Local Governance Arrangements Research Articles

EU Smart City Lighthouse Projects between Top-Down Strategies and Local Legitimation: The Case of Hamburg

The concept of the smart city has become increasingly popular in recent years and a large number of cities globally follow smart city strategies. By awarding subsidies in the Horizon 2020 programme, the European Union (EU) has taken on an influential role in how smart city projects are conceived and implemented in European municipalities. Using the example of the smart city pilot project mySMARTLife in Hamburg, the purpose of this article is to examine the area of tension between strategically pursuing own objectives and adjustment to external provisions of the EU funding framework. In a qualitative single case study, the article analyses what implications the project mySMARTLife has on urban development practice and local governance arrangements in Hamburg. Examining current literature on smart cities from the perspective of multi-level governance and presenting the current state of research dealing with EU smart city projects, a theoretical framework is developed. The analysis reveals that, due to the EU funding framework, precise project contents are contractually defined at an early stage when local stakeholders have limited involvement in this process. Furthermore, the analysis shows that the EU smart city funding in the project mySMARTLife is more limited to the implementation of individual interventions than to a comprehensive smart city strategy. As a result, this article considers EU-funded smart city initiatives as experimental fields that enable cities to gain experiences that can be incorporated into local strategic development objectives.

Machine learning, materiality and governance: A health and social care case study

There is a widespread belief that machine learning tools can be used to improve decision-making in health and social care. At the same time, there are concerns that they pose threats to privacy and confidentiality. Policy makers therefore need to develop governance arrangements that balance benefits and risks associated with the new tools. This article traces the history of developments of information infrastructures for secondary uses of personal datasets, including routine reporting of activity and service planning, in health and social care. The developments provide broad context for a study of the governance implications of new tools for the analysis of health and social care datasets. We find that machine learning tools can increase the capacity to make inferences about the people represented in datasets, although the potential is limited by the poor quality of routine data, and the methods and results are difficult to explain to other stakeholders. We argue that current local governance arrangements are piecemeal, but at the same time reinforce centralisation of the capacity to make inferences about individuals and populations. They do not provide adequate oversight, or accountability to the patients and clients represented in datasets.

Continuity or Change? (In)direct Rule in British and French Colonial Africa

AbstractCurrent political order in Africa is often linked to legacies of colonialism, in particular to legacies of indirect colonial rule. However, evidence about the application of indirect rule is scarce. In this paper I argue that empire-level characteristics interacted with precolonial institutions in shaping the indirectness of local rule. First, British governments ruled more indirectly than French administrations, which followed a comparatively centralized administrative blueprint, came with a transformative republican ideology, and had more administrative resources. Empirically, I find that French colonization led to the demise of the lines of succession of seven out of ten precolonial polities, twice as many as under British rule. Second, precolonial centralization was a crucial prerequisite for indirect rule. Local administrative data from eight British colonies show that British colonizers employed less administrative effort and devolved more power to native authorities where centralized institutions existed. Such a pattern did not exist in French colonies. Together, these findings improve our understanding of the long-term effects of precolonial institutions and draw attention to the interaction of characteristics of dominant and subordinate units in shaping local governance arrangements.

The role of organizational and professional cultures in medication safety: a scoping review of the literature.

ABSTRACTPurposeThis scoping review explores what is known about the role of organizational and professional cultures in medication safety. The aim is to increase our understanding of ‘cultures’ within medication safety and provide an evidence base to shape governance arrangements.Data sourcesDatabases searched are ASSIA, CINAHL, EMBASE, HMIC, IPA, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and SCOPUS.Study selectionInclusion criteria were original research and grey literature articles written in English and reporting the role of culture in medication safety on either organizational or professional levels, with a focus on nursing, medical and pharmacy professions. Articles were excluded if they did not conceptualize what was meant by ‘culture’ or its impact was not discussed.Data extractionData were extracted for the following characteristics: author(s), title, location, methods, medication safety focus, professional group and role of culture in medication safety. Results of data synthesisA total of 1272 citations were reviewed, of which, 42 full-text articles were included in the synthesis. Four key themes were identified which influenced medication safety: professional identity, fear of litigation and punishment, hierarchy and pressure to conform to established culture. At times, the term ‘culture’ was used in a non-specific and arbitrary way, for example, as a metaphor for improving medication safety, but with little focus on what this meant in practice.ConclusionsOrganizational and professional cultures influence aspects of medication safety. Understanding the role these cultures play can help shape both local governance arrangements and the development of interventions which take into account the impact of these aspects of culture.

