Making Sense of Governance: A PRELIMINARY CONCEPTUAL FRAmework

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Making Sense of Governance A PRELIMINARY
CONCEPTUAL FRAmework

• Learning Local Governance
• Reimagining Sustainable Communities
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• Monday June 28, 2010

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Presentation Outline

• 1. Key Objectives of Presentation
• 2. Goal of Research Project
• 3. Objectives of Research Project
• 4. Key Research Project Questions
• 5. Key Features of Contemporary Governance
• 6. Key Concepts for Project
• 6.1 Governance
• 6.2 Local Governance
• 6.3 Multi-Level Governance
• 6.4 Multi-Sectoral Governance
• 6.5 Local Community Based Governance
• 6.6 Place Based Governance
• 6.7 Joined Up Governance
• 6.8 Networked Community Governance
• 6.9 Networked Federalism
• 6.10 Deep Federalism
• 7. Formal and Informal Government and Governance
  Systems
• 8. Other Key Aspects of Governance
• 9. Questions for Discussion

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1. KEY OBJECTIVES OF PRESENTATION

• 1. Review Key Objective of Research
• 2. Review Key Research Questions
• 3. Identify Explain Several Key Concepts for
  Analyzing Governance in Saskatoon City Region
• 4. Raise Some Questions for Discussion

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2. Goal OF RESEARCH PROJECT

• The objective is to investigate the best ways to
  do the following
• empower communities to develop local community
  governance models to
• In order to
• respond to the complex and cross-cutting needs
  facing citizens and communities.

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3. Research Project Objectives

• Objective 1
• Identify and explain key elements, strengths and
  weaknesses of existing emerging systems of
  local governance.
• Objective 2
• Identify and explain key elements of
  patterns/models of local governance that must be
  sustained or improved for the future.

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4. Key Research Project Questions(1)

• QUESTION 1
• To what extent are existing and emerging local
  community governance systems...
• comprehensive,
• representative,
• responsive,
• culturally appropriate, and
• sustainable?

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4. Key Research Project QuestionS (2)

• QUESTION 2
• How do we (re)create local community governance
  systems so that they are...
• comprehensive,
• representative,
• responsive,
• culturally appropriate, and
• sustainable?

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5. Key Features of Contemporary Governance

• Governance is becoming increasingly complex and
  multi-faceted.
• It involves many governmental and
  non-governmental agencies and agents, interests,
  relationships (e.g., partnerships), roles and
  responsibilities, capacities, etc. etc.
• It involves extenstive intersectorality (e.g.,
  immigration, employment, housing, health, etc) ,
• It also involves extensive intersectionality
  (e.g., gender, race, religion, language, etc.)
• Analyses and explanation of the complex and
  multi-faceted elements, features and dynamics of
  community governance require the use of many
  concepts and models.
• What follows are the key elements of a
  preliminary conceptual framework that may help
  with the analysis of various aspects of local
  governance.

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6. Key Concepts FOR PROJECT

• In pursuing the research objectives and
  addressing the research questions, the project
  will be informed by the following cluster of
  concepts related to governance
• 6.1 Governance
• 6.2 Formal vs. Informal Governance Systems
• 6.3 Local Governance

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6.1 Governance

• Government vs. Governance
• GOVERNMENT
• Refers the INSTITUTIONS consisting of state
  agencies and agents that have the power to
  exercise governmental authority.
• GOVERNANCE
• Refers to the FUNCTION of governing and
  recognizes that an array of governmental and
  non-governmental agencies and agents are involved
  in performing that function.

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6.2 LOCAL GOVERNANCE

• Local Governance should not be conceptualized as
  corresponding either to a single municipality or
  to a any other governance boundary (e.g., health
  districts, education districts, First Nations
  Reserves, Métis communities/locals, etc).
• In a globalized world, the geographic or spatial
  aspect of Local can range from
• A single municipality or other form of
  governance district,
• To two or more municipalities and/or forms of
  governance within a city region (Saskatoon
  City-Region) or a rural region,
• To an entire region within a province, or even
  two or more regions involving neighbouring
  provinces or even provinces and states or
  territories (e.g., the Athabasca tar sands
  region, or the Swift Current/Medicine Hat or
  Cascadia (B.C/Washington Sate).

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6.3 MULTI-LEVEL GOVERNANCE

• Multi-Level Governance is a concept that reminds
  us that there is a multiplicity of levels of
  governance,
• This refers to the hierarchical configuration or
  structures of governments and governance
  frameworks.
• Each level of governance has a cluster of
  governmental and non-governmental agencies and
  agents that interface with each other and also
  with those at other levels of governance.

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6.4 MULTI-SECTORAL Governance

• Multi-sectoral governance refers to a situation
  in which governance frameworks must be
  established and operated across policy sectors.
• These require the establishment and operation of
  governance systems across the sectors that have
  some key interests in policies and programs that
  fall within those sectors.

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6.5 LOCAL COMMUNITY BASED GOVERNANCE

• Community based governance refers to a system in
  which governance institutions, functions,
  authority are rooted in the community.
• Important features of local community governance
  include the following
• Degree of Local authority
• Degree of Local Autonomy
• Degree of Local Self-Government
• The degree of authority, autonomy or
  self-government among community based governance
  systems is highly variable.

