This volume covers a wide spectrum of governance issues relating to small states in a global context. While different definitions of governance are given in the chapters, most authors associate governance with the setting and implementation of policies aimed at managing a country or territory, and with the related institutional structures and interventions by political actors. Generally, good governance is associated with concepts such as policy effectiveness, accountability, transparency, control of corruption, encouragement of citizens' voice and gender equality-factors which are, in turn, linked with democracy. What emerges from the book is that the societies of small states are being re-shaped by various forces outside their control, including the globalization process and climate change, rendering their governance ever more complex. These problems are not solely faced by small states, but small country size tends to lead to a higher degree of exposure to external factors. The chapters are grouped into four sections broadly covering political, environmental, social and economic governance. Governance is influenced by many, often intertwined, factors; the division of the book into four parts therefore does not detract from the fact that governance is multifaceted, and such division was based on the primary focus of each particular study and its main disciplinary background. The expert authors have, moreover, used a variety of approaches in the studies, the subject of small states being well suited to scholarly work from different disciplines using qualitative, quantitative and mixed approaches to arrive at useful conclusions.

This book investigates the experiences of women city councilors in India. It follows the careers of women in Jaipur, Rajasthan, who were brought into public office through a gender quota instituted over two decades ago. It reveals how, even in office, women continue to face stigma and normative restrictions imposed by a society not entirely willing to accept them in a public and independent position; and how men, technically blocked by the gender quota from holding office themselves, continue to exert control and influence over women officeholders, even sidelining them in many cases as proxies. The volume also documents the role of these men, colloquially known as parshad-patis, who have uniquely subverted the gender quota without violating any of the formal quota rules. To combat these challenges, the author presents pragmatic approaches to empower women in political offices at the grassroots and highlights the need for a comprehensive support structure to aid gender quota institutions in delivering equality in highly patriarchal environments. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and interviews with elected members and their spouses, as well as journalists, women's rights activists, and student political leaders, this book provides fascinating insights into the everyday politics of India. It will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of gender studies, politics, political processes, and South Asian studies.

This text presents twelve chapters of case studies, richly detailing key topics from popular state and local politics textbooks. From using Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri to illustrate how the comparative method can be used to understand the similarities and differences between places and how those differences matter, to a look at how state governments have taken the lead on environmental policy, readers will be able to use this detailed and highly readable text to complement their traditional textbook. And, while state and local politics is the obvious course for this text's use, it would also be useful to students of public administration, public policy, urban politics, and intro to American politics.

* A classic study of urban politics praised for the clarity of its writing, careful research, and distinctive theme - that urban politics in the United States has evolved as a dynamic interaction between governmental power, private actors, and a politics of identity. * Offers persuasive explanation, anchored in careful attention to historical detail, of the structural reasons for the spatial polarization and racial and ethnic segregation evident across and within American urban regions. * Includes a number of important updates, including the #MeToo Movement, the Black Lives Matter Movement, the Coronavirus pandemic, the November 2020 US presidential election, climate change, inequality in the public education system, and police reform. * The most recent census data has been integrated throughout the text to provide up to date figures for analysis, discussion, and a nuanced understanding of current trends. * Can be taught as a core text for undergraduate and graduate students or as a resource for well-established researchers in the discipline. May be used on its own, or supplemented with optional reader American Urban Politics in a Global Age (also forthcoming in a new edition) for more advanced readers.

This volume describes and analyzes alternative and emerging models of non-territorial autonomy (NTA), particularly in relation to decentralization. The authors push the NTA debate in new directions by offering a re-conceptualization based on ethno-cultural bottom-up decentralized action that redefines autonomy into its true sense of autonomous action. Through description, critical analysis, and evaluation of several case studies, this book assesses the potential for new paradigms within decentralized systems. The authors explore two approaches to political decentralization which add to the theoretical debate on NTA - network governance, which focuses on new dynamics in policy processes, and normative pluralism, which focuses on accommodating the distinctness of the groups through the subsidiarity principle with regard to their own affairs. The book explores the potential ramifications of ethno-cultural NTA institutions acting within the wider framework of state institutions and assesses the functions of these institutions as another dimension of decentralization and thus another 'layer' of democracy. With contemporary examples from Europe, the Middle East, Asia and South Africa, as well as theoretical aspects of the conceptualization of autonomy, this book offers a truly global perspective. It will be of great interest to policy-makers in countries experiencing adverse developments due to the pressure on public management, as well as advanced students and scholars questioning the ability of the Westphalian system to address cultural diversity.

