Local Government and Local Development

To cite:
Wilkins, A. 2017. Rescaling the local: Multi-academy trusts, private monopoly and statecraft in England. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 49 (2), 171-185

For the past six years successive UK governments in England have introduced reforms intended to usher in less aggregated, top-down, bureaucratically overloaded models of service delivery as well as secure conditions for greater school autonomy.  Yet the ‘hollowing out’ of local government has not resulted in less bureaucracy on the ground or less regulation from above, nor has it diminished hierarchy as an organising principle of education governance.  In some cases, monopolies and monopolistic practices dominated by powerful bureaucracies and professional groups persist, albeit realised through the involvement of new actors and organisations from business and philanthropy.  In this paper I adopt a governmentality perspective to explore the political significance of large multi-academy trusts (MATs) – private sponsors contracted by central government to run publicly funded schools – to the generation of new scalar hierarchies and accountability infrastructures that assist in bringing the gaze of government to bear upon the actions of schools that are otherwise less visible under local government management.  On this account, it is argued, MATs are integral to statecraft and the invention and assemblage of particular apparatuses for intervening upon specific organisations, spaces and peoples.

Not-guilty verdicts, mistrials, and impunity for the Bundy family and many of their supporters in the armed confrontations over public land use in Nevada and Oregon. Expanded access for private oil, gas, mining, and logging industries and the downsizing of national monuments such as Bears Ears lead by Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke. A number of highly contentious debates and sensationalized events have again focused attention on land held in the public domain by the United States. This essay argues that federal land policy as a form of colonial administration has been constitutive for the logic of expectation as property in what is now the United States. From the state land cessions negotiated on behalf of the Articles of Confederation to the preemption acts (1830–1841) to the homestead acts (1862–1916) to present-day demands for land transfer, the acquisition and disposal of the so-called public domain have been central to westward colonization, the consolidation of the nation-state, and the promise of land ownership as the ostensible foundation of individual liberty. These dynamics are evident in contemporary conflicts over public lands and arguments for the transfer of public lands to either state or private ownership. Approaching the Bundy occupations as flashpoints that illuminate competing interpretations and claims to land within the history of westward colonization, this essay seeks to demonstrate the ways in which expectation emerges from particular economies of dispossession of indigenous peoples that have historically worked through and across the division of public and private property.

This volume has been prepared under the auspices of the project entitled, ‘Competition Reforms in Key Markets for Enhancing Social & Economic Welfare in Developing Countries’ (CREW Project). This project was implemented by CUTS in four countries: Ghana, India, Philippines and Zambia, and across two common sectors: Staple Food and Bus Transport with the support from DFID (UK) and BMZ (Germany) facilitated by GIZ (Germany). The aim of the project was to highlight the relevance of competition reforms for social and economic welfare in developing countries, and motivate other countries, governments and development partners to accord greater attention to the subject of competition reforms. In view of this overall aim of the project, with inputs from the project advisers CUTS designed the final conference of the CREW project on a broader theme to talk about ‘Relevance of Competition & Regulatory Reforms in Pursuing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Developing Countries’. The theme was thought to be both contemporary and relevant in view of the adoption of the SDGs a couple of months before this final conference. In addition to the support it received from DFID (UK), BMZ (Germany) and GIZ (Germany), the conference also received support from the World Bank, G-77 Secretariat and the OECD. CUTS is grateful to all the above organisations for supporting the conference, and indeed also the production of this volume. We acknowledge the support from the members of the Project Advisory Committee of the CREW project, who contributed to make this conference a grand success. Special thanks to Clement Onyango and colleagues at CUTS Nairobi for their support and tireless efforts in the run-up and during the conference. We gratefully acknowledge the hard work and patience of all the paper authors for contributing extremely interesting individual chapters to this volume. We are also thankful to those friends of CUTS who reviewed the draft papers – Eleanor Fox, Tania Begazo/Martha Licetti (World Bank), Rafaelita Aldaba, R S Khemani, Frederic Jenny, Payal Malik, Allan Fels, David Ong’olo, Ashwini Swain, Peter Holmes and John Davies/Lynn Robertson (OECD). We are indebted to Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary General, UNCTAD for writing an encouraging Foreword – and we hope to continue to receive his and UNCTAD’s support. We greatly appreciate the diligence of Madhuri Vasnani and Garima Shrivastava for editing and Mukesh Tyagi for preparing the layout of this report. Special thanks are due to Ashutosh Soni for his excellent coordination of communication with authors and reviewers of papers of this volume. We acknowledge the efforts of all the members of the CREW team, especially Cornelius Dube, Shreya Kaushik and Neha Tomar. Last but not the least, this report would not have seen the light of the day without the skillful direction, and overall guidance of Pradeep S Mehta, Secretary General, CUTS. He took special interest in this volume and went through each and every paper carefully himself. Words alone cannot convey our sincere gratitude to each and every individual who have contributed in every small way towards bringing out this volume. But it is only words that this world thrives on. We express our sincere gratefulness to all such individuals, without whom the publication of this volume would not have been possible.

