Centralized governance frameworks in developing economies frequently generate a fundamental tension between national policy coherence and the operational responsiveness required by diverse local labor markets. In Laos, this tension is acutely manifest within the administration of Vocational Education (VE), where provincial and district authorities bear expanding implementation responsibilities without commensurate transfers of fiscal authority, administrative capacity, or technical expertise. This study critically examines the administration models operationalized within local VE governance in Laos, identifies the structural constraints limiting their effectiveness, and proposes an evidence-grounded five-component governance reform framework. Employing a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design, the study integrates quantitative survey data from 781 stakeholders across all provinces, comprising local government officials, VE administrators, educators, and industry representatives, with semi-structured qualitative interviews and systematic policy document analysis. Quantitative findings reveal that administrative model typology (centralized, decentralized, hybrid) accounts for less than 2% of the variance in perceived governance effectiveness, whereas process-level governance qualities, institutional autonomy, stakeholder participation, decentralization depth, and resource adequacy jointly account for 56% of the variance in perceived suitability. Public-Private Partnership (PPP) strength emerges as the strongest predictor of institutional effectiveness. Qualitative findings illuminate the mechanisms underlying these patterns: local authorities function as pragmatic brokers, navigating structural rigidities through informal networks and discretionary project-based initiatives that remain institutionally unsustainable and inequitably distributed. The study identifies a centralization-responsiveness paradox wherein ceremonially adopted decentralization policies coexist with functionally centralized operations, generating accountability ambiguities and inequitable governance costs. Grounded analytically in institutional theory, decentralization theory, and human capital theory, the proposed framework integrates reconstituted multi-level governance architecture, institutionalized demand-side engagement, equitable financing, systematic capacity development, and rigorous performance accountability. Implications are discussed for policymakers, development partners, and VE administrators in comparable transitional economies.
Bock, Stephen. 2018. Translations of urban regulation in relations between Kigali (Rwanda) and Singapore. xiii + 338 pp., figs, tables. Zurich: LIT Verlag, 2018. Hudani, Shakira E. 2024. Master plans and minor acts: repairing the city in post-genocide Rwanda. 258 pp., figs. Chicago: University Press, 2024. $32.50 (paper). Shearer, Samuel. The Kigali model: making a 21st century metropolis. Ph.D. dissertation, Duke University, 2017. Three recent ethnographies of Kigali's urban planning and development provide a welcome addition to a long tradition of such ethnographies, including Lisa Redfield Peattie's famous fieldwork in the planning of Ciudad Guayana (1968; 1987), Grace Goodell's ethnographic account of the disjunction between planning offices in Tehran and the urban settlements (sharaks) of the Khuzistan Development Project modelled on the Tennessee Vally Authority (1986), and Gökce Günel's ethnographic analysis of the disjunction between plans for, and implementation of, Mazdar City and Mazdar Institute in Abu Dhabi (2019). Kigali, often dubbed ‘the African Singapore’, provides a model for thinking about new urban formations in Africa and elsewhere (see Pype, Adunbe & Fischer 2025), the circulation of planning consultancies, and the key social issues of dealing with informal settlements, overcrowding, and rights to the city. Having worked in Singapore for the past decade or so, I was long interested in the claim of the Singapore consultancy, and town planning agency within Singapore (Surbana), to have provided the planning for Kigali as well as a number of other cities in Africa. It was one of several initiatives to sell Singapore's expertise (industrial parks in China; port management in Turkey). A two-week intensive visit to Rwanda, including to its new district hospital and University of Global Health Equity in Butaro, a poor region of the north – both initiatives of the anthropologist Paul Farmer and Partners in Health – in the company of Dr. Aalyia Sadruddin (a long-time ethnographer in Rwanda whose network gave access to several of Rwanda's strategists), enhanced my desire to further ‘read for the ethnography’. ‘Reading for the ethnography’ is my slogan for creating a detailed empirical basis for theory building, evaluation of ethnographic writing, cultural critique, and the transnational circuitry of post-globalization. Reading for the ethnography is the ‘ground-truthing’, or finer grained precision, of claims of theory, just as aerial photography requires on-the-ground verification and often alternative understandings: What is the evidence? How well does the text demonstrate linguistic and cultural competence in eliciting emic accounts? Are there other accounts in the literature, other histories of the specific places, or alternative explanations? In the present comparison of three ethnographies of the same city and administrative structures, I pay attention to the ethnographic facts that each adduces that I can use to create a mosaic understanding of different parts of the city, different local histories of settlement and