Independence despite Political Appointment ? The Curious Case of the Austrian Ombudsman Board - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy Année : 2020

Independence despite Political Appointment ? The Curious Case of the Austrian Ombudsman Board

Julia Dahlvik
  • Fonction : Auteur
Axel Pohn-Weidinger
  • Fonction : Auteur
  • PersonId : 1102978
Martina Kollegger
  • Fonction : Auteur

Résumé

Abstract

This paper addresses the politicization of public institutions through the case of national ombudspersons. While there is an established literature on the politicization of top public officials, we lack research on the politicization and / or de-facto independence of supreme or supervisory bodies, including ombuds institutions. In this paper, we combine the insights of three bodies of literature in order to build a framework for the empirical study of national ombuds institutions: Literature (1) on the independence of public institutions, in particular ombuds and regulatory agencies, (2) on politicization and party patronage in state institutions, and (3) on career patterns and selection criteria of top public officials and the administrative elite. We then discuss these issues on the basis of an empirical field study of the Austrian om-buds institution: First, drawing on a socio-demographic analysis of ombudspersons we identify common features of their profiles and career paths. We find that overall the ombudspersons represent a relatively homogenous group, but the political party represents an explanatory variable for some of the ombudspersons’ characteristics. The second set of empirical results, drawing primarily on qualitative interviews with case-handling staff, demonstrates that despite the institution’s public efforts and many interviewees’ reassurances that the AOB is independent and acts as such, there are several areas in which party-related positions become visible in the AOB’s work. These results are integrated into a typology on the effects of political appointment modes of ombudspersons, which should enable further research in this field.

Dates et versions

hal-03268127 , version 1 (22-06-2021)

Identifiants

Citer

Julia Dahlvik, Axel Pohn-Weidinger, Martina Kollegger. Independence despite Political Appointment ? The Curious Case of the Austrian Ombudsman Board. NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy, 2020, 13 (2), pp.181-210. ⟨10.2478/nispa-2020-0020⟩. ⟨hal-03268127⟩

Collections

CNRS SITE-ALSACE
19 Consultations
0 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More