This book examines the impacts of fiscal decentralization reforms on the efficiency of local governments in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. By offering a comparative perspective and by applying econometric methods and regression models, it analyses various reform trajectories and their effects on individual CEE countries. Furthermore, the book discusses input and output indicators for evaluating the efficiency of municipalities. Readers will learn about the common features of these countries, the impact of path dependence, and future prospects for decentralization reforms. In closing, the book discusses modern management and administration methods, opportunities for cooperation between municipalities, co-creative service delivery, and other measures that could improve the efficiency of public service provision.

Why do some democratic governments succeed and others fail? In a book that has received attention from policymakers and civic activists in America and around the world, Robert Putnam and his collaborators offer empirical evidence for the importance of "civic community" in developing successful institutions. Their focus is on a unique experiment begun in 1970 when Italy created new governments for each of its regions. After spending two decades analyzing the efficacy of these governments in such fields as agriculture, housing, and health services, they reveal patterns of associationism, trust, and co-operation that facilitate good governance and economic prosperity. Winner of the 1992 Louis Brownlow Book Award of the National Academy of Public Administration.

"This is a very rich monograph, based on impressive fieldwork in China, which demonstrates excellent qualitative and ethnographic research skills, research integrity, and cultural perceptiveness in the analysis. This book will make a great contribution to the literature on policy transfer and and policy mobilities, and on urban politics in contemporary China, as it offers a rich understanding of the nitty-gritty practices of transferring and learning 'from abroad'."Claire Colomb, Professor of Urban Studies and Planning at the University College London, UK. This book explores the concept of Careful Urban Renewal, a concept of urban renewal that originated in Berlin in the 1980s and that was proposed to Yangzhou, a Chinese city of the wealthy province of Jiangsu, in the early 2000s. It sets out to understand whether knowledge and ideas originating in a specific setting can be transferred to another locality thousands of miles away from the point of origin, and have the chance to change the policies and the practices of the destination city. The book shows that foreign ideas can inspire ambitious reforms of the policies of a single city, but that there also exist multiple challenges to policy learning and to the rooting of new ideas in local practices. To explore these challenges, this book develops an analysis of the micro-dynamics of policy transfer, showing that there exist multiple hierarchies to which a Chinese city can be subjected, intermittently opening or closing "windows for policy learning".

Holy Toledo is the first biography of one of the most remarkable social reformers of this century. It is the story of one man's attempts to remake himself, the workplace, and the city along Christian democratic lines. Jones was a deeply divided man: the successful businessman turned reformer who, after more than a decade of remarkable fidelity to the Golden Rule, still believed he had failed. Unlike most progressive reformers, Jones was in a position to initiate real change. His factory workers shared in the profits and took advantage of day-care facilities for their children. As mayor, he was a nationally revered public figure who supported municipal ownership of utilities, ended the practice of jailing the homeless, and made available free legal counsel to those who needed it. Marnie Jones relies upon a rich collection of unpublished documents to tell the compelling story of the only man in America to have run a city on the principles of the Sermon on the Mount.

Filme sind auf staatliche Filmfoerderung angewiesen. Die Autorin stellt in einem Rechtsvergleich die Filmfoerdersysteme in Deutschland und England einschliesslich der Foerderung auf UK-Ebene mit ihren unterschiedlichen Foerderinstrumenten gegenuber. Erstmalig wird das englische Filmfoerdersystem in seiner Gesamtheit dargestellt. Die Foerderungen werden auf eine Vereinbarkeit mit dem europaischen Beihilfenrecht untersucht, insbesondere das Tatbestandsmerkmal der staatlichen Mittel und die Rechtfertigungsgrunde. Die Autorin gibt als Resultate wertvolle Hinweise zur Korrektur von Foerdergesetzen und -richtlinien. Hervorgehoben wird das Film Tax Regime der britischen Steuererleichterungen, das sowohl Vorbild als auch Warnfunktion fur eine Weiterentwicklung des deutschen Filmfoerdersystems sein kann.

