The Diffusion of Government Responsibilities: Movement Towards Regional and Neighborhood-Centered Policy-Making in Brazil
Date
1999
Authors
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Publisher
AESOP
Abstract
Changing economic, social, and political conditions worldwide are rapidly affecting the way governments are organized. Emphasis on efficient government is growing as democracy and market-based economics spread throughout the globe. In the past 20 years, many nations have pushed for decentralization. Central governments accumulated excessive debts, requiring that state and municipal authorities take on greater roles, while at the same time attention was focused on the effectiveness of democratic participation and localized planning at providing services. This marks the first recent shift in the distribution of responsibility within government. Today, a second shift is occurring. Municipal governments are finding ways to shift responsibility for service provision and planning away from their offices in two directions "up" to regional agencies (see Kirlin 1993) and "down" to neighborhood associations. Regional planning agencies are gaining significance as certain problems require regional cooperation (see
Turok 1995, Prud'homme 1995, Popper 1992, 1993, Doherty 1992, Gilbert 1992, Gore 1984). At the same time, many municipal governments are moving certain municipal functions down to the community level, in an effort to improve efficiency (see Bens 1994) by including the community in the decision-making (see Ortiz), and even the implementation, process (for associated problems, see Fulton 1996, Beatley 1994).
Description
Book of abstracts : AESOP PhD workshop 1999, Finse, Depertment of Geography Univeristy of Bergen, Norway
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CC-BY