Municipal Mayors Research Articles

Climate change knowledge acquisition in Norway's municipalities

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to document and analyse the information network available to municipal mayors in Norwegian municipalities and environmental officers in the municipal administration, covering both public and private information sources.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on a quantitative methodology. Survey data from a sample of all Norwegian municipalities are analysed, and explorative statistics, correlations and regression analysis are applied.FindingsThe most important information sources for Norwegian mayors are science, the County governor's environmental department and the municipal environmental officer, with consultancy playing a minor role. In the case of science, it is noticeable that females, central municipalities, and the disciplines of humanities and environment contribute to the strong position of science. Furthermore, the left axis of politics increases the quantity of intra‐municipal information sources. The most important contact points for the environmental officer are the County Governor and other primary municipalities. The county municipality, consultancy and research are of lesser importance. It is noticeable that full‐time environmental officers have a broader climate change information network than part‐time officers. Furthermore, a higher level of education is linked to increased interaction with other public sector actors.Practical implicationsThe study documents a multi‐level governance of networking. The differences between full‐time and part‐time environmental officers should stimulate a debate and motivate further research to determine whether funding full‐time positions by the central government could foster more effective local climate change policies.Originality/valueThe study's value lies in its contribution to the climate governance literature, deepening our understanding of the role of different information sources and actors in facilitating sound climate change and environmental policies.

Conflict and Cooperation in Municipalities

One measure of governance quality is the level of reported conflict and cooperation that is present between and among elected officials and administrators. High levels of conflict or low levels of cooperation can hinder the decision-making process. However, there are few attempts to assess the causes of conflict and cooperation in the existing literature. This study uses an expanded typology of local government form and additional independent variables to determine what factors are likely to lead to conditions conducive to cooperation and lower perceived conflict in the local governance process. Data on government performance and indicators of perceived conflict and cooperation were collected from a national survey of municipal mayors, council members, and chief administrators in cities with populations of 50,000 to 250,000. Our results suggest that form of government and proportion of council members elected by district are two factors that significantly influence governance at the local level.

Who Is Really Corrupt: Voters or Politicians?

This paper examines the impact of corruption conviction and punishment on the probability of seeking re-election to and the chances of winning in the municipal mayor elections in France. Data pertaining to political corruption and outcome of the 2001 mayor election are used for the purpose. The results suggest that corruption conviction and punishment adversely affect the chances of re-running the election. However, corruption seems to have had no significant effect on the chances of winning or on the vote share in the mayor election in France. The political parities seem to be insensitive to corruption by not ostracizing persons who are found guilty and punished by the court of law. The study leads to the conclusion that it is not only the politicians who are corrupt but the voters too are corrupt by trading their vote for some favors and electing corrupt politicians.

Rural Areas – Living Space: Regional Differences in the Perceptions of Representatives of Rural Municipalities in Czechia Regarding Rural Areas

This article seeks to contribute to discussion concerning the concept of countryside in geographical sciences. In the first section it discusses selected approaches for assessing rural areas and presents key stimulants from the new regional and cultural geography (rural areas as a socio-spatial process and as living space). The second section presents examples of empirical findings from a field survey, the respondents to which were mayors of rural municipalities – with up to 3,000 inhabitants – in Czechia. We empirically explore the truthfulness of a thesis concerning the existence of several distinct types of rural areas in Czechia: rural areas with differing development potential and diverse problems, calling for the use of different instruments in overcoming the problems in question. The results of the survey make it possible to assess the territorial differences of so-called soft factors of ruralmunicipality development (perceptions regarding rural areas, inhabitants’ relationship to the territory of their municipality, local pride, the conditions and indicators of a successful municipality).

An evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of policy navigators to improve access to care for the poor in the Philippines

Even when health insurance coverage is available, health policies may not be effective at increasing coverage among vulnerable populations. New approaches are needed to improve access to care. We experimentally introduced a novel intervention that uses Policy Navigators to increase health insurance enrollment in a poor population. We used data from the Quality Improvement Demonstration Study (QIDS), a randomized experiment taking place at the district level in the Visayas region of the Philippines. In two arms of the study, we compared the effects of introducing Policy Navigators to controls. The Policy Navigators advocated for improved access to care by providing regular system-level expertise directly to the policy-makers, municipal mayors and governors responsible for paying for and enrolling poor households into the health insurance program. Using regression models, we compared levels of enrollment in our intervention versus control sites. We also assessed the cost-effectiveness of marginal increases in enrollment. We found that Policy Navigators improved enrollment in health insurance between 39% and 102% compared to the controls. Policy navigators were cost-effective at 0.86 USD per enrollee. However, supplementary national government campaigns, which were implemented to further increase coverage, attenuated normal enrollment efforts. Policy Navigators appear to be effective in improving access to care and their success underscores the importance of local-level strategies for improving enrollment.

