Blockchain Papers

Ian Appel, Jillian Grennan

No abstract is available for this record.

Lin William Cong, Daniel Rabetti, Charles C. Y. Wang, Yan Yu

No abstract is available for this record.

Stefano Balietti, Pietro Saggese, Stefan Kitzler, Bernhard Haslhofer

This chapter explores how Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), a novel institutional form based on blockchain technology, challenge traditional centralized governance structures. DAOs govern projects ranging from finance to science and digital communities. They aim to redistribute decision- making power through programmable, transparent, and participatory mechanisms. This chapter outlines both the opportunities DAOs present, such as incentive alignment, rapid coordination, and censorship resistance, and the challenges they face, including token concentration, low participation, and the risk of de facto centralization. It further discusses the emerging intersection of DAOs and artificial intelligence, highlighting the potential for increased automation alongside the dangers of diminished human oversight and algorithmic opacity. Ultimately, we discuss under what circumstances DAOs can fulfill their democratic promise or risk replicating the very power asymmetries they seek to overcome.

Massimo Sargiacomo, Daniel E. Martínez, Stefania Servalli, Antonio Gitto · 5 authors

Purpose This study aims to examine how hospitals and regional and local health authorities in the Italian region of Marche accounted for and reported the use of emergency funds from the EU, the Ministry of Economic and Finance and administrative bodies called actuator subjects. Unlike a sudden impact disaster, such as an earthquake, the pandemic was slow moving and novel. This meant that the guidelines for medical, legislative, financial and administrative action were not as developed as those for sudden impact emergencies with which the Italian state was, unfortunately, experienced. Design/methodology/approach The paper investigates the Italian public healthcare setting since the declaration of the State of Emergency until its end—that is, from January 2020 to July 2021. We conducted 31 semi-structured interviews with nine key-actors working for national, regional and local administrative bodies. A range of related official documents were analyzed. Findings We show a non-linear and emergent account of standardization and coordination. We show how different state and transnational actors developed their own procedures to standardize COVID-related cost classifications and reports. These attempts also involved coordinating assemblages, at the center of which are templates imposed on hospitals and regional authorities by national state entities for cost-reporting practices and aggregation. Importantly, templates’ visual features enabled coordination across the different standardization initiatives that populated the emergency response effort. Research limitations/implications The paper provides academics and policy makers with insights into the role played by accounting tools, templates, reports and guidelines to coordinate different cost standardization initiatives. Originality/value Accounting guidelines that standardize costs are known to be deployed hierarchically by states and transnational organizations for coordination purposes. We highlight, however, the emergence of not only hierarchical forms of coordination but also their interrelation with decentralized forms of coordination. These two types of coordinating assemblages, each standardizes cost through the accounting templates that they use. We demonstrate the emergent nature of coordination even within hierarchical entities like the state. Reporting templates are pivotal for understanding this coordination process. However, when a centralized coordinating body is absent, it is the visual features of accounting, rather than its imposition, that enable coordination.

Rosemarie Kelly, Sheila O’Donohoe, Gerardine Doyle

Abstract Performance management in the public sector is both multifaceted and convoluted. This is particularly pertinent in hospitals, which are complex institutional organizations. Our paper explores the key drivers compelling Irish public acute‐care hospitals to monitor their performance. The context of our study is located against the unique historical backdrop of the Irish health service, whose evolution over time reflects religious control, underfunding by the State and reliance on a decentralized structure up until the early 2000s. This study was conducted during 2009–2010, in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008–2009. Interviews were conducted with members of the hospital executive management team, comprising clinical and nonclinical senior managers, using the framework of Kelly et al. (2015) to explore and analyze respondent perspectives. We propose that a combination of key forces, emanating from new public management, the institutional environment, and its constituent elements spurs hospitals to monitor their performance. The confluence of these forces reveals a perceived change in the institutional logic underpinning hospital performance management. This change involved the substitution of autonomous clinical decision‐making for a more team‐based managerial logic whereby clinicians engaged as part of a multidisciplinary executive unit and accepted responsibility for hospital performance. This paper contributes to the literature on performance management in public services and, more specifically, builds on and addresses the paucity of research on Irish acute‐care hospitals.

