Local Governance Processes Research Articles

Policy entrepreneur and social policy innovation in China

Fostering policy innovation at the local level and spreading the successful practice have been pervasive features of policy making in postreform China. The existing literature explains why the local government launches innovations and what enables these innovations. However, little research has been done on the emerging process of the new ideas and the process in which new policies are accepted by stakeholders. This article is an case study based on the policy innovation in the health insurance system in the city of Nanguo. We applied policy entrepreneur theory to analysis of the innovation process of the Chinese local government, with a special focus on the key agents and their interaction in the innovation process. The study reveals that bureaucrats play the role of policy entrepreneurs to elevate the rank of the organization and to acquire more administrative resources. With knowledge and technical expertise, these bureaucrats construct policy agendas; suggest innovative ideas; design policy programs; and acquire the support and approval of other stakeholders, especially local leaders, by strategies such as marketing, alliances, and fostering political achievements. By these means, they facilitate the formation and further development of the innovation policy.

Application of the “Urban Governance Index” to water service provisions: Between rhetoric and reality

When appraising urban governance practices for better service provisions in the Global South, a gap generally emerges between the rhetoric and the reality. Practice-based local governance processes to produce improved urban services are mainly informal and often diverge from the official governance prescriptions and mechanisms for service delivery within the institutional sphere. Here we present the results of an exploration into the complex and uncertain domain of urban governance assessments, focussing on sustainable water supplies for the benefit of the urban poor. By adapting the UN-Habitat Urban Governance Index, we look into the dual dimension of governance to appreciate its formal architecture at the municipal level as well as the nature of informal and locally-specific governance arrangements aimed at improving access to basic services. Water service co-production strategies between public institutions and organised groups of citizens in Venezuela provide an excellent case by which to appraise the two distinct facets of urban governance. We illustrate the limitations of official governance assessment tools in appreciating the extent and vibrancy of local practices and agreements for improved services, and the discrepancies between the normative prescriptions and the governance arrangements on the ground.

A comparison of two approaches to develop concentrated rural settlements after the 5.12 Sichuan Earthquake in China

Housing reconstruction is the top priority after the occurrence of natural hazards. The manner of providing housing not only matters to community recovery but also determines whether reconstruction is sustainable, particularly in rural areas in developing countries. Developing concentrated rural settlements (CRS) is sustainable and resilient in post-disaster reconstruction. However, such development has been reported in few studies before the reconstruction that followed the Sichuan Earthquake on May 12, 2008. CRS have been successfully implemented in several villages in Dujiangyan City, China through a policy of exchanging rural residential land. CRS were delivered in two different approaches, namely, unified planning/self-reconstruction and unified planning/unified–reconstruction. However, these two approaches have not been thoroughly investigated in previous studies. Therefore, the reasons for adopting the two different approaches and which approach is more effective remain unknown. The current study aims to fill in this research gap by comparing the two approaches in the aspects of social–natural basis, trigger event, participants, principles, revenue allocation, process, and implementation outcome involving four study cases in Dujiangyan City. Relevant information was collected through content analysis and interviews. The comparison indicated that neither approach is ideal. Each approach should first satisfy specific requirements to ensure the reconstruction's sustainability. A roadmap to deliver CRS during post-disaster reconstruction has been provided based on the comparison. The findings of this study can facilitate the decision-making process of local governments regarding CRS development during post-disaster reconstruction.

Citizen Engagement: A Catalyst for Effective Local Government

This project examined the crucial role citizen engagement plays in the local governance process by analyzing various methods of citizen engagement and their direct application to examples in Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM). A literature review and jurisdictional scan was conducted to develop a Best Elements Framework for effective citizen engagement. This identified the seven best elements of citizen engagement, including: timing, use of technology, diversity/representativeness, multiple engagement mechanisms, two-way communication, active community building and accountability/transparency. This framework was then applied to two HRM-based case studies: the HRM Community Engagement Strategy and the HRM Rebranding Strategy. Through analysis of both case studies, the group concluded that the methods utilized were effective overall. Four recommendations were generated for HRM moving forward: creating an annual citizen engagement report card, integrating and expanding online engagement mechanisms, exploring other engagement and evaluation mechanisms, and establish guidelines with community stakeholders for how engagement will impact decision-making.

