Cristina Dallara

Abstract
At the 50th anniversary of James D. Thompson’s fundamental book, Organizations in Action, TAO Digital Library proposes a reflection on this great master’s legacy and the evolution of organizational studies. Twelve researchers, from different disciplinary fields, analyze both the texts utilized for teaching and the contribution of several important journals, particularly in recent decades. The outcome is an overall picture that may stimulate different, divergent evaluations and, even more importantly, desirable, deeper reflections.

Keywords
J.D. Thompson, Organizations in action, Organization theory, Organization studies
Table of contents
Introduction   
Francesco M. Barbini, Massimo Neri, Thompson’s legacy on education
Giovanni Masino, Michela Marchiori, ASQ: history and debates
Enrico Cori, Organization Science: recent theories and research
Micol Bronzini, Stefano Neri, The sociological view and organization theory
Giuseppe Scaratti, Luca Vecchio, The psychological view and organization theory
Cristina Dallara, Political science and organization theory
Lucia Marchegiani, Managerial studies and organization theory
Marco Zamarian, The editorial structure of top organization journals

Judicial networks have proved effective in influencing recent judicial policies enacted by both old and new EU member states. However, this influence has not been standard. This volume seeks to improve our understanding of how networks function, as well as the extent they matter in the governance of a constitutional democracy. The authors examine the judicial function of networks, the way they cross the legal and territorial borders that confine the jurisdiction of the domestic institutions, and whether or not they are independent of the capacity and the leadership of their members.
A highly salient issue in contemporary law and politics, judicial networks are now qualified actors of governance. With the aim to understand how, to what extent, and with what consequences networks interact with hierarchical institutions that still exist within the States, this book is essential reading for legal experts, policy makers engaged in promoting the rule of law, members of the judicial networks in the EU and extra EU countries, as well as academics and students.
Contents: Introduction: actors, networking, and rule of law. A new puzzle; Rule of law between states and networks; Judicial networks and their instruments; The role of the Venice Commission in two RoL reversal cases: Hungary and Romania; The cross-fertilization of judicial training models; Transnational standards of quality of justice, domestic judicial reforms; Conclusion: networked rule of law. Explaining and assessing the rule of law in action; Index.

The book analyses the topic of judicial reforms in five countries of the South-East Europe area, focusing on two specific factors that influenced the outcome of reforms in the last fifteen years: the role played by the European Union in the light of the pre-accession process and the legacies of the communist regimes. Specifically, the aim is to explain how these two factors interacted in the last ten years in Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia and Macedonia, accounting also for similarities and differences in their reform paths. In each country, in fact, the influence of the EU policies was differently mediated by national factors that, broadly conceived, could be considered as an expression of the legacies of past authoritarian regimes. In some cases these legacies challenged judicial reforms and hampered the influence played by the EU; in other cases, these legacies were positively overcome following the route suggested by the EU. The book focuses on countries that were, and are, differently involved in the EU accession process; some of them are new member states, others are candidate countries or potential candidates. This comparison allows for an investigation of the power of EU conditionality in different phases of the EU pre-accession process.

Se fino a meno di dieci anni fa il quinto allargamento dell'UE sembrava un fenomeno temporalmente e spazialmente limitato, dai primi anni del Duemila è stato sempre più chiaro che l'attività dell'UE a esso collegata stava mutando in una sorta di nuova forma di politica esterna basata sull'influenza normativa e sul trasferimento di standard e politiche. Il libro, dopo aver ricostruito il significato e lo sviluppo storico del concetto di rule of law, ne analizza le strategie di promozione attuate dall'UE in tre paesi coinvolti a diverso titolo nella sua politica esterna: Romania, Serbia e Ucraina. L'obiettivo principale del libro è di valutare l'impatto di tali strategie. Più specificatamente, vengono analizzati fenomeni di trasferimento di norme (rule transfer) e di internalizzazione di norme (rule internalization) nel settore delle politiche giudiziarie e anti-corruzione dal 2000 al 2006.

