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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Local government
Wilson examines how economic and political decentralization is affecting the development policymaking environment at the state level. The book first empirically examines the changing economic geography of the country and the specific effects on the economic structure of states. Following this, three case studies are presented. These constitute an investigation of the intergovernmental context of public policymaking and the historical role of state government in development. Economic development and technology policy generally involve targeted assistance to particular elements of the economy. Telecommunications policy represents a regulatory role for states in the most significant infrastructure of the information age. Education and training, long principal responsibilities of state government, represent a form of social infrastructure and are perhaps the most vital for ensuring the long-term viability of a states's economy. Each of these policy areas present different state development roles, and the ability of a state to adapt its policies appropriately will determine--according to this author--its future prosperity. This text will be of interest to scholars, students, and policymakers in regional planning, state and local government, public administration, and public policy.
Topical and up to date, Talons of the Eagle: Latin America, the United States, and the World, Fifth Edition, presents an eminent scholar's perspective on the interaction between global trends and inter-American affairs-a subject that has become crucially important in the current era. Rather than concentrating solely on U.S. policy, Peter H. Smith and Ana Covarrubias uniquely address the structural relationships between the two regions by focusing on international systems, the distribution of power, and the perception and pursuit of national interests. Throughout, this provocative text casts light on such contemporary issues as economic integration, drug trafficking, undocumented migration, and the rise of Latin America's "new left." It also analyzes Latin American reactions and responses to the U.S.-and to the rest of the world-in these complex and troubling times.
First published in 1985, Decentralization provides an analytical framework for the comparative study of decentralization in contemporary systems of government. It discusses the structures and processes of all forms of decentralized government and administration, drawing on a wide range of states, developed and developing, capitalist and socialist. The book provides a comparative and theoretical treatment of a subject that for too long has been dealt with in a fragmented and ethnocentric fashion. Decentralization is examined from a theoretical perspective and the political demand for it is analysed. Four key universal themes are then explored: areas, intergovernmental relations, finance and institutions. Decentralization to small-scale communities is discussed and the special claims made for decentralization in developing countries are assessed. Examples are drawn from a wide range of countries throughout the world. The book is intended for courses in public administration, comparative government, urban studies and public policy. It will help both the student and the non-specialist understand an important and topical aspect of government everywhere.
This book provides a conceptual framework for understanding the inclusive city. It clarifies the concept, dimensions and tensions of social and economic inclusion and outlines different forms of exclusion to which inclusion may be an antidote. The authors argue that as inclusion involves a range of inter-group and intragroup tensions, the unifying role of local government is crucial in making inclusion a reality for all, as is also the adoption of an inclusive and collaborative governance style. The book emphasizes the need to shift from citizens' rights to value creation, thus building a connection with urban economic development. It demonstrates that inclusion is an opportunity to widen the local resource base, create collaborative synergies, and improve conditions for entrepreneurship, which are conducive to the creation of shared urban prosperity.
This excellent reference source brings together hard-to-find information on the constituent units of the Russian Federation. The introduction examines the Russian Federation as a whole, followed by a chronology, demographic and economic statistics, and a review of the Federal Government. The second section comprises territorial surveys, each of which includes a current map. This edition includes surveys covering the annexed (and disputed) territories of Crimea and Sevastopol, as well as updated surveys of each of the other 83 federal subjects. The third section comprises a select bibliography of books. The fourth section features a series of indexes, listing the territories alphabetically, by Federal Okrug and Economic Area. Users will also find a gazetteer of selected alternative and historic names, a list of the territories abolished, created or reconstituted in the post-Soviet period, and an index of more than 100 principal cities, detailing the territory in which each is located.
Today, decision-making increasingly takes place in highly complex situations where the optimal solution is unclear upfront. If the decision-making process extends over several years - as in cases of large infrastructure projects - best available technologies, the group of people affected, and the institutions involved change over time. The presented research provides a decision-making concept for such situations. Based on a sound content analysis with over 400 documents and more than 31,000 pages, the regulatory structure of governance of the extension of Frankfurt Airport since the 1960s is analyzed. As a result, the theoretically derived concept of Experimentalist Regional Governance to analyze regulatory structures of governance in highly complex decision-making processes is confirmed.
