Local Mayors Research Articles

The Mountain View Conference of the Arkansas Historical Association, 2006

THE ARKANSAS HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION held its sixty-fifth annual conference at the Ozark Folk Center State Park in Mountain View, April 6-8, 2006. Despite the earlier-than-usual meeting, the many AHA members who made the curvy but pleasant drive to Stone County found the weather delightful and the dogwoods just beginning to bloom. Mountain View touts itself as the folk music capital of the world-there's no international clearing house for self-proclaimed capital status-so it seemed fitting for the Ozark Folk Center to host the AHA's first music history-themed program, Sounds of Arkansas: Music and Musicians from the Bear State to the Natural State. Brooks Blevins served as program and local arrangements chair, with generous help on the latter from Susan Young of the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History and Jimmie Edwards of the Ozark Folk Center. The conference was funded in part through a grant from the Arkansas Humanities Council. The conference got started on Thursday evening with a reception at the Ozark Folk Center's Dry Creek Lodge recreation room. The reception was hosted by the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau and Ozarka College. Stone County being dry, the Little Rock folks found themselves turning Arkansas legend on its head as they transported spirituous drinks into the Ozarks. The reception featured the traditional musical stylings of the Leatherwoods, a popular Mountain View-based band. The highlight of the evening for many AHA members was Pam Kirby's virtuoso performance on the spoons, though her second number was cut short by an unfortunate flatware failure. The generally more stolid portion of the meeting kicked off the next morning with Brooks Blevins welcoming attendees to the Ozark Folk Center and introducing the local dignitaries-Mountain View mayor Joe Wyatt and the Folk Center's Jimmie Edwards-who, in turn, welcomed the AHA on its first visit to Mountain View. But stolidity didn't exactly dominate the academic proceedings at the sixty-fifth conference, as the wide range of Arkansans' music-from country to blues to rap-reverberated through the auditorium in support of presenters' essays and lectures. Jo Blatti of Batesville's Old Independence Regional Museum moderated the first Friday morning session, Folklore in Arkansas Music. The soon-to-be husband and wife folklorist team of Michael Luster, Arkansas Folk Arts Coordinator, and Rachel Reynolds of the West Plains (Missouri) Council on the Arts launched the conference's formal proceedings with 'Little Lee': An Arkansas Event Ballad, a study of the creation of a folk song and the Izard County event that inspired it. Van A. Tyson of Arkansas Tech University followed with Gould Fletcher, Folk Song Collector, which featured a rarely heard Library of Congress recording of Emma Dusenbury. Blake Wintory of the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center wrapped up the diverse set of folklore presentations by tracing the evolution and survival of Peetie/Petey Wheatstraw: An African American Folk Character with Arkansas Roots. Wintory's utilization of rap music as an audio aid was probably a first for an AHA conference. After a brief break hosted by the Stone County Historical Society, Nancy Britton of Batesville moderated the second session, Religion and Arkansas Music. In 'Victory in Jesus': Eugene M. Bartlett, Sr., and the Hartford Music Company, the Arkansas History Commission's Russell Baker examined the life and career of the Arkansan who penned one of gospel's most enduring songs. Andrew Granade of the University of Missouri-Kansas City explored a style of shape-note music quite different from that published by the Hartford Music Company in Singing up to Heaven: Shape-Note Revivals in Arkansas, which focused on a small group of Primitive Baptists in the southwestern part of the state. In the session's final presentation, Johnny Cash's 'The Man Comes Around' and Rural Protestant Religious Language, John Hayes of the University of Georgia considered the religious beliefs and imagery of Arkansas's most acclaimed musical son. …

As câmaras municipais brasileiras: perfil de carreira e percepção sobre o processo decisório local

Neste artigo, o legislativo municipal é analisado a partir de dois eixos: (1) a ênfase em suas características nacionais e regionais, com base em dados sobre a composição social e político-partidária do legislativo municipal no Brasil, no período de 1996, 2000 e 2004; e (2) os diferentes modos como os poderes legislativos locais de São Paulo e Santa Catarina percebem os poderes executivos no que se refere ao processo decisório.

