Political Entrepreneurs and Public Administration Reform: The Case of the Local Authorities' Unification Reform in Israel

This article examines a specific institutional change in Israel. In 2003 the Israeli Knesset implemented the local authority unification plan, an unprecedented reform in the structure of local authorities in Israel. This article is about a local government reorganization taking place in a unique political culture. This article tries to integrate the role of political entrepreneurs within an Institutionalist and “learning” perspectives to offer an explanation to a local government structure, thus politicians influence and are influenced by a wide range of institutional norms and practices in a complex process of design and determination of institutional change.     

Participatory Initiatives and Political Representation: The Case of Local Councillors in Sweden

The health of political parties and the institutions of representative democracy have been extensively questioned during the last decade due to evidence of a widespread decline in voting turnout, political trust, and party membership as well as identification. An often-proposed, but also often-questioned, strategy to strengthen representative democracy is for political institutions to offer alternative forms of political participation through so-called participatory initiatives. The literature suggests that participatory initiatives will have little impact on representative democracy if no adaptation among political representatives is apparent. This paper explores the consistency between participatory initiatives in Swedish municipalities and the attitudes, practices and role-taking of local councillors, comparing pioneer municipalities where extensive numbers of participatory initatives have been executed vis-à-vis hesitator municipalities where few initiatives have been implemented. The study indicates that local participatory initiatives may stimulate political representation by creating new channels for citizen input and communication between citizens and representatives that are supported by local councillors in the pioneer municipalities. However, the core roles of parties and councillors in representative democracy appear not to be challenged by these initiatives, being similar in both groups of municipalities. The article is concluded by a discussion of the implications of these results for the function of participatory initiatives in local democracy.     

Local Political Leadership: The Art of Circulating Political Capital

In this article, local political leadership is modelled as circulation of political capital. Based on intensive case studies of the political leadership performance of four mayors in Denmark, this article asks why the concept of political capital, introduced to local government studies in 1961 by Banfield, has in many ways sunk into oblivion. This article resuscitates the concept of political capital, using it to generate a general theory of local political leadership. In this framework, the crucial component of effective leadership is the mayor's ability, within a given institutional framework, to circulate (earn and spend) political capital. Effective leadership occurs when the leader continuously invests his or her political capital in ways which yield the greatest return. Clarence N. Stone's distinction between ‘power over’ and ‘power to’ is central to the model. Mayors performing what James H. Svara has labelled ‘facilitative leadership’ can in some cases accumulate substantial amounts of political capital.     

Contracting for Energy Efficiency: The Diffusion of Novel Contracting Practices at Local Government Level

Abstract

Studies on contracting out have provided much needed knowledge about the effect of contracting on different types of services, yet much remains unknown about the antecedents driving the adoption of new contracting practices. The focus of previous studies that have addressed the antecedents of contracting has been on the financial benefit of specific services. This study incorporates the innovation diffusion literature to explore organisational and managerial influences on a novel contracting practice: the contracting out of energy efficiency improvement services in Danish municipalities. The paper finds that the antecedents driving the adoption of contracting out may result from inter-organisational influences as much as managerial factors.     

The Politics of Time on the Frontline: Street Level Bureaucracy,Professional Judgment,and Public Accountability

This article reports on a study carried out on the impact of quality assurance mechanisms on street-level bureaucrats in Northern England (teachers, nurses and social workers). A key aim of the research was to explore the ways in which these mechanisms negotiate the much older regulatory function of time. The findings suggest that these mechanisms contribute to forms of time compression across professional activities, time compression in turn having consequences for professional judgement. The study explores the mechanisms via which this occurs, while also examining the implications of the research for debates about democracy, political regulation, and public sector management.     

Contracting Out Local Government Services to Private Agents: An Analysis of Contract Design and Service Delivery Performance in Ghana

Contracting out is generally justified on the principle that as governments contract out part of their responsibilities in service provision to private agents, they harness the power of market competition which leads to efficiency in service provision. In working with private contractors, local governments (LGs) face problems related to agent opportunism, while agents also face risks such as dereliction of payment responsibility by LGs for services delivered. The literature shows that these problems are addressed through a web of contractual arrangements. Using agency theory, this study investigates the relationship between contract design and quality of services delivery in three Ghanaian cities (Accra, Kumasi and Tema). The study found a surprising negative correlation between contract document and agents' performance. The paper concludes that effectiveness of contracting out documents depends on contract management capacity of government administrators. In its absence, LGs that contract out are exposed to risks. The paper uses the findings to reflect on the inherent deficiencies in agency theory and Africanist literature on patronage.     

