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| 1 |
ID:
108384
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| Publication |
2011.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Since the 1990s, local governments in many countries have responded to the crisis of public finances, legitimacy, and a low level of performance with a combination of territorial and functional reforms, and the introduction of management and political reforms. This article focuses on the latter by analyzing new modes of citizen participation in Germany and Japan. It will employ theoretical assumptions from the local governance debate in order to explore the democratic dimensions of local government reforms. The question considered is concerned with the political context for new modes of participation and whether they can offer opportunities for an improvement of local democracy in terms of an increase in legitimacy and political capacity building for citizens. The conclusion will be reached that while we would expect more favorable preconditions in Germany with regard to a positive impact on local democracy, the opposite is the case: a relatively weak tradition of local autonomy and low resources of civil society actors in Japan explains their focus on co-production of services with local governments but at the same time offers greater opportunities for an improvement in local democracy.
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| 2 |
ID:
188642
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| Summary/Abstract |
How do bureaucrat-local politician relations affect the inclusiveness of local governance in emerging democracies? This study answers the question through conducting a case study of Tunisia. The study evaluates interview data recently collected among 39 municipalities in socio-economically divergent regions with mayors, city council members, civil society members, and a governor, and examines transparency data compiled for all 350 municipalities by an independent civil society organization. The findings suggest that partisanship appointment of governors can limit the inclusiveness of local governance through perpetuating hierarchical relations with mayors at the expense of inclusive local engagement mechanisms. An analysis on the Transparency Index of municipalities within governorates with identified partisanship ties (n = 206) indicates that municipal governance becomes less transparent when a governor shares a political background similar to the ideological position of the mayor’s party. Thus, partisan appointments of bureaucrats can have implications for the inclusiveness of local governance.
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| 3 |
ID:
181917
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The cadre system in China is designed to reduce human error as well as improve government efficiency and competence. Focusing on the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR), this research analyses the particularities of the cadre system in China’s ethnic minority regions and their impact on local governance. It argues that peculiarities in the recruitment, evaluation, term of office and ethnic minority cadre arrangements have actively and passively encouraged controversial cadre behaviours at the local level. Together with the historical, political and demographic conditions in the TAR, the cadre system has, at times, decreased the efficiency, competence and credibility of local governments. Although changes have been introduced in recent years to address some of the issues, the cadre system’s impact on local governance remains fundamental.
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| 4 |
ID:
103293
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| Publication |
2011.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Success in war depends on alignment between operations and strategy. Commonly, such alignment takes time as civilian and military leaders assess the effectiveness of operations and adjust them to ensure that strategic objectives are achieved. This article assesses prospects for the US-led campaign in Afghanistan. Drawing on extensive field research, the authors find that significant progress has been made at the operational level in four key areas: the approach to counterinsurgency operations, development of Afghan security forces, growth of Afghan sub-national governance and military momentum on the ground. However, the situation is bleak at the strategic level. The article identifies three strategic obstacles to campaign success: corruption in Afghan national government, war-weariness in NATO countries and insurgent safe havens in Pakistan. These strategic problems require political developments that are beyond the capabilities of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). In other words, further progress at the operational level will not bring 'victory'. It concludes, therefore, that there is an operational-strategic disconnect at the heart of the ISAF campaign.
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| 5 |
ID:
162846
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| Summary/Abstract |
One feature of Chinese Catholicism, as identi ed by o cial Chinese
investigation, is that most Chinese Catholics belong to traditional
Catholic families and communities, which include generations of
believers. is is a relatively stable religious population, whose growth
depends largely on the continuity of the family and the community. To
explore the origins of this legacy, this article studies the formation and
early development of Chinese Catholic communities in Northeast
China and their models of religious governance. It argues that the widespread Catholic missions since the 19th century diffused not only
religion but also notions of autonomy and models of local governance
among Chinese Christians. Based on archival research and eldwork,
the article focuses on two Catholic communities in Northeast China.
ese two cases demonstrate that the early development of Northeast
Catholic communities was largely due to immigration and the absence
of the state. e growth of the community coincided with the formation
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| 6 |
ID:
103697
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| 7 |
ID:
106219
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| Publication |
2011.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This article studies the impact of citizen participation on local government performance in Bulgaria. Both survey and interview data are used to suggest that, all else being equal, municipal efficacy grows with the increasing involvement of social and economic actors in the policy-making process. This improved government efficacy is most likely a result of the professionalisation and organisational strength of the third sector. Although the politicisation of the local state has undermined its capacity, municipalities have been able not only to reconstitute some of their authority but also to improve the output and the quality of their policy making by employing the expertise and support of major local civic organisations.
