Devolution, politics and social poilicy

This report summarises the presentations, discussion and emerging themes in child protection from two four-nations seminars hosted by The University of Edinburgh/NSPCC Child Protection Research Centre. These events were designed to create a space to reflect, share knowledge and debate developing issues in child protection across the UK. Invited speakers and representatives included senior level policy makers, inspectors, voluntary sector managers, academics and practitioners from each part of the UK. This report offers: an overview of developments in child protection across the UK; information about the Munro Review and the resulting initiatives; a synopsis of the seminar presentations focusing in particular on structural change, new developments and emerging issues. Finally, the report consolidates information from across the four parts of the UK, draws out themes of commonality and difference and identifies areas that may warrant further consideration.

Access to parks and recreational opportunities contributes to physical activity and positive health outcomes. But who is responsible for building the healthy city, particularly where resources are limited? While neoliberal state restructuring and fiscal austerity measures have increased the responsibility of nonprofit organizations in local services provision, little is known about their role in promoting healthy urban environments. This article investigates the role of nonprofits in supporting parks and physical activity in Southern California and analyzes the relationships between levels of voluntary-sector activity and the socio-demographic, economic, and fiscal characteristics of municipalities. Results indicate that nonprofits are unevenly distributed and more active in affluent, fiscally stronger, suburban, conservative, and white municipalities, reproducing intra-urban differences underlying health disparities. [

This article examines the devolution of social welfare services in the Philippines, focusing on its ideological underpinnings and implications for social welfare. It argues that the devolution resulted in a policy environment that allows for varying levels of social support across municipalities and, consequently, the fragmentation of Filipino citizenship.

This paper analyzes the dynamics of health devolution in the Philippines within the context of the 1991 Local Government Code. The paper looks into how the present level of health devolution came about, the reform's impact on the public health system, and the factors involved in improving health service delivery in municipalities under a devolved set up. There are several variables that are tested as possible intervening variables. These are prioritization of health services in resource allocation and management, adequacy of formal health personnel and facilities, and citizens' participation in health service delivery. The sociopolitical context of the local government is also explored. Two case studies are presented to support the arguments of the paper.

Since the 1970s. European states have been reassessing and reconfiguring the welfare state. At the same time, these states have seen the decentralisation of power and responsibility to the regional level, and the transfer of competencies to the European Union. The volume considers these processes in parallel, providing a comprehensive examination of the expansion and ongoing development of the welfare state within teh framework of territorial politics. The book includes country studies on the UK, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Germany, France, the Nordic countries and Canada. In addition to its case study investigations, 'The Territorial Politics of Welfare' includes an examination of the role of the European union in social polict development.

This study sought to; determine levels of income generated from Solid Waste Management (SWM) practices, assess contribution of the income to participating households’ (HHs) socio-economics and make policy recommendations to exploit existing potential in SWM practices. 121 HHs were surveyed from five phases of Dandora, Kenya. Respondents were selected through systematic sampling by phase. Relationships between SWM practices and household socioeconomic factors were established through descriptive analysis and correlations. Findings showed SWM practices had positive influence on socioeconomic lives of participants. Mean monthly income from SWM practices (Collection and Disposal, Recycling, and Minimization) were KShs 15941.28/=, KShs 16170.45/= and KShs 9467.50/= per household respectively. Total income of KShs 102,481,259/= per month from SWM Practices for the 6800HHs under study, contributed 82.47% of the total HH socioeconomic expenditure which included but not limited to education, food, health and housing expenses. These expenses constituted 55%, 21%, 18%, and 5% of total income respectively implying that HHs had other sources of income to supplement income from SWM practices. Correlation between total income and total expenses revealed a weak but positive correlation (r=0.389, at p=0.01) that was significant. The researcher recommends separation of waste at household level for easier collection, disposal and recycling; regular waste collection to avoid creation of mini-dumps in residential areas; and support for research and popularization of adoption of appropriate and low cost SWM technologies locally available to reduce handling cost of recyclable waste. Due to pollution of water supplied to HHs by leachate water from waste dumps, a separate cell should be provided at the sanitary landfill for the ashes of incinerated hazardous wastes and composting of solid waste at household level especially by those farming to generate organic manure for organic farming. The government should develop and implement policies that outline practical approaches to SWM practices.

