Relations between State and Local Governments

Author(s):  
Carol S. Weissert ◽  
Jessica L. Ice

This chapter reviews research on relations between state and local governments. The authors focus on the different types of local governmental units and their relationship to the state, decentralization and local autonomy, and state oversight and funding in policy implementation. The authors summarize the strengths and weaknesses of research on state–local relationships and offer suggestions for future research questions.

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 40-56
Author(s):  
Lamar Vernon Bennett ◽  
Aroon Manoharan

In this paper the authors draw on Scott's (2006) work on e-government and democratic theories to examine how governments engage their citizens online. The three theories they focus – representative, pluralist, and direct – are the most prominent in the democratic theory literature. Using data from the 200 American local governments, they examine two research questions: What factors drive governments to employ each theory? Which theory predominates in the implementation of e-government? Our assumption is that providing answers to these two questions will help set the stage for future research linking e-government and democratic theory.


Author(s):  
R. Kelso

Australia is a nation of 20 million citizens occupying approximately the same land mass as the continental U.S. More than 80% of the population lives in the state capitals where the majority of state and federal government offices and employees are based. The heavily populated areas on the Eastern seaboard, including all of the six state capitals have advanced ICT capability and infrastructure and Australians readily adopt new technologies. However, there is recognition of a digital divide which corresponds with the “great dividing” mountain range separating the sparsely populated arid interior from the populated coastal regions (Trebeck, 2000). A common theme in political commentary is that Australians are “over-governed” with three levels of government, federal, state, and local. Many of the citizens living in isolated regions would say “over-governed” and “underserviced.” Most of the state and local governments, “… have experienced difficulties in managing the relative dis-economies of scale associated with their small and often scattered populations.” Rural and isolated regions are the first to suffer cutbacks in government services in periods of economic stringency. (O’Faircheallaigh, Wanna, & Weller, 1999, p. 98). Australia has, in addition to the Commonwealth government in Canberra, two territory governments, six state governments, and about 700 local governments. All three levels of government, federal, state, and local, have employed ICTs to address the “tyranny of distance” (Blainey, 1967), a term modified and used for nearly 40 years to describe the isolation and disadvantage experienced by residents in remote and regional Australia. While the three levels of Australian governments have been working co-operatively since federation in 1901 with the federal government progressively increasing its power over that time, their agencies and departments generally maintain high levels of separation; the Queensland Government Agent Program is the exception.


Author(s):  
Laura Thaut Vinson

This chapter explores the problem of rising pastoralist–farmer and ethnic (religious and tribal) violence in the pluralistic Middle Belt region of Nigeria over the past thirty to forty years. In particular, it highlights the underlying issues and conflicts associated with these different categories of communal intergroup violence, the human and material costs of such conflict, and the broader implications for the Nigerian state. The federal government, states, local governments. and communities have not been passive in addressing the considerable challenges associated with preventing and resolving such conflicts. It is clear, however, that they face significant hurdles in resolving the underlying grievances and drivers of conflict, and their efforts have not always furthered the cause of conflict resolution and peacebuilding. Greater attention to patterns of inclusion and exclusion and to the allocation of rights and resources will be necessary, particularly at the state and local government levels, to create a more stable and peaceful Middle Belt.


1981 ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
Vitelmo Bertero

This is a paper that summarizes the state of the practice and state of the art in the prediction of seismic behavior of cylindrical liquid storage tanks. It can be divided into five parts. In the first part the seismic performance of these types of tanks during recent   earthquakes is brielfly reviewed. From this review it becomes evident that a large percentage of these tanks have failed or suffered severe damages. The different types of failure are classified into several categories. The second part of the paper discusses the desing of some of the thank that suffered damages andthe state of the practice is summarized by reviewing present seismic code desing provisions. Thirdly, the soundness of these code provisions is analyzed in view of the state of thank.  Results obtained in recent theoretical and experimental investigations of such behavior are summarized and implications regarding needed improvement in seismic desing are assessed. Results from analyses of an existing  thank using different methods are presented and compared. An improved procedure for the practical seismic resistant desing of these thanks is outlined in the fourth part of the paper. A series of practical desing rules which provide extra margins of safety are offered and the extra cost required is discussed. Finally, recommendations for future research to improve the desing and construction of this type of liquid storage thanks are formuated.


Author(s):  
Eduardo Salas ◽  
Maritza R. Salazar ◽  
Michele J. Gelfand

Cultural diversity—the degree to which there are differences within and between individuals based on both subjective and objective components of culture—can affect individual and group processes. However, much is still unclear about the effects of cultural diversity. We review the literature on cultural diversity to assess the state of the art and to identify key issues for future research. This review emphasizes the importance of understanding different types of cultural diversity and their independent and combined effect on team performance. We identify key contributions to the study of cultural diversity and discuss frontiers for future research.


