scholarly journals Pakistan's Devolution of Power Plan 2001: A brief dawn for local democracy?

2013 ◽  
pp. 20-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Munawwar Alam ◽  
Mohammad Abuzar Wajidi
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Special Reference ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Democracy ◽  
Military Government ◽  
Political Structure ◽  
Grassroots Democracy ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Military

Local government is not a new concept in Pakistan. Since the founding of the country in 1947 Pakistan has always had local governments as the lowest-tier political structure. However, grassroots democracy has been eclipsed at different times in the country’s history. As we write this article, there is no elected local government in Pakistan. The article documents the recent history of decentralisation with special reference to the Devolution of Power Plan (DOPP) introduced by the military government of General Pervez Musharraf in 2001. The author was closely involved with the DOPP at both policy and implementation levels. The paper also looks at political economy issues relating to decentralisation in Pakistan.

Political instability and the ability of local government to respond to reputational threats in unison

2017 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 440-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Howard Grøn ◽  
Heidi Houlberg Salomonsen
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Political Instability ◽  
Reputation Management ◽  
Administrative Leadership ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Public Managers ◽  
History Of

This article investigates whether local governments are able to act in a unified manner when responding to reputational threats posed by negative media coverage. Based on an argument that local governments facing political instability are less able to perform in unison, the article investigates a number of expectations, including various types of political instability (council, agenda and policy area instability) and their relation to different types of responses to negative media coverage from the political and administrative actors (communication behaviour, responsibility and blame-avoidant behaviour, and sanctioning behaviour). The article finds such relationships for some of these aspects. The analysis also indicates that the reputational history of a local government is related to the degree of unified behaviour. The empirical analysis is primarily based on a survey sent to all Danish public managers in the three upper levels of the local government hierarchy. Point for practitioners Reputation management has become an area for strategic management in the public sector, not least in local governments. This article demonstrates that public managers need to pay attention to the degree of political instability characterizing their local governments when dealing with reputational threats. If the local government is characterized by political instability, the need to address potential disagreements between administrative and political actors becomes vital. Furthermore, public managers need to take into account the reputational history of their organization as it may challenge the ability to coordinate a unified response across the political and administrative leadership during reputational threats.

Fiscal Decentralization and Local Borrowing in Turkish Provinces

2016 ◽  
pp. 505-519
Author(s):  
Mehmet Serkan Tosun ◽  
Dilek Uz ◽  
Serdar Yılmaz
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Spatial Econometrics ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Fiscal Decentralization ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Turkish Republic ◽  
Government Structure ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government ◽  
Government Reforms

There have been important developments in the decentralization of the government structure in Turkey since the early 1980s. This paper examines the link between fiscal decentralization and local borrowing within Turkish provinces. It first discusses local government reforms throughout the history of the Turkish Republic with the focus on recent reform efforts and current local government structure. It then provides an empirical analysis of the effects of decentralization in Turkish provinces using cross-sectional and panel data approaches, and spatial econometrics. The dataset consists of 67 provinces from 1980 to 2000, and separately cross-sectional data on all 81 provinces for the year 2000. Using decentralization measures such as number of local governments per capita and ratio of own-source municipal revenue to total provincial tax revenue, and specific characteristics of the municipalities the analysis examines whether variations in local decentralization across these provinces and across time have had a significant impact municipal borrowing in those provinces.

Local Multiparty Democracy in Africa

2021 ◽  
pp. 92-116
Author(s):  
Nico Steytler
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
National Level ◽  
Ethnically Diverse ◽  
Local Democracy ◽  
African Countries ◽  
The People ◽  
National Leaders ◽  
The Government ◽  
Winner Takes All

This chapter argues that democratic local government embeds the culture of democracy at grassroots: as the government closest to the people, it establishes a culture of responsiveness, transparency, and accountability more readily and effectively than by holding national leaders to account. Local democracy can also be used strategically when a country seeks to move from an authoritarian or military regime to democracy. Furthermore, it provides space for political inclusivity—an argument with particular relevance in ethnically diverse societies, where a winner-takes-all paradigm of competition at the national level typically results in the marginalization of geographically concentrated losers. Finally, local government allows for experimentation in different forms of inclusive politics, be they representative or participatory. However, although most African countries have adopted decentralization policies, the dividends are meagre. Local government is but feebly equipped to play a democracy-constituting role: operating in a constrained constitutional environment, central governments have generally not allowed local governments the opportunity to hold regular free and fair elections and thereby play a role in democratization. Despite these findings, there is also some evidence that on occasion local democracy has indeed played such a role and thus enhanced democratic participation.

Political Hostility and Local Government Crisis in Bangladesh: Ruling Party’s Supremacy and Opposition Party’s Costs of Being Outside of the State Power

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-134
Author(s):  
Khandakar Farid Uddin
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Legal Process ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ruling Party

Bangladesh has a history of political unrest and supremacy of the ruling party. Recently, representatives of the local government were suspended for being accused in cases of political violence. The ruling party is defining the suspensions as a legal process; on the contrary, the opposition political parties are claiming it as political hostility and a way of controlling local governments. There are shortages of research on contemporary political challenges and its consequences. Thus, this study considered local government representative suspensions as a case to exemplify the political hostility and local government crisis in Bangladesh. This study also demonstrated some theoretical points to frame the conceptual thoughts, likewise explained the status and some historical illustration of governmental intrusion over local government. Besides, this study applied the qualitative method to discover the research queries. Consequently, the analysis outlined substantial political supremacy and hostility in Bangladesh and its adverse impact on local governance.

