Local governance in multi-organisational settings, the

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Local governance in multi-organisational
settings, the Flemish way

• Filip De Rynck

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Focus on

• Local multi-organisational governance
• Some general trends and variables explaining
  convergence / divergence
• Impact on local government towards government
  by arrangements ?
• Network analysis of central local relations
  within those governance arrangements

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Local multi-organisational settings

• Multi-organisational settings on local level
• Public public arrangements
• horizontal intermunicipal cooperation
• arrangements on multilevel base (with central
  government)
• Public private arrangements
• horizontal and multilevel
• Central government, a mix of roles
• Meta-governor setting the legal and
  organisational stage (imposed or incentives)
• Actor in arrangements due to local competencies
  of central government
• Absent in the arrangement but crucial for the
  arrangement (centralisation of decisions)

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Logos of local arrangements in a small rural
area
HulpverleningszoneBrandweer Meetjesland
WaterschapBurggravenstroom
SIT Meetjesland
SIT Zomergem

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Trends and variables

• Trends
• Sharp increase, increase of organisation
  differentiation
• Sectoral profileration
• Convergent variables
• Decentralisation and task complexity
• Presssure on local capacity and management
• Meta-governance of central government
  institutions imposed and/or central incentives
• Institutional differentiation in policy domains
  due to central regulation
• Impact of European programmes and projects

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Trends and variables

• Divergent variables
• Rural or city-regional contexts
• Role of the province as intermediary or broker
  strong in rural areas, weak in city-regions
• Broker role of existing holistic arrangements
• Leadership of arrangements (leading mayors, some
  key public officials)
• Trust and sense of urgency

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First findings on impact

• Research on those arrangements
• Central role of politicians AND public officials
• Weak mandates outcome of arrangements
• Marginal role of top managers in government
• Monopoly of information in departments
• Different settings, different accountability
  systems and no system in local government

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Impact on local government

• From autonomy to growing heteronomy
• All those arrangements have their own
  institutional features in sets of different
  policy cycles with their own pace and timing in
  which local government is engaged
• Towards virtual government or government by
  arrangements ?
• Management at the border boundary management

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Accountability

• Bilateral accountability in arrangements
• Formal mandates and mandates-in-action
• Streams of information from arrangements to local
  government actors
• Quality, formal and informal
• Streams of information from those actors in their
  local government
• Active (giving information) and passive (asked to
  give information)
• Systems of control, feedback in the local
  government
• Budgetary cycle, annual reports
• Multilateral accountability of arrangements
• To the wider environment, to the public in
  general
• Impact of accountability practices on the power
  relations in local government (council,
  executive, mayor, public servants)

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Central local dynamics in those arrangements

• New PhD (Joris Voets)
• applying network analysis to central local
  relations in city-regional multi-organisational
  arrangements for wicked problems in the field of
  spatial planning
• Canal zone Ghent
• Parkbos (Park Woods) Ghent
• reconstructing policy processes in and through
  those arrangements and how those arrangements are
  managed
• how do central local relations function in
  policy processes ?

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Conceptual framework

• Resource dependencies
• Resources and resource mix, types of resource
  dependencies, balance of dependencies in time
• Power
• Power sources, distribution and use of power
  (over, to and for)
• Multi-actor
• Actor properties (needs, interests, attitudes,)
  and coalitions
• Policy process
• Trigger, substance, patterns of interaction,
  rules, trust
• Network management
• Management activities (game and network level),
  managers and management roles

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IGR revisited

• Central-local relations
• Coalition building through central-local divide
• There are no local issues in Flanders
• Political localism in the arena of the cabinets
• Provinces as broker, intermediate
• Horizontal relations
• Interdependency between horizontal and vertical
  relations
• Strategy towards central government has an impact
  on relations between local governments

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IGR - revisited

• Politico-administrative relations
• Policy process is the outcome of ambitions of
  bureaucrats (advocacy coalitions)
• Political and administrative official highly
  intertwined
• Partitocracy blurs distinction
• A set of management roles and types
• Intra-governmental relations
• Very fragmented central government policy
  networks within the central government
• Autonomous roles and strategies of departments
  and field services
• Impact of intra-governmental changes on policy
  process, strategy and management