CURRENT ISSUE
VOLUME 8
Issue 3
SPECIAL ISSUE ON FEDERALISM, LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND POLICY-MAKING
INTRODUCTION: FEDERALISM, LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND POLICY-MAKING
Anna Gamper and Francesco Palermo
September 22, 2011
This special issue examines local government; one of the less explored and yet most relevant aspects of federal studies. The special issue looks at cases that demonstrate how the growing role of local government has a considerable impact on federal systems.
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UNDERSTANDING URBAN GOVERNANCE IN THE CONTEXT OF PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS: A Case Study of Solid-Waste Management in Rayong Municipality, Thailand
Taweesak Kritjaroen
September 22, 2011
Local government practices in Thailand have become more networking or governance-oriented since the promulgation of the Constitution of 1997 and the Decentralization Plan and Process Act of 1999. Several local governments have applied modern concepts of New Public Management (NPM) in order to perform their tasks. Public- Private Partnership is, therefore, regarded as a mode of governance for the sake of successful public service delivery. This article aims to describe and analyze local governance in political economy perspective. The case study of Rayong Municipality is selected to present the factors that drove the emergence of public-private partnership and how local government coalitions cooperate in public service delivery, especially the case of solid-waste management. The waste problem in Rayong Municipality had risen considerably due to the rapid increase in population, a trend that may continue in the future. The causes of the problem are many; lack of proper disposal units, limited budget, personnel and landfill areas. This problem has a negative impact on the quality of life in the municipality and therefore this is best dealt with collectively. The project that has been implemented is the waste recycling scheme, garbage banking in schools and communities. The Waste-to-Fertiliser and Energy project makes the Integrated Waste Management Approach complete with the cooperation from other government agencies and NGOs and the involvement of the private sector as PPP.
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MUNICIPAL DECENTRALISATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA: Preserving a Multi-Ethnic State?
Aisling Lyon
September 22, 2011
Ten years on from signing the Ohrid Framework Agreement, is the Republic of Macedonia’s peace process, of which municipal decentralisation is a primary component, broadly benefitting all communities equally? To what extent is municipal decentralisation and minority protection mechanisms administered at the local level preserving Macedonian society’s multiethnic character, or has the country taken a step closer towards the development of a bi- national state? There were definitely ‘winners’ as a result of the Ohrid Framework Agreement, but were there also ‘losers’, and who are they? The decentralisation process in Macedonia has widely been regarded as a success story by regional and international actors alike. It is frequently considered a suitable model of ethnic conflict management that can be replicated in other regional contexts, such as for Serbs living in neighbouring Kosovo. Decentralisation sought to offer limited autonomy to Macedonia’s ethnic communities, in particular the ethnic Albanians. By increasing the number of competencies administered at the municipal level, the reforms aimed to provide local, culturally diverse communities greater control over the management of their own affairs. This paper seeks to apprise the minority rights protection mechanisms contained in the 2001 Ohrid Framework Agreement, particularly those at the municipal level, along with implementation of the wider of decentralisation reforms. The paper will also consider the claim that the protection mechanisms envisaged in Ohrid and the process of decentralisation to date has not benefitted all Macedonia’s ethnic communities equally. Instead, it has reinforced steps towards bi-nationalism at the expense of genuine multiculturalism.
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Financing Local Government in Ukraine
Mariia Sydorovych
September 22, 2011
This paper provides the comparison of the Ukrainian system of intergovernmental relations and international experience of developed and developing countries in the context of revenue sharing within current decentralisation trends. The paper analyses the role of income taxes (and personal income tax in particular) within the economic and legal framework and emphasises their importance in funding needs of local governments. Statistic and comparative analyses are employed for this aim. A set of directions for further reform is proposed, aiming at providing local governments with tools and levers to generate sufficient financial resources for efficient provision of essential local services.