This book reviews the character and impacts of 'actually-existing' neoliberalism in Ireland. It examines the property-development boom and its legacy, the impacts of neoliberal urban policy in reshaping the city, public resistance to the new urban policy and highlights salient points to be drawn from the Irish experience of neoliberalism.
What are the roles of governments and other actors in solving, or alleviating, collective action problems in today's world? The traditional conceptual frameworks of public administration and public policy studies have become less relevant in answering this question. This book critically assesses traditional conceptual frameworks and proposes an alternative: a complex governance networks (CGN) framework. Advocating that complexity theory should be systematically integrated with foundational concepts of public administration and public policy, Goektug Morcoel begins by clarifying the component concepts of CGN and then addresses the implications of CGN for key issues in public administration and policy studies: effectiveness, accountability, and democracy. He illustrates the applicability of the CGN concepts with examples for the COVID-19 pandemic and metropolitan governance, particularly the roles of business improvement districts in governance processes. Morcoel concludes by discussing the implications of CGN for the convergence of public administration and public policy education and offering suggestions for future studies using the CGN conceptualization. Complex Governance Networks is essential reading for both scholars and advanced students of public policy, public administration, public affairs, and related areas.
Handbook of Civil Society and Social Movements in Small States depicts the way civil society encompasses social movements, which are considered to be loosely organized collective campaigns in pursuit of social goals. These two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, however, some authors argue that social movements tend to engage in 'contentious politics' including protests, while NGOs engage through more organized and institutional routes. The volume deals with particular characteristics of small states, including limited ability to reap the benefits of economies of scale, high degree of exposure to forces outside their control, and the proximity of politicians to the voters, often leading to clientelistic relationships and patronage networks. The small island developing states have the additional problem of high environmental vulnerability, with some also dealing with disproportionate ecological footprints. These factors have a bearing on the organization and performance of civil society organizations and social movements, as explained in several chapters of this book.
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.
Kristian Coates Ulrichsen documents the startling rise of the Arab Gulf States as regional powers with international reach and provides a definitive account of how they have become embedded in the global system of power, politics, and policy-making.
First published in 1980, Paris and the Provinces explores why reforms of central-local relations in France have been so ineffectual. Professor Gourevitch discovers the cause in party politics and personal rivalries. The struggle for dominance among different parties (Gaullists, Communists, Socialists, Christian Democrats, Independents and others) and individuals (De Gaulle, Giscard, Chirac, Mitterand, Marchais, etc.) has influenced virtually every aspect of institutional reform, from the creation of the regional administration and delineation of its powers to the delegation of specific responsibilities to cities and towns. Conflict over the mechanisms that link local life to the national government is by no means limited to France. This book closely examines comparable events in Italy and analyses the factors that differentiate the strength of 'ethnically' based challenges to central authority in Britain, Spain, Belgium, Yugoslavia and Canada, from the relative weakness of such challenges in France, Italy and Germany. By evaluating the territorial distribution between the capital and the countryside as both an influence on and an object of policy, Paris and the Provinces contributes significantly to understanding the connections between party politics and policy formation and will be of interest to students of political science, government, and public policy.
The Canadian provinces have evolved quite different ways of responding to the policy problems posed by religious schools. Seeking to understand this peculiar reality, Faith, Rights, and Choice articulates the ways in which the provincial governance regimes developed for religious schools have changed over time. Covering nearly three centuries, the book begins with the founding of schooling systems in New France and continues into a variety of present-day conflicts that emerged over the question of religion in schools. James Farney and Clark Banack employ a method of process-tracing, drawing on 88 semi-structured interviews with key policy insiders. They also reference archival material documenting meetings, political speeches, and legislative debates related to government decisions around issues of religious education. Relying on the theoretical foundations of both historical institutionalism and Canadian political development, Faith, Rights, and Choice presents a new analytic framework to help make sense of the policy divergence witnessed across Canada.
