scholarly journals Economic Transitions in South Africa’s Secondary Cities: Governing Mine Closures

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 381-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lochner Marais ◽  
Verna Nel ◽  
Kholisa Rani ◽  
Deidré Van Rooyen ◽  
Kentse Sesele ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Institutional Economics ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Economic Transition ◽  
Intergovernmental Relations ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Economic Change ◽  
Path Dependent ◽  
Economic Transitions

Many South African secondary cities depend on a single economic sector, often mining or manufacturing. This makes them vulnerable to economic change and national decision-making. We describe change in three secondary cities—Emalahleni, Matjhabeng and Newcastle—all at different phases of economic transition due to imminent mine closure. We investigate the way local governance and planning are dealing with the change. We draw on concepts from institutional economics and evolutionary governance theory, material from strategic planning documents, and approximately 50 key informant interviews. We show how difficult it is to steer economic planning during economic transitions, and we demonstrate how both economic change and governance are path-dependent. Path dependency in South Africa’s mining towns has several causes: the colonial influence, which emphasised extraction and neglected beneficiation; the dominance of a single sector; the long-term problems created by mining; and the lack of the skills needed to bring about economic change. The local governments’ continuing reliance on the New Public Management paradigm, which focuses on steering as opposed to building networks, compounds the problem, along with poor governance, inadequate local capacity and inappropriate intergovernmental relations. Of the three towns, only Newcastle has shown signs of taking a new path.

Understanding the impact of mandatory accrual accounting on management practices: interpretation of Japanese local governments’ behavior

2021 ◽  
pp. 002085232198895
Author(s):  
Makoto Kuroki ◽  
Keiko Ishikawa ◽  
Kiyoshi Yamamoto
Keyword(s):  
Internal Control ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Institutional Pressures ◽  
Accrual Accounting ◽  
Logistic Analysis ◽  
The Impact

Accompanying the spread of “new public management” since the 1980s, accrual accounting and results-based management has become a global standard. However, whether accrual accounting results in successful outcomes and which drivers lead to the intended impacts of the reform have been contested. Given the mixed arguments in the literature, we set out two research questions: (1) “Have public sector organizations realized any positive impacts on management practices by adopting mandatory accrual accounting?”; and (2) “What are the primary drivers of such impacts?” To answer these questions, we examine the impact on management practices by analyzing a survey to ascertain how financial department officers in Japanese local governments perceive the benefits of adopting mandatory accrual accounting on management practices. The results indicate that they have so far not recognized the intended benefits, though they had expected higher benefits in internal control. Then, we use technical-rational, socio-political, and institutional isomorphic perspectives in a comprehensive approach to understand the impacts on management practices. The logistic analysis shows that financial managers in local governments that do not have a majority party in the assembly, but consist of several parties in power, as well as in those with greater financial dependence on the central government, perceive higher benefits. Further, we find that financial managers that imitate other local governments as a form of mimetic pressure perceive fewer benefits. The results show that some technical-rational tools, socio-political conditions, and institutional pressures change the perceived benefits for public managers of adopting mandatory accrual accounting. Points for practitioners We find that some technical-rational, socio-political, and institutional factors explain the intended internal benefits of the mandatory adoption of accrual accounting. In practice, financial managers in local government feel the merits of accrual accounting in less autonomy in not only politics, but also finance, and few mimetic conditions. It might be understood that difficult situations would drive practitioners to use mandatory information.

scholarly journals Quo vadis? The local government in Turkey after public management reforms

2018 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evrim Tan
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Public Services ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
Decentralized System ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness ◽  
Quo Vadis

In the 2000s, Turkey has reformed its public administration system in line with New Public Management (NPM) principles towards a more decentralized system. Although the initial aim of the reform process is set to achieve a decentralized and more efficient public management system, the empirical data and official statistics cast doubt on whether this outcome will ever be achieved. Analyzing local government legislation, the discretion of central government in local governance, and the changes in the status of local government in public governance, the article presents the evolution of the local government system in Turkey during the Justice and Development Party government. Points for practitioners The public management reform experience of Turkey resembles the NPM reform patterns in countries with Napoleonic state tradition. Similar to these countries, the emphasis on managerial practices over participatory elements has been prevalent in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of public services. Yet, the findings in the Turkish case challenge the proposition that managerial reforms alone, without improving local democratic governance, can enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of public services.

scholarly journals Put your money where your mouth is - participatory budgeting in Romanian cities

2020 ◽  
Vol 338 ◽  
pp. 303-312
Author(s):  
Nicolae Urs
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Participatory Budgeting ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
Digital Era ◽  
New Public ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
The Government

