Democratic Governance and Public Policy

Public action increasingly takes place in self-organizing networks that are remote from direct governmental control. While these transformations have been subject to scrutiny in regard to their efficiency, less attention has been paid to their democratic quality. This article discusses governance-induced problems of democracy by isolating two major criticisms. Deliberative criticism argues that governance, rather than allowing for true deliberation in the public space, may lead to a loss of accountability. Participatory criticism stresses that governance impinges on participatory venues. The article discusses these criticisms theoretically and empirically, drawing from research on drug policy in Switzerland. The findings show that the criticisms are relevant, albeit not entirely justified.

'Go nuclear' or 'go zero'-as the international community stands at a nuclear crossroads, a number of questions demand urgent attention: How do established and emerging nuclear-armed states manage their nuclear affairs? Who commands and controls a country's nuclear forces? What effect does the balance between secrecy and openness have on larger questions of security and democracy? Governing the Bomb is grounded in the belief that the public's ability to hold nuclear-armed states accountable for the security of their weapons is contingent on proper knowledge of domestic nuclear governance.
With a special emphasis on civilian control and democratic accountability, Governing the Bomb seeks to illuminate the structures and processes of nuclear weapons governance of eight nuclear-armed states: the USA, Russia, the UK, France and China as well as Israel, India and Pakistan. It examines the theoretical as well as practical functions and structures of those who possess the power to make nuclear decisions and those who have the practical means and physical opportunity to execute those decisions. While it assesses the whole spectrum of political oversight and control mechanisms in operation for each country-including the roles and requirements of the executive, the military and specialized civilian institutions-it also takes a closer look at parliamentary institutions and civil society at large. As nuclear terrorism, proliferation and disarmament vie for the top slot on the global security agenda, a comparative understanding of the various national nuclear discourses is no longer optional, but required.

Artykuł prezentuje wyniki badań przeprowadzonych w połowie 2014 r., mających na celu identyfikację oczekiwań władz małych miast wobec polskiej państwowej polityki rozwoju lokalnego. Jako źródło informacji o tych oczekiwaniach wybrano grupę 46 burmistrzów małych miast, natomiast jako metodę badawczą zastosowano sondaż diagnostyczny oparty na długim wywiadzie osobistym. Zidentyfikowane oczekiwania dotyczyły reformy systemu stałego finansowania gmin, zmian systemów dystrybucji środków unijnych, wyposażenia samorządów lokalnych w nowe instrumenty oddziaływania na ponadlokalne relacje ich gmin, redukcji antywzorców prowadzenia polityki, usuwania sprzeczności i niejasności prawa, a także zmian zasad funkcjonowania organu stanowiącego i wykonawczego władz lokalnych. Oczekiwania te można i należy traktować jako współczesne wyzwania państwowej polityki rozwoju lokalnego, ponieważ dotyczą one jej gruntownych, wielowymiarowych zmian. Ponadto rozpatrywane łącznie tworzą dla tej polityki wyzwanie, które można określić jako jej współczesne wyzwanie generalne. Jest nim oczekiwanie władz lokalnych, że władze państwowe zwiększą ich podmiotowość w definiowaniu i kreowaniu rozwoju kraju, pogłębiając swoją aprobatę dla paradygmatu rozwoju lokalnego.

[The article presents the results of research carried out in mid-2014 to identify the expectations presented by the authorities of small cities in the light of Polish state local development policy. 46 mayors were selected as the source of information about these expectations and a diagnostic survey based on long personal interviews was chosen as the research method. The expectations concerned the reform of the municipalities’ permanent funding system, changes in the systems governing EU funds distribution, providing local authorities with new instruments for shaping their municipalities’ supra-local relationships, reducing anti-patterns in policy and politics, eliminating contradictions and ambiguities in law, and changes in the rules governing both decisive and executive bodies of local authorities. The expectations discussed should be approached as contemporary challenges for state policy on local development, since the mayors refer to thorough and multidimensional alterations to that policy. Furthermore, if analysed jointly, the expectations constitute a challenge for this policy, which can be referred to as its general contemporary challenge. Local authorities expect that the state government will increase its subjectivity in defining and creating local development by extending its approval for the local development paradigm.]

