The Quality of Public Sector Institutions: A Critical Review of Studies on ‘Good Governance’ and ‘Institutional Weakness’

Debate: The Quality of Institutions. An Interdisciplinary Perspective

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54790/rccs.3

Keywords:

Institutions, Public sector, Government, Laws, Institutional quality, Institutional weakness

Abstract

This article performs a comparative analysis of different approaches to the quality of institutions in the public sector, drawing on contributions from political science and some specialisations in the legal sciences. After reviewing the assumptions of the concept of institution in this sector, two groups of emblematic works are selected. The first group focuses on the performance of bureaucracies and the provision of public services, which is summarised under the label “quality of government”, while the second group is concerned with the achievement of objectives set out in laws and the bureaucracies that implement them, referred to as “institutional weakness vs. institutional strength”. Finally, convergences and divergences are discussed, along with the determinants of social embeddedness identified by some empirical research.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Wilfrid Martinez-Sanchez, Institute for Advanced Social Studies, CSIC, Spain

Pre-doctoral researcher (FPU, university teacher training) at the Institute for Advanced Social Studies (IESA) of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). He specialises in the study of the social determinants that shape academic and scientific careers, with a particular interest in how they are modulated by multilevel relationships within knowledge institutions. His approach is based on the sociology of organisations, scientific professions and innovation studies. He participates in projects on the quality of institutions and the organisation of the scientific labour market of institutions in the knowledge sector.

Humberto Gosalbez Pequeño, University of Cordoba, Spain

Professor of Administrative Law at the University of Córdoba, with extensive experience in teaching and research in the field of administrative law. He has taught for more than thirty years in the Faculties of Law, Business Administration, Labour Sciences and Tourism, as well as on various doctoral, master’s and specialist diploma programmes and courses. The research, supported by three six-year periods of research, focuses on the theory and legal practice of administrative law. The resulting scientific production has been reflected in seven collective works and more than thirty articles in scientific journals. This is in addition to his extensive production of books, monographs, university textbooks and annotated administrative legislation.

References

Agnafors, M. (2013). Quality of government: Toward a more complex definition. American Political Science Review, 107(3), 433-445. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055413000191

Bågenholm, A., Bauhr, M., Grimes, M. y Rothstein, B. (2021). Introduction: Quality of Government: Why-What-How. En A: Bågenholm, M. Bauhr, M. Grimes y B. Rothstein (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Quality of Government. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198858218.001.0001

Brinks, D. y Blass, A. (2013). Beyond the Façade: Institutional Engineering and Potemkin Courts in Latin America, 1975-2009. University of Texas at Austin.

Brinks, D. M., Levitsky, S. y Murillo, M. V. (2019). Understanding institutional weakness: power and design in Latin American Institutions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108772211

Brinks, D., Levitsky, S. y Murillo, M. (2020). The Political Origins of Institutional Weakness. En D. Brinks, S. Levitsky y M. Murillo (Eds.), The Politics of Institutional Weakness in Latin America (pp. 1-40). CAmbridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108776608.001

Charron, N., Lapuente, V. y Annoni, P. (2019). Measuring quality of government in EU regions across space and time. Papers in Regional Science, 98(5), 1925-1953. https://doi.org/10.1111/pirs.12437

Charron, N., Lapuente, V., Bauhr, M. y Annoni, P. (2022). Change and Continuity in Quality of Government: Trends in subnational quality of government in EU member states. Investigaciones Regionales-Journal of Regional Research, 2022(53), 5-23. https://doi.org/10.38191/iirr-jorr.22.008

Charron, N., Lapuente, V. y Dijkstra, L. (2012). Regional governance matters: A study on regional variation in quality of government within the EU. Regional Studies, 48(1), 68-90. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2013.770141

Dahlström, C., Lapuente, V. y Teorell, J. (2012). The merit of meritocratization: Politics, bureaucracy, and the institutional deterrents of corruption. Political Research Quarterly, 65(3), 656-668. https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912911408109

