State and local politics and government

Abstrak
Sejak terbentuk menjadi provinsi yang mandiri, terpisah dari Jawa Barat, kehidupan politik di Banten ditandai oleh menguatnya gejala dinasti politik atau politik kekerabatan, baik pada tingkat provinsi maupun kabupaten/kota. Pada tingkat provinsi, dominasi the local strongmen, Tb. Chasan Sochib dalam kepolitikan Banten sangat menonjol dan berhasil menempatkan anaknya, Ratu Atut Chosiyah pada jabatan gubernur selama hampir dua periode (2006-2011 dan 2011-2014). Pasca keberhasilannya menduduki jabatan gubernur, secara hipotetik Ratu Atut berhasil membangun dan mengembangkan dinasti politiknya ke berbagai arena kehidupan masyarakat. Penelitian ini dilakukan pada obyek tatakelola dan praktik kekuasaan pemerintahan gubernur di Provinsi Banten, dengan tujuan untuk mengetahui dan menjelaskan bagaimana praktik dinasti politik atau politik kekerabatan di Provinsi Banten pada era kepemimpinan Gubernur Ratu Atut Chosiyah mengalami proliferasi (persebaran, berdiaspora) di berbagai arena kehidupan masyarakat. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif, dengan metode pengumpulan data/informasi dilakukan melalui wawancara, triangulasi, studi pustaka dan dokumen. Hasil penelitian menujukkan bahwa praktik dinasti politik atau politik kekerabatan pada era kepemimpinan Gubernur Ratu Atut Chosiyah di Banten memperlihatkan adanya gejala persebaran (proliferasi, berdiaspora), bukan saja pada ranah kekuasaan eksekutif dan legislatif, melainkan juga menyebar di banyak arena kehidupan masyarakat, seperti pada arena kehidupan bisnis, sosial-budaya, pendidikan, dan keormasan.

Kata kunci : dinasti politik, tatakelola kekuasaan, proliferasi, local strongmen, provinsi Banten

This article on China’s urbanization examines the main drivers behind China’s urban transformation, its impact on the society and how the impact is unevenly spread across populations and geography. It begins with a brief historical summary of China’s urbanization focusing on the post-Liberation period, that is 1949 onward, and moves on to discuss some of the major factors that have contributed to people’s migration and urban physical expansion. Three key characteristics are given particular attention: (1) industrial production and uneven development; (2) land-based accumulation; (3) local state building and state entrepreneurialism. The article further examines some of the important socio-spatial outcomes and challenges that China’s urbanization poses.

Observaciones sobre la lectura "Para entender los gobiernos estatales en los Estados Unidos Mexicanos", G. Cejudo (2007), NOSTRA, México.    1. Desde el sexenio de Salinas los gobiernos de los estados de la República comenzaron a tornarse protagonistas políticos a nivel nacional. Y esto de manera irónica, ya que Salinas fue el presidente que más gobernadores instaló con su dedito feliz, haciendo a un lado el espíritu democrático que se avecinaba y cuya culminación fue la elección de un gobernador como presidente de la República, el míster Vicente Fox...

Since the end of the American Civil War, scholars have debated the efficacy of various models of community economic development, or CED. Historically, this debate has tracked one of two approaches: place-based models of CED, seeking to stimulate community development through market-driven economic growth programs, and people-based models of CED, focused on the removal of structural barriers to social and economic mobility that prevent human flourishing. More recently, scholars and policymakers have turned to a third model from the impact
investing community—the social impact bond, or SIB. The SIB model of CED ostensibly finds a middle ground by leveraging funding from private impact investors to finance social welfare programs within marginalized communities. SIBs seemingly answer the call of local government law scholars of the New Regionalists movement who advocate for governmental mechanisms that facilitate regional cooperation, address equity concerns, and respect local government autonomy. However, this Article argues that the SIB model of impact investing will struggle to advance metropolitan equity due to its grounding in the politics of neoliberalism.

