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Purpose: The extant literature on populism posits that populists frequently find themselves at odds with the neoliberal economic paradigm, as evidenced by rising debt, a public-investment deficit, and substantial deficit-financed government spending. Populist decision-making is characterised by short-termism and can, therefore, be distinguished from non-populist governance through economic variables. This study introduces an innovative quantitative approach that analyses local-government financial data to classify populist economic behaviour.Design/Methodology/Approach: Adhering to the scholarly consensus that short-termism is a fundamental indication of populism, we operationalise economic populism with five financial variables, scrutinised using cointegration analysis and a probabilistic approach. The selected variables are grounded in the literature on economic populism. The underlying data are publicly available for Czechia—the country examined— and for many other states. We verify the methodology by analysing governing coalitions in major municipalities.Findings: Examination of 6,240 municipalities in post-communist Czechia between 2002 and 2021 reveals indications of economic populism in 6.2 % of cases. Result verification shows that these municipalities are frequently governed by populist parties or varied local initiatives, rather than by established non-populist parties.Academic contribution to the field: This study employs an innovative quantitative assessment of financial indicators, diverging from mainstream populism research, which is usually based on qualitative assessment of sources such as statements, narratives and historical context. Moreover, it emphasises the local level of government in the study of economic populism—a phenomenon typically assessed at the centralgovernment level.Research implications/limitations: The findings suggest that populism may represent a strategic approach for certain local governments, particularly in smaller towns and villages where limited fiscal discipline can impede development. Some identified financial patterns may stem from incompetence or lack of expertise rather than intentional populism. Additionally, many municipalities in the sample are governed by a ‘grey zone’ of local initiatives, complicating result verification. Because the methodology is novel at the local level, there are virtually no comparable studies; consequently, our findings are considered alongside various Central European studies on populism.Originality/Value: This study develops an original quantitative approach applicable at the local-government level to analyse extensive datasets. It enriches discourse on economic populism by examining the phenomenon through the lens of short-termism in financial data. Namen: Literatura o populizmu navaja, da so populisti pogosto v konfliktu z neoliberalno gospodarsko paradigmo, kar se kaže v čedalje večjem dolgu, naložbenem primanjkljaju in znatni javni porabi, ki se financira iz primanjkljaja. Odločitve populistov zaznamuje  kratkoročna usmerjenost. Zato jih lahko od nepopulističnega upravljanja ločimo z gospodarskimispremenljivkami. Pri študiji gre ta inovativen kvantitativni pristop, ki analizira finančne podatke lokalnih oblasti za razvrščanje gospodarskega populističnega vedenja.Zasnova/metodologija/pristop: V skladu z znanstvenim konsenzom, da je kratkoročnost temeljni pokazatelj populizma, operacionaliziramo gospodarski populizem s petimi finančnimi spremenljivkami, ki jih preučujemo s kointegracijsko analizo in verjetnostnim pristopom. Izbrane spremenljivke temeljijo na literaturi o gospodarskem populizmu. Podatki so javno dostopni za Češko republiko, ki je primer proučevane države, terza številne druge države. Metodologijo preverjamo z analizo koalicij, ki vladajo v večjih občinah.Ugotovitve: Analiza 6.240 občin v postkomunistični Češki med letoma 2002 in 2021 razkriva znake gospodarskega populizma v 6,2 odstotka primerov. Preverjanje rezultatov kaže, da te občine pogosto vodijo populistične stranke ali raznolike lokalne iniciative, namesto uveljavljenihnepopulističnih strank.Znanstveni prispevek: Študija uvaja inovativen kvantitativni pristop k ocenjevanju finančnih kazalnikov in se oddaljuje od prevladujočih raziskav populizma, ki večinoma temeljijo na kvalitativnih virih, kot so izjave,narativi in zgodovinski kontekst. Poleg tega v ospredje postavlja lokalno raven upravljanja pri proučevanju gospodarskega populizma. Gre za pojav, ki ga običajno analiziramo na ravni centralne oblasti.Praktične omejitve in implikacije raziskave: Rezultati nakazujejo, da je lahko populizem strateški pristop za nekatere lokalne skupnosti, zlasti v manjših mestih in vaseh, kjer pomanjkanje fiskalne discipline ovira razvoj.Nekateri zaznani finančni vzorci so lahko posledica nesposobnosti ali pomanjkanja strokovnega znanja, ne nujno namernega populizma. Številne občine v vzorcu vodi »siva cona« lokalnih iniciativ, kar otežuje preverjanje rezultatov. Ker je metodologija na lokalni ravni novost, skoraj ni primerljivih študij; zato rezultate primerjamo z različnimi srednjeevropskimi raziskavami o populizmu.Izvirnost/vrednost: Raziskava razvije izviren kvantitativni pristop, ki ga je mogoče uporabiti na ravni lokalne samouprave za analizo obsežnih podatkovnihnizov. Bogati razpravo o gospodarskem populizmu, saj pojav preučuje skozi prizmo kratkoročnosti v finančnih podatkih.

