Decentralization of Political Design in China

2020 ◽  
Vol 93 (4) ◽  
pp. 709-734
Author(s):  
Jonathan Benney

Political posters, banners, and similar objects are extremely common in China. This article uses political design from contemporary China, particularly emphasizing the government's Chinese Dream campaign, to analyze what at first appears to be a paradox. The subjects of the various campaigns and the language they use are mandated by the central government and promoted through central and local publicity departments. However, the graphic aspects of these campaigns, such as the choice of colours, images, layout, and typeface, are much less strictly controlled, and are decided by local governments or authorities. This makes political design in China decentralized. Decentralized design is inconsistent with the principles of global marketing and with the PRC's reliance on set forms of political discourse, both of which rely on the assumption that uniformity will lead to more effective communication of messages and persuasion of the public. Evidence from local design campaigns indeed shows that Chinese political posters are often designed hastily and without expertise, resulting in strange and unpersuasive images. Despite this, the article shows that decentralized design is not paradoxical. This is largely because the Chinese party-state uses propaganda as a method of "signalling" its overall power, more than as a tool of indoctrination or persuasion about particular topics. The central government's reliance on incentives and metrics to regulate local authorities means that the production of propaganda is also a way in which local governments can signal their loyalty to the Centre.

2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Edward Hutagalung

The fi nancial relationship between central and local government can be defi ned as a system that regulates how some funds were divided among various levels of government as well as how to fi ndsources of local empowerment to support the activities of the public sector.Fiscal decentralization is the delegation of authority granted by the central government to theregions to make policy in the area of   fi nancial management.One of the main pillars of regional autonomy is a regional authority to independently manage thefi nancial area. State of Indonesia as a unitary state of Indonesia adheres to a combination of elementsof recognition for local authorities to independently manage fi nances combined with the element oftransferring fi scal authority and supervision of the fi scal policy area.General Allocation Fund an area allocated on the basis of the fi scal gap and basic allocation whilethe fi scal gap is reduced by the fi scal needs of local fi scal capacity. Fiscal capacity of local sources offunding that comes from the area of   regional revenue and Tax Sharing Funds outside the ReforestationFund.The results showed that the strengthening of local fi scal capacity is in line with regional autonomy.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 2765
Author(s):  
Joanna Rakowska ◽  
Irena Ozimek

The deployment of renewable energy at the local level can contribute significantly to mitigating climate change, improving energy security and increasing social, economic and environmental benefits. In many countries local authorities play an important role in the local development, but renewable energy deployment is not an obligatory task for them. Hence there are two research questions: (1) Do local governments think investments in renewable energy (RE) are urgent and affordable within the local budgets? (2) How do they react to the public aid co-financing investments in renewable energy? To provide the answer we performed qualitative analysis and non-parametric tests of data from a survey of 252 local authorities, analysis of 292 strategies of local development and datasets of 1170 renewable energy projects co-financed by EU funds under operational programs 2007–2013 and 2014–2020 in Poland. Findings showed that local authorities’ attitudes were rather careful, caused by financial constraints of local budgets and the scope of obligatory tasks, which made renewable energy investments not the most urgent. Public aid was a factor significantly affecting local authorities’ behavior. It triggered local authorities’ renewable energy initiatives, increasing the number and scope of renewable energy investments as well cooperation with other municipalities and local communities. Despite this general trend, there were also considerable regional differences in local authorities’ renewable energy behavior.


Author(s):  
Shuang Ling ◽  
Shan Gao ◽  
Wenhui Liu

Despite the expectation that social media use in the public sector contributes to enhancing government's transparency, few studies have been investigated whether social media use actually leads to more disclosure during environmental incidents in practice and how social media influence local governments and their officials' information disclosure. In this article, we model information disclosure during environmental incidents as an evolutionary game process between the central government and local government in social media context, and examine the internal mechanism that how social media influence the progress of information disclosure during environmental incidents. The findings indicate that social media plays an active constructive role in central-local government game relations. Specific- ally, social media can provides an efficient information channels for the central government supervise regional officials in environmental incidents, and thus improves its supervision efficiency, and it also provides an important means for internet mobilization and online-offline interaction by encouraging the public exchange information and express their views, and in turn forces local governments and their officials tend to disclosure ahead.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1 (ang)) ◽  
pp. 2-10
Author(s):  
Andrzej Zybała

This paper presents the complexity of the contemporary social economy system – its definitions, points of reference, role played in socio-economic development. Furthermore the paper presents a review of selected approaches to social economy, including definitional approaches, e.g. those specific to Anglo-Saxon and continental traditions. It discusses the context in which it emerged and developed as a phenomenon in the public policy and economic areas. It analyses the dynamics of social economy development in Poland, including institutional environment and selected mechanisms of public management. It stresses that top-down initiatives – including those of the central government and the EU institutions – are a key element in making the social economy dynamic in developing the forms of activity (in view of the weakness of endogenous factors). The central and local governments place social economy at the heart of their strategies in many public policies.


