Approaches focusing on ideological and cognitive factors to analyse public policy have moved to centre-stage in political science. This book presents the great variety of theoretical and empirical research on the role of ideas which has emerged in recent years.How can you quantify ideas? Ideas are objective entities, not conducive to empirical research. The appeal of this book lies in the juxtaposition of a careful exploration and discussion of the theories behind the role of ideas in policy making and policy areas, and their detailed contextualisation. Through carefully researched contemporary examples offering single country studies, comparative studies and examples from the European Union, these 'ideas' show themselves to be a double-edged sword. Ideas are revealed as both a societal and political resource, crucial to both promoting and inhibiting policy change. A clear understanding of the impact and influences of ideas on the crucial process of policy is essential to all political scientists and analysts of public policy, as well as individuals interested in the effects on policy decisions.

This volume breaks new ground in addressing a number of critical issues confronting contemporary comparative politics, including the increasing interdependence of countries in the era of enhanced globalization, different levels of political authority and structures of governance, the search for elegant parsimonious explanation and the possibilities for a real accumulation of knowledge. The contributions all problematize comparative politics in ways that have not been done before and add remarkable insight for scholars in the field. This is highly recommended.' - Todd Landman, University of Nottingham, UK and author of Issues and Methods in Comparative Politics (Routledge 2000, 2003, 2008, 2016)'The challenges that comparative politics faces have, in most cases, been discussed as fragmented and separate treatments. Rarely are they presented systematically and in an encompassing manner, as in the present volume, which covers a variety of subdisciplines. The editors and contributors should be complimented for offering methodologists and empirical comparativists a structured and integrated volume in which the various challenges are not only discussed in depth, but also linked together, rather than in isolation.' - Daniele Caramani, University of Zurich, Switzerland What are the conceptual and methodological challenges facing comparative politics today? This informative book discusses four main challenges that create stress for disciplinary reproduction and advancement, while providing potential solutions. In seven chapters, the contributors cover the most pressing issues: the dissolution of the nation-state as the main objective of inquiry; the increasing complexity of concepts and methods; the capacity to accumulate knowledge; and the tensions between parsimonious and contextually rich explanations. Scholars and students of comparative politics, international relations and political science will be interested in the up-to-date overview of pertinent conceptual problems, as well as the possible ways forward. Practitioners and decision-makers will find the real-world examples provided in this book useful to their work. Contributors: D. Braun, O.Giraud, D. Jahn, D. Kuebler, M. Maggetti, S. Stephan

The Global Financial Crisis has led to a renewed attention for the management of public debt and deficits of advanced and developing industrial states. To successfully deal with such problems of public finances raises particular concerns in federal states where fiscal competencies are split between two levels of government. This book offers comparative in-depth knowledge of political struggles related to fiscal consolidation policies in eleven federal states since the 1990s, including the Global Financial Crisis and its aftermath. It identifies conditions that lead to "robust" solutions that can both commit federal actors to prudent fiscal policy-making and avoid conflicts between federal actors that cause federal instability. This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of political economy and comparative politics in general and comparative federalism and EU Politics in particular.

Delegation is an ubiquitous social phenomenon linked to the growing differentiation of modern societies. Delegation is one of several different modes of organisation that exist to make collective action successful, but has been overlooked and under-researched.
Using a rational choice institutional analysis and principal agent models, this book brings literature on delegation to bureaucracy, electorate to legislature to government within representative democracy together with literature on new forms of delegation such as non-majoritarian institutions, to provide a more complete and synthetic analysis of delegation in political systems.
With a broad and comparative approach, this is an important volume for advanced students, researchers and professionals concerned with delegation in the areas of public policy, public administration and democratic theory.

