The research group ‘Policy, Bureaucracy, and Organization’ (PBO) studies the impact of bureaucrats, government organizations, and political-administrative relationships on the formulation and implementation of public policies. The research group embraces an organizational perspective on decision-making in the public sector.
The group’s research has an internationally comparative focus, which cuts across its four thematic pillars.
The political-administrative relations pillar addresses the political control of bureaucracy, the recruitment, careers, and role understandings of top civil servants and ministerial advisers, and the exercise of political and administrative leadership. A core focus of this pillar is how politicians and bureaucrats interact and how major societal trends such as mediatization and political polarization affect their relationship.
The administrative reform pillar focuses on trends, causes, and consequences of administrative reforms at the local, central, and supranational level of government. This pillar includes research on the diffusion and the implementation of international reform ideas and the politics of administrative reforms.
The public management pillar revolves around understanding the implications of different models of managing the delivery of public services. In particular, this includes studies of the implementation of performance management and the organization of public service provision in the welfare state.
The politics of policymaking pillar addresses how policies come about in substantial policy sectors. The research group has a specific focus on climate and energy, higher education, and migration and integration policies.
The research group regularly organizes research seminars. Those seminars are open to participants from outside the group. If you would like to receive invitations to the seminars, you can subscribe to our mailing list .