Bureaucrat-Local Politician Relations and Hierarchical Local Governance in Emerging Democracies: A Case Study of Tunisia

Q2 Arts and Humanities

Journal of the Middle East and Africa Pub Date : 2021-12-16 DOI:10.1080/21520844.2021.1993682

Salih Yasun

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引用次数: 1

Abstract

ABSTRACT How do bureaucrat-local politician relations affect the inclusiveness of local governance in emerging democracies? This study answers the question through conducting a case study of Tunisia. The study evaluates interview data recently collected among 39 municipalities in socio-economically divergent regions with mayors, city council members, civil society members, and a governor, and examines transparency data compiled for all 350 municipalities by an independent civil society organization. The findings suggest that partisanship appointment of governors can limit the inclusiveness of local governance through perpetuating hierarchical relations with mayors at the expense of inclusive local engagement mechanisms. An analysis on the Transparency Index of municipalities within governorates with identified partisanship ties (n = 206) indicates that municipal governance becomes less transparent when a governor shares a political background similar to the ideological position of the mayor’s party. Thus, partisan appointments of bureaucrats can have implications for the inclusiveness of local governance.

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新兴民主国家的官僚-地方政治家关系和等级式地方治理:以突尼斯为例

摘要：官僚-地方-政治家关系如何影响新兴民主国家地方治理的包容性？本研究通过对突尼斯进行个案研究来回答这个问题。该研究评估了最近在社会经济不同地区的39个市镇中收集的采访数据，这些市镇有市长、市议会成员、民间社会成员和一名州长，并审查了一个独立的民间社会组织为所有350个市镇汇编的透明度数据。研究结果表明，州长的党派任命可能会以牺牲包容性的地方参与机制为代价，使与市长的等级关系永久化，从而限制地方治理的包容性。对已确定党派关系的省（n=206）内市镇透明度指数的分析表明，当州长的政治背景与市长所在政党的意识形态立场相似时，市镇治理的透明度就会降低。因此，官僚的党派任命可能会对地方治理的包容性产生影响。

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来源期刊

Journal of the Middle East and Africa Arts and Humanities-History

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0.70

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0.00%

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期刊介绍： The Journal of the Middle East and Africa, the flagship publication of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA), is the first peer-reviewed academic journal to include both the entire continent of Africa and the Middle East within its purview—exploring the historic social, economic, and political links between these two regions, as well as the modern challenges they face. Interdisciplinary in its nature, The Journal of the Middle East and Africa approaches the regions from the perspectives of Middle Eastern and African studies as well as anthropology, economics, history, international law, political science, religion, security studies, women''s studies, and other disciplines of the social sciences and humanities. It seeks to promote new research to understand better the past and chart more clearly the future of scholarship on the regions. The histories, cultures, and peoples of the Middle East and Africa long have shared important commonalities. The traces of these linkages in current events as well as contemporary scholarly and popular discourse reminds us of how these two geopolitical spaces historically have been—and remain—very much connected to each other and central to world history. Now more than ever, there is an acute need for quality scholarship and a deeper understanding of the Middle East and Africa, both historically and as contemporary realities. The Journal of the Middle East and Africa seeks to provide such understanding and stimulate further intellectual debate about them for the betterment of all.