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Analyzes relations between political party systems and local communities in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and other nations. This book addresses an almost completely neglected branch of community politics: the comparative analysis of local political systems. Accordingly, Local Parties in Political and Organizational Perspective opens new views to a variety of relations between political systems and local communities in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Italy, Germany, and other nations. The authors unite specific national case studies with an original theoretical framework, resulting in an anthology with uncommon coherency. Theoretical generalizations are ...
This book focuses on local state-society relations, understood as institutionalised relations between local municipalities across Europe and individual, collective or corporate societal actors. It presents a typology of local state-society relations, and applies this to characterise the most relevant institutionalised relations between local government and societal actors at the municipal level in 22 European countries. The comparative volume will clarify whether or not patterns can be detected in the makeup of different types of networks; whether or not these patterns are country-specific or policy-specific; and why cases exist which are so distinct that they are not subsumable under a certain pattern. Taken together, this book will go beyond national typologies to emphasise the role of agency and innovation in particular policy sectors, providing a major contribution in the study of the local governance of Europe. It will appeal to scholars and students of local governance, public administration, urban planning and European studies.
This book compares local self-government in Europe. It examines local institutional structures, autonomy, and capacities in six selected countries - France, Italy, Sweden, Hungary, Poland, and the United Kingdom - each of which represents a typical model of European local government. Within Europe, an overall trend towards more local government capacities and autonomy can be identified, but there are also some counter tendencies to this trend and major differences regarding local politico-administrative settings, functional responsibilities, and resources. The book demonstrates that a certain degree of local financial autonomy and fiscal discretion is necessary for effective service provisio...
Although the relationship between elected officials and appointed executives has often been viewed as a struggle between master and servant-with disagreements as to which group occupies which rol-the authors reveal more interdependence and shared influence than conflict over control.
In most municipalities across Canada, the top public servant is the chief administrative officer (CAO) or city manager. Compared to elected politicians such as the mayor and the council, the work of a CAO is often overlooked and not well understood. InLeaders in the Shadows, David Siegel brings the CAO into the limelight, examining the leadership qualities of effective municipal managers. Using the examples of five exceptional CAOs who have worked in municipalities of varying sizes across Canada, Siegel identifies the leadership traits, skills, and behaviours which have made them successful. Interweaving the stories of his subjects with insights drawn from leadership theory, Siegel offers an engrossing account of how CAOs must lead up, down, and out in order to succeed. Offering well-rounded accounts of the challenges and opportunities faced by public servants at the municipal level,Leaders in the Shadows is a valuable resource for academics and practitioners alike.
Multinational federations rest on the coexistence of two or more nations within a single polity. Within these federations, minority nations play a significant role as their character differs from the other building blocks of the federation. This edited volume offers a comprehensive comparison of two such minority nations - Quebec in Canada and Wallonia in Belgium - which exemplifies many dimensions, themes and issues highly resonant to the study of federalism and regionalism across the globe. Quebec and Wallonia have experienced several decades of federal dynamics where both regions have had to find their way as a minority nation in a multinational federation. For those studying federalism a...
Councillors are the essence of local representative democracy, linking ordinary citizens and decision-makers in municipal arenas. In cross-national perspective, and taking in countries from across Europe, this book analyses the recruitment patterns, career, party associations, role perceptions, and attitudes to democracy, representation, and participation of local councillors. Matters such as gender, parties, institutions, municipal reform, functions in governance networks, and councillor influence are considered using data collected in an international survey, covering some 12,000 members of the local political elite. Drawing on diverse and eclectic literature, the contributions in this volume comprise a comprehensive and revealing analysis of modern councillors.
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