Party Politics, Ahead of Print.
How does democratic transition affect party polarization? While previous literature on party politics in post-transition environments describes a fragmented political system marked by multi-partism and the rise of weakly institutionalized parties, party polarization in young democracies is underexplored. We argue that democratic transition reduces party polarization by introducing a new set of parties which have not consolidated their issue positions yet. The ambiguity of party positions makes ideological attributes less salient and renders a less polarized party politics. To assess the impact of the party polarization in young democracies, we employ a fuzzy regression discontinuity design (RDD). We use the Manifesto Project data on right-left positions of parties from 58 countries to measure party polarization and the Varieties of Democracy (V-DEM) data on regime transition to identify democratic transitions. Our findings suggest that party polarization on right-left issue position decreases on average, following the democratic transition.
The Feminist Strike – A Political Innovation
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Revisiting Multiculturalism in Ambedkar’s Thought: A Theoretical Perspective
Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891–1956) was not only the messiah of the downtrodden people in India but was also the champion of minority rights, women’s rights, farmer’s and labourer’s rights. He was an individualist as well as a communitarian. He was a modernist, rationalist and moralist. His philosophy covers a wide range of ideas including justice, liberty, equality, democracy, minority rights, women’s rights, group representation, social exclusion and inclusion, majority–minority conflicts, cultural and linguistic diversity and identity and recognition which offer a non-western experience of the early part of twentieth century to the present-day literature on multiculturalism. But his ideas have paid little scholarly attention both in western and Indian scholarships. The existing scholarships on B. R. Ambedkar largely highlight on his socio-economic, cultural, religious, political and constitutional ideas. But his multicultural ideas are hardly explored in academic discourses. This article thus attempts first to highlight on some leading theorists of multiculturalism and their views and then discusses Ambedkar’s multicultural ideas. The article, however, restricts itself to some selected theorists of multiculturalism for deliberation only with an aim to compare them with Ambedkar’s writings.
Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891–1956) was not only the messiah of the downtrodden people in India but was also the champion of minority rights, women’s rights, farmer’s and labourer’s rights. He was an individualist as well as a communitarian. He was a modernist, rationalist and moralist. His philosophy covers a wide range of ideas including justice, liberty, equality, democracy, minority rights, women’s rights, group representation, social exclusion and inclusion, majority–minority conflicts, cultural and linguistic diversity and identity and recognition which offer a non-western experience of the early part of twentieth century to the present-day literature on multiculturalism. But his ideas have paid little scholarly attention both in western and Indian scholarships. The existing scholarships on B. R. Ambedkar largely highlight on his socio-economic, cultural, religious, political and constitutional ideas. But his multicultural ideas are hardly explored in academic discourses. This article thus attempts first to highlight on some leading theorists of multiculturalism and their views and then discusses Ambedkar’s multicultural ideas. The article, however, restricts itself to some selected theorists of multiculturalism for deliberation only with an aim to compare them with Ambedkar’s writings.
Local Political Space. Localism, the Left-Right Dimension and Anti-elitism
Party Politics, Ahead of Print.
This paper presents a three-dimensional approach to party political conflict at the local level, drawing from an anti-elitism dimension, the left-right dimension and a localism dimension. More than 4500 parties participating in the 2014 and 2018 Dutch municipal elections are placed on these dimensions on the basis of their manifestos using quantitative textual analysis. A three-pronged approach is used to justify this three-dimensional model. The three dimensions are shown to be empirically distinctive. They are revealed to reflect meaningful differences between parties that are also visible in their names; and finally, these dimensions are shown to predict participation in local executive coalitions.
This paper presents a three-dimensional approach to party political conflict at the local level, drawing from an anti-elitism dimension, the left-right dimension and a localism dimension. More than 4500 parties participating in the 2014 and 2018 Dutch municipal elections are placed on these dimensions on the basis of their manifestos using quantitative textual analysis. A three-pronged approach is used to justify this three-dimensional model. The three dimensions are shown to be empirically distinctive. They are revealed to reflect meaningful differences between parties that are also visible in their names; and finally, these dimensions are shown to predict participation in local executive coalitions.
Assessing the role of gender-related aspects in public budgeting debates: A view of the central level in Germany
International Review of Administrative Sciences, Ahead of Print.