Examines the sources behind state-local conflict to better understand where critical intergovernmental relationships may be breaking down Offers a framework for understanding possible sources behind state-local conflict, with a recognition that intergovernmental relationships have historical roots, are place-based, and dependent on context Defines the basic institutional structures and offices and addresses the intergovernmental legal environment Explores concrete issues that have become ensnared in intergovernmental conflict via case studies including environmental (plastic bags, climate change), social and constitutional (confederate statues, transgender bathrooms), and economic (living wage, affordable housing) to name a few Identifies solutions and policy tools that build upon the strengths of state and local governments, mitigate conflicts, and improve the quality of life for citizens

This book provides a guide to becoming an empowered citizen, capable of achieving success when advocating with local government. Based on interviews with mayors, together with documentary evidence, analyses of public meetings, and the author's own experience of advocacy, volunteering on city committees, and work on political campaigns, it describes how to advocate with local government officials, whom to contact, what to say when and where, and how to locate the facts, figures, and stories that can lend credence to an advocacy campaign. Guided by the ideas that persuasion efforts can succeed, are not difficult to undertake, and are in fact appreciated by public officials; that the system is open and that citizens have a fair chance of advancing their point of view; and that democracy depends upon citizen engagement, it presents concrete case studies in order to illustrate the guidance provided. With advice on how to organize and implement a successful advocacy campaign at a local level-and what to avoid-Persuading Local Government provides an antidote to the alienation of national politics, showing that local efforts at persuasion are meaningful and effect change on matters that affect people's everyday lives.

In this innovative book the author examines the link between environmental, trade and industrial policies within an interregional setting. He models how regional governments, using tax rates on real capital and pollutant emissions, determine policies to favour their residents in terms of the provision of public goods and reduction in environmental degradation.Regions or countries engage in competition for mobile capital in a world where production causes pollution and tax revenues are required to finance public goods. In Fiscal Policy and Environmental Welfare the author considers the efficiency consequences when governments act strategically and seek to manage trade, capital flows and emissions. Using formal models, which extend and modify existing literature, the author demonstrates that interjurisdictional competition typically leads to inefficiencies. He argues that although interjurisdictional competition may lead to the overprovision of public goods and to an inefficiently high environmental quality, often the opposite seems to occur. This book will be welcomed by environmental economists, and those scholars interested in welfare and fiscal policy.

This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date picture of territorial change on the municipal level across all European countries. Taking a thematic and comparative perspective, the book builds on extensive quantitative data and a large survey of academic experts in 33 European countries. Territorial organisation of the municipal level in Europe is strongly diversified and yet far from stable. Politically speaking, territorial reforms tend to be risky and difficult, as such changes affect vital interests and identities. Despite such difficulties, the last two decades have witnessed considerable changes in territorial divisions at the municipal level across a range of European countries. In this book, the authors describe and analyse these changes comprehensively, making a vital contribution to understanding the reasons and dynamics of territorial reform processes. This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners in local or sub-national government, institutional design and more broadly to political science, public administration/policy, human geography, sociology and economics.

This book provides readers with accessible and thought-provoking commentary, teamed with newspaper accounts and personal anecdotes. The book is amply embellished with photographs, newspaper clippings and excerpts from municipal resolutions. In 1905 the local governments of BC realised a long-held goal of building an organisation to provide a unified voice for local governments -- the Union of British Columbia Municipalities. UBCM, which continues to serve as the voice for local governments, commemorates their achievements in this book. It is compiled, researched and written by a team at UBCM, chiefly Yale graduate and planner Harmony Folz, along with former CBC writer and broadcaster Wendy Bancroft.

The Routledge Handbook of Local Elections and Voting in Europe represents the standard reference text and practical resource for everybody who analyzes issues such as local electoral systems, voting behavior, or political representation in Europe. It provides comprehensive and expert coverage of 40 European countries - organized along the respective local state traditions - and in addressing a wide range of important questions related to local elections and voting, it broadens the scope of existing analyses quantitatively as well as qualitatively. Finally, it affords a more theoretically grounded typology of local elections and voting. Each country chapter is written by a leading expert and follows a rigorous conceptual framework for cross-national comparisons, providing an overview of the local government system, details on the place of local elections within the multilevel political system, specific features of the electoral system, analysis of the main electoral outcomes in recent decades, and, finally, reflective discussion. Representative democracy is as widespread at the local as at the national level, and as the significance of local authorities in Europe has increased in recent decades, local elections represent a crucial area of study. The Routledge Handbook of Local Elections and Voting in Europe is an authoritative and essential reference text for scholars and students interested in local electoral politics and, more broadly, European studies, public administration, and political science.

