New LGI Books

crossposted from LGI Announce List

New LGI books (also available in electronic formar)

You can either download the electronic versions at the indicated web
addresses or request complementary copies from Violetta Zentai, project
manager, LGI ([email protected])


1. The Impact of Decentralization on Social Policy


Download it at:

http://lgi.osi.hu/publications/default.asp?id=101
<http://lgi.osi.hu/publications/default.asp?id=101>

Edited by Katalin Tausz
236 pages

Decentralization is defined, interpreted and made a political issue in
several-sometimes contradictory-ways. Sometimes it is considered a term,
sometimes a concept, a process, a theory, a methodology, or a policy-even a
trend.

Endeavors towards decentralization have become a world-wide phenomenon.
Apart from the movement towards decentralization in many countries
throughout the world, it is a key concept in the most powerful international
organizations such as the World Bank, the European Union and the OECD. It is
not, however, such a concept or practice where "one size fits all." There is
no well-tailored, pre-fabricated blueprint for decentralization - much
depends on the socio-cultural traditions, specific power relations, and
political interests of the individual countries.
In the states of the former Soviet bloc the prospect of breaking down the
heavily centralized structures was created by the systemic changes. This
present research project attempts to understand and describe only one
segment of this story, viz. welfare policy. The Impact of Decentralization
on Social Policy makes an inventory on who are the main actors, what is
decentralized in the social sector (administrative, fiscal, political,
service-delivery structures, and institutions), where or to what level of
governance decentralization is relevant, and how and by what means is
decentralization implemented in the social sector. The why factors, in other
words the external and internal reasons of the specific concepts, and
political arguments and practices, were only touched upon and not deeply
analyzed.
The ultimate question of this research did not relate to decentralization as
such; it was, rather, a people-centered approach that was the focus of the
book. After all, people generally do not think of their lives in terms of
sectors, domains and types of governance, but of the whole of their own
reality, their own well-being.
A combined team of Hungarian, Latvian, and Ukrainian experts of social
policy and public administration carried out this research project in their
home countries.


2. The State of Democracy in Central Europe

Download it at:


http://lgi.osi.hu/publications/default.asp?id=100
<http://lgi.osi.hu/publications/default.asp?id=100>


Edited by Gábor Soós, Gábor Tóka and Glen Wright
496 pages

Reform of local government is an essential part of the transformation of
political systems. It is an element of basic political change, as well as a
condition of and contributor to economic development" (T.M Horvath 2000). It
is thus fundamental to political and economic transition to be able to
evaluate, describe and monitor cross-national and within-country trends in
the development of local democracy.
This book is the first volume of a series that will track progress in
Central and Eastern Europe on a yearly basis, through the publication of
country report, and it presents results from Latvia, Romania, Poland and
Hungary. The reports contained in this book provide a comprehensive picture
of local politics and decision-making in the countries surveyed. The
principle aim of these reports is to assess the level of local democracy in
four Central and Eastern European countries. In the pilot stage of this
project only those countries that the European Union has recognized as
candidates for EU membership were considered. Data were generated and
collected during 2001. Two types of quantitative data surveys were
administered, a Local Government Survey and a Local Representative Survey.
They sought to gather data about:

1.      Local Autonomy
2.      Political Performance
3.      Local Government Administration
4.      Power Distribution
5.      Characteristics of Local Representatives
6.      Political Parties
7.      Local Civil Society Organizations
8.      Local Media
9.      Local Political Participation
10.     Political Culture

Indicators of Local Democratic Governance Project (ILDGP) aims to help
decision-makers and researchers alike assess the level of local democracy in
post-communist countries. The objective of the ILDGP is to offer
comprehensive, longitudinal and cross-nationally comparable information on
local democratic governance for research and development activities in the
region.

If you wish to have a copy of these books, please write to: Violetta Zentai,
project manager, LGI ( [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>  )




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