Ministerial bureaucracies as stand-in agenda setters? A comparative description

Abstract: "This paper sets out to theoretically conceptualise and empirically describe the potential ability of ministerial bureaucracies to influence policy-making. The theoretical framework describes the chances for bureaucracies to influence policy-making as accruing from three sources: the organisational structures of the bureaucracy itself, room for bureaucratic discretion resulting from the preference configurations of the political actors, and the chance for the bureaucracy to act as political agenda setter rather than politicians. A quantitative empirical description of 21 OECD-countries is presented with the aim of comparing the relative strengths of the national ministerial bureaucracies. The paper concludes with an empirical classification of administrative systems. Japan, Belgium, and Ireland are found to be countries with a strong position for the bureaucracy in all of the theoretically described dimensions. The opposite end of the spectrum is marked by New Zealand, where the bu

Object Details

• Alternative title: Bestimmen Ministerialbürokratien die politische Tagesordnung? Ein Ländervergleich
• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource, 75 S.
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Veröffentlichungsversion

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Veröffentlichung / Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, Forschungsschwerpunkt Sozialer Wandel, Institutionen und Vermittlungsprozesse, Abteilung Institutionen und sozialer Wandel ; Bd. 00-204

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Berlin
• (when): 2000
• Creator: Schnapp, Kai-Uwe
• Contributor: Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung gGmbH

Further information

• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-115824
• Rights: Open Access unbekannt; Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 25.03.2025, 1:45 PM CET