For the first time in the history of Kenya, the public is keen in participating in policy and legislative development as well as holding leaders accountable as opposed to the past where citizens were mere recipients of laws and Isiolo County Government is not an exception to this. Unlike the past when Isiolo was County was both inaccessible and rife with banditry, the road to the Isiolo, through picturesque Mt. Kenya, is a joy to experience. As for safety, the County trumps most of Kenya and one can traverse the entire expanse of the County without a worry. Secondly, the people of Isiolo are extremely hospitable. They share from their obvious material paucity with humbling abandon. Nonetheless, Isiolo County is in dire need of proper governance and capacity building in legislative development which continues to derail all functions at the county level

Reality of Isiolo County Governance is tossing out spontaneous unexpected scenario. It will certainly shift in the way we relate to each other and do business of politics in Isiolo County. Quality leadership matters. Isiolo County Government team is effectively suffering under burden of untried political leadership. People expect their lives to leap forward, social relations to improve and negative politics disposed. The team opposing current leadership made one point clear. Dread. Fear –it is horror, run away.

There is now more confusion than light, disorder at County Offices, deceit on past relations, lack of information and growing elusion. Things were not going in the right direction from onset, early intervention was sabotaged; and justice crawled in the woods
Isiolo County government is real theatre of absurd; Management by chaos, pressure on establishment and strain to the limit of governance and social structures. Everything seems to work through a chaotic process and behind schedule. People’s expectation and dreams were shuttered. Tribe, Clan or Sub clans’ talks are the order of the day. Court sanctions, Court injunctions are daily affairs.

The 2013 Constitution of Zimbabwe provides for a devolved system of government, comprising national, provincial/ metropolitan and local governments. On the face of it, this is a departure from the Independence Constitution which did not provide for devolution of power. This paper, however, seeks to demonstrate that there is in fact no marked diff erence between the current framework and the pre-2013 constitutional dispensation. Weak and unsatisfactory legal and constitutional provisions on governance at national, provincial and local government levels, combined with the anti-devolution stance of the current ZANU-PF government, have conspired to make devolution of power nothing but a mirage. It is contended that a truly devolved system of governance in Zimbabwe may be realized through constitutional amendments establishing realistic sub-national tiers of governments that are democratically legitimate and have clear law making and implementation powers of their own.

This is a collection of the writings of Welsh political thinker and activist who took his own life in 2002 at the age of 36.  The book contains 29 essays, pieces and presentations from between 1990 and 2002.  It serves as a time capsule for one of the most important periods of Welsh political, social and cultural history. 

The work was edited with an Introduction by Dr James Luchte, Senior Lecturer of Philosophy, University of Wales Trinity Saint David and Programme Coordinator of the MA in European Philosophy and Visiting Professor at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, School of Humanities.

Researchers who investigate English national identity using interview techniques often conclude that English people suffer "problems" with national self-identification. In this chapter, I challenge this interpretation of interview accounts. Treating the interview as a situated conversation, I note how respondents'  answers to direct questions concerning their personal sense of national identity are typically oriented to normative considerations relating to the socially appropriate way to speak about national identity in public contexts.

Pakistan is a developing nation of third world yet struggling to launch a local level system that ensures targeting of developmental problems at grass roots and striving to make the communities empowered in the sense that they plan and prioritize their problems and decide the solutions at local levels. The purpose of the paper is to study the new approach of Devolution of Power in its procedural perspective. The paper also aims to highlight the procedural lope holes in the concept of devolution of power in Pakistan due to which the real essence of participation, local level planning, and empowerment did not reach the targeted communities. The paper critically comments on the gaps that were not addressed in the policy due to which the idea of devolution came under severe attacks by the social scientists.