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.
Systemic Islamophobia in Canada presents critical perspectives on systemic Islamophobia in Canadian politics, law, and society, and maps areas for future research and inquiry. The authors consist of both scholars and professionals who encounter in the ordinary course of their work the – sometimes banal, sometimes surprising – operation of systemic Islamophobia. Centring the lived realities of Muslims primarily in Canada, but internationally as well, the contributors identify the limits of democratic accountability in the operation of our shared institutions of government. Intended as a guide, the volume identifies important points of consideration that have systemic implications for whether, how, and under what conditions Islamophobia is enabled and perpetuated, and in some cases even rendered respectable policy or bureaucratic practice in Canada. Ultimately, Systemic Islamophobia in Canada identifies a range of systemically Islamophobic sites in Canada to guide citizens and policymakers in fulfilling the promise of an inclusive democratic Canada.
Reclaiming Participatory Governance offers empirical and theoretical perspectives on how the relationship between social movements and state institutions is emerging and developing through new modes of participatory governance. One of the most interesting political developments of the past decade has been the adoption by social movements of strategies seeking to change political institutions through participatory governance. These strategies have flourished in a variety of contexts, from anti-austerity and pro-social justice protests in Spain, to movements demanding climate transition and race equality in the UK and the USA, to constitutional reforms in Belgium and Iceland. The chief ambition and challenge of these new forms of participatory governance is to institutionalise the prefigurative politics and social justice values that inspired them in the first place, by mobilising the bureaucracy to respond to their claims for reforms and rights. The authors of this volume assess how participatory governance is being transformed and explore the impact of such changes, providing timely critical reflections on: the constraints imposed by cultural, economic and political power relations on these new empowered participatory spaces; the potential of this new "wave" of participatory democracy to reimagine the relationship between citizens and traditional institutions towards more radical democratic renewal; where and how these new democratisation efforts sit within the representative state; and how tensions between the different demands of lay citizens, organised civil society and public officials are being managed. This book will be an important resource for students and academics in political science, public administration and social policy, as well as activists, practitioners and policymakers interested in supporting innovative engagement for deeper social transformation.
The Local Government Act 2000 has transformed the way in which local politics operates within local authorities. Local councillors have had to adjust to the introduction of elected mayors, cabinet government and scrutiny committees, and cope with a range of other new initiatives. This book is a unique attempt to provide a coherent analysis of the impact of these changes on the world of local politics. The book provides a comprehensive review of the operation of politics in local government, including the impact of national and local political parties on the behaviour of party groups in local authorities, the way party groups interact with each other, the changing role of local political leadership and the relationship of local politicians with senior council officers. The changing role of local politics in Britain Is essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students and their teachers on local government, politics, public policy and public administration courses, as well as officers in local authorities who wish to gain a deeper understanding of the political environment in which they work.
The book focuses on the cities and urban policy systems analysed in the strategic (long-term) perspective. Due to this unique perspective, the book enables the multifactorial analysis of the conditions and mechanisms of creating the urban policy system in the Visegrad Group states and Ukraine. Undoubtedly, there is a lack of studies presenting the strategic approach to creating urban policy system discussed in the broad context of the transformations of the modern democratic state and, what is connected with it, through the prism of the processes of decentralization, Europeanization and regionalization. The monograph, in the intention of the editor and the team of authors, is to fill this undeniable gap.
