Bligh.Grant's blog

Democratisation in China: Professor Chen Kang visits ACELG

Bligh.Grant — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 02:14:01 +0000

On Thursday 5 February ACELG and our fellow UTS organisation, the Australia China Relations Institute (ACRI) headed by Professor Bob Carr, will host a visit by Professor Chen Kang from National University of Singapore (NUS).

The visit will culminate in an evening seminar titled 'Local Government in China: The experiments in Democracy at a City Level' to be held at Ariel Function Centre, UTS from 5.30 pm. The seminar is free of charge and you would be most welcome to attend. To RSVP follow the link here.

Professor Kang is currently Director of the Master in Public Administration and Management (MPAM) and Chinese Executive Education programmes at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

Kang graduated from the University of Maryland specialising in macroeconomic modelling. As such, while his recent work has focussed on processes of democratisation and engagement in China, the breadth of his professional competencies reaches beyond this to the 'big picture' macro stage. So his work is of intense interest both to us in local government, and to those that play in the big picture space – like the Australia China Relations Institute. Not that the two spheres are necessarily mutually exclusive – indeed that they ought not to be is precisely the point.

Professor Kang's doctoral dissertation was published as the ground-breaking book The Chinese Economy in Transition: Micro Changes and Macro Implications (1995; Singapore University Press). The text details the political struggles between conservative, democratic and reformist blocs inside the Chinese state and party apparatus and – most importantly – the evolving role that sub-national government generally and local government in particular have played in the reform process.

The role of local governments in China has evolved – to use the court nomenclature from Kang's (1995: 88) book – from being vassals of the central state to being "dukes" or "princes" in their own right. The crucial role of local government in the reform process is difficult to overstate, as Kang identifies:

The political importance of local governments in the reform process is well understood by reformist central leaders such as Deng Xiaoping and Zhou Ziyang. When wholesale reform plans met strong resistance at the central level, they encouraged local governments to engage in partial, incremental, and experimental reforms, and granted coastal regions preferential treatments and special autonomy (Kang 1995: 87).

So despite its status as a single-party state, governments at the municipal, prefectural and town levels in China have exercised a significant degree of autonomy to be at the forefront of incremental, yet systemic change.

In his recent work Professor Kang has documented examples of citizens increasingly engaged in processes adjacent to traditional party structures at local levels. The examples he will draw from on Thursday evening include deliberative democracy in Hangzhou City, participatory budgeting in Jiamusi (Heilongjiang Province), 'community courts' in Henan Province and the Water Users Association in Guangxi Province. Some of these examples feel very similar to types of engagement in the Australian setting – indeed more generally – and it will be interesting to see to what extent this is the case.

Our Director, Associate Professor Roberta Ryan, will introduce the event. Professor Kang will engage with Professor Bob Carr in a Q&A-style presentation with plenty of time for questions.

Again, you would be most welcome.

Dr Bligh Grant is Senior Lecturer in Local Government Studies at the UTS Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government.

Recap of the Greater China-Australia Dialogue on Public Administration

Bligh.Grant — Mon, 27 Oct 2014 22:13:02 +0000

2014 Greater China-Australia Dialogue on Public Administration: 'Maximising the Benefits of Decentralisations', Zhejiang University, October 20-22.

With the continued expansion of ACELG's international program – an expansion that I am more than happy to be part of, I hasten to add – it perhaps comes as no surprise that we are engaging more and more with China and with Australia-China relations, in line with UTS generally.

In September Associate Professor Roberta Ryan and I attended the launch of the NSW Government's 'China Strategy' hosted by Premier Mike Baird and the Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI), an independent research think-tank recently established at UTS and headed by former NSW Premier Bob Carr. To build on this international engagement last week I attended the 4th Greater China-Australia Dialogue on Public Administration at Zhejiang University. Hosted by Zhejiang University and ANU alongside several other university partners, the theme of this year's dialogue, 'Maximising the Benefits of Decentralisations', fell squarely within the ambit of ACELG's activities and provided an ideal opportunity to get 'up close and personal' with like-minded academics and (importantly) practitioners over two and one half days to discuss these issues in Australia, China and Taiwan.

The utility of organising a Workshop such as this around the general theme of 'decentralisation' is that the idea is a 'movable feast', conceptually, normatively and empirically. As a consequence, participants are afforded the opportunity to bring much of their own research – and experience – to the table. Nevertheless, a draft 'Background Paper' by ACELG's Ron Woods and Roberta Ryan titled 'Decentralisation and subsidiarity: concepts and frameworks' provided important conceptual architecture for the Workshop, and was roundly praised.

My own contribution, a discussion of municipal bond banking in Australia and China, like many other academic contributions, was very specific (we academics are, after all, pedants). Yet again, however, it was the contribution of practitioners that were the standout, providing a wellspring of experience to soak up. In one session alone we heard from Zunian Ding, the Deputy Director of the Zhejiang People's Congress, Fenguin Cui, Deputy Mayor of Hangzhou City and Jinsheng Hu, Director of the Zhejiang Province Research Office. This is rich, unique eyeball-to-eyeball learning wherein the intricacies of the relationships between province, county, township and political party are revealed in a level of detail difficult to achieve through conventional research.