An examination of the local government reforms instituted by the Musharraf government in 2000 in Pakistan. It demonstrates how the devolution reforms decreased the political and administrative influence of the bureaucracy by removing their executive administration powers and caused further politicization and decay of the civil service. Non-traditional authorities and local elites were able to capture many of the new elected positions resulting in little improvement in the people’s participation. Patron-client relations between the local elite and civil servants were reversed, further weakening the bureaucracy. The rise in power of the military and its infiltration into all institutions of the state allowed it to systemically weaken the bureaucracy’s elite cadre (the DMG) and marginalize a potential institutional competitor. Local elites became subservient to the military as well, which further decreased the need for a partnership with the bureaucracy. This served to remove a potentially powerful competitor for the military regime and fit the larger trend of the increasing encroachment of the military into the state. The nature of the reforms, though meant to increase democratization and participation, further served to entrench the power of military as the strongest institution in the country.

In recent years, two apparently contradictory but, in fact, complementary socio-political phenomena have reinforced each other in the European urban realm: the re-scaling of nation-states through “devolution” and the emergence of two opposed versions of “nationalism” (i.e., ethnic, non-metropolitanised, state-centric, exclusive, and right-wing populist nationalism and civic, metropolitanised, stateless, inclusive and progressivist-emancipatory-social democratic nationalism). In light of these intertwined phenomena, this paper shows how an ongoing, pervasive, and uneven “metropolitanisation effect” is increasingly shaping city-regional political responses by overlapping metropolitan, city-regional, and national political scales and agendas. This effect is clear in three European cases driven by “civic nationalism” that are altering their referential nation-states’ uniformity through “devolution”. This paper compares three metropolitan (and city-regional) cases in the UK and in Spain, namely, Glasgow (Scotland), Barcelona (Catalonia), and Bilbao (Basque Country), by benchmarking their policy implementation and the tensions produced in reference to their nation-states. Fieldwork was conducted from January 2015 to June 2017 through in-depth interviews with stakeholders in the three locations. Despite the so-called pluri-national and federal dilemmas, this paper contributes to the examination of the side effects of “metropolitanisation” by considering three arguments based on geo-economics (“prosperous competitiveness”), geo-politics (“smart devolution”), and geo-democratics (“right to decide”). Finally, this paper adds to the existing research on metropolitan and city-regional politics by demonstrating why “devolution” matters and why it must be considered seriously. The “metropolitanisation effect” is key to understanding and transforming the current configurations of nation-states, such as the UK and Spain (as we currently know them), beyond internal discord around pluri-nationality and quasi-federalism. This paper concludes by suggesting the term “smart devolution” to promote more imaginative and entrepreneurial approaches to metropolitan and city-regional politics, policies, and experimental democracy within these nation-states. These approaches can identify and pursue “smart” avenues of timely, subtle, and innovative political strategies for change in the ongoing re-scaling devolution processes occurring in the UK and in Spain and in the consequent changes in the prospects for the refoundational momentum in the EU.

The coalition government in Wales has committed itself to seriously consider devolving the criminal justice system for Wales. It is seen as the next possible step in the devolution process. To some extent many of the structures for a devolved criminal justice system are already being put in place to support devolved policy making and provision of criminal justice services in Wales. However, the One Wales agreement proposes to place the most emphasis on a devolved criminal justice system on youth justice and the prevention of reoffending. This is problematic in a number of ways explored in the paper, not least because the duties in the Welsh Constitution obligate the Welsh Assembly Government to ensure equality of opportunity for all and equality of treatment of both Welsh and English. Can a successful devolved fit-for-purpose criminal justice system for Wales be created?

Calzada, I. (2014), PostIndependentzia > #HanIzanikHonaGara, TransLoKal – Academic Entrepreneurship for Policy Making – Publishing, Donostia. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.33265.28007. ISBN (e-book): 978-84-942752-1-0 & ISBN (paperback): 978-84-942752-2-7.