Problematyka rozwoju lokalnego była wielokrotnie podejmowana w literaturze przedmiotu. Liczne prace poświęcone mu koncentrują się na jego celach, czynnikach, stymulowaniu go i na jego pomiarze. Mimo to, jak dotąd niewiele uwagi poświęcono pojęciu polityki rozwoju lokalnego prowadzonej przez władze lokalne. Kategorii polityk rozwoju lokalnego prowadzonych przez władze ponadlokalne w ogóle nie formułowano i nie omawiano. Polityki takie są jednak prowadzone w Polsce i za granicą, a ich znaczenie rośnie. Istnieje zatem potrzeba ich definiowania i charakteryzowania dla budowy aparatu pojęciowego wykorzystywanego w dyskursie naukowym, w praktyce projektowania i aplikacji tych polityk oraz w dydaktyce.
Artykuł to próba odpowiedzi na to wyzwanie. Otwiera go prezentacja genezy i istoty lokalizmu oraz koncepcji rozwoju lokalnego. Następnie sformułowano pojęcia rozwoju lokalnego postrzeganego z perspektyw lokalnej i ponadlokalnej oraz omówiono paradygmat rozwoju lokalnego, jego znaczenie i pozycje˛ wobec innych paradygmatów rozwoju. Bazując na lokalnej i ponadlokalnej perspektywach rozwoju lokalnego, sformułowano kategorie lokalnej (gminnej) praz ponadlokalnych (regionalnej, państwowej i ponadpaństwowej) polityk rozwoju lokalnego i wskazano podmioty, które je prowadzą. Omówiono także cele i cechy tych polityk, sposoby ich prowadzenia oraz ich pozycje wobec innych polityk funkcjonalnych i horyzontalnych. W dalszej kolejności przedstawiono spójności wertykalną i horyzontalną ponadlokalnych polityk rozwoju lokalnego. W artykule wykorzystano metody badawcze krytycznej analizy literatury przedmiotu, indukcji, dedukcji i analogii.

[The local development issues were repeatedly discussed in the subject literature. Numerous works devoted to it focus on its objectives, factors and its measurement. Despite this, until now, a little attention has been paid to the category of local development policy pursued by local authorities. The categories of local development policies pursued by the supra-local authorities have not been formulated or discussed at all. Nevertheless, such policies are held in Poland and abroad, and their importance is growing. Thus, there is a need for their definement and characterizing for the construction of nomenclature used in academic discourse and in the practice of design and the application of these policies and in didactics as well. The purpose of this article is to answer this challenge. It opens with the presentation of the origin and the nature of localism and the idea of local development. Then the categories of the local development perceived from the local and supra-local perspectives have been formulated, as well as local development paradigm, its meaning and position in relation to other paradigms of development have been described. Based on local and supra-local perspectives of local development, the categories of local (municipal) and supra-local (regional, national and international) policies of local development have been formulated and the entities who pursue them have been pointed. Also the purpose and features of these policies, ways of their pursuing and their positions in relation to other functional and horizontal policies have been described. Next, the vertical and horizontal cohesion of supra-local policies of local development have been presented. The article uses the research methods of critical analysis of the subject literature, induction, deduction and analogy.]

This research, conducted by the author when a Senior Researcher at Newcastle University, UK, was funded by a UK governance organisation to help them assess, integrate and improve their understanding of the governed population.

ABSTRACT: Governance organisations have been urged to develop more holistic evidence-based approaches with partners to better deal with issues affecting the governed population. This presupposes an understanding of the population, yet there has been little research work addressing how governance organisations come to understand their governed population, nor how this understanding can be improved upon within such organisations.

This case study examined in-depth how understanding of a governed population was developed within one UK local governance organisation and it explored how such understanding might be developed and improved through more holistic and evidence-based organisational learning within the organisation and its governance partnerships.

The research methodology involved placement within the governance organisation, participant observations on several projects and innovative initiatives, observations within, across, and outside the organisation, and also interviews with varied key stakeholders.

The study examined:

- stakeholder engagement and networks
- current and varied understandings of the population
- mechanisms actually used for developing understandings
- the influence of context on organisational learning

and analysed these to arrive at a recommendations to improve organisational understanding of the governed population.

In the case studied, significant strengths were found: including innovative past learning trials for development, extensive ongoing networking activities, and many varied and accumulating quantitative datasets available across partnerships.

However, entrenched organisational approaches and practices constrained the development of holistic evidence-based understanding, for instance: the absence of systematic maintained collective learning processes; weak recording and forgetting of understandings; methodological exclusion of stakeholders from the development of understanding; the relative neglect of qualitative data, explanations, investigations, interpretations, and reflexivity; and also implicit organisational acceptance of such limitations and low aspirations.

