochschulbildung ist dabei insbesondere deswegen wichtig, da stratifizierte (Aus-)Bildungssysteme ohne Brücken zwischen einzelnen Bildungs- sektoren den möglichst gleichen Zugang zu Bildungs- und Beschäftigungsopportu- nitäten behindern.
Germany, Austria, and Switzerland have traditionally provided a large proportion of their workforces with qualifications obtained in the dual vocational training system. However, due to the growing demand for abstract and codified knowledge, all three countries aim at increasing the permeability and individual mobility between the dual training sector and the higher education system. In this chapter we analyse the ways in which Germany, Austria and Switzerland have tried to establish institutional linkages between dual vocational training and higher education. We begin by discussing options for creating such linkages: (1.) upgrading of vocational education and training courses, (2.) introducing dual courses of study, (3.) facilitating attendance of general upper secondary schools for people with vocational qualifications, (4.) enabling the parallel acquisition of a dual vocational training qualification and a higher education entrance qualification, (5.) allowing admission to higher education on the basis of prior dual vocational training qualifications and a certain amount of work experience, and (6.) recognising prior learning as an element in higher education programmes. Our analysis shows that, recently, Germany has relied strongly on the admission to higher education based on vocational training certificates in combination with work experience. Switzerland and Austria are rather pushing the comprehensive introduction of programmes that enable the parallel acquisition of a dual vocational training qualification and a higher education entrance qualification. Finally, we raise questions about the risk of institutional ambiguity and institutional task overload
A series of studies has shown that civil wars are caused not only by factors inside countries, but also by effects operating across state borders. Whereas a first wave of quantitative studies demonstrated that such effects make the “closed-polity” assumption untenable, more recently researchers have identified particular causal mechanisms driving conflict. Despite these recent advances, a central puzzle remains unresolved, namely why ethnic groups that at least in theory could count on support from large transborder ethnic kin (TEK) groups often have remained surprisingly peaceful, such as the stranded Russian populations in the “near abroad.” We propose a theoretical framework that extends the analysis from the primary dyad between the incumbent and the challenger group by adding a secondary dyad that pits the incumbent against the TEK group. We postulate a curvilinear effect of the TEK group's relative size on conflict onset. Using a new data set on transnational ethnic links, we find that that the risk of conflict increases within the middle range of the size spectrum, consistent with our main hypothesis. This means that large TEK groups have a conflict-dampening effect, provided that they control their own state. Excluded TEK groups, however, are not associated with lower conflict probabilities.
The Hybridization of Vocational Training and Higher Education in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland
(2013)
Austria, Germany, and Switzerland are increasingly relying on hybridization at the nexus of vocational training and higher education to increase permeability and reform their highly praised systems of collective skill formation. This historical and organizational institutionalist study compares these countries to trace the evolution of their skill regimes from the 1960s to today‘s era of Europeanization, focusing especially on the impact of the Bologna and Copenhagen processes.
Wie Städte sich neu finden
(2013)
In Städten verdichten sich wie nirgendwo sonst ökonomische, soziale und kulturelle Facetten menschlichen Zusammenlebens. Hier entstehen wirtschaftliche und kulturelle Impulse. 84 Prozent der deutschen Bevölkerung lebt in Städten. Doch sind nicht alle Städte gleichermaßen Orte von Wachstum und Innovation. Mit dem Ende der Industrialisierung und dem Übergang in die Dienstleistungsgesellschaft (vgl. Bell 1999) sind einige Städte aus dem größeren Arbeits-kreislauf der Gesellschaft herausgefallen. Sie haben aufgehört, zentrale Orte des Wirtschaftens zu sein. Ihre Bevölkerungen schrumpfen, Gebäude bleiben ungenutzt und die öffentliche Hand verfügt nur über unzureichende und schwindende Mittel, dem entgegenzuwirken. Es sind strukturschwache Städte.
Kommunale Schrumpfungsprozesse sind aus dem 20. Jahrhundert kaum bekannt, obwohl zwei Kriege in Deutschland tobten und unvorstellbare Verwüstungen hinterlassen haben. (...)