Ordering Things: The Irish State Administration Database

Irish Political Studies, Vol. 27, No. 1, February 2012

33 Pages Posted: 6 Oct 2011

See all articles by Niamh Hardiman

Niamh Hardiman

University College Dublin (UCD)

Colin Scott

University College Dublin (UCD)

Date Written: October 6, 2011

Abstract

New theoretical approaches to the state have posed challenges for the comparative analysis of the organizational features of states. The analysis of state bodies and state agencies has largely been confined to the sub-discipline of public administration, and has been resistant to the systematic classification that has made progress possible in other areas of comparative politics. This article argues that there is much to be gained by reconceptualizing state bodies in a comparative context. This paper profiles the classification system underlying the construction of the Irish State Administration Database (ISAD) (Hardiman et al., 2011). This paper sets out a new approach to conceptualizing the organizational and functional features of states. ISAD not only provides a valuable research resource for work on the Irish state, but can also provide a framework for building a comparative research agenda.

Keywords: state agencies, state capacity, public administration, bureaucracy, Ireland, database

JEL Classification: H10, H11, H19, N40, O52, O57

Suggested Citation

Hardiman, Niamh and Scott, Colin David, Ordering Things: The Irish State Administration Database (October 6, 2011). Irish Political Studies, Vol. 27, No. 1, February 2012, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1939762

Niamh Hardiman (Contact Author)

University College Dublin (UCD) ( email )

Belfield
Belfield, Dublin 4 4
Ireland

Colin David Scott

University College Dublin (UCD) ( email )

Belfield
Dublin 4
Ireland

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