Nonetheless, untapped opportunities existed to enable change including: latent practitioner knowledge and innovative management champions, the desire for improvement and raised aspirations within learning networks, and the development potential of alterative learning approaches.

It was concluded that more holistic evidence-based understanding was possible, but required new learning approaches beyond those then in use in both local government or academia.   

Recommendations are made to utilise and develop improved organisational learning approaches trialed and reported in the case study.

It is argued that the case study findings, conclusions, and recommendations may be applicable to other similar local governance organisations and partnerships that seek to better understand local populations, services and interventions.

The work was also submitted for, and awarded, an MPhil (at Newcastle University, supervised by Prof. Patsy Healy)

Desde la mirada de la Filosofía y la Ética, este artículo hace un análisis de la construcción del concepto de “policía”. Se examina a partir de la herencia del pensamiento moderno, y a través de los procesos que conllevaron a la idea de una “policía democrática”. Noción que reúne los principios originales de “policía moderna” propuestos por Robert Peel y que empata con los fundamentos de una “seguridad ciudadana”.

The task to reshape governments in the countries confronted with the Arab Spring prompts the question whether there are necessary conditions to realize a stable society that simultaneously seeks to eliminate the elements that have led to the uprisings. Acknowledging some constitutional rights seems indispensable in such a process. I argue that such a state of affairs is indeed the case, at least now that the ‘old’ justifications to differentiate between people do not suffice anymore. That is not to say that the countries involved will have identical laws in each respect, but merely that a common basis has to be realized, manifested in political and legal equality, so this given does not derogate from the fact that each country’s specific legislation needs to be shaped in the light of its own history. Such a basis has no ‘moral’ character, but is simply a necessary condition to prevent sedition.

ABSTRACT
The Ethiopian People’s Democratic Revolutionary Front (EPRDF), currently ruling party,
comes to power after 17 years struggle for liberty and egalitarianism against the Military
government. The May 1991 change of government (Socialist to Federal) was therefore a turning
point for the civil service. It was during the early days of the EPRDF that the government tried
to restructure the civil service system as a structural adjustment with federal sentiment (multiparty
democracy and market driven economy). It was with this intention that, the autonomous
civil service institutions were established and the civil servant was begun to serve with merit
principles. It is believed that, a successful merit based human resource management is the
cornerstone government institutions to implement public policies and strategies. This in turn also
can have a direct impact on the development performance of the nation. However, some
empirical evidence indicates that, the merit based human resource management is inhibited by
many administrative bureaucracies. Therefore, the objective of this article was to examine the
practice of merit based human resource management during the implementation of civil servicereforms in Tigray regional state. To examine the merit based human resource management, the
relevant data was collected both from primary and secondary data sources. Finally, the factors
that impede the merit based human resource management were identified and the discussion was
concluded that regardless of the institutional framework in-place, the application of merit
disciplines as a guiding principles were highly inhibited by unnecessary political interference,
poor separation of power, poor accountability system.

This paper offers a new perception for democratic governance social policy making. Democratic governance theory can put into practice effective public policy solutions for educational development. A synthesis of the theories of Madison and Rousseau demonstrates a broad theoretical understanding of how democratic institutions govern as well as how education inequalities are resolved. An analysis of Dewey presents the theoretical background for comparing American education with the democratic governance theories of Madison and Rousseau. Bertalanffy general system theory demonstrates how the new governance theory centripetalism, Dewey’s philosophy of education, can be synthesized to become a theoretical foundation for an education development policy. The learning objective will construct from the broad analysis of this paper how developing nations may model a blend of the best ideas of Madison and Rousseau democratic governance that promotes sustainable educational development opportunities.

ABSTRACT_62_RECOVERY
Democracy – Planning for Recovery BEFORE the Coming Collapse — A Book of Hope provides the recovery design plans for democratic nations where other books provide only predictions of the collapse with no remedial or recovery plans.  The technological wizardry that created the world that we know so well is of no use to resolve the coming collapse.  The collapse is not a technological problem.  It is a human problem where objects and quantities have been given more importance than quality-values that are at the core of the survival of the organizational existence of our families, communities, and societies. 

What these plans call for is a culture change that begins with a change of consciousness from the limited thinking of materialism, monetization of everything, and from quantity-object value systems.  These plans call for a change of consciousness to quality-value based value based decision-making systems that add value to individual citizens, families, communities, and societies. 