Ali Shahaab, Imtiaz Khan, Ross Maude, Chaminda Hewage · 5 authors

Despite the increasing interest and exploration of the use of blockchain technology in public service organisations (PSOs), academic understanding of its transformative impact on the operational excellence of PSOs remains limited. This study adopts an action design science research methodology to develop a proof of concept (POC) blockchain based application for Companies House, a government agency that is registering companies across UK. The application addresses the operational challenges of Companies House as well as issues citizens face when accessing its services. We draw from the public value framework proposed by Twizeyimana and Andersson (2019) and demonstrate the significance of the emerging blockchain technology in relation to their democratic practices based on six dimensions. We further discuss the related challenges and barriers for its implementation and evaluate the POC with the stakeholders of Companies House. We also present an illustrative case study, where we explored the appropriateness of the POC in relation to the draft legislation, “Registration of Overseas Entities and Beneficial Owners” (ROEBO) bill which proposes the introduction of a register of the beneficial owners of overseas legal entities that own real estate in the UK. Our research is one of the few studies that will provide in-depth empirical insights about the relationship between blockchain and operational excellence of PSOs.

José M. Alonso, Judith Clifton, Daniel Díaz‐Fuentes

Abstract Corporatization—arguably as important as privatization regarding public service reform—remains an under‐researched topic in Public Administration. In this paper, we explore the extent to which the implementation of different types of corporatization strategies can be explained by the ideology of the ruling party in the Spanish public healthcare sector, selected for study because this sector was subject to reform, particularly, decentralization and marketization. To do so, we use count‐data regression models to analyze secondary data from the 17 Spanish regional governments for the period 2003–2017. Our estimates reveal that right‐wing controlled regional governments exhibit a clear preference for corporatization strategies that actively involve the private sector, such as Public–Private Partnerships and Public Finance Initiatives. Further analysis suggests that left‐wing governments are positively associated with the implementation of corporatization strategies that do not involve the private sector, such as the creation of Public Enterprises and Public Entities. These results are robust to a variety of alternative specifications.

Endang Indartuti, V. Rudy Handoko, Handoko Wirawan, Uthe Ch

At the beginning of the reform era in Indonesia brings changes to the structure of the Government System in the regions, especially villages. This condition is marked by the transition from a change of the new order era with a centralized regime towards a reform era, a new and more open regime with decentralization. The wind of reform is carried over to the latest regulation (Law No.6 of 2014). This law seeks to restore village autonomy based on its origins and customs as a process of restoring state confidence in the village. On the other hand, to fulfill its political promise, the provision of village funds as a source of village income that aims to make the village independent shows that this law is still the same with the previous one, that in the village there is still supra village power. Village funds make all forms of implementation and management of village finances must be used in accordance with the village financial system. The existence of this system makes the village authority no longer in accordance with the principles of village autonomy, that village autonomy is in accordance with its origins and customs. Giving village autonomy with financial management through the Village Financial System (SISKEU) is felt that the portion of creativity and space for the village is limited. This triggers a lack of courage of the village officials to take the initiatives in making policies for a better village development. This situation is experienced by all villages in Indonesia, such as Pekarungan Village. This study uses a qualitative research method. The key informant is a Former Head of Pekarungan Village for 2 consecutive periods (1991-2006). He understands very well the changes in the laws governing the village. The result of the research shows that based on the principles of Kartohadikusumo's autonomy, autonomy can be implemented if there are inherent rights in the village, namely: "(1) the right to own territory with legal boundaries; (2) the right to elect and appoint the head or assembly of the village administration; (3) the right to administer and govern the village households; (4) the right to own and manage village assets and finance; (5) the rights to own village land; (6) the right to collect local taxes. Without the inherent rights mentioned above, autonomy is difficult to be implemented ".Based on the effectiveness of success in achieving the goals set and the relationship between the expected results and the results achieved, there are some rights that are not exercised as they should. In connection with village rights in Law No. 6 of 2014 concerning Villages, (1) the village regulates and manages community interests based on the origin, customs, social, and cultural values of the village community; (2) the village determines and manages its institution; and (3) the village receives sources of income, including village funds. All sources of village income, such as the Village Cash and village financial management, must be based on the village SISKEU as determined by the government bureaucracy. Keywords: Evaluation, Village Autonomy DOI: 10.7176/PPAR/10-6-08 Publication date: June 30th 2020

Silas Mutie Nzuva

No abstract is available for this record.

