engleski

In quest for coordination: formulation and implementation of policy in Croatia

The process of formulation and implementation of public policies highly depends on the coordination capacities in structural and functional terms. In recent decades the need for coordination has increased due to the fragmentation caused by new public management processes of delegation and decentralisation. The cross-cutting issues which mark contemporary societies add to already complex web of structures, relations and processes. The ideas of joined up or holistic government have emerged as a solution which should enhance effectiveness of policy work and help solving problems facing modern states. The coordination problem in Croatian administration, similarly to other transition countries, is generally understudied. This descriptive paper is based on a preliminary research on coordination in Croatian public administration with regard to policy formulation and implementation on the example of EU accession policy. The research is based on the legal analysis of regulations and documents, and the interviews conducted with higher civil servants and public officials engaged in coordinating structures. The paper seeks to find out about structures employed and their relationships as well as the role of different actors and functions. Special emphasis is given to the role which top and middle ranks in civil service play in coordination of public policies, as well as the structures Government employs in order to coordinate. The main findings relate to the complexity of coordinative structures as a result of political weight and the presence of network type coordinative mechanisms based on professionalism. The results obtained will serve for developing more elaborated research framework which will fit closely to the specific conditions of the transition state institutions and processes.

coordination; public administration; policy; european integration; europeanisation

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