scholarly journals Book Review: Local Government in a Global World: Australia and Canada in Comparative Perspective

1970 ◽  
pp. 235-239
Author(s):  
Claudia Scott
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Democratic Accountability ◽  
Fiscal Constraints ◽  
The Past ◽  
Community Expectations ◽  
Local Differentiation ◽  
Global World ◽  
The Impact

This book compares reform trends in Australia and Canada’s local government systems over the past two decades, with attention to the impact of globalization on local governments, their bureaucracies, and local democratic accountability. Local governments in Australia and Canada show striking resemblances in relation to history, development, and contemporary issues. This reflects that in both countries, local governments remain an instrument of the states and provinces.The exploration of the connections between globalization and local government is timely given the importance of international influences on the economic, social and environmental challenges facing governments. For the local governments discussed in the book, and for many others, economic and fiscal constraints have reduced the sector's ability to meet community expectations while also responding to growing competitiveness across jurisdictions. These pressures have highlighted the benefits of encouraging regional and local differentiation, and giving prominence to ‘place’ in policy and management designs and practices.

Evolution of e-participation in Greek local government

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Constantina Costopoulou ◽  
Maria Ntaliani ◽  
Filotheos Ntalianis
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Community ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Mobile Apps ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
The Impact

Local governments are increasingly developing electronic participation initiatives, expecting citizen involvement in local community affairs. Our objective was to assess e-participation and the extent of its change in local government in Greece. Using content analysis for 325 Greek municipal websites, we assessed e-participation status in 2017 and 2018 and examined the impact of change between these years. The assessment regards two consecutive years since the adoption of digital technologies by municipalities has been rapid. The main findings show that Greek local governments have made significant small- to medium-scale changes, in order to engage citizens and local societies electronically. We conclude that the integration of advanced digital technologies in municipalities remains underdeveloped. We propose that Greek municipalities need to consider incorporating new technologies, such as mobile apps, social media and big data, as well as e-decision making processes, in order to eliminate those obstacles that hinder citizen engagement in local government. Moreover, the COVID-19 outbreak has highlighted the need for enhancing e-participation and policymakers’ coordination through advanced digital technologies.

scholarly journals The 2011 Commonwealth Local Government Conference: Energising Local Economies: An Overview

1970 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Rhodes
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Local Economic Development ◽  
Local Economies ◽  
Financial Difficulties ◽  
Economic Climate ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

In the current economic climate, creating the right environment for local enterprise, inward investment, and business and skills development, is an important factor in ensuring the prosperity and wellbeing of local communities. The impact of the global financial crisis has not been uniform across the Commonwealth and countries are using different strategies to overcome their financial difficulties. Local government increasingly plays an important part in this. More and more local governments in countries across the Commonwealth have responsibilities and powers for local economic development: in some countries local authorities can already show how their policies and actions are helping energise their local economies, while in other countries local councils are just beginning to get to grips with these responsibilities.

scholarly journals Constitutional Democracy and Caretaker Committee in Nigeria Local Government System: An Assessment

2013 ◽  
pp. 110-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jude C Okafor ◽  
Ikechukwu H Orjinta
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Government Reform ◽  
Constitutional Democracy ◽  
Financial Autonomy ◽  
The Third ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Nigerian Literature ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Subsequent Replacement

The 1976 Local Government Reform among other landmark changes unified the local government system in Nigeria, and the 1979 constitution made local governments the third tier of government and provided for a system of local government by democratically elected councils. More recently, elected local government councils have been dissolved and replaced with Transition Committees or Caretaker Committees appointed by the Governors’ of their respective states. This paper therefore, examines the impact of the caretaker committees in Nigerian Local Government on the practice of constitutional democracy. The discussion is framed by the theoretical perspectives and Nigerian literature on local government and constitutional democracy, and by the recent phenomenal wave of dissolving elected local government councils and subsequent replacement with caretaker committees. Contrary to popular belief, that local government as the third tier of government has failed to achieve the objective for which it was created, this paper observes that party politics has been the bane of Nigerian local government since its inception, and that democratically elected local councils with political and financial autonomy are the major conditions for an effective and efficient multi-purpose local government system in Nigeria.

scholarly journals Is Issue Management evolving or progressing towards extinction: A status review

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Jaques
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Crisis Management ◽  
Government Agencies ◽  
Issue Management ◽  
Development Issue ◽  
The Past ◽  
Community Expectations ◽  
New Community ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

After almost 40 years of development, issue management has reached a point where it could either fade out of fashion or continue evolving into new forms. Reviewing both the past and possible future, four major trends are identified – migration of the discipline beyond the corporation to Government agencies and NGOs; the impact of social media and the rise of new community expectations; continuing developments in the relationship between issue management and crisis management; and the challenge of how issue management is positioned within organizations and among other management activities. Each of these trends is analysed to assess its impact on the future of issue management, and how the roles of corporate and non-corporate players will likely have significantly different influences on shaping its survival.

scholarly journals The Impact of Social Accountability Mechanisms on Fiscal Management Challenges Facing Goromonzi Rural District Council, Zimbabwe

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 141
Author(s):  
Trust Madhovi
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Social Accountability ◽  
Rural District ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Fiscal Management ◽  
District Council ◽  
The Impact

