The STAR Community Rating System: An Analysis of the Communities Participating in the Program

This study is the first to explore the STAR Community Rating System® (STAR), a data-driven sustainability framework and certification program launched in October 2012, that allows local governments to measure their sustainability performance and progress relative to other communities. This research identifies and analyzes the major characteristics of the communities that are currently participating in the program. A discussion of the findings and policy recommendations should help increase the membership and effectiveness of the STAR system. More importantly, it reinforces the enormous potential that local governments have with respect to leveraging the synergies between economic, environmental, and societal priorities.     

Can the cultural environment affect governmental transparency on sustainability? Useful measures for policy makers and practitioners

The aim of this study is to provide useful knowledge to policy makers and practitioners on how to promote the practices of sustainability transparency in local governments, based on the influence of the cultural environment on the disclosure of governmental information on sustainability, including social, environmental and economic information. We perform a comparative analysis of the effects of four types of variables (demographic, sociological, economic and financial) on the disclosure of information on sustainability in two different contexts: Anglo-Saxon and Nordic administrative cultures. Our results show that the factors of the administrative culture context do influence practices of transparency on governmental sustainability. In the Anglo-Saxon environment, the explanatory variables are population size, dependent population and education level. For the Nordic area countries, the main variables are unemployment, dependent population, financial autonomy and debt per capita. Taking into account the study results obtained, we propose measures to facilitate the dissemination of sustainability information in each cultural environment.     

Sustainability reporting by Australian local government authorities

This qualitative study investigates the Western Australian (WA) local government authorities’ sustainability reporting practices, in the absence of mandatory reporting guidelines, through content analysis of their websites. Calculations from comparing the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)’s disclosures with those of 140 local council websites were used to develop a sustainability reporting disclosure index. The findings indicate that sustainability reporting remains moderately practised by local government authorities, despite stakeholder demand for proactive disclosures. The discourse analysis shows that Western Australia’s strategic planning for sustainable development is the key force propelling councils towards sustainability reporting practices. The findings also suggest that WA local government authorities are increasing sustainability disclosures to legitimate their social and environmental initiatives. The findings have policy implications for regulators and/or government in Western Australia, with practical implications for local council authorities and/or managers in developing awareness of sustainable operations. The study also contributes to local government authorities’ growing awareness of sustainable service operations.     

The Paradox of Small Hydropower: Local Government and Environmental Governance in China

Small Hydropower is regarded by the Chinese state as a method for both poverty alleviation and environmental protection in rural areas. This paper finds that local government officials develop an ‘environmentally bundled economic interests’ approach that simultaneously fulfills the central state’s new political mission and local economic development demand. The small hydropower plants however have paradoxically become the destroyer of the environment as local government at different levels develop the plants in an un-coordinated manner. We use the growth of small hydropower in Yunnan province as an exemplar to show the new tendency and problems of China’s environmental governance.     

Collaborative leadership and financial sustainability in local government

This research examines whether collaborative leadership significantly influences the financial sustainability of local government. Unlike other studies on financial sustainability, ours examined collaborative leadership’s effect on both subjective and objective financial sustainability by controlling for socio-demographic and economic factors (i.e., population size, population density, population aged over 65 years, unemployment rate, and gross domestic regional product) that influence the financial sustainability of local government. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis of data collected from local revenue officers as well as secondary data from local governments in South Korea revealed that collaborative leadership has a positive effect on the subjective perception of financial sustainability and a negative effect on the objective financial sustainability (net debt) of local government. These findings underscore the necessity of collaborative leadership for financial sustainability as well as the strategies needed for its development in local government.     

Environmental politics in Chile: Legacies of dictatorship and democracy

Standing at the forefront of Latin America's political and economic liberalisation, Chile is held up as a model for the developing world. First in the region to embrace a boldly neoliberal development strategy, Chile's military dictatorship also peacefully gave way to stable, civilian rule and comparative economic success. However, the lens of environmental politics reveals a disturbing underside to the Chilean miracle. Environmental policy, institutions and participation are shaped and constrained by ominous legacies of history, dictatorship, and an economic orthodoxy inimical to sustainability. Democratic rule has opened political space, yet new environmental institutions and procedures exhibit inherited elitist and exclusionary features. Chile's environmental movement likewise demonstrates promise and innovation, but remains grounded in a civil society weakened and atomised by dictatorship and incomplete transition. Still, as the environmental costs of Chile's resource-extractive, export-led development mount, environmental politics may yet present a vital opportunity for social change.     

Does the Gown Help the Town? Examining Town–Gown Relationship Influence on Local Environmental Sustainability in the United States

A US municipality environmental sustainability index, the OSSPI (Opp-Saunders Sustainability Practices Index), found an overwhelming percentage of top-ranked sustainable cities were home to higher education institutions. While this may be a coincidence, this research seeks to determine if and how local communities partner or collaborate with higher education institutions for environmental sustainability purposes. The results of two case studies, San Antonio, Texas and Dubuque, Iowa, suggest there is considerable variability in the town-gown relationships. However, it is found that larger, public universities are more likely to have stronger relationships and effects on local sustainability efforts.     

