Academic Avenues

“Municipal governance in the Montreal metropolitan region has recently undergone several phases of transformation. The first, in 2001-2002, was characterized by amalgamation and the introduction of a metropolitan governance structure. This was followed, in 2006, by a round of de-amalgamation.

Using annual municipal data on residential tax base and global tax rate covering the period from 1996 to 2011 for all municipalities of the metropolitan area, the impacts of these reforms on fairness are estimated. Our findings show that amalgamation raises equity among municipalities and that de-amalgamation partly reintroduced inequity in the metropolitan area.”

Published in Canadian Journal of Urban Research | J. Meloche | 2018, https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Municipal-Reforms-in-Montreal-and-the-Issue-of-Meloche-Leblanc-Desgagn%C3%A9/2016ca2dc50f5bda38fd3b072f2e2ff15dbd6d43, https://consensus.app/details/findingsshow-amalgamation-raises-equity-among-meloche/e72eabc2c3cc5ad7a2c7ee5077ced0e2/

“The Article concludes that networks inadequately (1) differentiate by city and metroregional type and (2) coordinate resources and strategies. It suggests ways in which they could do so to maximize the number of cities participating in them and the participation level of those cities.”

As the United States and the world become increasingly urbanized, cities are a key site for addressing the problem of climate change. However, urban climate change action is not simply about local officials making decisions within their cities. In major U.S. urban areas, “local” involves multiple layers of government, including county and metro-regional entities. Moreover, many of the cities taking action on climate change also participate in and shape networks of local governments based at state, regional, national, and international levels.

This Article argues that multi-level climate change networks could be more effective by embracing this geography of local action and the pressing need to foster action by suburban cities. Most emissions take place in the suburban areas of metroregions, but these networks generally do not focus on the particular needs of different types of suburban cities. This Article provides a novel analysis of patterns of participation in climate change networks by cities in six major U.S. metropolitan regions — Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, New York, San Francisco, and the Twin Cities — as a basis for proposing practical strategies and areas for future research. It considers what types of cities participate in which networks and where stronger and weaker network interlinkages occur.

Published in International Environmental Law eJournal | H. Osofsky | 2015, https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Rethinking-the-Geography-of-Local-Climate-Action%3A-Osofsky/4b9b5e542f44d0b2b433a53ab76f63c2281cbc9b, https://consensus.app/details/areas-involves-layers-government-including-entities-osofsky/a36fa8509df85145b8e4cbe15852a6e3/

“The article maps local government reform in the six Australian states over the last decade. It identifies an earlier phase of reform that focused primarily on redefining the roles and relationships within local government, especially between state and local governments, principally through the reform of the state local government Acts.

As state reform agendas have shifted more to focus on managerial improvement, significant differences between local government reforms between states have emerged, in focus, process and outcomes. These differences are such that the role of local government itself has been refocused in several states away from the traditional local democracy values that have for so long underpinned this third sphere of government.”

Published in Australian Journal of Public Administration | C. Aulich | 1999, https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/From-Convergence-to-Divergence%3A-Reforming-Local-Aulich/62534b33ba9a854ff1bcd434477d04b361987a97, https://consensus.app/details/these-differences-role-government-refocused-states-away-aulich/20819f8341435369a4fdb8a7530d2839/

“The paper concludes that the well-established rationales for local self-government and local democracy need to be reconsidered by taking into account these new decision-making structures.”

This paper discusses two contemporary trends in local decision-making. Firstly, there seems to be more centralised decision-making today than before in important policy fields such as welfare policy. Secondly, informal governance processes outside formal government structures open up for a substantial influence from non-elected political actors.

The paper asserts that there is a connection between the trends, and argues that the centralisation tendencies in welfare issues might affect and encourage governance processes in other local policy arenas. These policy fields are mainly within the so-called ‘developmental policies’ that often facilitate more networking and partnership activities in ‘grey areas’ between the public, private and civil sectors in collective problem solving. Accordingly, more attention should be given to policy fields where governance networks operate, and the implications for revitalising democratic political participation should be studied.

Published in Lex Localis-journal of Local Self-government | Rolv Lyngstad | 2010, https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Reconsidering-Rationales-for-Local-Self-Government-Lyngstad/8b959d293b406c3961d6fd7964b6a4c47077d149, https://consensus.app/details/paper-concludes-rationales-democracy-need-reconsidered-lyngstad/2ac6a7ef984c56e199bbb9ad8902b003/

“This article examines the inefficacy of the present legal form of local government in the US. This inefficacy manifests itself by providing no solid legal mooring for the power of local government while contributing to regional economic inequalities. In an attempt to address this problem, the author suggests realigning local government to the neighbourhood level while constructing a new tier of government to mitigate the negative economic consequences of such realignment.”