In From Mandate to Blueprint, Thomas Fingar offers a guide for new federal government appointees faced with the complex task of rebuilding institutions and transitioning to a new administration. Synthesizing his own experience implementing the most comprehensive reforms to the national security establishment since 1947, Fingar provides crucial guidance to newly appointed officials. When Fingar was appointed the first Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Analysis in 2005, he discovered the challenges of establishing a new federal agency and implementing sweeping reforms of intelligence procedure and performance. The mandate required prompt action but provided no guidance on how to achieve required and desirable changes. Fingar describes how he defined and prioritized the tasks involved in building and staffing a new organization, integrating and improving the work of sixteen agencies, and contending with pressure from powerful players. For appointees without the luxury of taking command of fully staffed and well-functioning federal agencies, From Mandate to Blueprint is an informed and practical guide for the challenges ahead.
The Routledge Handbook of Collective Intelligence for Democracy and Governance explores the concepts, methodologies, and implications of collective intelligence for democratic governance, in the first comprehensive survey of this field. Illustrated by a collection of inspiring case studies and edited by three pioneers in collective intelligence, this handbook serves as a unique primer on the science of collective intelligence applied to public challenges and will inspire public actors, academics, students, and activists across the world to apply collective intelligence in policymaking and administration to explore its potential, both to foster policy innovations and reinvent democracy. The Routledge Handbook of Collective Intelligence for Democracy and Governance is essential reading and an authoritative reference for scholars, students, researchers and practitioners of public policy, public administration, governance, public management, information technology and systems, innovation and democracy as well as more broadly for political science, psychology, management studies, public organizations and individual policy practitioners, public authorities, civil society activists and service providers.
This book explores new forms of popular organisation that emerged from strikes in India and Brazil between 2011 and 2014. Based on four case studies, the author traces the alliances and relations that strikers developed during their mobilisations with other popular actors such as students, indigenous peoples, and people displaced by dam projects. The study locates the mass strikes in Brazil's construction industry and India's automobile industry in a global conjuncture of protest movements, and develops a new theory of strikes that can take account of the manifold ways in which labour unrest is embedded in local communities and regional networks. "Joerg Nowak has written an ambitious, wide-ranging and very important book. Based on extensive empirical research in Brazil and India and a thorough analysis of the secondary literature, Nowak reveals that numerous labour conflicts develop in the absence of trade unions, but with the support of kinship networks, local communities, social movements and other types of associations. This impressive work may well become a major building block for a new interpretation of global workers' struggles." -Marcel van der Linden, International Institute of Social History, The Netherlands "Nowak's book meticulously details the trajectory of strikes and its resultant new forms of organisations in India and Brazil. The central focus of this analytically rich and thought provoking book is to search for a new political alternative model of organising workers. A very good deed indeed!" -Nandita Mondal, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India "Joerg Nowak analyses with critical sense forms of popular organization that often remain invisible. It is an indispensable book for all those who are looking for more effective analytical resources to better understand the present situation and the future promises of the workers' movements." -Roberto Veras de Oliveira, Federal University of Paraiba, Brazil "In this timely and important study, Nowak convincingly challenges the dominant Eurocentric approach to labour conflict and calls for a new theory of strikes. He stresses the need to engage in a wider perspective that includes social reproduction, neighbourhood mobilisations, and the specific traditions of struggles in the Global South." -Edward Webster, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
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.
Local government affects us all. Wherever we live, in towns, cities, villages or in the smallest of communities, there are locally elected councils tasked with representing people's interests in the running of the local area. This involves, inter alia, providing public services, maintaining local spaces and acting as a level of democratic governance within the broader constitutional and executive structure of the state. To fulfil these responsibilities, though, local government must be democratically legitimate; it must have at its disposal reasonable means and resources to function; and it must enjoy a healthy and balanced relationship with central government. This book explores and analyses the extent to which local government in the different parts of the UK is able to function effectively and democratically. It draws from local councillors' views in analysing the state of local government under the current constitutional and governmental arrangements, discussing issues such as councils' relationship with central government; citizen engagement; finance and public services; and the impact of recent reforms. It contrasts and compares the different approaches adopted in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, also setting out and discussing possible reforms of local government in the United Kingdom. While the focus is on the UK, the work includes a comparison with other relevant jurisdictions. |
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