Local autonomy and immigration: Mayoral policy-making in peripheral towns in Israel

The paper examines the discretionary powers of Israeli local mayors in small peripheral towns under conditions of changing patterns of decentralisation and attempts to ascertain the contribution of national ideology, social structure and financial constraints in understanding the limits to these powers. Research on immigration policy-making generally focuses on the role of the state and of its institutions. Recently, as part of an underlying trend towards greater decentralisation, a new direction in immigration policy study is emerging, emphasising the power of local authorities in decision-making in Israel and elsewhere. However, it is usually considered separately from national ideologies or policies at the state level. Research into how mayors of small Israeli peripheral towns (development towns) responded to the settlement of a large wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union during the 1990s, sheds light on the economic and national constraints which limit the discretionary power of local mayors. In the Israeli case, the responses of the mayors to the settlement of immigrants in their towns range from active endorsement of a policy of immigrant absorption to objection and protest against it, while remaining within the boundaries and legitimacy of the Zionist conception of ‘homecoming’. In this sense, decentralisation emphasises the separateness of small peripheral towns and their mayors, in contrast to the assumption of political realignment between the urban and the national that brings cities ‘back in’.

Go Your Own Way: Ray Mallon and Local Leadership in Middlesbrough

The directly-elected executive mayor was an entirely new concept in English local government. Introduced as one of the choices available to local electors under the Local Government Act 2000, it had the potential to revolutionise the way our towns and cities would be run. The office of elected mayor was thought to provide the basis for effective local leadership, better management, community advocacy, and a degree of direct public endorsement that was singularly lacking within the old bureaucratic committee structures of local government. Strongly influenced by the experience of the United States and European countries, the mayor would reconnect the council and the public. Supporters of this new approach could be found on both the Left and Right of the political spectrum. Within the Conservative party, Michael Heseltine was an early advocate of the elected mayoralty, and, within the Labour -party, its supporters were not confined to the Blairite modernisers. Elements of an older Left discerned the prospect of strong democratic renewal in the shape of the elected mayor (eg, Todd, 2000). Yet the idea has not caught on. By 2004, only eleven English areas beyond London had chosen the elected mayor as their preferred form of local leadership. No major city outside London is run by an elected mayor. Even where local mayors have taken office, local attitudes have frequently been shaped by specific local factors, not least the negative reputations of the previous local regime. However, much still remains to be said about the mayoral experiment. It has been persuasively argued by Anna Randle (2004), in her study for the New Local Government Network, that elected mayors have indeed made a difference. While the elected mayor must be seen as, to some degree, political failure for central government, given its very low take-up and its uncertain future, it is beginning to deliver a changed relationship with the public and a strong form of leadership in the small number of areas where it has been introduced (Fenwick and Elcock, 2005). Study of the achievements and failures of elected mayors now in place tells us much about the nature of local leadership and the changing role of political representation.

Factors Influencing Mayoral Leadership in Korea

This study purports to examine the various factors influencing mayoral leadership in Korean local politics. To do so, special attention has been paid to the comparison of the relative importance of mayors' individual traits and structural factors such as the characteristics of local political elites and local socioeconomic conditions. While other studies on mayoral leadership have focused on the personal characteristics of mayors, this study has paid more balanced attention to the variety of factors influencing mayoral leadership in Korea. The empirical analysis to test the relationship between these factors and mayoral leadership is based on a survey distributed to all local mayors, council members, and high-rank bureaucrats. The results of the analyses show that mayoral leadership is significantly related with local socioeconomic conditions and characteristics of local political elites rather than individual characteristics of mayors.

