Good Local Governance. Local Government Reform in Global Perspective. An Introduction

Author(s):  
Norbert Kersting ◽  
Janice Caulfield ◽  
R. Andrew Nickson ◽  
Dele Olowu ◽  
Hellmut Wollmann
Author(s):  
Bishnu Ragoonath

In the Commonwealth Caribbean countries of St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago, local government reform has been and continues to remain on the agenda. The proposals are all based on the philosophy that there should be elected local government, which in turn should facilitate substantive levels of participatory democracy and citizen involvement. But whilst there is general acceptance of this philosophy, central governments are seemingly reluctant to implement any reforms which would return power to the people. Citizen involvement and participatory democracy has thus become the bug-bear in the process, and has led to the stalling of local government reform in all three countries. With reforms having stalled, one wonders whether the next step will be the dissolution of systems of local government in these states.


2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (5) ◽  
pp. 73-88
Author(s):  
Nguyen Trong Binh ◽  

Currently, public governance theory and "good governance" have a profound and positive influence on the government reform process in many countries around the world today. In essence, good governance is the set of principles and criteria on social management to maximize public interests as well as promote and ensure the harmonious and sustainable development of a country. It can be said that good governance is both the ideal state and the goal that government reform in countries is aiming for, and the guiding principles for the design and operation of the state apparatus, government or system. In recent years, reform of government as well as reform of local government, according to good governance theory in Vietnam, has achieved many outstanding results. This is evident in the improvement in the indicators of provincial governance and public administration (Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (hereinafter referred to as PAPI)) in Vietnam over the years. Based on the survey results of PAPI in recent years, the article analyzes the good governance level of the local government of Vietnam, offers comments and assessments and proposes solutions on how to increase and strengthen the reform of local government in Vietnam according to good governance theory.


2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jephias Mapuva ◽  
George P Miti

Devolution, which was incorporated into the Constitution of Zimbabwe through section 264, is a new phenomenon in Zimbabwe. This incorporation came about because of the need for participatory governance and the devolution of power away from the centre. Over the years, local governance has been informed by a plethora of pieces of legislation that do not provide an enabling environment for citizen participation, giving Zimbabwe’s local government a chequered history that excludes citizens from participating in public affairs that affect their lives. An analysis of section 264 of the Constitution revealed that devolution has the propensity to enhance transparency, efficiency and effectiveness as well as the fulfilment of central government’s responsibilities at provincial and local levels. This article argues that the belated implementation of the devolution of power has delayed improved service delivery, effectiveness, efficiency and accountability within local governance. This article further seeks to explain how the implementation of section 264 of the Constitution can bring about good local governance.


Author(s):  
Admink Admink ◽  
Сергій Виткалов ◽  
Валентина Вігула

Розглядається організаційно-культурна діяльність одного з помітних у регіональному просторі Західного Полісся фотомитця – Олександра Купчинського, а саме виставковий її вектор, втілений в презентації артефактів світового фотомистецтва; видавничий, розглянутий у  контексті  друку  різноманітних  фотоальбомів  із  творів експонентів, організація творчих зустрічей художньої інтелігенції міста з питань обговорення актуальних питань культурного розвитку, заснування фотоклубу тощо. Доводиться, що втрата зв’язку з Батьківщиною, у якій би формі це не відбувалося, не дозволяє митцю творчо самореалізуватися повною мірою. The importance and problematic range of local government reform in the regions of the country and ways of its solution in the field of culture are analyzed. The most effective steps are proposed for management structures at different levels to change attitudes of both the management and the local population regarding different cultural practices. Emphasis is placed on the role of sectoral methodological services in the implementation of this reform. The experience of other countries in activating the local population in this process is emphasized. An attempt has been made to offer effective, in the authors' opinion, solutions to the reform. Emphasis is placed on the educational factor.