After highlighting limitations of the SIB, this Article links contemporary debates about CED theory to historical contestations within the black community about economically-oriented racial uplift strategies. Placing historical figures, such as W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington, in conversation with more contemporary theorists of political philosophy, this Article offers an alternative conceptual framework of CED. Termed justice-based CED, this framing distinguishes a typology of social change that places democracy at the epicenter of the development debate and points toward the political principles of the solidarity economy as guideposts for law reform. The justice-based approach rests upon three core values: social solidarity, economic democracy, and solidarity economy. Taken together, this perspective reflects a vision of political morality that embodies one of America’s most foundational democratic values—human moral dignity.

This dissertation has analyzed the strategy of the Federal government to coordinate the federative relations in areas of public policy through induction, with the objective to put into context the role of the State Government in this same process. With the institutional design established in the so called National Systems (Sistemas Nacionais) that ruled in almost all areas of public policy in Brazil after the  90s, this work focus its attention over the incitements and costs that the National Housing System of Social Interest (SNHIS, Sistema Nacional de Habitação de Interesse Social) gives to the State Government of Minas Gerais (case of study proposed), with the objective to reorganize the relation of power that exists between two levels of government: the federal and the state. It was used a comparative theoretical background between the programs offered by SNHIS to the State Government, and the state housing programs executed in agreement both with SNHIS and the role of housing providing (casa própria). With these perspectives, the dissertation analyses the different induction strategies proposed by SNHIS and by the State Government of Minas Gerais in the housing policy, between 2005 and 2012, in order to confront them with the role carried out by these levels of government through the decades. Therefore, it is possible to determine the general scenario of intergovernmental relations in the selected area.

This study offers an overview of Inner West Council (IWC) and role as a local democratic entity in NSW including its function and broad values it adds to the community.  It is one of twenty councils that was created by NSW State government in 2017 as part of a state-wide amalgamation programme (Uddin, 2017, Drew & Dollery, 2016).
The study critiques the NSW State government’s amalgamation programme and identifies potential reasons behind explanations provided by State Government as to why the number of councils in Australia have reduced over time.  Research from broad perspectives critiquing the procedures and process is reported from both private and public institutes, including government agencies, councils themselves and communities impacted.  Synthesis of the research demonstrates that the amalgamation programme failed to achieve its goals, with high costs to taxpayers and potential consequences for the NSW Government. 
Furthermore, the study found government commercial interests can surpass benefits to the community and the occurrence in Council reduction coincides with current Australian Government political ideology.  Strategies to create more cities, the increasing use of private “for profit” organisations to replace local governments community services and the centralisation of decision making and power to larger geographical centres, all of which may move ground level democracy to a more consumer and commercial driven society are found to be on the NSW State government agenda to reform local government.

If someone has savagely murdered another human being then it is only fitting that we have them pay the ultimate price. Some might say that it is worse to have them be confined for the rest of their life then to give them an “out”. Jodie Arias tried to make such an argument, until she realized she was on the verge of actually losing her life and she immediately began to back pedal.