Being a mayor: the view from four Colombian cities

Local governments are particularly relevant to people's daily lives as they manage the infrastructure and services that directly influence quality of life. Elected mayors tend to be more responsive to the needs of the poor majority than centrally appointed mayors or mayors who are elected by fellow councillors. Colombia's municipal mayors have been elected since 1988 and local governments have been given increased responsibilities and powers to raise local revenues. In this paper, four municipal mayors at the end of their four-year term reflect, in their own words, on the role they have played in shaping their municipalities. They recount their personal engagement with local politics, share their views about their society and problems such as poverty, inequality and violence, describe the business of managing a local government and exercising leadership sometimes in difficult circumstances, reflect on the qualities of a mayor, and explain how they sought continuity for their government programmes. They see themselves as outsiders struggling against local political machineries. With one exception, they do not seem to see the poor as their natural interlocutors on whom they can rely for unswerving political support and to whom most of their energy should be directed.

Foro por prerrogativa de função: prefeitos municipais

Analyzes the forum by function prerogative, also called privileged forum, applied to the Municipal Mayors, with the promulgation of the Constitution of 1988. Search the foundation and the relationship of this forum by function prerogative with the principle of equality, and defines its applicability to distinguish between common crime, responsibility for crime and political and administrative infraction. Relates the forum for right function with the original jurisdiction of the Regional Electoral Court of the Federal Court and the Court of Jury. Demonstrates the need to define the intervention of the "justices" special or common, popular direct participation in the exercise of jurisdiction, ensured with the exclusive responsibility of the jury to achieve harmonization with the interest of protecting the dignity and importance to the State of certain body public, justifying the call for competence function prerogative. Finally, it analyzes the cancellation of Precedent 394 of the Supreme Court and the appropriateness of special privileges after ceased performed public service.

Mission Report: The experience of the Local Public Health Service of Reggio Emilia

Background: The Mission Report’s purpose is to give an account to the main institutional stakeholders ( the Region and the Territorial Health and Social Conferences, composed of the mayors of the provincial municipalities, the General Directors of the Local Public Health Services in the provincial territory and are chaired by the Chairman of the Province) of how the Local Public Health Service, through an effective and efficient use of resources, has answered the health needs of the resident population of the province. Other stakeholders include public health service employees of the local community, associations, and partners. Methods: The Local Public Health Service (L’Azienda USL) of Reggio Emilia has produced annual Mission Reports since 2005. Three editions of the document have therefore been published, reporting results achieved in 2004, 2005 and 2006; the Mission Report for 2007 is currently in the editorial phase. The various sections of the document take the reader from an analysis of the local context in which the Local Public Health Service operates (territory and environment, demographic indices, socio-economic conditions, morbidity and mortality, lifestyle, safety) to the health and social services provided throughout the province. The strategies employed to achieve health outcomes are illustrated following the indications of the Region. The Mission Report opens with an introduction and closes with concluding remarks from the General Director. These remarks include both an assessment of the year’s activity and the main points that will guide future planning. Discussion: Local Public Health Service of Reggio Emilia sees the Mission Report as a management tool: the analysis of the provincial demographic context and the socio-economic conditions of the population direct the Public Health Service’s choice of which health and social services to provide. In the interest of transparency, particular attention is paid to how topic points are expressed; even the non-expert reader can follow the clear and comprehensible presentation of data. Conclusions: Our experience has been positive. The document has allowed us to direct our planning through a careful analysis of the health and social needs of the population thanks to an annual monitoring of numerous indicators, which are interpreted throughout the Emilia Romagna Region in the same way. This makes benchmarking with the other provinces possible, in an effort to constantly improve the quality of services provided.

