Are there Tensions between Democracy and Efficiency in Local Government? A Conceptual Note on the Structural Reform Debate

Dollery, Brian

doi:10.1080/08111140903552704

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…It allows inhabitants to be closer to their elected offi cials and it enables them to better participate in civic life (Tiebout, 1956;Ostrom, 1972;McDonnell, 2019). Th is feature seems to match with the local democratic model (Dollery, 2010). Nevertheless, vertical fragmentation separates the process of service production from service provision (tiers of the LG).…”

Section: Th Eoretical Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Palestinian Local Government: Issues of Legal and Institutional Frameworks

Qawasmeh¹,

Singaravelloo²,

Ariffin³

2021

PAI

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In the public administration field, the legislative, executive and judicial frameworks should be consistent. The institutional framework of the Palestinian local government, however, seems largely impacted by an incoherent legal framework. Against this backdrop, this study describes the current local government institutional framework. Secondly, this study investigates the current issues relating to the legal and institutional frameworks of the Palestinian local government. A qualitative research approach was adopted to collect data in order to achieve the objectives of the study. The present research utilizes a combination of primary and secondary data. Nine interviews were conducted to gather the primary data, while scholarly works and government documents were used for gathering secondary data. The results show that fully governmental institutions are the most active within the institutional framework while non-governmental institutions are less active. The results also show that the primary obstacle for an efficient legal framework is due to previous laws, overlapping powers and weak legal practices. Furthermore, the institutional framework suffers from deformed structure and weak integration. The discussion section revealed that the current local government system can be best described as a “Chaotic Hybrid System”. When comparing the empirical results with the theoretical concepts, it is indicated that the current local government structure reflects the Public Choice Theory perspective, which advocates for horizontal and vertical fragmentation. However, the Israeli occupation and international funds seem to contribute to complicating the fragmentation of the structure. The structure hence could be described as “Altered Fragmented Structure”.

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Section: Th Eoretical Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Palestinian Local Government: Issues of Legal and Institutional Frameworks

Qawasmeh¹,

Singaravelloo²,

Ariffin³

2021

PAI

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“…In public administration and political science circles, federalism scholar Brown (, , ; Brown and Bellamy ) has proposed on several occasions the idea of regionalism as a new way forward for Australian federation. Debates over contemporary local government amalgamations speak to forms of this logic as well (e.g., Aulich ; Dollery ; Pini ). So recalibrating Australian federation to ecological and scaled‐down regional needs is nothing new.…”

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confidence: 99%

Federalism Dreaming? Re‐imagining the Governance of Australian Landscapes

Althaus

Morrison

2015

Aust J Public Adm

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We propose a re-imagining of Australian federalism in response to the White Paper on Reform of the Australian Federation. We acknowledge the unique nature and existing strengths and challenges confronting the Australian federation. In so doing we argue the value of listening to the history of the land in connection with its people and bringing landscape lessons into federation calculations moving forward. The distinctiveness of our federalism dreaming is distinguished from traditional calls for regionalism or regionalization.

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“…At the local level, some studies found evidence that supported a non-tradeoff, i.e. a positive relation, between local democracy and efficiency (Aulich, 2005;Boyne, 1992;Dollery, 2010). The main purpose of this article is to shed light on the relation between financial performance and the quality of the democratic testing both hypotheses of positive and negative linear relation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Waldo (1948) believes in a negative, linear relation between efficiency and democracy, explained by the impossibility of reconciling two different views of public administration: the first, drawn from a managerial perspective, relies on the primacy of an efficient government through the discretional power of bureaucrats, their expertise and the use of market solutions; the second, closer to political science, is based on the primacy of democracy, legitimacy, and civic engagement. Dollery (2010) and Overeem (2008) claim that this is a recurrent clash portrayed in the literature under different excuses. It has been called as the tension between technical knowledge and peoples' will, discretionary power and legitimacy or a dispute between bureaucracy and civic culture, a trade-off between local voices and diversity, accountability, and political responsiveness, and a primary concern with structural efficiency.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Democracia vs. eficiência: como alcançar equilíbrio em tempo de crise financeira

Rodrigues

2017

Rev. Adm. Pública

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Public Administration is forced to strike a balance between efficiency and democracy in defining its agenda and course of action. One of the characteristics of Public Administration is that all decisions must reflect democratic values, in addition to being efficient. Nevertheless, administrative reform, motivated by financial stress, tends to highlight the importance of financial performance while overlooking the democratic and political aspects of public management. This research seeks to analyze the link and tension between efficiency and democracy in light of the latest global financial crisis. The paper uses a quantitative approach and collects data from Portuguese local governments to test the argument of an inverse linear relationship between financial performance and democratic procedures. Findings confirm Waldo's argument (1948) of an inverse relationship while the evidence gathered shows that the financial crisis increased the negative effect of democratic procedures on financial performance. Keywords: democracy; financial crises; local governments.Democracia vs. eficiência: como alcançar equilíbrio em tempo de crise financeira A administração pública é forçada a encontrar um equilíbrio entre eficiência e democracia na definição da sua agenda e curso de ação. Uma das características da administração pública é que todas as decisões devem refletir valores democráticos, para além de serem eficientes. No entanto, a reforma administrativa, motivada por dificuldades financeiras, tende a destacar a importância do desempenho financeiro, em detrimento dos aspetos democráticos nas políticas de gestão pública. Esta pesquisa visa analisar a relação e tensão entre a eficiência e a democracia à luz da mais recente crise financeira global. O trabalho utiliza uma abordagem quantitativa e recolhe dados de governos locais portugueses para testar o argumento de uma relação linear inversa de desempenho financeiro e procedimentos democráticos. Os resultados confirmam o argumento de uma relação inversa, definida por Waldo (1948). Adicionalmente, os resultados também permitem concluir que a crise financeira evidenciou o efeito negativo dos procedimentos democráticos no desempenho financeiro. Palavras-chave: democracia; crise financeira; governos locais.Democracia vs. eficiencia: como buscar un equilibrio en tiempos de crisis financiera La administración pública se ve obligada, en el decurso de su acción, a encontrar un equilibrio entre la eficiencia y la. Una de las características de la administración pública es que, además de ser eficiente, todas las decisiones deben reflejar los valores democráticos. Sin embargo, la reforma administrativa, motivada por el estrés financiero, tiende a poner de relieve la importancia de los resultados financieros, pasando por alto los aspectos democráticos y políticos de la gestión pública. Esta investigación busca analizar la relación y la tensión entre la eficiencia y la democracia en el decurso de la reciente crisis financiera global. El trabajo utiliza un enfoque cuantitativo y recoge dat...

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Are there Tensions between Democracy and Efficiency in Local Government? A Conceptual Note on the Structural Reform Debate

Cited by 7 publications

References 13 publications

Palestinian Local Government: Issues of Legal and Institutional Frameworks

Palestinian Local Government: Issues of Legal and Institutional Frameworks

Federalism Dreaming? Re‐imagining the Governance of Australian Landscapes

Democracia vs. eficiência: como alcançar equilíbrio em tempo de crise financeira

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