John Stewart: A personal appreciation

A Study of Local Government in Africa through Participatory Action Research (PAR)

The aim of the article is to examine key dimensions of service quality and to consider the situation within British local government. A model of public service quality is introduced. From this starting point, it is argued that local government service quality must consider the 'citizen question'. Values, objectives, definitions of quality and of standards, systems for implementation and a constructive approach to monitoring and evaluation need to be brought together in an integrated approach. Front-line staff, elected councillors and trades unions have an important part to play and all their voices also need to be heard. Local government as a whole has not yet taken on board this comprehensive approach. However, over ten years or so it has adapted to the new policy environment through a wide range of strategies. These include organisational development and quality initiatives, decentralisation, public participation and community empowerment. All help to build an environment where quality can flourish. A 'tight-loose' organisational culture is essential for success. Some tools from the private sector can be used eclectically, but the article warns against wholesale transfer, since the needs and purposes of local government are generally very different. Public service quality is not only about improving citizens' quality of life. It is also potentially a route to greater sense of citizenship, participation and democracy.

This paper assesses the impact of a decade of New Labour reforms on English local government. It focuses on assessing the outcomes of three key areas of reform: policies intended to improve the performance of local government services; measures aimed at reviving local democracy; and significant ‘non-decisions’ made in relation to crucial aspects of central–local relations, particularly local government finance. It is argued that New Labour's modernization agenda, inspired by notions of ‘the Third Way’, has had greatest impact where it has gone with the grain of New Right reforms. As a result, the most distinctive impact of New Labour policy on English local government has been that it has succeeded where Conservative administrations had failed in implementing a distinctively New Right agenda for English local government.

This article is about the persistence and resilience of the form of local government that emerged in England in the nineteenth century and took shape in the twentieth century. English local government has adapted to successive reorganisations and changes to its functions; it has survived centralisation, privatisation, the imposition of quangos, regional governance, elected mayors, performance management and latterly fiscal austerity by responding to opportunities and meeting the continual need for administrative tasks at the local level. The centralised structure to political management in English local government has generated a high level of organisational capacity and a pragmatic sensibility that ensures the institution remains in place even in unpropitious circumstances. Other local organisations, such as voluntary sector bodies and quangos, have less capacity to compete and work to shorter timescales. Such resilience has come to the fore in the period of fiscal austerity since 2009 when local authorities have had to manage severe declines in their budgets whilst taking on additional functions, such as council tax benefit. The organisational capacity and pragmatism of English local government create path dependence as its very efficiency at managing services may have shut off options for democratic renewal and participation.

As a creature of Statue, British local government is subject to constant change emanating from a superior constitutional source: central government. Much of the change that is imposed upon local government because of the need for governing institutions to respond to two competing sets of requirements: those that drive and are driven by either, technocracy or democracy. In all major reorganisations of local government, the attempts tofind a structuralfit between these two mutually antagonistic factors have seen the latter lose out to the former The question of local government size is part of the clash between technocracy and democracy that has been played-out in various reforms of local government in Britain. Indeed, current discussions about unitary councils and city-regions will ultimately result in larger, more remote and technocraticaly driven units of local government The article sets out a construct for British local government that would rest on the creation of a new constitutional settlement between the centre and the localities. It explores the role newly empowered local government could play within the context of a federal UK, and addresses how the politics of these new councils should be conducted. The article also explores what new formns of political accountability would be required in this new constitutional settlement and to whom local government should be accountable. It also examines the mechanisms by which that accountability can be secured. The article sets out a radically new context for central local relationships resting on a new balance of political power; responsibility and accountability.