City-regions are areas where the daily journeys for work, shopping and leisure frequently cross administrative boundaries. They are seen as engines of the national economy, but are also facing congestion and disparities. Thus, all over the world, governments attempt to increase problem-solving capacities in city-regions by institutional reform and a shift of functions. This book analyses the recent reforms and changes in the governance of city-regions in France, Germany and Italy. It covers themes such as the impact of austerity measures, territorial development, planning and state modernisation. The authors provide a systematic cross-country perspective on two levels, between six city-regions and between the national policy frameworks in these three countries. They use a solid comparative framework, which refers to the four dimensions functions, institutions and governance, ideas and space. They describe the course of the reforms, the motivations and the results, and consequently, they question the widespread metropolitan fever or resurgence of city-regions and provide a better understanding of recent changes in city-regional governance in Europe. The primary readership will be researchers and master students in planning, urban studies, urban geography, political science and governance studies, especially those interested in metropolitan regions and / or decentralisation. Due to the uniqueness of the work, the book will be of particular interest to scholars working on the comparative European dimension of territorial governance and planning. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the state of political institutions, the military establishment and political parties in Pakistan. It provides a nuanced understanding of the practices of disenfranchisement by theocratic governments in the country which has relegated the people to the margins of their society. The volume provides an in-depth account of the political history of Pakistan focusing not only on national politics and foreign policy but also on their congruences with subnational systems of governance, the criminal justice system, bureaucracy, the electoral system and the police. It discusses challenging issues plaguing the country such as the continued dominance of the military, lagging economic development, lack of accountability within political institutions, sectarianism and terrorism. The author dissects and critically examines Pakistan's hegemonic politics and underlines the need for a new social contract based on the principles of inclusiveness and equality. The volume offers fresh perspectives on the multifaceted problems in Pakistan's politics. It will be of great interest to policy practitioners and to academics and students of politics, law and governance, sociology, international relations, comparative politics, Pakistan studies and South Asia studies.

1) This is the first comprehensive book on Federalism and the Response to the Covid 19 Pandemic. 2) It contains 22 case studies from across the globe. 3) This book will be of interest to departments of comparative politics and development studies across UK.

The 1970s era of rapid change, economic and social, made constant demands on the adaptability of a constitutional system. The work of the State expanded, and the expansion was at several levels, delimited by the requirements of geography. Britain's constitutional system has two aspects: one essentially theoretical, concerning such questions as the nature of sovereignty, prerogative powers, and the rights and duties of citizens; the other concerning the way in which the business of government is carried on: how people who make political decisions are chosen, how their activities are subject to checks and influence by the representatives of public interests, formal and informal. Originally published in 1974, this book deals with the second of these aspects. It identifies the changes in constitutional practice which had taken place in the previous two decades, and the trends which could be discerned at the time. It has four main sections. The first deals with the changing structure of government itself: with the recruitment of ministers, the nature of political responsibility and the changes in government departments. The second section deals with both Houses of Parliament, and particularly with the new forms of parliamentary discussion and criticism. The third deals with the process of election, including the regulation of propaganda and the use of the mass media. The final section deals with the different levels of government, including the local, the regional and the supra-national. All through the main concern is with the dynamic aspects of the political constitution. This was a really up-to-date and realistic book on British government at the time and now can be read in its historical context.

Comprehensive study of comparative federalism and the Covid-19 pandemic by some of the world's leading federal scholars and national experts. Compares how various federal systems responded to the pandemic. Provides useful lessons for how to combat such pandemics in federal countries in the future.

Comprehensive study of comparative federalism and the Covid-19 pandemic by some of the world's leading federal scholars and national experts. Compares how various federal systems responded to the pandemic. Provides useful lessons for how to combat such pandemics in federal countries in the future.

Why are some states able to deliver public services to their citizens while others cannot? Why are some states beset by internal conflict that leaves many impoverished? Much of what has become known as the failed states literature attempts to engage with these questions, but does so in way that betrays a particular bias, engaging in advocacy for intervention rather than analysis. The Idea of Failed States directly challenges existing thinking about conventional state strength as it finds that institutional approaches to state strength obscure as much as they reveal. The question of why some states are strong and others weak has traditionally been addressed using measures of economic growth, resources, and quality of life. This book compares the dimensions of state strength characterised by community, society, and nation and uses social capital concepts to further illuminate them. Applying this approach across forty-two countries shows 'weak' states exhibiting a consistent and unique patterns of relationships between community, society, and nation as well as equally consistent and unique relationships in strong states. A blend of theory and empirics, The Idea of Failed States present a new way to think about the state - one that applies to both strong and weak alike. This work should be of interest to students and scholars researching social capital, public policy, international development and security studies.