redevelopment, and different evolving plans versus local resistance or counter-movements of residents, and how the interlocutors and informants evaluate, complain, or take advantage of changing effects of city planners, global financing, and of organic incremental growth and ad hoc solutions. The three ethnographies are not quite like the elephant and the three blind men, but they present remarkably different accountings of how, where, and when things happened, even if at some points they draw upon similar generalizing language about financial and administrative logics and forces. I am interested in the way their empirical ethnographic materials complement each other to create a baseline for further inquiry – on Kigali, but also for comparative work across cities that face similar (but locally different) problems. I emphasize the ethnographic history of Singapore itself to counter the cliches, again looking for the precise ethnographic and historical evolutions in its experience, and the role of the Surbana town planning consultancy in Singapore and as it attempts to sell its experiences and expertise elsewhere. Writing about Kigali in transition must negotiate visionary ambitions and promissory publicity together with ‘ground truthing’, tracking emergent forms of social organization and struggles for rights to the city, along with gender relations, and visions of the good life. The three ethnographies proved to be quite different in focus and evidentiary basis. Stephan Bock embedded himself in the urban planning ministries of Rwanda, and at the Surbana consultancy offices in Singapore, to examine the role of Surbana's master plans and building regulations for Kigali. Samuel Shearer embedded himself in the street vendor markets and informal settlements looking to how their residents try ‘to defend their collective resources against the liquidating processes of speculative urbanism’ (p. 5). Shakira Hudani focuses on three types of resettlement areas to which people evicted from informal settlements are moved. As the terms ‘master plans’ and ‘speculative urbanism’ indicate, the forces are not merely local or contained within nation-states, but are imaginaries and financial forces circulating the globe. Kigali, Shearer suggests, has joined Singapore to be ‘on the forefront in a revolution of how cities are managed, lived, and imagined everywhere’ (p. 5). But Shearer is also an excellent guide to resistance and pushback from the people being managed. He takes a critical view of the master plan process ‘written by consultants in Singapore, funded by multinational investment corporations, to be exported from Kigali’ (p. 5). The ‘world class city’ for him does not actually produce the built environment it promises, but, ‘by activating global networks of capital and expertise with a compelling visual narrative about a city's future potential’, subverts the tactics available for use by the less advantaged city residents to have a stake in the city (p. 5). He claims the ‘international team of managers and consultants have “liberated” planning from the political and economic relations that paralyze planners in other cities’ (p. 5). His own excellent ethnography shows otherwise, or at least that it is not the whole story. Following Michael Goldman (2011), he asserts that the goals of ‘speculative urbanism’ are to create real estate investment opportunities. But, as Bock points out, money is required to build a city, and money-strapped Rwanda needed private-public investment to generate urban budgets but also ways to extract money from, and give ownership to, its own population. As Beng-Huat Chua, Singapore's leading sociologist and loyal critic, demonstrates, the housing mechanism in Singapore built the state through forced savings that the state could then leverage (Chua 2024). Rwanda, too, has a state mechanism to shape investment and growth: the national pension program (eligibility is paid contributions for fifteen years). Construction, in large part, is financed by three state-connected funds (Goodfellow & Smith 2013). Rwanda's political-administrative structure of districts, sectors, cells, imidugudu (the smallest formal unit of a hundred or so households) and an informal nyumbacumi (person overseeing ten households) is analogous to the organization of Singapore's People's Action Party's voluntary organizations and community centres built into housing estates (though not down to the same formal degree of ten households). Goodfellow and Smith provide an overview of the struggle to organize the city of Kigali between 1994 and 2000, and to prevent the race riots that Singapore experienced in its early days of independence and government consolidation. What is often called the ‘Singapore model’ is just one element of planning and design in a complex process of ‘from third world to first in one generation’ (in Lee Kuan Yew's famous tag line for ‘the Singapore Story’) or from low-income to middle-income country (in Paul Kagame's). Shearer, while criticizing aspects of Singapore's consultancy in Kigali notes that the whole idea was that the plan should pay for itself by attracting foreign capital. Furthermore, ‘what is called the Singapore model’ is ‘not because it follows that city's transformation, but because it conjures an idea of what global “city-ness” should look like, with Singapore as a reference’ (p. 131). The conjuring, he says, is ‘what Surbana sells’. It has sold ninety master plan projects in thirty countries mainly in Asia and Africa. These are promissory visions, and become integrated as one layer in cascades of implementation, with all the contingencies, blockages, and