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NGI WorkshopStock-taking

NGI WorkshopStock-taking

Marc Laperrouza, Senior Research AssociateManagement of Network Industries (MIR),

College of Management, EPFL

EPFL, LausanneMarch 3, 2008

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StructureStructure

1. Issue at stake, including a brief description of the aim and research context

2. Methodology, including theoretical aspects driving the research

3. Data collection and data analysis

4. Type of conclusion or expected results, depending on the degree of advancement

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Issue(s) at stakeIssue(s) at stake

• Development + deployment of a pan-European signaling technology – European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS)

• Despite similar external pressures – e.g. liberalization of the railway market + ERA – national policy responses and outcomes differ owing to their contrasting institutions

Demonstrate how the salient characteristics of one or more institutions affect specific political

dynamics, in turn producing distinctive outcomes

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MethodologyMethodology

• Theoretical framework: historical institutionalism– Institutions argued to be most influential factor of domestic policies

– Estimate the impact of variations in institutional forms and configurations on a particular outcome or set of outcomes ERTMS deployment

– Employ careful cross-period analyses (periodization strategies) within and across country units

• 2 steps approach– Building a case study “from the ground” around ERTMS

– Comparative analysis (3 countries) of ERTMS deployment

Testing historical instutionalist approach in railway sector

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Data collection & analysisData collection & analysis

• Secondary literature search– ERA reports– Stakeholder publications (CER, EIM, UNIFE, RUs, TOs, etc.)

• “High-level” interviews– Main stakeholders (ERA, associations, operators)

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Type of conclusion or expected resultsType of conclusion or expected results

• In-depth case study of ERTMS development and deployment in the framework of EU Single Rail Market

• Comparative study of 3 institutional settings and their influence on ERTMS deployment in selected European railway markets (Switzerland, Germany and France)

Extending HI by integrating the technology dimension

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Questions & answersQuestions & answers

• …

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Institutional theoriesInstitutional theories

• Normative institutionalism (behaviours are a function of norms and values)

• Rational choice institutionalism (behaviours are a function of rules and incentives)

• Historical institutionalism (point of departure are the choices made early in the history of a policy)

• Empirical institutionalism (the structure of government does make a difference to the way in which policies are processed and the choices made by government)

• Sociological institutionalism• International institutionalism (theoretical place assigned to

structure in explaining behaviours of state)• Societal institutionalism (structuring of relationship between state

and society)…

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Problems with HIProblems with HI

• Immergut (1998: 26-27) takes issues with historical institutionalism– there is the problem of falsifiability – almost any construction of interests

or contextual causal model will appear to be only explainable through history, until one has hit on a more general explanation

– historical institutionalists profit somewhat unfairly from the positive models that they criticize (e.g. Marxism)

– in eschewing systematization, the historical institutionalists undercut the cumulative impact of their work (Immergut, 2005)

• New institutionalism fails to provide an adequate explanation of institutional change or at severely question its explanatory powers. There is been a recent increase in literature around the question of whether historical institutionalism can stand alone as an approach to understanding change and continuity in politics and policy