Ironically, international meetings are also an opportunity to meet other Australians and gain their insights about local government. At this Workshop the Victorians were thick on the ground. In particular, Meredith Sussex provided many insights from her long-standing experience as a senior state civil servant and local government administrator, while Adrian Robb, CEO of Bayside Council in Melbourne, provided an alternative and equally detailed account of state-local relations.

Stepping back from the intricacies of reform in Australia, it is a cliché to note that China is undergoing a degree of change that is – truly – difficult to comprehend, from the rebalancing of the economy to deliberations currently underway in the 18th Central Committee of the CPC to introduce the rule of law – no mean feat.

Again, however, attention ought to be focused – and emphasis placed – on the role of sub-national government – provincial, municipal, county and township – in all of these processes, and the role that organisations grounded in local government such as ACELG are uniquely positioned to play in developing what might be described as local international relations.

Dr Bligh Grant is Senior Lecturer in Local Government Studies at the UTS Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government.

Back to the Town Crier

Local Government reform in NSW: Seeing past the 'cash flash'

Bligh.Grant — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 01:57:25 +0000

The Baird Government's announcement of the 'Fit for the Future' reforms to local government has left many observers focussing on the cash incentives for reform. But the Government has also responded to the Independent Local Government Review Panel's (ILGRP) 65 recommendations, agreeing at least in principle to the overwhelming majority. Focusing on the incentive payments ignores several other dimensions of the reforms.

First, the recommendations for amalgamations of the Review Panel are radical, including (for example) 32 local governments in Sydney being reduced to just seven. Just who might merge with who in this scenario makes for interesting reading, although there are signs that some councils, for example Many and Warringah, might be embracing the opportunity.

Second, the process of reform is prima facie consultative: Councils are initially required to undertake a self-assessment based on a 'toolbox' that will be made available in October, then to prepare a 'roadmap' by June 30 2015 that will be reviewed by a 'Ministerial Advisory Group'. The (presumably) returned Coalition Government post the election of 28 March 2015 can spend political capital implementing significant reform.

Third, reforms to finance have been embraced. Government has supported the Auditor General assuming responsibility for auditing all councils from mid-2016 and commissioning a review of the rating system by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Review Panel (IPART). It has also supported NSW Treasury Corporation establishing a state-borrowing facility for local governments.

Fourth, a minimum two-year term for mayors elected by their fellow councillors (as opposed to 'at large') has been endorsed, as has preventing councils from renewing the contract of General Managers six months out from an election: Unfortunately the GM's place will remain as precarious as it has recently proved to be in NSW. Yet it has not supported increased remuneration for councillors and mayors who complete professional development.

Finally, the process now initiated is a not-so-subtle reminder that local governments are vassals of the state. The work that has gone in to developing 10-year Community Strategic Plans, while not rendered redundant, is nevertheless placed in the relief of communities themselves being rapidly redefined.

The 'cash-flash' ought not to blind us to the fact that it's busy times for local government in NSW, or to the substance, or potential value, of the proposed reforms. Spare a thought for those in the local government sector that have to organise it all.

Dr Bligh Grant is Senior Lecturer in Local Government Studies at the UTS Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government.

Associate Professor Roberta Ryan is the Director of the UTS Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government.

Back to the Town Crier

ACELG Recap of Palembang International Conference on Local Government

Bligh.Grant — Wed, 24 Sep 2014 12:00:06 +0000

Director Roberta Ryan and Deputy Director Melissa Gibbs joined Professor Richard Pratt (University of Hawaii) and Professor James Scott (University of Missouri) on the opening panel discussion 'Transformational Leadership and Management Achievement'. Roberta and Melissa and Senior Lecturer Bligh Grant all presented papers on their current research on community engagement, 'Sister Cities' and local government reforms, respectively. Papers are scheduled to be published in the Journal of African and Asian Local Government Studies.

Other papers delivered at the conference canvassed a range of themes, including comparative fiscal decentralisation in Thailand and Indonesia, principles of local government at the local level, regional policy in Indonesia reforms to the 'Supercity' of Auckland, local government and local entrepreneurship in Nigeria and issues surrounding climate change and local government in the Pacific and Southeast Asia.

The ICLG is the annual conference of the International Association of Local Government (IALG). This is the third year that ACELG has had a presence at this particular international forum, following from the 2012 ICLC in Khon Kaen, Thailand and the 2013 ICLG in Surabaya, Indonesia.

In a meeting of the Executive of IALG Melissa Gibbs was elected unopposed as Vice President and will join newly elected President Charles Menifield of the Harry S Truman School of Public Administration, University of Missouri, in the Executive of the organisation. Together with colleagues from the College of Local Administration (COLA) at Khon Kaen University, Thailand they will work toward the 6th Annual Conference to be held in Khon Kean Thailand. ACELG has also agreed to host the 7th ICLG in 2016.

Director of ACELG Associate Professor Roberta Ryan said: 'As much as scholars and practitioners are wrapped up in local government reforms in their own countries and jurisdictions, it is important to remember that local government is a truly global phenomenon, one that is just as relevant to our near neighbours in Southeast Asia to our colleagues further afield in the United States and South Africa, ICLG is a significant opportunity to engage with and learn from these colleagues. We look forward to scaling up our involvement in coming years'.

Bligh Grant is Senior Lecturer in Local Government Studies at the UTS Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government.