The Commission Plan of City Government

1911 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-56
Author(s):  
Oswald Ryan

To appreciate the real significance in municipal affairs of the lately inaugurated movement toward city government by commission some knowledge of the general trend of American municipal development is necessary; for it is as a phase of a general tendency and not as an isolated experiment that the movement is to be properly regarded. Like most of our institutions, our city government, both in form and substance, was transplanted from England to the colonies, where it underwent the usual differentiation under the influence of changed conditions. This differentiation, however, did not proceed to any marked degree during the colonial period, and at the beginning of the national era the general form of municipal government, with the exception of the New England town-meeting system, was that of the English borough. Then began a new period, during which the influence of the federal and state governments dominated the organic development of the municipalities. That the “federal analogy” should have thus become the controlling factor in this development was due partly to a widespread belief in the efficacy of the governmental principles which it involved, and partly to a misconception of the functions of the municipality. A cardinal feature of the federal plan was Montesquieu's principle of the separation of powers, having for its object to safeguard the interests of the people against the arbitrary and ill-advised acts of public officers.


1973 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. J. Sharpe

In his celebrated study of American democracy written in 1888, Lord Bryce reserved his most condemnatory reflections for city government and in a muchquoted passage asserted: ‘There is no denying that the government of cities is the one conspicuous failure of the United States. The deficiencies of the National government tell but little for evil on the welfare of the people. The faults of the State governments are insignificant compared with the extravagance, corruption and mismanagement which mark the administration of most of the great cities'sangeetha.



2020 ◽  
Vol 171 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-28
Author(s):  
Lauri Kann

The Revolution of 1905 had an enormous impact on many nations in the Russian Empire. In order to study the society of the Russian Empire during the Revolution of 1905, many aspects need to be considered. Besides political and social changes, it is also important to study how and why violence occurred during the Revolution. Violence had many sources in the Revolution of 1905 in the Russian Empire. One such source was the revolutionary political parties, whichsaw acts of violence as a means for realising their political agenda. Revolutionary parties formed armed groups, which attacked the authorities and other people. Bombs exploded in many places. Revolutionaries also gave speeches and printed various texts calling upon the masses to engage in violence against the authorities. The authorities also used violence in situations where it was unnecessary for defending themselves or protecting the lives of others. On many occasions, soldiers opened fire on political demonstrations or crowds of strikers. Although the authorities finally managed to supress the Revolution using violence, it is also evident that during the Revolution, the use of violence by the authorities played a role in the radicalisation of the revolutionary movement. It is well known that the shooting of demonstrators in St Petersburg on 9 January 1905 became a catalyst for the Revolution. Later, similar events took place in many parts of the Russian Empire. In many areas of the Empire (Poland, Latvia, etc.), large numbers of people were killed by the authorities and by the people participating in the revolutionary movement. This study reveals that almost all of the people who were killed during the Revolution of 1905 in Estonia died at the hands of the authorities. There were 102 known victims of the Revolution in Estonian towns, and all of them were killed by the authorities. Most of them died on 16 October when soldiers opened fire on a peaceful workers’ demonstration in Tallinn. There was a total of five revolutionary events in Estonian towns where people were killed. Three of them took place in Tallinn, one in Tartu and one in Narva. All five events took place during workers’ strikes. Events in the countryside need to be investigated more thoroughly, but as far as is known, it seems to have been extremely rare for revolutionaries or participants in uprisings to kill anyone in the countryside as well. We know with certainty that only one German landlord (Arthur von Baranoff) was killed in Estonia in 1905. The punitive squads that were sent to Estonia by the authorities in December of 1905 killed hundreds of people. So although the events in the countryside need further research in order to obtain more reliable data, it is clear that most of the victims of the Revolution of 1905 in the countryside were killed by the authorities. It is exceedingly difficult to point out exactly why the revolutionary movement in Estonia was less violent than in many other areas of the Russian Empire. Estonia and Latvia were in a relatively similar political situation, but the Revolution became much more violent in Latvia. This may be due to the fact that the socialist movement was not as widespread in Estonia as it was in Latvia. Socialist organisations in Estonia were also weaker than in Latvia. An event already occurred on 13 January in Riga in which soldiers opened fire on a crowd of people. It is possible that this contributed to the early radicalisation of the revolutionary movement in Latvia. Tallinn’s City Council may also have played an important role in keeping the peace. Estonians had won election to the City Council of Tallinn for the first time in 1904. It is likely that Estonian workers found it easier to communicate with the Tallinn’s municipal government than Riga workers with their local city government that was still dominated by Germans. Tallinn’s municipal government did not position itself against the workers’ movement and in some cases tried to work together with the representatives of the workers. It is possible that this also played an important role in revolutionary events in Tallinn.