redesign involved. ‘Participatory planning’ is a buzz-word component (one that Lisa Redfield Peattie championed) but that Shearer points out in Rwanda today is often really participatory expropriation, letting coops and associations ‘purchase their own property and take out loans to develop that property’, often against the will (or lack of choice) of the participants (p. 139); a harsher version of the ‘forced savings’ that Beng-Huat Chua describes for Singapore. So how did this process get started? Here Bock is helpful. Pundits, Bock says, regularly give Rwanda good marks for economic development and bad marks for authoritarianism and human rights violations. But such binaries, he argues ‘do not help to disentangle the complexity of relations and interactions’. He calls for multi-locale and multi-scalar ethnographic approaches. He watched Kigali develop from 2006 when there were only a few hotels and government buildings taller than a single storey, no traffic lights, and only mini-buses for public transportation. By 2011 there were cleared areas waiting for redevelopment, traffic lights, and larger buses. In the immediate post-genocide years, emergency attention had to be given to the city, of the and and of and is an to the early of Singapore, both urban that the and were and people were into Kigali had and and City a as well as city master plan for a master plan with some from the and The first Kigali Master was by the consultancy in Singapore's Surbana was in to a master and in The dubbed Kigali Kigali as Bock and with a street of and of Shearer is for the he and Bock with real the focus with residents, and building a that had to work there were no real or have had in the in 1994 and the of the a of urban out from a public and into and with community and to on the informal settlement the markets as to be and paid and the settlements needed and use But a master plan is not just a it is a to a new city did some detailed planning for and building In an of of Kigali's But how to Bock to Singapore and in were to Singapore, and In Surbana the for detailed planning of Kigali's and A Surbana was within the Kigali planning (the Surbana of Kigali in to it to the plans and to the an to on as and a way for to from their to their be in the master were about the in the of housing needed and that into or housing than Beng-Huat Chua, in ‘Singapore as model’ (2011), that the model be only can The Singapore government of the and could and with a good Singapore could in the to or in the financial this to Surbana as claims to have planning projects in thirty countries (in and and In Singapore it has create of a In Rwanda, the structure of the political was from the in which the were given of with the to be and and work were not the and in the state to the city was not people their were Bock were in to by were to produce and But in the and early global and and a provides an that in the and from to for the of and the development of this the with and with and Bock a government a country such as the only is that of a that can and the economic some from the and the key was as of the was today in the so, a key focus was to use consultants for and but Singapore, with an that had to become participants in the planning not just of Paul in had a of to plan the development of the country from to middle-income by in 2000, a team to to about of A was to Rwanda for from the which also from countries to create a The Rwanda Development the of the Development of was to as a for Rwanda's in the global of the for The Rwanda The Development and for on to and to focus on urban use and master Hudani argues that the planning of a state is to a of social issues of rights to the city, and incremental of and social argues that one Rwanda as a of urban the was the in when the in a of and again today with the of and in and claims upon of three different and types of development Shearer that three urban are each and the urban of the built and social have the of urban and visual to and housing of are on to with on-the-ground with the people could help such in with in all three ethnographies, but to the Singapore are accounts of to as of a national to human capital. 2000, Singapore funded for and at and the of the or their own have to a number of for and have funded to and and along with multinational Rwanda is to The new and University of Global Health Equity in with and the is to provide for and across the African like the of and of the University of Rwanda in Kigali, were built with local and attention to the Kigali's economic the for (one of the of the against to an and development to provide for countries in the African the first such on the African 2024). also – of the of but to the focus on the urban planning – are of Singapore, this the on and parks on and in was an economic an plan by of & Rwanda, it the from through and the it has through the ethnographies to emergent forms of social and struggles for rights to the city, a of historical relations are a and history that further account of street and of and also of an African of that and forms of are the Rwanda has the of in than other as well as a number of government Shearer, a with a of by a local at and were to prevent from a by a street to pay a to local or community are to and but, in this not only was the but the the city's master which and the for The not only the but called a as the were the the work community the of the is a of produce and sell of produce that they have or on from or and on the in the world in and are locally and sold as in are then or by and as than as or are called is in this is than which there is also a or of