Articlegreen2011

Administrative reform and unintended consequences: an assessment of the EU Cohesion policy ‘audit explosion’

59 citations0/0 files storedJournal of European Public Policy

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Public Policy and Administration Research European Union Policy and Governance Regional Development and Policy

Abstract

This paper investigates the effects of administrative reform in the Commission on policy implementation and outcomes through a study of EU Cohesion policy auditing. It argues that the growth in audit has taken a distinctively compliance-oriented form, in contrast with the performance audit model adopted in other countries that have embraced administrative modernization agendas. Further, the link between organizational efficiency and governance effectiveness postulated by other studies of Commission administrative reform is challenged, as the underlying audit and control problem in Cohesion policy – the high error rate – remain unresolved. Lastly, the proliferation in Cohesion policy auditing is presented as a classic example of unintended consequences: originally intended to improve policy performance and accountability, it has in fact undermined the strategic performance of the policy and is even threatening its sustainability.

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References

1999The Audit Society: Rituals of Verification 1998The Audit Society: Rituals of Verification 2004Public Management Reform: A Comparative Analysis 2004Public Management Reform 2006The Oxford handbook of public management 1994Accounting as Social and Institutional Practice 2008An Agenda for a Reformed Cohesion Policy A place-based approach to meeting European Union challenges and expectations 1998The politics of European Union regional policy : multi-level governance or flexible gatekeeping?

Cited by

2013The Institutional Basis of Democratic Accountability 2013From Conditionality to Europeanization in Central and Eastern Europe: Administrative Performance and Capacity in Cohesion Policy 2012The post-2013 reform of EU cohesion policy and the place-based narrative 2015Policy Evaluation in the EU: The Challenges of Linking Ex Ante and Ex Post Appraisal 2015Reconciling Audit and Evaluation?2015The Politics of Time on the Frontline: Street Level Bureaucracy, Professional Judgment, and Public Accountability

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