Search

This paper presents the author's reflections on efforts to advance the scope and role of elected local government in the Pacific Islands. It focuses primarily on the Commonwealth Local Government Forum Pacific Project, which has been operating since 2000, but also looks at broader issues around decentralisation and devolution, legislation and funding for local government, democracy and good governance, promoting better practice, sustainability and resilience, and the importance of a sound evidence base for developmental programmes and projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Sozial Extra is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Bourdieu’s theory of social reproduction is applied to interpret the structural conditions and experiences of citizens in ‘left behind’ places (LBP) along the Cumbrian coastline (UK). The findings from a longitudinal participatory study imply a ‘left behind’ habitus where citizens disengage with local and national politics. This suggests that place-based initiatives aimed at reducing spatial inequalities, such as Levelling Up and the current devolution agenda, will be ineffective without considering the subjective, physical, distance LBP feel from political institutions. Future research needs to explore relational strategies which align the local democratic field with local civic habitus to foster liberal democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Mukaddime Journal is the property of Mukaddime Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Lately, municipalities in Western democracies have become increasingly more participatory. Local councillors have a fundamental role therein as they can either enable or block citizen participation. In that vein, their legitimacy perceptions towards different participatory arrangements seem key. This article analyses to what extent instrumental motivations steer these attitudes. Specifically, we distinguish between collective power (belonging to the governing majority or not) and individual influence (level of self-perceived political efficacy) as explanatory variables. Results based on a large-scale survey among local councillors in Flanders (Belgium) show that instrumental motivations indeed play a significant role: councillors with high levels of influence perceive traditional forms of decision-making (classic decision-making and consultative participation) as more legitimate. At the same time, majority councillors evaluate decisive forms of citizen participation as less legitimate than their colleagues in opposition. Additionally, feeling more powerful seems to be linked with an overall enthusiasm irrespective of participatory designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the current challenges of democracy is the increasing complexity of governing and, consequently, increasing civil servant influence at the expense of elected representatives. This is also affected by what politician-civil servant relations look like and by contextual aspects, although knowledge about the extent and impact of this influence is selective. Thus, this paper examines civil servants' influence in evidently complex and resource-intensive processes by conducting a study of citizen dialogues in two rural Swedish municipalities. Expectedly, traits of this context can be recognised throughout the results. The findings point to the position of the involved civil servants as important to the level of civil servant influence in these processes. They further suggest that process complexity may contribute to amplifying already high civil servant influence. However, they also confirm expectations about civil servants' dispositions towards political legitimate processes, which appeared to dampen the impact of the skewed influence. I conclude that, with these contextual preconditions, the studied form of process can potentially increase civil servant influence. I also argue that, given the size and form of this study, this highlights the need for further studies in local rural contexts and local politician-civil servant relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the tier of government closest to people, local government plays a key role in answering local needs and aspirations. However, local governments are often under-resourced, leaving them inadequately responsive to many of these critical local demands. Moreover, accountability to their citizens, which is the core of a well-functioning local democracy, is often lacking because the necessary formal laws and informal norms do not enable citizens to influence the decision-making process in a collaborative, creative, and evidence-based process that promotes collective learning. Through innovative case study analyses from around the world, the 12 contributions in this thematic issue delve into the multifaceted ways in which local governments can bridge the gap between people and politics, offering innovative perspectives on participatory governance, co-creation, and collaborative decision-making for inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities. The cases showcase innovations and challenges in the urban environment, capturing different ways to bring people and politics together in an attempt to co-create solutions for a sustainable and resilient urban future. The insights provided by this plethora of cases provides lessons that can help revolutionise international, national, and local urban policy to empower local authorities and their local communities to address the increasingly urgent challenges faced by municipalities around the world, ensuring an inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable future for the generations to come.

This paper presents the author’s reflections on efforts to advance the scope and role of elected local government in the Pacific Islands. It focuses primarily on the Commonwealth Local Government Forum Pacific Project, which has been operating since 2000, but also looks at broader issues around decentralisation and devolution, legislation and funding for local government, democracy and good governance, promoting better practice, sustainability and resilience, and the importance of a sound evidence base for developmental programmes and projects.