"Grounded in the urban politics of the 21st Century world-wide, this thoughtful volume hooks urban food - and especially its production - to social justice in a realistic and manageable way." -Diana Lee-Smith, Mazingira Institute, Kenya "An excellent international overview of urban food democracy and governance, with impressive geographical reach." -Andre Viljoen, University of Brighton, UK This edited collection explores urban food democracy as part of a broader policy-based approach to sustainable urban development. Conceptually, governance and social justice provide the analytical framework for a varied array of contributions which critically address issues including urban agriculture, smart cities, human health and wellbeing and urban biodiversity. Some chapters take the form of thematic, issue-based discussions, where others are constituted by empirical case studies. Contributing authors include both academic experts and practitioners who hail from a wide range of disciplines, professions and nations. All offer original research and robust consideration of urban food democracy in cities from across the Global North and South. Taken as a whole, this book makes a significant contribution to understanding the potential enabling role of good urban governance in developing formal urban food policy that is economically and socially responsive and in tune with forms of community-driven adaptation of space for the local production, distribution and consumption of nutritious food.

This book examines urbanization and migration processes in South Asia. By analyzing the socio-economic impacts and infrastructural, environmental and institutional aspects of different conurbations, it highlights conflicts over agricultural land as well as the effects on health, education, poverty and the welfare of children, women and old people. The authors also explore issues of mobility; connectivity and accessibility of public services, and discuss the effective use of new urban-management tools, such as the concept of smart cities and urban spatial monitoring.

This book provides a comparative analysis of the regional development strategies of east, west, northeast and central China and the development of important economic regions including the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, Chengdu-Chongqing and central-southern areas of Liaoning Province. The book reveals some key issues faced in China's regional development and analyzes their causes while delving into new trends of regional development since the 18th CPC National Congress. The book concludes by proposing new ideas for regional development under the new normal and analyzing experiences of other major powers in carrying out coordinated regional development. This book will be of interest to urbanists, journalists, and China scholars.

"Contesting Peace in the Postwar City is key reading for urban and peace and conflict scholars. In this impressive and meticulously researched book, Gusic reflects on the ways in which divisions are routinised in the everyday landscape of divided cities and skilfully investigates how change and continuity are governed in postwar urban spaces. The book provides rich empirical material from the cities of Mostar, Mitrovica and Belfast, drawing on nuanced fieldwork insights." -Stefanie Kappler, Durham University, UK "Ivan Gusic sets out a powerful, theoretically critical and empirically rich account of the trajectories of cities after war. The strength of the work is that it brings an understanding of the urban condition into relation with ethno-national conflict and the survival of violence. Gusic unsettles dominant narratives in peace studies by offering a grounded evaluation of three cities coming out of violence and points to the importance of place in peacebuilding processes." -Brendan Murtagh, Queen's University Belfast, UK "Detailed case studies of Belfast, Mitrovica and Mostar show how cities are often engines of what Ivan Gusic calls 'war in peace'. This on-trend study combines the latest research from critical urban studies with peace and conflict studies to produce a very accessible and internationally relevant book. It is highly recommended." -Roger Mac Ginty, Durham University, UK This book explores why the postwar city reinforces rather than transcends its continuities of war in peace. It theorises war-to-peace transitions as conflicts over how to socio-politically order society and then analyses different urban conflicts over peace(s) in postwar Belfast (Northern Ireland), Mitrovica (Kosovo) and Mostar (Bosnia-Herzegovina). Focusing on themes such as educational segregation, clientelism, fear, paramilitaries, and infrastructure, it shows how conflict lines from war are perpetuated in and by the postwar city. Yet it also discovers instances where antagonisms are bridged by utilising the postwar city's transcending potential. While written in the nexus between peace research and urban studies, this book also speaks to political geography, international relations, anthropology, and planning.

En este libro Arturo Santa Cruz desarrolla una concepcion del poder como relacion social y la aplica consistentemente al ambito economico de las relaciones de Estados Unidos con otros paises del hemisferio occidental. Siguiendo el debate academico y popular acerca de los altibajos de la hegemonia estadounidense, este trabajo centra su analisis en un caso critico para el ejercicio del poder estadounidense a traves de su diplomacia economica (o economic statecraft): el continente americano, su zona de influencia historica. La racionalidad del enfoque regional es metodologico: si se puede demostrar que la influencia de Washington ha disminuido en el area desde inicios de la decada de los anos 70 del siglo pasado (cuando la discusion sobre la materia inicio) puede asumirse que lo mismo ha ocurrido en otras latitudes. El analisis se concentra en tres regiones: Norteamerica, Centroamerica y Sudamerica. Puesto que cada region contiene estados que en ocasiones han mantenido muy diferentes relaciones con Estados Unidos, los hallazgos contribuyen a un major entendimiento de la practica del poder en la subregion en cuestion, anadiendo variabilidad a los resultados generales. La hegemonia estadounidense y el continente americano: Poder y diplomacia economica en las relaciones internacionales es una fuente invaluable para estudiantes y academicos interesados en la politica y la historia de America Latina, en la integracion regional en America del Norte, en la teoria de Relaciones Internacionales, en la Diplomacia Economica, en Economia Politica, y en Politica Comparada.

