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The quality of governance and institutions is increasingly seen as a fundamental factor in shaping the development prospects of poor countries. As a consequence, donor agencies have increasingly allocated resources to providing technical assistance for improving governance standards in such countries, with mixed results. This thesis investigates the domestic and external factors affecting the outcomes of reforms aimed at improving the quality of government budget institutions across a sample of 16 aid-dependent countries. It provides a new definition of the quality of budget institutions, and develops an analytical framework that identifies the key factors at play in the political economy of budget reforms. The analysis starts with a medium-N ‘pattern finding’ approach, based on a new dataset tracking changes in the quality of budget institutions over the period 2001 to 2007. This is followed by a small-N ‘process tracing’ approach, with in-depth case studies of Mozambique and Burkina Faso (with additional evidence from Tanzania), looking at both overall reform trajectories and four specific budget reform areas. The results show that among domestic factors, economic and political stability are preconditions for successful budget reforms. A minimum degree of government leadership and commitment to reforms is also a very important factor shaping budget reform outcomes, alongside the centralisation of budget institutions. Surprisingly, among external factors, the level of technical assistance and the use of so-called programme aid modalities were less important than the overall fragmentation of aid flows and the ways in which technical assistance is delivered in influencing budget reform outcomes. Donors’ hopes of ‘buying’ better budget governance, therefore, are more likely to be enhanced not by additional resources, but by better behaviour. Moreover, such strategy is likely to work only in countries with enough capacity and interest in reforms.

A perennial question amongst social movement strategists is to what extent movements can use the tools of the system they are struggling against in their efforts to change that system. Whilst this debate traditionally distinguishes between two camps – radical and reformist approaches – this thesis investigates one movement that breaks this mould. The thesis uses the example of Bolivia's Landless Peasants' Movement (MST) to intervene into renewed theoretical discussion about the possibilities and perils for such movements of using the legal system in the pursuit of systemic social change. Through its tactic of land occupation, the MST breaks the law by occupying unused land on large estates, whilst also invoking other laws stipulating that unused land must be redistributed to those who will work it. The thesis situates the MST's approach to law in the context of an intensified process of juridification in the neoliberal period, through which the logic and language of law increasingly have come to structure political debate and dissent, creating particular pressures for radical movements to engage with the law. Yet it also suggests that movements like the MST have developed subversive ways of engaging the law in response. By examining the MST's tactic as it interacts with this broader context of intensified juridification, the thesis clarifies and nuances the theoretical discussion by identifying how the particular conditions of political mobilisation in the neoliberal period bear on this theoretical debate. Moreover, by examining specifically how this movement's approach to law is differentiated from traditional radical and reformist approaches, and from other attempts to combine the two, the thesis reveals further potential options for radical movements seeking to engage the law. The thesis ultimately suggests that the transformative potential of law may not lie in employing the content of individual laws but in strategic manipulations of the contradictions inherent in the liberal legal form.

This thesis examines characteristics of the economic governance, its levels and changes that were made in response to events in Southeast Asia in 1997/1998. it describes in detail the role of levels of the economic governance during the solution of the asian financial crisis, that exposed its vulnerabilities. In response to the crisis many changes took place. In the region of Southeast Asia these changes were designed to reform the International Monetary Fund, the origin of regional cooperation in the area and reforms in particular countries of the region. The thesis also contains the evaluation of the development of the economic governance in particilar states of Southeast Asia regarding world governance indicators WGI.

<p>In this mini-thesis, I explore the New Partnership for Africa&rsquo / s Development&rsquo / s (NEPAD) Economic and Corporate Governance Initiative (ECGI). I argue that although this initiative is not the only means to, nor the end of determining whether the NEPAD is being implemented, the ECGI can be used as a good indicator of whether one important dimension of the NEPAD is implemented. I establish whether, through an analysis of the ECGI, that dimension of the NEPAD is being implemented by looking at the countries where the ECGI was implemented. I maintain the position that through the NEPAD, good governance in African countries is promoted and that is why the authors of the NEPAD document created the ECGI.</p>

