The purpose of this study is to examine the premise that increased Internet access leads to higher levels of governmental transparency. In so doing, we assess the impact of geographic, demographic, socioeconomic, and institutional factors on governmental transparency in 816 out of 1055 counties in the twelve Midwestern states. The findings from the most extensive ordered logistic model show that total land area, population density, percentage of minority population, educational attainment, and the council-manager form of government are statistically associated with higher levels of government transparency at the county level via the Internet.
Decentralization is argued to enhance citizen–government relationships and, thus, to lead to higher levels of citizen trust. General purpose policing encompasses various services that might be assigned to different levels of governments. The literature lacks generalizable studies of the effects of the structural arrangements of police systems on police performance. This study is a cross‐national exploration of the relationship between the varying degrees of police decentralization and police performance as measured by citizen trust in the police. It uses a measure of decentralization of police systems based on the tiers of government with some control over police. Results show that, in the 72 sample countries, the relationship between citizen trust in police and decentralized police systems is not statistically significant. However, when the countries are categorized by the Human Development Index, decentralized police systems tend to be positively related to citizen trust in the more developed countries but inversely in the less developed countries.
PurposeMunicipal amalgamation (or merger or consolidation) is commonly employed in countries around the world to improve efficiency in public service. While mergers occur among jurisdictions of all sizes, the municipal amalgamation discourse is typically limited to one national setting and a focus on mergers of larger local jurisdictions. The existing municipal amalgamation literature pays little attention to predicate conditions for successful mergers. This study seeks to address these deficiencies by examining the premerger conditions and effects of municipal amalgamations that recently took place in four small jurisdictions of similar size in Thailand and the United States.Design/methodology/approachA holistic multiple case study approach was employed. These two cases share a geographical attribute: one municipal jurisdiction encircled by another.FindingsThe evidence indicates that factors associated with what the researchers refer to as “familiarity” facilitated both successful approval of and outcomes resulting from the amalgamation actions. While the study's findings align with international research regarding the potential for reducing administrative support costs through consolidation, its findings diverge from existing international evidence in that the evidence indicates operating effectiveness and efficiency improvements. Economies of scope and marginal economies of scale are in evidence. Although findings from this study indicate that there might be problematic effects regarding political representation and participation, in that the consolidated jurisdictions remain small in size, negative citizen engagement and participation consequences may be less than that evidenced in larger consolidated jurisdictions.Originality/valueThe study introduces the “familiarity” theorem as a theoretical lens to assist in understanding the cases.
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