			Home About us Contact

Local Governance (local + governance)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	54%
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	36%
2 Other Domains	10%

Distribution within Humanities and Social Sciences

General & Introductory Urban Studies	40%
General & Introductory Development Studies	33%

Selected Abstracts

Local Governance as Government,Business Cooperation in Western Democracies: Analysing Local and Intergovernmental Effects by Multi-Level Comparison

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN AND REGIONAL RESEARCH, Issue 3 2008
CLEMENTE J. NAVARRO YÁÑEZ
Abstract The internationalization of economics and politics has forced local governments to develop new context-appropriate strategies; these strategies, characterized by a greater degree of interaction with non-governmental key actors and with the business world in particular, have been termed local or urban governance. This article is intended to illustrate the impact of three factors , local leadership, local political arenas and intergovernmental relationships , on the formation of cooperative networks between local governments and business organizations as one of the basic types of urban governance model. To achieve this, a comparative multi-level analysis presenting the CEO's perpective on such issues was conducted. The results show how local and intergovernmental opportunity costs and leadership are the factors that largely determine the degree of collaboration between local government and business. Résumé L'internationalisation de l'économie et de la politique a forcé les gouvernements locaux àélaborer de nouvelles stratégies en fonction des contextes ; caractérisées par une interaction plus forte avec des acteurs-clés non gouvernementaux et avec le monde de l'entreprise en particulier, ces stratégies ont reçu l'appellation de gouvernance locale ou urbaine. L'impact de trois facteurs , autorité locale, arènes politiques locales et relations intergouvernementales , sur la formation des réseaux de coopération entre gouvernements locaux et entreprises est présenté comme l'un des types essentiels de modèle de gouvernance urbaine. Pour ce faire, une analyse comparative multi-niveaux a été menée sur la vision des directions générales d'entreprises concernant ces questions. Les résultats montrent la manière dont les autorités et les coûts d'opportunité locaux et intergouvernementaux déterminent en grande partie le degré de collaboration entre les gouvernements locaux et le monde des affaires. [source]

State and Local Governance Fifteen Years Later: Enduring and New Challenges

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 2008
Frank J. Thompson
This article draws on the contributions to this issue and related evidence to assay the extent to which the states and larger local governments have moved in directions endorsed by the Winter Commission in 1993. The commission's recommendations targeted (1) the political context of state and local governance, with a particular focus on executive leadership, campaign finance reform, and citizen engagement; (2) the specifics of public administration, with primary emphasis on empowering managers through internal deregulation and bolstering human resource capacity; and (3) the nature of the relationship between the national government and the states in a key policy arena. Significant changes in the fabric of state and local governance have occurred in each of these three areas over the last 15 years. Many of these modifications are consonant with the thrust of the Winter Commission report, but the evidence also points to the limits of state and local reform. Further reform initiatives should be built on systematic efforts to advance knowledge concerning the origins, nature, and outcomes of the array of institutions and processes present at the state and local levels. [source]

How Has Rural Tax Reform Affected Farmers and Local Governance in China?

CHINA AND WORLD ECONOMY, Issue 3 2007
Ran Tao
H57; H71; P32 Abstract Using nationally representative data, the present paper examines the impact of China's ongoing rural tax reform on farmers. The difficulties in further local governance restructuring are also discussed. It is argued that the issues associated with rural taxation and local governance in China result from inherent tension between an increasingly liberalized economic system and a still centralized political system. Although rural tax reform has helped to reduce farmers' tax burdens in the short term, the establishment of an effective local governance regime requires coordinated reforms to downsize local bureaucracy by providing social security for laid-off cadres, to strengthen local accountability by granting higher local formal tax autonomy, and to promote meaningful participation by expanding local democracy. [source]

