Local Governance on Crisis Management: Policy Perspectives

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Local governance is a process of decision-making and resource distribution at the local levels using markets, quasi-markets, and the networks of mutually interdependent organizations, entities, and actors. This is a new form of governing system which transcends – both in theory and practice – the traditional conception of local government. While local government is a building block of local governance, the latter encompasses a wide gamut of formal and informal institutions, processes, and relationships. In its simplest form, local governance can be defined as the collective action of the local government institutions, various government agencies, private sector, and civil society groups to manage common socioeconomic and political affairs of a given locality below the national or sub-national level. 

 

In emergency contexts, such as the current pandemic, the proximity of local governments to people gains ground, not only for basic service delivery but also for nurturing and helping people transform their cities into their homes. Local governments operate in a limited territorial space, triggered by closeness to people and influenced by context-specificities, with direct benefits to those on the other side of the interactions and probably passioned by a culture of reciprocity, where mutual gains can be obtained, and a “sense of belonging” and “togetherness” are keywords. The recent crisis and its aftermath have increased the demand for more effective public governance and highlighted the importance of the institutional and financial frameworks in the design of public governance schemes. Improving public governance is important to limit the growth of government debt at all levels, to ensure fair and sustainable public service delivery and to foster growth in all regions

 

On these awareness, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in cooperation with Institute of Democratization Studies provides the discussion on “Local Governance on Crisis Management: Policy Perspectives” to Thai society as a proposal to understanding the important role of local governance in global citizen era.

Local governance is a process of decision-making and resource distribution at the local levels using markets, quasi-markets, and the networks of mutually interdependent organizations, entities, and actors. This is a new form of governing system which transcends – both in theory and practice – the traditional conception of local government. While local government is a building block of local governance, the latter encompasses a wide gamut of formal and informal institutions, processes, and relationships. In its simplest form, local governance can be defined as the collective action of the local government institutions, various government agencies, private sector, and civil society groups to manage common socioeconomic and political affairs of a given locality below the national or sub-national level. 

 

In emergency contexts, such as the current pandemic, the proximity of local governments to people gains ground, not only for basic service delivery but also for nurturing and helping people transform their cities into their homes. Local governments operate in a limited territorial space, triggered by closeness to people and influenced by context-specificities, with direct benefits to those on the other side of the interactions and probably passioned by a culture of reciprocity, where mutual gains can be obtained, and a “sense of belonging” and “togetherness” are keywords. The recent crisis and its aftermath have increased the demand for more effective public governance and highlighted the importance of the institutional and financial frameworks in the design of public governance schemes. Improving public governance is important to limit the growth of government debt at all levels, to ensure fair and sustainable public service delivery and to foster growth in all regions

 

On these awareness, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in cooperation with Institute of Democratization Studies provides the discussion on “Local Governance on Crisis Management: Policy Perspectives” to Thai society as a proposal to understanding the important role of local governance in global citizen era.