Volumen 63 (2015): Edición 3 (December 2015)

Placeless power, meaning the exercise of power by decision-makers who are unconcerned about the impact of their decisions on communities living in particular places, has grown significantly in the last thirty years. A consequence is that societies are becoming more unequal. Even in the wealthy global cities modern capitalism is increasing inequality at a formidable rate. In a new book the author provides an international, comparative analysis of the efforts being made by place-based leaders to create inclusive, sustainable cities. This article draws on the evidence presented in the book to suggest that place-based leaders can play a significant role in advancing social justice, promoting care for the environment and bolstering community empowerment. An opening section introduces the idea of place-based power, providing a context for the subsequent discussion. A second section sets out a new way of conceptualising the roles of place-based leaders in any given context, a framework described as the New Civic Leadership. This distinguishes five different realms of civic leadership. The third section provides an example of place-based leadership in action. It outlines the way local leadership has brought about a remarkable transformation of the central area of Melbourne, Australia. A final section presents a comparative discussion of three themes relating to place-based leadership and local collaboration: (i) the changing possibilities for place-based leadership in our rapidly globalising world, (ii) the need for outward-facing local government leadership given the changing nature of public policy challenges and (iii) the role of place-based leadership in bringing about radical public innovation.

Shared services are now established as a core delivery model in local and regional governance arrangements. Shared services have emerged as a ‘common sense’ delivery vehicle with attendant efficiency and effectiveness gains. There is, however, a more complex intellectual provenance to a reliance on shared services. In essence, shared services are the logical outcome of the deliberate turn to neo-liberal thinking and the various iterations of the new public managerialism methodology which has progressively established itself in local and regional governance over the past thirty years or so. This paper explores the neo-liberal provenance of shared services and considers the consequential vulnerabilities to austerity, administrative reform and reduced public sector budgets. The central proposition of the paper is that while neo-liberal ideas have created the justification for shared services, this has embedded a set of systemic tensions in the delivery model.

Emergency management has developed separately in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland as a result of the differences in the political, legal, organisational and cultural backgrounds that exist in the two jurisdictions. Good cross-border cooperation has existed at individual organisational level between the principal emergency response agencies for many years. Now that regions in Europe are becoming more connected it is becoming increasingly obvious to agencies with responsibility for emergency management on both sides of the border that we need to be better prepared and ready to work effectively together to deal with any major emergency that may arise along the border. Emergencies and natural or manmade disasters do not respect geographical borders, particularly on a landmass as small as the island of Ireland. It is recognised that there is a need for more formalised joint planning and greater collaboration by the statutory agencies, which will result in a more coordinated and effective response to any possible major emergencies or disasters that may occur along the border areas. This paper reviews the current emergency management arrangements in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, how the structures, roles and responsibilities of the various agencies involved differ, and how a move to greater collaboration has occurred, as well as examining the drivers for this collaboration, how this has manifested itself so far, and how the potential for pragmatic, flexible and creative solutions will achieve further progress in the coming years.

This article examines five ‘challenges’ facing most administrative systems across Europe. The first challenge stems from the increasingly asymmetric nature of European multilevel governance; the second challenge arises from the missed opportunity of reforming in the absence of a dominant administrative paradigm; the third challenge lies in rescuing and transforming the welfare state; the fourth challenge is concerned with making the most of the knowledge generated in the field of strategic management for strategically managing public services; the fifth challenge lies in staff (de)motivation. These challenges are pitched at very different levels: some are related to issues of public governance, some to issues of scholarly and practitioners’ collective understandings of public administration in Europe, and some to trends in the global economy, and notably the financial, economic and fiscal ‘crises’.