State aid rules are an important part of the European Union's (EU) competition policy that aims to ensure a fair competition in the common market. These rules directly affect national and sub... Show moreState aid rules are an important part of the European Union's (EU) competition policy that aims to ensure a fair competition in the common market. These rules directly affect national and sub-national governments of member states, which are sometimes confronted with different and opposing claims about what to do. The question is how implementing civil servants interpret and resolve these claims in practice. In this article, discourse analysis is applied to identify how civil servants apply and interpret state aid rules based on empirical research in the Netherlands. The main finding is that, even within the existing regulatory framework of one member state, the application of state aid rules is understood differently based on the discourses we identified. We describe the content, dissemination amongst civil servants and the relationship of these discourses with compliance. The article shows that discourses matter and help to understand how state aid rules are applied. Show less
Multi-year budget frameworks are often considered as instruments for controlling spending, including in the context of the European Union. This paper shows that the effects of multi-year budgeting... Show moreMulti-year budget frameworks are often considered as instruments for controlling spending, including in the context of the European Union. This paper shows that the effects of multi-year budgeting depends on several conditions, some of which, may lead to more rather than less spending. The analysis is based on a model of a finance minister’s decision to enforce a previously accepted budget ceiling in subsequent negotiations with a spending minister. The analysis takes account of uncertainty about preferences in these negotiations, positive transaction costs to the finance minister, and the possibility of political mediation through the prime minister. The findings of this paper show that compliance with budget frameworks improves under temporarily stable preferences (e.g. the absence of external shocks), more homogenous preferences within the government (e.g. majoritarian governments in contrast to coalition government), preference similarity between the finance minister and the prime minister (in case of mediation), and increasing transaction costs. In other circumstances, multi-annual frameworks will not be able to block any upward pressure on expenditures. Show less
De digitalisering van de samenleving heeft verschillende gevolgen voor de overheid en overheidsbeleid. Eén daarvan heeft betrekking op de manier waarop beleidsanalyse kan worden gebruikt. In deze... Show moreDe digitalisering van de samenleving heeft verschillende gevolgen voor de overheid en overheidsbeleid. Eén daarvan heeft betrekking op de manier waarop beleidsanalyse kan worden gebruikt. In deze bijdrage worden de mogelijkheden van meer adaptieve vormen van beleidsanalyse verkend, waarbij beleidsvoerders stap voor stap en op basis van informatie uit het beleidsproces proberen meer over de beleidsuitvoering te leren. Die vorm van beleidsanalyse, die op een aantal punten afwijkt van eerdere vormen, heeft gevolgen voor de organisatie van de overheid maar ook voor de wijze waarop het toezicht moet worden ingericht. Dat levert interessante vragen en spanningen op voor de ‘digitale’ overheid. Show less
In this article, we discuss some of the recent proposals developed by Bruno Frey for making future societies more democratic and prosperous. While sharing Frey’s conviction that new ways of... Show moreIn this article, we discuss some of the recent proposals developed by Bruno Frey for making future societies more democratic and prosperous. While sharing Frey’s conviction that new ways of involving citizens in political decision-making in representative democracies are needed, we engage in debate on his proposals on voting rights, referenda and randomized decision-making. We are critical of the random selection of office-holders proposed by Frey, suggesting it may lead to alienation by citizens from the political process and would not really address the perceptional gap between elites and the broader public. Mindful of the pitfalls inherent in the increasing use of referenda, we suggest pre-referendum deliberation rather than the post-referendum conciliation proposed by Frey. Furthermore, we believe that it is almost impossible to propose good solutions without engaging the different arguments and empirical findings exploring the substantive as well as the procedural causes of democratic discontent. Show less
Steunenberg, B.; Mast, R. van der; Strijbos, M.J.; Inouye, S.K.; Schuurmans, M.J. 2016
In this article we focus on compliance with European Union (EU) directives in the context of multilevel governance. Policies specified by EU directives move through different decision-making stages... Show moreIn this article we focus on compliance with European Union (EU) directives in the context of multilevel governance. Policies specified by EU directives move through different decision-making stages before they are implemented. We integrate these decision-making stages and actors in a game-theoretical model aiming to explain implementation in the EU setting. Practice and organizational literature findings already indicate that in this setting formal and informal policies can differ considerably. Our model shows that such a divergence is the result of the interactions of three sets of actors at different levels. We illustrate the main findings of our model with cases of transposition and implementation of the EU rules regarding cultural heritage in the European Union. Based on our analysis, we suggest that EU policy implementation is best understood as a patchwork of domestic processes in which implementing actors affect outcomes within limits set by national and European decision-makers. Show less
Enlargement is often regarded as an elite-driven process, which does not or not sufficiently include the views of ordinary citizens. At the same time, support for integration has been eroding over... Show moreEnlargement is often regarded as an elite-driven process, which does not or not sufficiently include the views of ordinary citizens. At the same time, support for integration has been eroding over the last decade, contributing to a public-elite gap in preferences towards the process. This paper investigates the relationship between elite and citizens discourses by focusing on Serbia as one of the candidate countries. The case of a candidate country is interesting, as domestic elites need to obtain the support from citizens in making the EU-driven transformations, whereas citizens may be critical to some of the imposed reforms. This may push and pull both groups in the opposite directions, increasing the public-elite gap on European integration. This contribution supplements previous research, which identified discourses among citizens in Serbia, with an analysis of media content. Using vignettes for each discourse found among citizens, the contents of statements in two major Serbian newspapers have been coded. The analysis shows that all four citizen discourses are represented in media. The discourse favoring Serbia’s accession enjoys best representation in the media, reflecting views of Serbia’s political elite. In contrast, the narrative rejecting Serbia’s integration in the EU finds the least space in newspapers, while the remaining two discourses share almost an equal media representation. Most importantly, we find that approximately one fourth of media content does not fit any of the four citizen discourses. This demonstrates not only the size, but also the substance of the public-elite gap on European integration in Serbia. The public-elite gap illustrated here tilts the political debate in Serbia towards one with rather supportive expectations of enlargement and integration. At the same time, we noted that more critical views among citizens are not, or not yet, reflected in the media, while the media is reporting on issues that do not resonate with citizens’ views. A question is whether this is a sustainable route, and whether political ‘entrepreneurs’ will capitalize on these views in order to build alternative political platforms in Serbian politics or influence Serbia’s progress. Show less