Political participation is socially distorted: Socio-economic resources affecting the probability of individuals becoming politically active question the principle of political equality. Such inequality in participation based on social stratification is well documented for elections, while research on inequality in referendum participation is still scarce. Based on the observation that such inequality varies between referendums, this paper explores referendum-specific contextual factors that may affect socially distorted referendum participation. We leverage information from an original dataset covering 1788 districts in 35 German municipalities for 68 local referendums held between 2000 and 2019. The results of our multilevel models indicate that concurrent first-order elections boost referendum turnout and decrease social stratification, while the closeness of the decision increases turnout but does not affect stratification bias. Moreover, we find a curvilinear relationship between turnout and stratification, with stratification only diminishing from participation levels above 40–50%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nepalʼs 2015 federal constitution empowers local governments with significant autonomy, power, and resources for local policymaking, developmental programs, and public services. This research examines this new landscape of local governance as experienced during the first electoral tenure from 2017 to 2022, exploring the quality of local democracy in Nepal. Designed as interpretive research and analysed through a set of participatory democracy frameworks, the findings uncover mixed progress in the capacity of local democratic institutions to utilise constitutionally guaranteed power and resources. The findings of this study offer fresh academic and professional insights on Nepalʼs local democracy, participatory governance, and federalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives The aim of the article is to indicate the main trends in the social perception of local government authorities in terms of their electoral participation in 2014 and 2018. Material and methods The analysis was carried out based on research reports from the Public Opinion Research Center. In order to verify the hypothesis, the following research methods were used: comparative, descriptive and analysis of existing data. Results Although it was only in 2018 that turnout in local government elections in Poland exceeded over 50%, it is important that during subsequent campaigns there was a slow but gradual increase in electoral participation in the voting process. Based on the data presented, it should also be stated that not only has the number of people pointing to the high importance of local government elections and positively assessing the authorities' actions increased, but also that this assessment translates into electoral decisions such as participation in elections and who voters will vote for. The candidates' recognition and satisfaction with their current activities as local government authorities was a kind of catalyst for supporting them again in the elections. Conclusions The social perception of local government authorities in general is positive and clearly results from the recognition, perception and assessment of municipal authorities. However, there are deficits in knowledge about the activities and competences of local government authorities at the district and voivodeship level. A positive factor for the development of conscious participation in social and political life, and consequently the further development of local democracy, would be increased interest in the initiatives and activities of higher-level local government authorities.

Copyright of WISTA Wirtschaft und Statistik is the property of Statistisches Bundesamt and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Throughout history, critics of democracy have doubted people's ability to govern themselves. For example, are local politicians – who often lack any formal training in accounting or economics – really able to comprehend complex financial information? Previous studies addressing this issue are in short supply, and their results are generally pessimistic. The aim of this paper is to test which – if any – financial indicators are related to local politicians' perceptions of financial conditions in the setting of Swedish municipalities, thus extending earlier studies to a European context. Our analysis shows strong and significant correlations between most of the financial indicators tested and politicians' perception of their municipality's financial condition, including financial indicators capturing the levels of net income, equity ratio and tax rates. These findings provide optimism and strengthen arguments for the defenders of democratic government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Five of the six non-EU countries in the western Balkans region have signed the Council of Europe's European Charter of Local Self-Government, the exception being the Republic of Kosovo which is not yet a formal member of the Council of Europe. Moreover, Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia have signed and ratified the Additional Protocol, showing their willingness to enforce the effects of the Charter, while, in contrast, Bosnia and Herzegovina has neither signed nor ratified it and Albania has only signed it. Indeed, this Charter is a cornerstone of local governance whose aim is to enhance citizens' participation in local decision-making. This article compares the domestic institutional framework regarding local government in the five countries and seeks to highlight whether the Charter has indeed enhanced citizens' participation. In addition, it explores the practices occurring in some countries which have implemented the Charter before, ultimately, seeking to answer the question as to whether it has enhanced direct local democracy in the western Balkans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local communities play an essential role in developing and organizing their lives for joint betterment. Local self-government, through local democratic mechanisms, involves the community as part of the public policies, showing the sign of the development of the local democracy. This research aims to analyze the communication and collaboration between the local government and local communities in Kosovo, focusing on their role in the development of education and the reduction of deviant behavior, intending to create a better social environment for the community. The research methodology employed for this paper is as follows: library research, qualitative research, and the analysis of the laws in power related to the topic. There will be field research working with two focus groups belonging to the municipality of Prishtina, considering their ethnic component. General results show that communities are still in the development and organization phase, whereas their participation in the process of public policies is still under the average level. Social audits can be mechanisms for development, organizing the community, and involvement in local government policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Modern Science is the property of Alcide De Gasperi University of Euroregional Economy and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract Nepalʼs 2015 federal constitution empowers local governments with significant autonomy, power, and resources for local policymaking, developmental programs, and public services. This research examines this new landscape of local governance as experienced during the first electoral tenure from 2017 to 2022, exploring the quality of local democracy in Nepal. Designed as interpretive research and analysed through a set of participatory democracy frameworks, the findings uncover mixed progress in the capacity of local democratic institutions to utilise constitutionally guaranteed power and resources. The findings of this study offer fresh academic and professional insights on Nepalʼs local democracy, participatory governance, and federalism.

