Partnerships in place: Facilitating rural local government entrepreneurialism in Newfoundland and Labrador

Rural local governments across Canada, including those in Newfoundland and Labrador, struggle with many of their day-to-day operational activities, including providing appropriate drinking water, wastewater, and garbage collection services, among other essential services, and rarely have capacity to facilitate local economic development activities. In recent times, entrepreneurialism has been noted as having potential for rural local governments, yet little research has been completed to determine its presence and relevance for municipalities in Newfoundland and Labrador. In response, we examined eight case study local governments in Newfoundland and Labrador to determine if, and how, entrepreneurialism was present in municipal efforts to increase economic prosperity in their communities. Findings suggest that while rural local governments continue to face challenges due to declining support for rural development from provincial and federal governments and increased downloading of responsibilities, some communities have established ways to remain resilient through partnerships and building on place-based assets. This exploratory study provides a basis for further in-depth research to determine the extent and approaches to entrepreneurialism in local government in rural Newfoundland and Labrador.     

Tensions between municipal reform and outdated fiscal levers in rural British Columbia

Debates about the future of small municipalities in Canada are set against a backdrop of economic, political, and social restructuring processes that have displaced former state investment policies in favour of neoliberal public policy approaches. Small municipalities struggle with outdated financial and governance structures and a provincial public policy agenda that asks them to become more creative, innovative, and “entrepreneurial” in their approach and responsibilities. Drawing upon key informant interviews with eight case studies in British Columbia, Canada, this research examines the tensions between municipal reforms mandated by the provincial government over the past 30 years and commensurate fiscal levers and capacities in place to address these broadening responsibilities for small municipalities in volatile staples-dependent regions. Our findings demonstrate how successive provincial governments have mobilized New Public Management objectives through a host of legislative and regulatory changes that have increased the responsibilities and requirements on local governments without commensurate fiscal or jurisdictional capacity.     

Adapting (Municipal) Form to (Provincial) Function: City–County Separation and the Introduction of the Consolidated Municipal Service Manager System in Ontario,Canada

In 1998, the province of Ontario introduced the Consolidated Municipal Service Manager (CMSM) system, which effectively downloaded the responsibility for delivery and partial funding for a range of social services to municipalities. Separated cities and counties—a unique system of municipal organization in Ontario that draws a sharp institutional distinction between urban and rural areas—were given a particularly wide range of discretion over the implementation of these services. A number of these jurisdictions experienced an array of problems reaching a local solution. Some even wound up in arbitration. This article examines the implementation of the CMSM, focusing specifically on the unique institutional arrangement found in counties with separated cities, finding that the provincial government overlooked the institutional design of city–county separation, hindering the policy downloading process. Overall, it is argued that the local institutional environment is key when shifting policy responsibility from central to local actors.     

Voluntarism and long-term care in the countryside: the paradox of a threadbare sector

This article contributes to the burgeoning literature on the geographies of voluntarism by addressing how voluntary sector providers in rural communities respond to the downloading of responsibilities for health and social care associated with public service restructuring. Drawing on a qualitative analysis of long-term care in Ontario, it focuses on the consequent actions of non-profit organizations, community support groups and volunteer caregivers in three different rural settings. Despite evidence of increasingly disproportionate levels of voluntarism amongst rural communities, the results reveal sector- and place-specific opportunities that allow voluntary sector providers to overcome the limitations of the rural service environment. The findings suggest that in the longer run, however, the growing dependence on local solutions will only exacerbate the uneven geographies of health and social care across rural space. Resolving this paradox remains a critical yet neglected challenge for sustainable rural services and communities.     

Governance,Policy Innovation,and Local Economic Development in North Carolina

This article examines the extent to which local governments in North Carolina embrace innovation in their economic development activities. The study makes a distinctive theoretical contribution by examining the relationship between innovation in how economic development policies are administered and implemented (using concepts associated with governance and NPM), and innovation in what is substantively done (policy innovation). An analysis of the results from a statewide survey of local governments in North Carolina finds that certain governance/management variables are significant determinants of economic development policy innovation. An implication of this finding is that new ways of doing economic development may go hand‐in‐hand with new ways of governing and managing. Many of the governance/management variables are also positively associated with the use of a greater number of traditional economic development strategies and tools. This suggests that local governments may find it helpful to be innovative in how they implement economic development irrespective of the substantive policy orientation of particular strategies and tools.     