Perspective on Local Governance Reform in China

CHINA AND WORLD ECONOMY, Issue 2 2006
Mingxing Liu
H57; H71; P32; P35 Abstract This paper is an attempt to present an analysis of China's decentralization and local governance practices, the dilemmas rooted in the current institution. We argue that the misbehavior of local government officials is endogenous to China's central-local structure and that competition among localities has become distorted and constrained by various policy burdens and development mandates imposed from above. The information asymmetry for the enforcement cost of mandates that exists between central and local governments not only leads to difficulties and distortions in local performance evaluations, but also creates opportunities for local bureaucracy expansion and rent-seeking. Enhancing fiscal transfers, or strengthening political restraint, although necessary, would be far from enough to solve the local governance problems. The ultimate solution entails an in-depth deregulation reform on factor mobility and a furthest eradication of policy mandates for the local government. Edited by Xinyu Fan [source]

Local governance and water resource management: experiences from Northern Namibia

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION & DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2008
Farhad Hossain
Abstract Like many semi-arid countries in Africa, Namibia has been experiencing water shortage for a long period of time. Prior to its independence in 1990, most of Namibia's water points,namely, the boreholes,served white-Namibians (about 7% of the national population of predominantly German descent) and their commercial farming areas. But their water needs have been satisfied at the expense of those indigenous Namibians and their communal areas (where some 80% of the national population originates). Independence, however, brought with it a new hope for the indigenous population: since 1990, the government has been working diligently to reform the country's local governance, and make local government agencies more effective, efficient and responsive to common people and their needs. This article sheds light on how, within the background of the government's decentralisation efforts, the management and distribution of water resources have changed in an independent Namibia, reporting findings from research conducted in a newly emerged village council in the north of the country. Drawing on historical and contemporary practices, we describe and analyse the role of decentralised local government in water resource management in northern Namibia, where today, more than 50% of the national population (i.e. the indigenous Oshiwambo-speaking people) resides. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Empowering Pyromaniacs in Madagascar: Ideology and Legitimacy in Community-Based Natural Resource Management

DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 1 2002
Christian A. Kull
Development practitioners frequently rely on community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) as an approach to encourage equitable and sustainable environmental resource use. Based on an analysis of the case of grassland and woodland burning in highland Madagascar, this article argues that the success of CBNRM depends upon the real empowerment of local resource users and attention to legitimacy in local institutions. Two key factors , obstructive environmental ideologies (,received wisdoms') and the complex political and social arena of ,community' governance , challenge empowerment and legitimacy and can transform outcomes. In Madagascar, persistent hesitancy among leaders over the legitimate role of fire has sidetracked a new CBNRM policy called GELOSE away from one of its original purposes , community fire management , towards other applications, such as community management of forest exploitation. In addition, complications with local governance frustrate implementation efforts. As a result, a century-long political stalemate over fire continues. [source]

The political economy of direct legislation: direct democracy and local decision,making

ECONOMIC POLICY, Issue 33 2001
Lars P Feld
Local and regional governments account for an important share of total government spending and, given the decentralization trend in OECD nations, this is likely to increase. How should this spending be governed? This article argues that direct democracy is best suited to organize decision,making at the state and local level. To support this, we present the main theoretical arguments on why and how referenda and initiatives affect fiscal policy outcomes. The basic argument concerns voter control. Under representative democracy, citizens only have direct control at election time. With referenda and initiatives, citizens can selectively control their representatives on specific policies whenever they deviate sufficiently from citizens' preferences. As a result, fiscal policy outcomes are likely to more closely reflect voter preferences. We empirically test this on Swiss data since Switzerland provides a ,natural laboratory' for local governance. The governance structures of Swiss cantons and localities with respect to fiscal issues range from classic parliamentary democracy to pure direct democracy, and an important part of spending and taxation is controlled at these levels. Specifically, we estimate an econometric model of fiscal behaviour using data from 1986 to 1997 for the 26 Swiss cantons, and 1990 data on 134 local communities. It is shown that mandatory referenda on fiscal issues at both levels have a dampening effect on expenditure and revenue, and at the local level also on public debt. Combining this with existing empirical evidence leads to a relatively uncontested result, namely that elements of direct democracy are associated with sounder public finances, better economic performance and higher satisfaction of citizens. [source]

Laissez-faire governance and the archetype laissez-faire city in the USA: exploring Houston

GEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 1 2003
Igor Vojnovic
This article explores the governance of Houston, the archetype laissez-faire city in the USA. The research examines the complexity of Houston's minimal government intervention rhetoric, which in practice involves extensive federal, state and local government involvement in economic development in combination with a disinterest in social service and income maintenance programmes. This governance strategy is outlined through an examination both of regional public policy and local public finances. The analysis illustrates that Houston's local governance has historically been based on a management approach that attempts actively to minimize costs for potential investors to locate in the City, through public intervention, while at the same time generating an unattractive urban environment for the socially marginalized , hence the disinterest in social services. Thus, despite the local laissez-faire rhetoric, government intervention in Houston's growth has been vital and has produced the extraordinary impacts usually expected from public involvement in local economic development. The foundations of this local governance strategy are both predicted and advocated by the public choice approach, a theoretical framework whose emphasis on inter-municipal competition advances management tactics based on maintaining low taxes and low expenditures on public welfare. The research also shows, however, that Houston is unique, when compared to other economically successful US cities, in following such an extreme approach of this management strategy. [source]

Building and Contesting Neoliberalism at the Local Level: Reflections on the Symposium and on Recent Experience in Bolivia

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN AND REGIONAL RESEARCH, Issue 1 2010
MIKE GEDDES
Abstract This final article first reflects on the previous articles in the symposium, positioning the diverse trajectories of local governance which they exhibit in relation to two contrasting ideal types , the one neoliberal, the other contesting neoliberalism from a progressive, left perspective. Differences between these ideal types, and among the actually existing patterns of local governance discussed in the symposium (in relation to their economic and social objectives and governance institutions and practices) are highlighted. The second part of the article offers a consideration of local governance in Bolivia, a country which encapsulates some of the key issues at stake in the ongoing struggles to either build, or contest, neoliberalism at the local level. Here a distinction is advanced between ,expansive' and ,consolidatory' moments of neoliberal local governance, which may take the form of consecutive phases, but may have different, overlapping temporalities. In conclusion, it is suggested the challenges which the impact of the financial crisis and global recession pose both to neoliberal forms of local governance and to contestatory forces should be a primary concern for future research. Résumé Ce dernier article revient d'abord sur les articles précédents du symposium, pour replacer les diverses voies de gouvernance locale présentées par rapport à deux idéaltypes mis en opposition: l'un néolibéral, l'autre contestant le néolibéralisme d'un point de vue progressiste de gauche. Il met en évidence les différences entre ces idéaltypes, et entre les modèles actuels de gouvernance locale débattus dans le symposium (en lien avec leurs objectifs économiques et sociaux et avec les institutions et pratiques de gouvernance). La seconde partie s'intéresse à la gouvernance locale en Bolivie, un pays qui incarne certains des principaux enjeux dans les luttes en cours visant à bâtir ou à contester un néolibéralisme au niveau local. Une distinction est proposée entre les moments d',expansion' et de ,consolidation' de la gouvernance locale néolibérale, lesquels peuvent se présenter de manière consécutive, mais aussi sur des plages temporelles différentes en chevauchement. Pour conclure, les défis que les conséquences de la crise financière et la récession mondiale posent aux formes néolibérales de gouvernance locale ainsi qu'aux forces contestataires devraient constituer une priorité dans les recherches à venir. [source]

Legal, social, cultural and political developments in mental health care in the UK: the Liverpool black mental health service users' perspective

JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC & MENTAL HEALTH NURSING, Issue 1 2002
S. A. Pierre BA(HONs) MSc PhD RMN
Documentary evidence suggests that attitudes among local health and social services professionals towards the concept of user involvement in health and social care remain deeply polarized, a position characterized by commentators simultaneously as praise and damnation. Perhaps user involvement in health and social care will enhance, and it appears to resonate with the logic of, participatory democracy, in localities where the centralization of power has posed questions as to the nature and purpose of local governance in public services provision. The problems experienced by Britain's black and ethnic minorities within the mental health system have been the subject of exhaustive social inquiry. This essay attempts to explore the way in which legal, social, cultural, and political developments interface with mental health care practice in the UK, in order to assist those responsible for mental health services provision to deliver services that are in line with the Government's expectation of a modernized mental health service that is safe, sound, and supportive. An exploration of these developments within the European, national (UK), and local (Liverpool) contexts is undertaken. An appropriate local response to national priorities will ostensibly cut a swathe through the barriers confronted by the ethnic minority mental health service user in the cross-cultural context, an important prerequisite for the implementation of genuine user involvement. [source]