A more complex and turbulent world market puts pressure on flexibility and the ability to adjust its business to the market changes. The rapid and unpredictable change is hade to analyze and forecast which demands more short-term forecasting. The issue for this dissertation is based upon the demand of more flexible ways of doing business in the bank sector in Sweden, which is a turbulent and unpredictable market. Handelsbanken is a company that uses the so called Beyond budgeting concept and the dissertation is about this company’s ability to solve the economic governance without the traditional budgeting process. The purpose of the study is to compare this organisation with another bank, Swedbank, who also operates on the Swedish market. The study aims to point at differences and similarities between the bank with the Beyond budgeting concept and the other who still is holding on to the traditional budgeting process. Important concepts within the study are; rolling forecasts, KPI and benchmarking. The data was gathered through telephone interviews and secondary data. The authors have been in contact with one regional control in each of the banks to get an understanding about the economic governance in the banks. The findings are that both of the banks are widely decentralised even though Swedbank still holds on to the fact that the traditional budgeting process is important for the company. Both of the companies are using a similar company structure, where local decision power is emphasised and the internal competition is crucial to be able to create motivated employees to be competitive on the market. The banks are also both very interested in not just the financial results but the non-financial, such as customers. / I en allt mer komplicerad och turbulent värld, ställs nya krav på företags flexibilitet och förmåga att ändra sig efter marknaden. Eftersom marknaden ändrar sig väldigt snabbt och ofta, är det svårt att förutse vad som kommer hända i framtiden, och därför behövs mer kortsiktiga framtidsprognoser. Uppsatsens problemformulering grundar sig i kravet på allt mer flexibla styrinstrument i denna globaliserade värld. Handelsbanken är ett företag som använder sig av så kallad budgetlös styrning och uppsatsens problematisering berör bankens sätt att lösa den ekonomiska styrningen med avsaknad av budget. Syftet med studien är att jämföra Handelsbankens ekonomistyrning med Swedbanks, en bank som fortfarande använder sig av traditionell budgetering. I studien beskrivs skillnaderna mellan en bank som har budgetlös styrning och en som är mer budgetstyrd, vad som behövs för att skapa en fungerande budgetlös styrning och vilka fördelar respektive nackdelar det finns med dessa styrningar. Viktiga begrepp inom budgetlös styrning är rullande prognoser, nyckeltal och benchmarking. Insamling av data har skett genom telefonintervjuer och insamling av sekundär data. Man har vart i kontakt med en controller på regionnivå i respektive bank för att få en förståelse för hur det ekonomiska arbetet fungerar i bankerna. Vad som är framgår i studien är att båda företagen är decentraliserade men Swedbank använder en traditionell budget för hela företag dock främst fokuserad till kostnadssidan. Båda företagen har liknande struktur, med en decentraliserad organisation och där de lokala kontoren har stor beslutskraft dessutom använder båda bankerna intern konkurrens för att motivera sina anställda och för att kunna övervaka resultatet. De förlitar sig inte bara på finansiella resultat utan de icke-finansiella resultaten har en väldigt viktigt roll i båda företagen.

<p>In this mini-thesis, I explore the New Partnership for Africa&rsquo / s Development&rsquo / s (NEPAD) Economic and Corporate Governance Initiative (ECGI). I argue that although this initiative is not the only means to, nor the end of determining whether the NEPAD is being implemented, the ECGI can be used as a good indicator of whether one important dimension of the NEPAD is implemented. I establish whether, through an analysis of the ECGI, that dimension of the NEPAD is being implemented by looking at the countries where the ECGI was implemented. I maintain the position that through the NEPAD, good governance in African countries is promoted and that is why the authors of the NEPAD document created the ECGI.</p>

Green Building Councils (GBCs) have been established in many different countries in recent years. This paper discusses the role such organizations can play in the respective construction and real estate industry and under what circumstances a GBC can contribute positively to the development of a "greener" or "more sustainable" stock of buildings. The paper investigates the main informational problem of the industry by looking at the relation between a developer and an investor from an economic point of view. We argue that the investor's uncertainty about the true quality of a building and the corresponding incentive for the developer to cheat may lock them into a prisoners' dilemma trap. The corresponding barriers for a transition toward a "greener" buildings market are analyzed. GBCs are described as institutions of economic governance that can assist the economy in overcoming these problems. They can act as third party institutions in transactions between developers and investors. By certifying the quality of a building, they can reduce the risk for the investor to be cheated by the developer and also increase the incentive to develop good quality buildings for the developer. This task, however, raises some severe management challenges for the GBCs. (author's abstract) / Series: SRE - Discussion Papers