EXTENDED ABSTRACT
In Ottoman history, it is accepted that there was a period of crisis and adaptation in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, which transformed the state and society in terms of political, social, and economic aspects. As a result of this process, local elites that functioned
as local intermediaries between the central government, its governors, and people became more effective in shaping local power. Thus, some local leaders who had notable pre-Ottoman family roots, urban ashraf families, ulama families, tax-farmers who controlled local production and trade, local janissaries, and households of mamluks could become direct or indirect representatives of the government in Bilad al-Sham and other provinces.
The change in the management style of muqataas as lifetime tax farms (malikane), which is a well-known implementation of the crisis and change period, enabled the local powers to achieve fortune and power. Since the end of the seventeenth century, the malikane system was implemented in the muqataas in Aleppo and Damascus as leading examples. The ‘Azm family benefited from the spread of this fiscal practice in their region. In particular, they gained the tax-farming privileges of the muqataas in the north of Damascus, such as Ma‘arrat al-Nu‘man, Hama, Homs, and Palmyra (Tedmür). Thus, they held significant economic power. Ismaʻil
al-‘Azm used this opportunity to contribute to the rise of his family by getting the tax-farming of the aforementioned muqataas as malikane.
Ismaʻil, first, in 1712, became the tax farmer of Maʻarra of Aleppo province, which was a malikane of the former grand vizier Mehmed Pasha. Names of ‘Azm-oğlu Ismaʻil and others from his family first appeared in archive documents as fiscal records about Maʻarra as evidence of the family’s origins in Bilad al-Sham. Ismaʻil, in this period, probably managed the family’s administrative and fiscal initiatives with his brothers. Ismaʻil and his family had to deal with the problems of nomads when they got the tax-farming privileges of Maʻarra and a few years later, Hama, Homs, and Palmyra. Collecting tax incomes from these muqataas that were rich because of the agricultural production and trade, was important for the government. However, there were conditions in the tax-farming contracts of muqataas that required the return of people who had left their land because of damages caused by Mawāli Bedouins, back to their original locations.
After he became the zabit (protector) of the muqataas of Hama, Humus, and Palmyra in July 1719, Ismaʻil became responsible for the administration of these places as well as taxfarming these muqataas whose annual income reached over 91.000 piastres. All these muqataas probably provided Ismaʻil with a much larger sum than the total tax revenues. Ismaʻil tried investing these incomes to strengthen his local power. His grain aid to the locals of Damascus in periods of famine can be explained by his financial power after he became a lifetime tax farmer (malikâneci) of Hama and other muqataas. Further, his ability to arm a military force to support the governors of Aleppo, Tripoli, and Raqqa in controlling Turcoman and Bedouin nomads also showed his financial potential.
When İsmail became zabit of Hama, he settled there. In Hama, he formed alliances with local notables via marriages. He married his brother Sulayman to an al-Kaylâni woman from an ashraf family. Ismaʻil probably saw Hama as an administrative center from where he could control nearby muqataas. Marriage alliances made it easy for the ʻAzm family to put down roots in this center. Ismaʻil sent his district governors (mutasallims) to the muqataas of Homs and Maʻarra, which were also under his control. In Maʻarra Musa (Bey) acted as mutasallim for his brother Ismaʻil. His mutasallim in Homs was Muhammed Agha. Ismaʻil’s mutasallims
were responsible for the general security and tax-farming of these sanjaks or villages.
After Ismaʻil became zabit of Hama, he struggled with the governors of Tripoli to take control of Homs and its muqataas that were at their disposal to consolidate his local power. Mawāli Bedouin leaders, who were once in a relatively coherent relationship with the Ottomans
for the protection of trade routes, were unable to provide security for the hajj route to the south and roads between Aleppo, Damascus and Baghdad in the eighteenth century. Mawāli tribes, which were unable to compete with the nomads since the second half of the seventeenth
century, were forced to move toward the west and eventually threatened a wider region, which includes the rural area of Aleppo, Hama, Humus, and rural settlements of Damascus. During this period, the leader of the Mawāli tribes was the ʻAbbas family.
Not only did the local settled population but also Turcoman tribes that were scattered in the region suffered from the attacks of Mawāli Bedouins in Hama and Homs. Many of the Turcomans were part of tribes that had settled in Hama and Homs as a part of the sedentarization process that started in Raqqa in the 1690s. Raqqa was an important sedentarization center in this operation as were Hama and Homs. This demographic barrier, which was built with Turcoman and Kurdish tribes, was created to stop or control the migration movements of Shammar and ʻAnaza that could disturb Anatolian settlements in the north. Turcoman tribes
were disturbed by Mawāli tribes, which were also affected by the same migration movements. Ismaʻil, like other regional officials, was ordered to return Turcoman tribes to their settlement lands in Hama and Homs and to deal with Mawālis. His efforts to successfully carry out this order were effective in Ismail's ascension to the rank of beğlerğilik. This made it easier for him to be appointed provincial governor. In light of this information, it is possible to say that the struggle against the nomads in the north of Bilad al-Sham is one of the "Ottoman contexts" that paved the groundwork for the rise of the ʻAzm-zâde family.
Ismaʻil became Hama’s governer İsmail Pasha when he was appointed governor of Tripoli because of his post of beğlerbeğilik in Hama. He was appointed governor with the condition of commanding cerde troops, which would protect hajj caravans moving from Damascus. His brother Sulayman took over from Ismaʻil. Ismaʻil’s governorship lasted a year and three months between January 20, 1724, and May 14, 1725.
An increase in local income because of the increase in international trade and agricultural production increased the importance of tax-farming of rural and urban muqataas in the province of Tripoli. During the short period of the governorship of Tripoli of Ismaʻil Pasha, he was primarily expected to arm and command cerde troops, which would provide security to hajj organization in 1724–1725. Ismaʻil now used his experience of controlling nomads in the north to protect hajj caravans against Damascus Bedouins (Şam Urbânı) successfully. During his governorship of Tripoli, in addition to managing routine administrative-fiscal works and showing results in the critical issues for the government, he successfully commanded the cerde troops. His success opened the way for his governorship of Damascus as well as being the head of the hajj (hac emirliği).