2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
А. И. Кольба ◽  
Н. В. Кольба

The article describes the structural characteristics of the urban communities of the city of Krasnodar and the related features that impact their participation in urban conflicts. This issue is considered in a number of scientific publications, but there is a need to expand the empirical base of such studies. On the base of expert interviews conducted with both city activists, their counterparty (representatives of the municipal government) and external observers (journalists), the parameters of urban communities functioning in the process of their interaction with other conflict actors are revealed. The communities characteristics such as the predominantly territorial principle of formation, the overlap of online and offline communications in their activities, the presence of a “core” with a relatively low number of permanent participants and others are determined. Their activities are dominated by neighborly and civilian models of participation in conflicts. The possibilities of realizing one’s own interests through political interactions (participation in elections, the activities of representative bodies of power, political parties) are not yet sufficiently understood. Urban communities, as a rule, operate within the framework of conventional forms of participation in solving urgent problems, although in some cases it is possible to use confrontational methods, in particular, protest ones. In this regard, the most often used compromise, with the desire for cooperation, a strategy of behavior in interaction with opponents. The limited activating role of conflicts in the activities of communities has been established. The weak manifestation of the civil and especially political component in their activities determines the preservation of a low level of political subjectivity. This factor restrains the growth of urban communities resources and the possibility of applying competitive strategies in interaction with city government and business.



2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 39
Author(s):  
С. И. Дудник ◽  
И. Д. Осипов

The article discusses the problems of evolution and the formation of the ideology of an enlightened monarchy in Russia. In this regard, the philosophical and political ideas of Catherine the Great, as well as their theoretical and ideological premises, are analyzed. It is noted that the philosophy of education in Russia was closely connected with the concepts of Voltaire, Didro, Montesquieu, Beccaria, Bentham, their views on natural law and human freedom, humanism and the rule of law. These concepts in the philosophy of Catherine received a specific interpretation, due to the sociocultural conditions of Russia. This was manifested in the famous work of Catherine the Great “The Nakaz”, which recognized Montesquieu's argument in favor of the autocracy, but at the same time, his point of view on the separation of powers was rejected. The specificity of the doctrine of enlightened monarchy lies in the combination of liberal and conservative values, which form eclectic forms. This was the dialectic of the supreme power, the difference between the enlightened monarchy and the ideology of absolutism. The article also notes that education in Russia is associated with fundamental socio-political reforms, processes of secularization of culture. At this time, the natural and human sciences are developing. The changes positively influenced the development of medicine, beautification of towns and public education. Also considered are the views on the autocracy of the opposition nobility intelligentsia: A. N. Radishchev and noted that his criticism of the autocracy was determined by an alternative cultural policy, proceeding from the protection of the interests of the people. The doctrine of enlightened monarchy is characterized by internal worldview inconsistency and political inconsistency, which did not allow solving the pressing social problems of the establishment of legal state, democratization of society and the abolition of serfdom.



Author(s):  
Оlena Fedorіvna Caracasidi

The article deals with the fundamental, inherent in most of the countries of the world transformation of state power, its formation, functioning and division between the main branches as a result of the decentralization of such power, its subsidiarity. Attention is drawn to the specifics of state power, its func- tional features in the conditions of sovereignty of the states, their interconnec- tion. It is emphasized that the nature of the state power is connected with the nature of the political system of the state, with the form of government and many other aspects of a fundamental nature.It is analyzed that in the middle of national states the questions of legitima- cy, sovereignty of transparency of state power, its formation are acutely raised. Concerning the practical functioning of state power, a deeper study now needs a problem of separation of powers and the distribution of power. The use of this principle, which ensures the real subsidiarity of the authorities, the formation of more effective, responsible democratic relations between state power and civil society, is the first priority of the transformation of state power in the conditions of modern transformations of countries and societies. It is substantiated that the research of these problems will open up much wider opportunities for the provi- sion of state power not as a center authority, but also as a leading political structure but as a power of the people and the community. In the context of global democratization processes, such processes are crucial for a more humanistic and civilized arrangement of human life. It is noted that local self-government, as a specific form of public power, is also characterized by an expressive feature of a special subject of power (territorial community) as a set of large numbers of people; joint communal property; tax system, etc.



