Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 25th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview III. PA Reform Author(s) Külli Sarapuu Tallinn University of Technology Tallinn Estonia Title CoG dynamics in Central and Eastern Europe: Institutionalization of Government’s Strategy Unit in Estonia File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Külli Sarapuu Abstract The paper focuses on the Center of Government (CoG) in Estonia and analyzes the evolution of the Government’s Strategy Unit and its functions. The aim of the paper is to identify and explain the factors behind the Unit’s establishment and institutionalization. The Unit was established to the Government Office in spring 2006 in order to support planning of Government’s work and to coordinate drawing up and implementation of Government’s action plan as well as the macro-level national strategic plans. The focus of the paper is on finding critical factors within the existing segmented politico-administrative system and its environment that led to the establishment of the unit and have shaped its further evolvement. The case is of interest for several reasons. On the one hand, Estonia has a de-centered administrative system with strong ministries that have considerable leverage over the issues belonging to their areas of governance. The system originating in the beginning of 1990s has effectively reproduced itself and has been very reluctant to invest in the instruments of central coordination. Consequently, the question arises what factors led to the establishment of the Strategy Unit in such a segmented system and what factors have shaped its development. The case sheds light to the contemporary centering processes in policy-making and enriches the international comparative discussion on CoG dynamics over time. On the other hand, the case allows gaining insight into CoG policy-making in the context of administrative reforms in Central and Eastern Europe. Only very few studies on the development of CoGs in the region have been carried out. However, when summarizing the state of governing after a decade of transition, Goetz and Margetts (1999, 426) argued that CEE CoGs were, ‘largely unable to perform the coordinative tasks that were commonly associated with Prime Minister’s Offices and Cabinet Offices in the literature on consolidated Western democracies’. They described the CEE CoGs as ‘solitary centers’ that operated largely detached from their political and institutional environments. Although several CEE CoGs seem to compare rather well with the ‘Western models’ today, especially in those states that have become part of the EU, there is little information on the emergence of their CoGs and the factors behind the developments. Consequently, there is a considerable room for analysis and the paper at hand aims to contribute to this knowledge. Methodologically, the case study relies on document analysis and interviews. The theoretical framework draws on historical institutionalism and organization theory as well as literature on CoG policy-making and CEE administrative reforms.
