An insightful discussion of the phenomenon of standardization in organizations and society at large. The authors regard standards as a form of regulation enabling a higher degree of global order in the modern world, and argue that they represent an alternative to markets and hierarchies as a mode of social organization. They facilitate coordination and cooperation on a global scale, creating similarities and homogeneity even among peoples and organizations that are quite different. This book provides an in-depth examination of standardization in different arenas.

This book explores how the Baltic States have adapted to, and been embedded in, a wider European environment and how they have become modern European states. It focuses on changes in the policies, politics and administrative practices that have taken place after 1991 in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and on the influence of rules and ideas in the European Union. The authors investigate the meeting between national traditions, rule-making and practices - on the one hand; and traditions, rule-making and practices connected to the European Union - on the other. Drawing on organization theory, and the image of states as complex and fragmented organizations, this book discusses: The forms of governance that are directed towards states, differentiating between regulative, inquisitive and meditative activities. The logic of appropriateness and the scriptedness of states. To what extent do the states have to follow the rules, and to what extent are they able to do what they want themselves? Adaptation processes in the state organizations. This book examines how European integration prompts and accelerates new forms of governance in Europe; it will be of interest to students and scholars of politics, the European Union and the Baltic states.

Series Information:
Routledge Advances in Comparative Politics

This book explores how the Baltic States have adapted to, and been embedded in, a wider European environment and how they have become modern European states. It focuses on changes in the policies, politics and administrative practices that have taken place after 1991 in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and on the influence of rules and ideas in the European Union. The authors investigate the meeting between national traditions, rule-making and practices on the one hand; and traditions, rule-making and practices connected to the European Union on the other. Drawing on organization theory, and the image of states as complex and fragmented organizations, this book discusses:

• The forms of governance that are directed towards states, differentiating between regulative, inquisitive and meditative activities.
• The logic of appropriateness and the scriptedness of states. To what extent do the states have to follow the rules, and to what extent are they able to do what they want themselves?
• Adaptation processes in the state organizations.

This book examines how European integration prompts and accelerates new forms of governance in Europe; it will be of interest to students and scholars of politics, the European Union and the Baltic states.

Governing the Embedded State integrates governance theory with organization theory and examines how states address social complexity and international embeddedness. Drawing upon extensive empirical research on the Swedish government system, this volume describes a strategy of governance based in a metagovernance model of steering by designing institutional structures. This strategy is supplemented by micro-steering of administrative structures within the path dependencies put in place through metagovernance. Both of these strategies of steering rely on subtle methods of providing political guidance to the public service where norms of loyalty to the government characterize the relationship between politicians and civil servants. By drawing upon this research, the volume will explain how recent developments such as globalization, Europeanization, the expansion of managerial ideas, and the fragmentation of states, have influenced the state's capacity to govern. The result is an account of contemporary governance which shows the societal constraints on government but also the significance of close interaction and cooperation between the political leadership and the senior civil servants in addressing those constraints.

An insightful discussion of the phenomenon of standardization in organizations and society at large. The authors regard standards as a form of regulation enabling a higher degree of global order in the modern world, and argue that they represent an alternative to markets and hierarchies as a mode of social organization. They facilitate coordination and cooperation on a global scale, creating similarities and homogeneity even among peoples and organizations that are quite different. This book provides an in-depth examination of standardization in different arenas.