dissertation topics

MEPP
Master of European Politics and Policies
Member of European Master in Public
Administration network
Parkstraat 45 Box 3609 3000 Belgium

KATHOLIEKE
UNIVERSITEIT
LEUVEN

TOPICS FOR DISSERTATIONS 2012-2013
PUBLIC MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE

Prof. G. Bouckaert
Administrational trust
Today, several public management and public service reform agendas are directed towards the improvement of trust in public organisations
Political science trust research has mainly focused on societal trust in government and other societal actors. However, organisation theorists in the field of economics, sociology and psychology have also focused on organisational and interorganisational trust. This focus would be especially relevant in a public administration context. Therefore, Bouckaert suggests three main clusters of trust relationships that are relevant for the study and practice of public administration. Administrational trust focuses on
T2 and T3 trust.
Trust
T1

of
“Society”

T2

“Public administration” “Public administration” T3

in
“Public
administration”
“Society”
“Public administration” is
Societal trust in administration Administrational trust in society
Administrational
internal trust

Managing for/by administrational trust in (COUNTRY)
(non-trust-eroding or trust building instruments of management and steering)
Politico-administrative regimes and administrational trust: institutional explanations of administrational trust: Comparison between (COUNTRY) and (COUNTRY)

Performance
Performance regimes: which actors are steering performance management implementation and design in Flanders and (COUNTRY)? (Stakeholder analysis of agenda setting phase in performance-oriented reform)
Managing performance: financial cycles (budgets in particular), contracts, personnel, strategy, etc.
Managing reforms for performance

1

Reforms at different levels of government
Trajectories and results
Performance Audit Impact