Interlocal collaboration and local climate protection

ABSTRACT

The influences of state government have been curiously absent from most studies of collaboration among cities. Extant research on city collaboration which promotes on climate and environmental sustainability issues focuses primarily on local-level institutions, politics, and processes. Thus, the role of states to constrain or facilitate collaboration among local governments needs to be more fully accounted for. Building on transaction cost and institutional collective action theory and drawing on data from a national survey of US cities, we investigate the influences of city-level factors together with the hierarchical effects of state rules and policies on the extent to which mechanisms for interlocal collaboration are employed in pursuing climate protection and renewable energy development goals. The results confirm predictions that multilevel intergovernmental forces influence the extent to which cities collaborate. These results have both theoretical and practical implications for understanding interlocal collaborations.     

Does it matter ‘who governs?’ Governance networks,local economic development policies,and the Great Recession

This study purports to examine whether governance networks influence cities’ use of local economic development policies, specifically business incentives, and if the role of networks changed during the Great Recession. Using American cities that responded to the International City/County Management Association’s Economic Development Survey in 2004 and 2009, hierarchical cluster analysis was employed to identify groups of cities with similar network membership patterns. The results of negative binomial regression models indicate that before the recession, the total number of actors participating in the network played a larger role in the total number of incentives provided by cities as well as the use of tax incentives. This changed in 2009 when network type emerged as the important governance-based determinant of the same variables. The results also suggest that traditional theories of economic development do not hold during times of economic and fail to explain the use of planning and labour incentives.     

Hardening Budget Constraints: A Cross-National Study of Fiscal Sustainability and Subnational Debt

This study explores the financial sustainability of subnational governments in four different countries. Scholars argue that subnational fiscal capacity helps local governments deliver better public services and provide public goods, which in turn helps to promote economic growth. While administrative control by the central governments contributes to reducing moral hazard from the soft budget constraints, bottom-up strategies to manage fiscal profligacy also need attention. The study first provides understanding about the characteristics of central-local governance and management of subnational government debt of each country. Then, we test our hypotheses regarding local fiscal capacity and administrative control, including political-economic factors that may affect debt spending by local governments. Our findings show that subnational fiscal sustainability improves when the central governments have clear rules to intergovernmental transfers in place and more (market) liberal policies, meanwhile when subnational governments have a more fiscal capacity and less intergovernmental transfers they are able to manage their debt more soundly.     

Ecocertification of Ecuadorian Bananas: Prospects for Progressive North–South Linkages

Results of our 2003 survey of Ecuadorian banana producers’ farming practices indicate that firms engaged in labeling schemes generate lower environmental risks than uncertified firms. Certified firms exhibit relatively comprehensive environmental management systems, while noncertified farms exhibited limited, uneven, and unstructured adoption of best management practices. We explore the specific circumstances that differentiate the more environmentally friendly firms from their conventional counterparts, and we identify the sustainability pathways available to differently situated firms engaged in banana production. We find that small certified operations mobilize social capital to engage alternative markets and add value to their products, while large certified firms rely on financial backing of international organizations to modernize their operations. For both large and small firms producing bananas in Ecuador, the sustainability gains we observe are premised on mobilization of external resources from actors in the industrialized world. We demonstrate that improved environmental performance of commodity production cannot be attributed to local resources, local dynamics, and local institutions. Our analysis also points to the limits of export of sustainability from rich nations to developing nation firms. Only a fraction of the industry participates in certification programs, and large segments of the population of firms are likely to remain unattractive and inaccessible to external resource providers. In this context, it appears that the state must define and enforce minimum environmental standards to progressively raise performance.     

Implementing Environmental Sustainability in Local Government: The Impacts of Framing,Agency Culture,and Structure in US Cities and Counties

This article focuses on the organizational factors of environmental sustainability implementation in local government. We investigate the interactions, as well as direct and indirect impacts, of the framing of environmental sustainability and organizational culture and structure on implementation outcomes. We use a survey of 217 city/county planners and managers in 146 randomly selected American mid-sized cities and counties. The survey was specifically designed to tease out organizational features and their impacts. We model these impacts using structural equation modeling. We find that horizontally and vertically integrated organizational structure supports two essential dimensions of organizational culture: innovation adoption and consensus building. These cultural traits positively impact the framing of environmental sustainability at the core of organizations’ logic, which in turn significantly supports implementation outcomes. These findings provide important insights into city/county managers seeking to promote sustainability, and provide a base for future studies of the organizational factors of implementation.     

Risk Factors and Drivers of Financial Sustainability in Local Government: An Empirical Study

The current international crisis in public finances has made financial sustainability a key issue for governments. Although the European Union (EU) and other international organisations have recommended governments to monitor demographic and economic variables, few studies have considered the influence of these variables on financial sustainability. This paper seeks to identify and analyse the drivers and risk factors that influence the financial sustainability of local government. The findings identify both risk factors (unemployment and population aged under 16 years) and drivers (budgetary outcome) of financial sustainability, which may constitute a useful basis for decision-taking by managers and policy-makers.     

