Search results for "Public Administration"
showing 10 items of 1623 documents
Soten "neljäs tuotantokausi"
2020
A central political goal of Juha Sipilä’s government was to implement comprehensive reform concerning health and social services. In this article we study how leaders of change, whose task it was to prepare and implement the reform together with regional institutions, experienced the political process aimed to prepare and implement the reform. Key theoretical concepts discussed herein are different models of democracy, dialogue and trust. Our empirical data consists of 17 interviews with the leaders of change. The key focus is on interaction and trust at the interface of politics and the public authorities involved in the implementation process. According to our results political guidance a…
The School Boards Between Power and Influence
2014
The decentralized Scandinavian school structure with the municipal school committee as a central factor between the municipal council and other school interests gives the school board a central role in the implementation of the centrally decided school legislation from the parliament. Therefore, the central questions in modern Scandinavian schooling are: what are the ways of influence and what power mechanisms are in play throughout the schooling system.
Power, Institutions, and Periphery: What Can a Small University College Do?
2018
Higher education institutions (HEIs) are seen as key sources for innovation, global competitiveness, and regional development despite their location. The chapter discusses the institutionalised practice of an HEI located in a peripheral region with many regional development challenges. The main finding is that the HEI acted as a powerful political actor in the region but within the educational path. It was taken for granted that the HEI should not engage in regional development efforts by the HEI and regional actors in the region. This behaviour is explained as a result of an institutional control mechanism that governs how HEI should practise their role.
The choice of tradition and the tradition of choice: Habermas’ and Rorty’s interpretation of pragmatism
1999
The paper is aimed at discussing two interpretations of pragmatism in a broader framework of general rules of philosophical interpretation. J. Habermas’ and R. Rorty’s uses of pragmatism are considered in detail and confronted with general assumptions of pragmatic philosophy. It is shown that in both cases the original ideas of pragmatism are changed in order to fit the philosophies of interpreters. The paper ends with discussion of a possibility of applying the rule of interpretative charity and dialogue to philosophical analyses.
The Process of Pregnancy: Paradoxical Temporalities of Prenatal Entities
2021
AbstractIn this article, we reflect on the particular temporal structure of pregnancies and prenatal entities with the aim to contribute to the field of the sociology of pregnancy. Medical models and technology shape today’s notion of pregnancy as a linear, nine-month developmental process that leads to the birth of a child. Through ultrasound technology and prenatal examinations, prenatal entities have thus historically gained a present ‘being’ as a developing, unborn child. While these ideas undoubtedly greatly influence the participants’ interpretations, a culturalistic perspective on time alone does not do justice to the phenomenon’s lived tensions and the temporal complexity of the phe…
Second chamber, ‘congress of ambassadors’ or federal presidency : Parliamentary and non-parliamentary aspects in the European Council's rules of proc…
2015
SUMMARYThe development of the European Union (EU) regime, with the frequent changes of institutions and their competencies by treaty revisions, allows for new opportunities for parliamentary studies. This article discusses the role and competencies of the European Council (EC) in the EU regime, using the heuristic and methodological resources of procedural commentaries, parliamentary rhetoric, conceptual history and political regime analysis. This study is a textual analysis, based on the 2009 Lisbon Treaty and especially on the EC's rules of procedure. The Lisbon Treaty and the respective rules of procedure serve as key documents that fix the rules, the framework and the margin of manoeuvr…
Challenges of a Post-Communist Presidency: Vaira Vike-Freiberga and the Leadership of Latvia
2017
In 1999, Vaira Vikṃe-Freiberga became the first woman president elected in Latvia, as well as the first female executive to assume that office in the post-communist Central and East European region. She was elected by the democratic unicameral legislature and completed two terms in office. President Vikṃe-Freiberga enjoyed record-high-approval ratings and achieved significant political successes, overseeing the accession of Latvia to the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. As president, Vikṃe-Freiberga did not embrace an explicitly feminist agenda: faced with economic challenges in a newly capitalist country, societal challenges in a country with ethnic tensions betwe…
The Selection and Deselection of Technocratic Ministers in Democratic Spain
2017
This chapter analyses the presence of non-political ministers in the Spanish cabinet in the democratic period since 1977, where one out of five ministers did not belong to the ruling party at the time of her appointment and one out of three can be considered as a non-political minister. By observing the selection and deselection of these individuals, it shows the cabinet dynamic behind the ministerial appointments and the differences between the more political type of ministers and those coming from outside political pathways. Despite some outstanding exceptions, non-political ministers are often recruited from outside the parliament and have fewer chances to develop a relevant ministerial …
Executive Politics in Spain
2020
The chapter offers an overview of the main features of executive politics in democratic Spain. Adopting a core executive approach, it focuses on the actors and the processes defining the interaction and the power relationship between the prime minister, the ministers, and the cabinet at the national level. The main argument discusses the ‘presidentialization’ thesis in Spain. Instead, it proposes a more complex dynamics based in the exchange of power resources among actors within the government. Although institutional and political factors – like party politics and the personalization of politics – have favoured the prime minister’s predominance, other factors help to counterbalance this tr…
A gender study of principal investigator lead public R&D centres and funding
2021
To survive and grow public Research and Development (R&D) centres need to raise competitive funds (Bazeley 1998; Lee and Om 1996; Muñoz 2007; Santamaría, Brage-Gil and Modrego 2010). The factors that can influence the capacity of national R&D teams within R&D centres to apply for and obtain competitive funding does not seem to have been studied in depth. The purpose of study is to firstly, to examine whether a consistent set of priorities defined by R&D centre lead principal investigators secures more competitive funding. Secondly, to examine whether the PI gender moderates the effect of the PI’s priorities on the amount of competitive public funds that the R&D team of the PI obtains. Our s…