'Postindependence' book aims to summarise the most relevant conclusions of a three-year research project on Regional and Social Innovation Studies carried out at the University of Oxford. The original and first edition is in Basque language. In 2015, the English version will be launch.

In Europe, milestone changes are taking place in which the right for territories to decide their own future and democratic choices for devolution and independence are becoming issues. This book aims to visualize the Basque Country from the outside, from an international point of view by proposing its real choices and contradictions in a constructive, transformational and entrepreneurial manner.

And what if we were an independent country? What if, starting today, we began to think about independence the very next day and started on a plan of action? That is what PostIndependence is. To that end, the author believes that it is essential that relations with other countries and projects should be bolstered, a place that we would like in the world, to start working on a united strategic action.

The launch event will be on 23rd June at 11AM in Elkar Bookshop in St. Sebastian where it will be presented the book by the author and the Basque journalist, Mariano Ferrer.
This event that will be forwarded to media will be completed with another event on 26th June at 7PM in the same venue. This second event that aims to open the floor to discussion and conversation around the book, will be conducted entirely by the Basque journalist, Mariano Ferrer.

The book has been published by TranLoKal Academic Entrepreneurship for Policy Making - Ekintzailetasun Akademikoa Herrigintzarako new organization.

The book contains the preliminary conclusions from the research project entitled "Benchmarking Future City-Regions" carried out by Dr Calzada at the University of Oxford and Ikerbasque.

More info please contact: [email protected]

With the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, the future was supposed to look brighter for Northern Ireland. 15 years have passed, and through a series of setbacks, false starts and even more intensive negotiations, we have arrived at the present situation.

The return of devolved government in 2007 was supposed to be the catalyst for the full implementation of the 1998 Agreement. Instead we have entered a new period of gridlock. The reasons for the current political impasse are
depressingly familiar.

This paper aims to provide an explanation for the current situation through a focus on events from the signing of the Good Friday Agreement up to the present day. It deals with
the post-agreement euphoria, as people felt that the crisis was nearing its conclusion. The inherent weakness of the SDLP and UUP in their respective communities can explain some of the instability and precariousness of the Agreement. The British government’ decision to suspend activities at
Stormont, and the subsequent scramble to find a quick-fix solution helped to paper over the cracks emerging in the Agreement.

Even with the re-introduction of power-sharing, this time between the more extreme political wings of both communities, the bitterness and divisions in Northern Ireland is coming more and more to the fore. Loyalist grievances have long remained hidden through cleverly cleansed media coverage, but the disturbances at the end of 2012 and the beginning of this year have given them open expression. As always, we must look to the future, even in the most bleak and confusing moments. This paper to seeks to offer a commentary on what the future holds for the Peace Process, and what can be done to avoid the dismantling of the framework for peace.

Northern Kenya and North Rift had a long history of ethnic conflict, violence and marginalization, but new conflict drivers and dynamics related to devolution, terrorism and resource extraction are now exacerbating these local tensions and raising challenges for traditional peace building structures. Violent conflicts involving pastoralists have become widespread and increasingly severe in the North Rift and North Eastern regions of Kenya. This paper identifies and examines the factors contributing to such conflicts, and discusses issues and priorities for conflict prevention and peace building. On the basis of this examination, a number of conclusions and recommendations are proposed on ways in which the stakeholders could contribute to the concerted efforts of curbing violent conflicts involving pastoralists in Kenya.

The years 2007 to 2011 witnessed a remarkable occurrence: the institution of a power-sharing Northern Ireland Assembly which enjoyed, for the first time, the recognition of the large majority of the population. This study seeks to evaluate the performance of the Assembly and the devolved institutions in that parliamentary term.
Upon placing the Assembly in its historical and comparative regional context I analyse its performance with regards to economic progress, legislative competence and public opinion trends, as well as by conducting a major case study of devolved governance and interviewing MLAs. These analyses reveal that whilst the Assembly has created widely accepted local government for the first time and offered a moderately effective medium for local pressure groups to exercise new-found political influence, objectively it performed poorly in legislative, economic, administrative and public opinion terms. Rather it has been primarily characterised by ‘ethnic bargaining’ between the two main parties. I conclude by arguing that while the Assembly has achieved a major victory in surviving as a legitimate local government which has maintained peace, it has yet to become an objectively effective governing body.