The paper explores how members of parliament (MPs) address gender-related aspects in the budgeting process at the central level in Germany, a country that pursues gender equality as a global objective but has not implemented gender budgeting (GB) (yet). Nevertheless, from a budgeting perspective the German context is interesting, as parliament has unrestricted powers to amend the budget draft. The study follows approaches in performance management literature streams that have explored different types of performance information use. Building on a qualitative analysis of parliamentary budget debates, our results show that gender-related aspects matter in budgeting even when GB is not implemented. However, resources are less often referenced than programmes and policies in the budget debates. We find that MPs address gender-related aspects in a differentiated way (reflected in four types of performance information use), and that this is affected by user characteristics: the MPs’ gender, their party affiliation, committee membership and in some aspects, their age. While it may not come as a surprise that female MPs act as advocates for gender-related aspects, it is interesting that female MPs are more likely to reference resources when addressing gender-related aspects than male MPs. Further, our analysis of types of performance information use shows that a party's position as either a part of a governing coalition or opposition, as well as party lines across the opposition, affect the way in which gender-related aspects are addressed: exerting supportive use types (i.e., legitimizing, highlighting) and rather challenging use types (i.e., de-legitimizing, deflecting). Points for practitionersEven in a context where gender budgeting is not implemented, members of parliament (MPs) reference gender equality in budget debates.The frequency and the way in which gender-related aspects are referenced mirrors MPs’ stance towards gender equality (rather supportive/rather challenging).Female MPs are more likely than male MPs to draw attention to the allocation of resources for gender-related issues.More female MPs in parliament may strengthen advocacy for gender-related aspects, particularly if budget documents do not contain gender-related performance goals.
The paper explores how members of parliament (MPs) address gender-related aspects in the budgeting process at the central level in Germany, a country that pursues gender equality as a global objective but has not implemented gender budgeting (GB) (yet). Nevertheless, from a budgeting perspective the German context is interesting, as parliament has unrestricted powers to amend the budget draft. The study follows approaches in performance management literature streams that have explored different types of performance information use. Building on a qualitative analysis of parliamentary budget debates, our results show that gender-related aspects matter in budgeting even when GB is not implemented. However, resources are less often referenced than programmes and policies in the budget debates. We find that MPs address gender-related aspects in a differentiated way (reflected in four types of performance information use), and that this is affected by user characteristics: the MPs’ gender, their party affiliation, committee membership and in some aspects, their age. While it may not come as a surprise that female MPs act as advocates for gender-related aspects, it is interesting that female MPs are more likely to reference resources when addressing gender-related aspects than male MPs. Further, our analysis of types of performance information use shows that a party's position as either a part of a governing coalition or opposition, as well as party lines across the opposition, affect the way in which gender-related aspects are addressed: exerting supportive use types (i.e., legitimizing, highlighting) and rather challenging use types (i.e., de-legitimizing, deflecting). Points for practitionersEven in a context where gender budgeting is not implemented, members of parliament (MPs) reference gender equality in budget debates.The frequency and the way in which gender-related aspects are referenced mirrors MPs’ stance towards gender equality (rather supportive/rather challenging).Female MPs are more likely than male MPs to draw attention to the allocation of resources for gender-related issues.More female MPs in parliament may strengthen advocacy for gender-related aspects, particularly if budget documents do not contain gender-related performance goals.
Automating activation in Australia: a critical policy discourse analysis of the new employment services model
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“Money is not an issue!”: Hospital CFOs’ narratives about handling a sudden shift in managerial focus
International Review of Administrative Sciences, Ahead of Print.
The sustained political and managerial focus on cost containment and efficiency in hospitals has been altered by COVID-19-related concerns about public health. Through a novel qualitative study in Denmark, we explore CFOs’ narratives of their experiences during a sudden shift in managerial logic. All of the CFOs describe engagement in key operational procedures and change management that was fostered by the constant search for stability that strongly depended on bottom-up decision-making and flexibility. During this process, the existing competing logics of managerialism and medical professionalism vanished. The CFOs describe new forms of dynamic and collaborative approaches. The possibility of adhering to the core logic of administrative accounting techniques combined with urgency and emotional encounters appears to enable this approach. Thus, we document a moment when well-known opposing logics were suspended by exogenous urgency. This finding suggests possibilities for moving beyond deep-rooted views on established public administration structures and logics.Points for practitionersFinancial managers show administrative skills that are useful for public administration changes in both administration and daily operations. These managers appear to have a strong core identity and willingness to dynamically engage with and facilitate acute frontline operational issues. In an emergency situation such as COVID-19, we find co-dependency across subject fields (administration and medical professions) which enables collaborations.