Programa Arquitetura Pública da Escola de Arquitetura da UFMG - o caso de Santo Antônio do Amaro

Este documento mostra o anteprojeto de revitalização da praça Matriz do município de Santo Antônio do Amparo, realizado no âmbito do Programa de Extensão Arquitetura Pública da Escola de Arquitetura da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, no período de setembro a dezembro de 2005. Para a realização do projeto, foram elaborados uma coleta de dados, entrevistas com os moradores, e levantamentos em campo para uma análise da situação, e posterior diagnóstico do lugar. A partir dessa análise, foram feitas várias pesquisas de casos análogos e estudos preliminares de proposta. Esses estudos foram apresentados à prefeitura e à comunidade do município e, após algumas sugestões e discussões a respeito da proposta, foi realizado o anteprojeto de revitalização do espaço. Ou seja, a comunidade envolvida participou tanto do processo de elaboração quanto de aprovação do projeto. O programa possibilitou o aprendizado através de experiências com a realidade: o contato com o cliente e com o problema.

Differentiating countryside: Social representations and governance patterns in rural areas with high social density: The case of Chianti, Italy

One of the key factors for the success of development strategies in rural areas is the setting up of appropriate governance patterns, whose main outcome is a fluid communication between public and private organisations and an effective integration of objectives and policies. Through a ‘post-rural’ approach, this paper aims to analyse an attempt to reconfigure patterns of governance taking place in a well-known rural area, the Chianti (Tuscany, Italy). The Chianti can be considered as a typical example of a post-rural area, characterised by a highly complex civil society, with a large number of organisations representing their constituencies’ interests, which strongly characterise the local social and economic processes. In this area wine is the most important industry, both for its weight in terms of added value and employment but also for the multiplier effects that its reputation has on the overall economy, and local wine elites have historically had a strong hold on local society. Along with rural change leading to social and economic diversification and growing administrative complexity, the dominance of wine elites is challenged by a coalition of actors led by the mayors of the local municipalities. The resulting struggle for hegemony is played out through an intense inside/outside interaction, which contributes to continuous attempts to redefine local identities. The paper explores the role that the building of social representations of rurality by local elites plays in the creation of new rural governance patterns in the area.

Customary Law and the Nationalist Project in Spain and Peru

Customary Law and the Nationalist Project in Spain and Peru

Правни отношения на областния управител с органите на изпълнителната власт и на местното самоуправление (The Legal Relations of the District Governor with the Executive Authorities and the Local Self-Government Authorities)

Bulgarian Abstract: В статията се разглежда въпросът за правните отношения на областния управител с Министерския съвет, общинските съвети и кметовете на общини. Министерският съвет осъществява общото ръководство на държавната администрация и като централен орган на изпълнителната власт упражнява контрол върху дейността на областния управител. Той от своя страна като регионален орган на изпълнителната власт осъществява контрол за законосъобразност върху актовете на местните органи на изпълнителната власт (кметове на общини) и органите на местното самоуправление (общински съвети). English Abstract: The present paper discusses the issue of the district governor’s legal relations with the Council of Ministers, municipality councils and the mayors of municipalities. The Council of Ministers is responsible for the general control over the state administration and, as the central authority of the executive, controls the activities of the district governor. The latter, in turn, as the regional authority of the executive, exercises control and ensures that the acts of the local executive authorities (the mayors of municipalities) and local self-government authorities (municipal councils) are in conformity with the law.

