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Article
Publication date: 1 March 2017

Yonghong Wu and Daniel W. Williams

This paper examines the determinants of success in seeking local government earmarked funding. We compile data of the aggregate amounts of the New York City Council discretionary…

Abstract

This paper examines the determinants of success in seeking local government earmarked funding. We compile data of the aggregate amounts of the New York City Council discretionary expense grants received or requested by each council district every year during 2011-2013. The statistical results show that the allocation of the expense grants are politically motivated with more earmark funds flowing to the districts council leaders and key committee chairpersons represent. Furthermore, constituents of key committee chairpersons are more successful in the earmarking process. Districts with larger African American population have lower success ratios possibly because they request significantly more earmarks. These empirical findings are consistent with anecdotal perceptions that earmarking is not substantially effective in meeting community need.

Details

Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, vol. 29 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1096-3367

Article
Publication date: 2 October 2017

Jermain T.M. Lam

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the results of Hong Kong’s 2015 District Council elections in order to test the repercussions of the Occupy Central Movement. The paper…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the results of Hong Kong’s 2015 District Council elections in order to test the repercussions of the Occupy Central Movement. The paper attempts to identify the political implications of the Movement as reflected by the 2015 election results.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology used for the paper was to collect election data and conduct data analysis to generalize the political implications of the Occupy Central Movement.

Findings

The paper found that, first, Hong Kong is still polarized, as most voters were divided into those who supported the Occupy Central Movement and those who opposed it. Second, there is no consensus regarding political reforms, as most voters were split into two antagonistic positions. Third, the activists of the Occupy Central Movement have formed a new political force that attracts voters who demand change. Fourth, the Occupy Central Movement has become a breeding ground that nurtures localism.

Research limitations/implications

The 2015 District Council elections were a continuation of the Occupy Central Movement. The Movement affected the political balance between the pro-establishment and pan-democratic camps in the 2015 elections and it has shaped the democratization process in Hong Kong.

Originality/value

The paper was the product of an original research project that examined the results of the 2015 District Council elections to reflect on the implications of the Occupy Central Movement. The paper concluded that the 2015 elections sent important political messages to key political players in Hong Kong.

Details

Asian Education and Development Studies, vol. 6 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-3162

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 October 2014

Annika Schneider, Grant Samkin and Howard Davey

The purpose of this paper is to establish whether local authorities in New Zealand report biodiversity-related information and to examine the vehicles through which it is…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to establish whether local authorities in New Zealand report biodiversity-related information and to examine the vehicles through which it is communicated.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses a keyword search to identify biodiversity reporting across a wide range of data sources, including local authority websites, formal accountability documents, environmental reports, environment and biodiversity management strategies, plans and policies.

Findings

Biodiversity-related information was contained in range of documents. Reporting ranged from no mention of the term in existing statutory accountability documents (Annual Plans, Annual Reports, Long-Term Plans [LTPs] and District Plans/Regional Policy Statements), through to a comprehensive stand-alone biodiversity Annual Report and stand-alone biodiversity strategies. Regional and unitary authorities were more likely than territorial authorities to prepare and report biodiversity-related information to stakeholders. There is currently no consistent framework or method to guide local authorities in the presentation of biodiversity-related information. The lack of consistent, comparable information hinders the ability of stakeholders to assess local authority performance in the sustainable management of biodiversity in their district or region.

Research limitations/implications

While this study does not consider quality of reporting, or reporting trends over time, it provides a picture of the “current state of play”. This provides a starting point from which further research into the preparation and reporting of biodiversity information by local authorities can be conducted.

Originality/value

This paper represents the first of its kind within a New Zealand context. It provides an initial insight into whether local authorities prepare and report biodiversity-related information and where this information is presented.

Details

Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, vol. 5 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-8021

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 August 2018

Agustinus Bandur

The purpose of this paper is to explore the key determinants of effective school-based management (SBM) for improved teaching−learning environments and student achievements, while…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the key determinants of effective school-based management (SBM) for improved teaching−learning environments and student achievements, while identifying the major reasons as to why poor implementation of SBM is associated with lower student achievements.

Design/methodology/approach

Both dimensions of quantitative and qualitative research were applied for the purpose of this study with active participation of 334 school stakeholders, including principals, teachers, parents, and school council members. In addition to the survey, 33 Interviews and FGDs were conducted with the participation of 61 key informants. These were followed by an examination of school documents, including students’ national examination results.

