Crossing Boundaries: Action Networks, Amalgamation and Inter-Community Trust in a Small Rural Shire.

Local government reforms introduced throughout the mid-1990s radically altered the face, institutional form and structure of local government in the state of Victoria, Australia. In rural areas, where shire boundaries often reflected deeply ingrained notions of communal interest and identity, the fo...

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Publicado en:Local Government Studies Vol. 39; no. 4; pp. 463 - 488
Autor principal: Alexander, Damon
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Taylor & Francis Ltd Aug2013
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        10.1080/03003930.2012.693074
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        atl: Crossing Boundaries: Action Networks, Amalgamation and Inter-Community Trust in a Small Rural Shire.
      aug:
        au: Alexander, Damon
        affil: School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
      su:
        Local government
        Intergovernmental tax relations
        Metals
        Alloys
        Network analysis (Planning)
        Reforms
      sug:
        subj:
          Local government
          Intergovernmental tax relations
          Metals
          Alloys
          Network analysis (Planning)
          Reforms
      keyword:
        inter-community trust
        Local government amalgamations
        reciprocity
        rural shire
        social networks
      ab: Local government reforms introduced throughout the mid-1990s radically altered the face, institutional form and structure of local government in the state of Victoria, Australia. In rural areas, where shire boundaries often reflected deeply ingrained notions of communal interest and identity, the forced merger of previously independent and fiercely parochial councils into larger unified political and administrative units was particularly contentious. Drawing on a survey of 649 residents from the rural Shire of Buloke, this paper examines attitudes towards local government amalgamation, levels of inter-community trust and reciprocity, and how these vary across different parts of the municipality. Social network analysis is then used to explore the relationship between these attitudes and trust levels and the structure and orientation of respondents’ inter-community networks. The paper finds that despite the passage of more than a decade, significant residual resentment surrounding the impact of the forced amalgamations remains evident across most communities in Buloke Shire. There is a widespread perception that the reforms have undermined rather than improved the operation of local government across the municipality, and that post-amalgamation political structures have largely failed to effectively reconcile the diverse and sometimes disparate interests of Buloke's constituent towns and communities. The network analysis also suggests that much work remains to be done to develop a meaningful sense of community based on the new administrative boundaries, with very little evidence of cross-community cooperation, coalition building or issue-based interaction detected.
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    language: English
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