In August 2016, well-known South African businessman Herman Mashaba became mayor of Johannesburg, heading a razor-thin DA-led coalition in the city. Three years later, in October 2019, he resigned from the party and from his position as mayor. At the time, Mashaba’s approval rating stood at almost 70 per cent and there were calls in overwhelming numbers for him to stay. In this explosive tell-all, his chief of staff, Michael Beaumont, reveals the real story behind these events.

The Accidental Mayor considers the achievements, challenges and controversies of Mashaba’s time in office, and describes what went on behind the scenes in the city and in the multiparty coalition. What was discovered about the previous government’s looting of Johannesburg? How did the ANC take to being in opposition? How challenging was it to work with the EFF? Which party proved the most difficult coalition partner? All these questions and more are explored in detail.

At a time when the DA’s popularity is in decline, The Accidental Mayor highlights the infighting and factionalism within the party and questions whether South Africa’s official opposition has reached the end of the road. Can Herman Mashaba, arguably one of South Africa’s most popular former mayors, offer an alternative for the future?

How to Steal a City is an insider account of this intervention, which lays bare how the administration was entirely captured and bled dry by a criminal syndicate, how factional politics within the ruling party abetted that corruption, and how a comprehensive clean-up was eventually conducted.

It is written as a gripping real-life thriller, taking the reader deeper and deeper into the rotten heart of the city. As a former senior government official and local government “fixer”, Crispian Olver was no stranger to dealing with dodgy politicians and broken organisations. Yet what he found was graft that went far beyond the dodgy contracts, blatant conflicts of interest and garden-variety kickbacks he had seen before. It had evolved into a web far more sophisticated and deep rooted than he had ever imagined, involving mazes of shell companies, assassinations, criminal syndicates, and compromised local politicians. The metro was effectively controlled by a criminal network, closely allied to a dominant local ANC faction. What he found was complete state capture—a microcosm of what has been happening in South Africa’s national government.

But there was a personal price to pay. Intense political pressure and threats to his personal safety took a toll on his mental and physical health. He had to have a full-time bodyguard, and never maintained a regular routine. He eventually lost much of his political cover. Olver ultimately had to flee the city as the forces stacked against him started to wreak their revenge.

This is his story.

When we say we want to be safe, what do we mean? Is the state capable of achieving this for us? These are important questions for anyone envisioning and building a future anywhere, but especially in South Africa. This book explores contemporary South African society through the lens of law and order, and with the goal of understanding what reform must look like going forward, in a way that is accessible to ordinary citizens who need this most. 

In South Africa, both ‘crime’ and ‘safety’ are loaded terms. Ziyanda Stuurman unpacks the complex and fraught history of policing, courts and prisons in South Africa. In her analysis of the problems nationally and in putting those problems in context with the rest of the world, she concludes that more resources won’t necessarily lead to more safety. What then, will?

Ziyanda unpacks this complex question deftly with a view of a better future for us all.

Provides a comparative study of the complex governance challenges confronting city-regions in each of the BRICS countries. It traces how governance approaches emerge from the disparate intentions, actions and practices of multiple collaborating and competing actors, working in diverse contexts of political settlement and culture.

The scale and pace of urban change in the recent past has been disorienting. As individual cities evolve into complex urban agglomerations, scholars battle to find adequate vocabularies for contemporary urban processes while practitioners search for meaningful governance responses. Governing Complex City-Regions in the Twenty-first Century explores the ongoing evolution of metropolitan governance as diverse urban agents grapple with the dilemmas of collective action across multi-layered and fragmented institutions, in contexts where there are also manifold centres of influence and decision-making.

Whereas much of the existing literature is founded on the settled urban contexts of Western Europe and North America this book draws on the experiences of the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). The author shows that governance approaches are rarely designed but emerge, rather, from the disparate intentions, actions and practices of multiple collaborating and competing actors working within diverse contexts of political settlement and political culture. Intended for students, academics and professionals, the book does not offer packaged solutions or easy answers to the challenges of urban governance, but it does show the value of comparative study in inspiring new thought and perspectives, which could lead to improved governance practice within South African contexts.

