Administrative openness and diversity in Swiss municipalities: how does local autonomy influence transparency practices?

2019 ◽  
Vol 86 (4) ◽  
pp. 782-798
Author(s):  
Nicolas Keuffer ◽  
Vincent Mabillard
Keyword(s):  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Local Autonomy ◽  
Increasing Demand ◽  
Administrative Openness ◽  
Mixed Approach ◽  
The One

The increasing demand for transparency has recently fostered greater openness within public administrations. Considered as an essential tool of good governance, transparency helps reinforce the perceived legitimacy of authorities. At the same time, local autonomy has been increasingly embraced in recent decades and recommended by many international institutions. This article combines these two concepts and seeks to highlight the causal relationship that binds them. Given its diversity, Switzerland offers fertile ground for assessing the influence of local autonomy on information-dissemination practices through a comparative perspective. To do so, this article has adopted a mixed approach, based on the creation of a transparency index for two Swiss cantons and on interviews conducted with elected officials from 16 municipalities. The results show, on the one hand, that transparency practices diverge sharply between Swiss municipalities and, on the other hand, that autonomy does have an influence on the degree of transparency at the local level. They encourage further reflection on local government practices and methods to measure what they mean for relations between authorities and citizens. Points for practitioners In this article, the development of a transparency index provides an insight into the very diverse online information-dissemination practices of Swiss municipalities. It reveals that municipal autonomy has a positive impact on the degree of transparency at the local level. The interviews conducted also show that proximity to citizens makes it possible to circumvent the lack of resources available to smaller municipalities through more direct information channels. These results encourage proactive communication by elected municipal officials.

scholarly journals MODEL IMPLEMENTASI KEBIJAKAN PENDIDIKAN KOTA SEMARANG PADA ERA OTONOMI DAERAH

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhdi PPs Universitas Negeri Semarang
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Research And Development ◽  
Educational Policy ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Local Autonomy ◽  
Implementation Model ◽  
Development Approach ◽  
The One ◽  
Management Functions

Abstract. Local autonomy in the education sector has been implemented for more than ten years; however, the results have not been satisfactory yet and have even created various problems, including in Semarang City. The objective of this research is to obtain the implementation model of the educational policy of Semarang City in the local autonomy era. This research uses the research and development approach. The research results show that the appropriate implementation model of the educational policy of Semarang City in the local autonomy era is the one which applies the interactive and participative principles, management functions and good governance. The decision making and the accomplishment of the educational policy should be done through the interactions among the decision makers, the decision implementers and the decision users so that all parties can give inputs and evaluation. The implementation of the policy is accomplished by applying the management functions especially organizing, actuating and controlling as well as applying the principle of good governance, i.e. transparency, accountability, fairness and responsiveness.Abstrak. Otonomi daerah bidang pendidikan telah lebih sepuluh tahun dilaksanakan; namun hasilnya belum menggembirakan, bahkan memunculkan berbagai masalah baru, termasuk di kota Semarang. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah mendapatkan model implementasi kebijakan pendidikan kota Semarang pada era otonomi daerah. Pendekatan dalam penelitian ini adalah penelitian dan pengembangan. Hasil penelitian ini adalah:?é?á bahwa model implementasi kebijakan pendidikan kota Semarang pada era otonomi daerah yang sesuai adalah model implementasi kebijakan pendidikan yang menerapkan prinsip interaktif, partisipatif, fungsi manajemen dan good governance. Penetapan kebijakan pelaksana dilakukan dengan?é?á interaksi antara penentu kebijakan, pelaksana kebijakan dan pengguna kebijakan, sehingga para pihak dapat memberikan masukan dan evaluasi. Pelaksanaan kebijakan dilakukan dengan?é?á menerapkan fungsi manajemen khususnya organizing, actuating, controlling, dan menerapkan prinsip good goverenance yaitu transparansi, akuntabilitas, fairnes dan responsivitas.Key words: Interactive, participative, management, good goverenance.

scholarly journals How the Widespread Presence of Historical Private Real Estate Can Contribute to Local Development

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 183
Author(s):  
Luciano Monti ◽  
Roberto Cerroni
Keyword(s):  
Real Estate ◽  
Local Economic Development ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Creative Industries ◽  
Historical Heritage ◽  
Increasing Demand ◽  
The One ◽  
Real Estate Assets ◽  
Private Real Estate