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PARTICIPATORY DEVELOPMENT APPROACH IN LOCAL GOVERNANCE – ITS RELEVANCE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: A Case Study of Sri Lanka
Sisira Saddhamangala Withanachchi
September 22, 2011
This research paper seeks to examine to what extent local governance is effective in alleviating the vicious circle of poverty. Furthermore, traditional social relationships in Sri Lankan society are relatively and critically discussed in the notion of social capital. In Sri Lanka, local government institutions, administrative divisional secretaries, the Gramaseva division, civil society and the business community are the entities of local governance at the grass roots governance level that directly involve participation of the general public. The article studies the effect of Local Governance on poverty alleviation and observes people’s direct involvement in relation to their socio – economic development in the local governance political body. The Kasiwattapura at Polhena Gramaseva Division in the Matara Municipal Council is selected to study this theoretical component.
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Issue 1
Changing the Constitution: How nationalist parties in regional government are bringing change to the UK constitution
Malcolm Harvey
June 20, 2011
This paper will examine the dynamics of devolution in the United Kingdom since the 2007 elections to the Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales which resulted in the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru entering government for the first time in their history. It will analyse the impact that their participation in governance at this level has had upon their stated goals of constitutional change. In particular it will examine the methods employed by these parties in order to advance these constitutional goals – specifically the role of consultation and referendum in creating the pressure for change. It will argue that both have been key drivers for constitutional change and have created what has become a critical mass regarding the constitutional debate in the UK.
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BOOK REVIEW: Staat als Prozess - Eine staatstheoretische Skizze in sieben Aufzügen
Dominic Heinz
March 16, 2011
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Issue 2
SPECIAL ISSUE ON FEDERALISM, RECONCILIATION, AND POWER-SHARING IN POST-CONFLICT SOCIETIES
INTRODUCTION: Federalism, Reconciliation, and Power-Sharing in Post-Conflict Societies
Neophytos Loizides, Iosif Kovras and Kathleen Ireton
May 4, 2011
This special issue examines the interplay between reconciliation in post- conflict societies and alternative mechanisms of political accommodation. In our introductory article, we define and explore the central concepts used in post-conflict studies while investigating the potential linkages between reconciliation and federal or power-sharing arrangements. We argue that addressing issues of justice, reconciliation and amnesty in the aftermath of conflict frequently facilitates cooperation in establishing successful institutional mechanisms at the political level. We also examine the degree to which reconciliation at the grassroots level should be seen as a prerequisite of consolidating power-sharing arrangements among elites particularly in the form of federal agreements. Finally, we discuss the individual contributions to the special issue and highlight the importance of incorporating insights from the literature of transitional justice and post-conflict reconciliation to the study and practice of federalism.
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Consolidated Democracies and the Past: Transitional Justice in Spain and Canada
Ian Dunbar
May 4, 2011
The majority of scholarly consideration on the principles of transitional justice has focused upon how emerging democracies should deal with former regimes immediately following violent conflict. However, consolidated democracies have also begun to turn to transitional justice mechanisms in order to address historical legacies of violence and repression. This article examines Spain and Canada, two countries dealing with seemingly disparate issues: the legacy of the Civil War and Franco’s repressive regime, and the abuses of the Indian Residential Schools system, respectively. However, both nations have been forced to respond to similar questions regarding the merits of revisiting a painful past well after democratic consolidation. The article first discusses the proliferation of transitional justice principles into consolidated democracies, and considers the argument that such processes may destabilize and divide society, particularly by exacerbating federalist divisions. It concludes that despite the unique challenges of employing transitional justice so long after a transition, the Spanish and Canadian cases reveal the inevitability of confronting the past in response to charges of hypocrisy and illegitimacy. Consolidated democracies, embedded with principles of public contention and debate, are well-suited to respond to these challenges while maintaining political and societal cohesion.
