Dr. Eris Schoburgh

The Research Problem

For over a decade policy-makers in the Caribbean have been engaged in reforming local government systems. These reforms have been driven by factors from two sources: (a) the mostly negative experience that local communities have with their local authorities (local government), and (b) new ideas about the best ways through which to deliver public services. These ideas are expressed using different labels but they all in some way suggest new norms about local service organization and management and political interface between local authorities and communities to achieve citizen satisfaction.

New Institutional Theory

One body of ideas known as new institutional theory has forced Caribbean policy-makers to consider whether local services should be delivered using markets (i.e. privatization) or local bureaucracy (i.e. existing local administrative structures) or cooperative arrangements (i.e. combining local government, community and business/industry).

Economic Development in Local Governance
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Governance

Another body of ideas that has influenced reform in the Caribbean is governance of which the World Bank is the main proponent. Governance promotes ideals such as participation, efficiency and effectiveness, accountable management and respect for human rights, as the essential foundations on which public policies are to be built. Both new institutional theory and governance have led to the emergence and general acceptance of the term local governance as the ultimate goal of local government reform in the Caribbean. Not only does local governance appear in virtually every speech that is made in connection with local government reform policies, it is used interchangeably with local government. However, local government and local governance describe separate and distinct political and administrative processes. This ‘incorrect’ usage suggests limited understanding of what the concept entails and indicates a blind transfer of the ideals of the concept to the Caribbean contexts where the social and political dynamics are not necessarily complementary to the original interpretation of the concept.

Rationale

Dr. Eris Schoburgh
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The researcher’s interest in how theoretical ideas shape local government policy design and implementation in the Caribbean stems first from my commitment to advance research in my area of academic specialization, which is policy research with concentration on subnational politics and administration. However, having studied this particular policy area for more than ten years it became apparent that issues beyond the broad political framework are important for understanding the pace and content of reform. The similarities across the Caribbean with respect to the use of local governance were especially appealing, which led me to explore the question of how closely aligned with policy language are policy strategies in the implementation of local government reform.

The Methodology

The research problem was explored through the medium of a case study. The Portmore Municipal Council (PMC) was selected as the appropriate case as it represents an experiment in community self-management, co-governance and democratic local governance. Using a combination of interviews and analysis of minutes of council meetings, the research sought to find out how deeply integrated into the operations of the PMC were the values of local governance.

Research Impact

This research is innovative in two main ways: (a) It is the first academic study to be carried out on the design and functioning of the PMC; (b) It benchmarks the functioning of the PMC against internationally accepted standards for effective local democratic processes; and (c) it offers real lessons for broader adoption of this type of decentralizing reform across the Caribbean. Importantly it provides policy relevant knowledge about the concept and practice of local governance and its distinction from local government.

As such both the literature consulted and the findings will be useful tools for:

• Policy reformers/bureaucrats
• Elected representatives at local and national levels
• Local government practitioners
• University students.

Policy development processes at the local and national levels in the Caribbean should also be impacted positively through this research.

Benefit of Research to Government, Industry or Other Stakeholders

For government, it demonstrates the importance of the need for a new kind of policy and administrative leadership for successful policy reform.

For industry and other stakeholders, it highlights the varied ways in which these categories of local actors can be integrated into local policy processes in a more balanced way.

For reformers, it provides an objective assessment of the outcomes of efforts to change local government to local governance, which revealed that the language of policy is not always supported in the strategies.