FOLLOWING THE SIGNS: APPLYING URBAN REGIME ANALYSIS TO A UK CASE STUDY

JOURNAL OF URBAN AFFAIRS, Issue 5 2007
NANCY HOLMAN
ABSTRACT:,As the debate continues regarding the applicability of urban regime analysis in a UK context, three aspects stand out as highly significant: the target for analysis, the mode of scrutiny, and the context of local governing arrangements with its implications for interdependence as an impetus for co-operation. This article will examine urban regime analysis and the move from government to governance in order to answer why and how the private, voluntary and public sectors might be inclined to collaborate in regimes. In addition, the regime analysis will provide the parameters for examination whilst the issue of governance will afford context for local governing arrangements. Although some issues require slight reframing to reflect the UK context, the article will follow a rigorous framework for examination utilizing the full weight of regime analysis as articulated by Stone such that it could not be accused of "concept stretching." Far from it: Through the examination of an informal partnership, a coalition of actors from the public, private, and voluntary sectors that has been in existence for more than 13 years, the article focuses, specifically, on the long-term, less visible aspects of local governance. As such, it is able to demonstrate how economic and political change can have a tangible effect on the manifestation of interdependence as an impetus for co-operation, not only for this specific locale but also for other cities facing similar challenges. [source]

Property-Led Redevelopment in Post-Reform China: A Case Study of Xintiandi Redevelopment Project in Shanghai

JOURNAL OF URBAN AFFAIRS, Issue 1 2005
Shenjing He
Government-backed redevelopment has been replaced by privately funded and property-led redevelopment. This article discerns the impetus of ongoing property-led redevelopment. A case study of the Xintiandi project in Shanghai reveals how property-led redevelopment actually works. Pro-growth coalitions between local government and developers are formed. Despite its role as capital provider, the private sector is still regulated by the government due to its negligible influence on local governance. The government controls the direction and pace of urban redevelopment through policy intervention, financial leverages, and governance of land leasing. Property-led redevelopment is driven by diverse motivations of different levels of the government, e.g. transforming urban land use functions, showing off the entrepreneurial capability of local government, and maximizing negotiated land benefits. Driven by profit seeking, some thriving urban neighborhoods are displaced by high-value property development, and suffer from uneven redevelopment. [source]

Strengthening participatory approaches to local governance: Learning the lessons from abroad

NATIONAL CIVIC REVIEW, Issue 4 2004
John GaventaArticle first published online: 23 FEB 200
First page of article [source]

Access to energy services by the poor in India: Current situation and need for alternative strategies

NATURAL RESOURCES FORUM, Issue 1 2006
V. S. Ailawadi
Abstract Poor and inadequate access to clean, reliable and affordable energy is now considered a major concern for sustainable development. India houses about a third of the world's population without access to electricity and about 40% of those without access to modern energy. This article considers India's challenge in this area, examines the energy access situation, and analyses measures pursued to improve it. The article argues that the current focus on rural electrification is unlikely to resolve the energy access problem, due to the low penetration of electricity in the energy mix of the poor. The article also argues that strategies based on energy market reform, promotion of renewable technologies and correct price signals are unlikely to succeed in changing the situation, as acceptance of this policy prescription is rather low. Instead, a bottom-up, holistic, long-term approach is suggested that integrates energy access with economic development, and relies on selective market intervention, local resources and local governance. [source]

Local governance and water resource management: experiences from Northern Namibia

Human rights and development: the case of local government transformation in South Africa

