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Does the contemporary managerial approach in policy support 'green' community planning in rural areas? This question is addressed using the Policy Arrangements Approach (PAA). When PAA was applied to rural policy in the USA and the Netherlands, we observed an increasing effect of a managerial approach in both countries over the last 10-15 years, including the use of performance contracts and evaluation tools and the promotion of self-sufficiency and public entrepreneurship at the community level. In this paper we discuss how this managerial approach affected green community planning in rural areas in the USA and the Netherlands. Community planning is analysed using four dimensions: discourse; actor coalitions; resources and power; and rules of the game. Our analysis demonstrates that the managerial approach reinforces state power and puts efforts to address the higher-order 'green' needs of a community at risk. Different approaches for creating opportunities which encourage the emergence of public leadership, as well as new institutional designs, are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares rental housing tools in the US, Britain and the Netherlands in order to determine the best strategy for enhancing rental housing accessibility. In doing so, the authors employ a 'tools approach' of governance paradigm, based on the work of Salamon's The Tools of Governance (2002). Rental housing tools are called housing vouchers in the US, housing benefits in Britain and housing allowances in the Netherlands. Overall, it was found that Britain and the Netherlands can learn from the US on means and ways of designing more efficient and fiscally responsible housing vouchers, benefits, and allowances (VBAs). The US, in turn, can learn from Britain and the Netherlands on means and needs of achieving higher equity and effectiveness. This analysis contributes in a meaningful way by addressing the missing middle link between policies and programs - namely, the tools perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]