This paper analyzes the perception of autonomy of the agencies on the federal level in Austria and Switzerland. The study shows there is a high correlation between the legal form and the perceived autonomy. A reason may be the deeply-rooted law tradition of the two countries. Differences between...

This paper analyzes the effect of task characteristics, structural and cultural features on the agencies' role perceptions. I distinguish two role perceptions which are associated with different types of ministry-agency relations, namely the agency as policy-maker and the agency as expert. These...