Images of Citizenship

2010 ◽  
pp. 91-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Jensen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Longitudinal Analysis ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
The United States ◽  
Content Analyses ◽  
Consumer Citizenship ◽  
Government Websites ◽  
Symbolic Content ◽  
Consumer Interactions

Local government websites are the primary place citizens interact with their local governments online. This research presents qualitative and quantitative content analyses of local government websites in the United States. It investigates these websites with respect to the participatory and consumer citizenship roles reflected and structured through their design. The websites are evaluated regarding their usability with respect to consumer and participatory interactions as well as the symbolic content framing users’ interactions. While both participatory and consumer interactions were equally accessible in 2003, longitudinal analysis shows that governments are facilitating consumer interactions without a corresponding increase in participatory usability. Additionally, an evaluation of the symbolic content of the websites reveals that almost universally, they emphasize a consumer mode of interactions over a participatory mode of interactions. A detailed qualitative analysis shows that participatory aspects are subordinate to consumer dimensions and that political content is cast to discourage dissenting political interactions.

scholarly journals New mobile realities in mature staples-dependent resource regions: Local governments and work camps

2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 500-517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura M Ryser ◽  
Greg Halseth ◽  
Sean Markey ◽  
Marleen Morris
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
The United States ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Quality And Safety ◽  
Retention Strategies ◽  
Work Camps ◽  
Municipal Boundaries

In resource-dependent regions, work camps have reshaped workforce recruitment and retention strategies and relationships with communities as they are increasingly deployed within municipal boundaries. This has prompted important, but controversial, questions about local government policies and regulations guiding workforce accommodations to support rapid growth in resource regions. Even as mobile workforces become more prevalent, however, few researchers have examined the development, operations, and decommissioning of these work camps. Drawing upon the experiences of local governments in Australia, Canada, Scotland, and the United States, this research examines how mobile workforces are shaping the opportunities and challenges of planning and local government operations through work camps integrated in mature staples-dependent resource regions. Our findings reveal that while some industries have taken the initiative to implement new protocols and operating procedures to improve the quality and safety of work camp environments, local governments have underdeveloped policy tools and capacities to guide the development, operations, and decommissioning of work camps. Failure to purposefully address work camps as a land-use issue, however, is significant for mature staples-dependent towns that ultimately fail to capture taxation revenues while incurring the accelerating costs for infrastructure and services associated with large mobile workforces.

Service Shedding in Local Governments: Why Do They Do It?

2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 359-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Lamothe ◽  
Meeyoung Lamothe
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
The United States ◽  
Delivery Mode ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Management Association ◽  
Alternative Service ◽  
Do So

Using four consecutive International City/County Management Association alternative service delivery arrangement surveys, this study explores the determinants of service shedding by local government in the United States. Our findings indicate that service shedding is fairly common, with almost 70% of jurisdictions experiencing at least one termination between 1992 and 1997. With regards to why jurisdictions shed services, we find that prior delivery mode is very influential. Specifically, services that were contracted out in the previous time period are much more likely to be dropped than are those that were produced in-house. We also find that the behavior of neighboring jurisdictions matters—if your neighbors tend to provide a service, you tend to continue to do so as well. We find little support for the idea that either budget stress or ideology is impactful in the decision to drop services.

scholarly journals Incorporating Systems Thinking into Local Governments in the United States of America

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 22-29
Author(s):  
Jennifer Capler
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Systems Thinking ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Effective Communication ◽  
The United States ◽  
Participative Leadership ◽  
Government Organizations

This is an opinion-based review of other research work on systems thinking paradigms and the possible application to local governments within the United States of America. Systems thinking is a complex interaction of people to generate thoughts, concepts, and ideas for situations involving organizational processes and changes. Using systems thinking can encourage collaboration, participative leadership, and interpersonal relations, increasing organizational effectiveness. Local government organizations may benefit greatly from creating and using systems thinking, incorporating constituent input before making decisions. Taking current organizational theory and design and recognizing a knowledge gap, this specific opinion-based review of using systems thinking emphasizes the importance of maintaining leadership and effective communication, advantages and disadvantages of system thinking paradigms, and ethical considerations. As communities grow and diversity expands, local government organizations should also grow and expand with the changing demands of constituents and economic needs. My theory is that with the incorporation of systems thinking, local government representatives can increase the overall effectiveness of council meetings and decision-making. Keywords: Systems Thinking; Local Government Organizations; Effective Communication; Effective Decision-Making; Participative Leadership

E-Democracy and Local Government - Dashed Expectations

2011 ◽  
pp. 448-454
Author(s):  
P. J. Smith
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Information And Communications Technologies ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Electronic Democracy

This article examines the impact of information and communications technologies (ICTs) on electronic democracy at the local government level. It concentrates on measures taken by local governments in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom to transform their relationship to citizens by means of e-democracy. The emphasis on democracy is particularly important in an era when governments at all levels are said to be facing a democratic deficit (Hale, Musso, & Weare, 1999; Juillet & Paquet, 2001). Yet, as this article argues by means of an examination of the available evidence in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, e-democracy has failed to deepen democracy at the local level, this at a time when local government is said to be becoming more important in people’s lives (Mälkiä & Savolainen, 2004). The first part of the article briefly summarizes the arguments on behalf of the growing importance of the city as a major locus of economic and political activity. It then discusses how e-democracy relates to e-government in general. Next, it discusses the normative relationship between two models of democracy and ICTs. The article then reviews the evidence to date of e-democracy at the local level of government in the aforementioned countries. Finally, it discusses why e-democracy has not lived up to expectations highlighting the dominance of neo-liberalism.

