Territorial Changes to Municipalities and Inter-Municipal Cooperation: A Comparative Overview and Orientations for Slovenia

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 731-748 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iztok Rakar ◽  
Bojan Tičar ◽  
Maja Klun
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
Local Democracy ◽  
The Past ◽  
The People ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
To Receive ◽  
Public Decision

Local self-government has faced a number of challenges over the past decade. The financial crisis has revealed new dimensions of the eternal question of financing self-governing local communities, while distrust and a lack of interest in participation in local democracy among the people have led to considerations of different approaches to public decision-making concerning local issues. A comparative overview shows that the question of the “perfect size” of municipalities is currently very relevant and aimed at finding dimensions that would enable the municipality to ensure both local-level democracy and identity and economic efficiency in the delivery of public services. The most popular tool for achieving this goal is the merger of municipalities, although other approaches also exist, including various forms of inter-municipal cooperation. Some forms of inter-municipal cooperation have already taken firm hold in Slovenia, although the question of the potential impacts of alternative forms of inter-municipal cooperation on the democratic legitimacy of decision-making processes and the potential of these processes for the developmental breakthrough of Slovenian municipalities has yet to receive adequate attention.

The Constitutional Basis of Local Democracy

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 809-825
Author(s):  
Franc Grad ◽  
Igor Kaučič
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Local Democracy ◽  
The People ◽  
Town Meeting ◽  
Right To Vote ◽  
The Right ◽  
Popular Initiative ◽  
The Town

The Constitution of Slovenia guarantees local government, nevertheless it does not regulate forms of local democracy. Thus, the legislation envisages numerous different ways of citizens' participation, both direct and indirect, in decision-making in local communities. Still the local elections remain the most important way of citizens’ influencing decision making in local communities. The right of the people living in local communities to vote local authorities and to be elected for local offices is certainly the core of modern understanding of local democracy. In Slovenia, both members of municipal council and mayor are directly elected. Right to vote and to be elected have also EU citizens while other foreigners have only right to vote. Among forms of direct participation, the most important ones are the town meeting, referendum, popular initiative and right to petition. They enable the citizens to participate in the processes of deliberation, proposing and formulating decisions, stating preliminary positions with regard to decisions to be made as well as decision-making itself or confirming the solutions adopted.

scholarly journals Therapeutic Abortion and Psychiatric Disturbance in Canadian Women

1976 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 453-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther R. Greenglass
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Psychiatric History ◽  
Legal Abortion ◽  
Therapeutic Abortion ◽  
Psychiatric Disturbance ◽  
The Past ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Psychiatric Problems

Summary The majority of one hundred and eighty-eight women interviewed after having legal, therapeutic abortions did not experience psychiatric disturbance. While women with a psychiatric history were more likely than their more mentally healthy counterparts to experience some psychiatric disturbance afterwards, the majority of those with psychiatric problems in the past appeared to be coping reasonably well afterwards. It was pointed out that factors and circumstances other than the abortion itself, but occurring around the same time, may constitute reasons for the subsequent appearance of psychiatric disturbance, such as suicide attempts. Finally, the grounds for legal abortion in Canada were questioned — particularly the artificial practice of compartmentalizing and labeling reasons for abortion as psychiatric and non-psychiatric. While such practices may facilitate the decision-making processes involved in reviewing applications for abortion, they do not take account of the full range of human and social need.

scholarly journals Could the Visual Differential Attention Be a Referential Gesture? A Study on Horses (Equus caballus) on the Impossible Task Paradigm

Animals ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandra Alterisio ◽  
Paolo Baragli ◽  
Massimo Aria ◽  
Biagio D’Aniello ◽  
Anna Scandurra
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Visual Attention ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Visual Selective Attention ◽  
Expectancy Violation ◽  
The People ◽  
Tactile Interaction ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Impossible Task ◽  
Differential Attention

