Legal, Political and Administrative Barriers to Citizen Participation in Local Governance: An Inquiry of Local Government Institutions

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Zain Rafique ◽  
Shahid Habib ◽  
Yeni Rosilawati
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Government Institutions

Exploring the Uncharted Territory of Devolution in Zimbabwe

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jephias Mapuva ◽  
George P Miti
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Participatory Governance ◽  
Enabling Environment ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness ◽  
Local Levels

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.

Current Features and Developments of Local Governance in Finland

2016 ◽  
pp. 304-327
Author(s):  
Hanna Vakkala ◽  
Jaana Leinonen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Process Efficiency ◽  
Structural Reforms ◽  
Local Democracy

This chapter discusses local governance renewals and the recent development of local democracy in Finland. Due to profound structural reforms, the role of municipalities is changing, which is challenging current local government processes, from management to citizen participation. Nordic local self-government is considered strong, despite of tightening state steering. Ruling reform politics and the increasing amount of service tasks do not fit the idea of active local governance with sufficient latitude for decision-making. To increase process efficiency, electronic services and governance have been developed nationally and locally, and solutions of eDemocracy have been launched to support participation. Developing participative, deliberative democracy during deep renewals creates opportunities but also requires investments, which create and increase variation between municipalities. From the point of view of local democracy, it becomes interesting how strong municipal self-governance and local governance renewals meet and how the role and status of municipalities are changing.

scholarly journals Empowerment through participation in local governance: the case of Union Parishad in Bangladesh

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nasir Uddin
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Traditional Concept ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Government Institutions ◽  
Direct Participation ◽  
Community People

Purpose The traditional concept of people’s participation through their representatives is changing to the mechanism of direct participation of community people in the local governing process. In coupling with these, the Constitution of Bangladesh and the local government acts guarantee to foster the direct participation of people in the formation of local bodies and development programs. The purpose of this paper is to explore the avenues of people’s participation in local government, particularly the Union Parishad (UP) in Bangladesh, and to evaluate the empowerment of marginalized community through those avenues. Design/methodology/approach Using a broad descriptive and analytical approach, this paper evaluates the relationship between participation and empowerment of local community based on the review of secondary sources of information. Findings The local government institutions, particularly UP, has existed many mechanisms through which people participate in decision-making process. It is also believed that participation of community people in local government institutions is not only an opportunity for them but also an apparatus of empowerment. Hence, the process of empowerment is entrenched in the notion of participation. It is evident that the people at grass root level have been participating in UP in diverse arrangements, but the effectiveness of these participations in terms of empowerment is still meager and even lack. Originality/value Though a long time has passed after introducing these participatory mechanisms, very few studies have undertaken to assess the people’s participation in local government. Additionally, no single initiative was undertaken to assess how empowerment of marginalized people happened through these initiatives as empowering community people is the key objective of it.

scholarly journals Study on Citizen Participation in Local Governance in Vietnam

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-109
Author(s):  
Nguyen Trong Binh ◽  
Nguyen Quang Giai
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Social Self ◽  
Social Basis ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Countries In Transition ◽  
The Government

Abstract Reform to establish a democratic, citizen-centered government is an important orientation in the world and in Vietnam today. For Vietnam, how to promote and strengthen democratic governance must be one of the most crucial issues in order to achieve sustainable development goals. Based on the theoretical framework and survey results, this study evaluates citizen participation in local governance in Vietnam on seven main dimensions, including: (i) Transparency aims to ensure citizens’ right to know; (ii) Participation in elections; (iii) Outlining of policy initiatives; (iv) Policy discussion, social criticism and referendums; (v) Voluntary contributions and cooperation with the government in public-service delivery; (vi) Social self-governance; (vii) Supervision of the social realm. Research shows that the dominance of local government is very evident in the process of citizen participation. The policy implications for countries in transition like Vietnam are that, in order to increase citizen participation in local governance, the openness of local government should be enhanced. Of course, doing this well needs a certain social basis.

Role of community-based organizations (CBOs) in promoting citizen participation

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 242-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zain Rafique ◽  
Suet Leng Khoo
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Awareness Campaigns ◽  
Government Institutions ◽  
Participatory Citizenship

Purpose The current paper is an attempt to evaluate the role of CBOs in promoting citizen participation in the decision-making process of local government institutions of Gujranwala, Punjab, Pakistan. Among the most used evaluation techniques of participatory citizenship, the researchers have used an outcome driven approach based on “social goals.” Specifically, the purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which CBOs have been effectual for the promotion of participatory citizenship in decision making of local government institutions in Punjab, Pakistan. In addition, the paper also explores the influence and success level of CBOs in incorporating the preferences and needs of public in decision-making of local government services. Design/methodology/approach For this purpose, data have been collected through a self-administered survey questionnaire including both open and close-ended questions. A total of 424 questionnaires were collected from citizens, local government officials and CBO members. Standard survey techniques such as frequency distribution and comparative analyses were used for data analysis. Findings In assessing the role of CBOs in educating all the stakeholders and the general public as well as to ascertain the incorporation of public needs and values into local government decision making, the paper finds that the effectiveness of CBOs is very low to fulfill its objectives. The study suggests the need to have more programs to educate CBOs, enhance public awareness campaigns and also to put into place proper mechanisms to incorporate and evaluate the public needs. Originality/value This paper fulfills the much-needed research gap by the exploring the unknown contribution of CBOs in Pakistan. The paper has added value to the current literature by highlighting that unless there is strong political will and eagerness of local bureaucracy to give up their powers, the inclusion of citizen participation through CBOs in decision making of local government would just be a futile exercise.