Energy Cooperatives and Municipalities in Local Energy Governance Arrangements in Switzerland and Germany

Participation of citizens in local energy decisions is increasingly recognized as helpful for a successful decentralized energy transition. In this article, we focus on energy cooperatives in which private individuals jointly develop facilities to generate energy from renewable sources, thus involving citizens both politically and economically. Focusing on Switzerland and Germany, we show that there is a strong linkage between such cooperatives and municipalities, characterized by collaboration and support, and that the cooperatives are well suited as collaborating partners. We also show that federalist structures are most suited for such local arrangements as municipalities must have leeway to support cooperatives in a targeted manner and to compensate for shortcomings in the energy policy of superordinate governmental levels. Based on these results, we suggest that local governments should be given sufficient financial capacities and autonomy to strengthen implementation of a decentralized energy transition that involves citizens. However, we also recognize that municipal structures alone are often insufficient and that superordinate policies, especially national subsidies, remain essential. Hence, policies at the municipal and national levels should take greater account of citizen initiatives, such as energy cooperatives, which exhibit various noncommodifiable advantages relevant to the energy transition.

Entrepreneurial Reinvestment: Local Governance, Ownership, and Financing Matter—Evidence from Vietnam

This study investigates the relative importance of local governance and external financing on small firms' reinvestments. Using a set of more than 300,000 Vietnamese firm‐level observations from 2006 to 2015, this study finds that local governance quality is positively associated with small firms' reinvestments. However, regarding external funds, only informal finance is positively associated with reinvestments while government loans and bank loans serve as substitutes to reinvestments. Also, this study suggests that there is significant heterogeneity among ownership sectors and between micro‐enterprises and small firms in the way they value the relative importance of local governance arrangements and financing sources.

Children of a lesser God? The Vividown case and privacy on the internet

Na esteira dos recentes e importantes eventos de flagrantes violações da privacidade, é proposto um repensar da justificativa do direito à privacidade, pois tais violações levantam questões de responsabilidade democrática e, ao menos potencialmente, contribuem para corroer a legitimidade das atuais organizações de governança locais e internacionais. Neste artigo, discutir-se-á primeiramente o caso da violação da privacidade de um jovem autista intimidado (bullied) e o consequente julgamento de três executivos do Google. Depois, serão analisados os argumentos dos especialistas, acadêmicos ou não, que concordam com a afirmação do Google de que, se a primeira sentença não tivesse sido contestada, as comportas para várias outras jurisdições teriam sido abertas e, como consequência, serviriam como pretexto para aumentar o controle na internet, comprometendo a liberdade de expressão enquanto direito inalienável que não deveria ser censurado. Por fim, além das sentenças e dos seus contextos imediatos, propõe-se uma justificativa teórica da análise exposta. O principal argumento consiste no valor do direito à privacidade estar baseado na leitura de que sua violação prejudicaria a capacidade dos cidadãos de participar efetivamente da política democrática.

Denying homeless persons access to municipal support

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to focus on the denial of social support to homeless persons and related societal effects of new local governance arrangements. Design/methodology/approach Analysis of new data and secondary evaluative and comparative data on the policies, administrative structures and management styles of Copenhagen, Glasgow and Amsterdam have brought better understanding of the elements of local governance arrangements that influence the number of homeless persons who are denied access to services and the number of persons sleeping rough who are not eligible for social support. Theoretical explanations for the impact of governance arrangements on these processes and societal effects are considered. Findings It appears that while the body of research, reports and policy documents on non-eligibility for homelessness services is growing, legal responses at best remain vague, and policies are still in the process of being developed. Modest progress on policy goals, and even more so on policy instruments, leading to less detrimental outcomes, can be explained by centralising and decentralising trends and the relationships between state and society. The latter may also be indicative of how the increased focus on the legal problems of some EU migrants can be explained. Research limitations/implications The two points in time documented for the case studies are relevant in understanding processes underlying the current circumstances of homeless persons and homeless migrants and offer an interdisciplinary insight into governance and politics, law, and public and health service perspectives. Social implications Good policy practice, as this paper shows, can lead to a difference in individual lives. Originality/value Much is unknown about considerations inside government. This paper contributes by combining theoretical and insider perspectives.

Local governance in the new Police Scotland: Renegotiating power, recognition and responsiveness

A marked, but by no means universal, trend in Europe over the last decade or so has been the centralization or amalgamation of regional police organizations into larger or single units. Scotland is a case in point, its eight regional services becoming one Police Scotland in April 2013. Although the reform process was relatively consensual, the new organization has been the subject of numerous controversies, some of which reflect an actual or perceived loss of the local in Scottish policing. Drawing on a qualitative study of the emerging local governance arrangements, we explore the negotiated character of large-scale organizational reform, demonstrating that it is best understood as a process not an event. We also argue that appeals to localism are not mere expressions of sentiment and resistance to change. They reflect the particular historical development of policing and public service delivery in Scotland at the level of municipal government, but also strong convictions that policing should be subject to democratic deliberation and should recognize and be responsive to those subject to it – what we argue here are necessary functions of police governance in general.