Economic Mobilization in Wartime Japan: Business, Bureaucracy, and Military in Conflict

1979 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 689-706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Rice
Keyword(s):  
Military Government ◽  
Political Structure ◽  
Industrial Control ◽  
Institutional Dynamics ◽  
Complementary Relationship ◽  
Important Link ◽  
The Military

Most studies of wartime Japan have assumed a close and complementary relationship between business and the military. This essay challenges this view by examining the complexities and tensions of wartime institutional dynamics. The lack of a monolithic industrial and political structure hindered efficient economic mobilization. This can be seen in the industrial control associations (kōgyō tōsei kai), which were intended to be the most important link between military, government, and business after 1941. Their organization and functioning reveals a three-way administrative struggle between business, military, and bureaucracy. All three power groups were internally divided over both the formulation and the implementation of policy. Japan, the epitome of government-business cooperation in the postwar era, was surprisingly divided during the war.

scholarly journals Local Government Response to COVID-19: Revitalizing Local Democracy in Bangladesh

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 701-712
Author(s):  
A.N.M. Zakir Hossain
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Survey Method ◽  
Local Democracy ◽  
Google Docs

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.

scholarly journals Local Government Debt and Municipal Bonds in China: Problems and a Framework of Rules

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xingyuan Feng
Keyword(s):  
Public Finance ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Government Debt ◽  
Debt Financing ◽  
Municipal Bonds ◽  
Local Democracy ◽  
Government Bonds ◽  
Fiscal Transparency ◽  
Current State

Local governments in China are facing heavy debt burdens, a low level of fiscal transparency and a lack of constraints by local democracy. Since 2008, local government debts have skyrocketed. This article analyses the current state and features of local government debts and the two kinds of 'quasi municipal bonds' in China—urban investment bonds and local government bonds—along with their problems and risks. It examines the risks connected with local government debts and these bonds from the perspectives of public finance and political economy. It concludes with a discussion of a framework of rules for local government debt financing, especially for the issuance of municipal bonds in China.

scholarly journals Professional Wargaming: A Flawed but Useful Tool

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 612-631
Author(s):  
John Curry
Keyword(s):  
Game Design ◽  
State Level ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Military Government ◽  
Predictive Capacity ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
Tool Set ◽  
The Military ◽  
Retrospective Examination

Rationale for the Article. Professional wargames have long been an integral part of the tool set used by the military. The literature includes many examples of wargames that have been successful in terms of training, military education, procurement, operational analysis and planning for war. However, retrospective examination demonstrates that many of these professional wargames also had major errors in them and by implication current games about future confrontations are similarly flawed. Nevertheless, the academic evidence is clear that such games are still invaluable tools. Methodology. Ten years of research into the development of wargames undertaken by the History of Wargaming Project has analysed and made generally available more professional wargames than ever before. Retrospective examination of a sample of these declassified games, from the British War Office Rules (1896) to more recent games about the Ukraine, shows significant errors. Value. Demonstrating that professional games had errors in the past opens challenges the overconfidence in the predictive capacity of games. It also raises the possibility for future research to identify game design bias and to develop better games in the future. Understanding the value of better games, even with their inherent issues, raise the possibility of better preparing decision makers for the future. Notes. The words wargame and game are used interchangeably in this article. Whilst the techniques used in professional gaming evolved from modelling the battlefield, modern professional gaming is increasingly focussed on other situations that are not war, such as state level confrontations, trade wars, politics, cyber conflict, banking crisis etc. Using the term wargame seems inappropriate when for example, gaming a shipping dispute. All the games referred to this article, unless otherwise noted, are professional wargames, used by military, government, public sector bodies and other parties directly involved in real world issues. The prefix professional has been omitted for brevity in most places.

Power of Initiative and Immunity of Local Government in Federal Nepal

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-79
Author(s):  
Amrit Kumar Shrestha ◽  
Tara Nath Ghimire
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Federal System ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Ancient Regime ◽  
History Of ◽  
Autonomous Institution

Traditionally, it was considered that federal and state governments are the primary two components of the federal system. Provisions relating to local governments were left in the hand of state governments. The recent concept of federalism accepts the local governments as third and integral tier of the federal system. However, federalism and decentralization are used in different meaning. Federalism means the division of power within the center and federal units whereas decentralization considers devolution of power to the local units. The history of the local government begins with the ancient regime in Nepal, and it continues till at present. This article analyzes whether Nepal's local governments are exercising autonomous powers in the new federal system. It examines the local governments' status and positions in light of Clark's theory of autonomy. It concludes that the local governments have vested a significant level of powers of initiative and immunity to being needed for an autonomous institution.

Challenges and Opportunities

2019 ◽  
pp. 227-236
Author(s):  
The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Military Government ◽  
Independent State ◽  
British Rule ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Association ◽  
The Military ◽  
Two Sides ◽  
Official Recognition

Somalia and Somaliland had parallel colonial experiences under Italian and British rule, respectively. In 1960, both gained independence and entered into a union. However, in 1969, the civilian government of the Somali Republic in Mogadishu was overthrown in a coup organized by the military, precipitating a brutal civil war. With the collapse of the military government in Mogadishu in 1991, Somaliland declared its independence from the Somali Republic. Since then, the two sides followed quite different trajectories. This chapter takes a detailed look at the recent history of dialogue between the two parties and offers recommendations on how best to establish an effective process. It suggests that the political stalemate will be resolved by the agreement of some form of mutually acceptable political association or official recognition of Somaliland as an independent state.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document