Dahlström, C. y Lapuente, V. (2022). Comparative bureaucratic politics. Annual Review of Political Science, 25, 43-63. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-051120-102543

Du Gay, P. (2000). In praise of bureaucracy: Weber-organization-ethics. Sage Publications Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446217580

Edelman, L. B. y Suchman, M. C. (1997). The legal environments of organizations. Annual Review of Sociology, 23(1), 479-515. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.23.1.479

Elkins, Z., Ginsburg, T. y Melton, J. (2009). The endurance of national constitutions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511817595

Espinosa Soriano, P. (2023). La calidad institucional desde la perspectiva sociológica: contribuciones y retos al estado de la cuestión. Revista Centra de Ciencias Sociales, 2(2), 149-166. https://doi.org/10.54790/rccs.74

Evans, P. B. (1995). Embedded autonomy: States and industrial transformation. Princeton: Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400821723

Falleti, T. G. (2020). Social Origins of Institutional Strength. En D. Brinks, S. Levitsky y M. Murillo (Eds.), The Political Origins of Institutional Weakness (pp. 253-276). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108776608.011

Fernández Esquinas, M. (2023). Editorial: «Buenas y malas instituciones». La cuestión de la calidad institucional en las ciencias sociales. Revista Centra de Ciencias Sociales, 2(2), 117-128. https://doi.org/10.54790/rccs.70

Fioretos, O., Falleti, T. G. y Sheingate, A. (2016). Historical institutionalism in political science. En O. Fioretos, T. G. Falleti y A. Sheingate (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Historical Institutionalism (pp. 3-28). Oxford: Oxford University Press https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199662814.013.1

Goodsell, C. T. (2011). Mission mystique: Strength at the institutional center. The American Review of Public Administration, 41(5), 475-494. https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074011409566

Gosálbez Pequeño, H. (2021). En busca del «buen gobierno». La capacidad y la honorabilidad del gobernante. Revista “Cuadernos Manuel Giménez Abad”, 22, 205-228. https://doi.org/10.47919/FMGA.CM21.0205

Granovetter, M. (1985). Economic action and social structure: The problem of embeddedness. American Journal of Sociology, 91(3), 481-510. https://doi.org/10.1086/228311

Grindle, M. S. (2007). Good enough governance revisited. Development Policy Review, 25(5), 533-574. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7679.2007.00385.x

Hall, P. A. y Taylor, R. C. (1996). Political science and the three new institutionalisms. Political studies, 44(5), 936-957. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.1996.tb00343.x

Holland, A. C. (2017). Forbearance as redistribution: The politics of informal welfare in Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316795613

Holmberg, S., Rothstein, B. y Nasiritousi, N. (2009). Quality of government: What you get. Annual Review of Political Science, 12, 135-161. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-100608-104510

Immergut, E. M. (1998). The theoretical core of the new institutionalism. Politics & Society, 26(1), 5-34. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032329298026001002

Jones, B. D. (2003). Bounded rationality and political science: Lessons from public administration and public policy. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 13(4), 395-412. https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/mug028

Kaufmann, D., Kraay, A. y Mastruzzi, M. (2010). Response to «What do the worldwide governance indicators measure?». The European Journal of Development Research, 22, 55-58. https://doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2009.49

Levitsky, S. y Murillo, M. V. (2009). Variation in institutional strength. Annual Review of Political Science, 12, 115-133. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.11.091106.121756

Levitsky, S. y Ziblatt, D. (2018). Cómo mueren las democracias. Barcelona: Ariel.

Mahoney, J. y Thelen, K. (2010). A theory of gradual institutional change. En J. Mahoney y K. Thelen (Eds.), Explaining institutional change: Ambiguity, agency, and power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511806414

Manin, B. (1998). Los principios del gobierno representativo, trad. Fernando Vallespín. Madrid: Alianza Editorial.