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| 8 |
ID:
107399
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| 9 |
ID:
173789
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In South Africa, community members have the constitutional right to partake in local governance and the local municipal council has the constitutional mandate to facilitate community participation. Qualitative research was used to assess the impact of power relations on community participation in the Mahikeng Local Municipality. The study findings indicate that power differentials contributed to the abandonment of the legislative provisions in the Mahikeng Local Municipality in the North-West Province of South Africa. Among other things, this paper recommends finalisation of the draft public participation framework. The framework should clearly identify and define the roles of the community, elected councillors and traditional authorities. The paper recommends the development of a strategy that includes clear and comprehensive public participation guidelines, protocols and processes to facilitate implementation of the framework. In consultation with the community, a detailed community participation schedule must be developed, implemented and continuously monitored and evaluated.
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| 10 |
ID:
133702
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2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The impact of armed conflict may persist long after the end of war, and may include a lasting institutional legacy. We use a novel dataset from rural Burundi to examine the impact of local exposure to conflict on institutional quality, and try to 'unbundle' institutions by distinguishing between three dimensions of the institutional framework: property rights security, local political institutions, and social capital. We find that conflict exposure affects institutional quality, and document that the impact of conflict on institutional quality may be positive or negative, depending on the institutional measure. Specifically, exposure to violence strengthens in-group social capital and promotes tenure security. However, the appreciation for state institutions is negatively affected by exposure to violence. We find no evidence consistent with design-based theories of institutional quality, or the idea that institutional quality is enhanced by interventions of (non)state external actors. Instead our findings provide some support for the theory of parochial altruism. Our results emphasize the importance for policymakers to consider autonomous responses to conflict when designing development programs. They further imply some caution for actors seeking to reform local institutions through top-down interventions.
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| 11 |
ID:
080897
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2008.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The article presents observations from a 2006 township election experiment in Ya'an Municipality, Sichuan Province. Gradual institutionalization of elections to Chinese village committees has for two decades fascinated those interested in social and political development in rural China. Elections at the next level-the townships-were seen by many, in China and outside, as a natural next step. For this reason, the election of a township mayor in Buyun in 1998 attracted considerable attention, but the official reaction was negative. The elections in Ya'an juxtaposed against this background are of considerable interest as they can be seen as a way of testing the direction and limits of future reforms. The Ya'an elections were not only for the mayor, but also for the entire township leadership, including the township Party secretary. However, the final selection was-as previously-made at higher politico-administrative levels with the voting results serving as just one input to the decision-making process. For this reason, these elections should be termed "consultative," and we suggest that such consultative elections can become an important tool in the party-state's cadre management.
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| 12 |
ID:
111301
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| 13 |
ID:
090418
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| Publication |
2009.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Was the South Ossetian war of August 2008 inevitable? Although conditions between the Georgian, South Ossetian and Russian political leadership had hardened into seemingly intractable positions from 1991-2008, the manner and timing of the August war were not certain. Analysts of the events, seeking to show Georgian culpability, argue that the personality and authoritarian style of Mikheil Saakashvili led to a nationalistic policy that aimed to undermine the interests of Georgia's national minorities. While the Georgian national minority policy was not overtly chauvinistic and certainly not indicative of a full-scale crackdown on the secessionist territories, particular centralizing characteristics of Georgia's state-building programme, some of them necessary reforms after over a decade of political stagnation under Shevardnadze, contributed to the increasing tensions that were part of the lead up to the South Ossetian war.
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| 14 |
ID:
062424
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| 15 |
ID:
148403
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| Publication |
Oxon, Routledge, 2016.