Фінансово-економічне забезпечення територій в умовах децентралізації

Досліджуються інструменти фінансово-економічного забезпечення муніципальних утворень у контексті децентралізації владних та фінансових повноважень. Пропонуються шляхи та механізми упровадження відповідних інструментів у економіку України. Визначається можливість органів місцевого самоврядування застосовувати фіскальну політику не тільки як напрям і джерело наповнення муніципального бюджету, але й як гнучкий та дієвий важіль вирішення проблеми стимулювання підвищення інноваційного зростання місцевої економіки. Розглядається запровадження обґрунтованої диференційованої шкали відсоткових ставок оподаткування. Актуальним є питання створення муніципальних резервних фондів і фондів розвитку. Уцьому контексті висвітлюється необхідність фундаментального зрушення парадигми – реконцептуалізації муніципальних структур у контексті управління місцевими фінансами та процесів децентралізації. Органи місцевого самоврядування повинні витрачати завжди обмежені кошти з максимальною корисністю, спираючись на всебічний аналіз чинників доцільності й ефективності різних видів видатків, вартості бюджетних програм і проектів.

Community participation and local governance in Bangladesh

As a condition of receiving foreign aid, developing country governments have actively tried to achieve pro-people development through community participation in local-level development projects. Based on a case study of Bangladesh, this article analyses the impact of community participation on the various governance-related issues such as accountability, transparency, responsiveness and predictability during the implementation of such projects. The empirical findings reveal that efforts to achieve such objectives have mostly been futile, leaving community participation in the local governance process as an inchoate and piecemeal affair. Political manipulation, clientelism and inadequate governance structure and processes have been the key stumbling blocks contributing to such failures. This study provides important insights into governance at the local level, implying that greater awareness and participation are needed to formulate and implement effective community-based local governance in developing countries such as Bangladesh.作为接收外国援助的一项条件，发展中国家的政府会积极通过地方层面的发展项目的社区参与，来取得民生的发展。本文基于对孟加拉的一项个案研究，分析了社区参与对各种治理相关话题的影响，诸如项目实施期间的问责、透明度、因应、可预见性等等。实证研究发现，实现这些目标的努力大多劳而无功，搞得地方治理过程中的社区参与有始无终，七零八落。政治操控、裙带关系、不到位的治理结构及过程都是导致失败的绊脚石。本文深入考察了地方层面的治理，指出在孟加拉国这样的发展中国家，需要更大的自觉和更多的参与来规划并实施有效的社区层面的地方治理。

CityLibraries Townsville as a learning organisation within a local government framework

Public libraries do not fit Peter Senge's model of a learning organisation. They are not stand-alone organisations, but operate within the much larger local government system which can constrain their development as learning organisations. On a day-to-day basis, public libraries engage with their customers and respond to their needs by providing access to resources, programmes and services. But they do this within the bounds of local government systems and processes which set corporate goals, determine policies and procedures and provide budget allocations to support operations, and they are guided by public library standards which set out strategic directions and operational requirements for public libraries throughout the state. However, public libraries can be learning organisations if there is strategic alignment between library and local and state governments in a shared vision. CityLibraries Townsville has been fortunate, as Townsville City fosters learning and recognises and values creativity, innovation and collaboration as essential qualities of a successful organisation. Within CityLibraries Townsville, a learning organisation has developed that perceives change as an opportunity to learn and grow the library. This paper examines the extent to which Townsville City Council and CityLibraries Townsville have utilised the learning organisation framework as outlined by Peter Senge.

The Integration of Climate Change Issues on Local Government Planning Processes of South Africa

The establishment of Local Sphere of Government in South Africa was seen as a paramount step towards ensuring successful service delivery to the poor communities in the rural areas. Planning for service delivery at a local sphere is important to integrate and include the communities through participation. In recent years, climate change emerged as one of the greatest challenge to deal with in the entire universe. Its short and long term impacts are viewed as devastating particularly to the poor communities in developing countries. Issues such as floods, drought and unprecedented weather conditions which are sometimes disastrous and associated with climate change are seen to have a huge impact to the processes of delivering services such as water and electricity. Concurrently, economic activities and livelihoods which forms financial base for local economic development of a specific local areas are also affected. This article argues that, poor communities will continue to be vulnerable victims of climate change if measures to address its effect are not strategically placed in the Integrated Development Planning (IDP) processes of local government. The purpose of this article is to provide a critical discussion on the impact of climate change on service delivery; environmental risks, hazards and service delivery; challenges faced in planning for service delivery in local government and the importance of integrating climate change issues in the IDP processes. The article concludes that in order to strategically deal with the effects of climate change on service delivery, the former should be integrated in all aspects of IDP in order to establish measure to eliminate its devastating impacts. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n20p941

The dominant rationality of local stakeholder networks: The case of a southern Italian province

This study examines the level of interconnectedness and the relational power of stakeholders operating in four local territorial systems (LTSs) localized in a southern Italian province. Such an analysis allows for the determination of the dominant rationality of each LTS, i.e. the pattern of distribution of decision-making power among its stakeholders and hence the extent to which each of them is capable of influencing local governance processes. In all four LTS, public institutions are revealed to be endowed with higher relational power than the other stakeholders. The dominant rationality of each LTS and policy implications deriving from results are discussed.