This book calls for the use of Directed Social Change to develop the evolution of social institutions so that their intentions are coordinated and complemental with each other to create beneficial future social circumstances for the generations that will come into existence.  A redesign of democratic societies is fundamental to their survival using design plans that plan for beneficial outcomes 10, 20, 30 years, and 50 years into the future. 

What we want to give to ourselves is the hope that our progeny of future generations will remember us fondly for the planning, decisions, and fortitude of planning well for their life and living situation to be better than what we are experiencing to day.  ##

The article argues for citizens’ participation in public policy making ‘in the widest sense possible’. This, the article sees as a panacea for addressing ‘some of the deficits of political representation in contemporary (representative) democracy’ as identified by Benjamin Barber. Despite the ‘civic competence’ of citizens in both developed democracies and newly democratising countries being called into question, the article notes that the ‘sheer complexity of public affairs means that experts are generally no more competent over a range of policies than ordinary citizens, and may even be less competent’. The article shares the view that the ‘pragmatic challenge for democratic theory and practice is to identify the characteristic deficits of the conventional representative and professionalized policymaking process’ which ‘opening channels of participation to public decision making can bring the energies, resources, and ideas of citizens and stakeholders’ to bear on complex public problems.

The article presents how local authorities of Polish small towns perceive and form at the strategic level, these supra-local relations of their towns, which are connected with local culture. The article begins with key categories explanation: local system (LS), local development (LD), local culture, supra-local relations of local system, local development strategic governance (LDSG) and its supra-local perspective. The next part presents rationale, objects, goals, questions, methods of research and information sources. It is followed by discussing the research results divided into 4 parts, corresponding to types of supra-local relations of local systems and activities for their pro-developmental formation.

W artykule zaprezentowano wyniki badań, które miały na celu zidentyfikowanie, jak władze polskich małych miast postrzegają i kształtują na poziomie strategicznym te ponadlokalne relacje ich miast, które związane są z innowacjami i lokalną innowacyjnością. Badania te przeprowadzono w roku 2014 metodami sondażu diagnostycznego i analizy treści. Wykorzystano w nich także wyniki obserwacji uczestniczących, przeprowadzonych w latach 2010-2014. W początkowej części artykułu wyjaśniono kategorie i procesy kluczowe z punktu widzenia badań, takie jak: rozwój lokalny w obu jego perspektywach, innowacje i ich znaczenie w rozwoju lokalnym, innowacyjność lokalna, ponadlokalne relacje układu lokalnego, zarządzanie rozwojem lokalnym, zarządzanie strategiczne rozwojem lokalnym, ponadlokalna perspektywa tego zarządzania. W dalszej części zaprezentowano przesłanki, obiekty, cele, pytania, metody i techniki badawcze oraz wykorzystane źródła informacji. Następnie przedstawiono wyniki badań, dzieląc je na 4 części odpowiadające relacjom waloryzacji, animacji, supresji i deprecjacji układu lokalnego oraz działaniom prowadzonym w celu ich prorozwojowego kształtowania, wyznaczającym egzogeniczną utylitarność, neoendogeniczną absorpcyjność, protekcyjność i retencyjność zarządzania rozwojem lokalnym. Artykuł kończą wnioski oraz zalecenia co do zmian lokalnych i ponadlokalnych polityk rozwoju, których dokonanie upowszechni i ułatwi proinnowacyjne kształtowanie ponadlokalnych relacji małych miast.
[The article presents the research results whose aim is to identify how local authorities of Polish small towns perceive and form at the strategic level, these supra-local relations of their cities, which are connected with innovations and local innovativeness. The research was conducted in 2014 using diagnostic survey and content analysis methods. In addition, the results of participant observations, conducted in 2010-2014, were used. In the initial part of the article key categories of research field are explained, such as local development in both perspectives, innovations and their role in local development, local innovativeness, supra-local relations of local system, local development governance, local development strategic governance and its supra-local perspective. The next part presents rationale, objects, goals, questions, methods and techniques of research and used sources of information. Then the results of the studies are presented, dividing them into 4 parts, corresponding to different types of supra-local relations of local systems and activities for their prodevelopmental formation. The article concludes with findings and recommendations for changes of local and supra-local policies which will popularize and simplify pro-innovative shaping of supra-local relations of small towns].