into and of and and The street have their own so each or to use the to pay down are single with each and often of making a and by the that pay less than or for and in the some for were to the Shearer says, narrative of Kigali as an state with a that the and of is (p. The the the and The to down for a for a few and then the city, street informal settlements, and are a and and Shearer, the that stake for urban residents in the century is how to defend collective resources against the liquidating processes of speculative urbanism’ (p. Shearer provides and of informal settlements in of were and by the and The had to but only for the not the which it to the the and work people to to what they The residents also their own to the were just and to a new housing by the pension ethnographic is of the or of Kigali are called by their but by of other famous informal settlements (or or are or things and in in the (in poor Shearer is for the and which he by the had become he the development state of was for of the the and could well from the and with foreign and and a of and and In the In the Rwanda from The were by It Shearer says, the of the and for and from the city to out the some to the as a to use against the (p. Shearer the of the street and but he is no that their tactics of and are a real alternative He describes the in of the built in and of other such in an to into new in from their and for than In a ethnographic he describes the of the to provide to informal settlements such as on Kigali. by a (the by the to the Rwanda the residents the for the state the and the also further residents have to to the and for The of capital for that can provide no is not to Rwanda. Shearer at one in that urban development in Kigali about social and about a by a (p. and that this has political and financial resources (in their transnational network of managers and to to their speculative (p. he how could a city be and built within the of Hudani provides of three types of to people from informal settlements to way for new to a new housing complex an urban attracting investment at the of or informal settlement and model a of and shows the of and needed for urban and as with for and and the of and districts, and on a that the master plans residents of were to or their which they had built from of then with and then with as they for the state to and resettlement to to a built housing estate or a settlement to, of their and was really The new were and the unit was the could not get terms from the Rwanda by the because it not as or about to be housing not with they were being housing in for first with people that provided that be in the was for a development by a investment A of property hundred in for a settlement the new to down their own in a of that also in the when the state to organize into settlement and new building such as of The residents of the of urban in as by the the same that the against is from the and to from the As Hudani ‘the political that Kigali's is by the use of the state of to give an of is that the of of urban and to the than informal settlements with and as in and in other cities in which and informal building to political for and into the city, Hudani says, the master plan the informal settlement for investment by transnational capital. Hudani describes as to the street at the and the when there were and and and some provided a social of collective life. As built to leading to The urban of just the and the the of Kigali, and of the 1994 were It has become a new of In the the from the and elsewhere to and to get to work as the for settlement of the (in and and were are Hudani that the of the in in 1994 the large number of from elsewhere. is an urban a of new by a new in financed by with a of by as well as a new and (in a government with and the a and a The and other new are by the of the Singapore Authority The on the way to the is being by it will in A and in other model all and administrative can be has to this also help create between districts, and countries to the of cities in investment and Rwanda is to be the to The was to districts, and were to and on provided and Hudani there are paid by and by the national as well as local are by to on with – to and Hudani called and by the is by cities to Hudani the urban poor are from to in of and with new building and are the poor whose is and for or for and are in new housing and The third of is the model was in as of a Development at first in of a and built of with by the program to the of such were to be built by 2024. is the that and foreign are to Hudani calls it a the is not the is to from they or for their and to was a resettlement for It was as being a of by and modelled on or in in the in the and and had similar as did development state In Hudani or was to Rwanda and other African The was to in and of people from different In that between and a people households) were to imidugudu to the into and to the social organizations of Hudani to the but which also could resistance to state Hudani that experienced forced and were to their own and to imidugudu settlement building materials in The the complexity of claims to and in by people or into imidugudu is not but it the model is an to the and to three it is also not how the goals of are Hudani Rwanda a by from The of the is claims that in of the in and were The of Bock, Shearer, and fieldwork as and a of and processes in urban as well as political or economic Singapore's Surbana was to Kigali, and Singapore an in in of urban in in attracting foreign and in use of of and into not only but also to or both as a and as a while to from or or into and such as and provide