The 2018 Municipal Elections in Jerusalem: A Tale of Fragmentation and Polarization

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-24
Author(s):  
Csaba Nikolenyi
Keyword(s):  
Municipal Government ◽  
City Council ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Electoral Process ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Arab Population ◽  
Decision To Leave ◽  
The City ◽  
State Of Israel ◽  
East Jerusalem

This article analyzes the 2018 local elections in Jerusalem, the contested capital of the State of Israel. These elections were unique in terms of their level of competitiveness and fragmentation as well as producing a highly divided local government in the wake of the incumbent mayor’s, Nir Barkat’s, decision to leave the local political scene and enter national politics. While his party has no representation in city council, the new mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Lion, built a broadly based new coalition that includes all parties in the council except for Hitorerut, the party that won the most seats and whose mayoral candidate, Ofer Berkovitch, was the runner-up to Lion. With the exception of the ultra-orthodox parties, national political parties that sought to interfere with the local electoral process to promote their candidates and lists by and large failed. Therefore, the governance of the city of Jerusalem once again fell under the control of the ultra-orthodox majority. Furthermore, even though the Arab population of East Jerusalem largely continued its traditional abstention from the electoral process, there was some evidence to suggest that a slight shift was taking place in that community in favor of participating in the institutional process of municipal government and democracy.

scholarly journals Toronto's 2018 Municipal Election, Rights of Democratic Participation, and Section 2(b) of the Charter

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Jamie Cameron ◽  
Bailey Fox
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
City Council ◽  
Provincial Government ◽  
Democratic Participation ◽  
Electoral Process ◽  
Municipal Election ◽  
The City

In 2018, the City of Toronto’s municipal election overlapped with a provincial election that brought a new government to office. While the municipal election ran for a protracted period from May 1 to October 22, the provincial election began on May 9 and ended about four weeks later, on June 7.1 On July 27, after only a few weeks in office, the provincial government tabled the Better Local Government Act (BLGA) and proclaimed the Bill into law on August 14.2 The BLGA reduced Toronto City Council from 47 to 25 wards and reset the electoral process, mandating that the election proceed under a different concept of representation for City Council.3

Weakening the Strong Mayor: Partisan Division and Presidential Intervention in Istanbul

2021 ◽  
pp. 0160323X2110453
Author(s):  
İhsan İkizer
Keyword(s):  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Central Government ◽  
City Council ◽  
Government Agencies ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Nationalist Movement ◽  
Central Government Agencies ◽  
Mayoral Leadership ◽  
The City ◽  
Ruling Party

Istanbul, the leading city of Turkey, is a good case for analyzing the conflictual relations of the mayor with the city council and the central government. Istanbul had been governed by the mayors from the ruling party, the Justice and Development Party ( Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi; AKP) and its predecessor parties since 1994. In the local elections held in March 2019, which was repeated only for Istanbul after two months with a highly suspicious decision by the Supreme Election Board, the AKP lost this city. Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul, has harsh relations with the city council, which is dominated by the AKP and its alliance party, the Nationalist Movement Party ( Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi; MHP). What exacerbates this situation is the partisan intervention of the increasingly authoritarian central government that weakens the mayor's position. The mayor tries to counterbalance the power of the city council and central government agencies through livestreaming the city council meetings and attracting civic engagement on his side. This article is expected to contribute to the literature on mayoral leadership, partisan constraints to mayoral powers as well as the mayor's strategies against the authoritarian intervention of the central governments. Mayor İmamoğlu's strategies and measures adopted for overcoming the efforts of blocking his agenda by both the council and central government might inspire other mayors experiencing similar partisan constraints.

The “Laws of Reason” and the Surprise of the Natural Law

2001 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 146-175
Author(s):  
Hadley Arkes
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Sexual Orientation ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Municipal Government ◽  
City Council ◽  
Minority Status ◽  
Lesbian Couples ◽  
The Law ◽  
The City