The Politics of Local Policy-Making in Urban Bangladesh: The Case of Rajshahi City Corporation

Some of the contemporary writings provide a different outlook in adopting institutional analysis by claiming that society-rooted politics is foremost in shaping the third world's political institutions. This paper, drawing on an empirical study, puts special emphasis on understanding the nature of society rooted politics in designing the local government system in Bangladesh and how it has shaped local policy-making. By focusing on the policy-making of a municipal corporation, this paper identifies the actors and factors and their roles in the urban local governance process in Bangladesh.

Gendering governance: the case of Mauritius

Purpose– The relationship between gender and governance is often neglected in both conceptual and empirical work. However, gender equality in the decision-making fora is vital, for enabling far-reaching social change and for empowering people excluded from decision making. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the participation of women in governance institutions in a small island economy like Mauritius. Though, there has been some progress in Mauritius in redressing the gender imbalance in national and local governance processes, more is still to be achieved. This paper analyses women participation in governance by using gender-sensitive governance indicators.Design/methodology/approach– Data were collected from different sources namely from the Mauritian Electoral Commissioner's Office, Statistics Mauritius, Mauritius Household Budget Surveys and the Ministry of Education and Human Resources. Data were also made available from the Global Gender Gap Report, 2012; the Global Parliamentary Report, 2012 and the SADC Gender Protocol Barometer, 2012. These data were used in the computation of gender-sensitive governance indicators used by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP, 2006). The indicators are the Global Gender Gap Index, the percentage of seats reserved in parliament for women, voter turnout among registered females and prevalence of women in poor districts.Findings– The paper argues that the overall gender gap index for Mauritius has increased over the years but the scores for economic participation and political attainment remain very low. In the economic sphere, the author note a rising female unemployment rate, though girls perform better than boys at all educational levels. Mauritius has been adept at the politics of recognition of different ethnic groups but this approach has not addressed the issue of women. The findings reveal that women are often excluded from decision making, from the household up to the highest levels of policymaking. The “invisibility” of women in parliament, is a concern and is “a grave democratic deficit” for the country (Sachs, 2001).Originality/value– No study has taken a gender perspective of governance issues in Mauritius. The author assess the importance of gender in a democratic country like Mauritius which has performed well on the economic front but gender is still too often ignored in governance and other spheres. There is thus a growing need for greater gender equality and participation of women in governance institutions and processes.

Leadership in Local Government: ‘No Girls Allowed’

This article explores the under‐representation of women at the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) levels of Western Australian (WA) local government. It draws on data collected from 21 second tier senior women managers about their perceptions and experiences of leadership within the sector, as well as their aspirations for CEO appointment. By applying critical gender analysis to the data, gender and specifically masculinity emerges as a significant and valued leadership attribute. While this analysis is not unique to local government, what sets the sector apart is its apparent disinterest in examining the reasons for, or the impacts of this continued leadership stereotype when at the same time Australian public and private institutions are challenging these traditional leadership models. This article points to fundamental weaknesses in the formal power structures and processes of local government that support deeply embedded biases about leadership. Perhaps the most significant contributor to these outcomes that emerged from the study is the apparent unencumbered power of Mayors and elected members over all aspects of CEO employment, especially recruitment.

The Limits of Citizen Participation in the Urban Local Governance Process in Bangladesh

One of the central ideas of liberal democracy is to ensure broad-based citizen participation in the governance process that goes beyond simply voting. However, evidence shows that on many occasions it has been failing to do so both in the developed and developing countries. As such, this paper, based on an empirical study, analyzes the scopes, forms, and nature of citizen participation in the urban local governance process in Bangladesh. It is found that citizen participation has been nominal in the local governance process due to a number of social, political, and institutional factors, for example, electoral politics, limited citizen’s accesses to various decision-making bodies, the existence of clientelistic politics and the presence of a weak civil society.

Place marketing and citizen participation: branding as strategy to address the emotional dimension of policy making?