In order to explore the decision-making processes of horses, we designed an impossible task paradigm aimed at causing an expectancy violation in horses. Our goals were to verify whether this paradigm is effective in horses by analyzing their motivation in trying to solve the task and the mode of the potential helping request in such a context. In the first experiment, 30 horses were subjected to three consecutive conditions: no food condition where two persons were positioned at either side of a table in front of the stall, solvable condition when a researcher placed a reachable reward on the table, and the impossible condition when the food was placed farther away and was unreachable by the horse. Eighteen horses were used in the second experiment with similar solvable and impossible conditions but in the absence of people. We measured the direction of the horse’s ear cup as an indicator of its visual attention in terms of visual selective attention (VSA) when both ears were directed at the same target and the visual differential attention (VDA) when the ears were directed differentially to the persons and to the table. We also included tactile interaction toward table and people, the olfactory exploration of the table, and the frustration behaviors in the ethogram. In the first experiment, the VDA was the most frequent behavior following the expectancy violation. In the second experiment, horses showed the VDA behavior mostly when people and the unreachable resource were present at the same time. We speculate that the VDA could be a referential gesture aimed to link the solution of the task to the people, as a request for help.

scholarly journals Advancing Relevance, Credibility, Legitimacy, and Effectiveness as a Heuristic for Local-Parallel Scenarios

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas A. Cradock-Henry ◽  
Bob Frame
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Global Changes ◽  
Scenario Development ◽  
Personal Time ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Economic Trends ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Competing Priorities

The parallel scenario process provides a framework for developing plausible scenarios of future conditions. Combining greenhouse gas emissions, social and economic trends, and policy responses, it enables researchers and policy makers to consider global-scale interactions, impacts and implications of climate change. Increasingly, researchers are developing extended scenarios, based on this framework, and incorporating them into adaptation planning and decision-making processes at the local level. To enable the identification of possible impacts and assess vulnerability, these local-parallel scenarios must successfully accommodate diverse knowledge systems, multiple values, and competing priorities including both “top down” modeling and “bottom-up” participatory processes. They must link across scales, to account for the ways in which global changes affect and influence decision-making in local places. Due to the growing use of scenarios, there is value in assessing these developments using criteria or, more specifically, heuristics that may be implicitly acknowledged rather than formally monitored and evaluated. In this Perspective, we reflect on various contributions regarding the value of heuristics and propose the adoption of current definitions for Relevance, Credibility, and Legitimacy for guiding local scenario development as the most useful as well as using Effectiveness for evaluation purposes. We summarize the internal trade-offs (personal time, clarity-complexity, speed-quality, push-pull) and the external stressors (equity and the role of science in society) that influence the extent to which heuristics are used as “rules of thumb,” rather than formal assessment. These heuristics may help refine the process of extending the parallel scenario framework to the local and enable cross-case comparisons.

Marshmallows and Braking Systems

2021 ◽  
pp. 105-122
Author(s):  
Craig J. Bryan
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Suicide Attempt ◽  
Social Influence ◽  
Emotional Distress ◽  
Basic Concept ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
The Past ◽  
Internal States ◽  
Decision Making Processes

This chapter argues that suicide can be more usefully understood as a consequence of decision-making processes that are vulnerable to environmental and social influence rather than a consequence of internal states or traits such as mental illness. Mental illness and emotional distress more generally are better understood as one particular context within which the decision to make a suicide attempt or not often presents itself, but this does not mean that mental illness is the only context within which this choice is considered. This also does not mean that mental illness causes suicide. The basic concept involved in the marshmallow experiment—decision-making under different conditions—has received increased attention in the past decade among suicide researchers. Studies reveal that the decision-making process of someone who almost died as a result of a suicide attempt was no different from the decision-making process of someone who had never attempted suicide, was not currently suicidal, and did not have a mental illness. This finding lines up with the idea that there can be multiple pathways to suicide.