This title was first published in 2003.Investigating the impact of federal structure on fiscal policy-making in four country cases, this book answers the question as to what extent federal structures hinder or, on the contrary, enhance a state's decision and co-ordination capacity in the field of fiscal policy. It questions the common assumption that federal structures restrain the co-ordination and hence macroeconomic management capacity. Well-documented and meticulously presented, this book will be useful for all those working in the field of policy research, and more generally for those who wish not only to attain a deeper and more comprehensive view on fiscal policy making or federalism, but on the territorial dimension of fiscal policy.

The Routledge/ECPR Studies in European Political Science series is published in association with the European Consortium for Political Research - the leading organisation concerned with the growth and development of political science in Europe. The series presents high-quality edited volumes on topics at the leading edge of current interest in political science and related fields, with contributions from European scholars and others who have presented work at ECPR workshops and research groups. Delegation is a ubiquitous social phenomenon linked to the growing differentiation of modern societies. Delegation is one of several different modes of organisation that exist to make collective action successful, but has been overlooked and under-researched. Using a rational choice institutional analysis and principal agent models, this book brings literature on delegation to bureaucracy,

This title was first published in 2003. Investigating the impact of federal structure on fiscal policy-making in four country cases, this book answers the question as to what extent federal structures hinder or, on the contrary, enhance a state's decision and co-ordination capacity in the field of fiscal policy. It questions the common assumption that federal structures restrain the co-ordination and hence macroeconomic management capacity. Well-documented and meticulously presented, this book will be useful for all those working in the field of policy research, and more generally for those who wish not only to attain a deeper and more comprehensive view on fiscal policy making or federalism, but on the territorial dimension of fiscal policy.

Das Buch widmet sich – aus einer ideengeschichtlichen Perspektive – dem Erscheinen einer neuen autoritären Regimeform im Transformationsprozess von monarchischen zu republikanischen Regierungen, oft als Cäsarismus angedeutet, die im neunzehnten und beginnenden zwanzigsten Jahrhundert viele politische Diskussionen entfachte. Als Rezeptionsgeschichte und ideengeschichtliche Abhandlung bietet dieses Buch relevantes Material für Studierende und Lehrende in der Politikwissenschaft, ideengeschichtlich Interessierte und Politikwissenschaftler*innen in der vergleichenden Regimeforschung allgemein und der Autokratieforschung im Besonderen. 

The Global Financial Crisis has led to a renewed attention for the management of public debt and deficits of advanced and developing industrial states. To successfully deal with such problems of public finances raises particular concerns in federal states where fiscal competencies are split between two levels of government. This book offers comparative in-depth knowledge of political struggles related to fiscal consolidation policies in eleven federal states since the 1990s, including the Global Financial Crisis and its aftermath. It identifies conditions that lead to "robust" solutions that can both commit federal actors to prudent fiscal policy-making and avoid conflicts between federal actors that cause federal instability. This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of political economy and comparative politics in general and comparative federalism and EU Politics in particular.

By gathering institutional details on funding and health research systems in a comparative perspective, Structure and Dynamics of Health Research and Public Funding offers, for the first time, a comprehensive and systematic view of the options and restrictions to which scientists, clinicians and administrators are subject when seeking to establish a productive health research enterprise. The Structure and Dynamics of Health Research and Public Funding provides the reader with a comparative institutional analysis of problems of application in health research. In assessing the cognitive, social and institutional structuring of health research, explanations for the origin and variation of problems are presented. The study extensively discusses the capacities of funding agencies to contribute to a higher practical diffusion of health research knowledge. It is thus addressed to all individuals and institutions who are involved in the promotion of, or are concerned with, the future of health research.

Wahrend die normative Begrundung von Demokratie seit der Antike ein zentrales Thema der politischen Ideengeschichte darstellt, erhalt die Rechtfertigung autoritarer Herrschaft bisher relativ wenig Aufmerksamkeit. Diese Diskrepanz soll mit diesem Buch beseitigt werden. UEbersichtsweise werden die relevanten Beitrage politischer Philosophen und Vertreter religioeser und ideologischer Stroemungen abgehandelt und zu sieben Autoritatstypen zusammengefasst: den sittlichen, religioesen, schutzenden, vernunftigen, ideologischen, elitaren und populistischen Autoritarismus.

