Central European Public Administration Review (E-Journal)
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Cost Management at Higher Education Institutions – Cases of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia
Full text linkHigher education expenditures persistently rise due to various economic, demographic and socio-cultural reasons. This caused repeated calls for reforms of the economic model in the higher education sector and dramatically increased the importance of the economic evaluations in the last decades due to concerns for efficiency. The above academic challenges led us to pioneering an attempt to evaluate the capabilities of financial management tools for three Western Balkan countries, i.e. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia. The precondition for successful reform processes is certainly a comprehensive and high-quality accounting information system that meets not only the requirements of external reporting but also the requirements of internal users, especially the management of HEIs. In that context, the main aim of this paper is to overview the legal and organizational accounting systems' characteristics focusing on external and internal reporting requirements, and study the level of development and usage of cost accounting at HEIs in selected countries. Therefore, our paper employs research methodology based on the survey conducted. The results show great differences in legal and organizational characteristics of accounting systems among the countries as well as in the development stages of cost accounting systems, which mainly focus on inconsistent overhead allocation as well as different accounting basis usage. The research results confirm poorly conceptualised and structured reporting of accounting information for management purposes, offering several applicable platforms for creation of performance management approaches and strategies in the public sector
Inclusion by Co-Production of Social Housing: The Slovak Experience
Full text linkThe field of social housing is one of many subjected to the potentials of co-production. Specifically, the Sustainable Development Goals target 11.1 is “By 2030, ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums”. The current Slovak “State Housing Policy Concept to 2020”, among others, defines specific objectives, e.g. increasing or at least maintaining the same share of public expenditure on housing, introducing a new housing allowance, and supporting the development of the non-profit sector in housing provision. The goal of this article is to investigate to what extent co-production – as joint working of the public, private for profit and private not-for profit sectors – has the capacity to address the gap in the provision of social housing in the Slovak Republic. Using the method of case study, the scale and forms of co-production in social housing are investigated and the key factors and barriers of co-production in this area are analysed. The authors suggest that co-production of social housing is the most efficient method of delivery of social housing, improves sustainability, and helps to include the beneficiaries into society. However, this approach requires extra energy from the stakeholders – especially from public officials – and is thus still rarely used in practice
Multiplication of Negative Scenarios: the Approach Public Administrations Could Use at Drafting General Rules
Full text linkThis paper addresses problems that emerge when draft laws are created without due regard for the calculus of probability. Although the latter should be sine qua non for future legislation, legislators usually do not use it despite the legislation’s pro future orientation. The paper, based on Hume’s old “is-ought” problem (the impossibility to move from descriptive statements to prescriptive ones) and with the awareness that probability will not be used soon, offers a solution for the future legislation in the multiplication of (negative) scenarios, applied to different life questions. Despite the more and more “popular use” of regulatory impact assessments, smart regulation, probability and risk, public administrations as the major drafters of general legal rules usually do not even use the (much simpler) negative approach to gain better insight into problems, although it is per se the natural way of our thinking. A new view on probability through signs that fit into (unwanted, but known in advance) scenarios can also provide new answers regarding causality. The latter is based on signs, which is what evidence per se really means
Impact of the Rule of Law as a Fundamental Public Governance Principle on Administrative Law Interpretation in the Czech Republic
Full text linkThe rule of law is a fundamental principle and the cornerstone of Western democracies and their public governance. Its underlying value is the idea of constraint of governmental power. The rule of law principle acts as an interpretative concept in most contexts of the exercise of public powers in the EU and its Member States, with the courts exercising supervision over the activities of administrative bodies. However, the teleological argumentation through fundamental principles is not inherent to all Central and Eastern European judicial and administrative bodies, given the long tradition of formalistic approach in most of them. The article analyses whether the approach has changed during the past thirty years and to which level the principle of the rule of law is used for interpretation of administrative law provisions by courts in the Czech Republic. Since the case law of the Czech Constitutional Court and the Czech Supreme Administrative Court is based on the arguments of legality and proportionality as the key elements of the rule of law, their cases were analysed using a comparative method. The article identifies a general tendency in legally difficult cases to move from purely linguistic interpretation to interpretation through values, including the rule of law. Most of the analysed cases reveal that the formalistic interpretation was strongly criticised by both the Constitutional and the Supreme Administrative courts. However, slight differences in their perception of the principles of legality and proportionality were discerned, namely in the debate on the intensity of control exercised by administrative courts over factual and discretionary decisions by administrative authorities. Nevertheless, these differences produce beneficial effects, as both principles continue being developed thanks to the exchange of opinions between the courts. Further research could be conducted for similar countries in the region
A Comparative Research on Municipal Voluntary Tasks of Three Hungarian and Slovenian Municipalities
Full text linkThe article summarizes the similarities and differences in voluntary task management of municipalities. For this purpose, we carried out empirical research in three Hungarian and three Slovenian municipalities. Our main objective was to discover which economic and social factors influence the scope of voluntary tasks in Hungary and in Slovenia. We separately analysed six sectors of municipal services, with regard to the different size of the municipalities. Likewise, we only covered the major sectors in which voluntary tasks are most likely to appear and therefore can serve as a basis for comparative analysis. The analysis gradually verified the initial hypothesis of our research that voluntary tasks management is more likely to be present in cities with larger economic powers and is remarkably profounder in municipalities of touristic importance
