Given the pressures of integration and assimilation, how are people within communities able to make decisions about their own environment, whether individually or collectively? Governing Ourselves? explores issues of influence and power within local institutions and decision-making processes using numerous illustrations from municipalities across Canada. It shows how communities large and small, from Toronto to Iqaluit, have distinctive political cultures and therefore respond differently to changing global and domestic environments. Case studies?illuminate historical and contemporary challenges to local governance. This book covers topics?including?government structures and institutions?and intergovernmental relations and?reaches more broadly into geography, urban planning, environmental studies, public administration, and sociology.
Authors
- Bibliography, etc. Note
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 307-313) and index
- Control Number Identifier
- CaOOCEL
- Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- 320.8/5/0971
- Dewey Decimal Edition Number
- 22
- General Note
- Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
- Geographic Area Code
- n-cn-on
- ISBN
- 9780774851084 0774810629
- LCCN
- JS1708
- LCCN Item number
- M324 2004eb
- Modifying agency
- CaBNVSL
- Original cataloging agency
- CaBNVSL
- Physical Description | Extent
- 1 electronic text (xviii, 333 p.)
- Published in
- Canada
- Publisher or Distributor Number
- CaOOCEL
- Rights
- Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
- System Control Number
- (CaBNVSL)gtp00521802 (OCoLC)75972821 (CaOOCEL)404219
- System Details Note
- Mode of access: World Wide Web
- Transcribing agency
- CaBNVSL
Table of Contents
- Contents 8
- Tables, Figures, and Boxes 14
- Preface 16
- Acknowledgments 18
- Introduction 22
- PART 1: LOCAL DEMOCRACY, A CONTESTED NOTION 30
- 1 Local Self-Government: Perspectives on Democracy 33
- Local Governments: Agents of Democracy? 36
- Conclusion 40
- 2 Local Democracy and Self-Government: The Historical Legacy 42
- Aboriginal Peoples 42
- The Loyalists and Home Rule 43
- Urban Reform: Efficiency versus Local Democracy 46
- The Era of Activism: The 1960s and 1970s 51
- Local Politics at the Turn of the Millennium 55
- Global Forces and Local Governance 62
- Conclusion 63
- 3 Avenues of Participation in Local Governance 65
- Public Participation in Local Government 65
- Party Politics in Local Government 71
- Choosing Representatives: A Democratic Process? 78
- Expanding Civic Engagement 82
- Challenges of Collaborative Decision Making 89
- Conclusion 91
- PART 2: SHIFTING RESPONSIBILITIES: INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS 94
- 4 The Evolution of Provincial-Local Relations and Municipal Government 96
- Atlantic Provinces 96
- Central Canada: Quebec and Ontario 98
- Western Provinces 101
- Northern Territories 105
- Conclusion 106
- 5 Municipal Restructuring 107
- School Board Reform 108
- Modern Restructuring 110
- Conclusion 134
- 6 Contemporary Intergovernmental Relations 137
- Provincial-Municipal Relations 137
- Federal-Municipal Relations 138
- The Role of the Courts: The Case of Pesticide in Hudson, Quebec 141
- Municipal Associations: Influence and Lobbying 142
- Disentanglement 144
- Intergovernmental Transfers and Revenue Sharing 145
- Amalgamation 146
- Post-Amalgamation and Intergovernmental Relations 150
- Northern Communities: “Beyond Hope and Proud of It” 151
- Centralization or Decentralization: A Zero-Sum Proposition? 155
- Conclusion 155
- PART 3: THE POLITICS OF SPACE, PLACE, AND ECOSYSTEMS 158
- 7 Core and Peripheries to Networked Societies 160
- Hinterland and Metropolis 161
- The Politics of Economic Development and Location 166
- Global and Charter Cities 166
- Information Technology and Regional Politics 170
- Conclusion 172
- 8 The Politics of Urban Planning 173
- Growing Cities 174
- Planning Processes Today 178
- Organizing Socio-Political Territory 180
- Conclusion 190
- 9 Environmental Challenges: Redefining the Public Interest 191
- The Quest for Sustainability 192
- The Struggle to Define the Public Interest 193
- Local Environmental Responsibilities 196
- Systemic Approaches 206
- Conclusion 215
- PART 4: THE BUSINESS OF LOCAL ADMINISTRATION AND POLICY 218
- 10 Local Public Administration 220
- Principles of Public Administration 222
- Accountability, Efficiency and Effectiveness 226
- Administrative Models 228
- Departmental Organization 230
- Implications of Contemporary Structural Reorganizations 233
- The ABCs of Special Purpose Bodies 239
- Public Administration and Policy 240
- Broadening the Agenda: Policy Making for a Sustainable Community 245
- Conclusion 249
- 11 Business, Management, and the Municipal Corporation 251
- The Municipal Corporation 251
- Science, Business, and Early Public Administration 252
- The Welfare State 254
- Alternative Service Delivery 254
- The New Public Management 257
- The Case of Finance: Administration and Management 262
- Public Choice and Education Policy 269
- Conclusion 271
- PART 5: SURFING INTO THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY: LOCAL POLITICAL COMMUNICATIONS 274
- 12 Local Channels of Information 276
- Early Communications 277
- Integrated Communications and Political Influence 280
- Gatekeepers of Information 281
- The Channel Controllers 285
- Conclusion 303
- Notes 304
- Selected Bibliography 326
- Photography Credits 334
- Index 336
- A 336
- B 337
- C 337
- D 339
- E 340
- F 341
- G 341
- H 342
- I 343
- J 343
- K 343
- L 344
- M 344
- N 345
- O 346
- P 346
- Q 348
- R 348
- S 349
- T 350
- U 351
- V 351
- W 351
- Y 352
- Z 352