Findings

This study concludes that SBM drives the emergence of decision-making authority of principals, the presence of participatory school decision-making, and high involvement of school council for better teaching and learning environments. In turn, effective implementation of SBM policy is associated with healthier teaching−learning environment and better student academic achievements. However, less effective implementation of SBM is due to lack of proper understanding of the school stakeholders that resulted in lower academic achievement.

Practical implications

Adequate provisions of training on the part of school council members and school principals are required for significant results of SBM policy and programs for improved teaching–learning environment and increased student achievements. The training focuses on, among others: school leadership, school development planning and changing roles of school leaders under SBM reform.

Originality/value

This study builds on global and Indonesian developments of the decentralized education through SBM model. This study is highly significant in addressing the current debates in existing literature about whether or not SBM has resulted in school improvements and higher student achievements. Practically, this study provides adequate insight to educational leaders, policy makers and international donor agencies in demonstrating why SBM is effective in particular school settings as well as why SBM policy and programs are not effectively implemented in other schools that resulted in lower student achievements.

Details

International Journal of Educational Management, vol. 32 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-354X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 August 1901

One of the commonest excuses put forward in defence of the practice of treating milk, butter, meat, and other foods with ‘preservative’ drugs no longer possesses even the…

Abstract

One of the commonest excuses put forward in defence of the practice of treating milk, butter, meat, and other foods with ‘preservative’ drugs no longer possesses even the appearance of validity. Several of the large railway companies are adding refrigerator vans in considerable numbers to their rolling‐stock, and this fact should make it no longer possible for defendants to plead that the necessity of sending food‐products a long distance by rail involves the necessity of mixing preservative chemicals with them. Although the excuse referred to will not bear examination, it is a very specious one, and in those instances where evidence has not been brought forward to refute it, it has produced some effect on the minds of magistrates and others. It cannot be too often pointed out that such substances as boracic acid, salicylic acid, and formaldehyde are dangerous drugs, and that their unacknowledged presence in articles of food constitutes a serious danger to the public. Such substances are not foods, and are not natural constituents of any food. In most instances they are purposely introduced into food‐products to avoid the expense attending the proper production, preparation, and distribution of the food, or to conceal the inferior quality of an article by masking the signs of commencing decomposition or incipient putrefaction, and thus to enable a dishonest producer or vendor to palm off as fresh and wholesome an article which may be not only of bad quality, but absolutely dangerous to the consumer. The use of these substances, in any quantity whatsoever, and the sale of articles containing them, without the fullest and clearest disclosure of their presence, is as gross and as dangerous a form of adulteration as any which has at any time been exposed. In no single instance can it be shown that these drugs are, to quote the words of the Act of 1875, matters or ingredients “required for the preparation or production of a food as an article of commerce,” nor, of course, can it be contended that such substances are “extraneous matters with which the food is unavoidably mixed during the process of collection or preparation.” In reality, even under our inadequate and unsatisfactory adulteration laws, through which the proverbial coach‐and‐four can be so easily driven in so many directions, there ought to be no loophole of escape for the deliberate and dishonest drugger of foods. While the presence of preservative chemicals in any quantity whatever in articles of food constitutes adulteration, wherever the quantity is sufficient to allow the production of the specific “preservative” effect of the substance added, that fact alone is enough to make the food so drugged a food which must be regarded as injurious to the health of the consumer—in view of the inhibitory effect which, by its very nature, the antiseptic must produce on the process of digestion. To our knowledge the food market in this country is flooded with all sorts of inferior food‐products which are rarely dealt with under the Adulteration Acts, and which are loaded with so‐called preservatives. There will be no adequate protection for the public against the consumption of this injurious rubbish until the consumer sees the advantage of insisting upon an authoritative and permanent guarantee of quality with his goods, and until manufacturers of the better class at length find it to be a necessity for their continued prosperity that they should supply, apart entirely from their own statements, an independent and powerful guarantee of this kind.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 3 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Article
Publication date: 16 March 2021

Andrew Munthopa Lipunga, Betchani M.H. Tchereni and Rhoda Cythia Bakuwa

The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of governance reforms also called conceptual innovation for public hospitals in Malawi.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of governance reforms also called conceptual innovation for public hospitals in Malawi.

Design/methodology/approach

It focuses on the reforms for central and district hospitals. It uses semi-structured interviews to collect data and thematic approach to analyse it.