Local communities play an essential role in developing and organizing their lives for joint betterment. Local self-government, through local democratic mechanisms, involves the community as part of the public policies, showing the sign of the development of the local democracy. This research aims to analyze the communication and collaboration between the local government and local communities in Kosovo, focusing on their role in the development of education and the reduction of deviant behavior, intending to create a better social environment for the community. The research methodology employed for this paper is as follows: library research, qualitative research, and the analysis of the laws in power related to the topic. There will be field research working with two focus groups belonging to the municipality of Prishtina, considering their ethnic component. General results show that communities are still in the development and organization phase, whereas their participation in the process of public policies is still under the average level. Social audits can be mechanisms for development, organizing the community, and involvement in local government policies.

Yerel katılım, günümüz demokrasisi için vazgeçilmezdir. Bu bağlamda yerel katılım etkinlikleri, demokrasinin geçerlilik kazanması adına önem taşımaktadır. Bu çerçevede yerel katılım ile kurulan iletişim ağları demokrasiyi beslemektedir. Son dönemde iletişim teknolojilerinde kaydedilen ilerlemeler, çok çeşitli yöntem ve tekniklerinin ortaya çıkmasına neden olurken, bu doğrultuda yerel katılım yöntemleri de çeşitlenmiştir. Yerel katılım, formal ve informal biçimlerde gerçekleşirken kamuoyunun dikkatini çekmek üzere aykırı yöntemler de belirmiştir. Yerel katılım bağlamında informal kapsamda değerlendirilen aykırı yöntemler temelde ilgi oluşturmaya dönük, çoğunlukla yeni iletişim teknolojilerinden yararlanan gündem ve kamuoyu oluşturma çerçevesindeki eylem biçimlerini kapsamaktadır. Çalışma kapsamında aykırı yöntemlere örnek teşkil eden “KÜF Project” konu edilmektedir. Çalışmanın temel amacı Türkiye’de aykırı bir yerel katılım yolu olan KÜF Project başlığı altında yapılan eylemlerin yerel katılımla ilişkisine yönelik bir betimleme sunmaktadır. Bu çerçevede ulusal ve uluslararası örnekleri de merkeze alarak literatür taramasından hareketle yerli ve yabancı kaynaklar, gazete haberleri ve video içeriklerinden faydalanılmıştır. Nitekim KÜF Project, benzeri dünya örnekleri olan bağlantısı ortaya konulmaya çalışılmıştır. Araştırmadan elde edilen bulgular çerçevesinde KÜF Project etkinliklerinin bir direniş ve farkındalık göstergesi olarak konumlandığı ve otoritenin sınırlarını zorlayarak toplumun dikkatini çekecek eylemlerle kamuoyu oluşturma çabası taşıdığını göstermektedir.