Lucrarea Cristinei Dallara ne prezinta o noua perspectiva asupra modalitatii in care Uniunea Europeana propune aplicarea conceptului de rule of law in tarile din centrul si estul Europei, in cadrul analitic EUCLIDA, bazat pe literatura de specialitate asupra democratizarii si pe identificarea factorilor interni care influenteaza eficienta strategiilor UE. Pentru a face distinctia intre influenta exercitata de UE in comparatie cu ceilalti factori, lucrarea subliniaza schimbarile observate care corespund temporal sau substantial activitatii UE, specificand in mod explicit rolul UE si confruntand apoi raspunsurile furnizate de experti cu rapoartele organizatiilor internationale, dar si cu datele proiectelor de asistenta tehnica implementate de UE.
Lucrarea porneste de la originile istorice ale conceptului de rule of law, ilustrand variatele sale fatetele si prezentand diferentele in baza contextului national in care s-a dezvoltat. Cele trei studii de caz: Romania, Serbia si Ucraina urmeaza o schema unitara, analizand mai intai politica pe care UE o aplica acestor tari, respectiv politica de preaderare, politica de stabilizare si asociere si politica de vecinatate, deci variabila independenta, si trateaza apoi variabila dependenta, constand in procesele de reforma ale politicii. Astfel, lucrarea evalueaza actiunea UE in cele trei tari si eficienta politicilor si specificitatea sectoarelor de policy

Questo volume nasce da una ricerca commissionata dall’Unione Terre di Castelli alla Fondazione di ricerca Istituto Carlo Cattaneo. Si compone di cinque capitoli che hanno l’intento di esaminare, in prospettiva comparata, lo sviluppo e l’evoluzione delle unioni di comuni (Uc) come forma di cooperazione
intercomunale. Il principale obiettivo della ricerca è consistito in uno studio in profondità di tre casi, volto a esaminare le reali dinamiche e le concrete problematiche riguardanti il trasferimento e la gestione dei servizi in forma associata. Il valore aggiunto della ricerca consiste quindi nel tentativo
di andare oltre indagini meramente descrittive o studi quantitativi – spesso limitati all’analisi degli aspetti formali dell’associazionismo intercomunale – al fine di cogliere punti di forza e di debolezza dei processi associativi e di trarre conclusioni a medio raggio sul fenomeno dell’intercomunalità, in Emilia- Romagna e in Italia.
Nel panorama italiano, la Regione Emilia-Romagna presenta un’ottima tradizione di governo locale: nella nota ricerca del politologo americano Robert Putnam (1993), poi ripresa in parte nel nuovo filone di studi sul capitale sociale, questa regione figurava in testa in tutti i più importanti indicatori di
efficienza amministrativa. In questo contesto, è parso allora interessante studiare le «nuove» forme di cooperazione dei governi locali, selezionando tre casi di unioni di comuni, appartenenti a tre province diverse, con l’obiettivo di esaminarne i tratti comuni e le sfide che le connotano. Lo studio in profondità
ha consentito di intraprendere un interessante percorso di ricerca, volto in particolare a verificare quali somiglianze e differenze esistano tra i tre enti locali rispetto ai processi di razionalizzazione amministrativa, di governo del territorio e, più in generale, di gestione dell’intercomunalità.

During the last twenty years, all the countries of Southeastern Europe were engaged in reforming their judicial systems under the edge of the European influence, exerted throughout the Enlargement process.
The aim of this article is to analyze judicial reform paths and trajectories in four countries of this area: Slovenia, Croatia, Romania and Serbia.
In each country, in fact, the effectiveness of the EU leverage was conditioned by some intrinsic properties of the EU conditionality (namely credibility of the membership perspective and determinacy of the EU recommendations). Moreover, some domestic factors and conditions concurred to strengthen (or contrarily to hamper) the efficacy of the EU influence at a national level.
After reviewing the main theoretical approaches used to study EU-driven judicial reforms, the article aims to identify some explanatory factors and conditions that could account for the reform paths and outcomes in the four case studies. In conclusion, some reflections on current and future challenges of the EU rule of law promotion strategy will be proposed.

Keywords
South-eastern Europe, Rule of law, judicial reforms, EU enlargement, Europeanization

... moment of transition, these are modelled according to the strategies of the dominant political ... become strategically relevant within the political system and could represent a mean for political ... Although many scholars7 have proposed different indicators to measure the level of ...

