EXPENDITURE INFLEXIBILITY IN THE STATE BUDGET: THE FISCAL POLICY LATITUDE OF THE COUNCIL OF STATE IN FINLAND
Article Abstract:
This paper deals with expenditure inflexibility, which has a crucial bearing on the fiscal latitude which the government has in the preparation of the Finnish state budget. The government's fiscal latitude, i.e. the possibilities available to the government to increase, decrease or change state expenditures is restricted by various mechanisms. The source material used in this study consists of budget documents and interviews with officials involved in preparing the budget; use was also made of earlier studies relating to this subject. Our major findings fall into three groups. (i) If the degree of inflexibility is used as a basis for classification, four classes of expenditure can be identified in the Finnish state budget: expenditure controlled by statute, expenditure controlled by agreement, expenditure controlled by authorization and expenditure without formal control. (ii) In the budget for 1996, 92 per cent of expenditure was controlled in various ways, leaving only 8 per cent that was flexible. The conclusion can be drawn from this that without changing the mechanisms that bind expenditures, the government's ability to alter fiscal policy in the budget of a single year is very limited. In the 1990s the proportion of statute-controlled expenditures has decreased and the proportion of agreement-controlled and authorization-controlled expenditures has increased. Nevertheless fiscal latitude has grown. (iii) The material used for comparison showed that there is a similar problem in other countries, but that the mechanisms governing expenditure inflexibility and the fiscal latitude that governments may enjoy can vary.
Publication Name: Public Administration
Subject: Political science
ISSN: 0033-3298
Year: 2000
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MANAGING THE BUDGETARY PROCESS IN A HUNG COUNCIL
Article Abstract:
This paper examines the impact of a change in 1994 from majority control to no overall control on the operation of a strategic medium-term budget and policy planning process in Kirklees MBC. Six hypotheses are set out regarding the changes that might have been anticipated in the budget process, in the light of recent trends in the approach to budgeting in British local government, and the particular political context and recent political history of the authority. Use is made of a diary kept by a participant observer (who is also one of the authors) to document and analyse key events in the budget process. The six hypotheses are examined against the evidence, and with some exceptions are confirmed. It is concluded that Kirklees's well-structured budget process did survive the transition to no overall control, but not without considerable difficulty. Careful management from the Executive Board, especially in brokering discussion, was a critical factor and highly advantageous to the success of the process.
Publication Name: Public Administration
Subject: Political science
ISSN: 0033-3298
Year: 2000
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THE TANGLED WEBS OF WESTMINSTER AND WHITEHALL: THE DISCOURSE, STRATEGY AND PRACTICE OF NETWORKING WITHIN THE BRITISH CORE EXECUTIVE
Article Abstract:
In this paper we identify and seek to resolve a certain paradox in the existing literature on networks and networking. Whilst earlier policy network perspectives have tended to emphasize the structural character of networks as durable, dense and relatively static organization forms, the more recent strategic network literature emphasizes the flexible, adaptive and dynamic quality of networking as a social and political practice. However, neither perspective has yet developed a theory of network formation, evolution, transformation and termination. In this paper, we seek to rectify this omission, advancing a `strategic relational' theory of network dynamics based on a rethinking of the concept of network itself. We illustrate this perspective with respect to the policy process centred in and around Westminster and Whitehall, drawing on a series of semi-structured interviews with ministers and officials from four departments.
Publication Name: Public Administration
Subject: Political science
ISSN: 0033-3298
Year: 2000
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