The Theory and Practice of Local Government Reform

The past few decades have witnessed a period of intensive reform across many total government jurisdictions in the developed world. While the pace and content of this reform has been uneven, both within particular local government systems in a given country and between municipal jurisdictions in different nations, very few local government jurisdictions have remained untouched. It is thus vital to examine the causes and consequences of local government reform. Various conceptual frameworks have been developed to facilitate our understanding of local government reform. For example, Shah (2006b, p.15) has argued that three 'basic principles' are prerequisites to successful local government reform: 'responsive governance' whereby reform should aim at delivering services that best meet local preferences; 'responsible governance' that focuses on the prudent use of scarce resources; and 'accountable governance' in which government must be made accountable to its electorate. Andrews and Shah (2005) have advanced the notion of 'citizen-centred governance' that contains three 'distinguishing features': 'citizen empowerment' founded on a 'rights approach'; 'bottom-up accountability' that emphasizes outcomes; and performance evaluation.