The politics of government reorganization in Western Europe

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Fleischer, Julia; Bezes, Philippe; James, Oliver; Yesilkagit, Kutsal
• 署名单位: University of Potsdam; Institut d'Etudes Politiques Paris (Sciences Po); University of Exeter; Leiden University; Leiden University - Excl LUMC
• 刊物名称: GOVERNANCE-AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF POLICY ADMINISTRATION AND INSTITUTIONS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0952-1895
• DOI: 10.1111/gove.12670
• 发表日期: 2023
• 关键词: Public organizations; models; constraints; DELEGATION; Autonomy; DESIGN; LIFE

摘要

The reorganization of governments is crucial for parties to express their policy preferences once they reach office. Yet these activities are not confined to the direct aftermath of general elections or to wide-ranging structural reforms. Instead, governments reorganize and adjust their machinery of government all the time. This paper aims to assess these structural choices with a particular focus at the core of the state, comparing four Western European democracies (Germany, France, the Netherlands, and United Kingdom) from 1980 to 2013. Our empirical analysis shows that stronger shifts in cabinets' ideological profiles in the short- and long-term as well as the units' proximity to political executives yield significant effects. In contrast, Conservative governments, commonly regarded as key promoters of reorganizing governments, are not significant for the likelihood of structural change. We discuss the effects of this politics of government reorganization for different research debates assessing the inner workings of governments.