County Administration Research Articles

Urbanization in China.

This paper discusses the growth and structure of urbanization in major cities and in rural areas in China. The definition of urban area in China is complex and unique in distinguishing between cities with and without an urban status. The designation of "urban" to a city has important implications for social welfare of the urban population. Urban cities grant registration to citizens, which entitles them to food, an occupation, and housing. Since 1949, "city" changed definition in 1955, 1963, and 1984. Urban and rural districts are thus separated administratively. Government statistics are based on five designations of urban population: officially designated cities and towns, areas under municipal jurisdiction, urban population, urban population with an urban registry, and city district population. There are city-administered counties also in a three-tiered structure of government: provincial government, city administration, and county administration. Population statistics are based on population censuses or city registries and do not account for migration. Commune populations are people who have quit agriculture but are counted as rural population, unless they are registered in officially designated towns. Commune populations are people working in village and township enterprises. World Bank statistics indicate an increase in urbanization rates from 1965 to 1989, from 18% to 53%, but most of the growth occurred during the 1980s. It is argued that China's population statistics must not be accepted uncritically. The author offers a reconstructed set of Chinese urbanization figures that would be compatible with other countries. Urbanization was estimated to be 21% in 1961, 16% in 1971, 18.7% in 1981, and 29.7% in 1991. Seven major conclusions are drawn. For instance, it is concluded that urban population growth was 5% or more during the 1980s in nine provinces having populations of 380 million or more. Three provinces had rates of 4-5%. The 1990s are expected to show urban growth in areas with over 600 million people.

An Evaluation of County Life: A Survey of County Administrative Officials

County government increasingly has become the focus of research. Not only do counties continue their roles as administrative arms of their states but they also are major service providers to their residents. This is especially true in less populated states. This study presents the views of elected county officials in a rural state on the quality of life in, and the major problems faced by, their counties. We find that how these officials view conditions in their counties is very much influenced by both the county population and the geographic location of the county. It is concluded that policymakers need to consider the varying needs of rural and urban populations as well as the variations within each rural and urban area.

The Impact of Political Structures on Public Policies in American Counties

American county governments have experienced substantial change as intergovernmental actors and service providers over the past several decades.(1) Although academic research on American county governments and their operations has been extremely sparse, there appears to be a mild upsurge in recent literature focusing on counties, primarily as a consequence of their increasing importance. In fact, a recent collaborative article appearing in PAR (Menzel et al., 1992) called for new interest on the topic and suggested a wide-ranging research agenda to help improve our current body of knowledge on county government. This research seeks to contribute to our knowledge of the impact of American county forms of government on public expenditures. Recent years have seen an increase in the efforts to reform county government structures. The reformers urge shifts from the traditional county commission form, which is limited by a lack of singular executive authority (either appointed or elected) and by a multiplicity of elected officials. This traditional form has been criticized for being too fragmented and inacapable of handling the new functional responsibilities and concomitant priority setting of modern county governments. In its place, the reformers advocate switching to a version of the county administrator form (with an appointed executive similar to, but typically less powerful than a city manager) or the county executive form (with an elected executive).(2) Very little systematic evidence exists, however, on whether county forms of government have an impact on who gets elected and what public policies are pursued. Virtually all of the existing literature on the impacts of local government structures examines American municipalities.(3) Some of this research is indirectly useful in exploring county governments, however its applicability is limited because of the uniqueness of counties in the American federal system and their traditional structures. Counties were largely devised as convenient mechanisms for states to deliver programs within their geographic boundaries. As a result, their functional responsibilities differ from those of municipalities. Similarly, the reform movement for cities and counties had different roots and objectives. The promotion of the council-manager plan was based on the desire for increased government efficiency, with reformers eager to keep municipal government expenditures and activities to a minimum. The more modern reform movement for counties seeks to provide central executive leadership in order to more effectively direct an increasing number of government responsibilities. This research examines the extent to which the county form of government affects public policy decisions. Specifically, it addresses the linkage between government structure (reformed and unreformed) and total per capita spending by the county government. Surprisingly, few research projects have ever attempted to systematically evaluate the policy or representational consequences of different forms of county governments. A recent project by Mark Schneider and Kee Ok Park (1989) examined the total, developmental and redistributive per capita expenditures and number of functions performed by 162 counties located in 50 of the largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). Their data for expenditure and form of government data were from 1977. Controlling for the effects of region and population size, Schneider and Park concluded that county executive jurisdictions spent the most and performed the most functions among the three basic forms of county government. County administrator jurisdictions were consistently second, and the traditional commission counties were consistently last. The structural differences were more dramatic for per capita expenditures than for the number of government functions performed. In fact, Schneider and Park's data indicated that county executive forms spent more than twice the per capita expenditures of county commission systems. …

