Overview

Recent research demonstrates that the quality of public institutions is crucial for a number of important environmental, social, economic, and political outcomes, and thereby human well-being. The Quality of Government (QoG) approach directs attention to issues such as impartiality in the exercise of public power, professionalism in public service delivery, effective measures against corruption, and meritocracy instead of patronage and nepotism. This Handbook offers a comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview of this rapidly expanding research field and also identifies viable avenues for future research. The initial chapters focus on theoretical approaches and debates, and the central question of how QoG can be measured. A second set of chapters examines the wealth of empirical research on how QoG relates to democratization, social trust and cohesion, ethnic diversity, happiness and human wellbeing, democratic accountability, economic growth and inequality, political legitimacy, environmental sustainability, gender equality, and the outbreak of civil conflicts. The remaining chapters turn to the perennial issue of which contextual factors and policy approachesDLnational, local, and internationalDLhave proven successful (and not so successful) for increasing QoG. The Quality of Government approach both challenges and complements important strands of inquiry in the social sciences. For research about democratization, QoG adds the importance of taking state capacity into account. For economics, the QoG approach shows that in order to produce economic prosperity, markets need to be embedded in institutions with a certain set of qualities. For development studies, QoG emphasizes that issues relating to corruption are integral to understanding development writ large.

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9780198858218

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Andreas Bågenholm is Senior Lecturer and a Research Fellow at the Quality of Government (QoG) Institute, University of Gothenburg. Andreas Bågenholm's research focuses on electoral accountability and corruption. Bågenholm has published his work in several peer-reviewed journals, such as Electoral Studies, West European Politics and Public Choice. Monika Bauhr is Associate Professor of Political Science and a Research Fellow at the Quality of Government (QoG) Institute, University of Gothenburg. She is currently a visitng scholar at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University. Her most recent work appears in journals such as the International Studies Quarterly, Global Environmental Politics, Governance, the European Journal of Political Research, the Journal of Common Market Studies, the Journal of European Public Policy and Comparative Political Studies. Marcia Grimes is Associate Professor of Political Science and a Research Fellow at the Quality of Government (QoG) Institute, University of Gothenburg. She has published in numerous journals such as Governance, the Journal of Politics and the European Journal of Political Research. Bo Rothstein holds the August Röhss Chair in Political Science, University of Gothenburg. Together with Sören Holmberg, he founded the Quality of Government (QoG) Institute, University of Gothenburg. His publications include Controlling Corruption (OUP, 2021), Making Sense of Corruption (with Aiysha Varraich, CUP, 2017), and Restructuring the Welfare State (with Sven Steinmo, Palgrave, 2002).

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