The Hertie School of Governance - Böcker

Democratic governance faces unprecedented challenges across the OECD world and beyond. Enormous strains will be placed on states' resources and their governing capacities to deal with the combined effects of the financial crisis, climate change, and demographic change. The basic foundations of established 'statehood' will be tested. At the same time, the architecture of the state has fundamentally changed over the past three decades. The Governance Report 2014 questions whether governments still have the capacities to respond. The Report develops a framework to explore the administrative capacities of the public sector in OECD countries, analyses how these capacities have been used to develop innovative policy approaches to key governance challenges, and explores governance innovations to enhance governance capacities. In addition, the Report presents a dashboard of indicators that assess administrative capacities from multiple perspectives. The Governance Report 2014 advances the debate on the problem-solving capacity of the modern state in the light of ongoing and future challenges.

The promise of an ever-closer union that has guided Europe from the Treaty of Rome to the present time rests on the evolution of democratic governance to meet the many challenges that European communities face. Now after years of managing the financial and fiscal crises, the European Union has to take stock and focus on the issues that will fundamentally shape its long-term prospects.The Governance Report 2015 takes an interdisciplinary approach, examining what is needed to achieve stability in the Eurozone and the full integration of the European single market, how decision-making has changed, and how crisis management has affected the Union's democratic legitimacy. A set of governance indicators will trace how European states have become more alike or more different over time. Ultimately, the Report seeks answers to the question of what can make Europe succeed, fail, or muddle through from a governance perspective.

Infrastructure is a fundamental driver of economic growth and social development. Yet, unmet investment needs coexist with white elephants and bridges to nowhere, while major construction projects face huge cost overruns and citizen protest. The governance of infrastructure is already complex, involving a wide array of stakeholders and strategies. Drawing on novel survey data and case studies from around the world, The Governance Report 2016 examines the capacity of public administration to manage infrastructure investments, highlights governance innovations, and provides guidance for public governance of infrastructure. The Report offers information, analysis, and tools for policymakers, practitioners, and academics interested in infrastructure and other large-scale projects.

The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008-9 was the greatest economic stress test since the 1940s. It put not only financial markets and currencies at risk; entire economies and political systems were threatened as the GFC soon revealed major governance shortcomings and weaknesses felt across a wide spectrum of policy fields. Globalization seemed in jeopardy, the Washington Consensus of neoliberal policies broken, and democratic backsliding set in as populism and protectionism began to take root. The GFC triggered many responses to improve governance through reforms and regulatory measures of many kinds across a wide range of fields: most prominently in finance and banking, but also in fiscal policy, trade, labor markets and social security. Ten years after the GFC, the 2018 Governance Report takes stock and asks:How have countries fared, and are they better prepared to avoid or withstand another crisis of GFC proportions? To answer this question, the 2018 Report focuses on the performance of countries before and after the GFC. Using elaborate indicator and data systems, applying state-of-the-art analytics, and covering a wide range of countries, it offers a systematic comparison of governance performance from three perspectives: What public goods are being provided, at what quality and to what effect? How ready are countries to address governance challenges in the context of globalization? What are the administrative capacities of the public sector? With measures taken before the GFC and today, these perspectives on governance performance provide important benchmarks for measuring both resilience and progress and can assist policymakers in designing effective solutions.