into local and as such as account of resistance to and of local points in to informal of Singapore, and can the of and at The the and of the Kigali in a poor projects demonstrate Rwanda's and they can be about He also the as a model for a to Bock shows how that investment can be and to prevent capital from are not only the of housing in social or and Singapore, but also the of social for in 2024). are – and – through private-public or incremental from to as in in and in The is in the struggle and was given the to versus the that try to the rights to the city and the of that provide an urban economic the Singapore but not its social The three ethnographies of Bock, Shearer, and Hudani provide three different the and city’ to about the circulation of and consultancies, as well as struggles to rights to the city, a not only of social but of cultural and social and Michael Fischer is in the and of and and at the Institute of as well as a in Global Health and at He is of ten including on between and to between and and in the on theory as with of and the and in the on Singapore and of and the of and and and on and cities in Africa. He a at Duke University so He has a of on and in and and an with and an anthropologist of Rwanda on as
This comparative policy analysis examines the education systems of South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore—East Asia’s “Asian Tigers”—focusing on their historical development, philosophies, objectives, structures, financing, administration, and teacher policies. Utilizing Bereday’s (1964) comparative method, the study synthesizes secondary sources, including government reports and academic journals, to explore how these nations leverage education for economic and social progress within distinct political and cultural contexts. South Korea’s system emphasizes fierce competition and STEM excellence, driven by high-stakes exams like the CSAT, yet grapples with equity issues due to private tutoring prevalence. Taiwan prioritizes holistic development, bilingualism, and a 12-year compulsory framework, fostering inclusivity but facing rural-urban disparities. Singapore champions meritocracy, aligning its streamlined 6-4-2 structure with economic needs through early streaming and robust public funding, though it risks rigidity. Commonalities include centralized governance, rigorous academic standards, and public-private partnerships, while differences in financing and decentralization reflect contextual priorities. The findings highlight policy coherence as a driver of educational success, offering lessons for developing nations like Ethiopia, such as investing in teacher quality, early education, and equitable access. This study underscores the transformative potential of education when aligned with national goals, providing actionable insights for global education reform in an interconnected world.
This research delves into the potential of a gold-backed cryptocurrency as a strategic instrument for international net settlement, leveraging blockchain technology, and assesses its global economic implications. Through a comprehensive evaluation of the efficiencies derived from integrating a gold-backed cryptocurrency, this study critically examines the prevailing use of fiat currency in international net settlement, laying the groundwork for fortified financial resilience within Malaysia's Islamic finance framework. To fulfil the study's overarching objective, a qualitative research methodology was meticulously applied, encompassing content analysis alongside insightful semi-structured interviews. The argument put forth underscores that a cryptocurrency backed by gold represents a superior alternative to fiat currencies in facilitating international net settlement through the robust medium of blockchain technology, ushering in an era characterized by compatibility and enhanced efficiency. Furthermore, this article posits that the revolutionary potential of blockchain will permeate Malaysia's Islamic financial system, aligning with Islamic finance principles and accelerating international net settlement. This integration is poised to usher in an unprecedented era of growth, efficiency, and innovation while adhering to Islamic financial ethics.
E-diasporas are networks driven by human agency, connecting digital citizens to their home countries and diasporic fellows through digital tools. In contrast, Hyperconnected Diasporas (HD) are data-driven networks engaged in extractive activities, often employed for government (para)diplomacy, heavily relying on social media extractivist data-opolies or Big Tech platforms. This article examines the impact of disruptive technologies on e-diasporas in the context of data extractivism, particularly stemming from HD. The article pursues a dual objective: (i) reviewing existing literature and comparing five disruptive technologies—Blockchain, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), Data Cooperatives, Metaverse, and ChatGPT—in sustaining e-diasporas as networks driven by human agency, and (ii) scrutinizing associated opportunities and risks, including challenges to institutional trust and data privacy arising from HD. The study seeks to elucidate how these technologies may either hinder or exacerbate the impacts of HD on e-diasporas, characterized by their human-driven nature. The article begins with an introduction to HD, followed by a literature review on e-diasporas. Methodologically, it presents a comparative analysis of the five disruptive technologies concerning the research question and discusses their implications for e-diasporic communities, concluding with final remarks.