Implementation of cleaner production in small and medium-sized enterprises

The aim of this article is to analyse whether it is possible for an external group to act as a catalyst when trying to make small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) adopt a cleaner production concept. At Linköping University, Sweden, nine SMEs cooperated in a cleaner production project that uses the University and the County Administration as catalysts. This article is based on a survey that evaluated the project. The survey shows that the SMEs did modify their products and processes after taking part in the project. They were especially successful in changing their products. Why products were changed to a larger extent than processes is not fully understood. Maybe this was done as a part of introducing a preventive environmental care system. Most SMEs did, as a part of introducing an environmental care system, introduce an environmental policy and an educational programme. The SMEs also experienced lower costs and better cooperation with the authorities. A reason for this is the good cooperation between the three participants of the project. In general, the SMEs did not think that they had gained marketing benefits. This attitude could have been different if more SMEs from the same value chain (supplier-producer-wholesalers-customer) had been involved.

A race-specific genetic polymorphism in the CYP1A1 gene is not associated with lung cancer in African Americans.

In a case-control study, we tested the hypothesis that a previously described African American-specific polymorphism in an intron 3' to the coding region of the CYP1A1 gene was associated with the occurrence of lung cancer. The study population included 72 African Americans with newly diagnosed, untreated lung cancer who presented to collaborating clinicians at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and from county, community and Veterans Administration hospitals in the Houston metropolitan area. Controls were 97 African Americans, frequency-matched on gender and age, recruited from community centers, churches, cancer screening programs and from among hospital employees. The prevalence of the variant CYP1A1 genotype did not differ between the cases and controls. The odds ratio for individuals with one or more copies of the variant allele was 0.64 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.3-1.4]. Overall, 20.7% of the population had one or more variant alleles; the prevalence in cases was 16.7% and in controls it was 23.7%. Two individuals with the homozygous variant genotype were controls while one individual with lung cancer was found to have the homozygous variant genotype. The lack of an association between genotype and lung cancer persisted after subgroup analysis for lifetime cigarette smoking history and tumor histology was performed. The sample size of this study is sufficient to detect odds ratios of three or greater; associations of this magnitude are similar to those reported in studies of a different polymorphism in the same region of the CYP1A1 gene in Japanese. Thus, it is unlikely that this polymorphism is associated with sizable risks for tobacco-induced lung cancer in this population subgroup.

Policy making/implementing activities of elected county executives and appointed county administrators: Does form of government make a difference?

This article undertakes a comparative analysis of the policy making/implementing behavior of elected county executives and appointed county administrators. While both sets of actors are engaged considerably in the policy making and implementing processes, the manner in which they undertake these activities varies, suggesting that form of government and method of (s)election do make a difference in how counties are governed.

The county perspective on intergovernmental relations and government capacity

This analysis examines the issues of state and federal responsiveness and state and local government capacity from the perspective of county officials. Using data from a national survey of county administrators, elected executives, and commission chairpersons, the study finds that county officials are: (1) very confident of their own capacities to respond to local problems, but not as confident of local fiscal capacities; (2) very concerned about the responsiveness of state governments, particularly state legislatures, to local needs; and (3) not confident of the responsiveness of federal government to local needs either, but desirous of federal fiscal support. The assessments of state responsiveness appear related to state efforts to expand the policy making, taxing, and borrowing authority of their county governments.

County Government Structural Reform: Influence of State, Region, and Urbanization

This article analyzes the influence of state, region, and urbanization on adoption of county government structural reform, exemplified by charter adoption, appointment of county administrators, and election of executives. It examines 3,119 counties on which data were available, emphasizing the 786 counties with appointed administrators, 382 with elected executives, and 117 with charters. These three structural reforms were correlated with urbanization as measured by three variables for counties nationwide: population size, population growth, and per capita income. The reforms also were examined by U.S. Census regions and subregions. Then each reform was adjusted to assess the influence of one or afew states where a given reform was state-imposed or almost universally adopted. For each reform, urbanization was a key factor in explaining adoption. Region offered little explanation. The state also emerged as an important variable.

Precursors of Productivity Improvement Efforts by Appointed County Administrators

Precursors of Productivity Improvement Efforts by Appointed County Administrators

The Administration of the County Palantine of Chester 1442-1485.

Part 1: the documentary sources Cheshire as a palatinate - its constitutional position Cheshire and the kingdom, 1442-85. Part 2 The government of Cheshire and the role of the gentry: county administration - the office-holders the administration of justice and the maintenance of law and order - jury service and the making of peace bonds. Appendix: name-index for William Brereton of Brereton.