scholarly journals Friendly Persuasion is Not Enough: The Limits of the Lansdale Approach

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter Ladwig
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Past ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
Major Impediment

Providing aid and advice to local governments’ counterinsurgency campaigns, rather than directly intervening with American forces, has recently been identified as a more cost-effective way to counter irregular threats to U.S. interests. The challenge that such undertakings have repeatedly faced in the past is that partner governments often have their own interests and priorities which can diverge significantly from those of Washington. Consequently, a host of observers have pointed out that while the United States has provided its partners with extensive assistance to combat insurgents and terrorist groups, an inability to convince them to adopt its counterinsurgency prescriptions or address what Washington sees as the political and economic “root causes” of a conflict has repeatedly emerged as a major impediment to success. In the absence of sufficient influence to convince a local government to address these shortcomings, critics suggest that significant American aid and support can actually reduce its incentives to address domestic discontent or govern inclusively, which can render a supported regime less stable than it would have been without U.S. assistance

E-Democracy and Local Government - Dashed Expectations

2011 ◽  
pp. 1708-1717 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Smith
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Information And Communications Technologies ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Electronic Democracy

This article examines the impact of information and communications technologies (ICTs) on electronic democracy at the local government level. It concentrates on measures taken by local governments in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom to transform their relationship to citizens by means of e-democracy. The emphasis on democracy is particularly important in an era when governments at all levels are said to be facing a democratic deficit (Hale, Musso, & Weare, 1999; Juillet & Paquet, 2001). Yet, as this article argues by means of an examination of the available evidence in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, e-democracy has failed to deepen democracy at the local level, this at a time when local government is said to be becoming more important in people’s lives (Mälkiä & Savolainen, 2004). The first part of the article briefly summarizes the arguments on behalf of the growing importance of the city as a major locus of economic and political activity. It then discusses how e-democracy relates to e-government in general. Next, it discusses the normative relationship between two models of democracy and ICTs. The article then reviews the evidence to date of e-democracy at the local level of government in the aforementioned countries. Finally, it discusses why e-democracy has not lived up to expectations highlighting the dominance of neo-liberalism.

Understanding Local Government Responses to Fiscal Pressure: a Cross National Analysis

1983 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 245-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold Wolman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
The United States ◽  
Local Responses ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Equilibrium Relationships ◽  
National Analysis ◽  
Fiscal Pressure

ABSTRACTFiscally pressured local governments face the same basic choices in both the United States and the United Kingdom: whether to increase locally raised revenues in order to maintain existing services or to reduce local services. The article first posits a model of local government decision-making in response to fiscal pressure drawn primarily from organizational and systems theory. Local governments are viewed as organizations concerned with maintaining their equilibrium relationships with their external environment (public employees and their unions). The model suggests a series of hypotheses about how local government will respond to fiscal pressure. Case studies of fiscally pressured local governments in both the United States and the United Kingdom are then utilized to describe actual local responses and to assess the usefulness of the model. The article concludes by setting forth a rough hierarchy of preferred local responses.

scholarly journals The Partisan Impact on Local Government Dissemination of COVID-19 Information: Assessing US County Government Websites

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Michael A. Hansen ◽  
Isabelle Johansson ◽  
Kalie Sadowski ◽  
Joseph Blaszcynski ◽  
Sarah Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Population Density ◽  
The United States ◽  
County Government ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Unit Of Analysis ◽  
Government Websites ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract This study explores the relationship between local government dissemination of COVID-19 information and partisanship. The unit of analysis is all official county government websites in the United States. In particular, we investigate if there is a correlation between the overall partisanship of a county and whether a county government's website (1) mentions COVID-19 and (2) provides safety instructions concerning COVID-19. We hypothesize that mass partisanship will impact the probability that a county government's website provides information related to the coronavirus. We find that a larger share of Democratic voters in a county is associated with an increase in the probability that a county government's website mentions COVID-19 and provides safety instructions for its residents. The results hold even after controlling for population density, internet subscriptions and COVID-19 cases and deaths. The finding indicates that citizens’ access to information, even on matters of public health, are partially a consequence of partisanship.

Local Government Fragmentation: What Do We Know?

2019 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher B. Goodman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Economic Growth ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Expenditures ◽  
Public Employment ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
Government Fragmentation ◽  
Vertical Fragmentation

The United States is a nation of local governments. The growth in the number of local governments over the last sixty years has led many to ask whether the current fragmented arrangement is ideal or whether fewer local governments are preferred. This article explains the theoretical arguments on both sides, paying close attention to horizontal and vertical fragmentation. The empirical evidence on the effects of local government fragmentation is examined in three policy areas: public expenditures/revenues, public employment, and economic growth.

scholarly journals Human Resource Management in State and Local Government in the United States: Avoiding Liability for Discrimination Under Title 42 U.S.C. § 1983

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 131
Author(s):  
John A. Sample
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Administrators ◽  
Right Of Action ◽  
State And Local Government ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Federal Statute ◽  
Laws And Policies

AbstractThe purpose of this review is to summarize Title 42 U.S.C. §1983, sometimes known as the “other” or “original” federal discrimination law in the United States that applies to elected officials, their appointed public administrators, and other employees in state and local governments. This federal statute provides a procedural process that allows a person to bring a private right of action to seek redress when just laws and policies are administered unjustly by state and local governmental entities. A hypothetical set of facts from a municipal setting is used to explore a typical Title 42 U.S.C. § 1983 proceeding. Included in the review are typical defenses and immunities that make these proceedings for both the complaining party and the political entity complex, if not paradoxical. Strategies to prevent such claims are also discussed.Key words:Title 42 U.S.C. §1983, state and local government, employment discrimination, defenses and immunities.

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