Lessons Learned from Public and Private Contract Managers for Effective Local Government Contracting Out: The Case of New Jersey

To date, very few studies have explored practical strategies for exercising effective financial management of local government contracts through two main stakeholders’ perspectives of the contracting system at the same time. Employing a series of semi-structured interviews with public officials and private contractors in New Jersey, this study attempts to fill this gap in the scholarship. The finding of this study suggests that government agencies should pay greater attention to competitive bids without favoritism, contract specificity, a statewide performance database, sufficient staffing with well-trained personnel, strong leadership, team-based structures, two-way communication, and evaluation based on both qualitative and quantitative values.     

Assessing Local Government Capacity for Implementing Sustainable Transportation: The Role of Political Culture

Transportation development increasingly relies on local governments to implement sustainable strategies, yet implementation success varies widely. This begs an important question, why are some cities successful and others not? In response, this study focuses on the political culture characteristics of city leadership and staff pertaining to sustainable transportation. Employing semi-structured interviews with officials in two case study cities—Pomona and Pasadena, California—the study identifies and traces the impact of cultural characteristics on network interactions and the resulting transportation innovation. Finally, this research suggests key political and department characteristics that contribute to political cultures that facilitate sustainable transportation development.     

The Impact of Political Leadership on Organisational Performance: Evidence from English Urban Government

Many commentators view the political management reforms of English local government with some scepticism, raising concerns about the desirability of stronger leadership and the efficacy of institutional reform in encouraging stronger leadership. Using data from a five-year evaluation of the impact of the Local Government Act 2000, this paper reports evidence suggesting that institutional variation does influence the way that organisations operate and can have a positive impact on their performance, though the results are mixed with the internal decision-making elements showing most difference, whilst there is less evidence of effects in relation to partnership working and engagement with the public. In hung and balanced authorities an internal focus on managing coalitions and party competitors is judged to impede the role of leaders in partnership working. In the concluding section, the paper develops the concept of facilitative leadership, which will continue to influence reform of local government and the practice of political leadership in local government. Policy-makers, by giving leaders the right mix of resources and incentives, can improve the effectiveness of urban political leadership and encourage the trend towards facilitative leadership.     

Political transitions and commissions of inquiry: the politicisation of accountability in Ghana

Abstract

What role does a commission of inquiry (COI) play in delivering accountability? In theory, when the public delegates power to political leaders to formulate and implement policies, they seek political accountability in return. Using Ghana as a case study, this study examines how the operations of COIs may deliver accountability. Principal–agent theories of accountability and African conceptions of legitimacy are incomplete on their own and need to be integrated into an explanation of political accountability that takes into consideration political transitions and the role of COIs in delivering a minimalist form of accountability. This study argues that a COI is an instrument of regime legitimatisation. The demands by citizens for political accountability in Ghana correlate with political transitions. Accompanying each power alternation was a different model of political accountability. To understand the predominant applications of accountability, we emphasise the politicisation of accountability.     

Modernisation and Political Management Arrangements: The Case of Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council

In the United Kingdom the Labour government has placed considerable emphasis on the need to modernise public services. In the case of local government, Labour's belief in the need for modernisation has resulted in radical measures to change local authorities' political management arrangements designed, in part, to achieve greater efficiency, transparency and accountability. In its response to the Labour government's agenda, Redcar &; Cleveland Borough Council established interim political management arrangements in May 2000 prior to the establishment of permanent arrangements. The permanent arrangements were to be decided upon following public consultation and a review of the interim arrangements. This article reports the outcomes and, in doing so, provides evidence of the impact of Labour's measures to achieve change in local government.     

Sacral Defense of Secularism: The Political Theologies of Soroush, Shabestari, and Kadivar

This paper discusses three post-revolutionary dissident political theologies in Iran. They all question the absolutist theology of the ruling clerics and utilize indigenous sources of scholarship to oppose the clerical hegemony. They have complementary emphases: whereas Soroush highlights the variable nature of religious knowledge, Shabestari and Kadivar underline its limited and multiple nature. They represent the maturing of the dialogue of the Iranian-Islamic thought with Western social and political philosophy, and as the coming of age of the indigenous Islamic political theology reclaiming its pluralistic and democratic elements. Together, they attack the totalitarian Islam, and call for a guarded and objective secularism, while preserving Islam's spiritual and cultural identity.     