En este libro Arturo Santa Cruz desarrolla una concepcion del poder como relacion social y la aplica consistentemente al ambito economico de las relaciones de Estados Unidos con otros paises del hemisferio occidental. Siguiendo el debate academico y popular acerca de los altibajos de la hegemonia estadounidense, este trabajo centra su analisis en un caso critico para el ejercicio del poder estadounidense a traves de su diplomacia economica (o economic statecraft): el continente americano, su zona de influencia historica. La racionalidad del enfoque regional es metodologico: si se puede demostrar que la influencia de Washington ha disminuido en el area desde inicios de la decada de los anos 70 del siglo pasado (cuando la discusion sobre la materia inicio) puede asumirse que lo mismo ha ocurrido en otras latitudes. El analisis se concentra en tres regiones: Norteamerica, Centroamerica y Sudamerica. Puesto que cada region contiene estados que en ocasiones han mantenido muy diferentes relaciones con Estados Unidos, los hallazgos contribuyen a un major entendimiento de la practica del poder en la subregion en cuestion, anadiendo variabilidad a los resultados generales. La hegemonia estadounidense y el continente americano: Poder y diplomacia economica en las relaciones internacionales es una fuente invaluable para estudiantes y academicos interesados en la politica y la historia de America Latina, en la integracion regional en America del Norte, en la teoria de Relaciones Internacionales, en la Diplomacia Economica, en Economia Politica, y en Politica Comparada.

Der Tagungsband zu Ehren von Prof. Dr. Gunther Kuhne enthalt Beitrage zum Energieregulierungs- und Wirtschaftsrecht. Die Beitrage untersuchen aktuelle Rechtsentwicklungen, die von wesentlicher Bedeutung fur das deutsche und europaische Energie- und Wirtschaftsrecht sind. Sie gehen der Frage nach, wie der Wechsel der Stromerzeugung von Kernenergie und Kohle hin zu erneuerbaren Energien rechtssicher gestaltet werden kann und in welchem Umfang Mitgliedstaaten die Energieregulierung normativ ausgestalten koennen, ohne die unionsrechtlichen Vorgaben zu verletzen. Die Beitrage analysieren zudem, welche Spielraume fur umlagefinanzierte Foerdersysteme die neue Rechtsprechung des EuGH zum EEG 2012 eroeffnet und inwieweit die jungsten Entscheidungen des EuGH noch Raum fur eine Investitionsschutz-Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit lassen, z.B. im Rahmen des Energiecharta-Vertrags.

This book analyses the crucial role that guns play in the dynamics of extreme violence engulfing Latin America and the policies that are being implemented to confront it. Gun control is surprisingly not a prominent issue in most countries of the region, but this situation is rapidly changing as proliferation and violence dramatically increase. The book adopts an extended version of John Kingdon's influential Multiple Streams Framework to explore how gun control enters political agendas and why some countries act to end gun violence and others do not. In this effort, the Brazilian Disarmament Statute and the Uruguayan Responsible Firearm Ownership Law serve as in-depth case studies that exhibit the region's heterogeneity and put Kingdon's policy theory to the test. Gun Control Policies in Latin America is an essential reading for anyone interested in Latin American security and public policies.