Local Self-Governments in Hungary: Recent Changes through Central European Lenses
Full text linkThis article provides an overview of the regulatory environment of the Hungarian system of local self-government based on the methods of legal dynamics and economic analyses in a historical perspective tracing events back to the aftermath of World War II. The starting point of the analysis is 1947, the launching of soviet type command economy in Hungary. Next is a detailed study of the regulation and evolution of local self-government since its beginnings in the early 1990s following the change of regime, with a brief international outlook on the post-soviet countries surrounding Hungary. In our economic analysis, emphasis is placed on the period following Hungary’s accession to the European Union, a period that held out considerable opportunities for Hungarian local self-governments, but ultimately evolved into bankruptcy. The article presents detailed reasons for the atypical nature of Hungarian local self-government indebtedness and the factors underlying this unfavourable process. Further on, the procedure of debt consolidation and the essential elements of the new regulatory environment created after 2011 are described. In a brief international comparison, debt portfolio developments are analysed through the examples of Slovenia, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic as analogue Central European countries, in order to provide further proof of the atypical financial management of Hungarian local self-governments, i.e. non-compliance with the rules and the not always solid budgetary discipline. The focus of the research underlying this paper is the impact the Hungarian regulation of self-governments had on the financial sustainability of local self-governments’ financial management. The study confirmed the initial hypothesis that the business management rules set out with insufficient prudence, deficiencies in the control system, and excessive borrowing in foreign exchange led to bankruptcy of a number of local self-governments and consequently jeopardised the proper provision of public services
Factors Contributing to the Successful Implementation of Management Innovations
Full text linkThe concept of management innovation as distinctive type of non-technological innovations is still in the early days of conceptual formation and confirmation. This paper aims to investigate the concept of management innovations in public sector organizations with an emphasis on identifying the impact of organizational factors on the successful implementation of management innovations. The aim of implementation of new management concepts and methods is to increase efficiency and effectiveness of public services. A research was conducted on a sample of local self-government units in Croatia using empirical methods. The obtained results confirm the set conceptual determinants of the management innovation term, as manifested through the influence of selected organizational factors. Accordingly, absorptive capacity and top management support, with the combined effects of implementation climate and innovation-values fit, have been identified as key factors to achieving successful implementation of management innovations. On the other hand, availability of significant financial resources was not found to be a significant factor for the effective implementation of this type of innovation. Research results suggest theoretical and practical implications for strengthening the effectiveness of local self-government
Public Policy Design and Implementation in Slovenia
Full text linkPublic policy design and implementation is a complex process, and so decision makers try to monitor all of the policy lifecycle stages in a particular policy domain. However, the question of coherent integration of various policy activities arises, including agenda-setting, ex-ante evaluation, formulation, decision-making, implementation, ex-post evaluation of individual policies, sector-specific ones, and even horizontal ones. Therefore, it is important to investigate and understand the reasons why an individual country, such as Slovenia, does not exploit all potential aspects of carrying out policy activities in a systematic and coherent manner. This article explores and analyzes Slovenian practice in policy design based on an in-depth empirical study among key public policyholders and decision makers. Furthermore, the authors identify the key success factors that facilitate or inhibit the development and progress of public policies, programs, and projects (PPPP) in Slovenia. The key findings indicate a particular lack of a professional policy unit to monitor the process holistically and the absence of ex-post evaluation. A need for a systemic solution in public policy design is established, which would merge different authorities’ efforts, epistemic communities, and the public in developing a structural multilevel model for good public governance
Creating Good Administration by Persuasion: A Case Study of the Recommendations of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe
Full text linkThis contextual paper tackles a rather under-researched topic of Council of Europe’s possible impact on national administrative law. It seeks to examine how one of its instruments – Recommendations of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe – can influence national standards of administrative law and provide a systematic assessment of the diverse functions and manifestations such instruments might have in a national legal order. For these purposes, the constitutional basis of these recommendations and their main features are examined followed by a subsequent analysis of the perceived importance and various functions and implications they might have in the chosen national legal system. This paper concludes that the scope of the functions and implications these instruments are capable of having to national administrative law is wide, yet it is not without limitations
Liability and Compensation for Damages in case of Violation of the Principles of Accountability and Good Governance
Full text linkAccountability is one of the fundamental principles of good governance, defined in various international documents. It is a broad term, which can include different levels of public administration performance, from organisation, relevant regulation, internal and external supervision, transparency to tort liability, etc. The paper focuses on procedural aspects, i.e. decision-making in administrative matters. The latter is usually regulated by an administrative procedure act, which can include among fundamental principles also the principle of accountability. However, other procedural guarantees, e.g. lawfulness, equality, impartiality, proportionality, legal certainty, taking action within a reasonable time, contribute to responsible decision-making as well. In case they are infringed, the state should recognise accountability and have in place an efficient control system providing parties with effective (legal) remedies (e.g. possibility to appeal to the line ministry; administrative inspection; judicial control; constitutional complaint, compensation, etc.). Yet, not every non-compliance (irregularity) leads to (tort) liability. Administrative authorities in fact enjoy a high level of independence. The paper provides an international overview of accountability and analyses the liability of the state as deriving from the Slovene domestic law and the levels of accountability when the efficiency of administrative procedures is under question. The methods used include normative analysis and analysis of the relevant case law