Contrasts in Development in Bihar: A Tale of Two Villages

Abstract

The article investigates the economic and social changes that have occurred over the last 30 years in two villages in Bihar, one of the poorest states in India. The two villages are on different development paths: one based on agricultural diversification and local non-agricultural employment, the other dependent on migration to distant labour markets. They therefore connect with India’s overall growth in different ways. Neither development model delivers clearly superior outcomes in terms of incomes, nor are they exhausted, but the long-term sustainability of a migration-led model remains debatable.     

Economic development and the rise of market systems

Traditional views of dualistic development emphasize differences in behavior between the traditional and modern sectors. In this article it is argued that a better distinction concerns market networks. A traditional sector is characterized by a lack of market integration. Such market integration can be achieved only through dramatic growth of a domestic market for basic agricultural goods. This will most likely involve the simultaneous protection and taxation of the agricultural sector. Thus, protectionism was an appropriate strategy of development, but most nations protected the wrong sector (industry) at the wrong time in the process of long-run development. Richard Grabowski is a professor of economics at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. His research interests include analyzing the role of the state in economic development. His work has appeared inWorld Development, Journal of Developing Areas, Economic Development and Cultural Change, and Studies in Comparative International Development.     

GRASSROOTS MOBILIZATIONS IN THE SOUTHWEST FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to characterize activities of an Albuquerque based organization called the SouthWest Organizing Project. Aligning with other people of color, Chicanos in the Southwest connect to a national and international movement for environmental and economic justice to tackle the negative impacts of global restructuring. This paper presents issues and strategies regarding the expansion of Intel Corporation, the poisoning in high tech employment, anti-NAFTA position, inadequate infrastructure, and the placement of a courthouse in a long-standing community. Armed with knowledge, oppositional consciousness, principled strategies, and a politics of engagement, environmental justice activists are inserting themselves into questions of international economic integration, local economic development, neighborhood change including issues of gentrification, infrastructure, tax abatements, natural resource management, zoing, and an array of development issues.     

Enhancing sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa: concepts,recommendations and illustrations

In recent years, the concept of sustainable development has received renewed attention. As global resources shrink and needs continue to grow, the staying power of development impact is becoming central concern of both governments and donors. Recent studies have shown that only a small percentage of projects throughout the world have achieved sustainability, and the need for improving the long-term vitality of development investments is growing. No area in the world has shown more need of this than Africa. This paper outlines a conceptual approach for analyzing sustainability and synthesizes the lessons learned from the application of this model in recent field work. The model is based on the theory that two preconditions must exist before sustainability can occur: 1 ) commitment to long term sustainable development; and 2) beneficiary and stakeholder involvement via incentives which support achieving sustainability . Fieldwork-based recommendations to enhance sustainability include: 1) understand the long-term incentive structure that drives the project; 2) identify performance targets and communicate results early-on; 3) identify long-term recurrent costs and funding options; 4) build in flexibility to the project plan; 5) build-in ways for participants to support and “take ownership” of the project; 6) use local resources, both human and physical, and keep technologies simple; and 7) use marketing strategies to reinforce perceived, satisfactory benefits of the project. Case examples of successful African projects from West Africa, Burkina Faso and Kenya illustrate the application of the sustainability concepts. In the context of these illustrations, the sustainability framework appears useful for understanding and analyzing sustainability and provides a necessary addition to thinking about development projects and programs.     

How local governments prioritize multiple conflicting goals: Beyond the sole-goal perspective

Understanding how public organizations prioritize goals is crucial in studying goal-setting in the public sector. However, the extant literature has mostly adopted a sole-goal perspective and neglected the influences of the interplay among multiple goals. This article extends the literature by going beyond the sole-goal perspective and adopting a multigoal perspective to further explore the complexities in public organizations' goal prioritization when facing multiple conflicting goals. Drawing on the theoretical perspectives of performance information use and interorganizational interactions, the main arguments of this study are twofold. First, an organization's prioritization of a particular goal will be positively associated with the performance gap in its conflicting goal. Second, organizations tend to adopt a differentiation strategy in the prioritization of multiple conflicting goals. Empirical findings based on the investigation of Chinese city-level governments' prioritization of environmental goals when confronting conflict between environmental protection and economic development goals support our arguments.     

Dealing with Austerity: a case of local resilience in Southern Europe

Southern countries are undergoing a severe economic crisis that has renewed debates about the available strategies to economise their public resources. Political leaders have launched a wide range of different strategies aimed at reducing spending. According to generally accepted political discourse, drastic actions should be taken to guarantee economic and financial sustainability in times of austerity. We explore the main measures adopted by Spanish municipalities in order to examine their impact in budgetary terms. First of all, we identify the most frequently implemented mechanisms including organisational structure, public services and operational economic restructuration. After their quantification, we monitor the presence and impact of each set of policies to analyse the relationship between concrete measures and effective economic impact. The effective reduction of budgets is being implemented but data show that local governments are resilient to non-compulsory changes. The ‘government at a distance’ policy pursued by the central state administration has effectively reduced budgets but has not affected the institutional core of Spanish local governments.