Guest-editors: Reto Steiner (University of Bern), Carmen Navarro (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), Chris Tapscot (University of Western Cape)
Globally, local authorities are significant players in the provision of public services. In recent decades, decentralization has become an important reform strategy in many countries, usually with the support of international organizations. Traditional arguments suggest that efficiency and quality gains in the provision of public services are achieved through decentralization along with greater expectations for accountability and responsiveness. However, some scholars warn that there are also dangers involved in decentralization. For example, local administrations could be understaffed, financially weak, or might be captured by local political elites, which can potentially lead to poorer public service provision. There is also a risk of differentiation between poorer and richer municipalities.
The aim of this special issue is to discuss the extent to which local government might be considered the most suitable tier of government for public service delivery and where the limitations are. Potential topics might include the following:
· What functions should be performed a the local tier of government?
· Do managerial and territorial reforms improve service delivery at the local level?
· How might local governments be better organized in order to provide effective and efficient public services?
· What role should a per equation system play in order to decrease unequal capacities between local governments?
· What are the key elements for effective inter-governmental relations between national, state/provincial, and local governments in order to improve service delivery at the local level?
· Does decentralization lead to a better input legitimacy?
· How can we measure local autonomy?
This call for papers invites scholars studying public services provision at the local tier of government to reflect theoretically and share empirical research. We especially welcome papers presenting comparative studies that for example compare local service delivery across different policy fields or tiers of government, organizational contexts or countries.
There is a two-step selection of papers. Please submit your proposals by 1 August 2016.
After acceptance of the proposals, full manuscripts are due 1 December 2016. All full manuscripts will undergo double blind peer review. Revisions and review have to be finished by 30 April 2017. Aiming for publication summer 2017.
For information on the journal, please see http://emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/journals.htm?id=IJPSM
Please submit your abstract to: Reto Steiner, University of Bern: [email protected]