The Problem-solving Capacity of the Modern State

Governance Challenges and Administrative Capacities

Edited by Martin Lodge and Kai Wegrich

Hertie Governance Report

Proposes a new framework for collecting, interpreting, and applying governance-related information
Considers the state of governance in this period of profound uncertainty and put forwards a concrete set of proposals for the way ahead

The Problem-solving Capacity of the Modern State

Governance Challenges and Administrative Capacities

Edited by Martin Lodge and Kai Wegrich

Description

The early 21st century has presented considerable challenges to the problem-solving capacity of the contemporary state in the industrialised world. Among the many uncertainties, anxieties and tensions, it is, however, the cumulative challenge of fiscal austerity, demographic developments, and climate change that presents the key test for contemporary states. Debates abound regarding the state's ability to address these and other problems given increasingly dispersed forms of governing and institutional vulnerabilities created by politico-administrative and economic decision-making structures. This volume advances these debates, first, by moving towards a cross-sectoral perspective that takes into account the cumulative nature of the contemporary challenge to governance focusing on the key governance areas of infrastructure, sustainability, social welfare, and social integration; second, by considering innovations that have sought to add problem-solving capacity; and third, by exploring the kind of administrative capacities (delivery, regulatory, coordination, and analytical) required to encourage and sustain innovative problem-solving. This edition introduces a framework for understanding the four administrative capacities that are central to any attempt at problem-solving and how they enable the policy instruments of the state to have their intended effect. It also features chapters that focus on the way in which these capacities have become stretched and how they have been adjusted, given the changing conditions; the way in which different states have addressed particular governance challenges, with particular attention paid to innovation at the level of policy instrument and the required administrative capacities; and, finally, types of governance capacities that lie outside the boundaries of the state.

The Problem-solving Capacity of the Modern State

Governance Challenges and Administrative Capacities

Edited by Martin Lodge and Kai Wegrich

Hertie Governance Report

1: Introduction: Governance Innovation, Administrative Capacities, and Policy Instruments, Martin Lodge and Kai Wegrich
Part I Administrative Capacities
2: Delivery Capacity, Peter Hupe and Michael Hill
3: Coordination Capacity, Kai Wegrich and Vid Stimac
4: Regulatory Capacity, Martin Lodge
5: Analytical Capacity, Salvador Parrado
6: Management Capacity and Performance in European Public Administrations, Gerhard Hammerschmid, Vid Stimac, and Kai Wegrich
Part II Challenges and Capacities in Key Policy Areas
7: Demographic Change and Welfare State Restructuring, Michaela Kreyenfeld and Anika Rasner
8: Sustainability: Innovations through Sector Integration and New Instruments, Andrea Lenschow
9: Governance Dilemmas of the Contemporary State: The Politics of Infrastructure Policy, Jacint Jordana
Part III Capacities and Innovations Beyond the State
10: Wicked Problems, Clumsy Solutions and Messy Institutions in Transnational Governance, Marco Verweij
11: Capacity and Constraint: Governance Through International and Transnational Law, Nico Krisch
12: Administrative Capacities in the EU: Consequences of Multi-level Policy-Making, Eva Heidbreder
13: Collaborative Innovation and Governance Capacity, Eva Sorensen and Jacob Torfing
14: Capacity, Innovation and their Interaction in Multi-stakeholder Sustainability Initiatives, Kira Matus
15: Conclusion: Problem-Solving Capacity and the Modern State, Martin Lodge and Kai Wegrich

The Problem-solving Capacity of the Modern State

Governance Challenges and Administrative Capacities

Edited by Martin Lodge and Kai Wegrich

Hertie Governance Report

Author Information

Edited by Martin Lodge, Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, Department of Government and the Centre for Analysis of Risk and Regulation, London School of Economics and Political Science, and Kai Wegrich, Professor of Public Administration and Public Policy, Hertie School of Governance

The Hertie School of Governance is an international teaching and research centre of excellence in Berlin, Germany that prepares students for leadership positions in government, business, and civil society. An internationally-recruited faculty, interdisciplinary in outlook, research, and teaching, offers analytically-challenging and practice-oriented courses on governance, policy analysis, management, and leadership and helps students grow intellectually in a professional, research-intensive environment, characterised by public debate and engagement. The School was founded in 2003 as a project of the Hertie Foundation, which remains its major partner.

Martin Lodge (PhD, London School of Economics) is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy in the Department of Government and the Centre for Analysis of Risk and Regulation at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Kai Wegrich (Dr. rer. pol., Potsdam University) is Professor of Public Administration and Public Policy at the Hertie School of Governance.

Contributors:

Martin Lodge
Kai Wegrich
Peter Hupe
Michael Hill
Vid Stimac
Salvador Parrado
Gerhard Hammerschmid
Michaela Kreyenfeld
Anika Rasner
Andrea Lenschow
Jacint Jordana
Marco Verweij
Nico Krisch
Eva Heidbreder
Eva Sorensen
Jacob Torfing
Kira Matus