A distinguishing feature of the Berlusconi era has undoubtedly been his personal conflict with the judiciary. Therefore, this article explores the impact of Berlusconi's 20 years in politics on the Italian judicial system. The main argument developed in this analysis is that, thanks to a strong institutional framework built with the 1948 constitution, the Italian judiciary continued to guarantee an effective mechanism of checks and balances. In spite of reiterated attempts by the centre–right majority to modify judicial procedures and organisation to advantage Berlusconi in solving his judicial troubles (ad personam laws), the judiciary was, in the long run, successful in restraining these actions. In fact, several of the ad personam laws were abrogated by rulings of the Constitutional Court, or made substantially ineffective in the implementation stage. Moreover, no substantial reforms of the judicial system have been accomplished, although they were frequently announced. Nevertheless, it may be argued that Berlusconi's anti-judicial rhetoric has had a significant impact on public attitudes towards the judiciary, and contributed to exacerbating the polarisation between two opposite views of the justice system in Italy. The persistent anti-judicial message affected public opinion and was deeply incorporated by centre–right voters, creating a real cleavage on the issue of justice. Moreover, this huge conflict on the justice issue increasingly distracted the attention of political actors from the real organisational problems of the system of justice.

The protection of human rights in the European Convention of Human Rights area is carried out through three main stages. First of all, effective national systems and structures should be able to prevent or remedy violations at home. Secondly, where the national systems fail, the European Court of Human Rights steps in to ascertain the breaches and give adequate redress. Thirdly, after the ECtHR’s ruling finding a violation, the emphasis shifts back to the national system, where actions must be taken. According to the Convention, the states undertake to abide by the final judgments of the Court and the Committee of Ministers (CM) is entrusted with the supervision of the Court judgments’ execution.
Over the last decade (2000-2010) the CM adopted several recommendations and resolutions to improve both the domestic implementation of the Convention and the execution of the judgments of the Court. The regulatory apparatus is now quite huge. The aim of the CM actions has been to improve prevention and cure at the national level, as way of reducing the case flow to the Court. The implementation “machinery” can count on the collaboration of different bodies: the CM, the Department for the execution of judgments of the ECtHR, the Human Rights Trust Fund, the Commissioner for human rights. After the recent reforms, the interaction of states with the Court has improved. The Court is more and more frequently assisting the process of execution by giving suggestions and recommendations. This happens in respect of individual measures (for example, when, in cases of arbitrary detention, restitutio in integrum requires release from detention, the Court has directly ordered it) but also of general measures (the Court often examines more in detail the reasons of structural problems and provides recommendations).
As a consequence of all these changes, the relationships between the Court, the CM and the respondent state in the execution process has deeply evolved. The autonomy and appreciation of the respondent state in determining the individual or general measures to be adopted after a Court’s ruling has been reduced. It is difficult to say to what extent the Court interferes with the power of the respondent state in the execution process and the level of its success. In some cases the state has no margin of appreciation on the goal to be pursued, but still great autonomy in choosing the measures to adopt. In other cases, the Court has to confront delicate political conflicts. The Court is not well equipped to deal with deep-rooted problems and often these states choose not to comply with the Court rulings, thus undermining the credibility of the whole system. These cases, on the other hand, reflect the Court’s strong commitment in closing gaps in domestic accountability where officials refuse to investigate or choose to ignore credible claims of serious human rights violations. Therefore, the role of the Court seems to vary considerably in respect of the relevance of the violation and the remedies required.
The total number of applications for review to the Court has steadily risen throughout all the period. The number of judgments has also risen, although without being able to catch up with the increase of applications, leading to a growing backlog of cases. However, a rather clear picture seems to emerge from the data: there seems to be a strong relationships between the number of violations and the traits of the political system – and especially its relative “distance from Strasbourg”, that is the extent to which its democratic institutions are consolidated.

