Do Local Government Reforms Result in Higher Levels of Trust in Local Politicians?

Reitan, Marit; Gustafsson, K; Blekesaune, Arild

doi:10.1080/03003930.2014.891983

Cited by 11 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Also, there may be unintended outcomes of the responsibilities of the citizen in this onerous calculable space. There may be a decline in citizens' trust in government, in major actors and institutions (Prakash and Potoski, 2016;Mason et al, 2014;Dalton, 1996;O`Neill, 2002;Clarke et al, 2003), and there are declining voting turnouts in elections and a decline in membership of political parties (Reitan et al, 2015;Ariely, 2011). These trends of disenchantment with conventional politics have found outlets in alternative forms of political expression in the emotionally charged populist debates of BREXIT in the UK, the rise of right wing nationalism across Europe and the emergence of Donald Trump as US President.…”

Section: Public Accountability In a Neo-liberal Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hillsborough: The fight for accountability

Cooper

Lapsley

2021

Critical Perspectives on Accounting

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People can accept the terrible things happen, if truth and accountability follow; it is fundamental to the belief that you live in a decent society (Tempany, 2016, p 372) On the 15 th April 1989, in a semifinal FA cup clash between Liverpool F.C. and Nottingham Forest F.C, played at the home of Sheffield Wednesday F.C, Hillsborough, ninety-six Liverpool fans were crushed to death and 766 injured in the standing terracing in the West Stand of the ground. This event sparked controversy, at the time, and has had a significant impact on the field of football, British society (Tempany, 2016) and the British police force. At the time, the police, totally unjustly, blamed the disaster on the fans. This blame was reinforced by the police force leaking of a series of lies about both their own culpability and the behaviour of Liverpool fans, to the popular press and the local MP. This was followed by the systematic falsification of police statements. The bereaved families and aligned social movements embarked on a campaign, in the face of a mendacious, bigoted, callous "establishment", to hold those who were culpable for the events which led to the horrific deaths to account. Their battle for justice and accountability was partially concluded on 26 th April, 2016 when a jury found that the victims of the disaster were unlawfully killed. This opened the door for charges to be laid against the key actors. In June 2016, it was announced that six men would be charged by the British Crown Prosecution Service. These included Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield, match commander, who would face 95 1 charges of manslaughter by gross negligence 2. Subsequently, Sir Norman Bettison, a former Chief Inspector of South Yorkshire Police, who was accused of misconduct in a public office by telling lies about the culpability of the Liverpool fans, had all charges against him dropped by the Criminal Prosecution Service, because of changes in the evidence of two witnesses and the death of a third (BBC News, 2018 3).This outcome was met with dismay by the Hillsborough Family Support Group (BBC News, 2018 3). This paper is concerned with the thirty year (ongoing) battle for accountability. Accountability is multivalenced. Cooper and Johnston's (2012), work on accountability and football, drawing from the work of Bourdieu and Wacquant (2001), argued that accountability has become a "vulgate", commonly used word which appears to be "socially progressive" but in practice has taken on multiple meanings such that it lacks political force. In spite of its progressive undertones, the word accountability is commonly used in management control systems to mean that employees at all levels are "accountable" to their superiors, and to shareholders. This managerial form of accountability frequently may involve the outputs of employees, divisions, departments and so on being rendered "transparent" through various output metrics. Government accountability has come to take this form. Performance metrics have now become a key form of state accountability (

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Section: Public Accountability In a Neo-liberal Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hillsborough: The fight for accountability

Cooper

Lapsley

2021

Critical Perspectives on Accounting

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“…Does cadre deployment and employment assist in the rendering of services? Reitan, Gustafsoon, and Blekesaune () viewed that the depoliticisation of local government activities often leads to a positive reform where effectiveness and efficiency are pursued by local government and the designed results are realised by communities.…”

Section: Public Participation and Deploying Cadresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public service delivery in South Africa: The political influence at local government level

Masuku

Jili

2019

Journal of Public Affairs

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This paper analyses poor service delivery at local government level, which is attributed to the politicisation of administrative components in municipalities, resulting in poor local governance. The public service delivery system has been perceived as one of the most important ways of reducing poverty through poverty alleviation programmes. As part of the South African government's cooperative system, key stakeholders in municipalities ought to adopt an integrated approach to public service delivery. An integrated approach to public service delivery demands that local municipalities, together with relevant stakeholders, integrate processes and services to ensure effective and efficient service delivery. This ultimately will result in an improved standard of living and sustainable livelihood for communities. With regard to public service delivery, local municipalities have the obligation of creating income opportunities people, especially the poor, with the sole aim of contributing towards poverty reduction and the realisation of the expectations of people, as stated in the South African government's White Paper of transforming public service delivery. The political interface in local municipalities greatly affects effective and efficient administration, as well as growth opportunities. Administrators, therefore, have the important function of ensuring that explicit assignments of objectives and administrative functions are wholly separated from the policymaking activities of government. This paper, therefore, suggests that municipalities adopt the merit system and abandon the spoils system that is highly characterised by political favours and political interferences. Political favours and interferences are dominant in local South African government, and they hinder the process of providing services equally.

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“…If citizens do not have high expectations for the potential influence of participation possibilities, it is unlikely that PIs shape policy outcomes in the direction of public interests. A study from Norway, for example, found that the number of consultative PIs does not increase perceived legitimacy in the case of municipal mergers (Reitan et al 2015). We could thus assume that influential PIs have a positive effect on satisfaction with policy outcomes, from which follows our fourth hypothesis:…”

Section: Mode Of Communicationmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…Dryzek 2009). A study from Norway, for example, found that the number of consultative PIs does not increase perceived legitimacy in the case of municipal mergers (Reitan et al 2015). In general, instruments of direct democracy have the highest potential to influence policies (Michels 2011).…”

Section: Mode Of Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since this article studies whether the number and type of PIs used in the municipality affects perceived legitimacy among the citizenry, the first independent variable is simply the total number of PIs in the municipality in 2011, following the operationalisation of 'participatoriness' used in some other studies as well (Font et al 2014b;Reitan et al 2015). As can be seen in the Appendix, the total number of PIs per municipality in our sample is on average 11, varying between 6 and 16.…”

Section: Independent Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Participatory innovations and maxi‐publics: The influence of participation possibilities on perceived legitimacy at the local level in Finland

Jäske

2018

European J Political Res

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Participatory innovations (PIs) have been introduced as one possible cure to democratic malaises. Empirical research on these mechanisms for citizen participation has, however, focused on their effects on individuals and policy outcomes, leaving aside their consequences for the wider public. This article fills part of the gap by examining the effect of PIs on perceived legitimacy. The article acknowledges that citizens value not only outcomes but also the inclusiveness of decision‐making processes, and defines procedural fairness and outcome satisfaction as the key evaluative criteria behind perceived legitimacy. Both total number and type of PIs are considered as possible factors shaping legitimacy evaluations. By analysing data from 9,022 citizens in 30 Finnish municipalities, the article reveals that introducing PIs is not a simple fix for legitimacy of local governments. The type of participation matters, with discursive participation generating the strongest effects on procedural fairness. However, attention should also be paid to citizens’ awareness of participation possibilities.

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Do Local Government Reforms Result in Higher Levels of Trust in Local Politicians?

Cited by 11 publications

References 34 publications

Hillsborough: The fight for accountability

Hillsborough: The fight for accountability

Public service delivery in South Africa: The political influence at local government level

Participatory innovations and maxi‐publics: The influence of participation possibilities on perceived legitimacy at the local level in Finland

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