Suchergebnisse

There are still a large number of local councils where the majority of the seats are not held by nominees of the political parties. It is important that we should try to understand the operation of the decision-making process in these authorites as well as in those in which the party groups dominate the council chamber. Non-partisan local authorites are generally to be found in the smaller district authorities (smaller in terms of population size, that is) and in the county councils serving predominantly rural areas.
Non-partisan political systems are concentrated in the smaller district authorities and the county councils serving rural areas, partly because, as Jeffrey Stanyer has pointed out, 'in order to vote on other than party lines, an elector must know something of the personal characteristics of the candidates' and he is more likely to have this information in a small community; and also because the difficulties of individual electioneering are greater in larger electoral areas. Of course, as the community grows larger, the local newspaper may attempt to provide relevant information. In large cities this is usually confined to brief and rather dry biographical information about the candidate and his civic activities.

The use of private security by weak states is often seen to erode state power and prevent national institution building. This article investigates the use of private military force in Somalia and the three different entities that exercise political authority within this geographically defined territory, namely the Transitional Federal Government, Puntland, and Somaliland. All three have contracted private security companies, primarily to prevent piracy and illegal fishing in their costal waters. The article shows that while the turmoil in Somalia continues to offer lucrative investment opportunities for private security and military companies of various sorts, it cannot be uniformly concluded that private security always serves to weaken already fragile public authorities. On the contrary, in some cases the activities of private military companies have served to strengthen the power of local authorities.

Local political leaders in Ukraine are far from oriented to the democratic transition introduced after the country's independence in 1991. Based on interviews with local political leaders in late 1991, research on local governments supports the conclusion that the local leaders have taken a small step toward a new social order. This is particularly true of the leaders' values concerning popular participation and social conflicts. One of the major reasons for this ambivalence of leaders is the fact that the powers of local governments are very limited as well as ambiguous and that competing political elites have yet to be formed into political parties. Nonetheless, a legal framework has been set for local self-government, and there are indications, however weak, that some elements of democratic views and practices are taking hold.

Based on interviews with local political leaders in Ukraine in late 1991, it appears that local governments have taken only a small step toward a new democratic social order. This is particularly true of the leaders' values concerning popular participation & social conflicts. One reason for this ambivalence is the fact that the powers of local governments are very limited as well as ambiguous, & that competing political elites have yet to be formed into political parties. Nonetheless, a legal framework has been established for local self-government, & there are indications that some elements of democratic views & practices are taking hold. 1 Table. Adapted from the source document.