Regulation of Government: Has it Increased,is it Increasing,Should it be Diminished?

This article examines arms-length 'regulation' of UK government – the public-sector analogy to regulation of business firms — and assesses the precepts for public-sector regulation embodied in the Blair Labour government's official vision of public-man-agement reform, its Modernising Government White Paper of 1999. As a background to assessing the recipes for public-sector regulation in Modernising Government, the article shows that such regulation grew markedly both in the two decades up to 1997 and in the plans and activities of the Blair government from 1997 to 1999. Against that background, the design principles for public-sector regulation contained in Modernising Government are assessed. The White Paper was notable for embracing a doctrine of 'enforced self-regulation' for the public sector that involved aspirations to both more and less public-sector regulation in the future. It put its faith in a mixture of oversight and mutuality for 'regulating regulation'. But in spite of the radical-sounding tone of Modernising Government, the measures proposed appeared limited and half-hearted, and two well-known institutional design principles for regulation seemed to be missing altogether from the Blair government's view of administrative 'modernity'.     

The Discourse of Development: has it reached maturity?

Like most other concepts in the social sciences, ‘development’ does not entail a commonly agreed upon meaning, context or programme of action. It is defined in different ways depending on the time, space, context, professional and organisational interests of the one who does the business of defining. The meaning of development has also undergone a remarkable transformation over the course of history from the Enlightenment concept of ‘Progress’ to encompass a great variety of human needs. This paper analyses how the contemporary discourse of development has reached a mature state and how it enables us to understand development in context- and culture-sensitive ways. It is now possible to determine what development means in different settings, and how to bring in material and non-material prosperity to people living in different contexts and cultures. After a theoretical discussion an empirical study in Sri Lanka is presented which attempts to arrive at a more refined context- and culture-sensitive definition of development. The paper argues that, in order to understand development at micro-settings, it is better to construct our own indexes of development rather than using global measures. It shows how the current state of the discourse of development can lend insights into construction of a development index.     

The west European left today: Crisis,decline or renewal?

Perry Anderson and Patrick Camiller (eds), Mapping the West European Left, (Verso, London 1994). 276pp. ISBN 086091–213–2, 0–8609–927–7 (pb).

David S. Bell and Eric Shaw, Conflict and Cohesion in Western European Social Democratic Parties, (Pinter, London 1994). 202pp. ISBN 1–85567–127–1.

Carl Boggs, The Socialist Tradition: From Crisis to Decline, (Routledge, London 1995). 287pp. ISBN 0–415–90669–5, 0–415–90670–9 (pb).

Ralph Milliband, Socialism for a Sceptical Age, (Polity Press, 1994). 211pp. ISBN 0–7456–1426–4, 0–7456–1427–2 (pb).     

The politics of government‐business relations in Myanmar 1

All post‐colonial Myanmar governments and the business community benefited from their clientelistic networks. Without the help of government officials, many business firms would have gone under quickly; at the same time, without the assistance of business people, it would have been hard for most post‐colonial Myanmar governments to keep themselves in power. It is very clear that government‐business relations cannot simply be reduced to a zero‐sum game. This article clearly shows that if we assemble cases of government‐society relations in Myanmar in the way we solve a jigsaw puzzle, the picture that emerges is not simply a zero‐sum situation. Rather, certain interactions between incumbent governments and the business community in post‐colonial Myanmar were mutually empowering.     

Does the longer tenure of local government heads affect the performance of local governments? The Korean case

The relationship between the length of tenure of elected heads of local governments (HOLG) and performance of local governments remains ambiguous, with few empirical studies on it. Korea presents a compelling case in that it has limited HOLG to serve only three consecutive terms based on the untested belief that longer tenures have a negative effect on local governments. To address these gaps, this study applies the fixed effect panel model, using the Korean government data from 2008 to 2014. Our findings reveal a negative relationship between tenure length and efficiency, particularly among local governments demonstrating a low level of efficiency. The relationship between the length of tenure and integrity is also negative, especially among local governments with low levels of integrity. However, given that these relationships disappear when factors specific to local governments are controlled, our findings should be interpreted cautiously.     

Joined up policy in practice? The coherence and impacts of the local government modernisation agenda

Abstract

The last decade has witnessed a raft of new policies designed to transform the politics and performance of local authorities in the UK. Over the next three years, a specially commissioned themed section of Local Government Studies will explore the impact of these policies drawing on recent empirical studies by leading researchers in the field. This paper, the first in the series, sets the scene by tracing the evolution of key policies, analysing their objectives and assessing the extent to which they can, as central government has claimed, be seen as a coherent package of complementary policies. It concludes that whilst at first sight the links between policies within the Local Government Modernisation Agenda are not obvious, policies have become increasingly holistic. Local authority officers perceive them to be interacting in ways that contribute to the achievement of service improvement, more effective community leadership, increased stakeholder engagement, greater accountability and increased public confidence. However, the lack of ‘joined up’ working across Whitehall presents significant problems for councils and other agencies that are responsible for local service delivery and a continuing challenge for central government.     

The "AIDS and MDGs" approach: what is it, why does it matter, and how do we take it forward?

Progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has been mixed, and many observers have noted the tendency for development actors to address individual MDGs largely in isolation from one another. This in turn has resulted in missed opportunities to catalyse greater interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation towards MDG achievement. The term 'AIDS and MDGs' is gaining currency as an approach that aims to explore, strengthen and leverage the links between AIDS and other health and development issues. Drawing from academic literature and from MDG country reports, this article sets out three important pillars to an AIDS and MDGs approach: 1) understanding how AIDS and the other MDGs affect one another; 2) documenting and exchanging lessons learned across MDGs; and 3) creating cross- MDG synergy. We propose broader policy level implications for this approach and how UNDP and other partners can take this agenda forward. Because the MDGs explicitly locate HIV within a broader international commitment to human development targets, they provide a critical platform for development partners to galvanise resources, political will and momentum behind a broader, systematic and structural approach to HIV, health and development.     

The centralisation of local government functions in Northern Ireland — an appraisal

This paper reviews the work of Local Development Agencies (LDAs), such as Councils for Voluntary Service and Rural Community Councils in promoting and supporting voluntary and community action in local communities in the UK. Based upon the first substantive study of these bodies since the late 1970s the paper evaluates both their work and the extent of their support to local communities. It then maps this work against the roles delineated for LDAs in the Wolfenden Report, in 1978, and suggests a reformulation of their roles for the new millennium. It concludes by considering the import of these ‘reformulated’ LDAs for the community governance initiative of the present Labour government.     

Good to share? The pecuniary implications of moving to shared service production for local government services

Shared services are often lauded as an efficacious means of reducing municipal expenditure and thereby improving waning financial sustainability. However, most of the extant theoretical and empirical work only considers costs and benefits at the level of the specific service in question and, hence, fails to capture many of the wider benefits and costs that might accrue to local governments. In this article we first build a schema to illustrate the benefits and costs of moving from separate to collaborative production at the level of individual local authorities. We then test two hypotheses drawn from the schema against a five‐year panel of expenditure data. We find evidence of increased expenditure in the order of 8 per cent that prima facie runs counter to the objectives of many municipal managers engaged with shared services. We conclude by considering the implications of our findings for cooperative ventures between local authorities.