Off-Cycle and Off Center: Election Timing and Representation in Municipal Government

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
ADAM M. DYNES ◽  
MICHAEL T. HARTNEY ◽  
SAM D. HAYES
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
Municipal Government ◽  
Public Employees ◽  
Organized Interests ◽  
Or Groups ◽  
Election Timing ◽  
Mass Publics ◽  
Policy Objectives ◽  
City Policy

Who governs America’s cities: organized interests or mass publics? Though recent scholarship finds that local governments enact policies that align with citizens’ preferences, others argue that it is organized interests, not mass publics that are influential. To reconcile these perspectives, we show that election timing can help shed light on when voters or groups will be pivotal in city politics. Examining 1,600 large US cities, we find that off-cycle elections affect city policy responsiveness asymmetrically, weakening responsiveness on those issues where there is an active and organized interest whose policy objectives deviate from the preferences of the median resident. Here, we focus on public employees’ interests and find that local governments that are elected off cycle spend more on city workers than would be preferred by citizens in more conservative cities. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for the study of interest groups and representation in local politics.

Trends in Public–Private Pay Parity in State and Local Governments

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory B. Lewis ◽  
Rahul Pathak ◽  
Chester S. Galloway
Keyword(s):  
Private Sector ◽  
Labor Economics ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
College Graduates ◽  
Census Data ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Public Employees ◽  
Total Compensation ◽  
Economics Model ◽  
State And Local

Have state and local governments (SLGs) achieved pay parity with the private sector? The answer depends on how one defines parity. Using a standard labor economics model on U.S. Census data from 1990 to 2014, we find different patterns if we focus on pay, on pay plus benefits, or on total compensation within an occupation. All approaches indicate that pay is higher in local than in state governments and that Blacks, Hispanics, and employees without college diplomas earn higher pay in SLGs than in the private sector. In contrast, Whites, Asians, and college graduates are less likely to enjoy higher pay working in SLGs than in the private sector. Unsurprisingly, states with more liberal and Democratic legislatures pay public employees better, relative to workers in the private sector.

The Constitutionality of Uncompensated §179D(d)(4) Allocations by State, Local, and Municipal Government Building Owners

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Edward B. Douthett ◽  
Jonathan E. Duchac ◽  
Arthur Petzel
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Municipal Government ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
State Constitutions ◽  
Cost Of Energy ◽  
Tax Exempt ◽  
Tax Deductions ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Reasonable Argument

ABSTRACT Internal Revenue Code §179D provides accelerated tax deductions to building owners that invest in energy efficient building improvements. However, the value of this incentive for government building owners is limited as these entities are tax exempt. §179D(d)(4) allows state and local governments to realize a portion of these benefits by transferring their §179D deductions to a qualified, taxable, private sector entity in exchange for compensation. This compensation can be used to reduce the governmental entity's cost of energy efficient investments, allowing them and, ultimately, taxpayers to benefit from this incentive. In practice, disagreement exists over a governmental entity's right to compensation in exchange for §179D(d)(4) transfers. These differences have become more visible in recent years, resulting in policy changes by state and local governments, and litigation by state agencies that had not been compensated for these transfers. We contribute to this debate by reviewing and evaluating (1) the arguments against providing compensation in exchange for §179D(d)(4) transfers, (2) the state constitutionality of uncompensated §179D(d)(4) transfers, and (3) recent litigation and policy changes. Our analysis finds little support for arguments against compensated transfers, and a reasonable argument that compensated transfers may be required under most state constitutions.

scholarly journals Participatory Democracy in Local Government

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 246-268
Author(s):  
Ángel H. Iglesias Alonso ◽  
Roberto L. Barbeito Iglesias
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
City Government ◽  
Administrative Participation

