Democratic Culture and Participatory Local Governance in Bangladesh

The government of Bangladesh has introduced several initiatives seeking to develop participatory governance at the local level in order to maximise the outcomes of aid-assisted development projects. This article examines the impact of these initiatives and demonstrates that participatory local governance faces a number of challenges in Bangladesh, in particular, absence of democratic culture and tradition and disengagement of citizens, asymmetric distribution of patronage and weak institutions. In theory, political elites and bureaucrats in Bangladesh advocate democracy, accountability and local-level participation, but in practice, they have an affinity for power and centralised authority. Their reform initiatives seem half-hearted and disjointed restricting the growth of democratic culture and participatory local governance at the local level in Bangladesh.     

日本民主党党首选举透析

2010年9月14日,日本民主党党首选举大战落幕。菅直人以721分大幅领先小泽一郎的491分,成功连任民主党党首,继续担任日本首相。菅直人连任民主党党首既出人意料又在意料之中,所谓出人意料,是因为在选举投票一周以前,人们对选情的分析还是以小泽作为民主党内最大集团的实力为基础的,但是,临近投票时,得到民意支持的菅直人便逐渐胜券在握了;     

Local Government Reforms in Latvia, 1990–2003: Transition to a Democratic Society

This case study of Latvian local governments focuses on the qualitative aspects of reform legislation passed and implemented between 1990 and 2003 as the best available measures of changes made. Special attention is given to historical influences and inherited Soviet practices, the uncertain and conflicting value systems of reformers, and a gradual shift to concerns about the services provided. Power relationships are examined, together with the funding of local governments and minority relations. It is anticipated that in 2005 Latvia will adopt new elected regional development boards to work with the EU and other external institutions, leading to more democratic and cooperative modes of government. There is evidence that values of achievement and trust held by the younger generation are increasingly compatible with new needs and reform processes.     

The Local Government Review: An Inter-Organizational Perspective

This article uses Benson's 'political economy' model of inter-organizational relations to interpret inter-authority relationships during the course of the local government review process in England (1992-95) and in particular to explain the preparedness of large numbers of district councils to support proposals which implied their own destruction. Six more specific influences are identified which led to this outcome:
(i) The changing pattern of expectations and perceived possibilities as the Review progressed.
(ii) The conflictual context of relations within the network linking individual counties and districts, and their respective associations.
(iii) The influence of the districts' national representative body - the ADC - which was arguing strongly for a 'super-district' solution.
(iv) The plausibility of the view of some mergers as de facto takeovers of one authority by another.
(v) The special nature of local authorities as (party) political institutions as well as public sector bureaucracies.
(vi) The rationing of information through central-local networks, in the context of 'unclear rules'.
It is concluded that with certain modifications Benson's framework provides a helpful explanatory mechanism.     

Commissioning for Health and Wellbeing: An Introduction

Local government reforms have been carried out in a number of European countries, aiming at both more effective service production and increased citizen participation in local politics. Although extensive research has been carried out analysing the content and background of these reforms, few if any, studies have considered the democratic effects of these reforms at the level of the individual citizen. This article investigates relationship between local government reforms and citizen trust in local government, focusing on individual-level data on local government reforms in Norway in 2008. The analysis shows that it is difficult to find a clear relationship between reform policies and trust in local politicians. These findings parallel other contributions in concluding that it is difficult to find substantial effects from local government re-organisations.     

Municipal Amalgamations and the Democratic Functioning of Local Councils: The Case of The Danish 2007 Structural Reform

This article discusses the effects of the structural reform in Denmark in 2007 – where a large number of municipalities were amalgamated – on local councillors' influence on decisions taken in the local political realm. The analysis uses data from two large surveys, a pre-reform survey (2003) and a post-reform survey (2009). The analysis shows that the amalgamations have led to an increase in the perceived influence of leading councillors vis-à-vis other councillors and a decrease in the perceived influence of the council vis-à-vis its top administrative officers. Furthermore, it is found that there is an increase in the number of councillors who find that local political decisions are determined by laws and rules from central government, but at the same time it is shown that this increase cannot be ascribed to the amalgamations.     

Budget Transparency in Local Governments: An Empirical Analysis

The aim of this paper is to shed additional light on the determinants of budget transparency in local governments. Our work is based on a Likert-type survey questionnaire specifically designed to measure budget transparency in small municipalities. The questionnaire is based on the IMF's revised Code of Good Practices on Fiscal Transparency (2007). Results from 33 Galician municipalities are used to assess its internal consistency and to test a battery of hypotheses on the determinants of budget transparency. While several previous findings of the literature are confirmed, some new results are also obtained.     

从总裁选举看日本自民党的派阀政治

2008年9月1日,日本首相福田康夫突然辞职.日本自民党经过一番党内竞选,2008年9月22日,麻生太郎毫无悬念地成为了自民党第23代总裁,并顺理成章地当上了日本战后第30位首相.     

Democratic Governance: A Genealogy

This essay draws on my book, Democratic Governance (Princeton University Press, 2010), to provide a genealogy of governance and to explore its implications for democracy. My arguments can be quickly stated: governance rose and spread as a consequence of new modernist theories and the public sector reforms that were inspired by these theories; policy actors respond to the challenges of governance by supplementing representative institutions with yet more modernist expertise.     

Engaging with the Legacy of Nehemia Levtzion: An Introduction

This volume draws principally on presentations from two African Studies Association meetings (2003, 2004) that celebrated Nehemia Levtzion’s contributions to the field of Islam in Africa and reminisced about our collective personal interactions with him. It is enriched by additional papers from former students, colleagues and friends (usually one and the same), as well as from contemporary young scholars just beginning to “know” Levtzion through his legacy. The “Epilogue” gives a final, posthumous word to Levtzion himself, in an article looking at the contemporary role of fundamentalism from the perspective of an historian who spent his life engaged in the history of Islam at its Middle Eastern and African crossroads. The following pages are meant not only to pay homage to Nehemia Levtzion but also to reflect critically, to push boundaries, and to introduce Africanist scholars, engaged in other areas of study and new generations of Africanist scholars in this field, to Levtzion’s role in shaping how we have come to understand the experience of Islam in Africa.