For decades, historical assets have been considered, particularly real estate, as a heritage to be conserved, but limiting the use to museums. The concept of enterprise was considered far removed, if not an indication of the dangerous commodification of the aforementioned assets. On the one hand, the emergence of an ever-increasing demand for cultural services connected to this patrimony, and, on the other hand, the increasing difficulties in finding adequate resources for the conservation of the latter, have pushed a greater number of operators to take into consideration the instrument of cultural industry, the latter whose goal is to secure resources for the maintenance of the artistic historical patrimony by exploiting the potential of the same. Italy is an important test for this challenge, because it can count on an intense pool of historical and artistic heritage, that is unique and unrivalled in the world. In this paper, therefore, we try to relate the investments necessary for the conservation and enhancement of the Italian private historical real estate assets, with the concentration of the aforementioned in certain realities and with the current local economic development of cultural and creative industries. The cross analysis shows clearly how the enhancement of private real estate assets is particularly relevant in smaller cities and can represent a stimulus for a specific economic, social and cultural growth model. However, this opportunity at the local level is unfortunately not always cultivated, therefore, we call for a comprehensive set of structural, long-term interventions in the sector, both at national and supranational level, for not only economic but social revival of private historical heritage.

Do You Want to See the Tree? Ignore the Forest

2014 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 205-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Poirel ◽  
Claire Sara Krakowski ◽  
Sabrina Sayah ◽  
Arlette Pineau ◽  
Olivier Houdé ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Recognition ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Local Information ◽  
Visual Environment ◽  
Global Information ◽  
Focus Attention ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Hierarchical Stimuli ◽  
Priming Paradigm ◽  
The One

The visual environment consists of global structures (e.g., a forest) made up of local parts (e.g., trees). When compound stimuli are presented (e.g., large global letters composed of arrangements of small local letters), the global unattended information slows responses to local targets. Using a negative priming paradigm, we investigated whether inhibition is required to process hierarchical stimuli when information at the local level is in conflict with the one at the global level. The results show that when local and global information is in conflict, global information must be inhibited to process local information, but that the reverse is not true. This finding has potential direct implications for brain models of visual recognition, by suggesting that when local information is conflicting with global information, inhibitory control reduces feedback activity from global information (e.g., inhibits the forest) which allows the visual system to process local information (e.g., to focus attention on a particular tree).

Static and Dynamic Studies of Gasoline in View of its Octane Number and its Toxic Effect

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 451-459
Author(s):  
Ashraf Yehia El-Naggar ◽  
Mohamed A. Ebiad
Keyword(s):  
Toxic Effect ◽  
Aromatic Hydrocarbons ◽  
Octane Number ◽  
Liquid Fuel ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Hydrocarbon Composition ◽  
Different Temperatures ◽  
Different Seasons ◽  
The One ◽  
The Impact

Gasoline come primarily from petroleum cuts, it is the preferred liquid fuel in our lives. Two gasoline samples of octane numbers 91 and 95 from Saudi Arabia petrol stations were studied. This study was achieved at three different temperatures 20oC, 30oC and 50oC representing the change in temperatures of the different seasons of the year. Both the evaporated gases of light aromatic hydrocarbons (BTEX) of gasoline samples inside the tank were subjected to analyze qualitatively and quantitatively via capillary gas chromatography. The detailed hydrocarbon composition and the octane number of the studied gasoline samples were determined using detailed hydrocarbon analyzer. The idea of research is indicating the impact of light aromatic compounds in gasoline on the toxic effect of human and environment on the one hand, and on octane number of gasoline on the other hand. Although the value of octane number will be reduced but this will have a positive impact on the environment as a way to produce clean fuel.

Aspects of the Evolution of the Romanian Tourists’ Preferences Concerning the Domestic Tourist Destinations

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-28
Author(s):  
Aniela Bălăcescu ◽  
Radu Șerban Zaharia
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Model ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Medium Term ◽  
Tourist Destinations ◽  
Tourism Management ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
On Line ◽  
The One ◽  
Long Term Studies

Abstract Tourist services represent a category of services in which the inseparability of production and consumption, the inability to be storable, the immateriality, and last but not least non-durability, induces in tourism management a number of peculiarities and difficulties. Under these circumstances the development of medium-term strategies involves long-term studies regarding on the one hand the developments and characteristics of the demand, and on the other hand the tourist potential analysis at regional and local level. Although in the past 20 years there has been tremendous growth of on-line booking made by household users, the tour operators agencies as well as those with sales activity continue to offer the specific services for a large number of tourists, that number, in the case of domestic tourism, increased by 1.6 times in case of the tour operators and by 4.44 times in case of the agencies with sales activity. At the same time, there have been changes in the preferences of tourists regarding their holiday destinations in Romania. Started on these considerations, paper based on a logistic model, examines the evolution of the probabilities and scores corresponding to the way the Romanian tourists spend their holidays on the types of tourism agencies, actions and tourist areas in Romania.