Jill Schostak and I wrote this book as part of our evolving interest in doing research radically.  By radically we mean engaging with people's voices to learn how to create the conditions for social justice and for democratising all the organisations of everyday life.  We draw on our own research but also on the ways in which the media is used to shaw people's voices and behaviours.  We explore all the ways in which the desires and demands of elites are inscribed upon minds and bodies as well as how writing may create the conditions for counter inscriptions.  Writing research is to engage politically.  Whether it is the Arab Spring re-inscribing hopes for freedom, the Occupy Movement or young people challenging orthodoxies at home or in classrooms through use of the media, it is the power of writing in its broadest sense that makes the difference.

Abstract

South Sudan Security over the years has been a major concern for international community, regional and scholars of security and nation formation.  South Sudan Security since the inception of the nation has being characters by political unrest and arms militias, cattle raiding and child abduction, which has caused lives and destruction of properties. The research proffers conceptual theoretical studies on insecurity challenges and threat to nation formation in south Sudan. The study is to highlight the challenges of nation formation and Security such insurgency, arm; cattle raiding constitute a great threat to national security and Nation formation in South Sudan. The research will put measures to address Security and State formation.

Nothing reveals the dire state of education in Nigeria than the recently released cut off marks for admission into Federal Government Colleges otherwise called Unity schools. In the cut off scores released by the Federal Ministry of Education, Yobe and Zamfara has a cut-off score of 2 for male and 27 for female while Zamfara had a cut off score of 2 for females and 4 for males. States like Sokoto, Taraba and Kebbi had between 3 and 27  as cut off scores for admission into the Federal Government Colleges.
In its justification of the ridiculous cut off scores, the Federal Ministry of Education premised its decision for such ridiculously low cut off scores on the “collective intelligence of all students sitting exams who hail from the same state at that time ”. This is despite the Ministry admission of the fact that “the students do not necessarily have a lower mental capacity to grasp concepts”.
The Ministry was to however admit the real cause of the ludicrous cut off marks when it said in the same statement that “Perhaps, we should note that a major reason why these students score so low in examinations is that the state of education in Northern Nigeria is poor.  Issues such as general decay of infrastructure; grossly inadequate funding for education; a serious lack of competent teaching staff; corruption in management of education; lack of adequate educational plans; poor implementation of educational goals; and demographic problems have been listed. Yet, each successive state government has done little more than nod in agreement to the identified issues”.

La contribution de l’Université à la société fait aujourd’hui débat. Face au taux de chômage élevé des diplômés et dans le cadre du projet politique d’une « économie de la connaissance », il lui est demandé de rendre des comptes sur la qualité et l'efficacité de son action. Amorcée tant sur le plan supranational que national, la réforme de l’Université emprunte de nouveaux instruments et méthodes pour réviser les programmes et les savoirs, vers un meilleur ajustement aux demandes du marché. Cet ouvrage fait état d’une recherche empirique sur la mise en œuvre de cette politique en France. Il éclaire sur les enjeux sociaux du processus de réforme, ainsi que ceux de la projection du savoir dans les champs socio-économiques. 
http://www.editions-harmattan.fr/index.asp?navig=catalogue&obj=livre&no=54126

This chapter explains the challenges and possibilities in Somalia’s attempts to redesign its “ungovernable” spaces. It is therefore a story about the journey of Somalia that explores its ethno-political and religious spaces, as well as a story about the resilience that has come to characterise political governance and the struggles for the consolidation of democracy. That said, this chapter begins with a discussion of the colonial and postcolonial struggles to adopt democratic governance and the ongoing search for stability (as a requisite condition for democratic governance) in Somalia. The discussion then turns to an examination of the various “Somali-style” and other governance models that were attempted in each regime’s search for political legitimacy. I identify the histories as well as patterns of political adaptation and resistance to the neoliberal peace project prescribed by the international community for each of these regimes. Thereafter, I examine the country’s use of indirect political representation as a tool for the promotion of democratic electoral participation in the aftermath of the political transitions. It concludes with a discussion of the roles that Somali civil society has played in the expansion of the governable political space in Somalia.

Cet article traite des problèmes liés à la coordination de l’action publique
dans des environnements complexes et fragmentés, à l’exemple de la politique de la drogue dans les principales agglomérations suisses. Deux lignes de conflit principales sont identifiées : les tensions résultant de l’implication de services administratifs et de groupes professionnels aux systèmes de valeurs différents ; et celles entre communes concernant la prise en charge des coûts de la politique de la drogue. Puis, sur la base d’entretiens semi-directifs, l’article explore dans quelle mesure des mécanismes de coordination remédient à ces conflits. Enfin, il met en évidence les problèmes de légitimation démocratique induits par cette forme de conduite de l’action publique.