Taking Public Administration Seriously

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-45
Author(s):  
Joseph Heath
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
Administrative Power ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
The One ◽  
Public Decision

This chapter begins with a series of examples that illustrate the power wielded by unelected state officials. This power includes not only discretion but also control over the policy process, as well as the ability to bring pressure to bear upon elected officials. The exercise of this administrative power, far from being an imperfection in the system, contributes a great deal to the quality of public decision-making. But it raises a difficult normative question concerning how unelected officials can wield power in a way that is consistent with the commitment to political neutrality of the permanent civil service and to the more general principles of democratic legitimacy that govern liberal-democratic states. A contrast is drawn between this position and the one defended by Pierre Rosanvallon.

Public Participation in Local Regeneration Programmes in Poland

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 44-60
Author(s):  
Magdalena Miśkowiec ◽  
Katarzyna Maria Gorczyca
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Urban Regeneration ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
The Public ◽  
Ict Tools ◽  
Public Decision ◽  
Public Decision Making

This article describes how the public participation is understood as involvement of individuals, groups and local communities in public decision making. On 9 October 2015, the Urban Regeneration Act was passed in Poland. The purpose of the Act is to integrate the local activities of the stakeholders in regeneration. Engaging stakeholders is essential for proper implementation of regeneration programmes and is aimed at preventing degradation of urban space and crisis phenomena by enhancing social activity. The main aim of the article is to focus on different forms of public participation in urban regeneration. The study includes an analysis of the public participation procedures employed during the implementation of Communal Regeneration Programmes in Poland, as exemplified by the Olkusz Commune. The analysis is summarised to form a model of public participation in regeneration programmes, including suggestions for the use of ICT tools for consultation purposes.

Participatory Budgeting

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henriette I. Weber ◽  
Sebastian Vogt ◽  
Lisa-Marie Eberz-Weber ◽  
Holger Steinmetz ◽  
Sascha A. Wagner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
Participatory Budgeting ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Participation Process ◽  
Political Decision Making

Consultative participation of citizens in political decision-making processes has been increasing in order to facilitate democratic legitimacy and responsiveness. Consequently, participatory budgets have been established as a 'best practice' for consultative participation of citizens in political decision-making processes. The authors compare participatory budgets of 31 German municipalities. An analysis of differences between successfully and unsuccessfully rated participatory budgeting processes provides informative insights and allows for in-depth comparison on a municipal level. The authors show that external service providers and electronic participation channels significantly increase the number of participatory citizens and are positively connected with pursued objectives of dialog processes and public responsiveness as well as efficient and effective decisions. Furthermore, the acceptance of all participants proved to be a key factor for a successful public participation process. The authors' analysis opens up new starting points for further research.

scholarly journals Local Development and Protection of Nature in Coastal Zones: A Planning Study for the Sulcis Area (Sardinia, Italy)

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
pp. 5095 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federica Leone ◽  
Corrado Zoppi
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Coastal Zone ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Coastal Zone Management ◽  
Coastal Ecosystems ◽  
Integrated Coastal Zone Management ◽  
Coastal Zones ◽  
Zone Management ◽  
Decision Making Processes

In 2008, the Council of the European Union adopted the “Protocol on Integrated Coastal Zone Management” (ICZM Protocol), then ratified by Decision No. 2010/631/EU. The ICZM Protocol defines integrated coastal zone management as a dynamic and flexible process that accounts for the relations between coastal ecosystems and landscape as well as the activities and the uses that characterize coastal areas. Integrated management of coastal zones is still a critical process in terms of translating theory into practice. In this theoretical framework, strategic environmental assessment (SEA) helps to improve decision-making processes related to coastal spatial planning by integrating development goals and sustainability criteria. This study proposes a methodological approach concerning ICZM-based decision-making processes at the local level. The methodology is implemented in relation to three case studies concerning three towns located in southwest Sardinia. The results show a general consistency between the analyzed plans in terms of objectives and themes. Three specific issues are particularly relevant in terms of integration of economic and social objectives and sustainability goals, that is, relations between beach services and coastal ecosystems, protection of coastal ecosystems, and accessibility to the coastal zones.

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