Decentralisation and poverty: conceptual framework and application to Uganda

In order to shed further light on the discussion about decentralisation‐poverty linkages in developing countries, this article introduces a conceptual framework for the relationship between decentralisation and poverty. The framework takes the form of an optimal scenario and indicates potential ways for an impact of decentralisation on poverty. Three different but interrelated channels are identified. Decentralisation is considered to affect poverty through providing opportunities for previously excluded people to participate in public decision‐making, through increasing efficiency in the provision of local public services due to an informational advantage of local governments over the central government and through granting autonomy to geographically separable conflict groups and entitling local bodies to resolve local‐level conflicts. Based on the experience with decentralisation in Uganda, it is shown that these channels are often not fully realised in practice. Different reasons are singled out for the Ugandan case, among them low levels of information about local government affairs, limited human capital and financial resources, restricted local autonomy, corruption and patronage, high administrative costs related with decentralisation and low downward accountability. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cornwall's Devolution Deal: Towards a More Sustainable Governance?

This article considers the devolution deal signed by Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly in the summer of 2015. It asks if the deal constitutes a more sustainable approach to governance, concluding that while there are some factors that help to enhance sustainability, other areas urgently require more attention. These claims are made through an analysis of a model of sustainability which emphasises the importance of networks and feedback loops envisaging civil society as an adaptive organism. This helps to show that although power is significantly dispersed in some aspects of the ‘Cornwall Deal’, this latter does little to alter the highly centralised nature of governance across England, or provide spaces where local actors can feed back into central policy.     

以地方政府改革创新论行政管理体制改革——2009年地方政府改革典型调研分析

在对12个省市进行调研的基础上,分析·地方政府行政改革创新举措的现状,总结了其中的成绩,分析了出现的普遍性问题.问题主要为改革理论研究不足,改革系统化程度有限、透明度不高、创新空间不足、法制化程度低、没有触及政府职能的核心领域.针对这些问题,指出在宏大的行政管理体制改革进程中,需要进行全面的理论研究,进行系统的规划,中央政府在实践中应通过政策制定强化分类指导,激励地方政府寻求突破.     

Redistributive policies in decentralised systems: The effect of decentralisation on subnational social spending

This article uses cross‐national data to examine the effects of fiscal and political decentralisation on subnational governments’ social expenditures. It revisits the benefit competition hypothesis put forward by fiscal federalism research, which posits that subnational governments in decentralised countries match welfare benefit reductions by their peers to keep taxes low and avoid an in‐migration of welfare dependents. As a consequence, subnational social expenditures are assumed to plateau at similar and low levels. Using a new cross‐national dataset on social expenditures in 334 subnational units across 14 countries and 21 years, the author explores whether benefit competition causes subnational governments to converge on similar levels of social spending. The analysis reveals that as countries decentralise, subnational social spending levels begin to diverge rather than converge, with some subnational governments reducing their social expenditures and others increasing them. Furthermore, decentralisation is not likely to be associated with lowest common denominator social policies, but with more variability in social expenditure. The article also examines the effects of other macro‐level institutions and demonstrates that policy coordination influences the relationship between decentralisation and subnational social spending levels.     

The Home Insulation Program: An Example of Australian Government Failure

The public concern surrounding the Australian Government Home Insulation Program (HIP) continues despite the abrupt termination of the program in the light of its deleterious safety consequences and fiscally wasteful management. This enduring unease has been reflected in a variety of official inquiries and reports including the Hawke Review (2010) , an inquiry by the Senate Environment, Communications and the Arts References Committee (2010), a performance audit by the Commonwealth Auditor‐General (2010) and two Departmental annual reports (DCCEE 2010; DEWHA 2010). Taking into account this body of evidence, we argue that the HIP represents an example of government failure, which, in turn, led to a range of unintended ‘human costs’ including the tragic deaths of four young installation workers. Moreover it is also argued that, in future, programs like the HIP are best administered by state/territory and local governments which are often best placed to deliver ‘on the ground’ services.     

Love Thy Neighbour: A Social Capital Approach to Local Government Partnerships

While controversy surrounds compulsory consolidation as a means of improving the operational efficiency of local government, the literature suggests that gains can accrue to groups of local councils which form voluntary alliances as platforms for shared service delivery. However, real‐world experience has demonstrated that voluntary alliances in local government are difficult to establish and do not always endure in the longer term. After reviewing the limited extant scholarly literature on shared services and local council voluntary alliances, as well as applications of the social capital approach to inter‐organisational endeavour, such as the Weber and Weber (2010) venture capital model, this article argues that the social capital approach can offer insights into local council cooperative alliance and shared service models.     