Das Buch bietet eine systematische und an Originaltexten orientierte, kritische Einfuhrung in die Grundlagen der Modelle rationaler Wahlhandlungen aus der Sicht der Politikwissenschaft."

Aueh wenn es immer mehr ErkHirungen fiber Ursaehen und Verlauf der Arbeitslosigkeit gibt, lohnt es sieh, angesiehts der gesellsehaftliehen Tragweite und der Beharrliehkeit dieses Problems, weiterzuforsehen. Politikwissenschaft- liche Ansatze scheinen dabei in erster Instanz wenig zu konkreten Hand- lungsempfehlungen beitragen zu konnen. Dies liegt nieht zuletzt daran, daj3 sie hiiufig wenig kurzfristig beeinfluj3bare Faktoren in den Vordergrund schieben wie Institutionen und MachtverhaItnisse, wabrend okonometrische Berechnungen der Wirtschaftswissenschaften scheinbar konkret und pranse die Parameter angeben konnen, deren Einhaltung zu den gewiinschten Resul- taten fiihren sollen. Daj3 dies nicht genfigt, zeigen 15 Jahre Arbeitslosigkeit in den Niederlanden. Der springende Punkt ist, daj3 okonomische Aggregat- groj3en wie Investitionen, Konsum, Staatsausgaben, Lohnentwicklungen usw. nicht ohne handelnde Personen in Bewegung gesetzt werden konnen. Die aktive Beseitigung der Arbeitslosigkeit durch die Politik bedeutet zuerst die Beeinflussung des Verhaltens von Akteuren, deren Interessen einerseits gruppengebunden sind und andererseits kulturell und institutionell struktu- riert werden. Vnd an dieser Stelle kann die Politikwissenschaft und insbe- sondere die jfingere (vergleichende) Policy - Forschung eine fruchtbare Erganzung der Wirtschaftswissenschaften darstellen. Sie kann den politischen Entscheidungstragem sowohl die politikimmanenten wie die extemen Hand- lungsspielraume vor Augen fiihren und damit die Erreichbarkeit der politi- schen Ziele begreiflich machen. Wissen um die Mogliehkeiten und Restrik- tionen des eigenen Handelns bedeutet aber immer eine erhOhte Fahigkeit zur Planung und so moglicherweise zur Pravention des erkannten drohenden Unheils.

Why, in the last decades of the twentieth century, did industralized nations witness recurring vast public deficits, even in times of peaceful international relations and economic growth? The essays in Politics, Institutions, and Fiscal Policy chart answers sought by economists, political scientists, and government officials. This groundbreaking book looks at states within five industrialized federations Canadian provinces, Swiss cantons, Belgian regions, German lander, and American states as case studies of variation in budget balances since 1980. The work s conclusion compares deficit levels between the federations studied. Politics, Institutions, and Fiscal Policy sheds new light on the role of such factors as spending and taxation levels and electoral and partisan cycles within the budget balancing process. Neatly written and theoretically grounded, this volume contributes greatly to our understanding of public finance and public administration."

By gathering institutional details on funding and health research systems in a comparative perspective, Structure and Dynamics of Health Research and Public Funding offers, for the first time, a comprehensive and systematic view of the options and restrictions to which scientists, clinicians and administrators are subject when seeking to establish a productive health research enterprise. The Structure and Dynamics of Health Research and Public Funding provides the reader with a comparative institutional analysis of problems of application in health research. In assessing the cognitive, social and institutional structuring of health research, explanations for the origin and variation of problems are presented. The study extensively discusses the capacities of funding agencies to contribute to a higher practical diffusion of health research knowledge. It is thus addressed to all individuals and institutions who are involved in the promotion of, or are concerned with, the future of health research.