美国“Z世代”大学生政治认同两极化及其原因

美国“Z世代”大学生的政治认同呈现明显两极化、主体向左的趋势。一方面,这种两极化与两党意识形态、政策立场保持高度一致;另一方面,两极化也显示出新的代际特征,即鲜明的道德色彩与强烈的对抗性。从社会心理学角度看,政治认同两极化的原因包括信念激情期的周期性再现、美国大学校园成为政治认同极化的孵化器、安全空间建构与微侵犯观念隔断大学不同政见者的沟通与交流、社交媒体强化“Z世代”同一阵营内部的政治认同等。“Z世代”大学生以“对抗共同敌人”的方式参与2020年美国总统选举并使投票率创下新高,这成为其政治认同极化公开表达的明证。这一态势引起了专家、学者等的警惕,重建大学校园政治生态成为美国社会的共识。大学生政治认同两极化也给未来的中美关系增添了不确定因素,社交媒体的运用将使“Z世代”大学生对华民意更具敌意,受害者心理将使美国舆论在人权等相关问题上对中国持更负面的评价,安全空间防线将使中国对外文化传播受到进一步干扰。“Z世代”大学生政治认同两极化趋势及大学校园政治生态将是评估美国政治未来走向的重要参考因素。     

The Politics of Administrative Reforms in Ghana: Perspectives from Path Dependency and Punctuated Equilibrium Theories

Since 1957, various Ghanaian governments have made, and continue to make, attempts to reform the administrative state for development. In spite of this, not much seems to have been achieved over the years. Why has the passion of successive governments for reforming the administrative system failed to yield the desired outcomes? What is the nexus between regime turnover and frequent administrative reforms? Where do we want to go, and what will take us there or at least close to our intended destination? What approach is likely to maximize the chances of success and minimize those of failure? We argue that administrative reforms in Ghana have been consistently undermined by the discontinuity of reform initiatives undertaken by successive governments; the inability to have a “national agenda for development”; continuous reliance on expatriates as consultants and advisers; over-reliance on multinational institutions for financial support; and by the absence of a “developmental state.”     

Lesbian,Gay and Bisexual Populations: The Role of English Local Government

Abstract

The role of local government has recently come under debate, in the context of state retrenchment, public sector cuts and the marketisation of welfare. Recent discussions have centred on local authorities as leaders, on enterprise and on democracy, but there has been little discussion of local authorities in relation to equalities issues and minority groups. This article examines the role of local government in relation to one minority grouping, Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) people, drawing on empirical material gathered from 2007 to 2010 as part of a large Economic and Social Research Council research project. It describes the importance of equalities legislation and related implementation mechanisms in driving forward the LGB equalities agenda, explores aspects of welfare delivery to LGB people and addresses democratic processes. The article suggests that a collision of different forces is currently taking place: the legislation supports the protection of the LGB communities, but this support is undermined by the recession-related and ideologically driven public sector cuts. In addition, aggregate approaches to local democracy may override the interests of minority groups such as LGB people.     

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.     

The Nexus of Political Violence and Economic Deprivation: Pakistani Migrants Disrupt the Refugee/Migrant Dichotomy

There have been discussions about how the labels “forced migrants,” related to political violence, and “voluntary migrants,” associated with economic factors, cannot be understood in categorical ways. However, there has been less focus on the specificities of the asylum-migrant nexus from the perspective of migrants. This essay discusses how such factors intersect as understood by Pakistani migrants residing in Germany. Through enacting a critical view of Pakistan, the migrants demonstrate how aspects of corruption, economic deprivation, and political violence come to intersect so that is becomes impossible to classify asylum seekers in binary/dichotomous ways.     

Justice,Not Jailbreak: The Context and Consequence of the First Step Act

ABSTRACT

The First Step Act, a legislative endeavor half nearly a decade in the making and advocated for by President Trump, represented the most significant easing of federal criminal punishment to date. This article discusses the historical antecedents for the prison and sentencing reform legislation and discusses its path through the 115^th Congress of the United States.     

The challenge of locating land-based climate change mitigation and adaptation politics within a social justice perspective: towards an idea of agrarian climate justice

Abstract

The global land rush and mainstream climate change narratives have broadened the ranks of state and social actors concerned about land issues, while strengthening those opposed to social justice-oriented land policies. This emerging configuration of social forces makes the need for deep social reforms through redistribution, recognition, restitution, regeneration and resistance – book-ended by the twin principles of ‘maximum land size’ (‘size ceiling’) and a ‘guaranteed minimum land access’ (‘size floor’) – both more compelling and urgent, and, at the same time, more difficult than ever before. The five deep social reforms of socially just land policy are necessarily intertwined. But the global land rush amidst deepening climate change calls attention to the linkages, especially between the pursuit of agrarian justice on the one hand and climate justice on the other. Here, the relationship is not without contradictions, and warrants increased attention as both unit of analysis and object of political action. Understanding and deepening agrarian justice imperatives in climate politics, and understanding and deepening climate justice imperatives in agrarian politics, is needed more than ever in the ongoing pursuit of alternatives.