Almost 40 years ago, New Public Management theorists reserved an increasingly important role for citizens and civil society in the policy making process. This trend continued afterwards with proponents of Digital Era Governance or New Public Service theories. But without the opportunity of taking decisions on how to spend at least some parts of the government money, the influence of citizens and NGOs is fairly limited. Local governments, as the institutions closer to the needs and wishes of the communities, have gradually taken note of the increasing clamor for more power and transparency. Participatory budgeting processes have sprung up all over the world in the last years. Romania is no exception; a number of cities have implemented platforms that allow their citizens to propose and vote on projects to improve the quality of life in their communities. Our research will try to ascertain the level of success such initiatives have in Romania, a country with a generally low level of civic engagement. For this, we will use questionnaires and interviews with public servants in charge of these platforms.

scholarly journals Determinants of Online Local Budget Transparency in Croatia and Slovenia

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-188
Author(s):  
Katarina Ott ◽  
Mihaela Bronić ◽  
Branko Stanić ◽  
Maja Klun ◽  
Jože Benčina
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Budget Process ◽  
Public Governance ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Socio Economic Variables ◽  
Local Budget ◽  
To Come

As a part of the public governance, transparency started to come forward during the New Public Management reforms, mostly for the evaluation of public sector efficiency. This article focuses on online local budget transparency (OLBT) in two neighbouring countries – Croatia and Slovenia. The article is pioneering in a comparative study of the determinants of budget transparency in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, based on a unique database and measure of transparency. The article tests the determinants of OLBT that reflect the accountability of local authorities and a cornerstone for public participation in the budget process. The following methodology was applied: using a data set of 768 Slovenian and Croatian local governments over the 2015–2017 period and testing it against several financial and socio-economic variables, and a random effects panel logistic regression, separately for Croatia, Slovenia, and a pooled sample. The results indicate that greater size of the population, higher administrative capacity and lower unemployment rate in individual local governments significantly contribute to higher levels of OLBT. This study demonstrates the possibility of developing a standardised measure of local budget transparency and using it to investigate the reasons for different levels of transparency in the two – and potentially other – CEE countries. The results of this and similar studies can serve as a basis for establishing cohesive local budget transparency policies for different countries and creating a combination of policy instruments to enhance transparency.

scholarly journals Customer-Oriented Public Service in Township Administration: Enabling Quick Response

2010 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 343-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui-Fun Yu ◽  
Kuo-Yan Wang ◽  
Chun-Ying Shen
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Quick Response ◽  
Lighting System ◽  
Street Lighting ◽  
Office Management ◽  
New Public ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Questionnaire Surveys

The quality reliability and maintenance of a street lighting system are highly related to society, which reflect the administrative performance of a local government. However, the existing published studies seldom discuss the specific civil customer-oriented street lighting system, which is the key factor of both the local administration performance indicators and resident’s satisfaction. This study proposes a management conclusion based on an empirical electronic street lighting system (ESLS) and the 280 resident questionnaire surveys in Taiwan. The implication of the existing perspective on management concept is that electronic governance (e-governance) systems emerging in Eastern Europe are going to meet the needs of local governments in terms of the experience level of townships that practice e-governance in Taiwan. KEYWORDS: • electronic governance • e-governance • quick response • township office management • new public management • NPM

It’s the Mix That Matters

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. W. Rhodes
Keyword(s):  
Public Management ◽  
Institutional Economics ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Game Playing ◽  
Power Dependence ◽  
Institutional Complexity ◽  
New Public ◽  
Self Organizing

After explaining the idea of the differentiated polity, the chapter discusses the characteristics of governance with examples; institutional complexity, power-dependence, game playing, self-organizing, and steering. It argues that the shift to governance requires the new language of diplomacy, not marketization. Governments must choose between markets and networks and bureaucracy. It is the mix that matters. Networks are pervasive. Government is picking up the skills of indirect management, but slowly. This chapter aims to hasten that process by providing a language for exploring and managing the mix of governing structures in the differentiated polity. The new public management, whether in the guise of managerialism or institutional economics, is no longer the challenge confronting government. The challenge is diplomacy in governance. The Afterword expands on the ideas of governing structures, unintended consequences, and metagovernance.

Mastering Electronic Government in the Digital Age

2018 ◽  
pp. 3591-3601
Author(s):  
Kijpokin Kasemsap
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Performance ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
Information And Communications Technology ◽  
Electronic Government ◽  
Digital Era ◽  
New Public ◽  
Strategic Goals

This article reveals the overview of electronic government (e-government); the adoption of e-government; the digital era governance (DEG) and new public management (NPM); and the significance of e-government in the digital age. E-government is the use of information and communications technology (ICT) to improve the activities of public sector organizations. E-government can open new opportunities for city and local governments to engage in governance by requiring the reforms of underlying working processes. E-government can advance the local democracy by improving the access to information and deepening the citizens' participation in the policy-making process. E-government offers a path to sustain with the civil society and the private sector to design effective services and tools to execute policies. The article argues that mastering e-government has the potential to enhance organizational performance and achieve strategic goals in the digital age.

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