In recent years, municipalities have had to adjust to dramatic changes in their role in a new democratised system of national, provincial and local government. They have had to accept increased responsibilities in terms of service rendering and some have found it difficult to cope with the growing demands of their communities. South African municipal government and administration clarifies the powers and functions of the local sphere of government, what services communities are entitled to, and how councillors and officials could be made accountable for non-delivery of these services, under-performance or lack of pride in the quality of work done. This second edition of South African municipal government and administration incorporates the most recent developments in this sphere of government. It describes the obligations of councils, councillors and appointed officials with regard to policy implementation, and their accountability for the delivery of high-quality services to civic society. It includes various practical examples as well as rulings of the Constitutional Court, policy statements and reports. Contents include the following: Origins and characteristics of urban areas; Functions and powers of municipal councils; Coordinating structures, composition and objectives of municipal councils; Municipal planning; Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA); Human resource administration and management; Municipal associations and related institutions; Public relations: functions and objectives. The book is aimed at undergraduate and postgraduate students studying municipal government and administration, as well as aspiring and serving municipal councillors.

The Democratic Alliance won control of the uMngeni Municipality in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands after the local government elections in 2021. As the only DA-run municipality in KZN, uMngeni provides a template for how local government could work in a post-ANC South Africa.

Written by two leaders at the very heart of the project, Saving South Africa reveals the challenges, the triumphs and disasters the new administration has encountered along the way. It is an eye-opening exposé of how cadre deployment has helped to bring the country to its knees. It is a story of incompetent officials, political spies, gunwielding tenderpreneurs, petty theft and grand larceny.

And yet, as we follow the authors on their journey, there is always hope for a better future as the corrupt layers of local governance are gradually stripped away, revealing the responsive and caring civil service envisioned by the South African Constitution.

What are the dynamics around the quality and quantity of municipal services in South Africa? What kind of systemic, structural and managerial adjustments should be made to improve local government? Who decides what in municipalities? How could active citizen participation in local affairs be stimulated? These and other questions are addressed in Municipal Management: Serving the people.

The authors take a bird’s-eye view of issues such as the constitutional dispensation, regulatory frameworks, municipal administrative and managerial systems, community and political dynamics, as well as municipal functions and services.

This 4th edition reflects new features of, and the latest developments in, the local sphere of government, which makes the book even more relevant to:

• Contextualise the local sphere of government within a system of co-operative governance and intergovernmental relations
• Appreciate the role and functioning of local, district and metropolitan municipalities in South Africa
• Uncover core municipal policies, strategies and programmes
• Comprehend the significance of municipal capacity for effective resource utilisation and service delivery
• Pinpoint best practice regarding managerial systems, processes and procedures

Why do some countries appear to be far more centralized than others? In some countries local government has responsibility for a wide range of public services, while in others these services are delivered by national and other non-local bodies. Moreover national government oversees the operation of local government with varying degrees of stringency. In addition, local politicians in some countries seem to have greater influence over their national counterparts than those in others. The answer to this question can be found in the distinctive patterns of development experienced in southern and northern Europe. Differences in national-local relations also have direct implications for patterns of policy-making at the local level. This book examines the legal and political bases of relationships between national and local government in Britain, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, and Spain, and assesses the causes and consequences of differences in such relationships.

Significantly updated to reflect all the latest legislation, this edition of Municipal administration - the handbook remains a text for all who have dealings with local government. One of the new features is the accompanying CD, which contains regulations concerning procurement, fair administrative procedures and the new legislation on corruption.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. Jon Pierre and Guy Peters expertly guide the reader through governance - one of the most widely used terms in political science - and its differing interpretations, with comprehensive discussion of the key issues covering global as well as local level governance. A detailed look into what constitutes 'good governance', whether produced by a government or by more informal means, is also explored. Key features include: examination of what governance is, how it is created and the differing styles of governance how governance is becoming more collaborative between governments and the private sector an investigation into the governance process and outcomes, including topics such as bargaining, negotiation and the use of political power. This insightful Advanced Introduction will be an excellent resource for both graduates and undergraduates studying governance and political science. It will also be a useful guide for academics who are interested in governance and who need a concise introduction.