Findings

The results show that the reforms for central hospitals are structurally well characterised as aimed at corporatisation though they are termed as automatisation. The terminological seems not to pose any harm on the direction of the reforms due to the thorough structural characterisation. On the other hand, reforms for district hospitals are vague as such implementation is retrogressive, in that, instead of progressively moving the hospitals towards greater autonomy the opposite is happening.

Originality/value

The paper highlights the significance of characterisation of the intended outcome on the direction of the reforms and proposes a framework to guide conceptual innovation for public hospitals in a devolution-mediated environment.

Details

International Journal of Health Governance, vol. 26 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-4631

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 13 September 2017

Takashi Tsuji

Citizen participation has attracted attention in the context of decentralization. In a disaster reconstruction process, a business plan for reconstruction can be modified in line…

Abstract

Citizen participation has attracted attention in the context of decentralization. In a disaster reconstruction process, a business plan for reconstruction can be modified in line with diversified situations of disaster-affected areas by citizen participation. In Japan, the central government makes a decision about the authority in charge of an overall disaster reconstruction and the budget planning, whereas local governments are in charge of creating and implementing a business plan for reconstruction of each local municipality. Therefore, local governments play an important role in organizing citizen participation to realize the reconstruction that fits reality. It has yet to be shown as decentralization reform and citizen participation system in Japan produce the socio-spatial inequality after the Great East Japan Earthquake. However, it remains to be elucidated how local government and community have to operate the institution about citizen participation during the disaster reconstruction process. I have been doing fieldwork on three tsunami-affected sites in Miyagi Prefecture over past 4 years: Onagawa Town, Higashimatsushima City, and Natori City. I have investigated the social processes of making and implementing a reconstruction plan, and citizen participation. The findings from my fieldwork are as follows: First, citizen participation is based on organizing residents at the community level. Second, traditional community organization (such as neighborhood organization abd industrial associations) contribute to organize residents especially in the emergency phase. Third, as the disaster phase moves, local government and community organization need to change the previous participation frame to ensure residents representation and policy legitimacy.

Details

Recovering from Catastrophic Disaster in Asia
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-296-5

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 June 1953

It is evident that the problem of the Constitution of Food and Drugs Authorities presents one of the chief obstacles to agreement among local authorities on the subject of local…

Abstract

It is evident that the problem of the Constitution of Food and Drugs Authorities presents one of the chief obstacles to agreement among local authorities on the subject of local government reorganisation. For over three years, representatives of three of the four chief associations of local authorities have been conferring with a view to reaching agreement on the future structure of local government and the function of local authorities. These three Associations are: the County Councils Association, the Urban District Councils Association and the Rural District Councils Association. A large measure of agreement has been secured with respect to a great variety of functions. The chief subject on which agreement was not reached was food and drugs administration. The County Councils Association's representatives took the view that this should be the primary responsibility of County Councils, which should have power to delegate to Municipal Corporations or District Councils. The Urban District Councils Association's representatives were of opinion that the Food and Drugs Act should come wholly within the sphere of Municipal Corporations and of Urban and Rural District Councils. The Association of Municipal Corporations did not take part in the conferences ; but clearly would have insisted that Food and Drugs Act responsibility should be taken away from County Councils.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 55 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Article
Publication date: 1 September 1997

William McCluskey

On 1 April 1997 the rating revaluation of non‐domestic property in Northern Ireland came into force, representing a period of 19 years since property values were last reviewed…

264

Abstract

On 1 April 1997 the rating revaluation of non‐domestic property in Northern Ireland came into force, representing a period of 19 years since property values were last reviewed. During that period commercial property values have changed significantly across property types and locations. The primary purpose of the revaluation is not, as one might expect, to increase the total amount of revenue to be raised, but rather to ensure that value‐based relativities between properties are fairly reflected. Results from the analysis of changes in Net Annual Values indicate substantial changes in retail and office property values and in addition significant increases in rate liability. Measures the shifts in assessed values and rates liability impact across District Council areas and examines the implications of introducing a transitional relief scheme to cushion the impact of the revaluation. Concludes by recommending that as an ad valorem tax, rates should be based on the regular revaluation of the tax base.

Details

Property Management, vol. 15 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-7472

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 June 1988

David J. Jukes

A comprehensive description of food law enforcement in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is presented. The history of food law is described together with the…

Abstract

A comprehensive description of food law enforcement in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is presented. The history of food law is described together with the probable consequences of future EEC legislation on the UK situation.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 90 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

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