This is a historical cartographic analysis of Indian and Euro-American relations in the United States. We explore the threefold roles of government, academic, and tribal mapping, and bring them together with some findings. As can be seen, government and academia have shared cartographic data; both have learned from the tribes, and in turn, the tribes have learned from the others, not always to their well-being. All of these issues are involved in the affairs of Indians in our country and are discussed to analyze the ongoing spatial activities across the dynamic landscape of Native America.
The mutual working relationship between and amongst the federal, state and local councils in Nigeria, just like those of advanced democracies is germane to this study. The paper is an empirical theoretical expositions of the chequered relationship that has existed between the three tiers of government in Nigeria since political independence in 1960 to date. The position of this paper is that the place of local councils as enshrined in the 1999 constitution (as amended) is practically honored in the breach than in strict observance. Hence, local councils in Nigeria have been highly politicize by the powers that be, and the true position of the constitution on the status of the councils are greatly in doubt. Of particular importance in this paper is the dynamics of federal, state and local council relations in the erstwhile Obasanjo administration and the kind of contradictions the administration posed in the corporate affairs of state. The paper concludes that greater autonomy, consensus building, adequate constitutional obligations should be granted to local councils to enhance overall best practices as well as grassroot transformation and sustainable development.
In recent decades, many countries have experienced decentralization and neoliberal processes. The literature usually refers to decentralization as an outcome of growing neoliberalism, but are these two processes analytically connected? This study answers the question by examining the relationship between central and local government in Israel in the context of housing policy. It focuses on a housing policy called Heskem Gag ("umbrella agreement"), an agreement between the government and local authorities to rapidly increase the supply of housing units. Whereas Heskem Gag might seem an act of decentralization, in-depth analysis paints a mixed picture: although some terms of the agreement promote fiscal and administrative autonomy, others curb it and have a strong centralizing effect. The study discusses the possibility of a hybrid model of neoliberal centralism, and its problematic ramifications for the interests of local residents, especially the disadvantaged. Although the findings are based on the Israeli case, they are relevant to many countries with a neoliberal economy that have undergone decentralization in recent decades, especially at times of national crises.
Purpose In this study, the authors explain citizens' adoption of social media in citizen–government relations in China, a country that blends an authoritarian governance regime with limited tolerance of and responsiveness to online citizen participation.
Design/methodology/approach Original survey data were gathered using a vignette survey among 307 respondents living in the People's Republic of China. Multivariate analysis of the data was used to test four hypotheses and identify antecedents of Chinese citizens' social media adoption for "thin" participation purposes.
Findings Citizens' perceived impact of "thin" participation, citizens' skills and capabilities and citizens' trust in institutions are significantly associated with citizens' social media adoption. Social media anxiety was found not to be associated with Chinese citizens' social media adoption.
Research limitations/implications This study demonstrates how vignettes can be used to study adoption of technological and institutional innovations in an authoritarian governance regime and how in this context existing adoption theories can be extended with notions of institutional trust to adequately explain citizens' adoption of technological and institutional innovations in citizen–government relations.
Social implications Although some argue that social media activity could potentially mitigate democratic deficits caused by the state, in the case of China, the intertwinement of state and social media platform renders this argument unsustainable.
Originality/value This study is one of the few systematic survey studies focusing on Chinese citizens' adoption of social media in citizen–government relations.
In: World development: the multi-disciplinary international journal devoted to the study and promotion of world development, Band 35, Heft 11, S. 1889-1903
The problems of rent seeking and state captured by business associations have been prominent among the concerns of economic development theory. This paper argues that firms and the state can make possible the building of new institutions that foster improvements in economic performance through arrangements that emphasize goal setting, problem solving, and continual evaluation of progress toward defined goals. The paper reviews key ideas on the learning-centered approach and builds on them to analyze the kinds of government–business relations that contribute to economic development. It uses case study material based on Chile's agro-industry business association FEPACH. It illustrates how innovative state policy coupled with private firms' efforts led to the discovery of group-based coordination that fostered rapid diffusion of new technology and production organization among Chilean enterprises. This work discusses the institutional reshaping of the business association and business–state relations to encourage learning and advance a process of development.