The city of Cincinnati, we know, can be an engaging place, but federal judge Arthur Spiegel also found, in the mid-'90s, that it could be quite a vexing place. The city council of Cincinnati had passed what was called the Human Rights Ordinance of 1992, which barred virtually all species of discrimination—including discrimination on the basis of “Appalachian origin.” But the bill also encompassed a bar on discrimination based on “sexual orientation.” This kind of bill, in other places, had been turned into a club to be used against evangelical Christians who might refuse, on moral grounds, to rent space in their homes to gay or lesbian couples. And so a movement arose in Cincinnati, modeled on a similar movement in Colorado, to override the ordinance passed by the council: this would not be a referendum merely to repeal the law, but a move to amend the charter of the municipal government and remove, from the hands of the local legislature, the authority to pass bills of this kind. In effect, this was an attempt to override an ordinary statute by changing the constitution of the local government. The amendment did not seek to make homosexual acts the grounds for criminal prosecutions; it sought, rather, to bar any attempt to make gay and lesbian orientation the ground for special advantages, quotas, or preferential “minority status” in the law. The framers of the amendment objected to the tendency to treat gays and lesbians on the same plane as groups that have suffered discrimination based on race, religion, or gender. The proposal, known as Issue 3, drew wide support and passed in a referendum in 1993. It was, of course, challenged in the courts, which is why it found its way into the hands of Judge Spiegel.

scholarly journals The First Hurrah: Edmonton Elects a Mayor, 1983

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jame Lightbody
Keyword(s):  
Local Elections ◽  
Electoral Process ◽  
Participant Observer ◽  
The City

This article by a participant-observer describes the four-part winning electoral strategy of Laurence Décore who was elected the thirty-first mayor of Edmonton on 17 October, 1983. Since the war, Edmonton's local elections have been dominated by purely local "nonpartisan" slates and like-minded independents. The 1983 compaign represented a dramatic re-affirmation of anti-party sentiments in the municipal electoral process of the city.

scholarly journals Mapping the History of a Territory: Bon Pastor (Barcelona) – Social Remembrance and Heritage Project

2019 ◽  
pp. 37-54
Author(s):  
Salvador Angosto
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Health Centre ◽  
City Council ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Development Plans ◽  
Material Conditions ◽  
The City

The topic of the article are the complex stages of the formation of the Bon Pastor neighbourhood in Barcelona, and contemporary efforts to create the remembrance space system that would preserve the social memory and historical identity of the place. The author presents how the urban development plans for the district were transformed as a result of major changes in national politics, economy, and social policy, since the 1930s, through 60s and 70s, till today. The article describes the Bon Pastor Civic Memory project as an interesting example of a participatory action aimed at the preservation of local heritage. The implementation of the Civic Memory project was possible due to the neighbours’ initiative and their cooperation with cultural and academic institutions. The aim of this project is to mark certain points of the territory which possess historically and socially significant value, and to enhance them through public art, urban design and other implementations envisaged. The Association of residents of Bon Pastor (Barcelona) has been characterized, since 1974, for its combative and vindictive nature, at the same time as for its great capacity to launch solidarity initiatives and manage complicated processes to improve the living conditions of residents of the neighbourhood. After the struggles to obtain a health centre, the improvement of communications by metro and bus, and the constant improvement of public space, in recent years, the Association is co-managing with the Barcelona City Council, the radical transformation of the neighbourhood. The different phases for the remodelling of the neighbourhood, by replacing the so-called “cheap houses” with new buildings, with more spacious apartments and with better material conditions, is coming to an end and now, the possibility opens up, driven by the neighbours and the Museum of the History of the City (MUHBA) to have a metropolitan museographic space devoted to the presentation and study of the evolution of workers’ and popular housing in Barcelona.

To Participation and Beyond?

2014 ◽  
pp. 215-228
Author(s):  
Paul Burton ◽  
Stephen Hilton
Keyword(s):  
Social Inclusion ◽  
City Council ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Local Democracy ◽  
Grass Roots ◽  
Government Institutions ◽  
Local Program ◽  
The Times ◽  
The City

This chapter provides a case study of local developments in e-democracy in the city of Bristol, UK. Although some of these developments relate to periodic local elections, most are concerned with supporting new forms of engagement between local citizens and local government institutions and processes in the times between these. Starting with the coordination of its own consultation activities, then encouraging greater participation in council-run activities, and finally supporting grass roots engagement activities, Bristol City Council embarked on a local program of e-democracy activities from 2000 onwards. This grew into a national pilot scheme that enabled a number of valuable comparative evaluations of e-democracy in practice. The chapter draws on the results of a number of evaluations of these local and national developments and highlights the more widespread and enduring challenges of trying to broaden the scope and the effectiveness of local democracy and improve the practices of social inclusion.

To Participation and Beyond?