Baki Koleci, Redon Koleci

Performance measurement has attracted the attention of many researchers in the area of managerial accountability over the last two decades. However, most of them focus on measuring performance only in the private sector. Meanwhile, since several years, especially after the publication of the "New Public Management" doctrine, performance measurement has emerged as an important research priority in the public sector. This does not mean that it has not previously shown interest in the public sector's efficiency problem, but it has been limited in the context of the policy appraisal concept. This concept has functioned more as a tool for assessing public policy delineation and has eventually served to redraft existing policies or practices rather than a system of measurement and performance management of public institutions.Policy evaluation methodologies are very useful, but they can only be used within a framework that assumes the presence of managerial behavior in the public sector. Where legal laws and regulations serve as a basis for dealing with issues, it is very difficult to it is assumed that efficiency will be a fundamental priority. The concept of governance, recent decades, is closely related to the process of modeling assessment procedures. Governance, as such, generally refers to the tools that serve to direct, control and co-ordinate individuals and organizations, partly autonomous ones, in the name of the interests they contribute to (Lynn, Heinrich and Hill, 1999).Some of the recent problems in the area of governance include issues of formal control over authoritative decision-makers and decentralization; focusing on powerful interest groups or goals that are difficult to describe (eg "efficiency" and "high credibility"), as well as comparing different governance regimes.A full description and analysis of the governance model is a prerequisite for further study of performance measurement in public sector activity.The logic of governance in the public sector is simple: lawmakers create the legal framework, administrators deal with enforcement, and the public pays, at least in theory, enjoys the benefits. Lawmakers are elected to act during a mandate (usually four years), but also the administrators (bureaucrats and civil servants) are nominated and supposed to have a long-term career in implementing policies and legal acts. The latter should serve professionally and implement legal acts adopted by lawmakers, using the maximum of their knowledge. There is still an open discussion on how to evaluate the achievements of civil servants and the policy effectiveness they implement.Governance is a division of responsibilities, it should serve as a tool that facilitates the continuous improvement of work in the public sector. Only redistribution of formal authority can have little or no effect on the desirable consequences with all the opposing claims expressed by some administrative reformers.

Dr. BILLA ASIRATNAM

This study examines the relationship between decentralization, democratic governance, and the working of local self-government institutions in India. The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments established Panchayats and Municipalities as constitutionally recognized bodies of grassroots governance, intended to promote participation, accountability, and locally responsive development. However, the quality of decentralization continues to vary because the transfer of authority, finance, and personnel remains uneven across states. The study adopts a descriptive and analytical design to assess how local self-government influences democratic participation, administrative responsiveness, and service satisfaction. For academic demonstration, a structured survey framework using a sample of 63 respondents was prepared, including elected representatives, officials, and citizens. Three dimensions were examined: the link between citizen participation and accountability, the relationship between fiscal decentralization and service delivery satisfaction, and differences in perceptions of responsiveness among stakeholder groups. The analysis applies Chi-square, Spearman rank correlation, one-way ANOVA, and multiple regression to interpret the data. The results indicate that decentralization improves democratic governance when it is accompanied by meaningful devolution, transparent institutions, trained local leadership, and active community engagement. The study concludes that local self-government can become a more effective instrument of inclusive development when constitutional design is supported by administrative capacity, fiscal autonomy, and regular citizen oversight.