This incisive book presents a critical compilation of empirical studies assessing local government performance in Latin America. Analysing original administrative data from municipalities in the understudied countries of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru, Claudia N. Avellaneda and contributors pose the titular question: what works in Latin American municipalities? Chapters operationalize municipal performance across six different dimensions and policy areas, including: fiscal inputs, effectiveness in grant acquisitions, education outcome quality, financial efficiency, participatory decision-making, and responsiveness to climate change. The six studies test different theoretical frameworks derived from political science, public policy, and public administration literature, focusing on the variety of individual, organizational, and contextual factors affecting municipal performance across the region. Examining a diverse range of factors, from mayoral characteristics and bureaucratic expertise to guerrilla presence and intergovernmental cooperation, the book highlights the complexity of identifying what works in Latin American municipalities and ultimately makes the case for how future research should be undertaken. Timely and original, the book will be an essential read for public administration, public management, and local government practitioners. Its original empirical research will also prove beneficial to students and scholars of government, public policy, political science, and public administration across Latin America and the rest of the world.

Teaching Federalism presents innovative ideas for teaching a wide variety of key concepts of federalism and federal-country cases. Each chapter introduces a topic, explains its place in federalism research, and provides learning objectives, pedagogical tools, and questions for class discussions, student essays, and examinations. Evaluation and reading suggestions are included as well. The book covers twenty substantive facets of federalism important for understanding contemporary issues of federalism and federation, such as power distribution, second chambers, high courts, intergovernmental relations, fiscal federalism, multinational federalism, conflict resolution, indigenous peoples, gendered federalism, and secession. Also included are case-study examples for teaching about federalism in Germany, India, Nigeria, Switzerland, and the United States. Educators around the world who teach federalism or wish to do so will find this a wonderful resource for lesson plans on a wide variety of issues related to federalism. Students studying federalism will also find it invaluable as an introductory resource for important topics and readings on the subject.

Voluntarism, Planning, and the State presents a series of case studies of the planning process in the context of modern American history in the period between World War I and World War II. Each essay draws on the works of leading scholars in the field and attempts to make specific evaluations of broad generalizations about the planning experience in the United States. The studies examine such relevant topics as unemployment reform, labor relations, military peacetime planning, New Deal planning, and the postwar debate over price and wage controls.

This collection of essays surveys one hundred years of local administration in Britain.

Utilising international material to explore the roles, functions, tasks, responsibilities, powers and actions of intra-state politicians and the institutions to which they are elected, this insightful book examines how local and regional authorities are pivotal in the democratic and governing arrangements of different countries. Expert contributors examine how regional and local bodies have authority over public services, local spending, land use and local regulation, while operating within the constraints and structures of their own national settings. The Modern Guide also considers the responsibility of local and regional powers in the promotion of community action and cohesion. Taking a comparative approach, country-specific chapters present detailed analyses of the similarities and differences between the shape and purpose of institutions which operate within the state and how they interact with each other and the national institutions of government. Exploring the concepts and principles behind power structures within governmental systems, this book will be a key resource for academics and students of public policy, regulation and governance, and public administration and management. Its presentation of models of the formation of government in an international context will also be beneficial for policy-makers and practitioners in these fields.

Despite the high frequency of their interactions, the policy coordination process between the United Nations (UN) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been underexamined in global and regional governance and ASEAN studies literature. To chart this important terrain, this incisive book contributes to scholarship by investigating UN-ASEAN policy coordination in the case of trafficking in persons (TIP). Guangyu Qiao-Franco advances a conceptual framework designed to explore the coordination between the UN and ASEAN, based on theories of policy transfer, norm diffusion, regime complex, and institutional interaction. By examining an extensive case study that traces developments in Southeast Asian regional governance since the early 1980s, this book contains rich information on the UN and ASEAN's TIP policies, lobbying and involvement of various actors, and the specific historical contexts of regional policy debates. Featuring analysis based on empirical data collected through 79 interviews with key participants in the TIP policy process across Southeast Asia, the book reveals the black box of ASEAN policymaking that has led to positive changes in human trafficking governance. This dynamic book will interest students and scholars of international relations, law, criminology, and migration studies. Its consideration of how disparate regional states might collaborate on human trafficking issues will further benefit practitioners and professionals working in governments of ASEAN member states, international organisations, and NGOs.

This study, written by seasoned professionals and academics in the field of information management and public policy, presents a clear exposition of what makes up infostructures, how they are created and used, and how they affect the policy-making process. The only study to address both information management and technology and the policy process itself, it offers a balanced treatment of the numerous resources and activities required to generate and feed information into public sector decision-making.

Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. This insightful Research Agenda takes a thematic approach to analysing reform in regional and local government, exploring central concepts such as devolution, Europeanisation and globalisation. Expert contributors address key trends in structural change and reorganisation, subnational autonomy and decentralisation, metropolitan governance, and multi-level governance. Chapters explore managerial innovations and reform, democratic participation and leadership, and populism at local and regional levels. Identifying promising research avenues in these fields, the Research Agenda reflects on the effects of the 2008 global financial crisis, and potential lessons that are arising for subnational governments following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. It concludes that although the 2008 crisis has had some impact on territorial governance, there is greater continuity than radical change. Addressing particular themes and trends from a comparative perspective, this Research Agenda will be critical reading for scholars and students of international politics, urban studies and regional studies.

Hundreds of people first attended the first West Indian Carnival held at Seymour Hall, London, in 1959. In this book you will meet some of those pioneers and share closely in their struggle to found a new life.

Political Problems and Personalities in Contemporary Maryland provides a comprehensive rhetorical analysis of contemporary politics and political communication in Maryland at both the state and local levels. Theodore F. Sheckels and Carl Hyden approach rhetoric in a broader sense, arguing that actions by political players - including decisions on housing policy, urban redevelopment policy, and transportation policy-are not in a separate category from their messages. In many cases, they argue, actions are messages, often with important material consequences. Rather than focusing solely on previous or upcoming elections, as political communication has traditionally been examined, Sheckels and Hyden give considerable space to non-election topics, responding to current shifts in political communication scholarship and encouraging others to examine political communication at the local and state levels elsewhere in the United States. Scholars of communication, political science, rhetoric, and history will find this book of particular interest.

This book provides an in-depth analysis of global environmental governance in the Anthropocene in the context of transformative environmental change and of the realities of Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS). It explores the dynamic ways that global to local actors, institutions and norms relate to regional and local environmental policy, histories and contexts, and how this shapes future environmental outcomes for some of the most biodiverse regions of the planet. Global Environmental Governance and Small Statesfills a gap in the existing international relations and environmental governance literature. It explains how and where regional and local social, economic, geophysical, legal and historical contexts interact with global environmental governance architectures, norms and state and non-state actors, to determine the nature of SIDS' environmental perspectives, responses and policies. Using the Anthropocene as the historical context, the volume examines the most pressing issues for small states' perspectives and international responses to environmental challenges. Key among these are those associated with climate change, tourism, marine governance, energy security, cultural heritage and trade. This book will be an invaluable tool for academics and scholars of international relations, international politics, global environmental governance, international development, Caribbean affairs and regional governance. Its insights will also be of benefit for diplomats, development partners, policymakers and political actors working with and in Caribbean States, and SIDS, more widely.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. Jon Pierre and Guy Peters expertly guide the reader through governance - one of the most widely used terms in political science - and its differing interpretations, with comprehensive discussion of the key issues covering global as well as local level governance. A detailed look into what constitutes 'good governance', whether produced by a government or by more informal means, is also explored. Key features include: examination of what governance is, how it is created and the differing styles of governance how governance is becoming more collaborative between governments and the private sector an investigation into the governance process and outcomes, including topics such as bargaining, negotiation and the use of political power. This insightful Advanced Introduction will be an excellent resource for both graduates and undergraduates studying governance and political science. It will also be a useful guide for academics who are interested in governance and who need a concise introduction.

Through the lens of an economist's notion of public goods, David J. O'Brien analyzes the dual problems of declining communities and polarizing conflicts between metropolitan and rural communities. This macro-level institutional approach requires a precise definition of the specific ways in which community-level challenges can negatively affect a larger voting public. The author describes in detail how seemingly intractable community-level problems and inter-community conflicts have been substantially reduced by framing them in terms of the self-interest of a larger polity. Examples include The Federalist Papers, written in defense of the US Constitution, New Deal institutions created during the Great Depression, the post-World War II European Union, and more recent macro-level institutional changes that are assisting, in varying degrees, rural community sustainability in the US, Kenya, Rwanda and Russia. O'Brien's extensive community-level research experience in urban and rural communities that covers multiple historical periods, will appeal to inter-disciplinary social scientists, development specialists and persons looking for a hopeful, practical approach to solving the challenges of globalization.