2017 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-283
Author(s):  
Subhendu Ranjan Raj

Development process in Odisha (before 2011 Orissa) may have led to progress but has also resulted in large-scale dispossession of land, homesteads, forests and also denial of livelihood and human rights. In Odisha as the requirements of development increase, the arena of contestation between the state/corporate entities and the people has correspondingly multiplied because the paradigm of contemporary model of growth is not sustainable and leads to irreparable ecological/environmental costs. It has engendered many people’s movements. Struggles in rural Odisha have increasingly focused on proactively stopping of projects, mining, forcible land, forest and water acquisition fallouts from government/corporate sector. Contemporaneously, such people’s movements are happening in Kashipur, Kalinga Nagar, Jagatsinghpur, Lanjigarh, etc. They have not gained much success in achieving their objectives. However, the people’s movement of Baliapal in Odisha is acknowledged as a success. It stopped the central and state governments from bulldozing resistance to set up a National Missile Testing Range in an agriculturally rich area in the mid-1980s by displacing some lakhs of people of their land, homesteads, agricultural production, forests and entitlements. A sustained struggle for 12 years against the state by using Gandhian methods of peaceful civil disobedience movement ultimately won and the government was forced to abandon its project. As uneven growth strategies sharpen, the threats to people’s human rights, natural resources, ecology and subsistence are deepening. Peaceful and non-violent protest movements like Baliapal may be emulated in the years ahead.



1936 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Brooke Graves

In any consideration of the future of the states, it is desirable at the outset to recall the circumstances of their development and of their entry into the Union. When the present Constitution was framed and adopted, the states were more than a century and a half old. At that time, and for many years thereafter, it was the states to which the people gave their primary allegiance. Under the Articles of Confederation, the strength of the states was so great that the central government was unable to function; when the Constitution was framed, the people were still greatly concerned about “states' rights.” This priority of the states in the federal system continued through the nineteenth century, down to the period of the Civil War; in the closing decades of that century, state government sank into the depths in an orgy of graft and corruption and inefficiency, which resulted in a wave of state constitutional restrictions, particularly upon legislative powers.At this time, when the prestige and efficiency of the state governments were at their lowest ebb, there began to appear ringing indictments of the whole state system. Most conspicuous of these were the well known writings of Professors John W. Burgess, of Columbia University, and Simon N. Patten, of the University of Pennsylvania.



2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 126-143
Author(s):  
Aliyu Hassan Ibrahim ◽  
Hassan Ibrahim Adamu

The paper examined the spatial distribution and characteristics of ethno-cultural tourism resources available in different ethnic communities in Kaduna State, Nigeria. The sampled communities are Ham, Fulani, Hausa, Kagoro, Adara and Gbagyi, field observations were also carried out for holistic resource inventory in the ethnic communities. Documentary data were obtained from desk review method; information on tourism resources available in each ethnic community.  The findings of the study reveal that the ethno-cultural resources were characterized into three groups that are made up of archaeological/historical monuments, cultural and festival activities, and artifacts; while the nature-based tourism, resources were also sub-divided into geomorphic and hydrological features. The study recommends that  There is the need for private public partnership (PPP) to foster visible ethno-cultural tourism development projects (tourism potential development, provision of social amenities to enhance competitive advantage and enlightenment campaigns), since the local and state Governments (basically in terms of infrastructural developing and policy issue that will providing an enabling environment for tourism projects to strive) cannot do all or meet all the yearnings of the people.



1973 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis Robinson

British rule cut down Muslim power in the United Provinces. Between 1868 and 1916, municipalities and councils acts tempered the rule of officials, many of whom were Muslims, with the rule of the people, few of whom were Muslims. Up to 1916, Muslims felt this loss of power most severely in the towns. But, because the municipalities were electorates for the provincial councils, this decline of Muslim power in the towns was reflected in the province as a whole. UP Muslims directed their politics towards compensating for this loss. They aimed for a protected share of power. This essay analyses the local origins of this Muslim demand.



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