Judith R. Saidel

Abstract The smart partnership framework introduced in this article is derived from extensive, on-site interviews with nonprofit and public contract managers conducted in several grounded research projects between 2011 and 2015 and from the research literature on contracting. The framework demonstrates the continuing explanatory power of resource dependence theory that disentangles the formidable influence of the public policy environment on organizational action. It is intended to provide a coherent guide for practice by enabling nonprofit managers in the social services field to navigate the current intense environmental uncertainty in which cross-sector contracting relationships between government agencies and nonprofit organizations are embedded. By providing an accessible way to understand an extraordinarily complex set of inter-organizational dynamics, the model offers a research-based definition and clear visualization of what it means to be a smart partner. It highlights the necessity of understanding the norms, expectations, structures, processes, and culture within which sector counterpart contract managers operate. Fundamental to the range of managerial strategies that the framework calls for is the need explicitly to attend to relationship building, to patterns of variation in relationships over time, and to their probable consequences. The integrative model consists of three inter-related organizational competencies and a number of secondary competencies. Competency 1: understand the dynamic nature of contracting relationships; secondary competencies: recognize predictable variations in relationships; comprehend the importance of multiple institutional logics. Competency 2: develop and sustain capacity for strategic adaptation; secondary competencies: build external and internal learning capacity; discern power shifts in inter-organizational relationships; maintain capability for strategic repositioning. Competency 3: participate proactively in shaping policy change; secondary competencies: attend to relationship development and nurturance; build trust and credibility.

Tamlyn Eslie Roman, Susan Cleary, Di McIntyre

BACKGROUND: The concept of decision space holds appeal as an approach to disaggregating the elements that may influence decision-making in decentralized systems. This narrative review aims to explore the functioning of decision space and the factors that influence decision space. METHODS: A narrative review of the literature was conducted with searches of online databases and academic journals including PubMed Central, Emerald, Wiley, Science Direct, JSTOR, and Sage. The articles were included in the review based on the criteria that they provided insight into the functioning of decision space either through the explicit application of or reference to decision space, or implicitly through discussion of decision-making related to organizational capacity or accountability mechanisms. RESULTS: The articles included in the review encompass literature related to decentralisation, management and decision space. The majority of the studies utilise qualitative methodologies to assess accountability mechanisms, organisational capacities such as finance, human resources and management, and the extent of decision space. Of the 138 articles retrieved, 76 articles were included in the final review. CONCLUSION: The literature supports Bossert's conceptualization of decision space as being related to organizational capacities and accountability mechanisms. These functions influence the decision space available within decentralized systems. The exact relationship between decision space and financial and human resource capacities needs to be explored in greater detail to determine the potential influence on system functioning.

Hoda Ghafari, Fatemeh Afshari

Purpose: Administrative decentralization seeks to redistribute authority, responsibility and financial resources to provide public services among different levels of the government. It is the transfer of responsibility for the planning, financing and management of certain public functions from the central government and its agencies to field units of government agencies, subordinate units or levels of government, semi-autonomous public authorities or corporations, or area-wide, regional or functional authorities. When governments devolve functions, they transfer authority for decision-making, finances, and management to quasi-autonomous units of local government with corporate status. According to Article 3 of the Constitution of Malaysia, Islam is the country's official religion; therefore, studying the legal system of this country, which has a Muslim background, is essentially important to our country. In addition, given the importance of decentralization in Iran, it is of considerable importance to study the challenges of the decentralization system, even when they are formed in a federal system. The Malaysian legal system, modeled based on the English law, has, after independence of the former country, chosen federalism, and, consequently, the political decentralization system for their government. However, the important issue refers to whether the system of political decentralization has been achieved completely and properly in this country and what are its damages? Decentralization can be a way of improving access to services, tailoring government actions to private needs, and increasing the opportunities for state-society interactions. Design/Methodology/Approach: This paper is formed and based on the critical paradigm with the descriptive method, and has been conducted in two sections. The first section of the study investigated the levels of government, and, in the second part, the relationship between federal, state and local governments will be discussed. Findings: Malaysia is one of the three Asian countries and the only southeastern Asian country which has chosen a federal government. The important matter is whether the mentioned federal system results in decentralization? The Malaysian government includes three layers: the federal government, the government of provinces and local government. The provincial and local governments, as the symbol of decentralization in such countries, are determined in Malaysia’s Constitution with their duties, discretions and limitations. Actually, however, the federal government interferes in provincial activities. 91 percent of financial resources are controlled by the federal government. The independent activities of local governments are hindered by factors such as limited responsibilities, federal and provincial governments’ interference in local government affairs, the role of the national association and housing ministry parallel to the local government regarding law and policy-making, existence of unique obligatory policies for all local governments, limited financial resources, and the appointment of local authorities by the federal government. Consequently, the above explanations imply that federalism, as a governmental system, will not necessarily result in decentralization. Originality/Value: Given the large number of studies on the issue of decentralization in the Iranian legal system, this paper, with the aim of observing the originality principle, intends to conduct a comparative study on the legal systems of Malaysia and the United Kingdom.

