Local government reform in Jamaica and Trinidad: a policy dilemma

• Published in: Public administration and development 2007-05, Vol.27 (2), p.159-174
• Main Author: Schoburgh, Eris D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Administrative reform; Centre-periphery relations; Governance; Governmental reform; Implementation; Institutional change; Intergovernmental relations; International relations; Jamaica; Jamaica - Government and politics; local governance; Local government; local government reform; Organizational effectiveness; policy; Postcolonial government; Public administration; Public management; Public policy; Reforms; Studies; Trinidad; Trinidad and Tobago; Trinidad and Tobago - Government and politics
• ISSN: 0271-2075; 1099-162X
• DOI: 10.1002/pad.434

Issues of local governance have dominated Caribbean policy agenda for the past two decades, prompting considerable thought and action on local government reform by scholars, local government practitioners and policy makers, alike. No reforms have been as ubiquitous as those of local government. Permitted by an international reformist agenda, local government reform policy is linked positively to efforts to redress incapacities of public management and administration. This article examines conceptual and empirical issues relating to implementation of local government reform in two Caribbean countries, Jamaica and Trinidad. It analyses how the vision for local governance is articulated through specific reform taxonomies and argues that, although local government reform is normatively a policy aimed at fundamental changes in intergovernmental relations, in Jamaica and Trinidad reform has led merely to adjustments in the internal administration of local government. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.