Istovremeno raspuštanje lokalnog predstavničkog tijela (gradskog ili općinskog vijeća, županijske skupštine) i razrješenja općinskog načelnika, gradonačelnika odnosno župana jedna je od kontraverznih posljedica sustava neposrednog izbora izvršnih čelnika lokalnih jedinica. Prvi put su se ti izvršni čelnici neposredno birali u svibnju 2009. U trenutku donošenja zakona kojim je uveden neposredni izbor zakonodavac nije riješio pitanje međusobnih odnosa vijeća i načelnika, namjerno ili previdom. Ubrzo se međutim pokazalo da su novoizabrani načelnici i te kako dobro čitali i razumjeli novi zakon.

Tekst je u obliku kolumne objavljen u Vrbovečkim novinama u veljači 2017.

The article discusses barriers in strategic governance of local development characteristic for Polish local governments, i.e. municipalities, which occurred within the first 15 years of the XXI century. These barriers were identified in the period 2000-2015 by means of using the qualitative field research method, in the process of research and implementation as well as research and development projects’ execution, directly and indirectly related to the conceptualization, application and assessment of development strategies for Polish municipalities. The introduction to the article presents the reasons, origins, purpose, method, techniques and the course of conducted research. Next the concept of local development perceived from two perspectives, a local and supra-local one, as well as their governance concept and strategic approach to such governance, are discussed. The core part of the article is devoted to presenting the identified barriers in strategic governance of local development and also their sources. The article is concluded by providing recommendations regarding the continuation of research covering these barriers and the instruments of their reduction.

The first chapter of the EJTF report provides context for what environmental justice (EJ) is, how to build on existing EJ work in Washington, and why state government must prioritize addressing EJ issues and environmental health disparities. The second chapter focuses on the EJTF’s process for developing recommendations, a statewide EJ definition, and EJ principles. The final chapter of the report includes all EJTF recommendations. The report appendices include additional resources, including guidance developed by the EJTF’s Community Engagement Subcommittee for how state
  agencies can develop their own community engagement plans.