Published in Urban Studies | G. Poindexter | 1996, https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Legal-Empowerment-of-the-Neighbourhood-Poindexter/cb74d6f049ef3ea219effc7086fafa5fe66863b2, https://consensus.app/details/attempt-address-problem-author-suggests-realigning-poindexter/3c633c2736b4507b9a42d58fe4814f36/

“This article revises and extends Leland and Thurmaier’s (2004a, 2004b) City—County Consolidation (C3) model by synthesizing it with Johnson’s (2004) Theory of Local Constitutional Change (LCC) and Hughes and Lee’s (2002) Evolutionary Consolidation Model (ECM). The result, we find, is a more general model of local government consolidation. Our model is applicable to a wider variety of consolidation types and incorporates a full consideration of varied charter development processes. Ultimately, this allows for acknowledgment of the possibility that consolidation attempts may be halted prior to a referendum campaign and that those attempts may reflect either conflicts of interest or consensual efforts at problem-solving.

We focus specifically on Indiana after enactment of the 2006 Government Modernization Act. After enactment of the act, Indiana experienced seven consolidation efforts from 2008 to 2012. Examination of these efforts provides a robust comparative case study of consolidation efforts occurring during a narrow timeframe and under a common institutional context. The study not only illustrates the suitability of our revised and extended model, but it also confirms a number of Leland and Thurmaier’s (2005) findings from their reassessment of the C3 model.”

Charles D. Taylor | 2020, https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/The-Varieties-of-Consolidation-Experience%3A-A-and-of-Taylor-Faulk/8c00955179d173601df15f4cbd6d279c76470383, https://consensus.app/details/result-find-model-government-consolidation-taylor/dc63a9e378955bfbb54c95f4db44fd02/

“Are countries characterized by more decentralized fiscal and spending powers less corrupt? Or is a higher degree of government fragmentation a more effective way to deter corruption? Is there any evidence that these alternative ways to enhance government accountability reinforce each other?

This paper tries to answer these questions by using several indicators of government fragmentation and fiscal decentralization for a panel of 23 countries in the 1995-2007 time interval. Taken separately, while various measures of government fragmentation do not seem to affect corruption in any significant way, fiscal decentralization measured as fiscal and spending autonomy does seem to reduce corruption. This latter effect is reinforced if fiscal decentralization is combined with a high degree of government fragmentation at the local level. The results appear robust to different specifications of the empirical model.”

Nadia Fiorino | 2013, https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Do-fiscal-decentralization-and-government-affect-in-Fiorino-Galli/d6fc4753810c3b7e7c6a1e4f4c77537b0ec7d4dd, https://consensus.app/details/this-effect-reinforced-decentralization-combined-fiorino/203fed597f5a55eaae631b8643b8e7c5/

“The article describes an exploratory multiple case research study and shows that the imposition of Best Value in local government must recognise the complexity and diversity within local government services, rather than adopting an inflexible approach to deployment. There is a need to go beyond generalised performance measures and benchmarks and to attempt to understand the difficulties and complexities of localised conditions.”

The aim of this article is to conduct an exploratory multiple case analysis of local government delivery of Best Value by focusing on Environmental Waste Management Service (EWMS) delivery. EWMS is chosen as a key area of Best Value development and application. The Best Value framework was developed by the UK Government to introduce performance management to local government as part of the ‘Modernising Government’ agenda. There is a need to critically evaluate Best Value so that local government can determine if this is a suitable and sustainable framework for the management of public services and that it can make a contribution to increased public service effectiveness.

Published in Public Administration and Development | R. McAdam | 2004, https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Evaluating-the-best-value-framework-in-UK-local-McAdam-Walker/a93cbe6c1c916abdf8c5d4321e0be233e3152f30, https://consensus.app/details/article-describes-case-research-study-shows-imposition-mcadam/ebf9018c6ea7580db45b2b1d36e6ff9c/

“This paper offers an historical analysis of the principles of local government organization that have been accepted in Britain and the United States. The central thesis is that these principles express an ‘economist’ conception of politics and the state. Local governments have been variously conceived—as business corporations, consumers’ cooperatives, and institutions of the state—but in each case they have been assigned a restricted, essentially instrumental purpose. This purpose is connected to economic welfare, which, it is supposed, requires centralization of government. Thus the prevalent economist conceptions of local government condemn the local polity to a tenuous existence.”

Published in Political Studies | W. Magnusson | 1986, https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Bourgeois-Theories-of-Local-Government-Magnusson/f72145ce40db96c36c7555f318862f1e73e9120c, https://consensus.app/details/thus-economist-conceptions-government-condemn-polity-magnusson/265aa3f2e0705e20b04d1cbd0dfd3d22/

“The recent creation of the new city of Toronto exemplifies the implications of contemporary changes in “urban governmentality.” This article argues that the amalgamation of the old constituent municipalities of Metro Toronto must be understood in the context of broader transformations of liberal regimes of government and the success of advanced liberalism in Europe, North America and Australia. Before examining the changes brought about and resisted in Toronto, it briefly outlines the development of the currently dominant neoliberal form of governmentality.”

Published in Studies in Political Economy | E. Isin | 1998, https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Governing-Toronto-Without-Government%3A-Liberalism-Isin/021a96074d36ebb5420f7cee9be2b01148058e2c, https://consensus.app/details/this-article-argues-constituent-municipalities-metro-isin/1e6ffceb6a545e0a94bc703cb7bafc56/