Purpose: Over the past decades, public administration scholars and practitioners around the world have experimented with various administrative reforms to design governance models suitable to fulfil the tasks of public administration. Amidst this ongoing debate, (at least) three different and competing governance models can be distinguished: New Public Management, New Public Governance, and the (Neo-)Weberian model. Despite each of these models claiming universal legitimacy, specific administrative branches in different administrative systems operate in unique contexts and handle varying tasks. The article delves into the question of whether and to what extent different branches of public administration within the same administrative system adopt global public administration ideas in a similar fashion.Design/Methodology/Approach: The article employs a comparative design to analyse the adoption of global public administration concepts across different administrative branches. Given their shared rigid Weberian tradition but divergent tasks and context, the study uses the German financial and social administrations as examples. The findings are derived from a survey of local agencies.Findings: The study reveals a persistent influence of strong Weberian traditions on the structural and operational makeup of both branches, indicating a significant path dependency in governance understanding. The characteristics of New Public Management and New Public Governance are comparatively more prominent in social than in financial administration, which can be attributed to differences in tasks and relations, especially with political actors.Academic contribution to the field: In addition to supplementing existing detailed analyses of the (non-)success of specific public administration reforms, the study takes a comprehensive view of the long-term development of public administration structure and perception, spanning multiple reforms. While acknowledging the formative influence of administrative tradition on the entire public administration system, the focus is on the nuanced effects of administrative traditions on diverse organisations, encouraging future comparative research.Originality/Significance/Value: In addition to the contribution to the field, our comparative methodology and empirical study makeup show the advantages of concentrating on a minimal number of paradigms that can be delineated as clearly as possible, instead of operationalising public administration reforms with a multitude of (potentially country-specific) indicators. With this approach, we lay the groundwork for the extension of the comparative design to other countries and administrative systems.  

The African Union (AU) adopted the African Charter on the Values and Principles of Decentralisation, Local Governance and Local Development (African Charter on Decentralisation) in 2014. The Charter seeks to promote decentralisation as a vehicle for improving the livelihood of people on the African continent. It is the first to provide a decentralisation framework or model framework for local government for the African continent. Like most international instruments, member states of the AU will only be legally bound by the Charter once they have ratified it. Most Member States of the AU have not ratified the Charter due to varying reasons, including, the fact that the ratification process in many countries is often cumbersome. Non-ratification could also be due to the fact that there is not yet a clear understanding of the meaning and significance of the decentralisation framework which the Charter provides. Thus, the actual impact of the Charter on changing the poor state of local government on the African continent upon coming into operation is as yet unknown. This problem is inflated by the fact that there is present no scholarly commentary on the Charter, given that it is relatively new. This article provides a critical analysis of the Charter, looking at its strengths and weakness, against the background of the international literature on decentralisation and ‘best’ practices on local government.

The suburbs of Tokyo Metropolis are experiencing path-dependent, multifaceted shrinkage in socio-demographic, economic, and political and administrative (including fiscal) dimensions. The following two contradictory processes taking place in the opposite direction are at work, namely: the political and administrative decentralization of authority and responsibility (although without much fiscal devolution), and the socio-demographic, economic, and fiscal recentralization of workplaces, residences, and municipal finance. As Tokyo’s suburbs confront these contradictory processes of decentralization and recentralization, they fall into the gap between, on the one hand, policies that prioritize the internationally competitive metropolitan center by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and, on the other hand, policies that address the growing problems of lagging provinces by the Government of Japan. These phenomena are affecting radical, but barely visible, changes in public affairs of municipal governments on the lowest tier. We thus examine the emerging modalities of intra- and inter-municipal affairs in Tokyo’s shrinking post-suburbs. First, we explore the intra-municipal upheavals, incorporating instabilities and disarrays, of ideas and practices inside a municipal government. Next, we investigate the inter-municipal upheavals that involve oscillations between unification and fragmentation among municipal governments. These interrelated intra- and inter-municipal upheavals hinder the consistency and timeliness of planning and decision-making in the local arena. In conclusion, we emphasize the importance of taming these upheavals and creating integrated governance systems by exploiting the emerging sense of the increasingly intertwined future among municipal governments. This is vital to strengthen local solidarity and promote inter-municipal collaborations at scales that can ensure metropolitan and suburban sustainability.

Achieving more liveable cities is one of the main goals set by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). According to a recent survey, most subnational governments participate in SDG implementation, especially to achieve environmental goals. Moreover, the public health concerns of COV1D-19 have helped to motivate even more cities to improve local air quality. However, despite the importance of intergovernmental cooperation for the success of the SDGs, there is still limited progress at the regional and local levels, due to limited institutional capacity and doubts about electoral consequences of unevenly distributed costs. We use panel data for 2010-2019, covering 217 OECD metropolitan areas, together with consolidated environmental expenditure, and find that subnational public spending on environmental protection is more strongly associated with better municipal air quality than environmental expenditure by general governments. Moreover, environmental spending shows a relationship with reduced air pollution exposure through the mechanism of higher institutional quality.