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Federalism and the 'One-Person One-Vote Principle': Political Accomodation in Cyprus and the Annan Plan
Gavin Moore
May 4, 2011
The ‘one-person one-vote principle’ (OPOV) seems to be an intuitively appealing principle, one that is procedurally fair by ensuring equality in votes for all and contributes to the proper functioning of democratic states. Although commonly cited as a cornerstone of democracy, this article argues that OPOV can be a dangerous principle in societies divided by group conflict. Minorities face permanent exclusion, and thus cannot protect their own interests, leading to resentment and destabilization. Moreover, deviation from OPOV is not uncommon in political accommodation, especially in federal arrangements. Opponents of deviation argue that it is both undemocratic and dysfunctional having potentially damaging implications for reconciliation. This article examines these claims in the case of Cyprus under the federal arrangements of the Annan plan. After discussing federalism and Cypriot politics, the article analyses philosophical and international positions on deviation from OPOV in order to assess whether deviation can be considered undemocratic, arguing that whilst not always procedurally fair or equal, deviation should be considered democratic if it encourages the effective participation of minorities. The article then examines the provisions within the Annan Plan to argue that its deviations from the OPOV principle do not hinder its functionality. The article concludes by arguing federalism and deviation from OPOV encourage political accommodation and offer the best chance of reconciliation between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.
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Russian Federalism and Tatarstan's Ethnic Peace
Christopher Barker
May 4, 2011
This article focuses on cooperation between Muslims and Christians in Tatarstan and illustrates how federal arrangements operate to diffuse ethnopolitical crises. Management of ethnic and national conflicts has importance within Russia and its immediate neighbourhood as well as globally. Using news reports, secondary sources, and interviews from fieldwork in Russia, the article identifies ways in which the two communities are working together to ensure stability and peace in the region. It examines the religious aspects of cooperation, as well as economic and political dimensions of cooperation. The article identifies lessons for the rest of Russia, particularly Chechnya as well as the central Asian states formerly part of the Soviet Union. Even though federalism has got negative publicity in former communist countries, particularly following the collapse of communism, the case of Tatarstan suggests ways through which federal institutions enable cooperation between Russians and Tatars. In addition, the article considers recent pitfalls the two sides have had to overcome and broader implications for federalism and reconciliation studies in general.
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Partition and Conflict Transformation in India-Pakistan and Cyprus
Akisato Suzuki
May 4, 2011
This article argues that partition – a peacebuilding approach in a post-conflict society – can lead to the transformation of intrastate conflict to interstate conflict, thereby providing a helpful insight for further comparison of partition with multi-ethnic settlements such as federalism/powersharing and reconciliation. While advocates of partition maintain that intrastate conflict caused by a security dilemma between ethnic groups can be settled only by partition, this article argues that partition could cause the transformation of conflict rather than settling it. The cases of India-Pakistan and Cyprus provide the empirical evidence. The partition of India and Pakistan transformed intrastate conflict within India into interstate conflict between India and Pakistan including nuclear competition. The partition of Cyprus contributed to interstate conflict between Greece and Turkey. Therefore, this article concludes that the transformation of conflict reduces the value of partition, and that it is necessary to take this point into consideration when partition is compared with alternatives such as federalism/powersharing and reconciliation.
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Somalia and Somaliland: The Two Edged Sword of International Intervention
David Kenning
May 4, 2011
Since the collapse of the state in Somalia in 1991 the country has been the recipient of numerous international interventions and operations but has not as yet reached a sustainable peaceful settlement, despite at one point costing the UN almost two billion dollars a year in its operations. In contrast Somaliland, the area that seceded in the north, despite not being recognised by international governments and having been on the brink of several civil wars, has reached a level of political reconciliation and economic growth that compares favourably to the rest of Somalia. This article argues that the international actors’ misinterpretation of Somali social and political organisation during intervention, Somaliland’s ability to engage in a form of democracy that is based on traditional politics and the different experience the area had during colonialism has meant that its society has reached an unlikely level of peace and reconciliation.
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BOOK REVIEW: YAKINTHOU, C. 2009, Political Settlements in Divided Societies: Consociationalism and Cyprus, Palgrave MacMillan, Basingstoke/New York, p.288.
Michalis Simopoulos
May 4, 2011
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BOOK REVIEW: WELLER, M. AND NOBBS, K. (eds.) 2010, Asymmetric Autonomy and the Settlement of Ethnic Conflicts Penn Press, Philadelphia 360 p.
Karl Kössler
May 4, 2011
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