The issue of local governance is high on the institutional agenda of many local and regional authorities throughout the OECD countries. This book explores the relationship between two key issues of urban governance - leadership and community involvement - and how making these two elements more complementary can lead to more effective as well as legitimate policy outcomes. The authors examine the dilemmas involved in ensuring effective governance, focusing on issues such as legitimacy, citizen participation, economic performance and social inclusion.

How does a government get the people to accept its authority? Every government must make unpopular demands on its citizens; the challenge is that power is not enough, the populace must also be willing to be led.

Leadership and Governance is a collection of essays on political economy, leadership and governance, and corruption and community development, as well as on information technology and education. This book, thus, presents a broad overview of the major problems facing the Nigerian economy. Towards that, the contributors highlight the relationship between good leadership and governance and the economic health of Nigeria as they explore the forces for a meaningful change in the polity. This book asserts that political leaders in Nigeria should be held to a higher standard of leadership and governance in order for the economy to grow and develop for 'common good'. Nigeria's educational system is the foundation for its national development. But this is impossible without investing in human capital (education and health), fixing the existing dilapidated infrastructure and institutions and acquiring technological capability that drive the economy. The power of productivity of the Nigerian economy cannot rise above the quality of its leadership, governance and graduates. Today Nigeria's young democracy is in a state of uncertainty because of ineffective leadership and governance as well as lack of accountability. Since all the essential factors are missing in Nigeria's scheme of affairs, its economy as well as the democracy transition will continue to choke and stagnate. There are myriad ways to reform the Nigerian educational system, improve its quality of graduates and the state of the economy. But closing the nation's higher institutions for five months on the pretext that there is no money to meet teachers demands is not a way to improve the state of education and its weak economy. The trouble with Nigeria's democracy is that the people do not get the type of government they want. For instance, praying to God only, as President Goodluck Jonathan often does, to rescue the nation from its challenges is not by any means a strategy to solve Nigeria's socioeconomic and political problems. His administration needs to adopt a long-term strategy for creating a learning culture to improve the state of education and the security situation so as to tackle its development challenges. This includes motivating the teachers, treating them as professional they really are, and providing them with the tools to effectively educate the youths. Like the Nigerian economy without functional infrastructure and institutions, the leaders cannot strip the teachers of the tools they need to perform their duties and expect them to perform miracles. New challenges require new paradigms. The political leaders should adopt new, effective and innovative methods to meet the needs of the economy, the rapidly growing population and the ethno-religious and politically dynamic society. This book posits that without a paradigm shift in values, beliefs and thinking on ways to reform the Nigerian educational system, as well as to invest in the commanding heights of the economy, its educational system and the economy would remain prostrate with its attendant catalogue of human misery.

Thirteen former presidents and prime ministers discuss how they helped their countries end authoritarian rule and achieve democracy. National leaders who played key roles in transitions to democratic governance reveal how these were accomplished in Brazil, Chile, Ghana, Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, South Africa, and Spain. Commissioned by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), these interviews shed fascinating light on how repressive regimes were ended and democracy took hold. In probing conversations with Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Patricio Aylwin, Ricardo Lagos, John Kufuor, Jerry Rawlings, B. J. Habibie, Ernesto Zedillo, Fidel V. Ramos, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, F. W. de Klerk, Thabo Mbeki, and Felipe González, editors Sergio Bitar and Abraham F. Lowenthal focused on each leader’s principal challenges and goals as well as their strategies to end authoritarian rule and construct democratic governance. Context-setting introductions by country experts highlight each nation’s unique experience as well as recurrent challenges all transitions faced. A chapter by Georgina Waylen analyzes the role of women leaders, often underestimated. A foreword by Tunisia’s former president, Mohamed Moncef Marzouki, underlines the book’s relevance in North Africa, West Asia, and beyond. The editors’ conclusion distills lessons about how democratic transitions have been and can be carried out in a changing world, emphasizing the importance of political leadership. This unique book should be valuable for political leaders, civil society activists, journalists, scholars, and all who want to support democratic transitions.

Post-1994, South Africa's traditional leaders have fought for recognition, and positioned themselves as major players in the South African political landscape. Yet their role in a democracy is contested, with leaders often accused of abusing power, disregarding human rights, expropriating resources and promoting tribalism. Some argue that democracy and traditional leadership are irredeemably opposed and cannot co-exist. Meanwhile, shifts in the political economy of the former bantustans − the introduction of platinum mining in particular − have attracted new interests and conflicts to these areas, with chiefs often designated as custodians of community interests. This edited volume explores how chieftancy is practised, experienced and contested in contemporary South Africa. It includes case studies of how those living under the authority of chiefs, in a modern democracy, negotiate or resist this authority in their respective areas. Chapters in this book are organised around three major sites of contest: leadership, land and law.

Do political leaders determine whether a polity will receive a democratic future or not? Research and advocates of democracy agree on the significance of political elites for democratization, yet there is a need for a more specific understanding of their role. This book develops a theory of political leadership at the point of nascent statehood to explain the emergence of resilient democracies. It employs four diverse case studies to examine the role of leadership and democratic consolidation. In doing so, the book identifies certain capacities of political leaders at the critical moment of nascent statehood as decisive to the future democratic quality of their state. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, democratization studies, state building, leadership, nationalism, Middle Eastern studies and South Asian studies.