Purpose: The primary objective of this article is to conduct an in-depth analysis of sustainable development within the framework of local government management in Poland. The concept of sustainable development is examined across three fundamental dimensions: social, economic, and environmental. This study specifically addresses the social dimension, providing a focused analysis of its implementation. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing upon a comprehensive literature review, the research posits the following hypothesis: Which areas of local government management are instrumental in the implementation of the social dimension of sustainable development? Findings: Sustainability is an important element of management in local government units. Research limitations/implications: It is limited to discussing only the main social aspects of management in local government. Practical implications: The social aspects of management in local government are playing an increasingly important role in local government in Poland. Social implications: Social and environmental education. Originality/value: The article systematizes the concepts of management and sustainability in local government in Poland.

The Chinese Communist Party faces a dilemma in local community governance, i.e. state intervention vs. community self-governance. Increased intervention violates its long-promoted social self-governance and undermines the regimes’ credibility and legitimacy, while less intervention may add to the risk of social instability and collective actions at the local level. Therefore, selective intervention is applied by local government as a rational choice in community governance. This article explores the political rationale of local governments’ selective intervention in community disputes in urban China. The authors argue that the type of community, the degree of homeowners’ solidarity and the media exposure significantly affect the likelihood and degree of a local state’s intervention as well as the local government’s response in the dispute resolution.

Addressing alcohol health harms through non-health sector policies in English local government: a systematic overview, legal analysis, and case study

This study investigates the widespread interference of the Punjab elites in the third tier of the government and how this interference is obstructing governance, transparency, and grassroots development. Elite dominance in the region is established through the manipulation of elections, control of development funds, and influence over the administrative decisions of local governments but not only, but also undermines the autonomy and effectiveness of the latter. Although constitutionally provided for a decentralization process, institutional and socio political inequalities, patronage networks, all oblige elites to seize local governance systems, by diverting necessary resources and under delivering basic public services. A qualitative research approach is employed based on semi structured interviews with local government officials, community leaders, and governance experts to bring to understanding the nature, extent and impact of the elite interference. These findings show that elite capture not only undermines service delivery and increases socio economic disparities, but that it also erodes public trust in democratic institutions and impedes participation by marginalized groups. Legal and institutional reforms to enhance accountability, transparency and community participation in local governance are an urgent task that is highlighted by the research. The key recommendations are for improving legal frameworks promoting participatory budgeting, reducing patronage politics, empowering marginalized groups, using technology to enable transparent and inclusive governance. Through this study, we add to the larger debate on decentralization and governance in general and offer specific action points on how to deal with the problem of elite interference and strengthen the third tier of government in Punjab.

This study examines the role of accounting as a tool of legitimacy of power in financial management in local governments in Indonesia through a critical study approach. The purpose of the study is to analyze how accounting is used by local governments as a tool to legitimize power and identify strategies used in presenting financial reports as a tool of legitimacy. By using literature studies and critical discourse analysis, this study understands the role of accounting as a tool of legitimacy of power in financial management of local governments in Indonesia. Data were obtained from academic literature, local government financial reports, audit reports of the Audit Board of Indonesia, and media analysis. The results of the study indicate that accounting in financial management in local governments in Indonesia not only functions as a financial administration tool, but also as a mechanism of legitimacy of power through the presentation of financial reports, audit results, accounting standards, and budgets. The strategies used in presenting financial reports as a tool of legitimacy include (1) highlighting audit opinions as an indicator of success, (2) using positive narratives in the notes to the financial statements, (3) justifying budget use through priority programs, (4) compliance with accounting standards as a tool of legitimacy, and (5) controlling public information through the mass media. This study also revealed that the transparency and accountability displayed were more symbolic than substantive.

This article explores interpretations of resilience within English local government. Using a historical and multi-scalar framework, it argues that previous accounts of resilience in English local government have neglected the effect of sub-national institutional restructuring and compounding the impact austerity has had on local government capacity to navigate this complex landscape. The article situates resilience in the broader context of decentralisation, illustrating the benefits of adopting a broad spatial perspective to focus on resilience within local government systems. Continuing austerity and inconsistently applied institutional reorganisation are highlighted as potential twin threats to the ‘survivability’ of English local government.