We analyze and compare eight city cases in three continents to find out differences and commonalities in smart city governance and public policies globally: Shanghai (China), Japan, Iskandar (Malaysia), New York (United States), and Amsterdam, Málaga, Santander, Tarragona (Europe). The work shows different ways to address the definition of smart, followed by the particular implementation of the smart concept in particular settings. It shows models, projects and the policy innovations set in place today on smart grounds, as a baseline of opportunities for
sustainable growth and to unlock the potential of both Spanish and European firms and Spanish and European talent worldwide. We explore the following variables: 1) governance and public urban planning 2) management and organization 3) technology 4) policy context 5) people and communities 6) economy 7) built in infrastructure, 8) and natural environment.

Keywords
smart, cities, governance, innovation, China, Shanghai, Malaysia, Iskandar, Japan, United States,
New York, Europe, EU, #EU, Amsterdam, Málaga, Santander, Tarragona, Spain

"In recent projects I have used flip cameras with participants from ethnic minority communities who were recording their experience of adult learning as enrichment. In another project we used more expensive cameras in a health setting in order to examine what the priorities were for service users. The footage has had multiple benefits and we continue to develop the use of visual technologies and methodologies:

• to empower and support the participation of service users and clients;
• to provide evidence and documentation of outputs and project delivery;
• to support the creative personalization of service delivery;
• to inform project evaluation;
• to demonstrate accountability;
• to improve the accessibility and awareness of services;
• to influence policy and strategic development options;
• to foster dialogue between groups of people - both vertical (client to manager) and horizontal (client to service user)

The main body of this short paper evaluates eighteen benefits or advantages associated with auto-ethnographic methodology"

Engagement between Iwi Maori and local government operates within a complex environment of involving multiple expectations within multiple statutory frameworks. Not surprisingly different models of engagement have developed, some of which are more successful than others at achieving meaningful relationships and acknowledging the unique status of indigenous organisations.

The book points out that rural regions need proper attention at the global level concerning solid waste management sector where bad practices and public health threats could be avoided through traditional and integrated waste management
routes. Solid waste management in rural areas is a key issue in developing and transitioning countries due to the lack of proper waste management facilities and services. The book further examines, on the one hand, the main challenges in the development of reliable waste management practices across rural regions and, on the other hand, the concrete solutions and the new opportunities across the world in dealing with municipal and agricultural wastes. The book provides useful information for academics, various professionals, the members of civil society, and national and local authorities.

The paper presents integration of spatial data and processes in local administration, or how to develop integral spatial information system for local government. Firstly, it is necessary to identify existing problems, then define the goals, and finally choose the appropriate solution. The obstacles that inhibit such approach are already recognizable in many municipal departments and relate to insufficient utilization of existing information system due to diverse applications, and inaccessibility of datasets located at various locations, and consequently, growing maintenance costs for the information system. The objectives to be pursued are: to integrate the functionality of the entire system, to enable the availability of spatial data to all employees, to ensure full interaction, cooperation and exchange of information between the mayor, officials and citizens, and based on this, to optimize the costs maintenance and further development of the information system. In this sense, the solution imposes centralization and integration of all spatial data and processes related to them, through a unique model and with web architecture at the level of the whole organization. Additionally, the benefits from implementation of such solution, as well as its impact on the work of the administration from economic and social benefits point have been analyzed.