Author(s):  
Kayode J Samuel ◽  
Samuel B Agbola ◽  
Olorunfemi A Olojede

Local governance encompasses the involvement of local governments and other community-based organizations in participatory decision-making for efficient delivery of public services. In the developing world, however, the weakness of the local government and local governance has inhibited the efficient and effective delivery of these services. Relying on water and sanitation data and interviews of relevant officials, this study analyses the structure of governance of water supply and sanitation (WSS) at the community levels in selected medium-sized urban centres in Nigeria. Results showed that majority of the city dwellers lacked access to safe water and sanitation, an indication of convoluted, poorly regulated provision regimes and the waning capacity of local governments to galvanize local actions towards the efficient provision and management of these services at community levels. Multiple provision regimes, weak coordinating and regulatory frameworks characterize WSS governance. Further, the sub-national authorities’ encroachment on local government funds which deprived these tiers of government the resources they could have used in providing these essential services presents a major setback. Local governments require financial and constitutional autonomy to provide basic services to the people and supervise and coordinate the activities of other governmental and non-governmental actors involved in service provision.


2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
BENJAMIN WEINSTEIN

AbstractThis article attempts to shed new light on the character of late Victorian Liberalism by investigating its political priorities in British India. It takes as its particular focus the debates which raged between 1881 and 1883 over the Government of India Resolution on Local Self-Government. Along with the Ilbert Bill, the Resolution comprised the centrepiece of the marquis of Ripon's self-consciously Liberal programme for dismantling Lytton's Raj. When analysed in conjunction with contemporaneous Liberal discourse on English local government reform, the debates surrounding the Resolution help to clarify many of the central principles of late Victorian Liberalism. In particular, these debates emphasize the profound importance of local government reform to what one might call the Liberal project. Beyond its utility in effecting retrenchment, efficiency, and ‘sound finance’, local government reform was valued by Liberals as the best and safest means of effecting ‘political education’ among populations, in both Britain and India, with increasingly strong claims to inclusion within the body politic.


Author(s):  
Paula Gomes dos Santos ◽  
Carla Martinho

Public governance must ensure financial sustainability. This investigation aims to assess Portuguese local governments financial sustainability as the ability to service the upcoming obligations in commercial transactions (under the Late Payment Directive framework) and to study if accounting information enables public local governance with greater transparency and accountability about their financial sustainability. The study will focus on the 308 Portuguese local governments from 2009 to 2017. The number of local governments with average payment periods (PMPs) within 30 days had an increasing tendency. However, their adjusted average payment periods greatly exceed the 30 days, which means limited financial sustainability. In 2017, only 29% of the local governments have an adjusted PMP within 30 days against the 63% if it is used the officials PMPs. Therefore, accounting information does not enable public governance with greater transparency and accountability about Portuguese local government financial sustainability.


2021 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 33-42
Author(s):  
N. Chebotarova ◽  
V. Chebotarov

Medical reform is a complex systemic, not only purely professional, but also socio-economic, legal and in general institutional phenomenon. In many respects, under modern conditions, medical reform is becoming a kind of barometer of socio-economic and political stability of Ukraine and a criterion of its development level. At the same time, the medical sphere directly affects the life of every family, every person and every administrative-territorial unit of the country. However, at present, domestic science and state regulation practice leave out of consideration the relationship between health care and local government reform. Such a systemic professional, socio-economic and institutional phenomenon requires the appropriate systemic interdisciplinary analysis. The last years of medical reform in Ukraine have already provided the epistemological and empirical basis for such analysis. The authors, on the basis of the interdisciplinary approach in the generalized form, reveal the institutional content of medical reform with the separation of its – the cause-effect sequence of implementation. This logic is reflected in the proposed cognitive pentagram: «formation of the family doctor institution» – «introduction of health insurance» – «connection with local government reform» – «formation of the network of hospital districts» – «equality of public and private medicine», based on the peculiar triangle «inbuilt» in the pentagram (the first, second and fourth elements of the pentagram). Emphasis is placed on the need for institutional, economic and professional projection of the selected pentagram and triangle on the “health care institution” as a defining organizational and sectoral basis for providing high quality medical services to citizens, which should be the generalizing criterion for medical reform. The example of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts also are considered as the regional features of medical reform in the context of hospital districts formation (objective possibility / impossibility of compliance with the norms of the Ukraine Ministry of Health on determining the parameters of hospital districts) and some relevant problems which arose taking into account the war in the east.


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