Author(s):  
Sonia D. Gatchair

Local governments, like their central government counterparts, must demonstrate increased fiscal responsibility. Although the Jamaican finance ministry has overall responsibility for direction and control of fiscal management at all levels of government, successful implementation cannot be achieved solely by the finance ministry's efforts, but requires the inputs of other actors, including central government, local authorities, the private sector, and civil society groups. This chapter examines the strategic use of collaborations among local authorities and other stakeholders in the implementation of fiscal management policies, in particular revenue-raising efforts in Jamaica, a small island state. The study examines relationships/partnerships (collaborative governance) focusing on the actors, structure, and processes in the implementation of fiscal policy reforms in local authorities. It finds that deliberate efforts must be made to manage complexity arising from overlapping networks with unclear boundaries and fluidity in participation and leadership.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-167
Author(s):  
Harun Harun ◽  
David Carter ◽  
Abu Taher Mollik ◽  
Yi An

Purpose This paper aims to critically explore the forces and critical features relating to the adoption of a new reporting and budgeting system (RBS) in Indonesian local governments. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on an intensive analysis of document sources and interview scripts around the institutionalization of RBS by the Indonesian government and uses the adaption of Dillard et al. (2004) institutional model in informing its findings. Findings The authors find that at the national level, the key drivers in RBS adoption were a combination of exogenous economic and coercive pressures and the wish to mimic accounting reforms in developed nations. At the local government level, the internalization of RBS is a response to a legal obligation imposed by the central government. Despite the RBS adoption has strengthened the transparency of local authorities reports – it limits the roles of other members of citizens in determining how local government budgets are allocated. Research limitations/implications The results of the study should be understood in the historical and institutional contexts of organizations observed. Practical implications The authors reinforce the notion that accounting as a business language dominates narratives and conversations surrounding the nature of government reporting and budgeting systems and how resource allocation is formulated and practiced. This should remind policymakers in other developing nations that any implementation of a new accounting technology should consider institutional capacities of public sector organizations and how the new technology benefits the public. Social implications The authors argue that the dominant role of international financial authorities in the policymaking and implementation of RBS challenges the aim of autonomy policies, which grant greater roles for local authorities and citizens in determining the nature of the budgets and operation of local authorities. Originality/value This study extends institutional theory by adapting the Dillard et al. (2004) model in explaining the forces, actors and critical features of a new accounting system adoption by local governments.


1985 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 387-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre-Henri Derycke ◽  
Guy Gilbert

ABSTRACTAfter a sharp increase, the public debt of French local communities has been stabilized in real terms: its amount reached 54 per cent of total public debt in 1980. In the French institutional framework, local government borrowing policy is under the tight control of central agencies. An econometric model of the borrowing behaviour of local governments since 1965 is presented; it emphasizes the role of internal determinants of local debt (needs for investment, self-financing ability of governments), external constraints (e.g. interest rates and the financial resources of lenders, such as households savings), and finally the impact of macroeconomic policy measures from the central government.


Kinesik ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-274
Author(s):  
Edwan ◽  
Nurhaidar

The spread of the Corona Virus (covid 19) in Indonesia is increasing. Throughout 2020 the number of confirmed positive increases every day to reach hundreds of thousands of people. In Central Sulawesi, the number of confirmed positive fluctuates so that it becomes a serious concern for local governments. In a crisis situation, the provincial government has also taken a number of steps in terms of handling covid 19, especially in minimizing public concerns and anxiety in dealing with the Covid 19 pandemic. Crisis communication facing the Covid-1 pandemic in 2020. At the beginning of the emergence of Covid 19. The results of this study indicate that the Public Relations of Central Sulawesi Province has done a number of things, especially in the pre-crisis, during the crisis and a number of planning steps in the post-crisis. Several steps were taken in accordance with the technical guidelines of the central government and adapted to regional conditions and situations because they do not yet have a standard crisis planning model


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 45
Author(s):  
Filomena Occhiuzzi

: The paper proposal is focused on the evolution of a specific legal instrument, which consists of the Central government’s power to “dissolve” municipal councils in the case of infiltrations by organized crime. In Italian administrative legislation, local councils may be dissolved for several reasons such as the ongoing violation of the law and the neglect of duty, but one of the most debated causes is the interference and the pressure that organized crime may exercise on the members of municipal councils. This specific administrative law instrument is defined in art. 143 T.U.E.L. and is part of a series of public anti-mafia policies. It was introduced in 1991 as an emergency law to cope with the risk of maladministration due to local authorities’ subjugation to criminal power (Mete, 2009). The aim of the dissolution of local councils is to preserve constitutional and fundamental values such as democracy and the rule of law, but it is a very severe legal tool as it affects a democratically elected community. This instrument is also closely related to the prevention of corruption in the public sector, as often the infiltrations by organized crime in municipalities are due to the corruption of public officials. The institution in charge of applying this legal tool is the Prefect, which has the power to enforce the orders of the central government and oversees local authorities. The procedure for the adoption of this instrument involves the major constitutional bodies such as the Parliament, the Ministry of Interior and the President of the Republic.


Author(s):  
Rusen Keles

International Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences defines local government as a public entity which is a sub-unit of a state or of a region, charged with the determination and carrying out of certain public policies in a relatively small territory. Local authorities are created to respond to certain needs of the inhabitants in local communities. These are mainly administrative, political and social factors. Leaving aside a few exceptionally small states, carrying out of all the public services from a single center is almost impossible. In order to ensure efficient performance of public services and to avoid both “appoplexy” at the center on one hand, and “anemia” in the periphery, there is a need to reduce the load on the shoulders of the central government and to take necessary measures to strengthen local authorities.


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