The popularity of Participatory Action Research (PAR) increases the risk of tokenism and blurring the boundaries of what might be considered ‘good’ PAR. This became a pressing issue when we were invited by the City of Amsterdam to conduct PAR on digital inequality with vulnerable citizens in Amsterdam, within serious constraints of time and budget. We decided to take up the challenge to offer citizens an opportunity to share their needs. This paper aims to increase the transparency of the complex reality of a PAR process in order to help new researchers learn about the challenges of PAR in real-life situations, and to open up the discussion on the quality and boundaries of PAR. Though we managed to implement some core ethical principles of PAR in this project, two were particularly under pressure: democratic participation and collective action. These jeopardized collective learning and might unintentionally feed stereotypes regarding people’s capabilities. Nevertheless, this small and local study did manage to create ripples for change.

This paper aims to capture the importance of demographic dimension in thesustainable development process of the rural space. From a series ofstatistics data we realized an analysis of demographic indicators, which ithelped us to trace the development trends characteristic for our area ofstudy. To understand the evolution in time and the implications of humanresource in the process of development it was necessary referencing themwith national or local historical events. Demographic dimension analysishighlights the development stage of rural space and help the formulation ofthe future local policies that regard the sustainable development.

Dissecting complex institutional webs and the roles they play (or should play) in development is an ongoing endeavor. To better understand the relationships between local and external institutions in small communities—specifically, whether these two sets of institutions act as complements or substitutes—we analyze subjective assessments of organizations and development indicators in nine rural Costa Rican towns. We expect to find that attitudes toward both local and external institutions are positively related to perceptions of development indicators. While the regression model we present yields a relationship between the perceived strength of local institutions and development indicators, we fail to find such a relationship with the importance respondents place on the presence of external organizations in their community. The results of a second regression model suggest that individuals may link the importance of external institutions with the specific services they provide. We con...

Napjainkban egyre többeket foglalkoztat az egyre korlátozottabb mennyiségben rendelkezésre álló fosszilis energiák felhasználása. Régóta kutatják, hogy milyen alternatív energiákkal tudnák helyettesíteni azokat, és egyre nyilvánvalóbbá válik, hogy egyedül a megújuló energiák képesek kiváltani ezeket a leghatékonyabban. Jelenlegi helyzetet tekintve a fosszilis energiák használata, valamint az ezzel párhuzamosan és exponenciálisan növekvő megoldatlan problémák - például a kitermelt olaj csökkenő mennyisége, az autók számának évről évre történő növekedése, az erősödő környezetterhelés, az üvegházhatás, a globális felmelegedés - már világméretű problémának tekinthető. Ezek egyik hatékony megoldása lehet, ha a fiatalabb generációknak minél korábban megtanítják a környezettudatos életmód fontosságát. A fiatalok mellett a másik döntő szerep az önkormányzatoké, melyek meghatározói lehetnek a lakosság környezettudatosságra való nevelésének, hisz saját példájukkal irányvonalat mutatnak: hogyan lehet többet tenni a környezetünk védelméért. Az itt bemutatott kutatás legfőbb célja az volt, hogy a Gyöngyösi járás önkormányzatainak segítségével egy olyan reprezentatív kutatás készüljön, amely átfogó képet ad az önkormányzatok megújuló energia felhasználási szintjéről, a környezettudatos hozzáállásukról és arról, hogy a közeljövőben hogyan szeretnének még többet tenni annak érdekében, hogy ezt a szemléletmódot erősítsék projektek, pályázatok, a közösségi média vagy más lehetőségek által.

