Call for papers for the panel “Reshaping territorial polities: role and functions of local government in a multilevel governance scenario”

IPSA WORLD CONGRESS – MADRID July 8-12, 2012

Call for papers for the panel:  Reshaping territorial polities: role and functions of local government in a multilevel governance scenario

http://www.ipsa.org/my-ipsa/events/madrid2012/panel/reshaping-territorial-polities-role-and-functions-local-government-m

Deadline: October the 17th 2011

The principles of subsidiarity and local self-government have increasingly become essential in shaping the political architecture of contemporary polities. However, the enactment of these principles through decentralization policies must face many difficulties and is leading to the design and implementation of complex systems of multilevel governance. Moreover, the current global economic situation has invigorated the academic and political discussion around institutional efficiency and its design, as well as the search for benchmarking solutions.This new political scenario has produced several proposals for redesigning and rethinking local institutions for statehood rescaling at different levels and width.

The aim of this panel is to discuss these new patterns of intergovernmental (central-local) relations, their main challenges in terms of effectiveness and democratic accountability, and the role of local governments in the new multilevel governance institutional settings. Contributions addressing the opinion of citizens (or other non-governmental stakeholders) on these issues and the extent to which attitudes affect these design processes are also welcome. According to its main scope, the panel is methodologically open, and therefore both qualitative and quantitative empirical approaches may be accepted. We particularly encourage comparative approaches to the main themes of the panel, although it shall not be a prerequisite.

The proposed panel aims to provide an in-depth examination of certain relevant issues, such as:

• Rescaling government. Local government transformations in multilevel systems.
• Second tier of local government. New trends, evolution and developments.
• Central-Local relations in a multilevel scenario. Analyzing overlapping institutional systems and its effects.

Chair: Dr. Jaume Magre Ferran
Co-Chair: Dr. Carmen Navarro
Discussants: Dr. Mariona Tomàs Fornés / Dr. Joan-Josep Vallbé Fernández

Apologies for any cross posting.

Kind regards,
Dr. Jaume Magre