Indice: Prefazione. - Introduzione. Una democrazia senza qualità?, Leonardo Morlino. - I. Partecipazione, Chiara Facello e Mario Quaranta. - II. Competizione politica, Maurizio Cerruto e Francesco Raniolo. - III. Competizione e interessi, Maurizio Cerruto e Chiara Facello. - IV. Media, Donatella Campus e Antonio Ciaglia. - V. Accountability elettorale, Stefano Rombi e Fulvio Venturino. - VI. Accountability inter-istituzionale, Marco Almagisti, Selena Grimaldi e Gianfranco Pasquino. - VII. Centro e periferie, Maria Tullia Galanti. - VIII. Magistratura, Daniela Piana. - IX. S icurezza individuale e ordine pubblico, Chiara De Micheli e Mauro Tebaldi. - X. Corruzione, Cristina Dallara. - XI. Responsiveness, Vincenzo Memoli. - XII. Libertà, Fabrizio Di Mascio e AlessandroNatalini. - XIII. E guaglianza e solidarietà, Marta Regalia e Stefano Sacchi. - Conclusioni. Quale democrazia in Italia, Daniela Piana e Francesco Raniolo. - Riferimenti bibliografici. - Gli autori.

Strengthening the rule of law has become a key factor for the transition to democracy and the protection of human rights. Though its significance has materialized in international standard setting, the question of implementation is largely unexplored. This book describes judicial independence as a central aspect of the rule of law in different stages of transition to democracy. The collection of state-specific studies explores the legal situation of judiciaries in twenty states from North America, over Western, Central and South-Eastern Europe to post-Soviet states and engages in a comparative legal analysis. Through a detailed account of the current situation it takes stocks, considers advances in and shortcomings of judicial reform and offers advice for future strategies. The book shows that the implementation of judicial independence requires continuous efforts, not only in countries in transition but also in established democracies which are confronted with ever new challenges.

Bringing together a variety of outlooks from comparative law, legal theory, organizational sociology, socio-legal studies or political science, this Joint Working Papers explores the cognitive equipment through which international judges perform their role. The notion of 'fabric', borrowed from the Science and technology studies, and Bruno Latour in particular, is used here as a common entrypoint enabling to consider altogether the (legal and non-legal, formal and unformal) tools and templates that contribute to shape international judicial decision-making: 'best practices', judicial compendia, routinized legal repertoires, legal methodologies, standard operational modes, etc…

At the end of the Nineties, policies and projects aimed at improving the quality of justice in the name of efficiency and accountability were introduced within many European national judicial systems. This happened with a decade of delay in respect to other sectors of the public administration. These types of policies were mainly focused on the one hand, on the evaluation of judges and courts performances and, on the other hand, on the introduction of ICTs in the judicial systems. Nowadays, after a decade from the introduction of these innovations, the available data and studies show that, only in a few cases, these policies were successful in introducing significant changes and quality improvements. Moreover, in many cases, these expensive projects were interrupted, during the implementation stage, without any result. On the basis of these assumptions, this article aims to present some examples of projects and policies introduced in some European countries. These examples have been selected as they allow to underline both critical and positive factors that influenced the policies implementation processes and, consequently, their results. The overall aim of the article is to emphasize that, also in the justice sector, as well as in other public administration sectors, the introduction of managerial tools and paradigms did not always provide the expected results. In many cases, during formulation and in the implementation stages, the peculiar organizational characteristics of the judicial sector were overlooked, opting for a standardized managerial approach, with the consequent lower results. Keywords: judiciary system, performance evaluation, information technology, New public management, justice quality.

The article presents the results of different research the author developed since 2004 on judicial reforms and anti-corruption policies in Romania in the context of the EU enlargement process. Romania with Bulgaria is frequently defined as a successful laggard of the fifth EU enlargement. Both countries in fact, even after the accession in the EU, are facing many problems in term of state capacity, especially in the sector of judicial reforms and anti-corruption policies. For Romania, judicial and anti-corruption policies were particularly critical even in the pre-accession phase. For this reason a safeguard clause was included in the Accession Treaty asking for more compliance in this sector. Using the process tracing method, the article focuses on judicial reform and anti-corruption policies during the pre-accession and post-accession stages, with the aim of analysing the causal mechanisms related to the Romania's adoption of EU-driven rules. During the pre-accession stage, the EU-driven rule adoption was mainly due to the reinforced EU conditionality and to the role played by the Ministry of Justice, acting as an agent of change. Nonetheless, the adoption of EU-driven rules was challenged by veto players: in particular the Constitutional Court and the Court of Cassation, that in 2005 rejected the justice reform package. The analysis of the post-accession phase shows that, once the membership was acquired, the efficacy of the European conditionality drastically decreased and justice and anti-corruption reforms were hindered by domestic political actors, producing in some cases «reverse domains» in the process of democratic consolidation.