While immigration policy has recently emerged onto the Scottish political agenda, despite being an issue reserved to Westminster, its sister policy – the integration of immigrants after they arrive – has received little attention north of the border, despite being an issue devolved to Scotland. This article explores why the ‘hidden’ nature of integration policy in Scotland differs so much from the fireworks accompanying integration debates, pursued through the lens of ‘community cohesion’, in England/the UK. Is the Scottish approach to immigrant integration another example of policy divergence from Westminster? Or are there still forces of convergence at play? This article provides an overview of the understudied area of immigrant integration in Scotland, assessing it through the theoretical lens of policy divergence and convergence. Based on a qualitative analysis of legislative and policy documents, party programmes and elite interviews, it explores political-strategic, institutional and contextual factors that have influenced integration policymaking in Scotland, and situates the analysis within broader theoretical debates about the changing nature of integration policy across Europe. A key finding is that while the ‘retreat of multiculturalism’ and moves towards coercive forms of civic integration may be evident across EU states – including the UK, devolved Scottish institutions are resisting this trend by quietly articulating the vision of a plural, inclusive society that encourages and supports newcomers to work and live in Scotland.

This paper is written with aim to point out the local level hurdles and socio-cultural factors responsible for mal-functioning of Devolution Plan. The authors  have their professional impression on the basis of empirical data from local level community interactions that
development of any nation or region is only possible when there is a distinct demarcation between development activities and interventions to be managed by top developmental intelligentsia or by just enhancing local level participation and sense of ownership. Historically, the province of Punjab witnessed a local level self-reliant approach to manage its livelihoods. The same if revitalized could help bring people realize that they have control over their resources
(both social and natural) and they are capable enough to plan for the improvements in their livelihoods according to the ever-changing socio-environmental conditions. The local government concept is not new to the land rather it has a long history; devolution plan is merely a
new approach into it. The barriers described in current papers debar realization of true and effective local level development, self reliance and social empowerment through meaningful decentralization.

Despite a rich literature on the political and constitutional development of the Canadian territorial North, few scholars have examined the post-devolution environment in Yukon. This lacuna is surprising since devolution is frequently cited as being crucial to the well-being of Northerners, leading both the Government of Nunavut and the Government of the Northwest Territories to lobby the federal government to devolve lands and resources to them. This paper provides an updated historical account of devolution in Yukon and assesses its impact on the territory since 2003. Relying mainly on written sources and 16 interviews with Aboriginal, government, and industry officials in the territory, it highlights some broad effects of devolution and specifically analyzes the processes of obtaining permits for land use and mining. Our findings suggest that devolution has generally had a positive effect on the territory, and in particular has led to more efficient and responsive land use and mining permit processes.

Key words: devolution, Yukon Territory, land use, mining permits

Le mardi 25 juillet 2013, le Sénat de l'Etat du Texas se réunit en session à Austin comme à son habitude. A l'ordre du jour : un projet de loi républicain (SB5) décrié par les associations des droits des femmes et par les démocrates locaux, qui vise à restreindre les conditions d'avortement des habitantes du Texas en imposant aux cliniques réalisant l'intervention d'avoir le statut d'hôpital (une clinique étant souvent un regroupement de cabinets médicaux ne possédant qu'un seul bloc chirurgical).

Pakistan is a developing nation of third world yet struggling to launch a local level system that ensures targeting of developmental problems at grass roots and striving to make the communities empowered in the sense that they plan and prioritize their problems and decide the solutions at local levels. The purpose of the paper is to study the new approach of Devolution of Power in its procedural perspective. The paper also aims to highlight the procedural lope holes in the concept of devolution of power in Pakistan due to which the real essence of participation, local level planning, and empowerment did not reach the targeted communities. The paper critically comments on the gaps that were not addressed in the policy due to which the idea of devolution came under severe attacks by the social scientists.

