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There is increasing pressure on local authorities to restructure themselves to meet current expectations from the public. Multilevel governance has emerged as one method for such restructuring. Using the results of a survey conduc...
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There is increasing pressure on local authorities to restructure themselves to meet current expectations from the public. Multilevel governance has emerged as one method for such restructuring. Using the results of a survey conducted among 1733 residents of local authorities in Israel, we explore the effects of three specific multilevel governance reforms - the merging, disaggregation and clustering of local government authorities - on residents' assessments about local governance and democracy. Our findings underscore the importance of public support for the structural reform. Those who become involved in soft reforms involving bottom-up groups and voluntary coalitions that cluster together are more likely to trust their local authority, feel it responds to their needs satisfactorily and listens to them. However, the more support they express, the more their perceptions are attenuated. In contrast, residents of local authorities that amalgamated with other communities that then went through hard reforms, such as merging and disaggregation involving up-scaling and top-down reforms, had fewer positive opinions about these issues. Only residents who strongly favoured the merger had positive perceptions about local governability and participation in decision-making and were satisfied with local services and trusted the local government. We discuss these findings and draw conclusions about their implications for local structural reforms in an era of local and regional governance.
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Purpose - Given the spread of multi-level governance tools, interaction between local and regional governments has become an important mechanism for service delivery and the implementation of public policies. The purpose of this p...
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Purpose - Given the spread of multi-level governance tools, interaction between local and regional governments has become an important mechanism for service delivery and the implementation of public policies. The purpose of this paper is to empirically test a model of cooperative relations affecting local governments and thus having impact on local autonomy and dependence. Design/methodology/approach - This paper takes previous typologies as a starting point to theoretically build and empirically test a model of cooperative relations based on two selected indicators: the degree of autonomy-dependence and the degree of rigidity-flexibility of the cooperative system. In a second step, the authors stimulate the model numerically to match real data on it coming from South European local governments to assess the functioning of the theory in a concrete space and time. Findings - The combination of the aforementioned concepts, creates a four-option theoretical model that describes four possible situations where cooperative intergovernmental relations can be empirically placed. Originality/value - This paper points out the need to incorporate empirical studies to trace the characteristics and evolution of the cooperative relations between local governments and upper tiers. This is particularly relevant if the authors are referring to mechanisms that can vary through time. In the current big and open data era, this empirical process will become easier and more affordable. In this context, local government studies benefit from particular features that improve the operation of this kind of analysis: large "N" configuration (a large number of units to be included) and a reasonable equivalence in concepts and bodies that allows comparability.
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Purpose - Alongside public agencies and private firms, non-profit organizations (NPOs) play a vital role in the delivery of human services in a number of advanced nations. The purpose of this paper is to advance a theory of leader...
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Purpose - Alongside public agencies and private firms, non-profit organizations (NPOs) play a vital role in the delivery of human services in a number of advanced nations. The purpose of this paper is to advance a theory of leadership to try to explain how NPOs can overcome the various forms of voluntary sector failure described by Salamon. Design/methodology/approach - Examines the conditions under which leadership style is likely to prevail and the influence they are likely to have on the direction of local government reform. Findings - Advances a theory of leadership to better understand this problem and its implications for public policy. Originality/value - Adds to existing literature by demonstrating that leadership can ameliorate some kinds of voluntary sector failure.
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This contribution discusses the theoretical and conceptual implications of asking about the legitimacy of local democracy and the relevance of discussing 'performance legitimacy'. The role of local government in generating or unde...
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This contribution discusses the theoretical and conceptual implications of asking about the legitimacy of local democracy and the relevance of discussing 'performance legitimacy'. The role of local government in generating or undermining democratic legitimacy is ambivalent. It is questionable whether there can be something like a genuine legitimacy of local government at all, considering its subordinate and functio-nalised role in the modern (welfare) state. In the first part of the article, the complexity and controversial status of political legitimacy in general and local government in particular is exposed. It is argued that the effective interplay of justification (giving acceptable reasons for policies) and demonstration (performing successfully by fulfilling promises), which is at the core of generating legitimacy, cannot be deduced from general concepts and fixed in a general model. Generating a self-reinforcing dynamic of public support and linking different dimensions of legitimacy (input, throughput, output) is a matter of reflexive institutionalisation. Being part of a democratic welfare state has provided local governments in Western democracies with a stabilised focus of legitimacy. At the same time, local governments are particularly under pressure to adapt, to innovate and to modernise. Four broader narratives of changing democratic legitimacy sources with respect to local government are discussed. The shift to 'performance legitimacy' has to be seen in a wider context of redefining the meaning of (local) democracy as mapped out by the four narratives.