This paper examines the impact of social accountability mechanisms on the fiscal management challenges facing local government bodies in Zimbabwe. The paper hypothesises that there is a positive relationship between the use of social accountability mechanisms or tools by local authorities and the effectiveness of their fiscal management policies to mobilize more revenue for service delivery. In this study, both quantitative and qualitative methods are adopted in gathering and analysing data from central government officials, Goromonzi Rural District Council employees and members of the public. The results of the study reveal that the local government body faces a number of fiscal management challenges that include a shrinking tax base, non-payment of taxes, resistance to successive budgets; lack of implementation; lack of monitoring and evaluation. Council has implemented participatory budgeting to deal with some of these challenges. While results show a significant improvement in tax collection, some of the challenges have persisted. The paper proposes some recommendations useful to central government, policy makers, civil society organisations, local government officials and the general public. The paper manages to demonstrate that the implementation of social accountability tools can have positive impacts on the fiscal management challenges facing local governments. 

Pastoralism, Ethnicity, and Subnational Conflict Resolution in the Middle Belt

2018 ◽  
pp. 678-696
Author(s):  
Laura Thaut Vinson
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
The State ◽  
The Past ◽  
Material Costs ◽  
State And Local Government ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Subnational Conflict

This chapter explores the problem of rising pastoralist–farmer and ethnic (religious and tribal) violence in the pluralistic Middle Belt region of Nigeria over the past thirty to forty years. In particular, it highlights the underlying issues and conflicts associated with these different categories of communal intergroup violence, the human and material costs of such conflict, and the broader implications for the Nigerian state. The federal government, states, local governments. and communities have not been passive in addressing the considerable challenges associated with preventing and resolving such conflicts. It is clear, however, that they face significant hurdles in resolving the underlying grievances and drivers of conflict, and their efforts have not always furthered the cause of conflict resolution and peacebuilding. Greater attention to patterns of inclusion and exclusion and to the allocation of rights and resources will be necessary, particularly at the state and local government levels, to create a more stable and peaceful Middle Belt.

The Public Debt of French Local Government

1985 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 387-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre-Henri Derycke ◽  
Guy Gilbert
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Public Debt ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Tight Control ◽  
The Public ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTAfter a sharp increase, the public debt of French local communities has been stabilized in real terms: its amount reached 54 per cent of total public debt in 1980. In the French institutional framework, local government borrowing policy is under the tight control of central agencies. An econometric model of the borrowing behaviour of local governments since 1965 is presented; it emphasizes the role of internal determinants of local debt (needs for investment, self-financing ability of governments), external constraints (e.g. interest rates and the financial resources of lenders, such as households savings), and finally the impact of macroeconomic policy measures from the central government.

scholarly journals Formation of budgets of local self governance in the system of social development of territorial communities

2018 ◽  
pp. 153-161
Author(s):  
Alexey Chugunov
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Social Development ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Financial Regulation ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Endogenous Factors ◽  
Budget Planning ◽  
Local Government Budget ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Budget System

The subject of the study is theoretical and practical issues of the formation of budgets of local self-government in the system of social development of territorial communities. The purpose of the study is to reveal the priority tasks for improving the system of formation of budgets of local self-government. Research methods. The paper uses a set of scientific methods and approaches, including systematic, structural, comparative, factor methods, which allowed to realize the conceptual unity of the research. Results of work. The article reveals the role of local self-government budgets in the development of administrative-territorial units. A number of legislative and normative acts on regulation of the process of formation of budgets of local self-government are generalized. The priority tasks of the budget policy concerning support of territorial communities, strengthening of their tax capacity, increase of efficiency of coordination of activity of bodies of state power and local self-government are determined. The article is based on the establishment of an effective institutional framework for the formation of local self-government budgets in the system of social development of territorial communities. The field of application of results. System of state financial regulation, budgetary policy, budget system. Conclusions. The development of the budget system is possible by ensuring the sustainability of the formation of local government budgets in the system of social development of territorial communities, activating their innovation-investment component and strengthening the influence on the socio-economic development of administrative-territorial units. The importance of further enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of the formation of local government budgets is conditioned by the need to increase the efficiency of the management of public financial resources in the conditions of their constraints, the development of a strategy for the development of local government budgets and the creation of institutional conditions for increasing their self-sufficiency, taking into account the cyclical nature of economic fluctuations and the impact of exogenous and endogenous factors in financially -budgetary environment. At this stage, the important task is to implement effective transformations of the system of forming local budgets by supporting voluntary associations of territorial communities, which necessitates the increase of efficiency and efficiency of administrative decisions of executive bodies and local governments in the field of strategic budget planning. It is advisable to improve the system of monitoring the socioeconomic efficiency of local government budget expenditures by using qualitative and quantitative indicators, introducing medium-term budget planning at the local level, adhering to the principle of transparency and accountability of local self-governance bodies to the public. Important tasks are improving the system of formation of local budgets taking into account application of modern financial-budget methods and tools; Creation of effective incentives to ensure the interest of local self-government bodies in the growth of their own income base and increase their level of responsibility for the use of budget resources; ensuring adequate revenues to local government budgets, and increasing the efficiency of the use of budget resources.

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