O presente artigo parte da consciência de que atualmente o Estado Angolano, com um modelo de governação centralizado, cada vez mais, não tem sido capaz de responder satisfatoriamente aos principais anseios das suas populações, nas diferentes regiões do país. Destarte, interessará por isso reflectir sobre algumas matérias em torno do processo de implementação das autarquias locais em Angola, através de uma abordagem qualitativa, mediante um raciocínio dedutivo, que versa sobre a consolidação do poder local e das municipalidades, enquanto instrumento de descentralização da administração local em Angola; no sentido em que a implementação das autarquias contribuirá na resolução sustentável dos problemas enfrentados nas localidades, através do exercício efetivo da cidadania na gestão da coisa pública.

This Statistical Brief is an ongoing effort of NALAS’ Fiscal Decentralisation Task Force to provide policy–makers and analysts with timely, accurate, relevant, reliable and comparable data on local government finance in South–East Europe (SEE).

The report is structured in three main sections. The first part provides an overview of the size and structure of local governments in SEE. The second part provides regional comparisons on the status and development of national and local government finance in SEE in 2019. The data are provided in different formats, allowing much more comparisons and further utilization by users. The 2019 local government finance data bear a significant importance as serve as the baseline against which the impact of the COVID-19 pandemics will be measured in the coming years.
The third section shows the patters and evolution of national and local government revenues and expenditures for the period 2006-2019 in each of the SEE economies through selected indicators of macro–economic performance and fiscal decentralisation.
For additional information contact us at info@nalas.eu and stafa@nalas.eu.

U.S. local governments purchase $1.72 trillion of goods and services annually that contribute to global climate change and other environmental problems. Cities that successfully implement environmental purchasing policies can mitigate these environmental concerns while saving money and demonstrating their environmental leadership. However, cities confront numerous challenges when implementing an environmental purchasing policy. This chapter identifies the facilitators and barriers of implementing an environmental purchasing policy. It draws on the experiences within the City of Phoenix as an example and offers eight recommendations for how the City of Phoenix and similar cities can integrate environmental purchasing more fully into their existing purchasing processes.

The adults facing chronic exclusion (ACE) programme tests new ways of working with excluded people who do not access services in the community because their lives are chaotic and their needs are too complex. All the interventions offer support from a consistent, trusted adult.

The pilots began in 2007, and were a cross Whitehall initiative sponsored by the Cabinet Office, led by Department for Communities and Local Government and funded by Department for Health, Department for Works and Pensions and the Home Office. Twelve different projects have been working across England.

This report addresses the question of whether the Adults facing Chronic Exclusion pilots have succeeded or not in delivering their projected outcomes for service users and services, and have they been cost effective?

A progress of an area directly influences its society. Decentralization is a form of democratization of the area for development. The formation of new autonomous regions (DOB) has created the land conversion and the politicization of society. Food security policy as an instrument of regional distributive does not provide a meaningful impact in the region, especially in building farmers' work ethic and behavior. This situation has contributed to the failure of the state to achieve food security as the constitutional rights of society, particularly farmers. Through qualitative methods to bring together all the stakeholders (farmers, local authorities) by conducting focus group discussions and in-depth interviews, it is known that the policy still is formalistic. There is no better information dissemination, attitude and commitment to the policy, limited resources, and no standard work. The regional council of food security is not optimalized and there are institutional barriers. In addition, there is no involvement of the community in accessing programming and there is high politicization on agriculture which is all managed by top down in the area.