Roma Rights, Roma Wrongs

SEVERAL YEARS AGO, a Western law-enforcement adviser working in Romania-a country where police abuse has been widely reported noticed a common explanation for the country's astronomically high conviction rate: nearly every prosecution commenced with the defendant's confession. All the more surprising, then, that one of the nation's most infamous crimes-a 1993 case in which a raging mob in the town of Hadareni murdered three men and burned down more than a dozen homes-was stymied in the courts. No indictment. No trial. reason, as the local mayor made clear at the time: the victims were Gypsies, and prosecution of their killers would not have been popular. Today, after more than eight years of international pressure and several protracted court proceedings, the families of the Hadareni victims are still waiting for justice. And Romania hardly enjoys a monopoly on impunity for violence against Roma (the name many Gypsies use for themselves). Throughout much of Europe, Roma are among the most hated, misunderstood, and mistreated of people. Their renown as musicians, dancers, and palm-readers is surpassed only by the near-universal belief among the Gadze or non-Roma-that Gypsies are also liars, thieves, and cheats. Robert Jordan, the sympathetic hero of Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, could have been speaking for many contemporary Europeans when he said, The gypsy ... is truly worthless. He has

Technical assistance to local governments in Hungary: the limits of best practice

Reflects on the past decade of change in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Notes the varying degrees of successful reform and aid/technical assistance for the region provided by international organizations. Examines efforts to provide technical assistance through the application of best practice to local governments. Develops a case study, using Hungary as a setting, of a local government deputy mayor and simulates a technical assistance best practice transfer. Describes also an alternative home‐grown best practice project at the local level. Lessons learned from these projects show that historical and contextual conditions have a very large impact on capacity building efforts in countries of transition; political values have to be developed and an organizational infrastructure to express them is essential. Ultimately, the knowledge and skills of senior managers must be cultivated, to assist them in nurturing the social capital needed for them to govern effectively.

To Die in this Way: Nicaraguan Indians and the Myth of Mestizaje, 1880-1965A Finger in the Wound: Body Politics in Quincentennial Guatemala

To Die in this Way: Nicaraguan Indians and the Myth of Mestizaje, 1880-1965A Finger in the Wound: Body Politics in Quincentennial Guatemala

Partenariat local et exclusion sociale en France : expériences et ambiguïtés

The partnership approach is a concept which is alien to the tradition of state control in France, to the crucial political legitimacy of local mayors and alien to the division between public and private, particularly from the legal standpoint. The challenge to the State and more generally the challenge to the relationship between the State, bcal authorities, firms, associations and the various agencies has paved the way for an explosion in the number of partnerships of all types, particularly but not exclusively in the area of social policy. This concept enjoyed particular good fortune in social and urban policies which had to cope with rising poverty. The paper is developed from the research done in Brittany, Lille and Mantes la Jolie to show the potential and the limits of the partnership approach, an argument to contest the more normative use.

From Scepticism to the Urge to Take Action, or from Daily Frustration to a Solo Initiative

This paper describes an action research project at the elementary school in Wurflach in Lower Austria during the pilot phase of the Ecologisation of Schools programme initiated by the Federal Ministry of Education and the OECD. Over this period, the author was teaching in the school, and counselling another school in Lower Austria also involved in the programme. After a period of conflict, caused by mutual misunderstandings and lack of communication, the positive effects of the project began to emerge. There was increased team work among the teachers; more positive relationships between pupils and teachers; greater understanding and more constructive working relations between the school community and the school caretaker, Hannerl Bartl; and relations between the school and the parents, the local community, and especially the local mayor, were greatly enhanced.

A Nyugat-dunántúli régió – régió?

By the passing of the 1996 Act on Territorial Development and Management, the legal framework for regional development was established in Hungary. This law provided great chances for the beginning of real regional development in Hungary. The Western Hungarian Region was created by the consent of three counties, Győr- Sopron-Moson, Vas and Zala in May 1997. The newly-established region, however, lacked a common historical memory, moreover there was no modern regional identity on which an organic regional development programme could be based on.Before the official launching of the Western Hungarian Region, by interviewing some of the local mayors of the region, we were trying to fmd out that the cooperation of which counties may constitute a real region. The findings do not fully support the cooperation of the above-mentioned three counties.The reasons for region-building based on this 3-county structure are various, however the fact that these counties are the beneficiaries of the PHARE CBC programme seems to be one of the most important reasons. The Western Hungarian Region according to the legal standards of the 1996 Act is a functional region having no permanent seat, elected assembly and independent budget. The study attempts to highlight the fact that these counties have already had the experience of cross-border regional cooperation in the framework of various international projects such as the Alps-Adriatic Community and The Austrian-Hungarian Cross-Border Council since the mid-1980s.In order to create a „real region" with strong identity and significant economic potential in Western Hungary, there must be a conscious regional policy both at the national and county-level to set up a regional economic network. Naturally, to achieve these goals, these projects should be provided with the necessary financial resources.