Niels Jørgen Mau Pedersen

This article aims at presenting trends in the state-local budget-cooperation system in Denmark, following the local government reform in 2007 and the fiscal rules in the budget law from 2012. The article investigates some of the characteristics of the development from 1980 until 2016. Evidence gives support to the hypothesis that the possibility for the municipalities’ organization to negotiate increasing expenditures has been narrowed, however accompanied by more liberal grant financing. The local government reform seems to have opened a window of opportunity for an elaborated system of collective and especially individual central government sanctions to strengthen the macroeconomic management of service expenditures of local governments. The identified trends in the Danish state-local relations may indicate that the decentralized model of local governments in Denmark is increasingly under pressure. However, the Danish municipal sector is still growing with respect to economic significance.

Soonhee Kim

Government leaders' attention to participatory governance, public-private partnership, and community empowering has been increased in developing countries as well as developed countries as a way of enhancing public trust in government and overcoming economic and social challenges in governance. Korea is no exception. Especially, the evolution of participatory budgeting (PB) in the Republic of Korea shows very interesting dynamics in the context of democratization and decentralization. PB in Korea is a mandatory citizen participation program in local governments since enacting the Local Finance Act in 2011. The case of PB program in Korea presents an important policy diffusion process from a bottom-up approach to a top-down one concerning intergovernmental relations for implementing a citizen participation program. As PB has been implemented in all the local governments in Korea, it provides a great opportunity to conduct a nation-wide assessment study of the PB adoption and diffusion, local government capacity for the PB implementation, and the impacts of the PB on public administration and values in local governance. Focusing on local governments' experiences of PB implementation, "Participatory Governance and Policy Diffusion in Local Governments in Korea: Implementation of Participatory Budgeting," provides theoretical and practical insights for understanding policy diffusion, implementation capacity, impacts, and challenges. It further elaborates several policy recommendations for enhancing PB implementation capacity given the ongoing challenges of PB implementation, including weak financial independency of local governments, the relation between local government and local council, and the low level of citizen participation in the PB program.

Asimiyu Olalekan Murana

The current financial predicament of Local Government Councils and constant pressure for increase allocation has been in the front burner of Local Governments Administration in Nigeria. The focus of this paper therefore is an examination of Local Government Finance in Nigeria using Iwo Local Government as a Case Study. Data for the study were gathered from face-to-face interview, available records in Iwo Local Government, text books, lecture notes, journals, reports, seminar presentation and internet materials. The data collected were subjected to descriptive statistics (simple percentage) and content analysis. The study explored various sources of financing local governments in Nigeria. It also explained financial relationship of Nigerian local government vis-a-vis State and Federal Government using theory of decentralization. The study went further to explain financial management in Iwo L.G. Result obtained from the analysis shows that financial transfers from federal government (Statutory Federal Allocation) are the most viable and reliable source of local government revenue and that without Federal Allocation no capital project can be embarked on. Therefore, to arrest this financial situation that local government find itself, that is  over dependence on federal allocation, this work submitted that local government should increase their revenue base by laying more emphasis on the internal revenue sources, especially those areas that are hitherto neglected or not been fully exploited. Keywords: Local Government, Administration, Finance, Decentralization, Nigeria, Iwo

고광용

The purpose of this study is to analyze performance and constraint factors of local decentralization from the Kim Dae Joong Administration to the Lee Myung Bak Administration in three different parts: administrative affairs, personnel affairs, and finance, and to find out the changes of Central-Local Intergovernmental Relation by Administration. First of all, the administrative affairs decentralization has improved by the increase of autonomous affairs and distribution of affairs, even though autonomous administrative power have maintained. The personnel affairs decentralization has reinforced in autonomy personnel affairs power and personnel distribution. The finance decentralization has maintained or weakened by decrease in autonomy financial power and both revenue & expenditure of tax. The constraint factors of local decentralization were legal & institutional restrictions such as range of affairs, fixed base & rate of tax and local tax structure focused on property taxation, and fiscal neutralism of Ministry of Strategy and Finance. In conclusion, the local decentralization of Korean Government has been improved disproportionately in the aspects of administrative affairs, human resources affairs, and finance. The Kim Dae Joong Administration was inclusive authority model, and the Nho Moo Hyun Administration and the Lee Myung Bak Administration was in the middle between inclusive authority model and overlapping-authority model, so after revival of the local self-governing system, relations between central and local government has been developed.