As final preparations for the 23rd Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) on 15th-17th November 2013 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, this FPC Briefing by Gilberto Algar-Faria examines the challenges Sri Lanka faces dealing with the aftermath of its civil war and recent attempts to facilitate regional autonomy through the Northern Provincial Council (NPC). It explores the tensions faced by the international community in balancing the need for reconciliation and calls for action on human rights issues.

Nel mese di settembre del 2014 la Gran Bretagna dovrà affrontare le conseguenze del referendum sull’indipendenza scozzese. Alla guida del fronte indipendentista spicca lo storico Scottish National Party fondato nel 1935 e passato nel corso del XX secolo da un approccio principalmente autonomista ad uno autenticamente separatista. Le ragioni di un’evoluzione politica di questa portata vanno ricercate nella storia recente del nazionalismo stesso. Il caso scozzese, difatti, dimostra come le combattive correnti indipendentiste, spesso orientate a sinistra, siano riuscite ad esercitare sullo Scottish National Party, e sull’universo nazionalista, una forte influenza capace di modificarne l’orientamento politico (adozione del modello economico socialdemocratico) e gli obiettivi finali (indipendenza da Londra). Il paper si propone di indagare in chiave comparativa l’evoluzione dell’indipendentismo all’interno del nazionalismo scozzese e di quello gallese.
Storicamente rappresentate dallo Scottish National Party e dal Plaid Cymru, le rivendicazioni autonomistiche di scozzesi e gallesi hanno subito, nella seconda metà del secolo scorso, l’influenza di movimenti indipendentisti numericamente ridotti ma spesso capaci di condizionarne considerevolmente l’evoluzione politica. Alla luce di ciò ci interrogheremo su quali fattori abbiano contribuito a sancire il successo del nazionalismo in Scozia più che in Galles, e sulla reale incidenza del contesto socio-economico e delle pulsioni indipendentiste sulla storia recente del nazionalismo periferico nel Regno Unito. La nascita di correnti radicali in seno al nazionalismo storico in entrambe le “nazioni senza stato”, infatti, ha certamente contribuito al revival indipendentista di questi ultimi anni. Che si trattasse di correnti radicali nate in seno ai due partiti tradizionali – come il Mudiad Gweriniaethol Cymru (Movimento Repubblicano Gallese) e il 79 Group in Scozia – o di formazioni nate al di fuori dell’alveo del nazionalismo storico – il Free Wales Army e il Patriotic Front in Galles o l’Army of Provisional Government e il Workers’ Party of Scotland Marxist-Leninist in Scozia – questi gruppi riuscirono a rilanciare il dibattito sull’indipendenza, sui processi d’integrazione europea e sullo stesso orientamento politico del nazionalismo. Ripercorrendone la storia, e focalizzando l’attenzione sul rapporto dialettico intercorso tra le diverse anime del nazionalismo, cercheremo di ricostruire le ragioni del recente successo riscosso dai partiti nazionalisti in entrambi i contesti, le specifiche condizioni che ne hanno favorito l’ascesa e le possibili ricadute sull’assetto politico dell’Unione Europea.

"From Nations to Member States: A new architecture for Europe" summarizes conference hosted by the European Parliament (Brussels) on 9 November 2011 . It is the result of a joint effort by the Greens/European Free Alliance’s European Parliamentary Group and the Centre Maurits Coppieters.

The paper is a transcript of the first panel of the seminar and it intends to show different opinions expressed concerning new EU Architecture, Internal Enlargement, Subsidiarity, Autonomy, Devolution and Independence.

Among the contributors to the paper are:

Lieven Tack, visiting professor at the College of Europe. He is well-known for his opinions on regional autonomy in relation to EU integration.

Dr. Alan Sandry, lecturer in social and political theory at the University of Wales and member of the Centre Maurits Coppieters’ Board.

Alfonso González, lecturer in European Union Law at the Universitat Rovira I Virgili of Tarragona and co-author of the Centre Maurits Coppieters study on Internal Enlargement.