2015 ◽  
pp. 1662-1675
Author(s):  
Paul Burton ◽  
Stephen Hilton
Keyword(s):  
Social Inclusion ◽  
City Council ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Local Democracy ◽  
Grass Roots ◽  
Government Institutions ◽  
Local Program ◽  
The Times ◽  
The City

This chapter provides a case study of local developments in e-democracy in the city of Bristol, UK. Although some of these developments relate to periodic local elections, most are concerned with supporting new forms of engagement between local citizens and local government institutions and processes in the times between these. Starting with the coordination of its own consultation activities, then encouraging greater participation in council-run activities, and finally supporting grass roots engagement activities, Bristol City Council embarked on a local program of e-democracy activities from 2000 onwards. This grew into a national pilot scheme that enabled a number of valuable comparative evaluations of e-democracy in practice. The chapter draws on the results of a number of evaluations of these local and national developments and highlights the more widespread and enduring challenges of trying to broaden the scope and the effectiveness of local democracy and improve the practices of social inclusion.

Perspectives on the Electoral Behaviour of Baguio City (Philippines) Voters in a Transition Era

1991 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Rood
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Election ◽  
City Council ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Electoral Behaviour ◽  
The City ◽  
Senatorial Elections

This paper attempts to trace, using survey evidence, the electoral behaviour of Baguio City voters during two years beginning with the 1986 Presidential election contest between Ferdinand Marcos and Corazon Aquino. The revolutionary aftermath to this election issued in a new political regime, which held a series of elections. By January 1988 there had been a plebiscite to ratify a new Constitution, Congressional and Senatorial elections, and finally local elections for the Mayor and City Council. For all of these elections, local surveys were conducted in the City of Baguio.

Running for the City Council: a Case Study

1949 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 1235-1241
Author(s):  
Arthur W. Bromage
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Municipal Government ◽  
State Legislature ◽  
The State ◽  
City Council ◽  
Federal Level ◽  
The City ◽  
The Prestige

“So you want to be a politician,” my friend said, with a slight lift to the eyebrows. Others wanted to know what the goal was. Running for alderman in ward politics and a partisan campaign must be a training ground for some coveted objective in the state legislature or Congress. You don't just want to be an alderman, some queried. “Starting pretty low down,” was another leading remark. All these and many more comments intrigued me, for they spelled out something or other about the prestige of local government in a day of Big Government at the federal level, or any level other than a municipality of 40,000 population. My answer to all this was that, after twenty years of residence in one community, a professor of municipal government could hardly avoid grubbing around in politics at the level of local self-government. I hoped to become an alderman—period.I soon learned to parry the pleasant “hazing” remarks made to all prospective ward “politicians.” “Kissed any babies today, Alderman?” “Where are the cigars?” “How's ward-heeling today?” “I'll vote for you, if—.” “How is door-bell ringing?” Most of these remarks prompted the unspoken remark: “When you say those words, sir, smile.” You will notice that I said unspoken.

scholarly journals The “Garbological Mission” of Kharkiv’s Municipal Self-Government in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Solid Waste ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Waste Disposal ◽  
Industrial Development ◽  
Municipal Government ◽  
Liquid Waste ◽  
Waste Utilization ◽  
City Council ◽  
City Government ◽  
The City

The article analyzes the evolution of waste disposal practices in the activities of Kharkiv’s municipal self-government. At the end of the 19th century, keeping the urban space clean was still primarily the responsibility of homeowners. The city government issued regulatory decrees and the police monitored their implementation. For their part, homeowners hired private nightmen to remove garbage to dumps. The study clarifies the procedure for organizing the solid waste processing cycle. During this period, rag and bone collectors were important agents of waste utilization. Companies of these peculiar professionals sorted garbage and prepared it for further processing. At the turn of the 20th century, active industrial development and urbanization led to the devaluation of the secondary materials market and the worsening of the sanitary and epidemiological conditions in the city. The article delves into the details of the formation of the new garbological strategy of the municipal self-government and traces the changes in how members of the city council and engineers viewed the development of this industry. The city authorities revised their approach to keeping Kharkiv’s environment in order. New special departments inspected the condition and cleanliness of streets, sidewalks, squares, and sewers. The first significant technological component of the waste disposal infrastructure was a water supply system. The development of this network allowed the municipal government to begin creating a closed cycle of liquid waste filtration. Meanwhile, the construction of a sewer system did not solve all the problems of cleaning up Kharkiv. In the 1910s, the city authorities set up regular municipal solid waste caravans. During this period, a waste utilization plant was opened, not only contributing to the liberation of the city from animal waste, but also doing anti-epidemic and anti-epizootic work. The author concludes that during the period under consideration Kharkiv’s authorities addressed the new challenge to the community by implementing modern garbological projects and waste disposal methods.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document