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6.6 Place-Based Governance ( PLACE-BASED PolIcy)

• Place-based governance refers to a system of
  governance that is tailored to meet the needs and
  preferences of a population in a particular
  geographic locality.
• Similarly, place-based policy refers to a
  situation in which the policy is designed to meet
  the needs and preferences of a population in a
  particular geographic locality.
• Place-based governance and place based policy
  are important elements and guide posts for
  producing governance and policy that contribute
  to sound and sustainable governance.

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6.7 JOINED UP GOVERNANCE (1)

• According to Andrea Di Maio
• Joined-Up Governance is "borderless" government
  which requires governments to "join up" processes
  and systems within and across government tiers,
  process hierarchies and the public sector.
• The focus of joining-up is the provision of
  services.
• In this respect it alludes to processes of policy
  delivery such as the shift from multiple
  windows to single window in service delivery.
• To some extent, however, the focus is on joining
  up or agencies and agents who are involved in the
  provision of services. Thus, to some extent it
  also refers to the resulting partnerships or
  working relationships.

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6.7 Joined up governance (2)

• Join up services and processes to make people's
  interaction with government seamless sounds
  simple. However, it can be a complicated process
  that ...involves a cat's cradle of ties between
  government units, tiers, processes and the
  private sector.
• There here is no single path to joined-up
  government.
• Countries, states and cities, as well as
  individual agencies and departments, must focus
  on how they intend to and how they actually do
  progress in each area.
• At least four areas where integration must occur
• Within a government tier for example, between
  the social security and revenue organizations, or
  between the revenue and customs organizations
• Across different tiers that is, between
  processes and systems that are under the
  responsibility of different levels of government
  (federal, state, provincial or local) but within
  a homogeneous policy portfolio, such as
  integration between criminal-justice-related
  agencies at various levels.
• Across process hierarchies that is, between
  processes at the operational, management and
  leadership levels to increase their ability and
  timeliness in responding to events, as well as
  the ability to sense changes before they occur to
  achieve agility
• Between the public and private sectors such as
  engaging the latter as a service provider and an
  integrator, intermediary or value-adding provider
  in constituent service delivery

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6.8 NETWORKED Community Governance

• Networked Community Governance (Gerry Stoker)
• Governance is a multi-level and multi-stakeholder
  system
• Municipal/local govts/authorities have key role
  in MLG
• Alignment of roles and responsibilities of levels
  of government vis-à-vis each other and also
  vis-a-vis other governmental and non-governmental
  stakeholders involved in various policy sectors
  is very important.
• Models of Networked Community Governance (Gerry
  Stoker)
• 1. Community Leadership Model
• (Municipal/local govt/authority provide
  leadership in policy sector)
• 2. Constrained Discretion Model
• (National/provincial govt/authority provide
  leadership in policy sector)

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6.9 NEtworked Federalism

• According to (Stein)
• Canadian federal system of governance entails
  complex systems of Vertical Horizontal Networks
  and Networking involving a complex array of
  governmental and non-governmental actors who
  shape public policy.
• This is different than the conventional
  conceptualization of policy making within the
  Canadian federal system which depicts it as
  stove piped and linear process which focuses
  largely on the intergovernmental sectors.
• The networked governance system includes
  city/municipal govts (not just federal and
  provincial govts)
• The networked governance system is highly
  polycentric (i.e., multiple policy and decision
  making forums)
• The networked governance system entails series of
  extensive interconnectivity and interdependence
• The networked governance system includes a
  multiplicity of partnerships among governmental
  and non-governmental actors.

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6.10 Deep Federalism

• According to Christopher LeoDeep Federalism is
  
• a useful concept that helps us to capture the
  relationship between the national government and
  local governments as well as other governmental
  and non-governmental agencies and agentes.
• He notes that rigid enforcement of national
  standards is not necessarily the best way to do
  it because the differences among communities
  ensure that what works in one may not work in
  another.
• Thus, he advocates what he describes as a
  flexibility that allows national standards to be
  met differently in different communities and that
  draws on local knowledge to determine what these
  differ
• The concept of Deep Federalism embodies notion
  of
• flexible and responsive place-based policy
• vs. Inflexible and unresponsive nationally
  standardized policy
• The concepts of Thick and Thin Federalism are
• potentially useful concepts to capture and
  explain some structural/functional/behavioural
  characteristics in a given policy sector.
• The degree of thickness or thinness is a function
  of the extent to which federalism and the
  governments of federalism are instrumental in
  policy making and implementation.

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7. FORMAL VS. INFORMAL GOVERNMENT Governance
SYSTEMS

• In analyzing government and governance systems,
  it is imperative to examine the formal and
  informal dimensions of both.
• Formal Dimensions of Systems
• These are official or formal elements (rules,
  structures, operations, activities, etc,) of the
  system.
• Informal Dimensions of Systems
• These are unofficial or informal elements (rules,
  structures, operations, activities, etc,) of the
  system.

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8. OTHER KEY ASPECT OF GOVERNANCE THAT MUST Be
Examined

• We will examine the following aspects of
  governmental and non-governmental agencies
• Their interests
• Their relations
• Their roles and responsibilities
• Their resources
• Their capacities

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9. QUESTIONS FoR Discussion

• Question 1
• What other concepts related to governance should
  be considered because they capture some important
  aspect of governance systems?
• Question 2
• What other aspects of existing and emerging
  governance systems should be examined?
• Question 3
• Which systems or sub-systems of local community
  governance should be studied?