Transnational Public Administration: Governance Challenges for International Organizations and National Agencies
20. June 2008
The Working Group on Governance of the German Association of Political Science (DVPW Arbeitskreis Politische Steuerung) in cooperation with the Center of Excellence "Cultural Foundation of Integration" is hosting a conference on
Transnational Public Administration: Governance Challenges for International Organizations and National Agencies
20-21 June 2008
University Konstanz, Germany
The institutional and organisational basis of these processes of integration and desintegration, i.e. the role of involved domestic and international organisations, has not yet received adequate attention. If it is true that we witness a trend towards what might be called the transnationalisation of public administration, this poses enormous challenges in terms of understanding and designing governance structures as well as organisational practices and routines to professionals and academics alike.
First, challenges of organisational legitimacy and loyalty might emerge from the fact that increasing administrative interaction across vertical (between national and international organisations) as well as horizontal lines implies that an organisation's well-established administrative structures, practices and routines are confronted with new—and potentially contradicting—traditions in which cooperating authorities are embedded. How do national and international organisations cope with these challenges of administrative diversity? How do international organizations cope with the proliferation of various—sometimes mutual exclusive—administrative traditions of their member states? How do they respond to constellations, in which there are diverse and sometimes even competing reference models of administrative structures, practices and routines in their organisational environment? Moreover, how do national agencies respond to challenges of their increasing horizontal integration at the transnational level and hence their juxtaposition with administrative traditions that strongly differ from their domestic context (double-hatted agencies)? To what extent do these developments lead to organisational changes? To what extent can we observe loyalty conflicts at the level of the employees and how are these conflicts resolved?
Second, as the importance of transnational public administration grows especially international organisations increasingly face demands for improving internal governance in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. In the light of this constellation, many important organisations, such as the European Commission, the European Parliament, the European Central Bank, the OECD, the Secretariat General of the United Nations and several other UN organisations have, in part, begun to renew their internal structures as well as their human resources and financial management. What is the importance of internal reforms for the effective functioning of international organisations? Are international organisations “laggards” compared to national administrations in term of reforming their internal management? What factors determine the speed, acceptance, and scope of reforms? Which areas of internal management (financial management, human resources, horizontal and vertical coordination structures) are leading the way in the observed reform processes? Where do we find the greatest deficits?
The conference aims to offer a discussion forum to stimulate the exchange of ideas between the different disciplines (political science, public administration, law sociology) as well as practitioners working in international organisations and national administrations. Young scholars, in particular, are invited to actively participate.
Contact
If you desire more information on this conference or if you would like to be updated regularly on the developments in the organization of the conference, do not hesitate to contact
Christoph Knill or Michael W. Bauer
Universität Konstanz
Department of Politics and Management
Chair for Comparative Public Policy and Administration
Fach D 91
78457 Konstanz, Germany
E-Mail tim.balint[at]uni-konstanz.de
Phone +49 (0)7531/88-3749 or (0)7531/88-3025
FAX +49 (0)7531/88-2381