To get of state civil apparatus who performing good, so management human resources the government into important consideration. Governance of state civil apparatus good it is can be implemented by through a process position promotion structural good. The process position promotion structural good should be give birth to the leader or public official who competence and performing good.But later many phenomena the process position promotion structural who gave birth to public official who incompetent and good performing. To comment on it and as bureaucracy reform the local government DIY implement position promotion structural model auction office. This study will see how the implementation of the promotion model auction the employment in the local government Of DIY who in this process use assessment center. The methodology writers included is the methodology qualitative. Data collection techniques used is interviews and documentation made it through observation non participants. Data...

The article discusses barriers in strategic governance of local development characteristic for Polish local governments, i.e. municipalities, which occurred within the first 15 years of the XXI century. These barriers were identified in the period 2000-2015 by means of using the qualitative field research method, in the process of research and implementation as well as research and development projects’ execution, directly and indirectly related to the conceptualization, application and assessment of development strategies for Polish municipalities. The introduction to the article presents the reasons, origins, purpose, method, techniques and the course of conducted research. Next the concept of local development perceived from two perspectives, a local and supra-local one, as well as their governance concept and strategic approach to such governance, are discussed. The core part of the article is devoted to presenting the identified barriers in strategic governance of local development and also their sources. The article is concluded by providing recommendations regarding the continuation of research covering these barriers and the instruments of their reduction.

Resumo: A Constituição Federal de 1988 sugeriu que as políticas públicas por ela emanadas deveriam ser realizadas em regime de gestão compartilhada, isto é, com a participação da sociedade. A partir daí, conselhos, conferências, audiências públicas e outras instâncias de participação, que já ocorriam ocasionalmente em determinadas localidades e setores, multiplicaram-se como elementos de chancela para a elaboração e tomada de decisão em políticas públicas. Há, entretanto, algum mal estar com a pouca efetividade destas instâncias e mecanismos de participação institucional. De certo modo para diminuir esta percepção, o governo federal buscou, nos últimos anos, avaliar o funcionamento destas instâncias e mecanismos e terminou por propor, sem sucesso, a criação de um Sistema e uma Política Nacional de Participação Social. Sugere-se que as abordagens sobre implementação de políticas públicas podem ser férteis para uma compreensão mais acurada do tema. Palavras-chave: Participação. Políticas Públicas. Implementação. Política Nacional de Participação Social. Refl ections on the implementation's diffi culties of institutional participation in Brazil Abstract: The 1988 Federal Constitution issued that the public policies should be carried out in shared management, that is, with society participation. In the following years after its proclamation instances as councils, conferences, public hearings and others-those already were occasional in certain localities and governments sectors-multiplied as seal elements for the formulation and decision making process in public policy. However, the eff ectiveness of these bodies and institutional participation mechanisms has been questioning and creating some discontent. The federal government in the recent years, trying to reduce this perception, promoted an evaluation of these instances and mechanisms and proposed, unsuccessfully, the creation of a system and a National Policy for Social Participation. This article aims to show the necessity of a broader focus over the institutional participation diffi culties seeking a more refi ned look at the public policies implementation studies.

This paper is written in the context of discussions within UNDP and the wider
development community in Asia-Pacific on how to structure programmes aimed at meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. As per UNDP’s 2010 MDG Breakthrough Strategy, renewed and concerted efforts are to be made to help developing countries accelerate progress towards reaching the Goals, but also to ensure longer term sustainability of the progress made, and to ascertain overall progress made by countries
also reaches the poorest of the poor, marginalized people and those otherwise left behind.

The article discusses the MDGs within the context of the Millennium Declaration and revisits debates of the past decade on the complex relationship between the Millennium Declaration, the MDGs and Human Rights. The article also highlights the dimension of democratic governance for the MDGs. Following this rather conceptual and normative perspective, a brief summary outlines actual progress made in the context of the MDGs a
decade into the new Millennium and offers an interim view on the effectiveness of MDGs to implement the Millennium Declaration’s aspirations. With less than five years to go before reaching the 2015 target date, the article captures main features of the 2010 review and various efforts aimed at breakthroughs and acceleration. In doing so, the document
finds that while the relationship between human rights, governance and the MDGs has been dealt with exhaustively at the conceptual level, in practice there has been a mixed record integrating the two frameworks.