Purpose The rise of cultural governance has made cultural democracy important in East Asia. South Korea and China have chosen to develop cultural democracy by means of developing community-based cultural houses. Cultural houses in Korea were first managed from the center but have now been decentralized, and those in China have been developed based on local financing and administration. Since central-local intergovernmental relations, as they relate to public culture, have gone untouched in East Asia, the purpose of this paper is to study how central-local intergovernmental relations have impacted the development of cultural democracy in this area, in order to better understand how public culture should be developed. Design/methodology/approach A comparative study of the cases of South Korea and China has been used. The materials and information collected for the study were gathered by a review and an analysis of extant literature, policy documents, data and other materials from the relevant departments of both countries. It was also based on semi-structured interviews conducted with the national cultural departments, regulatory institutions, and with officials and scholars. Findings This study shows that central-local intergovernmental relations can have an impact on the management of community-based cultural houses and the effectiveness of cultural democracy’s development. Only complete decentralization that directly invites democratization will provide positive local conditions for cultural democracy’s growth. In short, meaningful governmental responses to local demands and a strong civil society are critical for the advancement of cultural democracy. Practical implications This study seeks to provide insights into the relationship between central-local intergovernmental relations and cultural democracy. At the micro project level, cultural project management should be improved; at the medium local level, the public must be made part of any decentralization effort; and at the macro national level, the multiple impacts caused by decentralization need to be considered. Originality/value This study is unique in terms of both its research questions and its research area. Central-local intergovernmental relations, as they relate to public culture, have gone comparatively untouched, especially in the context of East Asia. It is in this context that studying how central-local intergovernmental relations impact the development of cultural democracy is worthwhile, in order to better understand how public culture has developed and will be developed in future. A comparative study of the cases of South Korea and China has been used to discover the impacts of different dimensions of central-local decentralization on cultural development.
"Trash, Cities, and Politics" describes Indonesia's ADIPURA, an environmental program begun in the mid 1980s to focus on waste management, cleanliness and sanitation, and green spaces. The paper discusses the program within the larger context of Indonesia's urbanization and its environmental consequences, from the time of the New Order up to today's decentralization era. The essay describes ADIPURA's continuity and evolution, with respect to central and local governments, law enforcement, financing, and community and private sector participation. It also provides specific data from more than 300 cities, and presents statistics to reveal trends and disconnects and to examine the program's successes and failures. For example, the study found that the program's incentives are inadequate, given Indonesia's regional autonomy and decentralization; that government ministers' credibility may be too weak to encourage municipalities' participation and compliance; and that the program comprises an unmanageable number of targets and is excessively expensive to administer, especially the inspections. The study concludes that ADIPURA is potentially useful to clean up cities, but needs to be overhauled, modernized, and coordinated with other government policies, and further transformed to eliminate actual and potential corruption and manipulation.
Defines ownership arrangement as the way the state organizes itself to exercise its ownership rights over state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and focuses on how to create effective ownership arrangements by improving traditional ownership arrangements; by creating advisory or coordinating bodies to facilitate the state’s ownership role; by centralizing the state’s ownership functions; and by ensuring the effectiveness of ownership arrangements. While countries vary substantially, ownership models fall broadly into four categories: (1) The decentralized model, where ownership responsibilities are dispersed among different line ministries; (2) The dual model, a variation of the decentralized model, where in addition to line ministries a second ministry, such as the ministry of finance, may also have certain responsibilities; (3) The advisory model, where ownership remains dispersed but an advisory or coordinating body is created to advise ministries on ownership matters; and (4) The centralized model, where ownership responsibilities are centralized in an entity or entities that may be independent or may fall within government.
Indonesia underwent enormous political and institutional changes in the wake of the 1997–98 economic crisis and the collapse of Soeharto's authoritarian regime. Yet something curious happened under President Yudhoyono: a politics of economic growth has returned in post-crisis decentralized, democratic Indonesia. The politics of economic growth is politics that transforms political issues of redistribution into problems of output and attempts to neutralize social conflict in favor of a consensus on growth. Under Soeharto, this politics provided ideological legitimation to his authoritarian regime. The new politics of economic growth in post-Soeharto Indonesia works differently. Decentralized democracy created a new set of conditions for doing politics: social divisions along ethnic and religious lines are no longer suppressed but are contained locally. A new institutional framework was also created for the economic policy-making. The 1999 Central Bank Law guarantees the independence of the Bank Indonesia (BI) from the government. The Law on State Finance requires the government to keep the annual budget deficit below 3% of the GDP while also expanding the powers of the Ministry of Finance (MOF) at the expense of National Development Planning Agency. No longer insulated in a state of political demobilization as under Soeharto, Indonesian technocracy depends for its performance on who runs these institutions and the complex political processes that inform their decisions and operations.