Cloud-Dienste gewinnen mit dem stetigen Wandel der Technik immer groessere praktische Bedeutung. Fehlten bislang ausdruckliche Regelungen zu Cloud-Computing-Vertragen im deutschen Recht, konkretisiert nunmehr die Digitale-Inhalte-Richtlinie spezifische Rechte und Pflichten der Vertragsparteien eines Cloud-Computing-Vertrags. Die Autorin befasst sich vor diesem Hintergrund mit der Frage, inwieweit sich die Rechte und Pflichten der Vertragsparteien bei Mangelhaftigkeit der Cloud-Dienste mit der Verabschiedung der Digitale-Inhalte-Richtlinie verandern. Ein besonderes Augenmerk legt die Autorin hierbei auf die Mangelrechte des Nutzers, die Beweislast fur das Bestehen eines Mangels sowie auf die Moeglichkeit des Anbieters, seine Haftung zu begrenzen.

The importance of public opinion in the determination of public policy is the subject of considerable debate. Whether discussion centres on local, state or national affairs, the influence of the opinions of ordinary citizens is often assumed yet rarely demonstrated. Other factors such as interest group lobbying, party politics and developmental, or environmental, constraints have been thought to have the greater influence over policy decisions. Professors Erikson, Wright and McIver make the argument that state policies are highly responsive to public opinion, and they show how the institutions of state politics work to achieve this high level of responsiveness. They analyse state policies from the 1930s to the present, drawing from, and contributing to, major lines of research on American politics. Their conclusions are applied to central questions of democratic theory and affirm the robust character of the state institution.

Swiss Maid: Verborgene Krafte und Schatze in der Erfolgsgeschichte der Schweiz untersucht die Arbeit und Leistungen von einfachen Frauen und wie sie die Schweiz mitgestaltet haben. Frauen waren tatig in religioesen Institutionen, in der Hauswirtschaft, auf Bauernhoefen, im Handwerk und Gewerbe, in der Madchenbildung, im Pflegebereich, in der Fursorge, im Militar, in der Industrie und im Dienstleistungssektor. Obwohl judischchristliche Traditionen die Frauen in untergeordneten Rollen einschlossen, entwickelten die Frauen ihre eigenen Starken und trugen zur erfolgreichen Volkswirtschaft des Landes bei. Allerdings wurde die Arbeit dieser Frauen nicht in die Staatsbuchhaltung aufgenommen und in Produktivitatsmodellen bewertet und anerkannt. In diesem Buch werden qualitative und quantitative Daten vorgestellt, die zur Ermittlung von soziooekonomischen Aussagen erforderlich sind. Ausbildung, Arbeitsteilung und soziale Strukturen vergangener Jahrhunderte werden in Bezug auf die Produktivitat von Frauen ebenso diskutiert wie die sozialen Veranderungen in jungerer Zeit. Multifaktor- Produktivitatskonzepte und soziale Wohlstandsmessungen beleuchten den enormen Wert der Arbeit von Frauen. Portrats von wegweisenden und gewoehnlichen Frauen zeugen von ihrem unerschrockenen Mut und ihren aussergewoehnlichen Beitragen, ohne die die Marke "Swiss Made" und das Image der Schweiz nicht erfolgreich waren. Nur wenn wir die Frauen-einschliessende Geschichte kennen, verstehen wir die Gegenwart. Dieses Buch schliesst die Lucke im Schweizer Erfolgsmodell.

Examining the startling revival of the Scottish Conservative Party under Ruth Davidson's leadership Key features First book to examine the recent revival of the Scottish Conservative Party Analyses the Scottish Conservative Party and Ruth Davidson's leadership in ground-breaking ways, for example in the context of gender and LGBT politics; its relationships with the SNP, Northern Ireland, the Scottish media and the UK Tory Party; its use of Scottish national identity in promoting itself electorally Complements and updates David Torrance's 2012 edited volume for Edinburgh University Press on the decline of the party, Whatever Happened to Tory Scotland? Helps inform Scottish political and academic discourse ahead of the 2021 Holyrood elections When Ruth Davidson was elected leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party in 2011, it was considered something of a joke: in electoral decline for decades, politically irrelevant and apparently beyond the point of no return. But by 2017, 'Ruth Davidson's Conservatives' had become Scotland's second party at Holyrood and Westminster, and its leader spoken of as a future leader of the UK Conservative Party, if not the next Scottish First Minister. This book, which brings together leading academics and analysts, examines the extraordinary revival of the Scottish Conservative Party between 2011 and Ruth Davidson's shock resignation in 2019. Contributors look at the importance of gender and sexuality, the 2014 independence referendum, the Scottish media and the UK Conservative Party's 'territorial code' to the changing fortunes of the party and its leader, asking if it can be sustained amid the turbulence of two ongoing constitutional debates.