COVID-19, mental health,and rurality: A pilot study

COVID-19 has caused enormous economic and social disruptions that may have lasting effects on employment, income, and working conditions. Critically, these disruptions often have a negative impact on mental health. While significant research has examined the relationship between COVID-19 and mental health, most of these studies focus on urban centres. This paper presents results from a pilot study conducted in two rural counties in Ontario, Canada on the experiences of residents from small and rural communities related to COVID-19. Based on 3496 survey results, this study quantifies the negative impact of COVID-19 on overall mental health and the confounding role of gender, income, and age. Results must be used to expand the dialogue around rural mental health and to ensure appropriate programs and policies are developed.     

Hospital restructuring in smaller urban Ontario settings: unwritten rules and uncertain relations

Important changes are underway in the management and provision of welfare service activities in advanced capitalist societies as governments scale back their responsibilities and commitments to social security and health care. In order to understand the processes by which the reform imperatives of the central state are implemented at the local level, it is necessary to account for particular organizational and place-based contingencies which influence decision making and strategic response. This paper presents a framework for understanding the context of executive decision making in the human services sector and uses the framework to illustrate issues of locally designed hospital restructuring in smaller urban centres in the province of Ontario, Canada. Specific experiences of the Chief Executive Officers of two non-metropolitan hospital settings are examined to explore the unwritten rules of hospital conduct and the relations of uncertainty that characterize efforts to restructure hospital services through formal arrangements with other independently governed hospitals and health care delivery organizations.     

Scaling‐Up,Scaling‐Down,and Scaling‐Out: Local Planning Strategies for Sea‐Level Rise in New South Wales,Australia

Globally, sea‐level rise is expected to impact on many coastal regions and settlements. While mitigation of global greenhouse gas emissions remains an important task, adaptation is now seen as a critical component of the policy equation. Local government is a key player in adaptation planning and managing risk through their mandated role in land use planning and development control. Yet, managing the predicted impacts of climate change is proving to be a complex and difficult task for planners and policy makers. This paper reports on a case of local government deliberation on possible planning responses to address future sea‐level rise impacts in New South Wales, Australia. Using structured, expert opinion of planners and other technical experts engaged in a collaborative network in the Sydney region, we explore the feasibility of implementing planning and policy measures at the local and regional scales to respond to inundation risk as a result of sea‐level rise and storm surge events. Our research shows how local governments employ specific scale‐oriented strategies to engage private and public actors at different scales to manage legal, financial, and technical risks in coastal adaptation.     

Neoliberalism in a Small Canadian City? Windsor City Council and the Reform of the Detroit River Border Crossing

This article examines the idea of the neoliberal city. Using the reform of the Detroit River international border crossing between Canada and the United States as a case study, the article explores the extent to which a small- to medium-sized Canadian municipality is capable of developing policy positions that challenge neoliberalism. The conclusion is mixed. Windsor City Council is not advancing policies that present a fundamental challenge to the economic status quo. It does not, for example, challenge the rationale that a new border crossing will facilitate freer trade. Nevertheless, neither are the municipal council's positions completely in line with arguments that municipal governments have no room to advance positions in opposition to major economic interests. The council is advancing policy positions opposed by major local, regional and international business interests. There is, therefore, some evidence of the possibility of local agency within the geography of neoliberalism.     

政府空间治理与地方产业发展响应——以重庆市电子信息产业为例

政府空间治理对地方发展具有深刻影响。西方学界在解释国家治理时有三个重要学说:非马克思主义理论、马克思主义理论和福柯学说,但并不能完全解释我国的政府治理结构。中国治理结构包含中央政府和地方政府等多个层次,各层次的行为能力和权力空间有所不同。改革开放以来,中央政府允许地方政府通过调节财税杠杆、土地、劳动力等要素进行地方治理模式创新。同时,地方政府积极争取成为由中央政府批准的特殊经济区,对本地制度环境进行改革和创新,以促进地方产业发展。本文以重庆市为例,结合6次深入调研,探讨政府如何通过财税、土地等多项改革,提升空间治理能力,创造差异化治理环境,以带动地方产业发展的积极响应。     