In 2015, the local government of the city of Madrid (Spain) introduced an electronic participation system. This initiative stemmed mainly from the social movements that had occupied the squares of many Spanish cities since 2011. As a result of the local elections in 2015, many of those same activists gained institutional power, took citizens’ participation very seriously, and decided to use the possibilities offered by the internet for political and administrative participation. In this article, we seek to assess the impacts of the Madrid city government with the e-democracy experiment – based mainly on establishing an online platform to facilitate citizen participation in political and administrative decision processes. Drawing on qualitative and documental data, our research indicates that whereas the overall aim of the project was to give citizens a say in local policy and decision making, our case study shows that participation was very low since most of the population does not feel concerned by these processes. Indeed, one of our findings showed that citizens’ involvement offline surpassed in some cases their online participation. To identify who is politically active online and offline is a great challenge, to which the promoters of the project did not pay much attention. Although e-participation was meagre in relation to the electoral turnout, the case study also shows that many proposals from the public were incorporated into the local policies, indicating that from a qualitative point of view, e-participation influences decision-making processes. Perhaps local governments should use a more strategic and integrated approach towards the use of electronic technologies to foster and motivate citizens’ involvement in local politics and administration. This more integrated approach should be less dependent on ideological incentives, more institutionalized, and must incorporate citizens’ perceptions and inputs before the introduction of new technologies.

How can a municipal government continue operations during megadisasters? An analysis of preparedness using complex adaptive systems

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 779-792
Author(s):  
Masahiko Haraguchi
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Municipal Government ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Continuity Planning ◽  
Complex Adaptive

PurposeThis paper aims to examine how government continuity planning contributes to strengthening the public sector's emergency preparedness, resulting in enhanced resilience of the public sector. Government continuity plans (GCPs) are a recently focused concept in disaster preparedness, compared to business continuity plans (BCPs) in the private sector. The need for BCPs was widely recognized after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) and the 2011 Thailand Floods. However, recent disasters, such as the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake in Japan, have revealed that local governments without effective GCPs were severely affected by disasters, preventing them from quickly responding to or recovering from disasters. When the GEJE occurred in 2011, only 11% of municipal governments in Japan had GCPs.Design/methodology/approachThe paper analyzes basic principles of government continuity planning using complex adaptive systems (CAS) theory while summarizing recent developments in theory and practice of government continuity planning.FindingsThis research investigates the Japanese experience of GCPs using self-organization, one of the concepts of CAS. A GCP will complement regional disaster plans, which often focus on what governments should do to protect citizens during emergencies but fail to outline how governments should prepare for an emergency operation. The study concludes that GCPs contribute to increased resilience among the public sector in terms of robustness, redundancy, resourcefulness and rapidity.Practical implicationsThis paper includes implications for the development and improvement of a GCP's operational guideline.Originality/valueThis research fulfills an identified need to investigate the effectiveness of a GCP for resilience in the public sector and how to improve its operation using concepts of CAS.

‘When we launched the government's agenda…’: aid agencies and local politics in urban Africa

2012 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel E. Esser
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Urban Politics ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
Local Policy ◽  
Capital Cities ◽  
Political Empowerment ◽  
International Agencies ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Basic Services

ABSTRACTPolitical realities in the capital cities of impoverished countries emerging from violent conflict illustrate how local actors can be hindered in conducting political affairs independently from the interests and influence of national governments as well as international agencies. This experience problematises the argument that the main cause of political impasse in African cities governed by opposition parties is incomplete decentralisation, whereby a devolution of responsibilities is not matched by a downward reallocation of resources. Although resulting competition constrains local governments' opportunities to deliver basic services, we need to look beyond the national scale to uncover the drivers of institutional change and gauge the promise of donor-driven local political empowerment. Urban politics in Africa continues to be shaped by global aid discourses, which are translated into local policy frameworks through interest convergence between international and national actors. The case of Freetown, Sierra Leone provides an illustration of such macro-level alignment and resulting local frictions. At the same time, it also demonstrates how local politics have challenged the technocratic, apolitical reinvention of urban governance in the global South perpetuated by the international aid industry.

scholarly journals The Politics Of Information On Traditional Medical Practices In Bandung Barat

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 158-165
Author(s):  
Rully Khairul Anwar ◽  
Agus Rusmana ◽  
M. Taufiq Rahman
Keyword(s):  
Traditional Medicine ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
Political Process ◽  
The Political ◽  
Information Distribution ◽  
Literature Study ◽  
Medical Practitioners ◽  
Or Groups ◽  
The Government ◽  
Data Collection Technique

This study examines the politics of information within organizations or groups of traditional medical practitioners in West Bandung Regency of West Java Province. The political process of information here includes the activities of how the government implements information policies in relation to traditional medicine. The study also learned how traditional medicine groups respond to public policy on traditional medicine. The method used is qualitative with data collection technique through observation, interview, documentation, and literature study. The results show that there is local politics of information distribution activity in West Bandung society marked by the existence of the managers of traditional medicine, patients, the government with its regulations, and other politics of information distribution activities that led to the maintenance of science and traditional medical services. It is clear that the main reason for the politics of information to exist was economic.

