Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

The impact of department structure on policy-making: How portfolio combinations affect interdepartmental coordination

The impact of department structure on policy-making: How portfolio combinations affect... Departments are the primary structure of the bureaucratic apparatus of governments. They can be structured as silo organizations responsible for one policy sector or as non-silo organizations combining different portfolios under one roof. While several studies have identified explanations for the structure of government departments and their portfolio combinations, little is known about the effects portfolio combinations have on public policy. This article theoretically discusses department structure from a procedural perspective, and, taking an empirical approach, explores its effects on policy coordination as one aspect of policy-making. Circumventing the problem of lacking counterfactuals of national governments, the study analyzes the 16 German substate governments and their joint decision-making processes in the German Bundesrat. The analysis is based on two original datasets, one on the combination of portfolios in departments and one network dataset on the policy coordination process. Applying the tools of social network analysis, the findings show that departments develop preferences and goals and allocate attention based on their portfolio combination. Consequently, governments with atypical portfolio combinations are less integrated into the policy coordination process while departments comprised of similar policy sectors coordinate more closely with each other, which make them more likely to influence policy according to their interests. This study thus provides useful insights not only to researchers but also practitioners. The bureaucratic structure of departments has consequences for policy-making and, ultimately, for policy itself, which should be considered when setting up and structuring government departments. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Public Policy and Administration SAGE

The impact of department structure on policy-making: How portfolio combinations affect interdepartmental coordination

Hegele, Yvonne
Public Policy and Administration , Volume 36 (4): 23 – Oct 1, 2021
Download PDF
23 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/sage/the-impact-of-department-structure-on-policy-making-how-portfolio-JyrBOHaaWh

References (49)

Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020
ISSN
0952-0767
eISSN
1749-4192
DOI
10.1177/0952076720914361
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Departments are the primary structure of the bureaucratic apparatus of governments. They can be structured as silo organizations responsible for one policy sector or as non-silo organizations combining different portfolios under one roof. While several studies have identified explanations for the structure of government departments and their portfolio combinations, little is known about the effects portfolio combinations have on public policy. This article theoretically discusses department structure from a procedural perspective, and, taking an empirical approach, explores its effects on policy coordination as one aspect of policy-making. Circumventing the problem of lacking counterfactuals of national governments, the study analyzes the 16 German substate governments and their joint decision-making processes in the German Bundesrat. The analysis is based on two original datasets, one on the combination of portfolios in departments and one network dataset on the policy coordination process. Applying the tools of social network analysis, the findings show that departments develop preferences and goals and allocate attention based on their portfolio combination. Consequently, governments with atypical portfolio combinations are less integrated into the policy coordination process while departments comprised of similar policy sectors coordinate more closely with each other, which make them more likely to influence policy according to their interests. This study thus provides useful insights not only to researchers but also practitioners. The bureaucratic structure of departments has consequences for policy-making and, ultimately, for policy itself, which should be considered when setting up and structuring government departments.

Journal

Public Policy and Administration – SAGE

Published: Oct 1, 2021

There are no references for this article.