The sustained political and managerial focus on cost containment and efficiency in hospitals has been altered by COVID-19-related concerns about public health. Through a novel qualitative study in Denmark, we explore CFOs’ narratives of their experiences during a sudden shift in managerial logic. All of the CFOs describe engagement in key operational procedures and change management that was fostered by the constant search for stability that strongly depended on bottom-up decision-making and flexibility. During this process, the existing competing logics of managerialism and medical professionalism vanished. The CFOs describe new forms of dynamic and collaborative approaches. The possibility of adhering to the core logic of administrative accounting techniques combined with urgency and emotional encounters appears to enable this approach. Thus, we document a moment when well-known opposing logics were suspended by exogenous urgency. This finding suggests possibilities for moving beyond deep-rooted views on established public administration structures and logics.Points for practitionersFinancial managers show administrative skills that are useful for public administration changes in both administration and daily operations. These managers appear to have a strong core identity and willingness to dynamically engage with and facilitate acute frontline operational issues. In an emergency situation such as COVID-19, we find co-dependency across subject fields (administration and medical professions) which enables collaborations.
Institutional geography: effects of physical distance on agency autonomy.
International Review of Administrative Sciences, Ahead of Print.
Establishing government agencies outside ministerial departments is frequently justified by a need to safeguard agency autonomy. In addition to ‘formal agencification’, that is, erecting formal barriers between agencies and ministries, agencies are also frequently (re)located physically distant from ministries to both signal and strengthen agency autonomy. However, we know little of the effects of physical location and distance on agency autonomy. Using two large surveys from 2006 and 2016, this study examines how geographical location and distance affect agency autonomy. Our study establishes that agency autonomy is only weakly associated with physical location and distance, and is much less important than political salience. Whereas a conventional claim is that agency autonomy may be strengthened by physically (re)locating agencies at arm's length distance from the core executive, our study suggests that physical (re)location represents an ineffective administrative policy design-tool when applied to agency autonomy.Points for practitionersPhysical distance between agencies and parent ministries is only remotely associated with agency autonomy.Physical location thus represents an ineffective design-tool if the purpose is to increase agency autonomy
Establishing government agencies outside ministerial departments is frequently justified by a need to safeguard agency autonomy. In addition to ‘formal agencification’, that is, erecting formal barriers between agencies and ministries, agencies are also frequently (re)located physically distant from ministries to both signal and strengthen agency autonomy. However, we know little of the effects of physical location and distance on agency autonomy. Using two large surveys from 2006 and 2016, this study examines how geographical location and distance affect agency autonomy. Our study establishes that agency autonomy is only weakly associated with physical location and distance, and is much less important than political salience. Whereas a conventional claim is that agency autonomy may be strengthened by physically (re)locating agencies at arm's length distance from the core executive, our study suggests that physical (re)location represents an ineffective administrative policy design-tool when applied to agency autonomy.Points for practitionersPhysical distance between agencies and parent ministries is only remotely associated with agency autonomy.Physical location thus represents an ineffective design-tool if the purpose is to increase agency autonomy
Interpreting digital governance at the municipal level: Evidence from smart city projects in Belgium
International Review of Administrative Sciences, Ahead of Print.