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION & DEVELOPMENT, Issue 5 2007
Linda Jansen van Rensburg
Abstract Local governments throughout the world are assuming a more important role in economic development of their communities as an increasing number of governments begin to decentralise powers and functions. As these lower levels of government seek sustainable local economic development (LED) strategies the human rights approach towards development becomes pertinent as globalisation accelerates. This article proposes an emphasis on socio-economic rights as the basis for sustainable LED in developing countries. The article is based on the experience of South African local government in the period after 1994, leading up to the first democratic local government elections on 5 December 2000. Proceeding from the view that the promotion of human rights is necessary for the promotion of economic development, the article critically assesses the role of local government in the promotion of LED through a rights-based approach. It is argued that the identification in the South African Constitution of local government with basic service provision (recently emphasised by a Constitutional court judgement) will place socio-economic rights at the centre of LED strategies in South Africa. It is argued that this is indeed the most appropriate cornerstone of LED in South Africa. However, the transformation process that leads the country towards its progressive Constitution needs to be maintained and this article identifies five broad areas for transformation that may still be needed to entrench an adequate human rights culture within the sphere of local governance. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Interlocal Service Cooperation in U.S. Cities: A Social Network Explanation

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 2 2010
Kelly LeRoux
Local governments increasingly confront policy problems that span the boundaries of individual political jurisdictions. Institutional theories of local governance and intergovernmental relations emphasize the importance of networks for fostering service cooperation among local governments. Yet empirical research fails to examine systematically the effects of social networks on interlocal service cooperation. Do the individual networks of local government actors increase their jurisdiction's level of interlocal service delivery? Drawing data from the National Administrative Studies Project IV (NASP-IV), multivariate analysis is applied to examine this question among 919 municipal managers and department heads across the United States. The findings indicate that interlocal service cooperation increases when jurisdictional actors network frequently through a regional association or council of government and when they are united by a common set of professional norms and disciplinary values. Manager participation in professional associations, however, does not increase interjurisdictional cooperation. The key conclusion for local government practitioners searching for ways to increase collaboration: networks that afford opportunities for more face-to-face interaction yield better results for effective service partnerships. [source]

State and Local Governance Fifteen Years Later: Enduring and New Challenges

New Labour's Third Way: pragmatism and governance

BRITISH JOURNAL OF POLITICS & INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, Issue 3 2000
Michael Temple
The article critically examines New Labour's development of the concept of the Third Way. Despite the apparent centrality of ,social democracy' to the Third Way, it is proposed that a more pragmatic approach dominates, in that outputs and not ideology are driving the new agenda of governance under New Labour. This is seen to have its roots in the new ways of working the party has embraced in local governance, where public?,private partnerships have become the norm and a new ethos of public service has emerged. In contrast with the top-down approach to setting output targets favoured by Tony Blair, the Third Way offers the possibility of a more experimental, pragmatic and decentralised decision-making process,and the local governance network (with elected local councils as pivotal and legitimising actors) is presented as the ideal agent to deliver this. [source]

How Has Rural Tax Reform Affected Farmers and Local Governance in China?

Exotic Dance Adult Entertainment: ethnography challenges false mythology

CITY & SOCIETY, Issue 2 2003
Judith Lynne Hanna
It is a myth that crime and property depreciation are tbe inevitable consequences of the presence in a community of exotic dance adult entertainment (also referred to as erotic, nude or topless dancing, striptease, gentlemen's clubs, juice bars and adult cabarets). Nevertheless, this myth has been perpetuated by media sensationalism, vocal minorities of the Religious Right and the feminist movement, the misinformed, "studies" commissioned by various localities, the justice system and even a professional association. As grounds for regulation of this entertainment, localities have used "studies" showing adverse effects that are scientifically flawed and now chaUengeable. My ethnographic work since 1995, when i was asked to be an expert court witness in First Amendment cases related to exotic dance, has been part of that challenge. This article examines a recent American Planning Association publication that perpetuates the same misconceptions under the cloak of academic professionalism. The critique serves as a springboard to discuss the role of planners in local governance, whose recommendations can affect the vitality of communities and the livelihoods of individuals, provoke costly litigation at taxpayer expense and infringe people's civil liberties. [Exotic dance, cultural conflict, urban planning, myth] [source]