PARTICIPATION AND PERFORMANCE: DECENTRALISED PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION IN ETHIOPIA

This article discusses how decentralisation policies are enacted in the planning and implementation of natural resource management interventions in rural Ethiopia. A key element of decentralisation policy is the emphasis on greater participation by local communities. Drawing on qualitative research conducted with government staff and farmers, this paper illustrates how different actors perceive and implement national policy and how these actions affect the longer‐term sustainability of land management interventions. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

PLANNING AND PARTICIPATION IN CITIES THAT MOVE: IDENTIFYING OBSTACLES TO MUNICIPAL MOBILITY MANAGEMENT

The dual processes of rapidly transforming cities and administrative decentralisation demands that local government address human mobility as a means of countering urban poverty. Despite this imperative, local authorities are often poorly equipped to address the needs of poor and transient residents. Through an examination of four South African municipalities, this article helps to identify three critical factors working against effective responses: poor data and conceptual bias; institutional ambiguities and budgeting processes; and, ironically, participatory planning. Although any one of these could serve as a basis for an article, by taking them together, we better summarise the challenges' scope and outline areas for further research and policy intervention. The article concludes by considering these findings' practical and scholarly implications. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

POLITICS, PLANNING, AND CAPITALISM: NATIONAL ECONOMIC PLANNING IN FRANCE AND BRITAIN

Abstract. This study examines explanations for the success or failure of planning efforts of the 1945 British Labour Government and the French Government ofthe Fourth Republic. Most conventional views of British postwar planning depict it as hopelessly weak and disorganized while French planningisseen as reasonably well-armed and effectively organized. However, these views reflect excessive attention on purely administrative as well as political-cultural explanations and tend to ignore the critical underlying role of domestic politics and power. The French planning effort was only one element of a broader, relatively uncoordinated collaborative process. carried on among bureaucratic state elites and large industry, which effectively accelerated industrial investment and economic growth. Its success hinged on the inability of organized labour effectively to defend its wage interests within the political structure. In the British case, manipulation of capital markets was only marginally productive given the power and autonomy of the finance sector while the alternative attempt to plan through manpower direction failed due to the ability of organized labour to defend its wage interests in the face of chronic inflation. In each case. the structure of political power was most important in determining the success of the divergent technical approaches to planning.     

DETERMINING PRIORITIES

For the purpose of this paper I shall accept the assumption underlying the theme of this Conference. In practical terms, in the early 1980s at least, it will mean that public service managers will be asked to carry on or expand existing functions, and often take on new functions, without being supplied with what they believe to be the commensurate manpower and financial resources required for the adequate performance of such functions. Hence, the determination of priorities will be a primary task for governments and managers at differing levels.     

PARTICIPATION AND APATHY IN TRADE UNIONS

Abstract: Trade union concern with participation in industry and in public decision-making has stimulated further interest in unions' own internal decision-making processes. This paper notes the low level of active membership involvement in the formal democratic procedures of most unions notwithstanding the very extensive legal framework and regulatory machinery on which these procedures rest. It also notes the higher degree of participation that sometimes exists on a more informal level, particularly in matters which directly affect terms and conditions of employment. Conditions conducive to membership participation or apathy are discussed and the implications of stability of incumbent leaders for participation by rank and file members are considered.     

URBAN PLANNING,POLICY AND MANAGEMENT*

Abstract: This paper deals with some important sources of confusion in discussions of urban issues. The first part distinguishes urban planning as a “future oriented” activity, from urban management which is primarily concerned with resource allocation. (The nature of urban development — interdependence and long life — makes a long-term perspective important.) When urban management aims to implement a plan the two are complementary. Urban policy covers a broader range of issues. The second part distinguishes four levels of debate about urban issues: ideological, political, operational and technical. Frequently debates in urban studies are not coherent because the participants are arguing at different levels and therefore make different assumptions about what is given and what can be varied. It is argued that the various levels form a hierarchy so that debates at any level need to assume particular positions with respect to higher level questions. Ideological issues include individual versus collective perspective, capitalist versus socialist, the appropriate role of markets and governments and the relative weight given to equity and efficiency criteria. The examples of political issues discussed are rationality versus group pressure as explanations of government behaviour, and whether planning is mainly a political or a professional activity. Operational issues include the appropriate level of government for carrying out urban functions and the role of statutory planning and other policy measures. Technical issues focus on predicting the effects of policy measures and external changes on cities. The different levels are illustrated by a discussion of policy towards inner city areas.     

PARTY IDENTIFICATION AND PUBLIC SPENDING PRIORITIES IN THE AMERICAN ELECTORATE

Abstract. In a study published in 1980, Alan Lewis found that members of the British mass public tend to have clearly defined preferences on spending in specific policy areas and that these preferences are closely related to party identification. This paper examines Lewis's conclusion in the American setting. Data on eleven spending policies from the 1973 and 1980 General Social Survey are examined via factor analysis and multiple classification analysis. While some change is observed between 1973 and 1980, the preferences of the American public on public expenditures appear to be quite stable and, contrary to Lewis's findings these preferences are unrelated to party identification.