An evolutionary perspective on experimental local governance arrangements with local governments and residents in Dutch rural areas of depopulation

Population decline, welfare state reforms and austerity measures pressurise the liveability of rural areas in the Netherlands and call upon local governments and communities to adapt and renew their mode of governance. This paper reports on three Dutch experimental governance arrangements which are analysed through the lens of Evolutionary Governance Theory. The study focuses on how decision-making roles change while these arrangements unfold and how the three municipalities institutionalise these changes in the course of time. The study produces three main conclusions. First, the readiness and preparedness of local governments to shift decision-making roles with citizens proved to be of main influence on governance change. Second, local residents’ commitment importantly affected the progress of the experiments, while social cohesion and tangible outputs strongly influenced the extent and continuity of such commitment. Third, although the arrangements took place in the same period of time and abovementioned context, the level of institutionalisation of shifting roles between government and residents differed among the cases. Certain pathways of evolving decision-making roles seem to be more stable than others. It is in this area that the extent of both formal and informal institutionalisation seems to play an important role.

A network approach for moving from planning to implementation in climate change adaptation: Evidence from southern Mexico

Collaboration barriers have been reported among the most frequent institutional constraints to adaptation. Yet, the growing literature on the topic has been largely descriptive and little attention has been placed on how to transform barriers into enablers for action. By taking a fragile socio-ecological lagoon system in Southern Mexico as a case study, the paper applies a social network analytical approach to: i) reveal the actual web of connections tying stakeholders through local governance arrangements; ii) identify shortcomings in multi-actor collaboration networks; and iii) propose ways to tackle them so that the full potential of adaptation can be exploited. The paper employs a mixed-method approach combining both a quantitative and qualitative Social Network Analysis (SNA). The quantitative SNA is used to assess the quality and strength of relationships among formal public organisations working on climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction in the site. The qualitative SNA is employed to both assess linking ties between formal organizations and local coastal communities potentially targeted with adaptation interventions, and bonding ties connecting community members. The approach proves to be useful to map the relational architecture of the system of interest and to reveal network characteristics that are important for collective action including: network fragmentation in subgroups; density of relations; centralization around a few actors. The actual topology of the network, as revealed, can then be compared with what is required for achieving societally desired adaptation outcomes and for identifying agents that can promote change. The paper acknowledges that a social analytical approach might be limited in unveiling the interests and motives behind actors’ participation in the network, and that the latter ultimately determine actors’ contribution in defining and enacting a joint solution for a common problem. However, the mixed-methods approach presented in this paper allows for gaining first insights on the way a mismatch between formal and informal institutions might drive socio-ecological systems towards inadequate adaptation outcomes.

Entrepreneurial Reinvestment: Local Governance, Ownership, and Financing Matter

This study investigates the relative importance of local governance and external financing on small firm reinvestment. Using a set of more than 300,000 Vietnamese firm-level observations from 2006 to 2015, we find that local governance quality is positively associated with firm reinvestment. However, regarding external funds, only informal finance is positively associated with reinvestment while government loans and bank loans serve as substitutes to reinvestment. Also, we suggest that there is a significant heterogeneity among ownership sectors and of micro-enterprises in the way they value the relative importance of local governance arrangements and financing sources. This study augments the works of Johnson, McMillan, and Woodruff (2002) and Cull and Xu (2005), and suggests that the effects of local governance and financial systems are more complicated than a simple comparison that either governance or financing is more important than the other.

Environmental sanitation and pollution control measures in the Odaw-Korle River catchment, Ghana

ABSTRACTThis article reports on a study that sought to understand the major factors to consider in changing poor environmental sanitation practices in urban communities in Accra, Ghana. The study focused on three main issues: the drivers of sanitation and pollution control measures in the communities; community members’ perceptions on the influence of poor planning on environmental sanitation and pollution; and how existing local governance arrangements influence environmental sanitation and pollution control. It found that efforts are made at the city, community, and individual levels to control poor environmental practices. In order to control environmental pollution, policy initiatives on sanctions should be coupled with the provision of efficient sanitation facilities and services.

The acceleration of transitions to urban sustainability: a case study of Brighton and Hove

ABSTRACTCities raise major challenges and opportunities for achieving sustainability. Much literature on urban sustainability focuses on specific aspects such as planning practices, urban policy or the diffusion of more sustainable technologies or practices. However, attempts at understanding the mechanisms of structural change towards sustainability have resulted in the emergence of an interdisciplinary field of sustainability transitions research. Transitions research has developed a phase model of transitions in which predevelopment, take-off, acceleration and stabilization phases are distinguished. However, the acceleration phase has received limited attention so far. This is a crucial gap as policy-makers are keen to accelerate transitions. This paper aims to enhance our understanding of how local actions contribute towards accelerating urban sustainability transitions. It does so by testing an acceleration mechanisms framework through exploring the collective agency of local initiatives in urban sustainability transitions. Drawing on a case study of the city of Brighton and Hove (UK), the paper finds that despite favourable local political conditions, there is a lack of evidence of acceleration apart from in individual domains such as food or mobility. Progress is found to depend on the agency of initiatives to both scale up sustainable practices and embed these practices into local governance arrangements.