超越税务:乌海联合办税对中国"府际关系"发展的启示

"府际关系"是政府过程研究中一个非常重要的领域.内蒙古乌海市在实践中探索出的国、地税联合办税模式,虽然只是发生在一个地方,仅涉及国税、地税两个部门的制度创新,但其在理论探索上的贡献,已经超越了税务行政本身的变革.乌海联合办税模式在构建"伙伴型府际关系"方面的主动探索,从纵横两个维度上,不仅为在实践中逐步化解条块矛盾,构建新型的横向"府际关系"和调整政府横向间的职能配置等提供了新的思路,同时也为在理论上深化中国的"府际关系"理论研究提供了一个新的方向.     

精准扶贫领域干部“微腐败”问题的产生原因及治理机制——基于四川省X县的现实考察

在当前我国精准扶贫工作中,基层党员干部的“微腐败”问题是影响精准脱贫工作成效的主要因素之一。精准扶贫领域干部“微腐败”问题主要表现在扶贫项目管理过程、政策制定执行、工作责任意识三个方面,需要从资源配置、思想认识、地方发展和制度建设中寻找问题产生的深层次原因。近年来,四川省X县在推进精准扶贫的过程中,将整治扶贫领域干部“微腐败”问题作为推进脱贫攻坚工作的关键环节和重要保障,构建起协作型立体化监督机制、点对点聚焦型问责机制、多层次科学化管理机制、全覆盖信息化沟通机制和容错纠错灵活型激励机制,着力推动新时代全面从严治党覆盖到“最后一公里”。     

Reinvigorating the transnational links of sub-national governments between Australia and Japan with special reference to Western Australia–Hyogo sister-state relations

Abstract

The study of transnational links between sub-national governments is a lacuna in the field of international relations yet the issue on inter-sub-national government cooperation has recently gained greater importance at the international level. Since the 1992 Earth Summit recognition of sub-national authorities as key players in global sustainable development strategies, the importance of decentralised cooperation between sub-national governments has been strengthened by a series of international standardisation and domestic incorporation of this principle. Yet our research raises serious questions about the degree to which Australia–Japan twinning of sub-national governments has made progress towards taking responsibility in facing global challenges. Our case study of Western Australia–Hyogo sister-state relationships shows that their 25 year-old cooperation has been suffering from a lack of awareness of the emerging role of sub-national governments. Not surprisingly, national government policy and position has greatly influenced the nature and patterns of their relationships. Australia and Japan twinning, as leading inter-sub-national partnerships in the region, can do more to promote the value of the local dimension in international development cooperation. In light of these challenges, the future of their twinning must lie in a structured long-term commitment for global strategies as well as mutual benefits.     

WHAT ROLE FOR GOVERNMENT? THE PROMOTION OF CIVIL SOCIETY THROUGH FORESTRY‐RELATED CLIMATE CHANGE INTERVENTIONS IN POST‐CONFLICT NEPAL

This study examines rationales behind the choice of local interlocutors by forestry‐related climate change projects in post‐conflict Nepal. In their stated objectives, all projects claim to involve the government, and most project decision makers are in favor of government involvement, yet project resources overwhelmingly favor civil society institutions. Project decision makers' choices are shaped by a combination of donor conditionalities, contextual constraints, and beliefs about which institutional attributes matter and how to address historical marginalization. The projects' empowerment of civil society sidesteps opportunities to strengthen the local government, which is described as weak, disinterested, and lacking legitimacy owing to the absence of elections due to the unsettled post‐conflict situation. Through the choices made and their justifications, projects and donors further marginalize the local government materially and discursively and thereby entrench its perceived deficiencies. We argue that this privileging of civil society may have implications for government legitimacy and post‐conflict reconstruction and call for donors and the intervening institutions they fund to critically and collectively reassess the role of forestry‐related climate change projects in the larger process of post‐conflict reconstruction in Nepal. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Past and present African citizenships of slave descent: lessons from Benin

This paper takes up the notion of citizenship and ethnicity as forms of belonging in the context of globalisation. The discussion draws on a case study focusing on a Fulfuldephone servile group from Northern Benin called the Gando. Since pre-colonial times, their servile status ascribed by birth has been an argument for placing them at the margins of their society and excluding them from political participation. While still claiming their belonging to the nation-state of Benin and the Fulbe's culture, the Gando have progressively built a new social identity that is showing to be a new ethnic group. In the context of the decentralisation reform implemented in 2002–2003, the Gando have taken the opportunity to access local power; they conquered municipal power in the 2003 and 2008 local elections. In doing so they opened the gates to a full citizenship that in the context of today's Benin means a clientelistic citizenship. Contrary to recent literature focused on the simultaneous emergence of belonging dynamics and violent conflicts in the context of recent globalisation in developing countries, the author argues that belonging dynamics do not necessarily imply violent conflicts and exclusion dynamics.