Sorin Dan

This thesis asks whether the increased autonomy and decentralization associated with the New Public Management (NPM) have impacted on the coordination of organizations within the public sector. Ideas and practices once typical of the private sector have become increasingly common in public sectors around the world. Often times they have been promoted under the umbrella of fashionable terms such as rdquo;, “modernization” or New Public Management (NPM). Although not entirely new, these ideas gained momentum, starting in the early 1980s, in some Western democracies and then increasingly became promoted as a solution – and sometimes the solution nbsp;to public administration problems across the world. Great variation exists, however, in their spread and implementation across countries and sectors. Two of these proposals for change are the disaggregation of bureaucratic forms of organization and decentralization. The expectation has been that these reforms would improve operational flexibility, responsiveness to the needs of service users and ultimately quality and performance. Following these reform proposals, administrators are supposed to make use of greater discretion in the application of managerial principles and techniques. Managers and the entities they lead are expected to exercise initiative, to be proactive, and to act rather than just to react to imperatives from politicians, as it was traditionally common in public administration. A second major reform that has been widely experimented with in the public sector is decentralization. Decisions, it is argued, ought to be made as close to the citizen as possible. In this way it is assumed that information and understanding of local needs improve, which can further translate into better decision making. There is also an ambition to reduce the overload and delay associated with highly centralized decisions. However, the trend towards decentralization is neither new nor uniform across public sectors. Some governments have taken steps to recentralize certain functions after earlier efforts to decentralize while others have been initially reluctant to decentralize, but recently have taken more confident steps in this direction. The specific setting of this doctoral dissertation comprises public hospital systems in selected European countries: 1)nbsp; a Nordic country – Norway 2)nbsp; nbsp;Baltic, EU member state since 2003, formerly part of the Soviet Union – Estonia 3) a nation in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), a former communist state and an EU member state since 2007 – Romania. The thesis comprises eight chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the subject matter and motivates its academic and social relevance. Chapter 2 reviews the literature and shows how the subject matter of the thesis is embedded in the broad academic discourse. This consists of the public administration and management literature – particularly New Public Management, governance and coordination – on the one hand, and healthcare and hospital management and governance, on the other hand. It provides a theoretical review of the concept of coordination, and shows how different theories have dealt with coordination in a public sector context. The chapter also reviews existing analytical and empirical approaches to coordination. In chapter 3 we propose an analytical framework geared to the central coordination of publicly-owned hospitals. The framework builds on two theories – principal-agent theory and sociological institutionalism – and seeks to explain why coordination problems occur across the three cases. Chapter 4 includes the research design: the case selection and methods. The thesis uses an explanatory comparative case study approach to understand how reform affects coordination in hospital systems in the three country cases: Estonia, Norway and Romania. We use congruence analysis as a specific type of case study research. Congruence analysis connects empirical observations to expectations derived from theory. The main source of empirical material comprises of a program of semi-structured interviews conducted in all three countries with various stakeholders – both in central institutions and public hospitals. This evidence is supplemented with relevant documentary data and statistical information. Chapters 5 through 7 constitute the core of the thesis and they describe, evaluate and explain the relationship between organizational reform in public hospitals and coordination problems. Each of these three country chapters ends by discussing the compatibility between empirical findings and the theoretical propositions derived from the two theories. In each country chapter we seek to explain the relationship between organizational reform in public hospitals and central coordination by means of the theoretical framework