This paper reconstructs and analyzes the establishment of the Community Forestry (CF) processes in Cameroon, questioning the extent to which the CF models can act as a decentralization and devolution tool. It includes community based natural resource management through programs/projects emphasizing biodiversity conservation and sustainable forest management directly involving the local communities. Thirteen communities were explored in the South West Region (SWR) of Cameroon. Samples selection was based on information about recent activities of the communities in the CF process. From this population, a simple random selection and later quantitative and qualitative interviews were carried out with more than 70 different stakeholders through their networking and interest representation in CF. Analysis show that the CF process is centralized, slow, long, complex and expensive, making it difficult for local communities to be an active part in policy implementation. Results also confirm that decentralization and devolution for sustainable local forest governance could offer the communities an opportunity to derive livelihoods from their forests, but the models and processes have also inhibited them through centralized control of the state and its development partners. Furthermore, it shows that CF as a decentralization tool has not really functioned.

The research discussed in this paper was prompted by the writer’s interest in the roles of England’s small country (“market”) towns. It has two aims: first, to discover the extent to which the work programmes announced in the British government’s Rural White Paper of 2000 are recognised by town clerks, and second, to find out what town councils are doing, either on their own, or with others, and then to gauge the potential and desire they have for a greater degree of autonomy. In both cases the data were gathered from an online questionnaire sent to town clerks.

'Postindependence' book aims to summarise the most relevant conclusions of a three-year research project on Regional and Social Innovation Studies carried out at the University of Oxford.

In Europe, milestone changes are taking place in which the right for territories to decide their own future and democratic choices for devolution and independence are becoming issues. This book aims to visualize the Basque Country from the outside, from an international point of view by proposing its real choices and contradictions in a constructive, transformational and entrepreneurial manner.

And what if we were an independent country? What if, starting today, we began to think about independence the very next day and started on a plan of action? That is what PostIndependence is. To that end, the author believes that it is essential that relations with other countries and projects should be bolstered, a place that we would like in the world, to start working on a united strategic action.

More info please contact: [email protected]

Este trabalho constitui um esforço analítico de compreender, na esfera de atuação dos
governos subnacionais, sua articulação em direção às relações internacionais visando a
consecução de uma política pública estrategicamente engajada. Para tanto faz-se uma
contextualização da conjuntura engendrada pelos processos de globalização e
interdependência complexa, responsáveis pela criação de um novo continuum entre o global e
o local. Resultado dessa realidade, os Estados-nação passam a sofrer com a intensificação da
penetração de externalidades negativas do âmbito internacional e suas capacidades de
provedor omnisuficiente para com suas subpartes são evidentemente enfraquecidas, o que
gera, no cerne de suas atividades, uma restruturação funcional. Tal transformação, o chamado
processo de dévolution e subsidiariedade, outorgam legitimidade ao necessário esforço de
inserção internacional por parte das localidades. Assim, analisamos por meio da teorização de
Strategical policy-making a inserção internacional e os processos de engajamento estratégico
das relações internacionais às práticas de políticas públicas. Adotamos como estudo de caso a
inserção internacional do município de São Paulo de modo a buscar, tanto uma análise dos
rumos traçados para sua inserção como a evolução de suas articulações até que estas
convertessem-se em uma política pública estratégica.
""
PALAVRAS-CHAVE: inserção internacional; política pública; paradiplomacia, policymaking;
dévolution; São Paulo

This paper is written with aim to point out the local level hurdles and socio-cultural factors responsible for mal-functioning of Devolution Plan. The authors have their professional impression on the basis of empirical data from local level community interactions that development of any nation or region is only possible when there is a distinct demarcation between development activities and interventions to be managed by top developmental intelligentsia or by just enhancing local level participation and sense of ownership. Historically, the province of Punjab witnessed a local level self-reliant approach to manage its livelihoods. The same if revitalized could help bring people realize that they have control over their resources (both social and natural) and they are capable enough to plan for the improvements in their livelihoods according to the ever-changing socio-environmental conditions. The local government concept is not new to the land rather it has a long history; devolution plan is merely a
new approach into it. The barriers described in current papers debar realization of true and effective local level development, self reliance and social empowerment through meaningful decentralization.

