Research Programme
The research programme of the Institute of Public Administration covers a wide range of topics.
- Crisis Research
- The Early Years of Public Institutions
- Normative Dimensions of Public Administration
- Analytical Politics and Public Choice
- Transposition of EU-directives
- Civil Service Reform
- Past research projects
- Organisations
Crisis Research
The Leiden University Crisis Research Centre (CRC) studies crisis management in the public sector. The CRC analyses how public institutions deal with all types of crisis. It aims to explain the origins of crisis and the outcomes of crisis management efforts.
The Early Years of Public Institutions
Through empirical and theoretical research, the EYPI-team attempts to uncover the critical factors that facilitate, drive or impede institutionalisation. Why do public organisations do what they do? How do employees of public organisations come to interpret their task in one way rather than another? Why do only a few public organisations have a strong culture that defines organisational commitment and enables employees to perform well?
Normative Dimensions of Public Administration
Public administration is intrinsically normative. It would be difficult, indeed, to find a topic in public administration (both as a field and as a study) that does not have a normative dimension to it – even if it is limited to the ‘factuality of the normative’, to use Niklas Luhmann’s phrase. In this sense all public administration researchers address normative issues, but some do more directly and more purposively so than others.
Analytical Politics and Public Choice
The ECPR Standing group on Analytical Politics and Public Choice is committed to rigorous theoretical approaches as well as empirical testing which will provide a forum for different scholars interested in these principles and working in different areas. This reflects their conviction that theoretical models without empirical testing are of little relevance to the development of contemporary social science. On the other hand, the group considers a sound theoretical basis and analytical rigour as indispensable foundations of any kind of empirical research.
Transposition of EU-directives
In this programme we seek to explain the differences in the 'transposition' of European Union directives in national law by using the most prominent theoretical approaches to political decision making in the last decade. Taken as a political process, transposition ultimately determines the contents of European policies as they will be perceived by citizens.
Civil Service Reform
Government reform and especially initiatives pertaining to the reform of the civil service have been put high on the political agenda. When attempting to reform civil service systems it is a prerequisite to know what to reform. As increasingly a 'bench mark' approach is taken: comparative knowledge of civil service systems is mandatory. To fill some deficiencies in current state of the art of civil service research, an international project concerning comparative study of civil service systems has been initiated.
Past research projects
The Renaissance of Public Administration
The PIONEER project The Renaissance of Public Administration aims at ‘rebuilding the present from the past’. A new appraisal of the concept of public administration by means of a re-assessment of its roots. What is needed is a comprehensive approach to the foundations of the discourse on public administration in order to acquire a more profound insight into the nature of the underlying controversies of the field.
Organisations
EPAN
The European Public Administration Network (EPAN) provides a platform for exchange of information concerning Europeanisation and facilitates dialogue between Public Administration teaching institutions in Europe. EPAN is concerned with facilitating and co-ordinating activities with the Europeanisation of Public Administration (PA) as their main objective.
NIG
Netherlands Institute of Government (NIG), the Dutch research school for Public Administration and Political Science. NIG is an interuniversity research school in which faculties from nine universities participate.
ECPR
The European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) is an independent, scholarly association, which supports and encourages the training, research and cross-national cooperation of political scientists in institutions throughout Europe and beyond. The Institutions of Politics: Design, Workings, and Implications.
For more information you can visit the ECPR website.