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| Description |
xxviii, 269p.: figures, tableshbk
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| Standard Number |
9781138219632
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Copies: C:1/I:0,R:0,Q:0
Circulation
| Accession# | Call# | Current Location | Status | Policy | Location |
| 058858 | 320.8054/VEN 058858 | Main | On Shelf | General | |
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| 16 |
ID:
192189
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| Summary/Abstract |
Does local democracy induce better service to citizens? While elected officials can be punished at the ballot box if they fail to address citizens’ needs, appointed bureaucrats may have policy knowledge that enables them to better serve citizens. Employing a multimethod design, this paper uses variation in local political institutions in Taiwan to assess the relative merits of direct election and bureaucratic appointment for local government responsiveness. While democratic institutions are often thought to induce responsiveness, I find that in Taiwan, with its historically strong bureaucracy and relatively new democratic institutions, the picture is somewhat more complicated. Elected and appointed officials face different incentives that motivate the latter to respond more quickly and effectively to online requests for help.
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| 17 |
ID:
152965
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| Summary/Abstract |
In the recent era of state formation in Afghanistan, hundreds of small popular movements rebelled against the Taliban throughout the country. One in particular stands out – the Andar Uprising in the spring of 2012 gave a compelling case of local vigilantism in an area ripe with historic grievances and narratives of community defense dating back to the anti-Soviet jihad. This case is compelling as it shows one faction of the movement engaging in protective paramilitary behavior over the civilian population, while the other faction engages in predatory behavior. Controlling processes, incentives structures, and narratives were all factors correlating to the rise of a popular anti-Taliban resistance in Andar District that battled the Taliban and perceived oppression in their district. When patrons and the community engaged in complementary governance over the paramilitary group, in this case through the Afghan Local Police (ALP), paramilitary behavior was protective of the civilian population. However, when patrons and communities failed to provide complementary governance, as the case of the remaining Uprising force after ALP institutionalization, the paramilitaries engaged in predation on the local population.
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| 18 |
ID:
132731
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| Publication |
2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
In the era of the "scientific development concept" of the Hu/Wen leadership, agents of knowledge transfer that eventually translates into policy comprise not only think tanks for policy formulation in central-state institutions but also researchers in universities supporting policy implementation at local levels. Well-established patterns of local scientific advisory frame collaborative fieldwork in Sino-Western scientific projects on local governance. However, there is a gap between our active integration into these patterns during fieldwork and our ability to clarify them as resources, reconstruct the selection of research topics and contextualize the research results within our academic discourses. Analysing site-finding, data collection, aggregation and dissemination of a research project with Chinese public health researchers on rural health service reform in Xinjiang between 2005 and 2010, I argue that fieldwork and the role performed as a scientific advisor for the political principal is the localized and daily interface where politics crosses into science.
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| 19 |
ID:
119219
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2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This article looks at Ciji (Tzu Chi), a Taiwanese Buddhist charity which has been active in China since 1991. Ciji's presence in China is all the more remarkable in view of outbreaks of crises in relations across the Taiwan Strait as well as the religious nature of the organization. The article first addresses the issue of Taiwan's soft power in its relations with China and suggests the possibility that Ciji's activities in Taiwan have shown China the benefits of a liberal policy towards religion in that charitable activities carried out by religious organizations complement the government's social policies. The second section chronicles Ciji's presence in China since 1991 and shows that local governments have their own reasons for welcoming Ciji's volunteers. The third section compares and contrasts state approaches in China and Taiwan with respect to the provision of social services by religious organizations and notes that even if local governments in China are learning about the benefits of a more open policy in their dealings with Ciji, the central government has not adopted the liberal approach of the Taiwanese government in the regulation of religion.
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| 20 |
ID:
129562
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2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
In Turkey, important decentralization measures were taken after the 1980s. The new administrative model gave local governments the role of dealing with social exclusion while financing social welfare expenditures through entrepreneurial investment of their non-material resources. This study is an attempt to discuss how such a challenge for local governments has been resolved through the analysis of gendering impacts of three decentralization reform programs.
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