Monitoring of local democracy is an important component of effective decision-making in the field of public administration as it forms the public trust in democracy. There are a number of methodological approaches to the analysis of local democracy in the world developed and used by international organizations and agencies, teams of scientists and researchers. The article systematizes a significant number of methods of monitoring local democracy. They are grouped with the results of research not only in local democracy, but also in terms of its development. The characteristics are considered and examples of methods of measuring democracy in the country, methods of monitoring political systems, methods of monitoring the democracy of public administration and methods of analysis of local government are given. Methods of measuring democracy in the country provide a comprehensive nature of monitoring and the results of indicators that characterize historical, economic, political and other processes. A condition for the dynamic development of local democracy is the development of the country’s political system based on democratic principles and the effectiveness of the public level at all levels. That is why the article systematizes the methods that allow determining the country’s progress in the formation of systemic conditions for the development of democracy. The main attention is paid to the methods of measuring local democracy, which allows to study the democratic nature of local governance, the strength and quality of local democracy, the level of use of e-technologies. The study of existing methods in terms of their content, advantages and disadvantages of application allows users to determine those approaches that will allow to obtain the most objective results of the analysis, to conduct comparisons across individual countries, territories and cities, as well as to identify problematic areas of lagging behind best practices.

This article reports findings from an in-depth, autoethnographic study of local communities in Denmark and England left behind by local journalism. The study was conducted during—and is thematically framed by—the Covid-19 pandemic, and it investigates how news, information, and deliberation related to this crisis were facilitated in the communities. The article embarks from ideas of informed citizenship and problems of misinformation and free speech related to the pandemic, and it aims to uncover developments in local democracy in places left behind by local journalism and dominated by platforms. The article argues that “news desert” is not an accurate term describing such places. Instead, such places and their social media platform dependency constitute what is identified as “casual democracies.” In casual local democracies, who and what gets to dominate the local public spheres is difficult to predict, as are the credibility and trustworthiness of local news and information and the interests that local news and information providers serve. Such local democracies are, to a large degree, shaped by informal power structures, individual agency, and the infrastructure of platforms.

The political economy perspective suggests that the organization and financing of mass media influence media content. This research examines how the regional revenue and expenditure budget (APBD) financing has affected (the quality of) content and public communication. The study was conducted in Yogyakarta and Bali. This study uses qualitative methods. Data is collected through in-depth interviews and observations of the news. In-depth interviews were conducted with journalists, academics, and media analysts in Yogyakarta and Bali. This research found that the APBD significantly contributes as the revenue source of local media, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some media outlets even exhibit high dependency on APBD, as indicated by the sum of APBD they received. This has weakened the role of local media as a watchdog for local government while also creating a crisis for local public communication. Public communication today is predominantly filled with news emphasizing publicity rather than critical and investigative coverage of local issues. As a result, efforts to create an informed society as a prerequisite for democracy would be difficult to realize. The community’s involvement in local democracy is greatly defined by the quality of information they receive.

Copyright of Journal of Selcuk University Social Sciences Institute / Selçuk Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi is the property of Journal of Selcuk University Social Sciences Institute and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this article, we investigate elected representatives' attitudes to citizen participation and the design of participatory arrangements. We distinguish between citizenship-oriented and governance-oriented attitudes. Whereas citizenship-oriented attitudes imply designing participatory arrangements to safeguard the democratic values of equality, transparency and inclusion, governance-oriented attitudes imply designing participatory arrangements to support elected representatives in their roles. Based on unique data from a web-based survey sent to all local councillors in Norway, we found that although Norwegian local councillors tend towards citizenship-oriented rather than governance-oriented attitudes to citizen participation, there is great variation between councillors in this respect. Analysing strategic and ideological explanations, we found that right-wing politicians tend to hold more governance-oriented attitudes than left-wing politicians do. Strategic considerations seem to have no effect on councillors in power in this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Knowledge: International Journal is the property of Institute for Knowledge Management and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

La Nouvelle Revue du Travail asked three social science researchers holding political office to give their views on the possible links between their field of expertise and political action. The discussions, in the form of a series of questions, invite our three interlocutors to share their opinions: what does it mean to be involved in politics as a researcher in the humanities and social sciences?