scholarly journals Horizontal Local Governance and Social Inclusion: The Case of Municipality-Civil Society Engagement During Refugee Reception in Malmö, Sweden

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Fry ◽  
Mine Islar

This study takes its departure from literature on the far-reaching engagements from civil society during the 2015 “refugee crisis” in Europe as it seeks to understand the status of collaborative governance at the local level. It takes an in-depth look of Malmö, a city in Sweden which in 2015 became the centre for the Swedish refugee reception and solidarity initiatives. The study identifies challenges and opportunities of horizontal collaborations to develop the social dimension of city resilience. It includes eleven interviews with key actors from the civil society sector as well as from the municipality and utilizes theory on solidarities in the “refugee crisis” together with social cohesion and inclusion as a framework for analyzing data. This allows for a comprehensive appraisal of the (spatially produced) responses to migration from the city's horizontal alliances. The findings suggest that there are diverse conclusions to be made about the long-term potential of horizontal collaborations in bringing about social resilience. On the one side it is discovered that short-term project collaborations may only serve to “fill the gap” left by neo-liberal local governments and not bring about the structural change needed. On the other side, it is found that horizontal collaborations can be a strategy for civil society actors to influence more inclusive alternatives by bringing the realities of refugees into local policy making, particularly those refugees otherwise rendered invisible due to legal categorizations. Lastly, there are suggestions made for how to enhance the opportunities of horizontal collaborations in creating a socially cohesive, inclusive and resilient city.

2020 ◽  
pp. 100-112
Author(s):  
Zenoviy Siryk

The issues related to the management of financial resources of territorial communities, financial independence of local governments and forming of efficient financial-investment policy to secure the balanced development of local communities and territories become of utmost importance in conditions of financial decentralization and administrative-territorial reform in Ukraine. The problem issues concerning the forming of financial-investment maintenance of local governance directly impact the capacity of a territorial community that should have financial, material, and other resources in the volumes sufficient to completely accomplish the tasks and function of local governments and provide social services to the population at the level stipulated by national standards. The forming of financial-investment maintenance of local governance is revealed to be directly influencing the capacity of a territorial community that should have financial, material, and other resources in the volumes sufficient to completely accomplish the tasks and function of local governments and provide social services to the population. The expansion of local governments’ competences and granting them greater independence are substantiated to be requiring more responsibility in the financial-investment policy implementation on the local level, forming of conditions to perform the economic activity, and develop businesses by all economic entities, and promoting favorable investment climate in the region. Based on the analysis of approaches to the definition of the nature of “financial maintenance” and “investment maintenance” in the context of the peculiarities of local governments’ activity, the paper suggests understanding the “financial-investment maintenance of local governance” as a set of opportunities and activities on distribution and use of financial resources and territories’ resources for the creation of conditions necessary for the efficient functioning of local governments and realization of their competences.


Author(s):  
Ida Ayu Putu Sri Widnyani ◽  
I Made Kusna Antara ◽  
Nyoman Diah Utari Dewi

The marine ecosystem on the coast of Nusa Lembongan is one of the tourist attractions such as coral reefs, mangrove forests and others. The high number of tourist visiting the island also impacts tourism facilities. Increased tourism also has the opportunity to damage the marine ecosystem. Therefore needs a collaboration among stakeholders in maintaining the sustainability of the marine ecosystem                . The purpose of this research is to find out and analyze also to find a collaborative model of stakeholders such as government, private sector, community and traditional institutions in preserving the marine ecosystem in Nusa Lembongan. The research is using a qualitative descriptive approach with determining informants technic is purposive sampling. Local government collaboration model in conserving marine ecosystems by strengthening the role of stakeholders at the local level such as: 1) signing memorandum of understanding for creating regional regulations as a policy of the Klungkung Regency; 2) writing in to a local wisdom (awig-awig) as a local policy of the local wisdom institutions (adat); 3) writing into the policy of the tour operator; 4) implement the Tri Hita Karana concept and creating a memorandum of understanding for all parties.


2013 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 115-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sri Lestari Wahyuningroem

The article examines both civil society initiatives that seek to address the mass violence of 1965 and 1966 and the state's responses to them. Unlike other political-transition contexts in the world, a transitional justice approach is apparently a formula that state authorities have found difficult to implement nationally for this particular case. The central government has, through its institutions, sporadically responded to some of the calls from civil society groups and has even initiated policy reforms to support such initiatives. Nevertheless, these responses were not sustained and any suggested programmes have always failed to be completed or implemented. Simultaneously, however, NGOs and victims are also voicing their demands at the local level. Many of their initiatives involve not only communities but also local authorities, including in some cases the local governments. In some aspects, these “bottom-up” approaches are more successful than attempts to create change at the national level. Such approaches challenge what Kieran McEvoy refers to as an innate “seductive” quality of transitional justice, but at the same time these approaches do, in fact, aim to “seduce” the state to adopt measures for truth and justice.


2010 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yilin Hou

Abstract This study examines fiscal policy interactions between state and local governments. Research in this area has been increasing but remains inadequate, especially on local policy options during economic downturns. State governments oversee local finances, also provide financial assistance; localities are expected to adopt counter-cyclical fiscal policies (CCFP). There has been an increasing literature on CCFP at the state level, but little on the local level. This paper uses U.S. county data for empirical analysis and attempts to move closer to consensus on the determinants of local savings and their effects on outlays. I find no evidence that localities smooth across boom-bust cycles; i.e., they do not save for revenue shortfalls. I find that state fiscal institutions cast real impact on local finance. These shed light on local policy making, also add to existing evidence for subnational policy design.