A short-term decline in anthropogenic emission of CO2 in India due to COVID-19 confinement

2020 ◽  
pp. 030913332096674
Author(s):  
Bikash Ranjan Parida ◽  
Somnath Bar ◽  
Nilendu Singh ◽  
Bakimchandra Oinam ◽  
Arvind Chandra Pandey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Energy Generation ◽  
Total Change ◽  
Increasing Demand ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Renewable Energy Generation

To curb the spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19), confinement measures were undertaken, which altered the pattern of energy consumption and India’s anthropogenic CO2 emissions during the effective lockdowns periods (January to June 2020). Such changes are being analyzed using data of energy generated from coal and renewable sources and fossil-based daily CO2 emissions. Results revealed that coal-fired (fossil-based) energy generation fell by –13% in March, –29% in April, and –20% in May, and –16.6% in mid-June 2020 as compared with the same period in 2018–2019. Conversely, the renewable energy generation increased by 19% in March, 12% in April, 17% in May, and 7% in June 2020. The share of fossil-based energy fell by –6.55% in 2020 compared with mean levels, which was further offset by increases of renewable energy. India’s daily fossil-based CO2 emissions fell by –11.6% (–5 to –25.7%) by mid-June 2020 compared with mean levels of 2017–2019 with total change in fossil-based CO2 emission by –139 (–62 to –230) MtCO2, with the largest reduction in the industry (–41%), transport (–28.5%), and power (–21%) followed by the public (–5.4%), and aviation (–4%) sectors. If some levels of lockdown persist until December 2020, both energy consumption and CO2 emissions patterns would be below the 2019 level. The nationwide lockdown has led to a reduction in anthropogenic CO2 emissions and, subsequently, improved air quality and global environment and has also helped in reducing atmospheric CO2 concentrations at the local level but not on the global level. With suitable government policies, switching to a cleaner mode of energy generation other than fossil fuels could be a viable option to minimize CO2 emissions under increasing demand for energy.

Corporate governance and firm performance: empirical evidence from Pakistan

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Farooq ◽  
Amna Noor ◽  
Shoukat Ali
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Firm Performance ◽  
Firm Size ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Governance Index ◽  
Governance Quality

Purpose The purpose of this research is to look into the governance–performance relationship in the context of critical firm characteristics, such as firm size. Design/methodology/approach Based on total assets, sample firms were classified as small or large. The governance index, which is based on 29 governance provisions covering the audit committee, board committee, ownership and compensation structure of the respective firm, measures governance quality among sample firms. A higher governance index indicates a higher level of governance quality and vice versa. Accounting and market value measures are used to determine firm profitability. The authors used the two-stage least square (2SLS) method of estimation of the model to eliminate the simultaneous equation bias. Findings Corporate governance (CG) appears to have a positive impact on accounting return and market indices (Tobin’s Q), but it has little impact on return on equity. In terms of firm size, larger companies profited more from better governance implementation than smaller firms that lacked these principles, thus improving CG. The findings indicate that small businesses should improve their governance mechanisms to reap the benefits of CG in terms of increased profitability. Research limitations/implications There are certain drawbacks to this research. First, the authors omitted qualitative aspects of CG from the CG index, such as the board’s decision-making process, directors’ perceptions of the board’s position and directors’ age and qualifications. Such a qualitative component will improve the governance index in the future while building the governance index. Second, as the current study only looks at the nonfinancial sector, caution should be exercised before applying the findings to the entire population. Practical implications The findings show that companies that follow good governance standards have better accounting and market efficiency than those that do not. As a result, good governance practices can help firms in developing countries improve their performance. Academic researchers, regulators, investors, lenders and practitioners can find the findings useful in establishing a true relationship between firm performance and CG practices in Pakistan. Originality/value The relationship between governance and profitability in the context of firm size is examined in this research. Firms with varying resources and ability to implement CG codes have varying effects on profitability. To the authors’ knowledge, there was a gap in the literature that addressed this topic in the local context.

