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The Politics of Bureaucracy

Democracy
Governance
Government
Institutions
Public Administration
Decision Making
Policy-Making
S51
Thurid Hustedt
Hertie School
Dovilė Rimkutė
Departments of Political Science and Public Administration, Universiteit Leiden


Abstract

Public organizations and officials at various levels of government are key players in the policy process. At the same time, bureaucracy itself is profoundly affected by political decision-making. Among the key themes in the literature on politico-administrative relations are tensions between political control and bureaucratic autonomy and different explanations of the drivers of bureaucratic and political behavior. The goal of this section is to promote this research agenda by explicitly adopting a political science perspective on public administration to study how political processes affect public bureaucracies, and vice versa. Populist politics and the bureaucracy Kutsal Yesilkagit, Michael Bauer, B. Guy Peters, Jon Pierre The rise of illiberal populist political parties around the world has increased threats to the independence of the bureaucracy. Recent empirical studies shed light on the strategies that populist parties employ to transform the bureaucracy and the mixed set of reactions from the bureaucracy to these strategies. The field is currently in need of studies that apply more systematic, theory-driven comparative perspectives on this phenomenon. This panel invites therefore papers to push further our insights in the effects of populism on political-administrative relationships. We especially welcome papers with a comparative (country-level, policy sector-level) research design. Bureaucratic behavior in turbulent political environments Heidi Houlberg Salomonsen & Joris van der Voet Effective bureaucracies require an effective political process. Ongoing developments such as populist movements, economic downturn, and anti-expertise sentiment - as well as the Covid-19 pandemic - make the political environment in which bureaucratic actors operate increasingly turbulent. Such developments limit bureaucrats’ ability to devise policy solutions based on substantive expertise, and increasingly require decision-making in shorter time spans, achievement of results with reduced financial resources, and realization of unclear and inconsistent political objectives. This panel invites research that examines how bureaucratic behavior is shaped by the political environment, and how bureaucratic actors may mitigate turbulent political environments through strategic behavior. The Politics of Bureaucratic Reputation Madalina Busuioc and Dovilė Rimkutė Bureaucratic reputation scholarship has demonstrated that bureaucratic organizations adjust decision-making practices, produce diverse outputs, and engage in targeted communication strategies to build, maintain, or enhance their reputation. However, we still have a limited understanding of the effects of these efforts and the conditions under which bureaucratic actors succeed (or fail) in cultivating their regulatory power, autonomy, authority and/or engender citizen trust. To what extent are public organizations successful in cultivating support from their audiences? This panel invites theoretical and empirical contributions on the politics of bureaucratic reputation. It invites especially empirical contributions that set out to test core claims of reputation literature. Organizational silos and bureaucratic routines: drivers, variation, and change Thurid Hustedt and Kai Wegrich The term “bureaucratic silos” is used as a battle term to criticize administrative practices. The literature on “public sector innovation” and “collaborative innovation” considers breaking up these silos as a key to improving the quality of public services and enhancing problem-solving. Widely used as a metaphor, scholarship has neither conceptually developed nor empirically explored “bureaucratic silos”. This panel explores “organizational silos”, their conceptual properties and underlying drivers. We welcome papers seeking to explore cross-sectional and longitudinal variation in the prevalence of “silos” or measurement issues. How “silos” relate to other theoretical concepts, such as “bureaucratic routines”, is another important topic that papers could explore. Inter-Ministry Politics: Ministers, Ministries, and the Politics of Policy-Making Katrijn Siderius and Julian Garritzmann While we do have a solid understanding of the role of parties, interest groups, and other political actors, we know surprisingly little about the role of individual ministries in the policy process. Yet, inter-ministry politics matter because the involvement of different ministries has different (re)distributive consequences and implications for representation and responsiveness. In this panel, we therefore welcome papers that contribute to our understanding of 1) the role of individual ministries in the policy process, 2) substantial preferences of different ministries, and 3) the conditions under which ministries can ‘win’ the inter-ministerial political game and influence policy output. The bureaucratic politics of data protection Tobias Bach and Martino Maggetti The regulation of personal data has gained high salience following the deployment of new information and communication technologies (e.g. artificial intelligence) and in the wake of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPPR). Arguably, GDPR has empowered national data protection authorities to make decisions that are relevant across many policy sectors. The panel invites contributions addressing the following (and related) topics: How do data protection authorities prioritize their regulatory activities? Which conflicts emerge over data protection, and how do regulatory authorities address them? How do they deal with possible trade-offs between data protection concerns and the promises of novel technologies? The role of governments in innovation policies: scriptwriter, performer or viewer? Mujaheed Shaikh and Tugce Schmitt While the efforts towards digitalization of public services foreground the availability of the state-of-the-art technology, their deployment at the national level requires a broader comprehension of the local context and main stakeholders. Central to any endeavor for implementing digital innovations at scale is to understand the role of governments and governance ecosystems in integrating those technologies into national structures. Interest groups build barriers against digital transformation when they feel that their (privileged) position is under threat. In this panel, we would like to discuss this field of tension from empirical and theoretical perspectives, suggesting potential solutions. Involving Stakeholders in Regulation Bastiaan Redert and Torbjørg Jevnaker Policymakers rely heavily on non-state stakeholders (such as firms, business associations, trade unions, NGOs, consumer groups, etc.) in regulatory policymaking processes. Not only do policymakers need technical expertise to make effective regulation, they also use stakeholders as a means to ensure implementation, build their reputation and expand their authority. The panel welcomes both qualitative and quantitative papers that delve deeper in the relations between stakeholders and regulators. How do these relations take place? What are their effects? How do the networks of stakeholders and regulators look like – do they change over time, and what happens in times of crisis?
Code Title Details
INN021 Bureaucratic behavior in turbulent political environments View Panel Details
INN143 Inter-Ministry Politics: Ministers, Ministries, and the Politics of Policy-Making View Panel Details
INN150 Involving Stakeholders in Regulation View Panel Details
INN210 Organizational silos and bureaucratic routines: drivers, variation, and change View Panel Details
INN274 Populist politics and the bureaucracy View Panel Details
INN327 The bureaucratic politics of regulatory performance View Panel Details
INN352 The Politics of Bureaucratic Reputation View Panel Details
INN359 The role of governments in innovation policies: scriptwriter, performer or viewer? View Panel Details
INN472 Populist politics and the bureaucracy II View Panel Details
INN473 Corruption and bureaucracy in international perspective: new concepts and evidence View Panel Details