introduced in Chapter 3. Chapter 8 concludes by comparing the empirical and theoretical findings across the three cases and discusses the implications of the results for theory and practice. The research has reached the following conclusions: nbsp; Organizational reform in public hospitals has constituted an important component of healthcare policy in all three countries in the past 10 to 15 years. All three countries have experimented with structural reform (including decentralization or centralization) and have grappled with granting management autonomy to public hospitals while seeking to solidify policy-making and coordination capacity at the center of government nbsp; This administrative change across the three hospital systems has not been marginal only – it has involved major resources and has received considerable attention from different stakeholders •nbsp; Although hospital decentralization and autonomy reform constitute on-going processes that may constantly undergo some degree of change, we have observed that in two of our three cases, Estonia and Norway, the reform model proposed more than 10 years ago has essentially endured to the present. While ideas for change to the model have been put forward, in Norway for example, it is unlikely that this change would radically reshape the type of reform model adopted years ago. Romania, while clearly experimenting with the same types of international ideas, has thus far only implemented decentralization. Granting greater autonomy to hospital management is still an idea that is being considered by central policy makers in Romania, but it is uncertain if, when and how it will be implemented nbsp; In the face of organizational reform the state capacity to coordinate the decentralized and autonomous hospitals has been put to the test nbsp; We have observed a reconsideration of the role of central institutions, most notably the ministries of health, but also health insurance funds in social insurance systems or other central bodies in tax-based systems nbsp; Hospital autonomy has overall posed serious challenges to the central coordination of autonomous hospitals in Estonia, much more so than in the case of Norway and Romania nbsp; However, the autonomy of hospitals is not the only factor that affects the effectiveness of coordination. Hospitals that enjoy a lower degree of autonomy, as in Romania for example, are not necessarily more effectively coordinated than hospitals that enjoy a high degree of decision-making discretion nbsp; nbsp;Norway, a high-trust society that is compliant with government regulation, coordination problems exist in more specific areas of ICT and in the case of elite medical specialties in the Oslo University Hospital. Overall, coordination in Norway has significantly improved following the 2002 hospital reform, but this does not necessarily mean that coordination in the public hospital sector is problem-free nbsp; Hospital system culture and principal-agent theory offer complementary insights into the dynamics of public hospital coordination. Conflicting interests and goals and cultural factors are particularly relevant in understanding the effectiveness of central coordination of public hospitals nbsp; There is more evidence for some propositions of principal-agent theory than for othersnbsp;more evidence was found in favour of conflicting interests and goals than in the case of imperfect information. Positive and negative incentives are situated in the middle with more evidence in some cases than in others. The thesis contributes to the existing literature in the following ways: nbsp; Directly compares two eastern and one western European system and shows that such comparison, although it does not follow a most similar research design, is both feasible and productive. This research finds that problems of coordination can occur in different systems and therefore to study public sector coordination comparatively one can choose to select cases that display differences between them and look for factors that can explain a similar outcome nbsp; Covers one country where only very limited research on hospital reforms has previously been published (Romania) •nbsp; Sets out new primary evidence in the form of original interviews and documentary evidence which has not previously been cited in academic research nbsp; Employs two theoretical approaches in a comparative and complementary way, and argues that conflicting interests and goals and hospital system culture help explain coordination in European public hospital systems nbsp; Proposes an analytical framework for analyzing coordination in public hospital systems and finds the framework to be useful in that it encourages researchers and practitioners to think specifically about the implications of coordination; that is, the problems and effects of coordination problems.