20世纪八九十年代西部农村的庙会文化——以陕北地区为个案

改革开放以来,陕北乡村发生了巨大的变化,由单一的农业经济向多元经济转变,城镇化速度加快,农村社会阶层出现分化,社会大环境的变化使重新兴盛的庙会既继承了传统庙会的功能,同时又表现出以庙会活动为中心形成社区文化共同体、从传统神灵信仰转换为社会需求的表达、在维护乡村秩序中扮演了重要角色、开始在社区公共事务中发挥作用以及促成民间庙会与地方政府的互动等新的特点。对其作出全面、客观的评估,对推动西部大开发,促进农村社会的稳定和发展,将会起到积极作用。     

Understanding Local Leadership in Building the Capacity of Rural Communities in Australia

Current approaches to rural community development in Australia provide for limited government intervention. Such intervention is usually housed within programmes that seek to build the internal capacity of communities to achieve long term socio‐economic sustainability. A fundamental implementation strategy for capacity building has been developing local leadership. The underlying assumption of this approach is that good leadership will result in existing resources being mobilised for a more sustainable function and new resources attracted. What though is good leadership in terms of building the capacity of rural communities to develop sustainable socio‐economic futures? This paper compares the conceptualisation of leadership within rural development policies and leadership training programmes with the nature of local leadership as it exists in on‐ground community building projects. From an in‐depth review of the role and nature of local leadership within six Australian rural communities it was found that local leadership could result in improved adaptive capacity if the leadership is similar in nature to Burn's (1978 ) transformational model of leadership. Within policy, local leadership was most often conceptualised as being similar to this transformational model. However, rural leadership training programmes tended to conceptualise leadership as a top‐down process, similar to Burn's (1978 ) transactional model. While this study of leadership within rural communities revealed that transactional skills, as taught in leadership training programmes, were important for successful project management, such skills did not necessarily result in improved community adaptive capacity. It is suggested that, while transactional leadership can have an important role in influencing the development of rural communities, greater attention needs to be given to developing strategies to support transformational leadership.     

不同类型产业集群发展中地方政府行为的比较研究

产业集群是当今地方政府发展本地经济的主要政策方向之一。本研究首先从理论上探讨地方政府在经济发展和产业集群中行为动机和特征,其次案例分析内生型的花都区狮岭镇皮革皮具产业集群和外生型的东莞市石龙镇电子信息产业集群发展不同阶段中地方政府的行为方式,然后对比发现两种类型产业集群中的地方政府行为方式与产业集群的形成过程和发展特征相协调,最后总结出不同类型产业集群在不同阶段地方政府行为方式的重点领域,以期为地方政府产业集群政策的制定提供参考。     

Cultural retaliation: the cultural policies of the ‘new’ Front National

This study examines the conception of culture and the cultural policies of the French Front National. Tracing the developments of the party’s cultural agenda before and after Marine Le Pen took over the leadership of the party from her father, I show how the Front National has adapted its discourse on cultural policy to its wider programmatic profile. In the context of a strategy of de-radicalisation promoted by Marine Le Pen, recent years have witnessed focussed efforts by the party leadership to professionalise and modernise the party’s cultural policy programme. However, the analysis of the party’s current cultural policy agenda reveals a remarkable continuity in the way the party leadership conceives of national culture and of what cultural policy should promote. This programmatic continuity becomes apparent in the analysis of the local cultural policies of municipalities won by the Front National in 2014. Exploring the cultural agendas of ten local governments with a Front National majority, I argue that the cultural policies of the Front National remain deeply rooted in a nativist understanding of culture and a dirigiste approach that wilfully excludes postcolonial minorities.     

Why Are Some Policy Agendas Larger than Others?

Most research on policy agendas is based on the assumption that space on the agenda is fixed and, hence, focuses on how problems compete for this limited agenda space. This article holds that policy agendas may be limited but not fixed, meaning that problems may not always be traded off but confronted through a larger policy agenda. Based on an extensive collection of local council agendas from 98 Danish municipalities over time, this article investigates variations in agenda size across local governments and examines the extent to which this reflects the local problem environment. The analysis reveals that a large council agenda arises in response to an unfriendly problem environment, particularly if there are many committees to channel problems onto the agenda and, to a lesser extent, if center‐left parties hold office.     