Contemporary Municipalities in Germany

Nowadays most Japanese municipalities tend to merge into larger units with the purpose of strengthening their administrative and financial capacity. However, I have seen no information about countries executing or planning such a merger in mainland Western Europe. I therefore felt a great interest in making clear the reasons why these countries can maintain municipalities with small populations and why they do not need to merge municipalities.In this paper I show the present situation of municipalities in Germany. As is generally known, however, Germany is a federal republic with different systems of municipalities in each state so that it is not possible to show all systems in a short paper. Therefore, I will try to describe the situation of only two states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Lower Saxony with twofold structured municipalities: that is, Verbandsgemeinde and Samtgemeinde, in addition to the normal-type municipalities (Einheitsgemeinde).Due to administrative reform executed in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, twofold structured municipalities were introduced in these states; the combined municipalities with a population of 5, 000-7, 500 were formed by merging small municipalities or by keeping the original small municipalities as independent local municipalities. In such a municipal system, not only the combined municipalities but also the local municipalities have their own mayors and assemblies, respectively. The citizens elect a mayor and members of the assembly directly in both combined and local municipalities.The merit of this system exists in the fact that it combines the maintenance of the authority of small municipalities with an administration capacity of high quality. The combined municipalities undertake the specific tasks of administration entrusted from local municipalities and the state. They are supported financially by the Umlage (tax payment) paid by local municipalities and the Schlusselzuweisungen (state subsidy) supplied from the state. Although the total cost of the twofold structured municipalities tends to be a little higher than the normal-type municipalities, the citizens do not consider it to be a heavy burden. A mayor of a local municipality does his work gratis only a few hours per week using his house as an office and visits the town hall once a week.In comparison with the systems of Amt and Verwaltungsgemeinschaft, Verbandsgemeinde and Samtgemeinde have a more powerful system of combined municipalities. They are very similar, but not the same. A Samtgemeinde must contain a maximum of 10 local municipalities with more than 400 inhabitants, whereas there is no such rule for a Verbandsgemeinde. However, in the case of the latter, the population of the largest local municipality must not surpass half of the total population. Most municipalities in Rhineland-Palatinate form Verbandsgemeinde, while in Lower Saxony the municipalities forming Samtgemeinde are not in a majority and they tend to be distributed in the peripheral area of the state. In Rhineland-Palastinate, both Verbandsgemeinde and local municipalities receive Schlusselzuweisungen, while this is the case in Lower Saxony only for Samtgemeinde. It seems that a Samtgemeinde seems to have broader powers and to be more autonomous than a Verbandsgemeinde.The conflicts between combined and local municipalities or between local municipalities are, even if they do not exist in the system, actually observable, owing to the complicated system of administration. Compared to the normal-type municipalities it takes longer for the combined municipalities to make a decision because of the existence of various local municipalities with various population scales and financial situations.

The use of multi‐criteria decision analysis to support the search for less conflicting policy options in a multi‐actor context: case study

AbstractPublic resource allocation often requires the management of conflicting objectives of multiple policy actors at different spatial levels. An example is the case study on which this paper is based: the definition of an investment policy in new inter‐municipal road‐links in the Lisbon Metropolitan Region (LMR) for the period 1999–2004. The key regional (inter‐municipal) objective is to choose the sub‐set of proposed road projects that maximizes the quality of LMR's road network for a fixed available budget. Conflict arises, however, if environmental, social and economic impacts at the level of the 18 municipalities involved are significantly unbalanced. This paper describes how multi‐criteria decision analysis' concepts, techniques and software tools were used to analyse spatial conflicts in the LMR case. The study provided the decision‐making body formed by all the municipal mayors with useful information about how much it is necessary to negotiate to reach an agreement on a specific investment policy option. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The use of multi‐criteria decision analysis to support the search for less conflicting policy options in a multi‐actor context: case study

Public resource allocation often requires the management of conflicting objectives of multiple policy actors at different spatial levels. An example is the case study on which this paper is based: the definition of an investment policy in new inter-municipal road-links in the Lisbon Metropolitan Region (LMR) for the period 1999–2004. The key regional (inter-municipal) objective is to choose the sub-set of proposed road projects that maximizes the quality of LMR's road network for a fixed available budget. Conflict arises, however, if environmental, social and economic impacts at the level of the 18 municipalities involved are significantly unbalanced. This paper describes how multi-criteria decision analysis' concepts, techniques and software tools were used to analyse spatial conflicts in the LMR case. The study provided the decision-making body formed by all the municipal mayors with useful information about how much it is necessary to negotiate to reach an agreement on a specific investment policy option. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Spectre of Populism in Philippine Politics and Society: Artista, Masa, Eraption!

This paper seeks to explore the origins of the populist appeal of President Joseph Ejercito Estrada, and to recapture some of its peculiar workings in the broader context of Philippine post-colonial politics and society. To that end, the paper provides a brief glimpse of the rapidly changing urban landscape which first saw the rise of Estrada as the superstar of the moviescreen and the mayor of San Juan municipality in Metropolitan Manila during the 1960s. In the following section of the paper, key developments in the Philippine film industry are identified, and an attempt is made to demonstrate the emerging possibility of a new kind of social imaginary, or mass consciousness, reflective of cinema's power to reveal to an audience entirely new structural formations of the subject. Here, the notion of Tagalog movies as a ‘visualized lingua franca’ – unburdened by tradition, hierarchy, and easily accessible to a wide spectrum of the population – suggests one possible link between the expanding cinema audience at lower-class theatres and the new forms of recognition implied by the rise of artista politicians in Manila in the 1960s. Finally, a closer look at narrative and character in some Estrada films from the peak years of his movie stardom in the 1960s and 1970s points to the kind of familiarity and appropriation Estrada may inspire among his fans and followers. The paper was completed as (former) President Estrada faced, first, an unprecedented impeachment trial in the Philippine Senate and, eventually, an unceremonious end to his presidency in the parliament of the streets (ie ‘People Power’ at ‘EDSA’).