The Changing Responsibilities of County Governments: Data from a National Survey of County Leaders

}This article reports findings from a national survey of county administrators, executives, and commission chairs from counties with an executive or an administrator that indicate counties are battling to meet rising administrative and policy demands with inadequate authority. An examination of 23 different policy areas revealed that modern counties confront some of our society's most vexing problems, most of which are primarily of an urban character. A multivariate analysis indicated that population changes associated with increased urbanization influenced respondent attitudes concerning some policy issues. Also, the South was identified as the region where county government is under the greatest stress. It is suggested that researchers should approach the use of county demographic data with caution.

The county administrator and productivity improvement: An examination of contrasting styles

The study examines productivity improvement efforts among a sample of United States County Administrators. Administrators' actions were divided into “tough” and “soft” approaches which were then examined in light of external and internal environment, governmental actors, duties of the office, management and policy actions and roles, and personal and demographic characteristics. Strong correlates were found in the areas of external environment, managerial role, and personal characteristics.

Receptivity to Change and Modernization in Rural County Administration

This article examines and measures the impact of selected variables on the determination of rural political leaders' orientation to change and modernization of rural county government administratio...

Background Characteristics of Local Communist Elites: Change vs. Continuity in the Romanian Case

In view of the growing pluralist tendencies within world communism, variations in the political practices of individual Communist countries have become important subjects of scholarly investigation. Daniel Nelson has had the rare opportunity of conducting interviews with forty-two persons occupying positions at various levels of local and county administrations in Romania. His research is a valuable contribution to our understanding of the process of leadership selection in Communist states. He finds that while Party loyalty has lost, technical competence has gained, as a criterion for selection and reflects on the impact of these changes at the lowest level of government upon the system as a whole.

Organizational Antecedents of Role Conflict and Ambiguity in Top-Level Administrators

December 1976, volume 21 This study explores factors associated with role conflict and ambiguity in top-level administrators in public agencies. Research is reviewed, on possible organizational and interorganizational antecedents. Despite the fact that toplevel administrators devote a considerable proportion of their time to relations with other units, interorganizational factors have not been included in models of role conflict. Data were obtained in structured personal interviews with 102 top-level county administrators. As demonstrated by regression analysis, interorganizational variables tended to account for the largest amount of variance in role conflict, and intraorganizational variables accounted for the largest amount of variance in role ambiguity. Interorganizational variables were stronger independent determinants of role conflict than intraorganizational variables were of role ambiguity.

County Administration in Fukien

In most contemporary developing societies, the responsibility for directing broad social and economic change is assumed by the government. The success or failure of these government sponsored programmes often hinges narrowly on the degree of administrative capacity at the regional and local levels. Programmes which are otherwise well designed and funded at the national level may founder for lack of effective local organization.

Uppsalaåsen mellan Flottsund och Fredrikslund. Kittelfältets primära uppbyggnad och sekundära omvandling

Abstract The investigation was made for the purpose of preparing a report to the Uppsala County Administration. The task was sponsored by Professor John O. Norrman and consisted of completing and correcting the map of the area made by Professor Filip Hjulstrom, in order to enable it to be used to make the rules of the nature reserve more stringent. This report is an attempt to explain the reason for the formation of kettle fields as a part of an esker under the highest shore-line.

Digital computers in traffic control—the experience and the significance

Vehicle traffic congestion is one of the more serious problems currently facing municipal and county administrators. This has fostered the development of a series of devices, of increasing capability, for the control of signals. The digital computer presents the first possibility for a completely automatic system that encompasses all the necessary elements of control—information gathering, decision making, execution, verification, and evaluation.Digital systems have demonstrated not only their potency as a traffic engineering tool, but also the value of improved control. These systems have also added new dimensions to the traffic engineering profession, and have placed new requirements on their administrative organizations.

The Utility of Case Records in Probation and Parole

Arthur P. Miles is Professor of Social Work, University of Wisconsin. He was educated at the University of Illinois (A.B., 1933) and the University of Chicago (M.A., 1936 and Ph.D., 1940). He formerly taught at the University of Missouri, Louisiana State University, and Tulane University. He has also been a Case Aide and County Administrator with the Illinois Emergency Relief Commission, Resident of Hull House, and Regional Social Statistician with the Social Security Board.

Some Problems of China's Rural Communes

The rural people's communes, launched in the summer and autumn of 1958, purported to be a grand new social, political and economic organisation. They were supposed to be like “a fine horse, which having shaken off its bridle, is galloping courageously directly towards the highway of Communism.” An organisation had been created where collective living was actively promoted and the “Five-togethers” practised, where women were “freed from the drudgery of home life” and Idrawn into full time participation in the commune production, where labour could be shifted from area to area or even occupation to occupation according to needs and requirements, where the rural areas were not only the scene of agricultural production, but were also new centres of workshops producing steel and machine tools, and where the previous village, township and even county administration was now merged into the new commune administration, which thus undertook multifarious activities.