Cette étude revisite la question de la gouvernance concernant la politique économique. Les agents au sein de l’économie politique cherchent à produire la stabilité politico- économique à travers la création de complémentarités institutionnelles. C’est le cas lors de moments de reconfiguration de la politique économique alors que ces changements défient des intérêts établis. La complémentarité institutionnelle est comprise comme une situation dans laquelle une institution profite de la présence d’une autre institution afin de remplir son rôle structurant dans l’économie politique. Nous démontrons que la gouvernance économique est crucialement affectée par la crainte de répéter des traumatismes institutionnels passées qui ont perturbé la stabilité économique et politique et les routines des processus des politiques publiques. L’hypothèse est que la menace de reproduire les conditions des traumatismes institutionnels passés conduit les acteurs à mettre en œuvre des réformes institutionnelles qui s’appuient sur la présence d’autres institutions afin de structurer la stabilité de l’économie politique, c’est à dire qu’ils créent des complémentarités institutionnelles. Cette thèse examine trois cas de processus de libéralisation en Amérique Latine ; le Brésil, le Chili, et le Mexique. Ces pays ont connu des crises économiques profondes dans les années 1980, en partie comme conséquence de la disparition définitive du modèle précédent. Ensuite, les trois pays ont mis en œuvre des réformes de libéralisation dans les décennies qui ont suivi. Dans les processus des réformes, la menace de l’instabilité est apparue dans ces trois pays avec une intensité différente. Lorsque la menace était imminente, la complémentarité institutionnelle était consolidée, alors que lorsqu’elle a disparu, aucune complémentarité institutionnelle n’a été effectivement constituée. La méthodologie utilisée est une comparaison croisée d’études de cas qui emploiera le traçage de processus visant l’élaboration d’une théorie puisque ceci est suggéré lorsque les causes menant à un résultat donné ne sont pas connues, mais qui peuvent être généralisées par la suite. Bien que le concept de complémentarités institutionnelles ait été largement utilisé en économie politique comparée, peu d’études ont été faites pour comprendre les raisons pour lesquelles elles sont créées. / This study revisits the question of governance regarding economic policy. Agents within the political economy will seek to produce political-economic stability through the creation of institutional complementarities. This is specially the case in moments of reconfiguration of economic policy when such changes challenge significant vested interests. Institutional complementarity is understood as the situation in which one institution takes advantage of other institution’s presence to fulfill its structuring role in the political economy. We demonstrate that economic governance is crucially affected by the fear of repeating past institutional traumas that disrupted economic and political stability and policymaking routines. The central hypothesis is that the threat of reproducing the conditions of past institutional traumas leads actors to carry institutional reforms that take advantage of other institutions’ presence to structure stability in the political economy, that is, they create institutional complementarities. The dissertation examines three cases of liberalization processes in Latin America: Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. These countries suffered profound economic crises in the 1980s partially as a consequence of a final demise of the previous model. Subsequently all implemented liberalizing reforms for the next decades. In the process of reform, the threat of instability appeared in those countries with a different intensity. When the threat was imminent the institutional complementarity consolidated, whereas when it disappeared no institutional complementarity was effectively constituted. The methodology used is a cross- comparison of case studies within which theory-building process tracing will be used in so far as this method is used when we do not know the causes leading to a given outcome, which in turn can be generalizable. While the concept of institutional complementarities has been used extensively in comparative political economy, not much has been done yet to understand why in some cases institutional complementarities appear, yet not in others.

Magister Artium - MA / In this mini-thesis, I explore the New Partnership for Africa's Development's (NEPAD) Economic and Corporate Governance Initiative (ECGI). I argue that although this initiative is not the only means to, nor the end of determining whether the NEPAD is being implemented, the ECGI can be used as a good indicator of whether one important dimension of the NEPAD is implemented. I establish whether, through an analysis of the ECGI, that dimension of the NEPAD is being implemented by looking at the countries where the ECGI was implemented. I maintain the position that through the NEPAD, good governance in African countries is promoted and that is why the authors of the NEPAD document created the ECGI. / South Africa