This article considers the institutional and environmental factors that influence the degree of countermajoritarian judicial activism among state supreme courts. In our analysis, we consider two indicators of such activism: the tendency of each state court to overturn acts of the legislature and the extent to which each court engages in tort innovation. We find, contrary to much conventional wisdom, that courts in states where judges are most insulated from local partisan politics are the least likely to exhibit activist behavior. Rather, the most activist courts are in states where justices reach office through district-based electoral systems. We discuss the implications of these findings for our understanding of judicial activism and judicial behavior. The past 10 years have seen a growing perception of the importance of state courts of last resort as policy institutions. This importance is reinforced when one considers current attempts by the U.S. Supreme Court to reduce the number of cases it decides, handing down fewer than 90 decisions in the 1993-1994 term. State supreme courts, then, find an expanding policy vacuum in which they have become, by design or by default, increasingly important players. As Hall and Brace (1989, 1992) and Brace and Hall (1995) demonstrate well, state supreme courts serve as the ideal laboratories for answering questions regarding the impact that institutional structures have on judicial decisions.

The question of how the American political process shapes inequality remains unsettled. While recent studies break ground by linking inequality to political institutions, much of this work focuses on national-level income inequality. The literature is lacking in its examination of inequality in other issue areas at the subnational level. This research explores how partisanship in government affects subnational-level inequality in health care coverage in the context of racial diversity. Using a new Gini-coefficient measure of inequality in health insurance coverage, we find a negative relationship between the seat share of Democratic representatives and inequality in health care coverage but only in states with racially diverse populations. Moreover, Democratic-controlled state legislatures mitigate the negative impact of racial diversity on inequality in health care coverage. These results highlight the importance of examining the partisan foundation of health care inequality in the context of racial diversity.

Bogaram, a village in present day Telangana, which is studied in this Policy Watch for the socio-economic impact of liberalisation on a rural community, was initially the subject of the author’s research in 19961. This Policy Watch is based on a revisit made to the same village in Ramannapet Mandal, Nalgonda district, Telangana State after two decades2. This Policy Watch documents the structural changes that have taken place in the village in past 21 years. The major empirical observation that emerged from the study is that the dominant caste of the village, i.e. the Padmashalis (or the traditional weavers), which was emerging as socially, economically, and politically dominant in 1996, has declined in terms of economic and social power over the past 21 years, despite the fact that they are still numerically significant caste and hold the reins of political power. The socio-economic decline of the dominant caste of weavers has happened along with the decline of their weaving occupation as a result of the decline of export markets, lack of local markets for finished cloth, and increasing prices for the raw material, and changes in weaving technology. The study concludes that this decline of the Padmashali dominant caste is in consonance with the decline and pauperisation of the entire village economy in the contemporary context of globalisation and liberalisation.

In this review essay, I extract information from two recent additions to the academic literature on sustainable communities about what public officials should know about the meaning of sustainability and what they can learn from the various initiatives and policies that are being pursued by communities to promote and measure progress toward sustainability.

Using research on the initiative as a point of comparison, we consider how frequently and for what ends state legislators use the referendum. Akin to initiative use, we find that legislators are constrained by procedural hurdles in their ability to place referendums on the ballot. However, in contrast to research on the initiative, which emphasizes the role of interest groups as the drivers of initiatives, our analysis suggests that referendum use is motivated by partisan legislative majorities seeking to achieve a mix of political and policy goals.

American federalism has proceeded by fits and starts. There have been periods in which states have exercised dominance and other times when the national government has prevailed. Various explanatory models of federalism have been developed by scholars, who have ceaselessly debated their merits. As the current political climate attests, arguments about appropriate national-state relations are ongoing. In spite of the various points of view, there exists at least one indisputable constant--governance in the United States has never been a solo act. Its political script has always included parts for both national and state involvement. The subject of this paper exemplifies this political reality by reviewing Oklahoma’s adoption of its civil service system. As the story is usually told, in 1959 a fearless young governor initiated a breathtaking agenda of good government reforms, including a statewide merit system. What’s missing from the tale, however, is sufficient acknowledgement of th...

