Central European Public Administration Review (E-Journal)
Not a member yet
448 research outputs found
Sort by
The Role of Public Governance Practices for Business R&D Activity in the EU
Full text linkThe public sector and public governance play a crucial role in the contemporary society which takes care of social needs. Therefore, it is not surprising that good governance has often been used to explain good economic performance as well as the well-being of a society over the last decade. However, the business sector often represents a channel through which public governance affects economic performance, which has largely been neglected in the existing literature. In this context, not much is known about the role of public governance in promoting research and development (R&D) in the business sector in the EU. Therefore, this article aims to explain the interaction between the public and business sectors in a cross-national setting by investigating the relationship between different public governance practices and business R&D activity. The aim is to be achieved by applying a multiple regression analysis on a cross-sectional dataset of EU member countries. The empirical results show the following. First, they reveal that, in general, public administration in the EU is predominantly based on neo-Weberian state rather than New Public Management governance practices. Second, they reveal that public governance practices have important implications for business R&D activity. They show that impartiality, accountability and efficiency enhance business R&D activity in the EU, while closeness deteriorates it. The findings of the article are especially beneficial for contemporary governments and policymakers to establish appropriate public governance and policy practices in the future
The ‘Silent Guardians’ in the Fight against Corruption: The Case of North Macedonia
Full text linkImpartial public administration is a key gatekeeper against corruptive practices and the necessary condition for the process of democratisation. Yet, in the case of North Macedonia, there is an ongoing challenge in addressing the problem of politicisation of public administration. On one hand, the ombudsman holds the normative position to safeguard citizens in front of state administration bodies, to act upon the impartiality biases or other deviances of norms, and to annually report to the National Parliament. On the other hand, the parliament should be able to hold executives and institutions accountable for their actions and to act upon the ombudsman’s recommendations. However, there is a limited understanding of the role that these two institutions can play in an effective fight against corruption as part of the democratisation processes. The purpose of the article is to examine the institutional gaps where the opportunities for corruption and social traps are encouraged. Based on theoretical, empirical as well as comparative observations, within single case method analysis, this article aims to examine the compliance of the theoretical fingerprints with the actual practice and provide a different angle on the institutional opportunities for social traps, in the context of unconsolidated democracies. The findings show that there is a causality between the institutional ‘silent guardian’ of the citizens and the prevalence of corruption. It also encourages further discussion on the factors that undermine the positions of the ombudsman and the parliament to take active engagement in rooting out the corruption from societies
Public Administration Reform over Time – Did Change Lead to a More Effective Integrity Management?
Full text linkThe following discussion adds to the discourse regarding the relationship between public administration reform and ethics policies. In this theoretical paper, a narrative is employed that re-reads the old Weberian model as a model of ‘institutional integrity’, which is slowly replaced by a public management concept that focuses on individual integrity. Whereas the Weberian concept defined institutional integrity as a quality of institutions, more recent management concepts define institutional integrity as a quality of public officers within institutions. This also explains why the current focus of attention is ever more on individuals (as the main cause for unethical conduct) and the bad-person model of integrity. An alternative framing of this paper is about ‘institutional ethics’ over time. During the last decades, we are moving from an institutional, but mechanical and rigid Weberian model, to an individual, but more fluid New Public Management model. We are moving towards a version of institutional integrity that tries to use new behavioural mechanism to get back to some Weberian virtues, without its structures and technical focus. This novel ‘integrity management’ movement is really all about filling the gaps left by New Public Management doctrines. However, the reform of integrity management also develops into a specialised, sophisticated and professionalised ethics bureaucracy. Trends are towards ever more broader and stricter integrity requirements. Still, ethics policies are ineffective and shortcomings in implementing integrity policies are neglected
The Current Discussion on Austrian Family Benefits – Indicating a Major Dissensus on the Interpretation of EU Law
Full text linkIn early 2018, Austria amended its family benefits law by introducing ‘indexation’ according to the average living costs of the country where the child actually resides. What seems to be, at first sight, a flagrant breach of EU law (in particular of Article 7 of Regulation [EC] 883/2004) is, when looking deeper, much more complicated and might very well be only a symptom of deeply rooted differences in the interpretation of current, post-Lisbon Union law,
(i) in particular with regard to the relationship between the traditional prohibition of “discrimination on grounds of nationality” (Article 18 TFEU, Article 21(2) CFR; the ‘Leitmotiv’ of the Treaties) and the “citizenship of the Union” (Article 9 second sentence TEU, Article 20(1), first and second sentence) on the one hand and the further role of the “nationality of a Member State” on the other, which shall, pursuant to Article 9 TEU, third sentence, as well as Article 20(1) TFEU, third sentence, not be replaced by the “citizenship of the Union”,
(ii) but also with regard to Article 352 TFEU, the scope of which is, most
probably, much smaller than that of its predecessor, Article 308 TEC,
(iii) and last but not least, with regard to a proper understanding of the principle of equal treatment, requiring not to treat alike factually different situations.
