Suchergebnisse

This paper provides a qualitative analysis that highlights the implications on agricultural services of a key stage in decentralisation reforms in Ghana. We assess the status of agricultural expenditure decentralisation and draw out the likely implications for agricultural service delivery and national strategies. The study finds that agricultural officers at all levels (national, regional and district) had concerns about the implementation of the new decentralisation reform. These included budget cuts and delays in releases that coincided with the reform period; the transfer of staff from the civil service to the local government service; and a sense that agriculture may receive less attention when allocation of government resources becomes the preserve of assemblies and district chief executives, rather than the central agricultural ministry. The structural changes also meant that agricultural local government staff now needed to learn to 'market' the value of their public services to local government leadership, in order to protect resources for agriculture. The decentralisation reform also necessitated new public expenditure reporting practices to ensure a clear overview of sectoral spending across government tiers.

This practice note reviews some of the recurring themes of local government reform in Australia over the past decade. In doing so it updates previous findings of the Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government (2011) and Gooding (2013). Six themes are explored: structural reform and regional cooperation; principles-based local government acts; roles and responsibilities of elected officials; revenue controls; financial and performance auditing; and integrity and accountability.

This paper is a shortened version of a 'think-piece' prepared as a contribution to the dialogue at the 2018 Kigali meeting of the Commonwealth Sustainable Cities Network. Its purpose is to highlight both challenges and emerging practices in mobilising local governments, and other stakeholders, including those in other spheres of government and the private sector, towards advancing the scale and scope of local economic development outcomes around critical dimensions of inclusion. The paper is not intended to be an exhaustive report covering all the aspects of contemporary local economic development approaches, but rather to offer selective insights that might contribute to deepening relevant policy and implementation processes in an increasingly urban world.

The insider account of 'How to Steal a City' undoubtedly is one of the few books that offers a much needed insight into the everyday workings of local government politics and administration in South Africa. This book is underpinned by rich descriptions of local government politics and administration generated through the personal experiences of Crispian Olver. Researchers, scholars, local politicians, municipal officials and practitioners of local government who wish to learn more about South African local government politics should have a good reason to pay close attention to this book.

This paper traces the history of local government in England (as opposed to the United Kingdom) since the early nineteenth century, and explores five long-term trends in its evolution. These are path dependence; the occurrence of major structural change; the phenomenon of policy reversal; the treatment of urban areas; and resistance to regional government. The author concludes that throughout the period under study, policy towards local government has exhibited a 'pendulum effect', with two opposing emphases operating in a sequential, rather than a simultaneous manner.