This book examines in depth the impact of the EU on aspects of the quality of democracy in eight selected post-communist countries. Considering both the political and legal aspects of the dynamics among institutions and focussing on inter-institutional accountability, the book analyses how constitutional designs have been effectively implemented to achieve this, and to what extent this was the result of EU action.

In order to make a comparative assessment of the EU on democracies, the book features detailed case studies according to their different status vis-à-vis the EU, including older new member states: Poland and Hungary; newer new member states: Romania and Bulgaria; potential candidates: Albania and Serbia; and neighbour and remote neighbour states: Ukraine and Armenia. Each chapter addresses a range of dimensions and most relevant domains of inter-institutional accountability, that is: executive-legislative relationships; constitutional justice; decentralisation and regionalism; and the role of ombudsman or other relevant authorities.

Seeking to assess how important the role of the EU has been in influencing the modes and characteristic of democracies and fundamental rights established in these regions, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of comparative politics, EU politics, Post-communist studies and democratization studies.

Do external factors facilitate or hamper domestic democratic development? Do international actors influence the development of greater civil and political freedom, democratic accountability, equality, responsiveness and the rule of law in domestic systems? How should we conceptualize, identify and evaluate the extent and nature of international influence?

These are some of the complex questions that this volume approaches. Using new theoretical insights and empirical data, the contributors develop a model to analyze the transitional processes of Romania, Turkey, Serbia and Ukraine. In developing this argument, the book examines:

    the adoption, implementation and internalization of the rule of law
    the rule of law as a central dimension of liberal and substantive democracy
    the interaction between external and domestic structures and agents

Offering a different stance from most of the current literature on the subject, International Actors, Democratization and the Rule of Law makes an important contribution to our knowledge of the international dimensions of democratization. This book will be of importance to scholars, students and policy-makers with an interest in the rule of law, international relations theory and comparative politics.

Il tema della razionalizzazione organizzativa e territoriale degli enti e dei servizi pubblici è stato al centro del dibattito politico degli ultimi anni acquisendo sempre più cogenza con l’acuirsi della crisi economica. In Italia, al pari di altri paesi, l’obiettivo di un riordino organizzativo, ma anche dimensionale e territoriale, in settori di policy cruciali – tra cui enti locali, servizi pubblici, giustizia e sanità – è divenuto prioritario. Tra i più rilevanti fenomeni che si ricollegano ai suddetti processi di razionalizzazione vi sono, senza dubbio, quelli dell’associazionismo intercomunale e delle fusioni di Comuni, dell’accorpamento dei tribunali, della ridefinizione dei distretti sanitari, della riorganizzazione dei servizi pubblici Più in generale, della ridefinizione di molte delle strutture che operano a livello territoriale.
Partendo da queste considerazioni, il seminario intende discutere, avvalendosi della presenza di esperti, e possibilmente anche di rappresentanti degli Enti locali, se e come la presenza di Comuni di dimensioni maggiori o di unità amministrative operanti in Comuni di dimensioni maggiori possa aver indirizzato il trasferimento di funzioni, possa condizionare la stabilità e l’evoluzione della forma associativa o la generale tendenza agli accorpamenti , alle ridefinizioni, alle razionalizzazioni territoriali o funzionali.
In particolare, attraverso il confronto si vuole analizzare se e come il rapporto dimensionale possa influenzare gli sviluppi futuri della geografia amministrativa e, in generale, le stesse logiche retrostanti ai processi di razionalizzazione territoriale e dei servizi.
Il valore aggiunto della presente proposta è che questi aspetti verranno considerati anche in prospettiva intersettoriale, in relazione a processi analoghi (fusioni e accorpamenti di unità territoriali e funzionali) in altri ambiti di policy. Ad esempio, il recente processo di accorpamento delle circoscrizioni giudiziarie (fusioni/soppressioni dei tribunali) o quello inerente al settore sanitario (la modifica e la razionalizzazione degli ambiti territoriali e dei distretti sanitari) ma anche la diffusa riorganizzazione dei servizi pubblici in generale.