Search results for "Administration"
showing 10 items of 5106 documents
Local interest groups and the perception of power in Spanish cities
2018
Studies on local interest groups have generated a considerable number of theories on urban power that have eventually become the basis of far-reaching approaches on democracy and collective action. Such literature has been especially concerned with discovering who governs the city, paving the way for discussions on elitism, pluralism and urban regimes. Some approaches consider that the business elite dominates local politics, while other theories assert that interests other than business (neighbors, environmentalists, faith-based organizations, civic groups) have been gaining relevance and access to local government. The POLLEADER survey (2006) provided data on the influence of certain soci…
On Trojan Horses and revolving doors: Assessing the autonomy of national officials in the European Commission
2014
National officials working in international bureaucracies regularly invoke the fear that member states strategically use such officials for influencing decision making and agenda-setting to their advantage. This article theoretically analyses conditions under which the autonomy of national civil servants in international bureaucracies might become compromised. The ensuing predictions are then tested using a unique survey among seconded national experts (SNEs) in the European Commission (N ≈ 400). Finally, evaluating the characteristics linked to reduced autonomy among SNEs in the Commission, the article illustrates that these officials are, in practice, likely to be relatively independent from …
Opportunities and challenges of digitized discretionary practices: a public service worker perspective
2018
Abstract Public service workers exercise discretionary power during policy implementation. Due to an immense diffusion of information and communications technology (ICT) in public service provision, they are increasingly exposed to reforms aiming at more efficient and fair decision-making. Whereas extant literature has found that ICT can both enable and constrain public service workers' ability to exercise discretion, we know less about underlying explanations for these inconclusive findings. This paper addresses this research gap by exploring how and why public service workers react to digitized discretionary practices. We draw upon institutional logics to show the underlying consideration…
Eurocity London: a qualitative comparison of graduate migration from Germany, Italy and Latvia
2016
This paper compares the motivations and characteristics of the recent migration to London of young-adult graduates from Germany, Italy and Latvia. Conceptually the paper links three domains: the theory of core–periphery structures within Europe; the notion of London as both a global city and a ‘Eurocity’; and the trope of ‘crisis’. The dataset analysed consists of 95 in-depth biographical interviews and the paper’s main objective is to tease out the narrative similarities and differences between the three groups interviewed. Each of the three nationalities represents a different geo-economic positioning within Europe. German graduates move from one economically prosperous country to another…
Managers’ Moral Struggle : A Case Study on Ethical Dilemmas and Ethical Decision-making in the Context of Immigration
2019
This qualitative study explores the types of ethical dilemmas that Finnish managers working in reception centres for asylum seekers have encountered and whether the moral intensity of the ethical issues was observable in the ethical decision-making. It concludes that the majority of the managers interviewed encountered ethical dilemmas relating to the termination of reception services. The ethical dilemmas were stratified into seven groups: ambiguous or complete absence of relevant instructions, lack of support, conflicting values, withholding information, pressure, discretionary stress, and unjust decisions on asylum applications. In addition, various dimensions of moral intensity were obs…
The bureaucratic making of national culture in North-Western Ghana
2014
In this article I explore the making of national culture through bureaucratic routines in the Centre for National Culture in Wa, North-Western Ghana. I focus on an aspect of bureaucracy that is usually left aside: the productivity and creativity of bureaucratic routines. State, nation and culture are not fixed entities, but have to be constantly produced through processes of negotiation and meaning-making and through the continual reproduction of their boundaries and the categories that determine what is to be promoted or preserved. Bureaucratic routines and administrative processes are analysed as practices objectifying and nationalising culture and naturalising the boundaries and categori…
Conceptualizing the European Diplomatic Space: A Framework for Analysis of the European External Action Service
2014
The creation of the European External Action Service (EEAS) has a significant impact not only on European foreign policy-making, but also, more widely, on the transformation of the European political order, and represents a further step in the evolution of a European administrative space. Analysing the EEAS as an instance of European administrative space will inform on the shape of the Euro-polity, in that more independent European administrative capacities in area of core state-powers could be interpreted as an indicator for a shift of the EU’s political order. Based on direct observation, document analysis and expert interviews with EEAS officials, the paper presents a first overview of t…
The gender gap in teenagers’ incomes. A 30-year trend in Finland 1983–2013
2015
ABSTRACTIn this article, we examine the gender differences in disposable incomes of teenagers during a 30-year period 1983–2013, using large nationally representative survey data. Since the gender pay gap in working life has been rather persistent in Finland and the EU, it was necessary to see whether the gap persists in teenagers’ incomes as well. Although teenagers do not receive much income from work, they adapt to the structures of society during their teenage years and learn gender roles in consumption, education, and working life. Our results reveal that the gender pay gap has been rather persistent in Finland, particularly among 14- and 16-year-old teenagers. It is only among 18-year…
From the barbecue to the sauna: A comparative account of the folding of media reception into the everyday life
2021
How and why do people still get print newspapers in an era dominated by mobile and social media communication? In this article, we answer this question about the permanence of traditional media in a digital media ecosystem by analyzing 488 semi-structured interviews conducted in Argentina, Finland, Israel, Japan, and the United States. We focus on three mechanisms of media reception: access, sociality, and ritualization. Our findings show that these mechanisms are decisively shaped by patterns of everyday life that are not captured by the scholarly foci on either content- or technology-influences on media use. Thus, we argue that a non-media centric approach improves descriptive fit and ad…
Politics of memory and oblivion. An introduction to the special issue
2019
This editorial sets the context for the special issue on memory and oblivion and introduces the contributions. By interpreting the contemporary uses of the past, the editorial underscores the relevance of the study of memory and oblivion in today’s heated and antagonistic debates. The politics of memory and uses of the past often coincide with efforts of reducing the past to legitimize the current authorities and tend to create new gaps in memory that contribute to the polarisation of societies. The special issue consists of six articles that scrutinise the consequences of the intertwining of memory, oblivion and political power in European countries. Based on two main approaches, the contr…