CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2015
| Author | Kostka, Joanna Maria Emilia |
|---|---|
| Title | Going Beyond Political Commitments: Explaining Diverging Outputs in the Use of European Structural Funds for Roma Inclusion Strategies in Spain and Slovakia |
| Summary | This dissertation analyzes the use of European Structural Funds during the 2007-2013 funding period for the development of Roma inclusion strategies in Spain and Slovakia. It addresses the question of why there has been a substantial variation in the SF implementation outputs between the two countries. The research challenges the Europeanization and European cohesion policy theories by demonstrating that factors such as domestic compliance, institutional experience and administrative capacities of the implementation bodies fail to explain the Spanish success and Slovakia failure. Instead I argue that policy outputs are strongly influenced by mechanisms embedded in the implementation process. My thesis engages in an analysis which considers the structuring potential of the overarching action strategies - the way they guide and constrain the behaviour and procedural workings of the implementation process. I contend that despite an ongoing devolution of modern governance and a growing influence of non-governmental actors, the hierarchical character of policy-making has not been fully obliterated and the central policy decisions continue to shape public interventions. The empirical findings strongly support this claim. Nevertheless, the adopted analytical framework also demonstrated that top-down policy implementation process is neither strictly rationalist nor sealed from exterior pressures and procedural routines. First, the focus on policy design unveiled that public problems (Roma exclusion) are “framed” by policy-makers who act upon their own perceptions and consolidated norms. As such, it is the very representation of the problem rather than its objective assessment that legitimizes a set of adopted solutions (objectives and measure). This approach demonstrated that framing of Roma exclusion as a structural issue, free of ethnic underpinnings, is conductive to effective outputs. Second, the analysis of participatory dimension of modern governance showed that in fact overarching strategies are strongly influenced by a growing number of stakeholders, working in different configurations of partnership and located at different stages of the implementation process. However, it was also unveiled that this influence is strongly constrained by the willingness of the government to cede authority and enable participatory policy-making. Thus effective outputs were driven by fairly corporatist partnership arrangements opened to carefully selected experts and organizations. Finally, while top-down strategies and partnership arrangements are considered the main “shapers” of policy implementation effective outputs are also contingent on administrative coordination and programmatic synergies. The findings showed that linking SF programming with national and regional policy activities reinforced effective outputs - by preventing overlaps, incongruities and conflicts of interest. This work contributes to and challenges existing scholarly discussions about implementation of the SF and social inclusion policies. It also offers a new perspective on normative claims about the general character of policy implementation by highlighting that policy outputs continue to be strongly contingent on the macro level variables that structure the entire process. |
| Supervisor | Krizsan Andrea |
| Department | Public Policy PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2015/kostka_joanna.pdf |
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