José M. Alonso, Judith Clifton, Daniel Díaz‐Fuentes

The Spanish Agency for the Evaluation of Public Policies (Agenda Estatal de Evaluatión de las Políticas Públicas y la Calidad de los Servicios — AEVAL) was established in 2007. One of the original justifications for creating this agency was to improve public policy evaluation with the end result of improving government’s coordination of public policy implementation in the context of a decentralized Spain. From the 1980s, Spain had been transformed from a highly centralized system to a decentralized territory composed of 17 regional governments, or Autonomous Communities, henceforth, ACs. Improving coordination was not the only reason to establish AEVAL, but it is on this task that this chapter focuses. Other important objectives included: promoting a more rational use of public resources; improving public service quality; and bolstering accountability to citizens. However, in the period leading up to its final creation, the political complexities underlying the urge to improve coordination issues as a result of decentralization became apparent. Today, the AEVAL functions as an evaluator of public policy, but significant issues related to coordination practices between central and regional governments remain. This chapter presents and evaluates AEVAL as regards its creation, organization, functions and performance to date. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Abebaw, Mesfin

Local government is the tier of public authority that citizens first look to solve their immediate social problems. Among all the public institutions at local level, council has a special status and authority as local elected bodies. They are uniquely placed to provide vision and leadership to their local communities. They are able to make things happen on the ground where it really matters. The government of Ethiopia in general and Addis Ababa city administration in particular establishes council at different tiers of government as parliamentary control mechanism to ensure effective policy implementation, promote local democracy and improve service delivery. However, woreda councils in Addis Ababa city administration were not seen playing such role of democracy promotion. Moreover, studies conducted in regional woredas divulged that Woredas council have not yet managed to exercise sufficient local autonomy due to several reasons such as absence of clearly established legal mandate, lack of devolution of power, poor organization of the system and tight control and intervention by higher authorities. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the challenges and prospects that woreda council at Addis Ababa city administration has faced in promoting democracy among grass-root people. It also examines the overall operations of the councils from the viewpoints of democratic government and decentralization In order to pursue the objective of the study the researcher use multi-stage sampling technique and relied on both primary and secondary data source. Primary data collected through questionnaires, interview and observations while secondary data obtained from document analysis like legislation on the issue, minutes and reports complied by counsel's office. It was found that problems prevailed in regional woreda councils are also impeded woreda councils at Addis Ababa City Administration. The internal working system of woreda councils reflected that executive domination is very soaring, and councils are not responsive to the needs of the community and most importantly democratic essence viz. accountability, transparency, participation and autonomy are not adhered principles in the councils conduct. Therefore, councils as they are impeded by the above-mentioned challenges are playing insignificant role in cultivating democratic value and improving the service delivery to the grass root people. Therefore, it is recommended that the internal working system of councils need to be very transparent, responsive, participatory and free from any unnecessary intervention. Councilors must be sensitive to public interest; legal back up from the city administration is also needed in order to make councils strong, autonomous and powerful. The field that councilors operating also should be open to all stakeholders as the democracy promotion works calls for the involvements of different actors

Mary Feeney, Eric W. Welch

No abstract is available for this record.

Moraru Marilena Ortansa

New Public Management (NPM) is considered as a global paradigm emerging in response to economic, institutional, political, and ideological changes.Many attempts to define the New Public Management have been made and there are several definitions of this notion, referring to the implementation of management ideas from business and private sector into the public services.Over the past few years, Romania has been facing a great challenge as it has to enhance its public management for achieving the European standards and values of transparency, predictability, accountability, adaptability and efficiency. The necessity of a modern administration at European standards exists both at the level of the citizen, and at the level of institutions delivering public services.According to the provisions of its last stand-by arrangement with IMF, Romania placed emphasis on restoring medium- and long-term sustainability and paved the way for future growth. Structural reforms were a large component of the program, including tax administration, pensions, public wages and employment, and social benefits, improving public sector efficiency, as well as enhancing the business environment. Since 2009 a public financial management structure was introduced for multi-year budgeting while limiting intra-year budget revisions. Fiscal rules were introduced on spending, public debt and primary deficit, and a framework for managing guarantees and other contingent liabilities was approved. Local public finance law was amended to bolster fiscal discipline and limit risks from local governments.Thus, presently, the legal framework envisages the use of new instruments and structures to support local administration authorities to increase their administrative capacity in order to perform in accordance with their new authority and thereby increases the quality of the already decentralized public services.The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) ' the total quality management tool was introduced in Romania, public institutions acknowledging the need for change and improvement, the importance of people'(tm)s involvement within the organization'(tm)s self-assessment process, the importance of measuring the results, objectives prioritization, the need to assume responsibility for the identified improvement actions, as well as the need to share knowledge and experience.Most of the Romanian public institutions apply the diagnosis obtained through CAF implementation as a solid ground to develop and implement their Multi-annual Modernizing Strategies, thus assuring the sustainability of the results accomplished so far.Concluding, we consider that the changes incurred and the significant transformation of Romanian public services include important elements of NPM.

Daniel Cohn

No abstract is available for this record.