This article adopts an interpretive approach to investigate how local policy-makers portray and justify their own visions of digital governance initiatives at the municipal level. Our investigation focuses on smart city projects submitted by various Belgian municipalities in the framework of the ‘Intelligent Territory’ call for proposals initiated in 2019 by the Walloon Region. We use Boltanski and Thévenot’s theory of orders of worth and combine quantitative and qualitative content analysis to categorize the different justifications elaborated by municipal governments. The empirical results point to the polysemic nature of the smart city concept and highlight the diversity of opportunities offered by smart city policies according to municipal policy-makers. Overall, our study contributes to the understanding of the varieties of interpretations underpinning the construction of digital governance initiatives. It therefore supports the argument according to which there is no one-size-fits-all approach to smart city policies as local policy-makers may attribute different meanings to them and may formulate place-based ICTs solutions to what they perceive as the most pressing problems of their territories.Points for practitioners Smart city projects can be used by governing authorities as instruments to achieve a variety of policy goalsExamples of policy goals are to boost local economic development, to improve the effectiveness of municipal service provision, to strengthen social bonds across local community members, to promote the ecological preservation of urban environments and to improve the collaboration between citizens and public administrationsLocal governments can adaptively use smart technologies as instruments to overcome multiple place-based environmental, social and economic problemsLocal governments should frame smart urban technologies as means to solve different societal problems and achieve different policy goals – rather than an end per se
This article adopts an interpretive approach to investigate how local policy-makers portray and justify their own visions of digital governance initiatives at the municipal level. Our investigation focuses on smart city projects submitted by various Belgian municipalities in the framework of the ‘Intelligent Territory’ call for proposals initiated in 2019 by the Walloon Region. We use Boltanski and Thévenot’s theory of orders of worth and combine quantitative and qualitative content analysis to categorize the different justifications elaborated by municipal governments. The empirical results point to the polysemic nature of the smart city concept and highlight the diversity of opportunities offered by smart city policies according to municipal policy-makers. Overall, our study contributes to the understanding of the varieties of interpretations underpinning the construction of digital governance initiatives. It therefore supports the argument according to which there is no one-size-fits-all approach to smart city policies as local policy-makers may attribute different meanings to them and may formulate place-based ICTs solutions to what they perceive as the most pressing problems of their territories.Points for practitioners Smart city projects can be used by governing authorities as instruments to achieve a variety of policy goalsExamples of policy goals are to boost local economic development, to improve the effectiveness of municipal service provision, to strengthen social bonds across local community members, to promote the ecological preservation of urban environments and to improve the collaboration between citizens and public administrationsLocal governments can adaptively use smart technologies as instruments to overcome multiple place-based environmental, social and economic problemsLocal governments should frame smart urban technologies as means to solve different societal problems and achieve different policy goals – rather than an end per se
Dismantling Caste and Gender Hierarchy: Female-Dalit Alliance in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things and Meena Kandasamy’s The Gypsy Goddess
Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
The unique feature of the Indian patriarchal social structure is the existence of caste hierarchy in it, which is an alien concept for Western feminist theorists. Arundhati Roy and Meena Kandasamy in their novels ‘The God of Small Things and The Gypsy Goddess’ portray the caste and gender pyramid vividly, and their protagonists pose threat to this structure and show the way out. Caste classification utterly refutes the subjectivity of a person. His rank and his professions are decided by his birth, not by his skills. The article traces the origin of caste hierarchy established in the society and its functioning. It presents the idea that gender and caste hierarchies are interlinked, and in both these structures, the concept of purity is a pertinent theme. Myths, religious scriptures, laws of the society, and value systems function together to assert caste and sexual dominion. The research article raises the issue that a girl’s education and her aspiration to pursue an academic career have no significance to the male chauvinistic society. Education is also controlled by the larger institution of patriarchy. Like other institutions, it frames the psyche of women in favour of patriarchy. In our society, the way marriage has been glorified, with the same stature divorce has been scandalized. The work presents gender discrimination in the workspace and inheritance policy. In the end, the article proposes the way out of the patriarchy and casteism, which is ‘denial’. If women and lower caste men refuse to be part of this power structure, the whole system would collapse like a castle of cards.
The unique feature of the Indian patriarchal social structure is the existence of caste hierarchy in it, which is an alien concept for Western feminist theorists. Arundhati Roy and Meena Kandasamy in their novels ‘The God of Small Things and The Gypsy Goddess’ portray the caste and gender pyramid vividly, and their protagonists pose threat to this structure and show the way out. Caste classification utterly refutes the subjectivity of a person. His rank and his professions are decided by his birth, not by his skills. The article traces the origin of caste hierarchy established in the society and its functioning. It presents the idea that gender and caste hierarchies are interlinked, and in both these structures, the concept of purity is a pertinent theme. Myths, religious scriptures, laws of the society, and value systems function together to assert caste and sexual dominion. The research article raises the issue that a girl’s education and her aspiration to pursue an academic career have no significance to the male chauvinistic society. Education is also controlled by the larger institution of patriarchy. Like other institutions, it frames the psyche of women in favour of patriarchy. In our society, the way marriage has been glorified, with the same stature divorce has been scandalized. The work presents gender discrimination in the workspace and inheritance policy. In the end, the article proposes the way out of the patriarchy and casteism, which is ‘denial’. If women and lower caste men refuse to be part of this power structure, the whole system would collapse like a castle of cards.