This book contains papers from the 13th NISPAcee Annual Conference "Democratic Governance for the XXI Century: Challenges and Responses in CEE Countries, Moscow, Russia, May 19-21, 2005.
The past two decades have been extraordinary ones for the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Many, indeed most, countries in the region have made the transition from dictatorial governments to democratic ones. Certainly, in some instances, the building of democratic institutions within the region has been a more difficult task than in others and, in some cases, this process of institution building remains a very fragile one. Nevertheless, when viewed in its totality, the achievements have been quite extraordinary.
The 2005 annual conference of the Network of Institutes and Schools of Public Administration of Central and Eastern Europe brought together scholars from throughout the region, and many other parts of the world, to examine these developments. This book includes edited papers from that conference that address both the challenges of building democratic governance and the way that many of the countries of the region are working to respond to those challenges.

I. The Central Instruments of Governance and the Processes of Democratic Development

Cabinet Decision-Making in the Western CIS Countries: Dual executive and the diffusion of policy-making authority in Ukraine
Oleh Protsyk

Political Rationality and Economic Rationality and the Hungarian Public Decision-Making System: Economic efficiency versus democracy in Hungary
Janos Hoos

Can Bad Executive Institutions Make Good Policy? Russian government under Yeltsin and Putin
Pat Gray

Involving Parliament in EU Affairs: The new member states and the Danish model
Antoaneta L. Dimitrova and Ellen Mastenbroek

Enhancing Governmental Legislative Capacity? An analysis of the effects of decision making reforms in Lithuania and Romania
Andreas Bagenholm

Commitment of Slovenian Civil Servants and Politicians to Democratic Values and Norms
Miro Hacek and Marjan Brezovsek

II. The Bureaucracy as an Instrument of Democracy

Nomenklatura versus Civil Service in Poland: Defining politico-adminisrative relations under Leszek Miller’s government
Tatiana Majcherkiewicz

Politicians and Senior Civil Servants in Former Yugoslav States: Back to discarded traditions?
Aleksandra Rabrenovic and Tony Verheijen

Bureaucratic Incapacity in Transition Democracies: A case study of decision behaviour in Hungarian central government organizations
Gyorgy Hajnal

Unfinished Transition – Public Administration Reform in Serbia 2001-2004
Svein Eriksen

The Strategic Role of Civil Servants’ Training for Reforming Public Administration in Bulgaria
Polya Katsamunska and Pavel Pavlov

III. Local Governance and the Creation of Grassroots Democracy

City Quarter Communities: A new quality in Slovenian local democracy
Irena Baclija and Marjan Brezovsek

Understanding Issues Raised by Non-governmental Organizations for Modern Russian Public Administration
Carmine Scavo, Paul Dezendorf and Elena Murenina

Mayoral Leadership and Political and Administrative Relationships in Kiev and Odessa
Natalya Kolisnichenko, Allan Rosenbaum and Valentina Krivtsova

Performance Management in Local Governments in Albania: A project report
Zana Vokopola and Silvana Braculla

New Public Management Principles and Policy Implementation: The case of Estonian local governments
Kristiina Tonnisson

Gypsy Women in Public Life: The case of Hungarian local government
Agnes Recz Horvath

IV. Government Reform as a Means to Facilitate Democratic Development

Corruption: Commonality, causes and consequences comparing fifteen post-communist countries
Karin Hilmer Pedersen and Lars Johannsen

Policy making and Policy Implementation Problems in Central and Eastern Europe: the case of health care delivery in Slovakia
Juraj Nemec

Public Budgeting in the Czech Republic
Lucie Sedmihradska and Stanislav Klazar

Preparing the Public Service for Working in Multiethnic Democracies: a survey of schools of public administration in Central and Eastern Europe
Michael Brintnall

V. New Theories for Democratic Development in the CEE

Public Service and the Democratic Deficit
Anetta Debicka and Marek Debicki

Political Participation and Governance Effectiveness – Does Participation Matter?
Martin Nekola

Three Dimensions of Modern Social Governance: Markets, Hierarchies and Kinships
Vladimir Benacek

Index