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County Governments (county + government)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

County Government: The Final Analysis

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 6 2007
Article first published online: 20 NOV 200
No abstract is available for this article. [source]

Gender and Hmong Women's Handicrafts in Fenghuang's ,Tourism Great Leap Forward,' China

ANTHROPOLOGY OF WORK REVIEW, Issue 3 2007
Xianghong Feng
Abstract Fenghuang County in rural Hunan Province started its "Tourism Great Leap Forward" in 2002, when the county government granted a 50-year lease for development rights over eight local major tourist sites to Yellow Dragon Cave Corporation (YDCC) headquartered in Changsha City, the capital of Hunan. Based on ethnographic research in 2002 and 2005,2006, this article explores the sociocultural impacts of Fenghuang's tourism development on local Hmong women's gender roles and their traditional handicrafts. According to the official state development discourse, local Hmong communities' traditional ethnic culture is associated with both poverty and the solution to poverty. Local Hmong women's handicraft practice in the context of tourism is used in this article to illustrate how local people react to this dilemma, and how ethnic minorities and rural residents are being drawn into the widening orbit of contemporary China's neoliberal economic development. [source]

Poverty and Local Governments: Economic Development and Community Service Provision in an Era of Decentralization

GROWTH AND CHANGE, Issue 3 2009
LINDA LOBAO
ABSTRACT Social scientists have given substantial attention to poverty across U.S. localities. However, most work views localities through the lens of population aggregates, not as units of government. Few poverty researchers question whether governments of poorer localities have the capacity to engage in economic development and service activities that might improve community well-being. This issue is increasingly important as responsibilities for growth and redistribution are decentralized to local governments that vary dramatically in resources. Do poorer communities have less activist local governments? Are they more likely to be engaged in a race to the bottom, focusing on business attraction activities but neglecting services for families and working people? We bring together two distinct literatures, critical research on decentralization and research on local development efforts, that provide contrasting views about the penalty of poverty. Data are from a unique, national survey of county governments measuring activity across two time points. The most consistent determinants of activity are local government capacity, devolutionary pressures, and inertia or past use of strategies. Net of these factors, levels and changes in poverty do not significantly impact government activity. There is no evidence the nations' poorest counties are racing to the bottom. Findings challenge views that poverty is a systematic structural barrier to pursuing innovative economic development policies and suggest that even poorer communities can take steps to build local capacity, resources, and networks that expand programs for local businesses and low-wage people. [source]

Provision and financial burden of TB services in a financially decentralized system: a case study from Shandong, China

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEALTH PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT, Issue S1 2004
Qingyue Meng
Abstract Both challenges and opportunities have been created by health sector reforms for TB control programmes in developing countries. China has initiated radical economic and health reforms since the late 1970s and is among the highest TB endemic countries in the world. This paper examines the operation of TB control programmes in a decentralized financial system. A case study was conducted in four counties of Shandong Province and data were collected from document reviews, and key informant and TB patient interviews. The main findings include: direct government support to TB control weakened in poorer counties after its decentralization to township and county governments; DOTS programmes in poorer counties was not implemented as well as in more affluent ones; and TB patients, especially the low-income patients, suffered heavy financial burdens. Financial decentralization negatively affects the public health programmes and may have contributed to the more rapid increase in the number of TB cases seen over the past decade in the poorer areas of China compared with the richer ones. Establishing a financial transfer system at central and provincial levels, correcting financial incentives for health providers, and initiating pro-poor projects for the TB patients, are recommended. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]