2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 150-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luiz Fernando Macedo Bessa ◽  
Marcelo Facchina

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the reasons behind the difficulties in implementing proper participatory environmental and water governance systems in the metropolitan region of Brasilia, Brazil. Design/methodology/approach – This work is a result of a the qualitative analysis of documents and reports of local participatory arenas in Brasilia, and is complemented by a set of 13 interviews held between November 2009 and March 2010 with a variety of actors involved in the promotion of sustainability in the region. Findings – The findings reveal that impediments to the good performance of environmental governance in the Federal District are a consequence to two main factors: institutional framework poorly transferred from the national level and incompatibility between the set of regulations and local electoral power dynamics. Research limitations/implications – As a consequence of the deliberate choice of one specific case, the conclusions of this paper may erroneously overemphasize the perils of participatory local governance rather than its potentials. Practical implications – By identifying a series of mechanisms that threaten positive partnerships between governments and civil society at the local level, this work serves as an important tool for public managers and civil society to engage in more fruitful partnerships. Originality/value – The paper provides a power-based analysis of a case of ineffectiveness of participatory mechanisms. In doing so, it also demonstrates that policy planning must be analysed from a variety of perspectives, and often involve coalitions that cut across the traditional state-society divide. The identification of the mechanisms behind the creation of these obstacles constitutes the originality and value of this paper.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 701-712
Author(s):  
A.N.M. Zakir Hossain

The study aims to identify the role of local government and its transformation in response to the COVID-19. It also shows how local governments extended the scope of accountability and transparency to strengthen democracy. The study followed the social survey method and collected data online through Google Docs form. The data were analyzed through descriptive statistics to generate expected results and test the hypothesis by the Spearman correlation coefficient. The study found local governments were positive during COVID-19 to provide services and offered more public engagement in policy formulation, thus more democratic. The health sector has shown the highest priority, with food and environmental services. Inefficient management capacity of leaders and apathy in public engagement hamper resource mobilization at the local level. During COVID-19, ICT intervention and innovation for digital transformation in local governance increased accountability and transparency through easy and effective participation of mass people to strengthen local democracy to respond effectively against COVID-19.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anniken Førde

Sustainable cites require the capacity to live with difference. In a world of increased mobility and migration, our cities become more and more diversified. While national discourses on diversity are often problem-focused, social initiatives are emerging in diverse cities addressing the positive potential of the city as a cross-cultural meeting place. In Norway, such initiatives have increased in number since “the refugee crisis” in 2015, and we see creative approaches arising from civil society, the voluntary sector, private companies, and local governments aiming to facilitate encounters with difference. This article explores innovative integration initiatives in cities in the north, emphasizing how difference might be negotiated, engendering new forms of engagement and responsibility. Cities are seen as sites of experiments, where new relations across difference are developed. Framing encounters as emergent, transitory, fragile, yet hopeful, we discuss the transformative powers of such initiatives for planning in diverse cities.


Urban Studies ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 004209802110493
Author(s):  
Lingyue Li ◽  
Surong Zhang ◽  
Jinfeng Wang ◽  
Xiaoming Yang ◽  
Lan Wang

The ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has had a far-reaching impact on urban living, prompting emergency preparedness and response from public health governance at multiple levels. The Chinese government has adopted a series of policy measures to control infectious disease, for which cities are the key spatial units. This research traces and reports analyses of those policy measures and their evolution in four Chinese cities: Zhengzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai and Chengdu. The theoretical framework stems from conceptualisations of urban governance and its role in public health emergencies, wherein crisis management and emergency response are highlighted. In all four cities, the trend curves of cumulative diagnosed cases, critical policies launched in key time nodes and local governance approaches in the first wave were identified and compared. The findings suggest that capable local leadership is indispensable for controlling the coronavirus epidemic, yet local governments’ approaches are varied, contributing to dissimilar local epidemic control policy pathways and positive outcomes in the fight against COVID-19. The effectiveness of disease control is determined by how local governments’ measures have adapted to geospatial and socioeconomic heterogeneity. The coordinated actions from central to local governments also reveal an efficient, top-down command transmission and execution system for coping with the pandemic. This article argues that effective control of pandemics requires both a holistic package of governance strategies and locally adaptive governance measures/processes, and concludes with proposals for both a more effective response at the local level and identification of barriers to achieving these responses within diverse subnational institutional contexts.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 967-990
Author(s):  
Elif Topal Demiroğlu

This article focuses on the increasing role of cities and local governments in migration governance through following the increasing “local turn” approach in migration studies in recent years. Turkey, which has a long immigration history and by far the largest immigration population of the country with massive Syrian immigration which started in particular in 2011, cities and local governments have developed different local governance arrangements by which they are trying to produce answers to the diversity brought about by immigration. Local responses differ in terms of scope, actor, approach and method. In this study, how and why the municipalities produce different responses are discussed in the context of the role of the municipalities and the common methods that local responses share despite the same legal framework and being a part of Istanbul metropolitan area. Thus, based on the analysis of the field study conducted in six districts of Istanbul, it has been revealed that the answers given to migration and immigrants are shaped in the context of a high informality and compulsory governance.


Author(s):  
Brid C. Quinn

Local governments find themselves dependent on co-operation, not only with other levels of government but also with a range of non-governmental actors. New actors, drawn from the private sector, civil society, and technocratic élites, have become involved in the governing process and interdependencies have grown. Various approaches have been implemented to link the third sector and government, and various conceptualizations and analyses have emerged. This chapter explores strategies to involve the third sector in local government in Ireland. Ireland makes for an interesting case since it depicts an example of a state-designed system for formally integrating the third sector in the reformed structures of local governance. It provides insights about the theory and practice of subnational governance and generates transferable knowledge about the impact of nationally directed strategies to integrate the third sector with government. It also offers suggestions for further research on such linkages.


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