建构信任合作的府际关系：总体性治理根基

我国自上而下的政策执行模式导致政府间缺乏理解、信任、对话、互动。多元行政主体受制于科层制窠臼而难以建构合作机制,行政层级的位势差导致了中央及部委、地方政府及地方部门之间信任度较低。总体性治理尊重行政主体的个体独立性,破除信任危机和营造诚信原则方法,建构起多元县市、省市及作为行政主体的政府部门之间平等信任的伙伴关系;对府际关系的历史发展趋向予以引导,在共同的语境下将共识转换成多元主体皆可接受的符号,建构符合发展规律的自生自发秩序;立基于公义建构宪政秩序和法律规则,主动协调多元政府和社团间关系,破除行政层级的束缚,全方位实现政府层面的跨界相互依赖和社团层面的多元共治。     

Paths and Constraints of Subnational Government Mobilization in East-Central Europe

The article studies the impact of enlargement on subnational governments in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. It compares the resources and political constellations of subnational governments and analyses how these variables interact with Europeanization to influence domestic intergovernmental relations, the management of structural funds and the European Union relations of subnational governments. The article argues that stronger regional governments (in Poland and the Czech Republic) have been able to resist attempts to centralize intergovernmental relations. Decentralizing reforms occurred where incumbent governing parties dominated subnational government (Poland). Under ‘vertically divided’ government (Czech Republic), subnational governments sought unmediated access to European Union institutions.     

Inter-Governmental Policy Implementation: State Inducements to Encourage Implementation at the Local Level

This article investigates how State departments can best equip Local government to implement State environmental protection legislation effectively. Research on joint implementation by the then New South Wales Environment Protection Authority and NSW Local government authorities is reviewed to explore inducements and constraints on intergovernmental policy implementation, including the multi-jurisdictional nature of policy.     

The Centre Decides and the Local Pays: Mandates and Politics in Local Government Financial Management in China

Abstract

In China, ‘the centre decides and the local pays’ means the central government decides on policies but requires its local subordinates to provide the financial resources. The politics of this practice implies that local government has to take different strategies to cope with the unfunded mandates with various consequences. As an empirical study framed by Niskanen’s rational choice theory and Dunleavy’s ‘bureau-shaping’ model, this paper examines how the unfunded mandates impact local government behaviour. Its main focus is the question of how the local officials respond, the extent to which they comply or resist and the techniques they use to adapt to these mandates. This paper finds when deciding how to pay the bill for the centre, local officials have to take a number of principles into consideration. They need to stick to the people-orientated principle and to finance money for salaries and operation to the extent that they can; they also have to see if the mandates are strictly implemented or popular among local people.     

Life after judgment: the Nokotyana case re-examined*

The progressive realisation of socio-economic rights as enshrined in South Africa’s Constitution remains a pipe dream for many poor and vulnerable people, 23 years after the collapse of apartheid. In the case of Nokotyana and Others v Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality and Others, the Constitutional Court (CC) decided on the interpretation of the rights of access to basic services such as sanitation and high mast lighting. In this case, community members from Harry Gwala informal settlement near Johannesburg compelled the state, through courts of law, to upgrade the settlement and to provide basic services. Although the CC did not engage with the content of the socio-economic rights claimed by the community, it did eventually order the state to upgrade the settlement within fourteen months of the judgment. This article discusses the extent to which the state complied with the judgement and what kinds of challenges were experienced in implementing the court order. Empirical data was collected through interviews with different actors. The findings highlight the complexities surrounding implementation of the court judgement.     

Learning from Experience? Ottawa as a Cautionary Tale of Reforming Urban Government

This article examines the saga of local government restructuring in Canada's capital city. Specifically, it analyzes the interplay between provincial and local agendas for local government reform over many years, which culminated in provincial legislation and a one-year transition process to establish one municipality for the Ottawa city region. In doing so, the article addresses the extent to which the Ottawa transition demonstrates learning from other major urban restructuring efforts and the extent to which the Ottawa case provides new insights for future local government reform efforts. Key conclusions are that the key motivation for provincially initiated reform—cost saving through simplification of the local government structure in Ottawa—does not fully coincide with local needs and interests. Furthermore, the promise of financial savings has proven difficult to realize as a result of the local politics surrounding existing municipal debt and unresolved human resource management costs. Instead, future benefits from the amalgamation may lie in improved capacity to manage physical development, environmental sustainability, and cultural diversity.     

Choosing channels. Intra-state and extra-state strategies of Belgian subnational authorities in response to the European Semester

Europeanization literature has found that, in general, subnational authorities prefer to target the EU indirectly via member state channels. This article tests whether these findings hold in the non-legislative domain of the European Semester. With respect to the Belgian case, the article concludes that all Belgian subnational authorities indeed primarily use the cooperative intra-state channels as a response to the domestic division of competences and the EU decision-making procedures. It also finds that in addition especially Flanders invests substantially in extra-state strategies towards EU institutions. The article concludes that stronger time constraints, lower compliance pressure and the more politically salient issues of the European Semester trigger the most prosperous and identity prone region to adopt additional extra-state channels on top of the dominant intra-state channels.     

The Australian Government’s “White Paper on Reform of the Federation” and the Future of Australian Local Government

The Abbott Government announced its White Paper review of the Australian Federation on June 28, 2014. Set against this backdrop, discussions of the future of Australian local government may provoke an assumption that its role will be cruelled. However, reflection suggests that such an assumption is misplaced. In particular, when the complexities of regionalism in Australia are considered, the potential role of local government begs revisiting. We argue that local government ought to adopt a forthright position in the current debate, particularly with respect to financial reform.     

Measuring horizontal fiscal imbalance: the case of Italian municipalities

In the literature on fiscal federalism, vertical fiscal imbalance has been widely studied, while the theme of horizontal fiscal imbalance and inequality among local governments, due to differences in their fiscal capacities, has been less explored. This article contributes to fill the gap. A new method to compute fiscal capacities based on regression analysis is proposed, which can overcome some of the drawbacks of traditional methods such as the representative tax system. This new approach is then employed to evaluate the fiscal capacities of Italian municipalities over the period 2002–2010. Finally two global measures of the horizontal fiscal imbalance are used to evaluate the equity implication of a major policy change occurred in 2008 in Italian municipal finance.