scholarly journals Local Governance in Bangladesh: Policy and Strategy Framework

2016 ◽  
pp. 200-202
Author(s):  
Tofail Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Administrative Reforms ◽  
Effective Implementation ◽  
Government Institutions ◽  
Fiscal Autonomy ◽  
Road Map ◽  
Policy And Strategy ◽  
A Priority ◽  
Institutional Linkages

The author argued that the absence of a local governance policy is a priority governance problem in Bangladesh, which affects effective implementation of decentralisation policies and programmes sporadically undertaken from time to time. Democratic decentralisation in line with fiscal autonomy and local administrative reforms have been in limbo for over three decades. The absence of a clear policy affects institutional linkages of the local government bodies. In some cases overlapping of functions are evidenced in different local government institutions, while in other cases lack of coordination and inter-agency cooperation are also evident. More importantly, unless Bangladesh does develop an aggregated local governance policy, it will not have a vision and road map for development of local governance.

scholarly journals Pathways to Citizen Participation: Participatory Budgeting Policy Choice by Local Governments

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 46
Author(s):  
Skip Krueger ◽  
HyungGun Park
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Budget Process ◽  
Participatory Budgeting ◽  
Institutional Perspective ◽  
Administrative Capacity ◽  
Specific Policy

The existing literature on participatory budgeting – as one means of citizen participation in local governance – tends to focus on how to stimulate citizen participation in the budget process, and primarily aims to descriptively explain the magnitude of participation or the adoption of specific policy approaches. We investigate participatory budgeting from an institutional perspective and empirically evaluate the choices that local governments make in adopting a specific set of rules for including citizens in the budget process. We suggest that the choice of the type of participatory budgeting policy is predicated on the partisanship of policymakers, the administrative capacity of local government, and citizen’s experience with other forms of direct democracy. To test these hypotheses, we collect information on 224 local governments in South Korea from 2004 to 2013. For each city, we identify the type of participatory budgeting policy they adopt and evaluate that choice in an empirical model. The results provide evidence that the partisanship of local policymakers and the administrative capacity of the local government are associated with different choices about the inclusion of citizens in the budget process.

scholarly journals A Review of Local Government Institutions (LGIs) in Bangladesh

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jannatul Ferdaus ◽  
Saudia Hossain
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
The Political ◽  
Government Organization ◽  
Secondary Literature ◽  
Government Institutions ◽  
Democratic Practice ◽  
Political Ground ◽  
Political Governance

In Bangladesh, several renowned organizations are abundantly spoken roughly from which local government (LG) is one of them. Local Government Institutions (LGIs) take vigorous legal as well as the valid basis. This has a great legacy of inheritances for forming and developing LGIs, however the definite nature and performances in this form of organizations to increase people’s involvement and increase democratic practice which is seen very limited – because of too much central involvement, and misapplication and influence by domineering governments to preserve their supremacy. The present study gives a reflective look at the development and working on local governance in a decentralized form in Bangladesh, focusing on the key trends, features, and challenges. The study mainly rests on the analysis of secondary elements. LGI is still not strong and as well as not properly structured nor have enough capability consistent with the Constitutional provision but contain characteristics of deconcentration more than the pure practice of decentralization. The study is secondary literature based in nature. The findings of the present study recommend that, regardless of having the Constitutional acknowledgement of the formation of an independent and a solid local government organization, the political governance of Bangladesh has introduced diverse transformations to get variations in the organization of the LGIs in the forename of decentralization. Yet, the key aims after most of the restructurings have been to support their political ground in a certain region. Consequently, these organizations could not be well-known as a heart of progress where societies would have the authority to observe and govern their areas.

scholarly journals Decentralization of Authorities in Ukraine; As an Efficient Instrument for Strengthening Local Democracy in The Modern Stage Of Government

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 6786-6792
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Active Form ◽  
Research Paper ◽  
Local Democracy ◽  
Public Budget ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
Everyday Problems

The article deals with the issue of the decentralization of power in Ukraine, the unification of territorial communities, the development of a democratic local government, the establishment of local democracy, the factors that influence this process, the forms of participation of residents in solving everyday problems of the community. The purpose of the research paper is to reveal the mechanisms of decentralization of power at the local level, identify the main tendencies that appear during its implementation, ways to improve local governance and develop local democracy in the current crisis. In result, the study has established that the found in the developed democratic countries, the Institute of Local SelfGovernment – is a unique area that promotes the introduction of such signs of democracy as a community of tasks, joint responsibility, universal agreement, brotherhood, tolerance, equality. So, local democracy is necessary; it should be developed, strengthened in all directions. Has been established that the active form of citizen participation in community affairs is the implementation of the idea of the participation budget or public budget. The project had supported in virtually all regions of Ukraine and, thanks to it, people managed to solve a large number of local affairs under its responsibility, while increasing transparency and accountability of management structures and deepening decentralization processes on the ground.

Current Features and Developments of Local Governance in Finland

2020 ◽  
pp. 1849-1872
Author(s):  
Hanna Vakkala ◽  
Jaana Leinonen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Process Efficiency ◽  
Structural Reforms ◽  
Local Democracy

This chapter discusses local governance renewals and the recent development of local democracy in Finland. Due to profound structural reforms, the role of municipalities is changing, which is challenging current local government processes, from management to citizen participation. Nordic local self-government is considered strong, despite of tightening state steering. Ruling reform politics and the increasing amount of service tasks do not fit the idea of active local governance with sufficient latitude for decision-making. To increase process efficiency, electronic services and governance have been developed nationally and locally, and solutions of eDemocracy have been launched to support participation. Developing participative, deliberative democracy during deep renewals creates opportunities but also requires investments, which create and increase variation between municipalities. From the point of view of local democracy, it becomes interesting how strong municipal self-governance and local governance renewals meet and how the role and status of municipalities are changing.

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