European Democratic Institutions and Administrations: Cohesion and Innovation in Times of Economic Crisis

Description

This book presents the results of extensive international comparative research into the effects of the economic and financial crisis on democratic institutions and social cohesion policies. The collected studies describe and analyse the measures (often referred to as "reforms") adopted to counter the crisis and the effects of these measures.It investigates three areas: the impact on the functioning of institutions, with respect to the relationship between representative institutions and governments, and the organisational structure of administrations at national and local levels; the impact that the austerity policies on public spending have on social rights; and the impact on traditional instruments of public action (administrative simplification, public services delivering, the use of common assets).The general findings highlight the effect of reducing the administrative and government capacity of the democratic institutions: the public sector, rather than being innovative and made more effective, declines, offering increasingly poor public services and making bad decisions, fuelling substantive or formal privatisation solutions, which in turn cause further weakening. Front Matter ....Pages i-vi Introduction (Francesco Merloni, Alessandra Pioggia)....Pages 1-22 Front Matter ....Pages 23-23 The Crisis and Political Decision-Making Processes: The Impact on European Constitutional Systems (Rolando Tarchi)....Pages 25-59 Technical Governments and Technical Experts in the Governments (Andrea Pierini, Mauro Volpi)....Pages 61-80 Impact of the Crisis on Public Sector Employment: A Change of Perspective (Benedetto Ponti)....Pages 81-95 Transformations and Innovations of Territorial Autonomies in the Aftermath of the Economic Crisis (Luciano Vandelli)....Pages 97-120 Front Matter ....Pages 121-121 The Function of Redistribution Between Crisis and Inclusion (Antonio Brancasi, Carlo Marzuoli)....Pages 123-148 Constitutional Law and Social Welfare After the Economic Crisis (Stefano Civitarese Matteucci, Simon Halliday)....Pages 149-168 Rights in Times of Crisis: Considerations on Security, Migrations and Inclusive Citizenship (Salvatore Bonfiglio, Gabriele Maestri)....Pages 169-193 Social Rights and the Economic and Financial Crisis. Problems and Perspectives (Silvio Gambino, Danilo Pappano, Giovanni M. Caruso, Walter Nocito, Giampaolo Gerbasi, Donatella Loprieno et al.)....Pages 195-226 The Administrative Architecture of Financial Integration (Edoardo Chiti, Giulio Vesperini)....Pages 227-238 Front Matter ....Pages 239-239 Administrative Simplification As an Instrument for Coping with the Economic Crisis (Aldo Travi, Davide Occhetti, Nicola Gambino)....Pages 241-263 Administrative Cooperation in the Public Contracts and Service Sectors for the Progress of European Integration (Roberto Cavallo Perin, Gabriella M. Racca)....Pages 265-296 Taking Care of Commons to Tackle the Financial Crisis (Marco Bombardelli)....Pages 297-320