Explaining municipal governance in Kosovo: local agency,credibility and party patronage

ABSTRACT

What can explain the varied effectiveness of internationally led attempts at statebuilding? This article seeks to answer this question by comparing the contrasting trajectories of governance in two municipalities in Kosovo: Hani i Elezit/Elez Han and Kamenica. In Hani i Elezit, evidence suggests that effective and accountable governance is embedded. However, in Kamenica informal and clientelist practices persist and residents are less satisfied with the municipality’s performance. As the nature and extent of internationally led statebuilding has been similar in both municipalities, explaining variation requires an analytical shift to how local leadership interacts with, receives and ultimately shapes statebuilding processes. The data are based on fieldwork from 2012 to 2015. The article focuses on two critical dimensions of statebuilding: capacity building and social accountability. It argues that the impact of externally led statebuilding strategies depends on the orientation of the political leadership of the municipalities. The article identifies features of the political environment, namely credibility and the organization of political parties, which constrain the kind of public-oriented leadership necessary for effective and accountable governance.     

日本地方治理中的公民社会组织参与模式——以自治会为例

公民社会组织的参与是治理体系的重要构成部分。其中地方治理强调地方分权和地方居民自治背景下的治理体系,地方居民为主体的公民组织是其重要参与者。日本的自治会作为地方社区的基层公民组织,无论从数量上还是分布规模来看都是日本最大的公民组织,是日本地方治理中的重要参与者。同时自治会又具有辅助行政功能的色彩,与市区町村的地方政府保持良好的合作、协调关系是其特色。因此自治会在参与地方治理中表现出了"行政媒介型公民参与模式"的特征。自治会一方面发动地方居民的力量参与地方治理,实现地方居民的主体性参与;另一方面通过参与协助地方政府的行政,和地方政府保持良好的合作关系进而达到影响地方政府的目的。     

Islamist Mobilisation in Secularist Strongholds: Institutional Change and Electoral Performance in Turkey

How do Islamist parties mobilise support and win elections in secularist strongholds? What explains the electoral performance of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey’s most consistently secularist region – western Anatolia? This article explores these questions with a comparative case study of two similar cities in the periphery of ?zmir where the AKP registered significantly different electoral results: Ödemi? and Salihli. It shows that deep institutional transformations of the local party organisations, including leadership turnover, reshuffling of the party cadres, and an explicit attempt by local party leaders to moderate and move to the political centre, were necessary factors for the AKP to succeed in elections where the Islamist constituency is weak.     

The impact of EU multi-level regionalism strategy on Bulgarian local authorities: qualitative comparative analysis among nine border areas

This article suggests a new perspective on the analysis of the EU multi-level regionalism strategy (EUMRS) by emphasizing the important role of local authorities in border areas. The EU, indeed, has been pursuing a multi-level strategy formed by three action layers corresponding to three new regional trasnational spaces: (1) the European Union itself; (2) the strategic macro-regional actions – such as the EU Strategy for the Danube Region; (3) cross-border cooperation. Particularly, the article tries to explain why local officers working for different Bulgarian municipalities perceive the EUMRS in a different way. The perception of the EUMRS represents the internalization and impact of the EUMRS among the interviewed local officers of nine borderland Bulgarian municipalities. The research is grounded on a qualitative comparative analysis to identify and explain the different combinations of causally relevant conditions linked to the specific outcome.     

地方政府间正和博弈的可能性分析及对策

本文试以博弈论为工具,分析了处于“囚徒困境”中的地方政府间关系,提出了地方政府寻求正和博弈解的两条途径：从外部引入中央与社会两参数,形成多维互动,从内部实现制度创新。     

地方政府有效执行中央政策研究

地方政府有效执行政策是中央政府治理国家的关键和地方政府职能的重要体现,也是实现地方社会经济发展的根本保障。     

地方政府控股下的地方银行制度变迁逻辑与风险防范

地方政府投资参股银行机构,既是一种模糊产权形式,也是一种过渡产权形式。允许地方政府的资本进入银行业,本意是体现责、权、利相匹配的原则。然而,这可能导致地方银行机构成为地方政府的"提款机",信贷扩张增大,政府融资平台贷款持续增加,信贷集中度会更高,地区贫富差距会扩大,弱势群体的贷款难问题会加剧等。因此,作为过渡性产权形式,地方政府股权的退出将是一种必然结果,虽然短期内难以实现,但是这是解决这一问题的必然出路,因而必须壮大民营银行产权并使之成为第一行动集团。只有这样,地方政府才可能逐步退出银行的产权控制领域并让民营银行成为间接融资渠道的主体,实现银行产权的更替,最终分散和化解金融风险。     

人口与计生组织网络参与地方应急处置重大突发事件的优势和作用探析

本文从"人的问题"是应急处置重大突发事件过程中的核心问题这一基本命题出发,比较系统地分析了人口与计生组织网络参与地方应急处置重大突发事件的优势和作用,并就如何进一步发挥人口和计生组织网络在参与地方应急处置重大突发事件中的重要作用提出了具体的政策建议。     

天津滨海新区开发开放的立法选项研究

天津滨海新区的开发开放,需要有合法、合理的立法选项工作的推进和保障。推进滨海新区开发开放的立法项目选择,应遵循法制统一与自主创新、权力制约与权利保障、重点突破与整体推进相结合的原则;努力构建等级分明、结构严密、内在协调的地方法立法体系;同时,还需要科学的立法选项机制。     

基于转变经济发展方式视角下的地方政府改革

转变经济发展方式,是当前和今后一个时期我国政府面临的主要任务和重大挑战,关系着能否实现国民经济又好又快的发展.而政府行为和治理方式的转变对转变经济发展方式具有极其重要的作用,地方政府作为国民经济区域增长主体和次级协调主体,不但要高度认识到其重要性和紧迫性,而且要加快自身改革,以推进当地经济发展方式的转变.