Giving a full picture not only in abstract terms but demonstrating the relevance of the said differences on the concrete example of the interpretation of the above mentioned secondary legislation, the author aims at contributing to bridging gaps and, thus, fostering a better mutual understanding as a vital precondition for the future legal cohesion of the EU
Public Administration Reform in Bulgaria: Top-down and Externally-driven Approach
Full text linkThe article examines public administration reform (PAR) in Bulgaria and the main factors that shaped the reform agenda and dynamics. PAR is examined along five key dimensions – transparency and accountability, civil service and human resources management (HRM), public service delivery and digitalisation, organisation and management of government, and policy-making coordination and implementation. The article argues that there are four main factors influencing reform dynamics and determining policy outcomes in the Bulgarian case: the specific political choices made by government elites, external influence of the EU and of past national legacies, and the importance of institutions and reform mechanisms. To illustrate these factors at work, the article examines three policy initiatives, i.e. e-government, the reduction of administrative burden, and civil service reform. The article presents a longitudinal analysis and a qualitative case-study approach, utilising Annual Reports on the Status of the Public Administration 2001–2018, mapping European Semester Documents 2011–2017, an inventory of PAR initiatives 2005–2018, and interviews of public officials. The pushes for reform have been top-down, externally-driven, and stop-and-go in nature. The results confirm previous findings that Bulgaria is among the EU countries with the poorest record in PAR, struggling to overcome communist legacies and high levels of corruption and politicisation. The Bulgarian case highlights several important lessons: the importance of political will and political dynamics for the outcome of reform efforts; the importance of external pressure and financing; the difficulty of uprooting long-standing legacies in administrative traditions; and the limitations of the top-down approach as an obstacle to the sustainability of reform efforts
Access to the Highest Administrative Courts: between the Right of an Individual to Have a Case Heard and the Right of a Court to Hear Selected Cases
Full text linkHearing a dispute by a court in a reasonable time is one of the crucial conditions for the existence of an effective judicial system as imposed by the European law and national legal orders. That requirement is contrary to the expectations of individuals to question the judgments of lower courts before the courts of the highest instance. The purpose of this article is to explore the question of values that should be taken into consideration by legislatures in a process of determining the access of administrative cases to the highest courts. The analysis is based on the example of Austrian and Polish legal systems. In both countries, there is a separate two-instance administrative judiciary. However, the conditions of the access to the Supreme Administrative Courts differ. In Poland, that access is unlimited, considering the constitutional principle of two-instance court proceedings. In Austria, the right in question is limited to cases deemed significant for broader interest, i.e. not only the one of the parties to the proceeding. An analysis of the normative consequences of each solution leads to the conclusion that procedural limitations concerning the access to the highest courts foster their role in preserving the uniformity of the case law and ensuring a high standard of its interpretation. A system with no limitations does not guarantee the determination of a concrete dispute in a reasonable time and thus cannot be considered effective
Intensity of Judicial Review of the European Central Banks’s Supervisory Decisions
Full text linkA few years after the establishment of the Single Supervisory Mechanism, the General Court of the European Union, in its new supervisory role, annulled for the first time the decisions adopted by the European Central Bank (ECB). These judgments are of particular interest because they allow a preliminary investigation of the intensity of judicial review of the ECB’s discretionary choices in the field of banking supervision. This article claims that the first case law of the General Court points to several interesting developments and indicates the resolve to carry out a judicial review which, although adhering strictly to the “limited review” standard, does not shy away from developing judicial techniques to ensure a more incisive scrutiny of the discretion enjoyed by the ECB. Despite the novelty of the issues brought to the attention of the EU judges, it seems possible as a result of this study to envisage, on the one hand, a gradual alignment of the scrutiny of supervisory decisions with those emerged in relation to the Commission’s decisions on competition matters. On the other hand, a differentiation from the “light touch” approach adopted in the field of monetary policy can be observed
