| 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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