Piekrastes pārvaldība Latvijā: pārvaldības ietvara attīstības pārskats

2021 ◽  
pp. 222-237
Author(s):  
Maija Štokmane ◽  
◽  
Raimonds Ernšteins ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Zone ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Horizontal Integration ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Coastal Governance ◽  
History Of

The coastal territory is a complex socio-ecological system (SES), which needs to be governed using an integrated approach. Integrated coastal management (ICM) is considered as the main approach in coastal governance, offering a holistic view of the coastal zone by integrating different governance sectors and governance levels, but ICM is not a fixed approach and should be adopted to meet each particular unique national and local situation. Full scale ICM in Latvia is not applied, but the following problems are recognized as most significant in the coastal territory: the lack of qualitative infrastructure and the lack of good governance; the local level coastal SES is studied, monitored and evaluated insufficiently as well as good practice examples are not communicated enough. In the current study, the exploration of the legisla-tive regulations and planning documents was conducted, therefore, the main research methods are docu-ment studies and expert interviews. Both the vertical and horizontal integration were assessed for the coastal governance, as well as overview of ICM developments in the modern history of Latvia. In order to understand the situation of the coastal governance in Latvia, the scheme of coastal dune protection zone was prepared, based on Latvian coastal legislation, however it is often difficult to depict different protec-tion zones in practice in such a dynamic and changing territory as a coastal zone.

Competencias de los municipios vascos: tipología y régimen jurídico

2017 ◽  
pp. 269-300
Author(s):  
Francisco VELASCO CABALLERO
Keyword(s):  
Local Autonomy ◽  
Local Institutions ◽  
Innovative System ◽  
The One

LABURPENA: Euskadiko Toki Erakundeei buruzko Legeak (2016) zenbait berrikuntza garrantzitsu dakartza toki-eskumenei dagokienez. Sistema foru-arauekin eta Eusko Legebiltzarreko sektoreko legeekin osatu behar da. Batetik, udal-eskumenen arloak zehatz jaso dira; bigarrenik, eskumen propio, transferitu edo eskuordetuen arteko bereizketa hirukoitza txertatu du. Eta, garrantzitsuena, udal-eskumenen nahikoa finantzaketa bermatzeko sistema berritzailea ezarri da, gure eskumen eskuduntza berri osoak «finantzaketa aurreikuspen zehatza» izan behar du, atxikita. Berrikuntza horietako batzuk (bereziki eskumen berri bakoitzeko finantzaketa nahikoa aurreikusteari dagokiona) kautelaz garatu behar dira, udal-helburuak ez dezan mugatu tokiko autonomia erreala. RESUMEN: La Ley de Instituciones Locales de Euskadi (2016) incorpora varias novedades importantes en relación con las competencias locales. Este sistema habrá de ser completado con las leyes sectoriales del Parlamento vasco y con las normas forales. De un lado, se enuncian con detalle las materias competenciales municipales; en segundo lugar se introduce una distinción triple entre competencias propias, transferidas y delegadas. Y, lo más importante, se establece un sistema novedoso de garantía de la suficiencia financiera de las competencias municipales, de manera que toda nueva atribución competencial debe llevar aparejada una previsión «específica de financiación». Algunas de estas novedades (en especial la previsión de suficiencia financiera de cada nueva competencia) deben ser desarrolladas con cautela, para evitar que el fin municipalista al que sirven acaben por limitar la autonomía local real. ABSTRACT: The Act on Local Institutions of Euskadi (2016) boasts several important novelties in relation with local competences. This system eventually shall be completed with specific legislation enacted by the Basque Parliament and with foral laws. On the one hand, municipal competences areas are stated at length; secondly, it introduces a threefold distinction between own, transferred and delegated competences. And, more importantly, it establishes an innovative system of guarantee for the financial sufficiency of the municipal competences so that any new allocation of powers shall carry an up-front «specific provision of financing». Some of these novelties (specially the provision for a financial sufficiency attached to every new competence) have to be carefully implemented in order to avoid that the municipal aim they serve does not restrict real local autonomy.

scholarly journals Importation of Good Governance at Local Self-government Body in Bangladesh

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 46
Author(s):  
Fakhrul Islam ◽  
Md. Amdadul Haque
Keyword(s):  
Good Governance ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Survey Method ◽  
Role Of Government ◽  
Public Issues ◽  
The People ◽  
New Space ◽  
Government Body ◽  
Data Collection Technique

The principle of good governance is difficult and controversial. Governance opens new space which provides a concept that allows us to discuss the role of government in coping with public issues and the contribution that other players may make. It opens one’s mind to the possibility that groups in society other than government. Good governance is responsive to the present and future needs of society. Strengthening local governance can be ensured through the importation of the component of good governance at the local level. This paper intent to  examine spaces where principles of good governance are required to apply to ensure better service delivery system at Union Parishad. This paper has been followed by social survey method. The data collection technique of this study has covered quantitative technique. Union Parishad as a local self government body ensuring community participations, people can approach and communicates clearly to their representatives and regularly issuing its progress report to the people for their transparency. Besides, dealing with convicted corruption was found most effective in manner.

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