The 2019 general election radically changed the political map of England. People in "left-behind towns" want politics to reflect and respond to their needs. England needs its own devolution, and this book includes case studies where local communities have tackled these problems and embraced regeneration. These include the metropolitan areas of Greater London, Liverpool, Newcastle Upon Tyne, and Plymouth and the smaller towns of Stamford, Grantham and Blyth Valley, Northumberland, one of the Red Wall constituencies that changed political allegiance at the 2019 general election. England's Future discusses how politics influence the environment in England. Covering Brexit, the pandemic, and the 2019 general election, among other themes, this book will appeal to those who enjoy books on politics, social history, education, the environment and to those working in councils and the wider public sector.

From "Reefer Madness" to legal purchase at the corner store.With long-time legal and social barriers to marijuana falling across much of the United States, the time has come for an accessible and informative look at attitudes toward the dried byproduct of Cannabis sativa. Marijuana: A Short History profiles the politics and policies concerning the five-leaf plant in the United States and around the world. Millions of Americans have used marijuana at some point in their lives, yet it remains a substance shrouded by myth, misinformation, and mystery. And nearly a century of prohibition has created an enforcement system that is racist, and the continuing effects of racially-targeted over criminalization limit economic and social opportunities in communities of color. Marijuana: A Short History tells this story, and that of states stepping up to enact change. This book offers an up-to-date, cutting-edge look at how a plant with a tumultuous history has emerged from the shadows of counterculture and illegality. Today, marijuana has become a remarkable social, economic, and even political force with a surprising range of advocates and opponents. Over the past two decades marijuana policy has transformed dramatically in the United States, as dozens of states have openly defied the federal government. Marijuana: A Short History provides a brief yet compelling narrative that discusses the social and cultural history of marijuana but also tells us how a once-vilified plant has been transformed into a serious, even mainstream, public policy issue. Focusing on politics, the media, government, racism, criminal justice, and education, the book describes why public policy has changed, and what that change might mean for marijuana's future place in society.

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Marco Just Quiles offers new perspectives on how domestic and external factors interact to shape variations in local state capacity. Using Bolivia as a case, he applies quantitative and qualitative methods to decode the nexus between global interdependencies, subnational bargaining processes, and diverging configurations of public service provision at the local level. Relying in part on newly compiled indicators, the author presents the ways in which shifting distributional coalitions between regional elites, central governments and their connections with international markets in different periods of the last century have produced the contemporary fragmentation of stateness in Bolivia.

This book studies political leadership at the local level, based on data from a survey of the mayors of cities of more than 10,000 inhabitants in 29 European countries carried out between 2014 and 2016. The book compares these results with those of a similar survey conducted ten years ago. From this comparative perspective, the book examines how to become a mayor in Europe today, the attitudes of these politicians towards administrative and territorial reforms, their notions of democracy, their political priorities, whether or not party politicization plays a role at the municipal level, and how mayors interact with other actors in the local political arena. This study addresses students, academics and practitioners concerned at different levels with the functioning and reforms of the municipal level of local government.

This volume examines how urban stakeholders in China - particularly city governments and social actors - tackle China's urban environmental crisis. The volume's case studies speak to important interdisciplinary themes such as new tools and instruments of urban green governance, climate change and urban carbon consumption, green justice, digital governance, public participation, social media, social movements, and popular protest. It lays out a unique theoretical framework for examining and discussing urban green governance. The case studies are based on extensive fieldwork that examines governance failures, challenges, and innovations from across China, including the largest cities. They show that numerous policies, experiments, and reforms have been put in place in China - mostly on a pragmatic basis, but also as a result of both strategic policy design, civil participation, and protest. The book highlights how China's urban governments bring together diverse programmatic building blocks and instruments, from China and elsewhere. Written by experts and researchers from different disciplines at leading universities in China and the Nordic countries in Europe, this volume will be of interest to researchers and students who are interested in Chinese politics, especially urban politics, governance issues, and social movements. Both students and teachers will find the theoretical perspectives and case studies useful in their coursework.The unique green governance perspective makes this a work that is empirically and theoretically interesting for those working with urban political and environmental studies and urbanization worldwide.