scholarly journals PERSONALITY AS THE MAIN BENEFICIARY OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (5) ◽  
pp. 7-16
Author(s):  
O. O. Boyarsky
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Municipal Government ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Narrow Sense ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
New Approach ◽  
The Status ◽  
Stateless Person

The article examines the features of the status of a person as the main beneficiary of local self-government. It was revealed that based on the essence of the term "beneficiary", it refers to those persons who receive certain benefits, income or dividends not due to the active exercise of their rights, but to some extent "passively" due to their status or activities of others. It is has established that the very understanding of a person as a beneficiary of local self-government demonstrates a new emphasis in understanding how the municipal government should act and in whose interests. The center of such activity should be a person as a member of the territorial community, and his interests should be satisfied through the adequate activities of local governments determined by such interests. Person as the main beneficiary of local self-government appears: a citizen of Ukraine, a foreign citizen or a stateless person (stateless person) or a refugee; member of the territorial community; a resident of a village, settlement, city or association of villages, settlements, cities it is determined. A new approach to understanding the status of a person – a beneficiary of local self- government in a broad and narrow sense (in a broad sense – in the exercise of local self- government of all its powers, in the narrow – the exercise of local authorities in relation to vulnerable groups). It is determined that the legislation of Ukraine through the prism of the powers of local governments provides clear recipients (beneficiaries), which are mainly those categories of the local population who need various financial, material or other support and assistance – including socially vulnerable or vulnerable members of the territorial community. Thus, a person is a member of a territorial community, and his interests must be satisfied through the adequate activities of local self-government bodies determined by such interests.

scholarly journals Growth, exclusion and vulnerability: evaluation of the socio-spatial transformation of post-apartheid Pretoria-Tshwane (South Africa)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andre Horn
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Municipal Government ◽  
Current Approach ◽  
Spatial Transformation ◽  
Spatial Integration ◽  
City Region ◽  
African City ◽  
City Regions ◽  
The City

Apartheid left South African city regions with two major challenges: social integration at a city level and spatial integration at a regional level. The task to finds solutions to these problems was left to municipalities, the lowest level of the three trier government system introduced after 1994. This article critically evaluates the success of the post-apartheid municipal government of Pretoria-Tshwane to address the said challenges in the reorganization of the city region over a 25-year period. The paper starts with a reconstruction of the apartheid city to display its socio-spatial contrasts and to define the challenge of integration and compaction. The investigation is based on literature, census information and observation. The main finding is that the progress made with the integration of the city at both scales is being neutralized by demographic trends, choice of association, urban sprawl, uncertain management, the scale of aspirations, unrealistic expectations and, most of all, municipal incapacity. The failure of the local government of Pretoria-Tshwane to achieve the said goals points to the inefficiency of the current approach that obligates municipalities with the complete task to rectify the dichotomies of the apartheid city system within their regions.  It is advocated that additional governmental entities be implemented to support local governments with the planning and re-development of post-apartheid city-regions.

scholarly journals Women’s Career Advancement Barriers in A Matrilineal Society: The Case of Minangkabau

2020 ◽  
Vol 006 (01) ◽  
pp. 44-51
Author(s):  
Fitria Fitria
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Career Advancement ◽  
Municipal Government ◽  
Quota System ◽  
Work Arrangements ◽  
Women's Career Advancement ◽  
The Hierarchical Structure ◽  
Work Family ◽  
Traditional Area

This study seeks to examine and to compare the patterns of women’s and men’s career advancement in a municipal government located within traditional area of the biggest matrilineal society in the world, the Minangkabau. This research employed a qualitative approach through a case study and suggests that the higher the position, the less the number of women occupying it. Further, this study also aims to explore thebarriers that impede career advancement of the female employees. Women face barriers that become more significant as they climb the hierarchical structure, including lack of experience, job segregation, work-family conflicts, and stereotypes. Applying newpolicies such as a quota system and flexible work arrangements can be implemented to address these issues. This research only studied one municipal region within the Minangkabau. Future and more extensive research can provide a more comprehensive understanding of the situation by observing more local governments

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document