2009, Vol.18, No.1

Journal of Regional Studies and Development 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.4

pISSN : 1738-3846 / eISSN : 2765-4028
https://journal.kci.go.kr/jrsd_ipaid

This study is to investigate the ways the Progressive Movement affected neighborhood participation. The first step in such an analysis is to discuss American political intellect and ideology. The second step is to examine the practice and core values of the Progressive Movement. The third step is to see how these values influenced the current practice of neighborhood participation, focusing specifically on the creation of the neighborhood councils in Los Angeles. To evaluate the Progressive influence fully, the multiple natures of neighborhood participation, such as perfect, pseudo and partial participation are also addressed. The authors indicated that the Progressive Movement enhanced administrative power for efficient government but failed to foster collaborative work with the citizens. Inquiry into the relationship between the Progressive Era and citizen participation deserves attention and has produced contributions, but future research must still examine the limitations this article has identified and find ways to overcome the impasses.

This article proposes to change performance measurement in such a way that it becomes possible to relate outcomes to the public policies involved, taking into account the complexity of the context. It involves a five step procedure, including quantitative and qualitative analysis. It is argued that this method can also be used as a search-light to detect best practices. This five step procedure is applied to the problem of crime rates in Dutch municipalities. The outcomes suggest that just looking at crime rates as such can distort conclusions about the effectiveness of municipalities. The remarkable finding for the Netherlands is that among those cities experiencing high crime rates there are nevertheless also cities having exemplary policies to combat crime.

While there has been a great deal of attention devoted to issues of decentralization and local governance by practitioners, scholars and the international development community during the course of the past several decades, much of the focus has been upon issues of fiscal decentralization. In this article, the relationship between decentralization, local governance and democratic institution building is examined. Attention is devoted to the role of decentralization and local governance in terms of the dispersal of political power, the creation of civic space and the relationship between local government and civil society. In addition, issues of maximizing citizen choice and enhancing local economic development are also examined. This is followed by a review of the critical issues involved in the building of democratic local governance. Eight recommendations for doing this are presented. They include the need to recognize the complexity of the process, understand the importance of citizen participation and the need for an adequate and dependable revenue base. Attention is also paid to the need for effective management practices, as well as the role of national governments and civil society in the development of strong and effective democratic local governance.