Melbourne 1995

WHAT A PLEASUR TO OPEN the catalogue of the 44th Melbourne International Film Festival to discover the absence of "welcoming messages" from the Prime Minister down to the local Mayor and introductions from the festival staff (complete with portraits) telling us how marvellous the program is and what great audiences we are! Melbourne runs at exactly the same time as Sydney's film festival. No one quite seemed to know why, or to think that this was odd; after all, no one in Melbourne expected moviegoers to come from Sydney and none from Melbourne was expected by Sydney to attend its festival. So why not? There seems not to be any rivalry between the two, some films are shared, otherwise the programs are quite different - a likeably Australian relationship. As 1995 marks the centenary of cinema it was fitting that Melbourne brought Australian films to the fore: the opening...

Rural Work in Nueva Vizcaya: Forms of Labor Coercion on the Periphery

A T noon on a sweltering day in June 1674, a small group of Concho Indians, six men and five women, watched from the shade of a great alamo tree as riders approached. They could see that Captain Pedro de Zubia Pacheco, accompanied by two servants, was clearly agitated as he rode up. Waving his sword, he ordered the Indians to accompany him. At this juncture, Nicolks de Bejarano, the tenant of the wheat farm in the Valle de San Bartolom6 where these events took place,' emerged from his house and, enraged at his loss of workers, called for his sword. Several neighbors who had hastened to the scene restrained him from attacking the older Zubia. In reply to Bejarano's angry charges that Zubia was stealing his repartimiento gang, the captain insisted that these were his encomienda Indians, and that the wheat harvest and corn plantings on his Hacienda de Cieneguilla were in danger of being lost for lack of a labor force. He then marched the startled, but compliant, Conchos out of there. Bejarano soon rallied, and lost little time in carrying a complaint to the local alcalde mayor, who ordered Captain Zubia's arrest.2 The subsequent criminal proceedings highlight many of the tensions inherent in the seventeenthand eighteenth-century evolution of labor systems in Nueva Vizcaya. The case, which was ultimately decided in favor of the repartimiento user, demonstrates that some encomienda grants survived until the end of the seventeenth century, and offers a clue to the severe shortage of agricultural laborers at harvest time, the use of Indian intermediaries in labor recruitment, the physical and psychological coer-

The Negro and Apprenticeship: A Review Article

Apprenticeship is not a major port of entry into the labor force. In a typical year only 30,000 youths complete registered apprenticeships and enter journeyman status. And yet apprenticeship has assumed symbolic status for Negro action groups, particularly when white skilled construction crews invade the Negro ghettos. Such feelings are easy to understand. After all, Negroes are used to outdoor work, the skilled construction trades do not require a high degree of education, and they do not seem hard to learn. Thus it was especially galling to Negro pride that in the early 1960's in such progressive states as California and New York only 2 percent of apprentices were Negro, while high status trades such as electricians, plumbers, sheetmetal workers, and ironworkers were practically lily-white. Not surprisingly, the first major civil rights demonstrations in the North-in 1963-were designed to obtain employment for Negroes on construction projects. For a while apprenticeship hit the front pages. A brief flurry of government activity ensued: the federal government stepped in with regulation 29 C.F.R. 30 which required the selection of apprentices on the basis of qualifications alone; Apprenticeship Information Centers were set up in a number of cities to provide information as to how to apply for apprenticeship; state and local governments, governors, mayors, and human relations committees all got into the act. Particularly in New York, many construction union leaders made firm promises to provide equal employment. What has happened since 1963? To evaluate remedial actions taken since that time as well as the causes of discrimination, OMAT (now OMPER) commissioned Ray Marshall and Vernon Briggs to do a thorough study of the entire question. Their study was done in record time and was