This chapter argues that the conflict in southern Philippines has not led to any serious radicalization of Islamic education. On matters of religious schooling, parents and educators alike show a level-headed pragmatism. Parents appreciate Islamic education for its ability to instill piety and a religious identity in an unstable world in which neither can be taken for granted. At the same time, parents want their offspring to acquire marketable skills. Islamic schools aim to strike a balance between these two valued ends. No less surprising, and again notwithstanding the thirty-year insurgency, no political party or umbrella organization has been able to seize control of the decentralized religious school system. Until the recent establishment of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), Islamic schooling was managed at the local level, and school directors were justly famous for their independent-mindedness.
Introduction, Mila Freire. Part I: City Management and Strategy: Globalization and the new urban challenge, Yeung Yue-man The challenges of peri-urban growth in East Asia: the case of China Hangzhou-Ningbo Corridor, Douglas Webster and Larissa Muller Planning Singapore growth for better living, Belinda Yuen Strategic management and citizen empowerment: the Naga City experience, Jesse Robredo City strategy and governance, Mila Freire and Angela Griffin. Part II: Finance and Budget Issues: From conceptual framework to practice: the municipal budget, Markus Stadler Decentralization, devolution and development in the Philippines, Alex Brillantes, Jr Revenue sources of local governments: nature and determinants, Robert Ebel and Francois Vaillancourt The private sector in water and sanitation, Penelope J. Brook and Nicola Tynan. Part III: Land, Poverty and Other Issues: Strengthening local government capacities in urban planning and finance: lessons from the East Asia city development strategies, Nathaniel von Einsiedel Industrial estate planning and development: case studies, Seetoh Kum Chun The city poverty assessment: a primer, Jesko Hentschel and Radha Seshigirl Preserving the cultural (built) heritage of cities, Heng Chye Klang. Resume: Lessons Learned, Belinda Yuen.
ForewordR. Scott Fosler and Shinyasu Hoshino Globalization and Decentralization: An OverviewJong S. Jun and Deil S. Wright Part I: Institutional Contexts Introduction 1. From Dual to Coercive Federalism in American Intergovernmental RelationsJohn Kincaid 2. Intergovernmental Relations in Japan: Historical and Legal Patterns of Power DistributionFukashi Horie 3. Innovative Policies and Administrative Strategies for Intergovernmental Change in JapanHiromi Muto 4. Remapping Federalism: The Rediscovery of Civic Governance in the United StatesDeWitt John, Alex Halley, and R. Scott Fosler 5. Emerging Regional Organizational and Institutional Forms: Strategies and Prospects for Transcending Localism in the United StatesJohn Kirlin 6. Understanding Regional Administration in Japan: Dynamism in Stability and Continuity in ChangeTakashi Nishio Part II: Public Policy Issues Introduction 7. The Roles of Central Government and Local Government in Japan's Regional Development PoliciesNaohisa Nagata 8. Public Infrastructure, Capital Investment, and Economic Development in the United StatesBruce McDowell 9. The Tokyo and the Development of Urban Issues in JapanAkira Nakamura 10. Metropolitan Growth and Development in the United States: Human Problems and ProspectsRalph Widner 11. Service Integration Revisited and Reinvented: The Strategic Role of Schools in Human ServicesAstrid Merget and William Colman 12. Social Welfare Issues in Japan: Meeting the Needs of an Aging SocietyAkira Morita 13. Perspectives on Intergovernmental Relations in Japan: The Problem of Solid Waste ManagementKatsumi Yorimoto 14. The Interstate Transport of Solid Waste: Intergovernmental Tensions and the Conflict Between Law and PolicyRosemary O'Leary and Paul Weiland 15. Fiscal Disparities in the United States: Concepts, Trends, and PoliciesRobert Rafuse 16. The Politics of Local Government Finance in JapanYoshio Kobayashi Part III: Internationalization and Globalization Introduction 17. State and Local Boundary-Spanning Strategies in the United States: Political, Economic, and Social Transgovernmental InteractionsJohn M. Kline 18. Technology Transfer from Iowa to Japan: Internationalization and the Quality of Life in Rural AreasKazunori Ishiguro 19. Japanese Local Government in an Era of Global Economic InterdependencyShinyasu Hoshino 20. The Domestic Consequences of Internationalization: Emerging Conflicts Enid Beaumont