Structure, Culture, and Governance

by Christensen, Tom; Peters, Guy B.; Peters, B. Guy

• ISBN13: 9780847693146
• ISBN10: 0847693147
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-10-01
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Pub Inc

Summary

Public bureaucracies are the workhorses of contemporary government, responsible for implementing public policies, and in the process making far more laws than do legislatures and adjudicating more cases than do the courts. How do bureaucracies function within a political system? How do they behave in the context of surrounding systems? To what extent do governmental structure and political culture shape the performance of bureaucracies? In this comparison of two countries_Norway and the United States_the authors analyze similarities and differences in political-administrative systems, measuring the capacity to govern and the influence of structure and culture in each case. They provide a framework for a broader understanding of public bureaucracy, its importance in a given political system, and how it interacts with other institutions to govern.

Author Biography

Tom Christensen is Professor of Political Science and Public Administration at the University of Oslo.

Table of Contents

Norway, the United States, and Comparative Politics	p. 1
Macropolitical Design of Government: The Legislative and Executive Related	p. 19
Legislatures: Historical Trends and Contemporary Structure and Decision-Making Processes	p. 41
The Political Executive	p. 71
The Structure of the Executive Bureaucracy	p. 97
Cultural Variables and Governance in Norway and the United States	p. 131
Governance in the Two Societies	p. 161
References	p. 175
Index	p. 191
About the Authors	p. 195
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