Place marketing is increasingly used by local governments to enhance the image of cities and achieve policy goals related to economic and spatial development. Place marketing has become part of local and regional governance processes. Critics have argued that place marketing is often applied in top-down ways that exclude citizens. Drawing on survey data this article empirically confirms this critique. But the article shows with a case study that citizen involvement in place branding can be used to enhance the quality of the brand and include citizens’ emotions in governance processes. Points for practitioners The influence of citizens on place marketing is generally low. Nonetheless, when citizens are given influence the effects of place marketing on spatial plans and other policies increases, according to respondents of this study. Place branding can be carried out interactively with citizens, and then be applied to include citizens’ emotions in governance processes. This may be used to enrich and locally embed governance processes, and prevent citizens’ protest.

The Role of Local Governments in the Development of City Logistics

In the paper the authors made an attempt to present the role of local governments in the development of city logistics taking the example of Poland. The paper is divided into four main parts. The first two present theoretical aspects of city logistics and the different roles of stakeholders. The authors have developed the model of collaborative process of local government as a policy maker in the city logistics field. The empirical part of the paper presents survey results conducted in Polish cities with county rights. Research shows a lack of a comprehensive approach to urban logistics in studied cities and poor cooperation of local authorities with other stakeholders.

Governance and Design in Infrastructure Public Private Partnerships: The Indian Experience with the Bangalore International Airport Limited

Governance and Design in Infrastructure Public Private Partnerships: The Indian Experience with the Bangalore International Airport Limited

Assessment on the implementation of woreda decentralization in Gambella People’s National Regional State, Ethiopia: the case of Abobo and Lare woredas

This research is concerned with the assessment on the implementation of woreda decentralization in Gambella Peoples National Regional State with particular emphasis to Abobo and Lare woredas. It attempted to explore the objectives, legal and institutional frameworks and implementation status of the recently embarked DLDP and fiscal decentralization in the Gambella region. Secondly, the study provided a modest preliminary investigation of some performance indicators of the program in terms of power and authority, local governance processes, inter-governmental relations, financial and administrative capacities, planning and budgeting processes, community participation and basic service delivery trends with particular reference to the two woredas. Finally, the study tried to illustrate some of the major inherent and encountered problems and the possible prospects of the program. To meet the above objectives, the research employed more of qualitative case study approach. Both primary and secondary data sources were used in gathering pertinent information. The technique of collecting primary data includes in-depth interviews at regional, woreda and kebele levels, focus group discussions with the community and personal observation. Secondary sources are published and unpublished materials such as books, different reports and manuals that cover federal to the woreda. Descriptive method of analysis is used to analyze the primary and secondary data. The study found out that decentralization in general and woreda decentralization in particular had not been implemented adequately due to several reasons. It is challenged by many problems such as inadequate devolution of power, limited decisions-making authority and autonomy transferred to local governments, absence of political will and commitment to devolve power in real sense, lack of legal and institutional framework, poor inter-governmental relations and weak coordination with different stakeholders, upward accountability and absence of transparency in the operation of local governments, shortage of resources (skilled human power and material), limited administrative, institutional and technical local capacities, weak budgeting and expenditure administration, poor revenue generating capacity and heavy financial dependency on federal and regional governments, and weak public sector service deliveries. Regarding participation, there is low level of community participation in different sectors at the stage of problem identification, prioritization of needs, planning and budgeting processes and decision making activities at regional and local levels. Hence, to make decentralization meaningful and benefits of woreda decentralization to be realized, recommendations are made on power and authority, political commitments, legal and institutional frameworks, capacity issues, inter-governmental relations, accountability, transparency, financial and human resources and community participation.

The Impact of Land Property Rights Interventions on Investment and Agricultural Productivity in Developing Countries: a Systematic Review

We conducted a systematic review on the effects of land tenure recognition interventions on agricultural productivity, income, investment and other relevant outcomes. We synthesise findings from 20 quantitative studies and nine qualitative studies that passed a methodological screening. The results indicate substantial productivity and income gains from land tenure recognition, although gains differ markedly by region. We find that these effects may operate through gains in perceived tenure security and investment; we find no evidence for a credit mechanism. The qualitative synthesis highlights potential adverse effects. A conclusion emphasises the need for further research on inter-regional differences and on the role of customary tenure arrangements.

Decision Making Process of Local Government

Decision Making Process of Local Government

The Political Economy of Democratic Decentralisation in Urban Bangladesh

Democratic decentralisation can be used for real empowerment of the locals, as well as for a narrower self-interest of the central authority to ensure their socio-political and economic support base. This case study paper explores the political economy of democratic decentralisation in Bangladesh and its manifestations in the urban local governance process. In doing so, it first offers historical analysis of the genesis of the local government system in Bangladesh. Thereafter it analyses central–local relations, internal power and authority structure of Municipal Corporations, intra-organisational relations, and Municipal Corporations-civil society relations.