La Costituzione che verrà. Forse. Dopo una brevissima premessa sull'iter delle leggi di revisione costituzionale, nelle pagine seguenti ho riportato nella colonna di sinistra gli articoli della Costituzione che sono sottoposti a revisione e nella colonna di destra le modifiche che sono state approvate in prima votazione sia dalla Camera sia dal Senato.

This article contributes to debates about labour and working class politics in Scotland in the 1980s by examining the campaign of non-payment of the Community Charge, or ‘poll tax’ which was the largest act of civil disobedience in Scottish history in terms of the numbers directly involved. . The poll tax was central to the development of ‘civic Scotland’, the cross-party anti-Thatcher alliance in which the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) was a central component. But the policy was ultimately defeated by the non-payment campaign, organised and mobilised by a variety of community and socialist activists who effectively operated in opposition to Civic Scotland.

The analysis is based on archival materials from the Anti-Poll Tax Federation, which led the non-payment campaign, and the STUC’s All Scotland Anti-Poll Tax Committee which opposed non-payment, along with the testimonies of twelve activists, drawn from the major political trends within the non-payment campaign and the STUC committee. The impact of the 1980s on the anti-poll tax movement is analysed in terms of the creation of a division between working-class communities on Clydeside and the STUC and Labour Party which had traditionally represented them. The social consequences of deindustrialisation, community support for the 1984-5 miners’ strike and a fusion of national and class consciousness in Scotland are emphasised. The opportunity to mobilise this discontent in community struggles is counterpoised with the declining willingness of trade unions to enter industrial action following the defeat of the miners’ strike and a resultant political crisis of the left.

These divisions were heightened by the poll tax. The controversy over non-payment is analysed in the context of the debate on the relevance of the position of the labour movement in society. Differing conclusions drawn from the defeat of the miner strike were surfaced by the question of non-payment of the poll tax and the role of a campaign of grass roots militancy directed at opposing warrant sales versus winning over ‘broad forces’ and legitimacy through mobilising civic Scotland. The non-payment campaign is analysed as a political and physical clash between communities and the Labour controlled Strathclyde Regional Council which was legally and financially compelled to collect the poll tax. The non-payment campaign mobilised women and young unemployed men who were among those most adversely affected by Thatcherite welfare policies and deindustrialisation. However, Civic Scotland and the non-payment campaign are also understood as interacting dialectically. Although divisions between these political forces continued they also synthesised behind the anti-water privatisation referendum in 1994, whilst the poll tax contributed to growing support for devolution and enabled civic Scotland to deliver it with a popular mandate in the late 1990s.

Point Blank with a Continental Drifter. 

Hey why don't you take a ride.  And while you're at it take a hard look at the ethical gray areas of life's highways.  Why don't you question the limits of individual free will and plot the moral high ground.  Gather 'round and haggle with the hegemons of sex, death, and truth.

So get in the car.

The impact of demographic dimensions on local government behavior is well identified, analyzed and documented at the global level. Likewise, several studies are available on developing countries, but empirical evidence on the conditions of Pakistan is lacking. This study is an effort to unearth empirical evidence on access to information in the local government system exemplifying data from the district Dera Ismail Khan (DIK), North Western Frontier Province (NWFP). Most global hypotheses for developing countries are accepted in this study but the statistics on local data are far more different in terms of the value and weight of variables, relationships and impacts on the research concepts. The most dominant concept in the impact of access to information on the local government system is “education for all.” Mass education is a leading concept in making or breaking the role of people participation in the success or failure of local democracies. Data show that illiteracy is causing many problems, including the mass population’s unawareness of their interests and duties at the public level, thereby giving the ruling elite a free hand in exploiting public resources for self-interest, at the cost of the public good.