Local Democracy and Local Government

Local Democracy and Local Government
Author: Lawrence Pratchett
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 269
Release: 1996-10-23
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1349250228

The transformation of local governance in the 1980s and 1990s has put the nature and prospects for local democracy in question. Drawing together original research by leading academics commissioned by the Commission for Local Democracy, this book presents in a lively and accessible form the clearest available picture of the problems of participation, representation and accountability besetting local government, their consequences and possible avenues for reform.

Size and Local Democracy

Size and Local Democracy
Author: Bas Denters
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 473
Release: 2014-09-26
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1783478241

How large should local governments be, and what are the implications of changing the scale of local governments for the quality of local democracy? These questions have stood at the centre of debates among scholars and public sector reformers alike fro

Rethinking Local Democracy

Rethinking Local Democracy
Author: Desmond S. King
Publisher: MacMillan Publishing Company
Total Pages: 254
Release: 1996
Genre: Administration locale - Grande-Bretagne
ISBN: 9780333638521

The transformation of British local government into a new and complex system of local governance raises fundamental theoretical questions as well as empirical ones. Rethinking Local Democracy argues that traditional defences of local government are no longer adequate and that the case for local autonomy and local democracy needs to be radically rethought. It brings together a set of specially-commissioned chapters by leading academics designed to stimulate and contribute to debate on these issues.

Decentralization and Local Democracy in the World

Decentralization and Local Democracy in the World
Author: United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG)
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2008-11-04
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0821377353

'Decentralization and Local Democracy in the World' constitutes a global reference on decentralization by presenting the contemporary situation of local governments in all regions of the world. The report analyzes local authorities in each continent under three main themes: the evolution of territorial structures; responsibilities and power, management and finances; and local democracy. An additional chapter is dedicated to the governance of large metropolises, where rapid growth presents major challenges, in particular in the fast-developing countries of the South. This report also offers a comparative overview of the different realities concerning the state of decentralization, and how the basic indispensable mechansims for local democracy do, or do not exist in come countries. Relationships between the state and local authorities are evolving toward innovative forms of cooperation. In this context, the role of local authorities in the development of global policies is increasingly recognized. The first Global Observatory on Local Democracy and Decentralization (GOLD) Report is one of the main products of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG). The GOLD Report is the first of what will be a triennial publication. UCLG represents and defends the interests of local governments on the world stage, regardless of the size of the communities they serve. Headquartered in Barcelona, the organization's stated mission is: To be the united voice and world advocate of democratic local self-government, promoting its values, objectives and interests, through cooperation between local governments, and within the wider international community.

Deepening Local Democracy in Latin America

Deepening Local Democracy in Latin America
Author: Benjamin Goldfrank
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 190
Release: 2015-09-10
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0271074515

The resurgence of the Left in Latin America over the past decade has been so notable that it has been called “the Pink Tide.” In recent years, regimes with leftist leaders have risen to power in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Uruguay, and Venezuela. What does this trend portend for the deepening of democracy in the region? Benjamin Goldfrank has been studying the development of participatory democracy in Latin America for many years, and this book represents the culmination of his empirical investigations in Brazil, Uruguay, and Venezuela. In order to understand why participatory democracy has succeeded better in some countries than in others, he examines the efforts in urban areas that have been undertaken in the cities of Porto Alegre, Montevideo, and Caracas. His findings suggest that success is related, most crucially, to how nationally centralized political authority is and how strongly institutionalized the opposition parties are in the local arenas.

Political Leaders and Changing Local Democracy

Political Leaders and Changing Local Democracy
Author: Hubert Heinelt
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 499
Release: 2017-12-19
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3319674102

This book studies political leadership at the local level, based on data from a survey of the mayors of cities of more than 10,000 inhabitants in 29 European countries carried out between 2014 and 2016. The book compares these results with those of a similar survey conducted ten years ago. From this comparative perspective, the book examines how to become a mayor in Europe today, the attitudes of these politicians towards administrative and territorial reforms, their notions of democracy, their political priorities, whether or not party politicization plays a role at the municipal level, and how mayors interact with other actors in the local political arena. This study addresses students, academics and practitioners concerned at different levels with the functioning and reforms of the municipal level of local government.

Local Democracy Under Siege

Local Democracy Under Siege
Author: Dorothy Holland
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 317
Release: 2007-02-07
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0814737463

2007 Society for the Anthropology of North America (SANA) Book Award Complete List of Authors:Dorothy Holland, Donald M. Nonini, Catherine Lutz, Lesley Bartlett, Marla Frederick-McGlathery, Thaddeus C. Guldbrandsen, and Enrique G. Murillo, Jr. What is the state of democracy at the turn of the twenty-first century? To answer this question, seven scholars lived for a year in five North Carolina communities. They observed public meetings of all sorts, had informal and formal interviews with people, and listened as people conversed with each other at bus stops and barbershops, soccer games and workplaces. Their collaborative ethnography allows us to understand how diverse members of a community not just the elite think about and experience “politics” in ways that include much more than merely voting. This book illustrates how the social and economic changes of the last three decades have made some new routes to active democratic participation possible while making others more difficult. Local Democracy Under Siege suggests how we can account for the current limitations of U.S. democracy and how remedies can be created that ensure more meaningful participation by a greater range of people. Complete List of Authors (pictured) From Left to Right, bottom row: Enrique Murillo, Jr., Thaddeus Guldbrandsen, Marla Frederick-McGlathery. Top row: Dorothy Holland, Catherine Lutz, Lesley Bartlett, and Don Nonini.

Direct Democracy Practices at the Local Level

Direct Democracy Practices at the Local Level
Author: Premat, Christophe Emmanuel
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 325
Release: 2022-02-18
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1799873064

Direct democracy, or pure democracy, is a concept spreading throughout the world, now adopted by nearly 30 countries on the national level. While the concept is not new, it is important to investigate the current benefits or hinderances of direct democracy related to local governments so that they may be implemented further. Direct Democracy Practices at the Local Level deepens the knowledge of direct democracy in political science. This book explores how local governments utilize these instruments in international governments and analyzes a series of popular initiatives and local referenda to how successful these initiatives are. Covering topics such as religious rights, street committees, and climate change, this book is essential for political science students and professors, policymakers, faculty, local governments, academicians, and researchers in political science with an interest in direct democracy procedures in representative systems.

Local Elections and the Politics of Small-scale Democracy

Local Elections and the Politics of Small-scale Democracy
Author: J. Eric Oliver
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2012-07-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 0691143560

Offers comprehensive analysis of electoral politics in America's municipalities. Arguing that explanations of voting behavior are ill suited for local contests, the author puts forward a theory that the differences between local, state, and national democracies.

Reclaiming Local Democracy

Reclaiming Local Democracy
Author: Ines Newman
Publisher: Policy Press
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2014-05-07
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1447308905

In this book Ines Newman raises new questions about the fundamental principles that should guide local government decision making in an era when austerity measures leave local governments struggling to meet the demands for services. Drawing on a lifetime of experience as a practitioner and academic within local government, she shifts the agenda toward a more ethical view of how local governments can enact policies that improve social justice and local democracy. Newman argues that local governments should provide a voice for those who lack power, and she does so through an energizing call to reengage politics with ethics and an examination of how local governments can develop active citizens, make a difference in the well-being of the disadvantaged, and, in the end, promote real democracy.