At the global level, the MDG process appears to have moved away somewhat from the language of human rights and democracy, but has nevertheless taken up an important component of a human rights approach, namely the identification of disparities and inequalities within countries as a main issue to be addressed within the MDG context. However, the paper also finds linkages between human rights, governance and the MDGs were not incorporated into the MDG Acceleration Framework (MAF) to the extent they could have been, and much of the current reporting and programming on MDGs still fails to take this connection fully into account. Finally, the paper proposes a number of concrete steps how ongoing and future MDG-related efforts could benefit from stronger linkages to human rights and democratic governance. The paper ends with a tentative outlook and some reflections for a possible post-MDG development agenda, which needs
to be more fully aligned with the values and principles of the Millennium Declaration, and should integrate a human-rights-based approach, governance dimensions and human development more comprehensively from the outset.

Tariffs or price control has been a controversial subject in recent years. The debate between legal experts and economists is still a hot topic in any discussion. Tariff control regulated in the work creation omnibus law seems to be a topic that must be discussed again regarding this regulation’s urgency. Are specific prices so impressive that the government can intervene in regulating them? This article examines the urgency of rules regarding price controls to create a healthy competitive environment. After conducting a critical literature review, it was analyzed with critical analysis and looking at the objective of competition law was to maximize welfare by protecting competition. The results in this article indicated that the government could only intervene in regulating price-fixing only if companies’ pricing could harm the country’s economy and consumer welfare. The government, therefore, had an interest in regulating the price ceiling. Meanwhile, the price floor, which was be...

In 2020, in the new EU strategic horizon1 that is opening at present, the place should matter more than ever when it refers to territories that are envisaged from the Social Innovation paradigm (Moulaert2, Mulgan3 and Morgan4). Nevertheless, how will the suggested H2020 strategy based on Smart City and Communities5, contribute and implement the so-called Social Innovation; facing realistic, economic and politic-driven issues in an increasingly territorially heterogeneous EU current context? This article aims to shed some light on the Critical Social Innovation (CSI) challenges from a constructive position.

Citizens' participation in governance in Nigeria has been greatly affected by the system of autocratic, undemocratic, and even democratic regimes. These regimes have inculcated fear into the youth and have not provided a free flow platform for transparency, accountability, and feedback from its citizens, particularly the youth. However, the emergence of social media breathes a new life into the citizens' participation drive. The paper investigates 'to what extent did the advent of social media enhance citizens' participation in governance, especially among the youths. While the survey and content analysis were used to elicit information from 100 randomly selected respondents in Ibadan North Local Government, the Theory of Digital Democracy was adopted as a theoretical framework. Findings revealed that the majority of the respondents' (58%) contents posted for the past three (3) months are connected to political issues, corruption-related issues, religion, and political personalities. Facebook is the most preferred social network among the respondents. It was, therefore, confirmed that social media users in Nigeria are tremendously increasing while information on politics and government activities is reflecting easily on it in the discussions among the citizens. The paper concludes that the internet and social media have reduced the fear of witch-hunting and increased the citizens' rate of participation in government activities, hence the important part of democracy (government of the people) and its democratization substance resuscitated. It recommends that government, political elites, and Civil Society Organizations should continue to emphasize social media as a verifiable platform to increase citizens' participation in governance and politics.

Key Words: Social Media, Democratization, Governance, Youth, participation, Ibadan North Local Government.

The international literature offers a number of motives which should incline local authorities toward strategic planning of local development; it also emphasizes that they should be strongly motivated to do that. Meanwhile, their actual motivation for such planning can remain low and dominated by motives so far unrecognized in the literature. The article presents research confirming this assumption, conducted in 2014 among the authorities of Polish small towns. The results reveal that the general motivation for strategic planning of local development among 37.7% of the authorities of Polish small towns is low. It also disclosed that the motive for obtaining means from the EU funds (so far unrecognized in literature) was and is motivating strongly at least 68.6% of these authorities for the discussed planning and, moreover, that it is a short-lived motive. The article indicates that this situation may also refer to other local authorities, not just the Polish ones. It also indicates that it is an unintended effect of the dependence of municipal development projects' support by the means from the EU funds on including them in the local development strategy. The final part of the article presents recommendations of actions to rectify such an unfavorable situation and for further studies of planning motives followed by local authorities.