Volume 19, 2017 Issue #2 – Special Issue on Fiscal Crisis and European Public Administration: Comparative Policy Responses

The Impact of Fiscal Crisis on Public Administration Reforms in Europe

Authors: Tiina Randma-Liiv, Walter Kickert

Introduction:

The world economy continues to grapple with the aftermath of the deepest and most widespread recession in over half a century. The global financial and economic crisis, followed by fiscal crisis, led most Western governments to plan and implement austerity measures in order to cope with the concurrent problems of lower revenues and high public deficit and debt. This did not only influence the delivery and quality of public services, but also the way public administration itself functions. Even though the economic figures show signs of restoring economic growth, the influence of fiscal stress on public administration and management is likely to continue for several years to come.

This special issue aims to identify both systemic reform trends in public administration as well as changes in patterns of public management occurring during the retrenchment and immediate years following the cutbacks. Fiscal crisis can provide an opportunity for policy change since it delegitimizes long-standing policies underpinning the status quo. Europe offers an interesting context for examining the impact of the fiscal crisis on public administration because it involves countries which were hit by the fiscal crisis to a different degree. The large-scale comparison of 14 European countries presented in this issue allows us to conclude that more substantial reforms were carried out in countries most severely hit by the crisis and/or where administrative reforms were conditioned by the international financial assistance. That is why the articles in this issue look at the countries which were hit the hardest by the crisis, including Estonia, Italy, Ireland and Latvia.

At the same time, fiscal crisis and changes in public administration do not necessarily go hand in hand. Although the popular saying calls for not wasting “a good crisis” and using it for carrying out long-awaited changes and structural reforms, several academics have noted that because of the time pressure involved in curbing budget deficits, policy makers’ attention has been diverted from comprehensive and time-consuming preparation and implementation of structural reforms. The argumentation for and against the reforms during the era of fiscal crisis presents a central puzzle that this special issue addresses. The main claims around this puzzle are outlined below. View Full Text

State Retrenchment and Administrative Reform in Ireland: Probing Comparative Policy Paradigms

Author Niamh Hardiman & Muiris MacCarthaigh

Subjects: austerity, public sector reform, comparing policy paradigms, agencies, budgets

Abstract: Policy choices in response to crisis may carry consequences both for distributive outcomes and for the future policy capacity of the state itself. This paper uses conceptual heuristics to interpret policy practice. It examines the underlying policy paradigms shaping Irish government decisions in the aftermath of the European financial and economic crisis. Drawing on comparative political economy literature, it distinguishes between two such paradigms – market-conforming and social equity – and applies them to three reform themes: reconfiguration of public budgets, the public service pay bargain, and the organizational profile of state competences. The findings entail lessons for understanding the malleability of policy choice, and how state policy choices in response to crisis are framed and implemented.

Learning-Shaping Crises: A Longitudinal Comparison of Public Personnel Reforms in Italy, 1992‒2014

Fabrizio Di Mascio, Davide Galli, Alessandro Natalini, Edoardo Ongaro &Francesco Stolfi

Subjects: comparative public management, fiscal retrenchment, crisis management, public personnel policy, qualitative analysis, Italy.

Abstract: This article analyses the attempts to reform public administration, notably personnel management, in Italy between 1992 and 2014, with a focus on implementation and the period following the multiple crises that have unfolded since 2008. By untangling the policy learning processes between multiple crises, past reform attempts and domestic and European “contexts in motion”, the article finds that efficiency-oriented reforms have floundered regardless of the political color of governments or indeed of the nature – political or technocratic – of the governments. Domestic factors, notably the frequency of government alternation, i.e. government instability, and European pressure have further reinforced the orientation towards single-loop lessons, i.e. the almost exclusive effecting of short-term cost-cutting measures.

Central Decisions, Decentralized Solutions: Comparing the Implications of Central Cutback Policy for the Agency Level in Estonia and Latvia

Authors Riin Savi & Aleksandrs Cepilovs

Subjects: comparative case study, Estonia, Latvia, public service cuts, crisis management

Abstract: The paper investigates the implications of governmental cutback strategies related to the recent fiscal crisis at agency level in Estonia and Latvia. For this purpose, the article applies a comparative case study approach, through a purposeful selection of five agencies – three in Estonia and two in Latvia – to map the maximum possible variation of before-and-after effects of the crisis on organizational responses and individual-level coping. The selected agencies represent a range of regulatory and social policy domains directly and severely affected by the crisis through budget cuts and increased demand for services, and therefore most affected by the crisis. The study demonstrates that the budget cuts imposed by the cabinets of both countries and widely praised internationally actually left agency-level actors in an extremely difficult situation. Centrally imposed across-the-board cuts resulted in diverse public service gaps, leading to a range of hardships for the citizens, and therefore turning out to be neither equal nor fair for the target groups. The study concludes that centrally decided cutbacks shifted the burden to street-level bureaucrats, who in turn took on the role of key policy actors by ensuring the delivery of public services during the fiscal crisis.

Policy Analysis in Thailand: Comparing the Roles of Expert and Local Knowledge

Author : Piyapong Boossabong

Pages: 173-183
Is Part Of: Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis 2016, Vol. 19(2)
Subjects: comparative policy analysis, expert knowledge, local knowledge, Thailand.