A framework for assessing the accountability of local governance arrangements for adaptation to climate change

Accountability has hardly been studied in the governance of climate change adaptation. This paper develops a framework for assessing the accountability of interactive governance arrangements for local adaptation. This framework is based on five important accountability mechanisms: Clear responsibilities and mandates, Transparency, Political oversight, Citizen control and Checks and sanctions. For illustration purposes, the proposed framework is applied to the case of a Dutch local adaptation governance arrangement. The application shows that the five proposed mechanisms and their operationalizations offer a valid assessment of the accountability of such arrangements. It also raises some challenges, such as the tensions between accountability and flexibility, legitimacy and effectiveness; the potentially important roles of trust and of the political skills of central actor(s) in the arrangement in raising accountability, and the potential need to distinguish between arrangements for policy planning and for service delivery.

The Efficacy of Local Governance Arrangements in Relation to Homelessness. A Comparison of Copenhagen, Glasgow, and Amsterdam

Over the last decade, several northern European metropolitan cities have developed new strategies to deal with homelessness. This article focuses on the efficacy of these new local governance arrangements in terms of service delivery and the related societal effects. By comparing and evaluating the policies, administrative structures and management styles in Copenhagen, Glasgow and Amsterdam, a better understanding is gained of the elements of local governance arrangements that influence the quality of service delivery for the homeless and benefit clients and society at large. The research findings lead to a critical view of current decentralizing trends.

Oil territorialities, social life, and legitimacy in the Peruvian Amazon

AbstractExtractive industry activities are today an integral part of social life and economic relations across multiple sites. Yet, how and under which conditions do extractive industries insert themselves within and potentially transform territorial dynamics, social relations, and local governance arrangements? The debate is often polarized between competing narratives of social critique depicting corporate power, conflict, and imposition and insider perspectives stressing corporate social responsibility and environmental sustainability. This article offers an ethnographic account of oil exploration in the Peruvian Amazon coupled with a broader discussion about legitimacy building at the extractive frontier. Addressing the multiple ways in which oil companies engage with local constituencies and socially embedded economic relations, it suggests how social relations have gone from being a residual matter of contention to becoming an area of strategic intervention and corporate action through safeguard measures and social licenses.

Cities and climate change: How historical legacies shape policy-making in English and German municipalities

This article draws on secondary historical sources and primary interviews to highlight how the legacy of the creation of local governments in England and Germany has significant implications for policy-making in the present day. By employing an institutionalist perspective to analyse how one municipality in each country tries to promote renewable energy and retrofit private housing, it demonstrates how historical factors have resulted in the German Council having more capacity to act hierarchically in local governance arrangements than its English counterpart. These findings have notable implications for how governments at all levels seek to tackle major challenges such as climate change.

Strengthening Local Governance Arrangements for Sanitation: Case Studies of Small Cities in Indonesia

Local governments in Indonesia have the primary responsibility for delivering sanitation (wastewater) services. However, in large part due to governance factors, local governments invest little in sanitation services and delivery of services is weak. This research adopted a participatory, case study approach to investigate governance and institutional arrangements for planning, budgeting and implementing sanitation services in small cities and towns in Sumatra, Indonesia. The research focused on the effectiveness of city/regency planning for sanitation, the effectiveness of pokja sanitasi (sanitation committees), the links between planning and investment, and local government roles and responsibilities. This paper presents the findings of three case studies. Barriers to effective delivery of sanitation services include: prescriptive local budgeting and approval systems; lack of local government ownership of assets; and policy, funding and technical arrangements that are biased against strategic delivery.

A new framework for understanding subnational policy-making and local choice

ABSTRACTThis article presents a new and innovative framework to help analyse policy-making and depoliticisation within subnational governance arrangements. By focusing on the capacity (not the autonomy) of subnational governments to achieve their political objectives, and incorporating external actors along both the vertical and horizontal dimensions, it provides a dynamic tool to understand the extent to which municipal governments influence local policy-making processes. Furthermore, it stresses that greater ‘localism’ (or independence) between vertical tiers of government is likely to weaken subnational bodies and result in them becoming more interdependent with (or even dependent on) horizontal non-state actors within the locality. This would weaken their position in local governance arrangements and exacerbate the depoliticised nature of decision-making.