Public Sector Reform from the Post-New Public Management Perspective: Review and Bibliometric Analysis
Full text linkThe aim of this article is to evaluate the impact of public sector reform on academic literature from the post-NPM perspective. There have been several investigations into post-NPM public governance models and their impact on public sector reform. Yet, the research problem faced when analysing post-NPM literature is the lack of studies examining the multitude of possible public governance models (PGM) with sufficient comprehensiveness, especially in Central and Eastern European (CEE) states. In order to effectively address the research problem, a bibliometric analysis was performed, following three objectives: (i) an investigation into the evolution of PGM literature, (ii) identification of the core publications and authors based on publication frequency, and (iii) a citation network analysis (a historiograph), indicating the relations among the most-cited publications. It involved the identification of 16,374 publications in the Web of Science database, narrowed down to the 100 most cited between 1994 and 2017, and the application of the HistCite bibliometric analysis software, covering descriptive statistics, bibliometric indicators, and historiographic citation analysis. The research results reveal a growing research interest in the topic, as supported by bibliometric indicators. In addition, important differences as regards coverage and diffusion of individual post-NPM models are indicated. Namely, most publications focus on the ‘governance’ paradigm and subsequent critical rethinking, as indicated by several post-NPM modernisation proposals. Furthermore, we have shown that such evaluation of governance and related doctrines may be biased in favour of subjective, pluralistic Western ideas about governance, presumably limiting their impact within the CEE and several other regions. Hence, the regions’ particularities in terms of governance (post-socialism, Rechtsstaat culture, EU membership, small states, etc.) must be further taken into account in the post-NPM literature
Role of the Human Rights Ombudsman in Ensuring Good Administration in Slovenia
Full text linkAccording to the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia and the Human Rights Ombudsman Act, the Slovenian Ombudsman is established to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in relation to public authorities. It is important that the Ombudsman not only complies with the provisions of the Constitution and international legal acts, but that when intervening, the Ombudsman may invoke the principles of fairness and good administration. The purpose of the article is to contribute to the understanding of good administration and related circumstances for the respect or violation of human rights. The article is based on the idea that by applying the principles of good administration, public authority undermines the public belief that bureaucracy is an end in itself and is in a dominant position. With these principles, public authority focuses on parties which realise their rights and enjoy their freedoms through the principles and postulates of a democratic society. Both theoretical and empirical research methods were used in the preparation of the article. The analysis of complaints to the Ombudsman aimed to verify the compliance of normative, theoretical bases with actual practice, and to establish the basis for evaluating the existing model of the Slovenian Ombudsman, all in the context of the study of good administration. The results together with theoretical findings facilitated the verification that in practice, public authorities most frequently violate the principles of good administration and that the Ombudsman may significantly contribute to good administration within their powers. The findings of this article are an original contribution to understanding ombudsmen and their role in different countries
Financial Position and Sustainability of Associations in Croatia
Full text linkThis paper emphasizes the economic importance of the civil society sector in the national socio-economic context. There is a systematic neglect of the economic and financial components of civil society organizations and non-profit sector in Croatia even though a significant volume of civil society organizations’ activities is funded from public sources and there is a high possibility of exploitation of their relatively privileged tax position. The purpose of this paper is to present research results of the funding sources, the financial potential and the elements of economic performance of citizens’ associations in the Republic of Croatia. The survey sample includes over 20,000 citizens’ associations which have submitted financial reports to the Registry of Non-profit Organizations in accordance with the statutory obligation. The research is based on aggregated data reported in the Balance Sheet and Performance Report for 2015 and 2016. The scientific contribution of the paper is reflected in the assessment of the financial performance and financial transparency of the activities of civil society organizations in the Republic of Croatia and their sustainability in comparison with Serbia and Slovenia.