2005 ◽  
Vol 184 ◽  
pp. 791-810 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew C. Mertha

This article analyses China's recent attempts to counter “local protectionism” and establish standardization in policy implementation and enforcement by centralizing a growing number of its regulatory bureaucracies up to the provincial level (what I refer to as “soft” centralization). In this article, I argue that Beijing's experiment with soft centralization, while successful to some extent, has nevertheless fallen short of its goals and that thus far this transformation remains imperfect and incomplete. The institutional cleavages and fragmentation that so often give rise to corruption and other pathologies of the state appear to have shifted from horizontal, geographic lines to vertical, functional ones. Moreover, the principal beneficiaries of this shift to centralized management are the provinces, not Beijing, as the institutional mechanisms of personnel and budgetary resource allocations are concentrated at the provincial level. Although this has curbed localism to a degree by transferring power from local governments to the newly centralized bureaucracies, it has also contributed to a situation in which newly strengthened provinces may play a key role in the emergence of a sort of perverse federalism.


Author(s):  
Viktor Nyzhnyk ◽  
Oleh Rudyk

The study is devoted to the substantiation of the basic components of the mechanism of regulation of social and labor relations in the united territorial communities of Ukraine. The article analyzes the research on the role of the state and local governments in regulating and developing social and labor relations at the local level. The leading world concepts in regulating social and labor relations have been characterized. The purpose and role of local self- government bodies in regulating social and labor relations have been defined. The basic scientific approaches to the concept of “community development” have been investigated. Based on the research, the basic components of the mechanisms of regulation of social and labor relations in the united territorial communities have been identified and their characteristics have been given.


2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 360-373
Author(s):  
David Popp

AbstractInnovation is an important part of energy policy, and encouraging clean energy innovation is often an explicit goal of policy makers. For local governments, promoting clean energy innovation is seen not only as a pathway to a cleaner economy but also as a tool for promoting the local economy. But is such optimism warranted? There is a substantial literature examining the relationships between innovation and environmental policy, but few studies focus explicitly on innovation at the state and local level. In this paper, I provide key lessons from research on clean energy innovation, focusing on lessons relevant for state and local governments. I then summarize the results of a recent working paper by Fu et al. (2018) that studied wind energy innovation across individual states in the United States. While state-level policies can promote clean energy innovation, it is overall market size that matters most. Thus, innovation need not occur in those states most actively promoting clean energy. I conclude with lessons for state and local governments drawn from both this work and the broader literature on energy innovation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 112
Author(s):  
William J. Hall ◽  
Hayden C. Dawes

Bullying is a significant school problem. Policies have been developed to reduce bullying, yet little is known about their implementation, which must occur for these policies to have an effect. This study examines associations between the overall implementation of a state anti-bullying policy and implementation of specific components outlined in the policy with two outcomes: bullying among students and teacher protection of students. Data were collected from 588 educators in K-12 schools across North Carolina a year following the enactment of an anti-bullying law in the state. Results show that overall policy implementation fidelity is inversely related to student bullying and positively related to teacher protection. In addition, the implementation of certain policy components (i.e., educator and student knowledge of bullying reporting procedures, training of educators about protected classes from bullying, student knowledge of protected classes, and educators reporting and remediating bullying based on protected classes) is significantly related to the outcomes. Thus, the implementation of certain anti-bullying policy components may be more potent in addressing bullying. Future research should identify constellations of policy strategies that need to be activated in schools to eliminate bullying.


Author(s):  
Christopher G. Reddick

This book examined Homeland Security Information Systems (HSIS) and how this technology has influenced IT at all levels of government. The first part of the book provided background information on homeland security preparedness, e-government, and collaboration. The second part examined the impact of HSIS on federal, state, and local governments in the United States. The final part of this book examined some emerging issues in HSIS of citizens and their interaction with homeland security, information security, and online emergency management information. This chapter summarizes the key findings of the book and provides future research recommendations. The results in this book show that there is a need for homeland security preparedness and planning at all levels of government and HSIS are one critical component of planning efforts. The results demonstrate that top management support is critical for effective planning in order to ensure that these managers are fully on board with HSIS. Scarce resources at all levels of governments means that there is a priority setting process taking place, when choosing which HSIS should be incorporated. Citizen involvement is a key component to HSIS since citizens are normally the first on the disaster scene and their use of technology can help response efforts.


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