Table Of ContentGovernance in Turbulent Times
Governance in Turbulent
Times
Edited by
Christopher Ansell, Jarle Trondal,
and Morten Øgård
1
3
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Foreword
What are the conditions for political development and decay and for sus-
tained political order? Whatare the limitsof established ruleas weknow it?
How much stress can systems absorb before theyreach some kind of limit?
How do governments tackle enduring ambiguity and uncertainty in their
systems and environments? How can they deal effectively with complex
governance problems? These are some of the big questions of our time.
This volume may be read as a stress-test for well-known ways of governing
in the twenty-first century, and explores how governments, organizations,
and institutions respond to precipitous, conflicting, and novel—in short,
turbulent—governancechallenges.
Building on prior work in organization theory and political science, this
volumearguesthatturbulencereferstosituationswheregovernanceorganiza-
tionsandinstitutionsmustcopewith(andsometimescreate)highlyvariable,
inconsistent, unexpected, and/or unpredictable political and managerial
demands. Although turbulence is a chronic condition in many governance
domains,ithasreceivedlimitedattentionfromthecontemporarygovernance
literature. Thisvolume arguesthat turbulenttimes represent an underappre-
ciatedopportunitytoexaminetheresilienceofwell-knowngovernancepatterns
and government arrangements. Individual chapters offer insight into how
politics, administrative scale and complexity, uncertainty, and time collide
toproduceturbulenceinarangeofdifferentgovernancecontexts;theythen
illuminate the structural and strategic features of organizations and institu-
tionsthatenablethemtosustainablyadapttothisturbulence.
Thisworkistheoutcomeofatwo-stageprocess.Thefirststageconsistedofa
workshop organized by the Peder Sather Center for Advanced Studies, con-
venedattheUniversityofCalifornia,BerkeleyinNovember2013.Thework-
shop gathered PhD students and senior faculty to discuss governance and
turbulence from a variety of disciplinary, theoretical, and empirical angles.
We offer special thanks to those who made presentations at this seminar,
includingJozefBàtora,MarkBevir,NeilFligstein,PaulPierson,WalterPowell,
EmeryRoe,PaulSchulman,andMargaretWeir.Theeditorswouldalsoliketo
acknowledge Trond Petersen’s critical investment of time and energy in
organizingthisevent.Neithertheseminarnorthisvolumewouldhavebeen
Foreword
possible without Trond’s contribution. We are also indebted to Vesna Rodic
for handling the workshop practicalities and for assisting in the preparation
ofthetext.
The second stage of this project consisted of preparing a book-length ver-
sion of the key issues discussed at the workshop. The editors acknowledge
financial support from two separate research grants from the Peder Sather
Center for Advanced Studies, University of California, Berkeley. These grants
made it possible to organize the workshop and produce the book. We are
deeplyindebtedfortheadministrativesupportprovidedbytheCenterunder
theacademicleadershipofProfessorTrondPetersenandtheexecutivedirect-
orshipofRobertGleeson.FinancialsupporthasalsobeenprovidedbyARENA
CentreforEuropeanStudies,UniversityofOsloundertheproject“EURODIV:
Integrationanddivision:TowardsasegmentedEurope?”andbytheUniversity
ofAgderundertheproject“COMPOL:TheRiseofCommonPoliticalOrder.”
Last but not least, the editors would like to thank Dominic Byatt, Oxford
University Press’s fantastic editorial team, anonymous reviewers for their
importantcontributionsinpreparingthisvolume,aswellasvaluablefeedback
from our colleagues. Jarle Trondal also extends a special note of thanks to
Morten Egeberg for extensive discussions, sharing of ideas and research
cooperationoverseveralyears.Finally,theeditorsacknowledgeMelindaHill
forimprovingthelanguageofthevolume.
Berkeley,Kristiansand,andOslo
ChristopherAnsell,JarleTrondal,andMortenØgård
vi
Contents
ListofFigures ix
ListofTables x
ListofContributors xi
1. TurbulentGovernance 1
ChristopherAnsell,JarleTrondal,andMortenØgård
PartI: Turbulence:ConceptualLenses
2. AnOrganizational–InstitutionalApproachtoGovernance 27
ChristopherAnsell,DavidLevi-Faur,andJarleTrondal
3. OrganizedTurbulence 55
JarleTrondal
4. Turbulence,Adaptation,andChange 77
ChristopherAnsell
PartII: FieldsofObservation
5. TacklingUnrulyPublicProblems 107
ChristopherAnsellandMartinBartenberger
6. TurbulentTimesforMinistriesofFinance 137
MartinaMcCowan
7. GovernanceinTurbulentAdministrativeSystems 159
JarleTrondal
8. TurbulenceandWar:PrivateMilitaryCorporationsand
theReinstitutionalizationofWar-Making 181
JozefBátora
9. Problem-SolvingattheLocalLevelinTurbulentTimes 202
LindaHyeandMortenØgård
Contents
10. TheImpactofFamilyPoliciesduringTurbulentTimes 223
TrondPetersen,AndrewPenner,andGeirHøgsnes
11. OntheFutureofHighReliabilityOrganizationsinan
AgeofTurbulence 241
PaulR.Schulman
12. ManagingPolicyMesses 261
EmeryRoe
PartIII: Conclusion
13. CopingwithTurbulence 285
ChristopherAnsellandJarleTrondal
Index 303
viii
List of Figures
1.1. Anorganizational–institutionalapproachtoturbulentgovernance 13
3.1. Anillustrationofturbulenceofscale 68
9.1. Complexityanddiversity 205
9.2. Sourcesofturbulenceforlocalmunicipalitiesasa
decision-makingsystem 206
9.3. Threekindsofturbulenceandproblemsituations/
responsibilitiesofmiddlemanagers 208
10.1. Graphsbyyearformalemaritalpremium(populationlevel),female
penalty(populationandoccupation-establishmentlevels),and
motherhoodpenaltyfor3+children(populationand
occupation-establishmentlevels) 234
11.1. Reliabilityspaceandprecursorzone 250
12.1. Messandreliabilityspaceofprofessionalactivities 265
Description:What are the conditions for political development and decay, and the likelihood of sustained political order? What are the limits of established rule as we know it? How much stress can systems tackle before they reach some kind of limit? How do governments tackle enduring ambiguity and uncertainty i