Tax and expenditure limitations (TELs) are designed to restrict growth in state government by limiting the amount of money a legislature may spend or tax. From 1978 to 1996, 22 states adopted formal limits on annual growth in state appropriations or revenue. 1 Ostensibly , rules that place limits on the pace of annual state expenditure and revenue growth could cause TEL states, over time, to have lower levels of expenditure compared to non-TEL states. Assessment of expenditure differences between TEL and non-TEL states, however, suggest that TELs may not have much effect on state expenditure growth (for discussions see Mullins

In this article we look at the pattern of interest group engagement in direct democracy elections. Using a socialnetwork analysis of campaign contributions we examine whether or not patterns of group conflict conform toa stable split along a single (left/right) dimension. While we find that it is the case that there are stable com-ponents to group participation in direct democracy elections and that group alliances do lie along a left/rightdimension we also find this characterization to be a simplification of actual patterns of engagement. Not onlyis there evidence of single-issue engagement, there is also evidence of a second—insider/outsider—dimensionto direct democracy politics

We examine the origins of direct democracy in the American states and
assess how direct democracy has affected American political parties. We
find adoption of the most directly democratic forms of the initiative in
states where Populist forces were strongest in the 1890s. Use of the
initiative throughout the twentieth century led to more restrictive state
legal environments for parties and was associated with weaker
traditional party organizations. American parties have subsequently
challenged restrictions placed on their organizations and on their ability
to engage in campaigns. By the end of the twentieth century, American
party organizations were visible actors in direct democracy campaigns,
however their role is different from that of parties in Europe.
KEY WORDS

A majority of students don't know, or appear to care, about their own country's system of governance. When tested, high school and college graduates alike do very poorly in answering basic questions regarding American democratic principles, political processes or the power and functions of governmental institutions. Whether administered by the conservative educational Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) or the liberal arts defending American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), test results suggest that civic and political ignorance is alarmingly widespread even among the nation's most educated. According to the ACTA report, " Crisis in Civic Education: " " When surveys repeatedly show that college graduates do not understand the fundamental processes of our government and the historical forces that shaped it, the problem is much greater than a simple lack of factual knowledge. It is a dangerous sign of civic disempowerment. " Many cannot name the three branches of the federal government, the authors of the Federalist Papers or the significance of the Broadway play " Hamilton. " These individuals are civically disengaged. Disengagement, Outdated Teaching Methods and Non-Specific Educational Requirements It can be argued that civic disengagement is partially predicated on a lack of interest. This may be due as to how civics has historically been taught. Charles N. Quigley, executive director of the Center for Civic Education, has stated the common method of lecture and the memorization of charts, facts, dates and pictures of past political heroes has left little focus on inquiry, discussion and debate. He further comments: " This image of education in civics, government and history as dry, dull and irrelevant, indeed an indoctrination that whitewashed our past and much of our present, led in the 1960s to a reaction against the field. This resulted in the elimination of widespread requirements for civic education in our schools and a reduction of attention to political history in texts in favor of such topics as social history, the history of the labor movement, civil rights history and the like. While many of the new emphases were improvements, the reduction of attention to civics and government and political history was not. " In the California State University system, students are to demonstrate an understanding of American history, the United States Constitution and California state and local government. As an alternative to testing, students may take course sequences in a variety of ethnic, gender or religious studies that meet this requirement. Students do not have to specifically take courses in government. This makes it unclear as to how students taking alternative course selections actually demonstrate knowledge of American governmental principles, structures and systems. According to Harvard's Fredrik Logevall and the Colorado School of Mine's Kenneth Osgood, there is an additional problem: " American political history as a field of study has cratered. Fewer scholars build careers on studying the political process, in part because few universities make space for them. Fewer courses are available and fewer students are exposed to it. What was once a central part of the historical profession, a vital part of this country's continuing democratic discussion, is disappearing. " Our K-12 systems approach to civics is no better. As stated in a 2012 study by the Center for Information and Research on Civil Learning & Engagement at Tufts University: " Although 39 states require at least one course in American government or civics, only eight states administer statewide, standardized tests specifically in civics/American government. " A demonstrated understanding of American governance is not universally required at either level.