Repository logo
 
Publication

Urban governance in times of fiscal stress: muddling through efficiency and democracy

dc.contributor.authorRodrigues, Miguel
dc.date.accessioned2014-10-17T09:21:35Z
dc.date.available2014-10-17T09:21:35Z
dc.date.issued2013
dc.description.abstractRecent worldwide financial crisis puts local governments under sever stress to change and reshaped their strategy, attitude and commitments to citizens in order to control spending patterns. Cutting-back services, breaking contracts, rethinking welfare and additional austerity measures are a worldwide path that local governments follow to handle financial adversities. In this trouble times, although keeping in mind the need to ensure the basic conditions for local government to perform its functions and the capacity to implement them, several actors struggle to reshape urban governance, according to their preferences (Pierre 1999). Political parties, unions and interest groups are joined by engaging citizens and aggressive media to build new forms of social ties (Clark 2000). The way in which rules, values and behaviors are established can alternate the equilibrium between the elements of urban governance forcing a change in kind and nature. Oscillations occur in a democracy-efficiency continuum promoting four alternative forms of urban governance: autocratic efficiency, democratic inefficiency, democratic efficiency and autocratic inefficiency (Waldo & Miller 1948; DiGaetano & Strom 2003; Norris 2012). The goal of this paper is to analyze the different divers that constrain the settings of urban governance. The paper claims that urban governance is the grass root for a compatible combination among civic engagement, political responsiveness and efficient mechanisms of service delivery. The main hypothesis of the paper suggests an optimal level of democracy translated into an invert U-shape relation between democracy and efficiency. Using a quantitative approach, the paper collects data from all Portuguese local government and builds two set of indexes to test the hypothesis. Findings confirm the supported argument and contribute to some clarification on the interaction between democratic procedures, and managerial initiatives to achieve higher standards of democracy.por
dc.identifier.citationRodrigues, Miguel (2013). Urban governance in times of fiscal stress: muddling through efficiency and democracy. In EGPA 2013 – Annual Conference. Edinburghpor
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10198/10880
dc.language.isoengpor
dc.subjectFiscal crisispor
dc.titleUrban governance in times of fiscal stress: muddling through efficiency and democracypor
dc.typeconference paper
dspace.entity.typePublication
oaire.citation.conferencePlaceEdinburghpor
oaire.citation.titleEGPA 2013 – Annual Conferencepor
person.familyNameRodrigues
person.givenNameMiguel
person.identifier.ciencia-idF71E-C528-C082
person.identifier.orcid0000-0002-2254-2607
person.identifier.ridF-2950-2018
person.identifier.scopus-author-id55932145600
rcaap.rightsopenAccesspor
rcaap.typeconferenceObjectpor
relation.isAuthorOfPublication637c1bda-1dc2-4532-b977-833f47e4d245
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery637c1bda-1dc2-4532-b977-833f47e4d245

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Urban Governance in times of fiscal stress- muddling through efficiency and democracy .pdf
Size:
455.33 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.75 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description: