Transforming Livelihoods and Assets through Participatory Approaches: The Kudumbashree in Kerala,India

This article explores to what extent decentralized structures can contribute to asset accumulation among disadvantaged groups, and improving livelihood choices. The process of asset accumulation is tied to the wider context of participatory institutions and opportunities within which social actors can transform assets into meaningful livelihood outcomes. Given its level of social development and civil society in the Indian state of Kerala, the Kudumbashree Initiative, an innovative community-based, decentralized participatory structure aims to build meaningful forms of assets at grassroots levels. Such participatory public action, based on social relationships as well as the combined efforts of the state and grassroots community organizations may provide valuable lessons for developing asset accumulation strategies.     

Australian Government Failure and the Green Loans Program

Since the 2007 federal election, the Australian government has implemented numerous new programs, many with dual economic and environmental objectives. A significant number of these initiatives have not only proved unsuccessful, but have also been criticized for their implementation and subsequent management. Using the conceptual prisms offered by the literature on decentralization, augmented by the government failure paradigm, this article considers the aborted Green Loans Program, which commenced in July 2009 with the aim of encouraging water and energy efficiency in existing homes through financial assistance for investment in water and energy-efficient technologies.     

Building the Education Revolution: Another Case of Australian Government Failure?

Since the 2007 federal election, the Australian government has implemented a plethora of new programs, many with dual economic and social objectives. A significant number of these initiatives have not only proved unsuccessful, but have also been criticized for their implementation and subsequent administration. This paper examines the Building Education Revolution Program, which commenced in 2009 with the objective of stimulating employment growth and improving school infrastructure, through the analytical prism of the government failure paradigm as well as the literature on “hollowing out” and decentralization. It is argued that the BER Program represents a “case study” of how governments should not pursue large-scale public expenditure programs.     

La descentralización de los procesos de selección de candidatos en los partidos y su impacto en la nominación de mujeres en los Congresos Estatales de México

The analysis of state democratization includes recent studies of the methods by which political parties are selected, and their possible effect on the political participation of women. Considering the renewal of Mexican federalism, which took place since the dismantling of the presidential regime at the end of the 1990s, this article brings together issues of decentralization and party nomination processes, as well as “selectorate agencies” and the formal institutions that limit them in order to question the effect of the combined presence of these factors on women’s political participation patterns. The article analyzes local election data from twelve states in Mexico, focusing on the period 1998 to 2012. The evidence reveals that in the case of Mexico, decentralization has had no effect on nominations made by a relative majority. Furthermore, it suggests that centralization in decision-making is an important factor in achieving the nomination of more women based on the principle of proportional representation.     

Assessing international aid for local governance in the Western Balkans

This article investigates the impact of international efforts to cultivate effective and authoritative local governing institutions in the Western Balkans, a prime testing ground for democratization aid to post-war states. It explores three hypotheses, each of which argues that a particular approach of international actors toward domestic officials best improves the quality of local governance. The study's gathering of interview and survey data from field-based actors enables it to evaluate local government reforms' impact on domestic communities. This investigation arrives at three findings. First, in the view of Western Balkan peoples, local governance reforms do not produce benefits when they are either imposed or ignored by international authorities. Secondly, reforms produce benefits for local communities when they are designed to meet domestic concerns. More specifically, reforms valued by local communities are designed in ways that respond to domestic, rather than international, concepts of good local governance that emphasize socioeconomic aspects and produce tangible benefits. Well designed reforms also include significant aid targeting local governance that is coupled with the promise of a larger political settlement that is attractive to powerful domestic elites and contingent on clearly articulated local governance reforms. Thirdly, such aid best characterises European Union efforts only in Macedonia.     

LOCAL GOVERNMENT DISCRETION AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN TURKEY

After ratification of the European Charter of Local Self‐Government in 1993, Turkey has witnessed major local government reform efforts in 2000s. The policy objectives of these reforms were granting more political, administrative and fiscal discretion to local governments along the principles of democratic decentralization and strengthening accountability linkages between citizens and local governments. We employ a diagnostic framework to analyse the impact of these reforms. We argue that reforms have achieved limited success in improving decision‐making autonomy and accountability of local governments. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Recent interpretations of ideology

The ‘emergence’ of the ‘market’ as the basis of economic and political decision-making has become a main focus of debate within the social sciences since the late 1970s. Even while those opposing the growing centrality of neo-classical economics and market-oriented political discourses remain a significant academic constituency, within their ranks there has been a growing realization that regulatory mechanisms, and in particular the role of the state, have nevertheless been the subject of extensive changes. Alternative schools of thought have argued in terms of the way in which such mechanisms have been refashioned. Regulation has become, in the words of Regini and Majone, ‘transferred’ and the ‘boundaries’ between regulator and regulated ‘changed’: the regulatory process has been seen to shift at the macro/national level and at the micro/enterprise level. While supporting the general argument that it is the boundaries of regulation which are to be discussed, not its presence, we shall nevertheless argue that these changes are, if anything, more contentious and that a set of ironies emerges which politicize regulation even further.     

中国省级土地利用年度计划管理制度创新研究——以A市为例

土地利用年度计划管理已经成为土地参与宏观调控的重要措施。现阶段土地利用年度计划是统分结合的指令性无偿分配管理模式,该模式存在土地利用计划指标供不应求和土地指标被低效使用甚至闲置的根本性矛盾。针对矛盾形成的原因,本文提出了完善的对策建议,即实现土地利用年度计划从部门计划向政府计划的彻底转变。     

论社会的网络结构

20世纪后期以来的网络技术的发展,推动了人类社会的变革,促使人类社会正在生成一种基础性的网络结构,人类的政治以及社会生活都因这种网络结构的出现而发生了重大变化,因而,对政府以及整个社会治理体系也提出了变革的要求.迄今为止的历史发展都是人类确立边界的运动,在地理的、心理的、领域的、学科的等等人类行为所及的一切方面,都要确立边界,而社会网络结构的出现,则意味着打破一切边界的历史运动起步了.社会网络结构也将改变着人类社会所拥有的空间概念,将会循着历史上曾经发生过的把自然空间转化为社会空间的逻辑,推动着客观空间向主观空间的转化.因而,主观空间中的自由、平等将会彻底地扬弃以往社会空间中的等级及其中心-边缘结构.     

试析改革开放30年行政决策的分散化趋势——以行政分权下的中国政府决策为考察对象

改革开放30年来，为了适应经济体制的发展所进行的政府分权改革，对我国政府决策产生了一定的影响。我国政府纵向分权导致了行政决策权的“下移”，而政府横向分权导致了行政决策权的不同分配。由于政府分权扩大了行政决策主体的范围，形成了行政决策主体的社会化趋势，这种决策的分散化使得政府决策更具有灵活性和高效性。作为决策民主化、科学化的必然选择，行政决策分散化符合现代行政决策的发展要求。