The Welsh Government is committed to meeting the educational needs of all children in Wales in order that they achieve their potential.Section 19 of the Education Act 1996 places a duty on all local authorities to make arrangements for suitable education otherwise than at school (EOTAS) provision for learners no longer able to attend school for any reason, including (but not limited to) illness and expulsion. EOTAS provision plays a crucial role in educating vulnerable learners and can be provided through several different options including, but not limited to, further education institutions, home tuition or work-based education. In this provision, Referral Units (PRUs) remain a necessary alternative to mainstream schooling.
The EOTAS Task and Finish Group was established in response to concerns, regarding EOTAS services in Wales, raised in reports produced by Estyn, the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, and the University of Edinburgh. The EOTAS ‘Task and Finish Group’ was asked to consider the various recommendations made in these reports and develop practical solutions for their implementation.
The work of the Group was divided into two tranches: the first tranche looked specifically at PRUs while the second looked at wider EOTAS provision.
The work of the Group culminated in the development of a draft ‘Framework for Action’ which outlined short, medium and long-term proposals for driving improvement. Medium and long-term proposals included the introduction of guidance and changes to legislation. To support this, most of the short-term proposals related to gathering evidence and the analysis of existing procedures in place across Wales. This analysis report covers one area identified by the ‘Task and Finish Group’ namely: an analysis of pupil registration practices across Wales for those learners accessing PRUs and other EOTAS provision.. (This document is also available in Welsh.)

In urban communities, infrastructures that support living are indispensable. There is increased interest in alternative ways of providing such support systems, including semi-autonomous infrastructures resulting from the self-organization of local actors. In this study, we analyze the emergence and management of such infrastructures in light of the theory of complex adaptive systems, within which they are called ‘inverse infrastructures’. Empirical evidence is drawn from the case of water cooperatives in the town of Ikaalinen, Finland. Our analysis shows that, with favorable preconditions in place, inverse infrastructures may contribute significantly to local infrastructure services and so also to the functioning of society.

Within the current territorial division communes play a very significant role. They are responsible particularly for supporting local development through financing projects aimed at improving quality of life in local environment. To be successful communes first of all need to introduce a strategic approach in management
process. Strategy helps to accumulate limited funds around the main expectations of local communities and opens new perspectives for additional financial support. But it is only half of the success to develop a good strategy. Equally important is the implementation process, in which long term objectives defined in a strategy are transformed into activities undertaken by local authorities in a yearly prepared budget. This article describes
main experiences of local strategy usage in management process of communities on the example of Bolesławiec.

In modern France, economic crises have presented an opportunity for administrations to intervene directly in economic and social affairs. On these occasions, the vocational education and training system was used as a policy instrument to address the difficulties of the time, i.e. the necessity to revive the French industry during the Long Depression, the will to direct the workforce toward disadvantaged professional sectors during the crisis of 1930s, and the requirement to facilitate the professional integration of youth into the labour market during the Oil Crises of the 1970s. This paper is thus concerned with the diversion of vocational training practices for the benefit of these issues, both at legislative and regulatory levels, as well as in a local context, provided by the industrial district of Saint-Etienne.

Andy Allen presents his case for a form of Empowered Participatory Governance (Fung and Wright, 2003). He contends that if the process of academisation is viewed as removing power and control from the community, then democratic governance structures assume greater importance.

The human society has been running on fumes - the fumes of pleasure, reward, gratification and charm. And while walking on this
illustrious path, they have constructed illustrious ideals without thinking about their practicality and actual implications in the society
and have tried their best to stand up for those ideals, despite the fact that these so-called ideals have nothing to do with genuine everyday
human existence whatsoever. On this disorderly path of delusions, humanity has organized its religions - it has developed its methods of
education - and to watch over all these structures, it has developed its so-called governments on an illustrious ideal of democracy. Democracy
- that is what it’s called, when a huge population of sapiens are made to think that they are competent enough to choose the individual
or individuals who would essentially be in control of their lives in the society.

This article will analyse which areas rural and urban Local Action Groups (LAGs) in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship function in. The thesis of this research is: LAGs are a bottom-up tool for local management. The first part presents the main assumptions of public management approaches and shows the LEADER approach and Community-Led Local Development as a form of bottom up approach in the process of public management on the local level. Th en comparison analysis between rural and urban LAGs will take places. Similarities and differences were identified in the legal framework of their existence, the actors who create them, the possibility of receiving EU financial support and within the e fields of their activities. These were all analysed, along with financial activities implemented in the rural and urban LAGs in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship through 2014-2020.