Con las políticas de ajuste estructural emprendidas en la década de 1980, los gobiernos latinoamericanos cedieron el control de la prestación de los bienes y servicios públicos a otros actores, lo que produjo diversas modalidades de gobernanza. El artículo desentraña la configuración del modo de gobernanza local proyectista que se gestó en una región del suroriente colombiano como expresión de los cambios en el ejercicio de la autoridad estatal. Para ello, se enfoca en tres dimensiones de la gobernanza: los actores que implementan proyectos agroambientales, la brecha entre normas oficiales y normas prácticas, y las interpretaciones de los destinatarios de estos proyectos. Se concluye que este modo de gobernanza legitima ciertos sistemas de relaciones de los que se benefician múltiples actores. With the structural adjustment policies undertaken in the 1980s, Latin American govern- ments ceded control over the provision of public goods and services to other actors, resulting in diverse governance modalities. This article unravels the configuration of the project-based mode of local governance that emerged in a region of south- eastern Colombia, as an expression of the changes in the exercise of state authority. To this end, it focuses on three dimensions of governance: the actors who implement agro-environmental projects, the gap between official norms and practical norms, and the interpretations of the recipients of these projects. It concludes that this mode of governance legitimizes certain systems of relationships from which multiple actors benefit.

Based on findings from three years of site-intensive fieldwork at the local level, this article presents evidence to suggest that binary governance frameworks like centre–local relations are insufficient to understand certain local regulatory outcomes in contemporary China. I seek to specify a distinct type of local governance that has been emerging in recent years, which blurs existing binary concepts. It can be distinguished along two main dimensions: ostensible structure and modalities of governance. Two cases are analysed to illustrate the ways in which it impacts local regulatory outcomes. The analyses point to the need for expanding our portfolio of approaches to understanding local governance in contemporary China. 根据在中国地方层面进行的深度民族志田野调查, 本文表明二元的治理框架, 譬如中央-地方关系, 不足以解释在当代中国地方出现的某些规制现象及结果。笔者试图勾勒近年来凸显的一种不同的地方治理类型, 这种类型使得现有的二元治理概念愈来愈模糊。其独特性主要表现在两个层面: 治理的表面结构和实行内容。本文分析了两个具体的案例以展示这种治理类型如何影响地方能源与环境治理的结果。本项研究认为, 为了更清楚地了解当代中国的地方治理, 我们需要扩充研究进路以及理论框架。

This article is a literature review of the current local turn in peacebuilding. After a short introduction on the origins of 'the local' in peacebuilding, it gives an overview of current research and policy debates on the issue along two different lines. First, it emphasises the local in peacebuilding as a measure to increase peacebuilding effectiveness, as explored in the literature on the benefits of decentralisation and local governments for peace, as well as in the debates on local capacity and ownership as essential parts of peacebuilding policy. Second, it focuses on the local in peacebuilding as a means of emancipation and inclusion of local agency, expressed partly through the emphasis on voices from below and partly within the critical approaches to how the local has been interpreted in peacebuilding so far, arguing for a peacebuilding that is essentially local.

Many African countries have shown renewed interest in strengthening their local governance systems, processes and praxes. Particularly in Zimbabwe, frantic efforts to renew local governance underline decentralisation and devolution as avenues to bring government closer to people to address racially skewed regional disparities. This paper seeks to establish the relationship between devolution of power and public service delivery in Zimbabwe. The study attempts to examine the implementation of devolution on governance and public service delivery in Zimbabwe. Therefore, existing challenges, threats and opportunities related to devolution are explored to determine the contribution of the government’s decentralisation agenda in promoting public engagement, accountability, and improved public service delivery. Due to the qualitative nature of the study, an exploratory research design was adopted. Key informant interviews and documentary searches were utilised as data collection techniques. The data was analysed through thematic analysis and content analysis approaches. The study revealed that the efficacy of devolution of power in service delivery is premised on respecting the constitutional fundamentals that empower local government in exercising their jurisdictional power and authority. Therefore, there is an imperative for political, fiscal, legislative, and institutional reforms critical for the successful implementation of devolution. This study contributes significantly to the ongoing policy and scholarly debates regarding the theoretical and practical benefits of devolution in Zimbabwe; and provides practical alternative solutions for achieving its full capacity to close extant gaps in public service delivery across the country.

Access to effective services and programs is necessary to improve wellbeing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in remote Australia. Without genuine participation of Aboriginal community members in the design, governance, and delivery of services, desired service delivery outcomes are rarely achieved. Using a \"shared space\" model, Aboriginal communities, governments, and scientists came together to design and develop the Interplay Wellbeing Framework. This Framework brings together stories and numbers (or qualitative and quantitative data) to represent community values for the purpose of informing program and policy agendas. This article unpacks what community members saw as making a service work well and why. The domains of empowerment and community functioning are discussed and their relationship to effective service delivery demonstrated.