1) This book presents a comprehensive analysis of decentralisation in contemporary India. 2) It contains case studies and latest data from across the country. 3) This book will be of interest to departments of public policy and south Asian studies across UK and USA.

Local government plays a critical role in the provision of governance, infrastructure, and services for local communities. Over the past 30 years this sector has undergone significant reforms because of various superordinate governments policy changes. Continuous improvement and quality programs have been a common tactical response undertaken by various local government organisations to remain sustainable and to continue to deliver value to their local communities. These tactical responses have had varying levels of success. This book seeks to go beyond a tactical focus and uncover the kinds of continuous improvement practices that are enacted in various local government contexts. A focus on practices enables practitioners and researchers alike to gain insights that to go beyond approaches which privilege the application of CI tools over the contextualisation of CI programs. Contextualisation affords the insightful deployment of programs that are specific to the needs and dynamics of local communities and operations. The cases presented share insights on aspects of CI including: embedding performance measurement; harnessing learning; contextualising CI activities to support the ongoing sustainability of these practices. Researchers and practitioners alike can draw benefit from the grounded industry base experiences and insights shared in the book.

Originally published in 1974, this study concerns the politics of local government reform between 1942-1974 and describes the struggles between the Ministries, the Local Government Associations and political parties. The political manoeuvrings of the various groups involved are analysed and a theory proposed about the reform of political structures in general.

'An intimate, insightful portrait of an extraordinarily private leader' WALTER ISAACSON From the bestselling author of Enemies of the People An intimate and deeply researched account of the extraordinary rise and political brilliance of the most powerful - and elusive - woman in the world. Angela Merkel has always been an outsider. A pastor's daughter raised in Soviet-controlled East Germany, she spent her twenties working as a research chemist, only entering politics after the fall of the Berlin Wall. And yet within fifteen years, she had become chancellor of Germany and, before long, the unofficial leader of the West. Acclaimed author Kati Marton sets out to pierce the mystery of this unlikely ascent. With unparalleled access to the chancellor's inner circle and a trove of records only recently come to light, she teases out the unique political genius that is the secret to Merkel's success. No other modern leader has so ably confronted authoritarian aggression, enacted daring social policies and calmly unified an entire continent in an era when countries are becoming only more divided. Again and again, she's cleverly outmanoeuvred strongmen like Putin and Trump, and weathered surprisingly complicated relationships with allies like Obama and Macron. Famously private, the woman who emerges from these pages is a role model for anyone interested in gaining and keeping power while staying true to one's moral convictions. At once a riveting political biography, an intimate human portrait and a revelatory look at successful leadership in action, The Chancellor brings forth from the shadows one of the most extraordinary women of our time.

Against the background of a growing tendency among state and local governments in the United States to vie against one another, spending public funds, and foregoing corporate tax revenues in order to attract private investment, this book offers an analysis of local economic development and business recruitment in the automotive industry. Asking why localities felt they could - and, more importantly, should - make deals with private capital in the first place, this book examines the shift toward entrepreneurial local governance from a global and historically informed perspective. Through a study of the 19 greenfield automotive assembly plants constructed in the United States during the neoliberal era, the author draws on interviews with corporate and government elites, to chart the connections between increasingly global competitive industry pressures and changing attitudes toward "incentivizing" private investment. Studying the development of an approach that has partially reoriented local governments away from managing localities and towards helping manage transnational capital flows by absorbing some of the increasing risk of long-term capital investment, Entrepreneurial Governance in the Neoliberal Era will appeal to scholars of sociology, politics, and urban studies with interests in globalization, the sociology of work and industry, the sociology of development, and neoliberal governance.

This book explores how governments in multi-level states coordinate immigrant integration policies. It sheds light on how the decentralization of immigrant integration to substate regions can lead to conflict or cooperation, and how a variety of factors may shape different approaches to migrants. Immigrant integration is an increasingly important policy area for governments. However, in multi-level states, immigrant integration is rarely the responsibility of the 'central' government. Instead, it is often decentralized to substate regions, which may have formulated their own, unique approaches. The way in which migrants are included into one part of a state may therefore be radically different from the experiences of migrants in another. How do multi-level states deal with potentially diverging approaches? This book examines how governments coordinate on immigrant integration in multi-level states. Four multi-level states form the backbone of the analysis: two of which are federal (Canada and Belgium) and two that are decentralized (Italy and Spain). We find that intergovernmental dynamics on immigrant integration are shaped by a variety of factors ranging from party politics to constitutional power struggles. This analysis contributes not only to our understanding of intergovernmental relations in multi-level systems; it also enhances our knowledge of the myriad ways in which different regions seek to include migrants into their societies, economies and political systems. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Regional and Federal Studies.