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irati03's review against another edition
4.0
Why do some states function better than others? Over the years an endless amount of sometimes complementary but often conflictiong explanations have been offered. Dahlström and Lapuente follows the historical istitutionalism tradition of arguing that incentives determine induvidual behavior and that institutions shape incentives. The authors apply this line of reasoning to the often ignored bureaucratic institutions and come to the conclusion that the relationship between public servants and politicians has a great inpact on quality of government.
The argument of the book is backed by large-n statistical analysis, both bivariate and multivariate whereby correlations are established and alternative explanations refuted. The statistical analysis is backed up and contextualized by in-depth examples from several countries with Spain and Sweden getting particular attention. The methodology of the studies presented in the book seem solid and the theoretical parts are well reasoned. However, even by the standards of scientific literature this book is a bit of a though read. A bit of determination from the reader is required to make it to the references.
All in all this book is a well researched, well reasoned and fresh take on an old problem. A must read for students of comparative politics if a bit challenging for the casual enthusiast.
The argument of the book is backed by large-n statistical analysis, both bivariate and multivariate whereby correlations are established and alternative explanations refuted. The statistical analysis is backed up and contextualized by in-depth examples from several countries with Spain and Sweden getting particular attention. The methodology of the studies presented in the book seem solid and the theoretical parts are well reasoned. However, even by the standards of scientific literature this book is a bit of a though read. A bit of determination from the reader is required to make it to the references.
All in all this book is a well researched, well reasoned and fresh take on an old problem. A must read for students of comparative politics if a bit challenging for the casual enthusiast.