Differential Legacy Effects: Three Propositions on the Impact of Administrative Traditions on Public Administration Reform in Europea East and West
Researcher: Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling , Kutsal Yeslkagit Publisher: Routledge Documentation: Journal of European Public Policy This article compares the status of historical legacies in explanations of administrative reform in Western Europe and Central and Eastern Europe. It addresses the puzzle that legacy effects in both regions are associated with institutional resilience and persistence even though the administrative history in these two regions differs considerably. The article clarifies the terminological differences between legacies, legacy explanations, legacy effects and administrative traditions. It then identifies three differences between administrative traditions in Europe East and West and argues that these differences matter for a tradition’s reproductive capacity, i.e., the degree to which an administrative tradition can act as a persistence-breeding force for contemporary administrative developments. The differences between East and West are (1) the long-term sta...