Participatory governance and local government responsiveness: evidence from participation in politics on television in China

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Yukun Wang ◽  
Yu Qi ◽  
Gao Chen
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Participatory Governance ◽  
Government Responsiveness

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.

Do squeaky wheels get the grease? Understanding when and how municipalities respond to online requests

2021 ◽  
pp. 146144482110312
Author(s):  
Ben Epstein ◽  
Leticia Bode ◽  
Jennifer M Connolly
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Average Rate ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Democratic Accountability ◽  
Government Responsiveness

Citizens often attempt to interact with government through online modes of communication such as email and social media. Using an audit study, we examine when and how American municipalities with populations of over 50,000 respond to online requests for information. We develop baselines for municipal responsiveness, including the average rate, time, and quality of responses, and examine whether these response attributes vary based on the mode of communication or the tone of the request. Overall, municipalities responded to 54% of email requests and 38% of Twitter requests. A majority of responses were received on the same business day. Responses are slightly faster on Twitter, but of higher quality on email. Governments are more likely to respond to frustrated constituents on email, but respond faster to frustrated queries on Twitter, though with lower quality responses. These findings contribute to our understanding of local government responsiveness and have significant implications for democratic accountability and resident compliance with and the effectiveness of local government policies. Furthermore, our scholarly understanding of local government communications with residents, and particularly the promise of social media as a tool of two-way communication, may be underdeveloped.

Towards Building Direct Democratic Governance Through the Ward Committee System in South African Local Government

2022 ◽  
pp. 222-241
Author(s):  
Ndwakhulu Stephen Tshishonga
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Community Participation ◽  
South African ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Structuration Theory ◽  
Participatory Governance ◽  
Community Governance ◽  
Local Government Level ◽  
Government Level

This chapter interrogates the ward committee system as an instrument in an institutionalised local government level to advance direct participatory governance. The ward committee has a constitutional mandate upon which accountability, democratization, community governance, and inclusive participation in the municipal decision-making is enhanced. The ward committee system was legislated to create a platform for community participation and enhance accountable local governance. Structuration theory has been used to engage with elements of representativity, powers, skills, functionality, access to information, influence in decision-making, and relationship with others structures as developed by Smith and de Visser. The chapter made use of various case studies to interrogate the role, potential, and challenges of the ward committee system in forging direct participatory governance.

Artists, Temporality, and the Governance of Collaborative Place-Making

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 405-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison L. Bain ◽  
Friederike Landau
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
Participatory Governance ◽  
Place Making ◽  
Civic Leaders ◽  
Space And Time ◽  
Temporal Sequencing ◽  
Governance Networks ◽  
Policy Exercise

Place-making is a policy exercise rooted in a politics of both space and time. By examining the temporal sequencing of discursive relations and governance networks in the cultural redevelopment of Güterbahnhof Moabit in Berlin, this article demonstrates the fallacy of place-making via artist proxy. It documents the hidden expectations of artist stakeholders and the overextension of their capacities in their municipally delegated and self-assumed roles as “strategic” and “collaborative” partners with local government in place-making processes. It argues that contrary to collaborative and participatory governance ideals, artists are often singularly responsibilized by civic leaders to realize place-narratives for a community rather than with them, which creates a fundamental barrier to community engagement.

scholarly journals Transformation from Below in Bangladesh: Decentralization, local governance, and systemic change

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (6) ◽  
pp. 1668-1694 ◽  
Author(s):  
JEAN-PAUL FAGUET
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Transformative Change ◽  
Development Indicators ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Joint Product ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Government Responsiveness

AbstractI examine decentralization through the lens of the local dynamics it unleashed in Bangladesh. I argue that the national effects of decentralization are largely the sum of its local-level effects. Hence, to understand decentralization, we must first understand how local government works. This implies analysing not only decentralization, but also democracy, from the bottom up. I present a model of local government responsiveness as the product of political openness and substantive competition. The quality of politics, in turn, emerges endogenously as a joint product of the lobbying and political engagement of local firms/interests, and the organizational density and ability of civil society. I then test these ideas using qualitative data from Bangladesh. The evidence shows that civic organizations worked with non-governmental organizations and local governments to effect transformative change from the grass roots upwards—not just to public budgets and outputs, but to the underlying behaviours and ideas that underpin social development. In the aggregate, these effects were powerful. The result, key development indicators show, is Bangladesh leap-frogging past much wealthier India between 1990 and 2015.

scholarly journals Participatory governance in Ireland: Institutional innovation and the quest for joined-up thinking

2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Catherine Forde
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Institutional Innovation ◽  
Participatory Governance ◽  
Social Partnership ◽  
Community Voice ◽  
Participatory Processes ◽  
Institutional Foundations ◽  
Recent Establishment

AbstractAt a time when governments are grappling with increasingly complex problems, state-led participatory processes that facilitate citizen and community voice in decision-making and policymaking have become more common at national, regional and local government levels. In Ireland, citizen participation in government has achieved prominence in the last thirty years with the introduction of social partnership and more recent establishment of multiple and diverse forms of participatory governance, nationally, regionally and locally. This paper offers a critique of the evolution and operation of local participatory governance in Ireland. The paper argues that to be effective, participatory governance requires strong and inclusive participatory processes at all levels of government, a clear ideological and policy basis, a coherent ‘joined-up’ programme and receptive institutional foundations.

The Practice of Participatory Budgeting during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Zimbabwe’s Local Government Sector: A Case of Chitungwiza Municipality

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Zvimekria Clive Mukushwa ◽  
Jephias Mapuva ◽  
Edson P. Mutema
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Participatory Governance ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Local Democracy ◽  
Participatory Budgeting ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Government Sector ◽  
Desk Research

Abstract The experiences of participatory budgeting on the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic in Zimbabwe is widely discussed and acknowledged, yet there is paucity of literature of the interface between the two variables. This study therefore seeks to examine how Chitungwiza Municipality has interfaced with Residents and Stakeholders in the participatory budgeting processes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using informant interviews, non-participant observation, focus group discussions and analytical desk research, the paper argues that COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns has become the most recent threat to the practice of local democracy, particularly to those local government institutions that largely rely more on physical meetings as engaging platforms for participatory budgeting. The study prescribes policy recommendations to improve urban participatory governance within the context of COVID-19 pandemic situation.

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