What's in a name? The politics of name changes inside bureaucracy. (19th January 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Yesilkagit, Kutsal; Bezes, Philippe; Fleischer, Julia
• Is Part Of: Public administration. Volume 100:Number 4(2022)
• Page Start: 1091
• Page End: 1106
• Publication Date: 2022-01-19
• Subjects: Public administration -- Periodicals; Civil service -- Periodicals; 350
• DOI: 10.1111/padm.12827
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0033-3298

Abstract

Abstract: In this article, we examine the effects of political change on name changes of units within central government ministries. We expect that changes regarding the policy position of a government will cause changes in the names of ministerial units. To this end we formulate hypotheses combining the politics of structural choice and theories of portfolio allocation to examine the effects of political changes at the cabinet level on the names of intra‐ministerial units. We constructed a dataset containing more than 17, 000 observations on name changes of ministerial units between 1980 and 2013 from the central governments of Germany, the Netherlands, and France. We regress a series of generalized estimating equations (GEE) with population averaging models for binary outcomes. Finding variations across the three political‐bureaucratic systems, we overall report positive effects of governmental change and ideological positions on name changes within ministries.