March, J. G. (1978). Bounded rationality, ambiguity, and the engineering of choice. The Bell Journal of Economics, 587-608. https://doi.org/10.2307/3003600

March, J. G. y Olsen, J. P. (2006). Elaborating the «New Institutionalism». En R. A. W. Rhodes, S. A. Binder y B. A. Rockman (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Political Institutions (pp. 3-20). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199548460.001.0001

Mayntz, R. (1994). Sociología de la administración pública. Madrid: Alianza Editorial.

Míguez, G. C. (2007). Nuevo institucionalismo en ciencia política, institucionalismo de elección racional y análisis político de costes de transacción: una primera aproximación. RIPS. Revista de Investigaciones Políticas y Sociológicas, 6(2), 9-27.

Ovejero Lucas, F. (2008). ¿Idiotas o ciudadanos? Claves de razón práctica, 184, 22-32.

Pedraza Rodríguez, J. A. (2023). La calidad de las instituciones y su relación con la economía: una revisión de las bases conceptuales y estudios empíricos. Revista Centra de Ciencias Sociales, 2(2), 129-148. https://doi.org/10.54790/rccs.38

Peters, B. G. (2011). Institutional theory in political science: The new institutionalism. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781501397813

Pierson, P. (2000). The limits of design: Explaining institutional origins and change. Governance, 13(4), 475-499. https://doi.org/10.1111/0952-1895.00142

Portes, A. (2006). Institutions and development: A conceptual reanalysis. Population and development review, 32(2), 233-262. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2006.00117.x

Remmer, K. L. (2008). The politics of institutional change: Electoral reform in Latin America, 1978-2002. Party Politics, 14(1), 5-30. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068807083821

Rhodes, S. A. (2006). Old institutionalisms. En R. A. W. Rhodes, S. A. Binder y B. A. Rockman (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Political Institutions (pp. 3-20). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Rose-Ackerman, S. (1999). Political corruption and democracy. Journal of Political Law, 14(2), 363-378.

Rothstein, B. O. y Teorell, J. A. (2008). What is quality of government? A theory of impartial government institutions. Governance, 21(2), 165-190. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0491.2008.00391.x

Rothstein, B. (2011). The quality of government: Corruption, social trust, and inequality in international perspective. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226729589.001.0001

Rubio Carracedo, J. (2008). La fuente de la corrupción política: la teoría de Rousseau sobre las tres voluntades del ciudadano. Revista de Estudios Políticos (nueva época), 141, 105-132.

Sartori, G. (2005). En defensa de la representación política. En M. Carbonell (Comp.), Democracia y representación: un debate contemporáneo (pp. 21-35). Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación.

Steinmo, S. (2008). Historical institutionalism. En D. Della Porta y M. Keating (Eds.), Approaches and methodologies in the social sciences: A pluralist perspective (pp. 118-138). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511801938.008

Tsebelis, G. (2000). Veto players and institutional analysis. Governance, 13(4), 441-474. https://doi.org/10.1111/0952-1895.00141

Uslaner, E. M. (2008). Corruption, inequality, and the rule of law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511510410

Weber, M. (1947). The Theory of Social and Economic Organization (A. M. Henderson y Talcott Parsons, trad.; Talcott Parsons, ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Zucker, L. G. (1987). Institutional theories of organization. Annual Review of Sociology, 13(1), 443-464. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.13.080187.002303

Downloads

Published

2023-11-14

How to Cite

Martínez-Sánchez, W., & Gosálbez Pequeño , H. (2023). The Quality of Public Sector Institutions: A Critical Review of Studies on ‘Good Governance’ and ‘Institutional Weakness’: Debate: The Quality of Institutions. An Interdisciplinary Perspective. CENTRA Journal of Social Sciences, 2(2), 167–186. https://doi.org/10.54790/rccs.3

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 2 (2023): CENTRA Journal of Social Sciences

Section

Discussion

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Wilfrid Martínez-Sánchez, Humberto Gosálbez Pequeño

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.