Взаимоотношения между общинския съвет и кмета на община (Interrelation Between Municipality Council and the Municipality Mayor)

Bulgarian Abstract: в доклада се разглеждат някои аспекти от правоотношенията между общинския съвет и кмета на община във връзка с упражняването на правомощията им като местни органи. English Abstract: The report examines some aspects of the legal relations between the municipality council and the municipality mayor related to their powers as bodies of local self government.

The Reverse Coattails Effect: Local Party Organization in the 1989 Brazilian Presidential Election

Increasingly, it is said that the main determinants of electoral outcomes are class, ethnicity, and religion and that local political organizations occupy only marginal roles in national elections. I assess the effects of local party organizations in the presidential election of 1989 in Brazil. Given the long hiatus in competitive politics, the absence of any parties linked to the country's previous democratic experience, and the weakness of citizen identification with political parties, Brazil should be a textbook example of the collapse of local political organizations. The presidential candidates, however, acted as if party endorsements mattered, and in the context of Brazilian politics, it was rational for municipal mayors to trade blocs of votes for future local benefits. Applying a series of increasingly complex models to the vote shares of the leading candidates, I show that all candidates did significantly better in municipalities where the mayor represented their party. I also show that spatial factors affect the tactics of local politicians, and I distinguish charismatic from purely organizational components of support.

The Philippine Congress and the Barrio Electoral Process

Filipino barrios are mostly rural villages. They are, in legal parlance, the smallest political subdivisions in the Philippine system of local governments. Before the fifties barrio government was virtually non-existent. Although there were barrio lieutenants appointed by municipal mayors, it was not until the mid-fifties that councils began to give the barrios a semblance of government — mostly in form rather than in substance —similar to the commission plan of American local government. Under the unitary system of Filipino government, all local governments, except those in the chartered cities, are governed by the Revised Administrative Code. To give the barrio a government of its own and to grant its citizens the right to vote for their own officials would require an amendment to this Code by the Philippine Congress. Thus, the establishment of the first elective barrio councils in 1956 was the result of an amendment to an appropriate section of that Code. Later in 1959 the Philippine Congress became more generous by granting the barrios a general charter which defined in more definitive terms the scope and nature of barrio councils and the manner in which members of these councils were chosen. The purpose of this article is to identify the major issues on the barrio electoral process which confronted the Philippine Congress and to provide some insight into the manner in which these issues were resolved.

Parties and Politics in the Philippines

To understand present-day Philippine politics, one must consider the evolution of the country's political structure since late Spanish and early American colonial times. Briefly, the nationwide two-party system of today, under whose aegis contests are held for all types of elective office from barrio lieutenant (village head) to the presidency of the Republic, evolved out of an earlier pattern of purely local politics. In 1898, when American colonial rule was imposed, each municipality had its wealthy and educated Filipino families whose rivalry for prestige and influence extended back into the Spanish colonial period. During the latter part of that period members of these leading families (the principales), who in many towns had grouped themselves loosely into rival factions, had been allowed to compete for election to the post of gobernadorcillo (municipal mayor) by an electoral college chosen by lot among their own number. This pattern remained unchanged during the first few years of American rule. Initially, property and literacy requirements under the new regime restricted the franchise to essentially the same local elite who had held municipal offices in late Spanish times, and local politics continued in the old way. During late Spanish and early American years, electioneering could be confined to the poblacion-the market town and principal barrio of the municipality which serves as the seat of municipal government and contains the homes of most of the wealthier citizens, i.e., those most likely to vote under the restricted franchise of the early period. But as the American period progressed, the arena of political campaigning became larger and political organization grew more complicated. This was the result of two innovations, both of which stemmed from the American decision to prepare the Philippines for eventual independence by entrusting Filipinos, as early as possible, with the operation of a wide variety of representative institutions of government. One change was the increase in the size of electorate through the reduction of voting qualifications; the other was the extension of the elective principle to higher levels of government. The gradual reduction and final abandonment of property qualifications for voting, the elimination of the cedula (poll tax) and the liberalization and growing non-enforcement of literacy requirements meant that more peasants in the outlying barrios began to cast votes and, concomitantly, that the poblacion candidates were forced to cultivate the barrios. This