			Home About us Contact

Government Capacity (government + capacity)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	75%

Selected Abstracts

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]

Comparing services: a survey of leading issues in the sectoral literatures

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION & DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2006
Dominique Moran
Abstract This article locates the following sector articles in a review of recent research into government interventions in the non-state provision (NSP) of education, health, water and sanitation. Non-state providers (NSPs) are defined here to include all those existing outside the public sector, whether they operate for profit or for philanthropic purposes. Operators may be communities, NGOs, faith-based organisations (FBOs), private companies, small-scale informal providers or individual practitioners. The article prefaces this Symposium by discussing the extent of previous research and identifying gaps in the literature with regard to key issues regarding NSP. It deals with state intervention and the state/non-state relationship in service provision, considering the main aspects of this relationship that are covered in the sector articles: policy dialogue and government capacity to regulate and facilitate, and to contract NSPs. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

The relevance, practicality and viability of spatial development initiatives: a South African case study

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION & DEVELOPMENT, Issue 5 2003
John M. Luiz
Policymakers have for long had an ambivalent attitude towards space and have been hesitant in dealing with intra-national models of uneven development. Issues surrounding regional development have always been tainted with ideological and political influences rather than being a purely economic consideration. This article addresses the thinking behind regional development policies and questions the role of spatial policy. It confronts this question in the South African case where local government capacity is particularly constrained and the boundaries between government tiers unclear. The first section outlines a selected critical history of the regional policy literature as it applies to South Africa. This is followed by an examination of South Africa's post-apartheid policy of spatial development initiatives (SDIs) focusing on the most contentious of these, namely the Fish River SDI, which has been plagued by controversy. It focuses on the tensions involved in development planning between government agencies and between politicians and technocrats. It also highlights the growing schism between government and civil society with the former emphasising mega-projects which reinforce its global competitive strategy but with limited apparent benefit to the local community. Lastly, it concludes that little effort was made to integrate the SDI into a provincial poverty strategy and argues that instead of utilising industrial decentralisation to redress inequality and poverty, a ,first-best' option may be for the government to target poverty directly by investing in various forms of human capital. Such an approach would lead to long-term economic growth and also improve South Africa's international competitiveness. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

The Council for the Australian Federation: A New Structure of Australian Federalism

AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 2 2008
Anne Tiernan
In October 2006, state premiers and territory chief ministers gathered in Melbourne for the first meeting of the Council for the Australian Federation (CAF). This little-heralded event marked the beginning of the first formalised structure for state and territory only collaboration since Federation. This article describes the genesis and creation of this new structural response to ongoing state concerns about the trend to an increasingly centralised pattern of Commonwealth-state relations. It identifies the intended functions of the Council, which include: acting as a mechanism for coordinating approaches to negotiations with the Commonwealth; operating as a clearing house for policy ideas in Australia and internationally; harmonising regulatory frameworks; and developing improvements to service delivery in areas of state responsibility. Informed by interviews with key players involved with its establishment and documentary sources, this article assesses CAF's performance during its first 18 months of operation. It explores the hopes and aspirations of key CAF stakeholders, and some of the issues that have confronted the fledgling organisation. Personnel changes among the cohort of state and territory leaders, and the election of a federal Labor government in November 2007 have altered the dynamics of CAF. The article argues that CAF's emergence is an attempt by sub-national governments to develop new capacity and leverage to address the asymmetries that characterise contemporary Australian federalism. However, there are questions about CAF's future, particularly about state and territory governments' capacity to pursue collaborative agendas given the pace and scope of Kevin Rudd's ,new federalism' reforms and the demands it is placing on their policy and administrative systems. [source]