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The article reviews the recent Institute for Fiscal Studies (IfFS) report, English Council Funding: What's Happened and What's Next. The article provides an overview of the main themes and findings of the report which examines the...
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The article reviews the recent Institute for Fiscal Studies (IfFS) report, English Council Funding: What's Happened and What's Next. The article provides an overview of the main themes and findings of the report which examines the consequences of a sustained period of austerity for English local government and the impact of austerity on certain key council services. The article explores what the report has to say about the way councils have responded to reductions in government funding and the strategies they have developed to protect certain frontline services. The article reviews the suggestions made in the IfFS report for changing English local government funding and finds that they reflect a form of centralist thinking which lacks a radical edge when it comes to reform.
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At a time of "austerity localism", this paper explores how local authorities in London, England, are simultaneously addressing the dual pressures of delivering fiscal retrenchment and of enrolling citizens in new participatory pub...
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At a time of "austerity localism", this paper explores how local authorities in London, England, are simultaneously addressing the dual pressures of delivering fiscal retrenchment and of enrolling citizens in new participatory public service arrangements, asking whether "these trends pull against one another, in opposite directions, or whether they are the tough and tender dimensions of a singular process: austerian management" Drawing on empirical research into the London Borough of Lambeth's Cooperative Council agenda, as well as Foucauldian and Gramscian critiques of participatory network governance theories and practice, this paper shows how participatory forms of governance can be folded into the logic of hierarchy and coercion through various governmental technologies of performance and agency (consent), and through tactics of administrative domination (coercion). As budget cuts continue to affect local government in England, this paper concludes that although small experiments in participatory governance may persist, the dominant mode of governance is likely to shift towards more hierarchical and coercive forms.
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Contemporary governance has become increasingly complex, both in terms of the goals being pursued and the instruments being used to pursue those goals. This article provides a framework for understanding that complexity, based on ...
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Contemporary governance has become increasingly complex, both in terms of the goals being pursued and the instruments being used to pursue those goals. This article provides a framework for understanding that complexity, based on the experiences of local governments in the Nordic region. The numerous local authorities and the numerous organizations involved in governance in this region provide a particularly important laboratory for understanding attempts to steer complex policy systems.
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Over recent years central-local relations has been a neglected topic for research in England. Local government research has mostly focused on political and institutional changes at the local level. The aim of this article is to se...
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Over recent years central-local relations has been a neglected topic for research in England. Local government research has mostly focused on political and institutional changes at the local level. The aim of this article is to set out a future research agenda on central-local relations which recognises how the spread of new 'governance' arrangements has changed those relations and how insights from the governance literature can shed light on those relations. The article stresses the need (1) to understand local policy processes and outcomes within the context of a wide range of non-local factors and actors, and (2) how those processes and outcomes have changed as governance arrangements have grown in significance. The contemporary politics of the welfare state involve both a greater central reliance on governance arrangements but also a rejection of the formerly highly institutionalised national local government system, dominated by service-based policy communities. Instead, the national-level policy processes now involve more diverse types of actors and, in many cases, cut across service-based boundaries. The key question is the extent to which these changes have modified the policy systems within which local government is embedded and whether they are more pluralistic or open than the old policy communities which once dominated local government policy-making at the centre.
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Transferring public service provision to state-owned enterprises (SOEs) raises concerns over accountability deficits. We argue that the governance of SOEs requires reconciliation of the accountability relations found in traditiona...
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Transferring public service provision to state-owned enterprises (SOEs) raises concerns over accountability deficits. We argue that the governance of SOEs requires reconciliation of the accountability relations found in traditional models of public administration, and the normative structures of control and accountability developed in the world of private enterprises, commonly referred to as corporate governance. To this end, we propose a model for structuring accountability relations between SOEs and governmental owners. The model prescribes a distinction between the roles of elected representatives and top managers as "forums" for accountability concerning the governmental owner's mission-related and non-mission-related preferences towards the SOE. The model's relevance is tested empirically using data from a study of SOEs in Norway's local government sector. The analysis indicates that accountability practices in line with the prescriptions of the model were associated with a heightened sense of control over the SOEs.
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The aim of this paper is to understand how Local Agenda 21 (LA21) is contributing to update local policy and decision making towards sustainable development in Portugal. Departing from a theoretical view of governance for sustaina...
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The aim of this paper is to understand how Local Agenda 21 (LA21) is contributing to update local policy and decision making towards sustainable development in Portugal. Departing from a theoretical view of governance for sustainable development - its core values and challenges - and the role of LA21 in its endorsement, the paper presents the main results of a questionnaire survey submitted to Portuguese municipalities, with the purpose of understanding how far LA21 is being incorporated into planning and management. The paper then tries to expose some of the main potential, limitations and challenges in the local Portuguese case for the short-term sustainable future.
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