In England, the traditional method of central government redistribution and equalization between locations has been replaced with a greater emphasis on self-sufficiency and entrepreneurism. English local government now faces existential funding questions – a situation that is repeated around the world as the public sector manages the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic. Financialization has figured large in the study of entrepreneurial behaviour. However, in England, legal and procedural constraints have driven authorities to seek revenue funding from other sources, principally seeking additional property-related revenues. In response, this article presents a novel typology of local government funding sources and offers an original analysis of their implications for local authorities’ role. The empirical findings show that the buoyancy and quantum of many funding sources are constrained by prior evolution of location and central–local relations: they are not automatic routes to financialization. Conceptually, these findings reveal that methods of financialization, and the local government funding system within which they typically sit, are as likely to be constrained by the evolution and techniques of governance as they are accelerated by it. International debates around financialization, and wider concerns of how locations develop, would benefit from this account of the often-hidden nature and agency of local government funding systems.

Research on local government in the UK during the era of austerity has shown that the decisions taken by local councils to cope with financial stresses were often narrated through the discourse of ‘resilience’, referencing their capacity to innovate and transform services, while protecting service provision in core areas. This emphasis on ‘resilience’ focused on the deployment of strategies to overcome funding challenges. However, this earlier research did not question the longer-term risks, trade-offs and negative social implications associated with such decisions, and how, even in circumstances where these practices provided some ‘breathing space’, in the longer-term they risked adding even more strain to the system as a whole. This article fills an important research gap by considering four resilience strategies of two local authorities in England: Leicester and Nottingham. These four strategies are: savings, reserves, collaboration and investment. Applying a meso-level perspective and exploring resilience through the lens of crisis management, it asks in what ways and for whom resilience generates positive, zero and negative-sum outcomes. This research enhances our understanding of the resilience concept by reflecting on its limitations and the risks it poses for local government. It also reveals that, while the concept of ‘resilience’ has been much criticised for normalising crises and generally operating as part of a de-politicising vocabulary, research is lacking on how the practices of resilience produce positive, zero or negative-sum outcomes.

PurposeUniversity College London (UCL) ran a research project over 12 months in 2008‐2009, funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, which examined what the impact of the UK Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 had been on records management services in local government. This paper aims to report on some of the findings of the study, with a focus on the practical records management issues.Design/methodology/approachThe research considered the three perspectives of records managers: institutional FOI; policy managers; and FOI requestors and user communities. Following an extensive literature review, qualitative research methods were used to gather data, specifically semi‐structured interviewing of 27 individuals from 19 different institutions in London and the South East of England and with 11 requestors.FindingsThe findings reported in this paper focus on records services in local government, in particular their organisational location and status, and aspects of the management of current and non‐current records, including those in digital formats.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper is one of the outputs of a grant‐funded project, which documents the results of research in FOI from a records management perspective and makes a contribution to the wider debate about access to information. It attempts to survey user responses, which has been an overlooked aspect of other FOI and records management research.Practical implicationsThere are some implications for good practice in records management policy and systems and in the location of records functions in local government.Originality/valueLocal government is an under‐researched field in respect of information management and FOI, when compared with other parts of the public sector, and this is therefore a significant contribution to knowledge in this field.

There are a number of features in the recruitment and training of the British local government officer which have played an important part in producing, a very successful type of public officer. Local government officers have to put into practice the theories of civil servants, and the man who has to use local government measures its effectiveness by those standards which he applies to business and everyday common experience. One of the greatest contributions to the success of any local government officer is the fact that he has got his examination qualifications in exactly the same school as his professional colleague engaged in private practice. In view of the burdens which local authorities are carrying, the lack of a considered policy towards the local government service is short-sighted and wasteful. Local government services, rendered with efficiency and sympathy, will be reflected in the capacity and the character of the men and women for whose benefit those services are designed.