Voluntary Environmental Programs in the Public Sector: Evaluating an Urban Water Conservation Program in California

Solving conflictual environmental policy problems is increasingly falling under the purview of local governments and public agencies. Nonregulatory approaches, such as the development of voluntary environmental programs (VEPs), could offer a useful policy alternative as they often have greater political traction and flexibility. However, there has been little work examining the use of VEPs in the public sector. This article uses a new dataset from California to examine how political institutions affect decisions by local governments and public agencies to participate in a voluntary urban water conservation program and whether this program has improved the water conservation performance of its members. The results show that special district governments, private utilities, and water suppliers dependent on purchased water are more likely to participate in the program and to join early. However, urban water agencies that have joined the program have not reduced their per capita water use more than those that have not. These results underscore the influence of political institutions in public‐sector decision making and demonstrate that, as in the private sector, commitment to a VEP by local government and public agencies does not guarantee implementation or environmental improvements. While voluntary programs offer political and administrative advantages, in order for VEPs in the public sector to be effective they must be accompanied and supported by credible enforcement mechanisms, performance standards, and rigorous monitoring programs.     

Policy of Delay: Evidence from a Bayesian Analysis of Metropolitan Land‐Use Choices

Do local policymakers strategically use delay in permitting development to forestall the growth machine? The mantras of smart growth and sustainable development assume local governments can balance the competing values of economic development, ecology, and equity interests in a community. We employ a political market framework to explain differences in local government land use decisions. This framework conceptualizes policy choices as resulting from the interplay between the aggregate policy demand by residents, developers, and environmental interests and the aggregate supply by government authorities. Delays can be imposed strategically through processes of development approval by city governments where industry strength and form of government vary within county‐level service‐delivery fragmentation. We utilize novel Bayesian multilevel modelling of data collected from 2007 and 2015 surveys of Florida city planners and find strong institutional effects and multilevel relationships.     

大都市边缘区农村居民对宅基地退出和定居的思考——以南京市江宁区为例

中国的快速城镇化推动了乡村发展转型与空间重构,农村居民对于土地退出、定居的想法正发生着变化。基于2014 年在南京市江宁区的问卷及访谈调查,本文探索了发达地区大都市边缘区中农村居民针对宅基地退出和未来定居的意愿。通过运用访谈资料和回归模型,本文发现村庄属性、一些个人主客观因子都影响着农村居民对于土地退出和未来定居的决策。本文还发现,相当多的农村居民倾向于在邻近小城镇定居,对宅基地退出普遍持负面态度。随着宅基地财产功能的提升、城乡一体化进程推进等方面的变化,关于宅基地流转制度的改革势在必行。     

Farmwomen's emotional geographies of care: a view from rural Ontario

This article contributes to geographies of rural women's health by investigating farmwomen's perceptions of their caring roles and responsibilities, which are crucial to the wellbeing and sustainability of rural people and their communities. Featuring a thematic analysis of interviews and a focus group with farmwomen from Ontario, Canada, the research examines farms and farming as unique places and spaces of care. Informed by the literature on emotional geographies, the article examines how care is situated and performed through farmwomen's negotiation of multiple, overlapping identities and how these are embodied and affective in emotional work. The findings not only confirm the paramount role of women in rural care, they demonstrate the interdependence of family, community and work as central to the challenges of rural women's health. The article argues that the link between health and productivity on the farm is crucial to understanding farmwomen's caring, and highlights the paradox that their emotional work is as much about opportunities for power and resistance as it is about obligation and subordination.     

Police power and fettered freedom: regulating coastal freedom camping in New Zealand

Freedom camping is a form of tourism entailing overnight stays in public open spaces, rather than formal campgrounds. It presents varied challenges for local governments charged with maintaining safe and orderly public spaces. This article provides empirical and conceptual insights into the regulation of coastal freedom camping in New Zealand, drawing on the notion of police power. This form of law is centrally concerned with preventing disruption and disorder in public space, and seeks to advance collective welfare rather than individual rights. The purpose of this article is twofold. First, we consider why and how local governments in New Zealand regulate coastal freedom camping, focusing on a case study of the Coromandel district. Second, we consider how freedom campers understand and experience the regulation of their activities, drawing on a survey of 61 campers in three North Island coastal areas. We find that the policing of freedom camping proceeds through regulation of space, objects and behaviours. Underpinning this approach is an understanding of the activity as inherently problematic. Freedom campers themselves were generally aware of local regulations, but had little experience of enforcement. Most sought to perform camping responsibly, whilst noting that some others required policing.