Weak Institutions and the Governance Dilemma

Weak Institutions and the Governance Dilemma is especially important and welcome since it offers a very incisive analysis of the role of NGOs in transitional democracies and the effect of institutional setting on NGO effectiveness in representing citizen interests. This book offers a very creative conceptual framework and timely, penetrating case studies which provide valuable insights on NGO strategy, governmental capacity, and the possibilities for social change.Steven Rathgeb Smith, Executive Director, American Political Science Association, and Georgetown University, USA

This book provides a novel analytical perspective on policymaking, policy effects and NGOs in hybrid regimes. It examines the sources and patterns of gaps between formal rules, political practice and longer term effects, and explores how NGOs navigate the tension-laden environments that gaps represent. The book shows how weak institutionsand malfunctioning policies turn NGOs into ambivalent actors. Empirically, it covers criminal justice and social protection policies in post-Soviet Georgia and Armenia. The findings from the in-depth case studies are then extended by a discussion of gaps in hybrid regimes as diverse as Malaysia, Kenya and Russia. The book's approach and findings will appeal to scholars, students and practitioners interested in NGOs, institutional theory and public policy.

Offers a fresh perspective on policymaking, implementation and policy effects in hybrid regimes Examines how NGOs respond to malfunctioning policies Provides in-depth comparative case studies on criminal justice and social protection policies in post-Soviet Armenia and Georgia

Autorentext

Mariella Falkenhain is Senior Researcher at the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) in Nuremberg, Germany. Her work examines how individual and collective actors are shaped by and try to shape the institutional environment in which they operate. Her research has appeared, among others, in Voluntas, Global Policy, and the Journal of Civil Society.

Klappentext

Weak Institutions and the Governance Dilemma is especially important and welcome since it offers a very incisive analysis of the role of NGOs in transitional democracies and the effect of institutional setting on NGO effectiveness in representing citizen interests. This book offers a very creative conceptual framework and timely, penetrating case studies which provide valuable insights on NGO strategy, governmental capacity, and the possibilities for social change. Steven Rathgeb Smith, Executive Director, American Political Science Association, and Georgetown University, USA This book provides a novel analytical perspective on policymaking, policy effects and NGOs in hybrid regimes. It examines the sources and patterns of gaps between formal rules, political practice and longer term effects, and explores how NGOs navigate the tension-laden environments that gaps represent. The book shows how weak institutionsand malfunctioning policies turn NGOs into ambivalent actors. Empirically, it covers criminal justice and social protection policies in post-Soviet Georgia and Armenia. The findings from the in-depth case studies are then extended by a discussion of gaps in hybrid regimes as diverse as Malaysia, Kenya and Russia. The book s approach and findings will appeal to scholars, students and practitioners interested in NGOs, institutional theory and public policy.

Inhalt
1 Introduction.- 2 Theorizing Gaps in Hybrid Regimes.- 3 Criminal Justice Policy in Georgia: NGOs Facing Shallow Reform.- 4 Social Protection in Georgia: NGOs in a Field of Low Political Salience.- 5 Criminal Justice Policy in Armenia: NGOs Facing Chronic Non-Enforcement.- 6 Social Protection in Armenia: NGOs and the Underproviding State.- 7 How NGOs Respond to Systemic and Provoked Gaps.- 8 Conclusion: Gaps, Traps and Ambiguity in Hybrid Regimes.