This study uses institutional theory and a systematic review of the current literature on the tangible consequences of differences in state-local power dynamics to comparably assess the pure Dillon's Rule systems and the home rule systems of state-local interaction. The results of this systematic review thus fundamentally change the conversation and argue that the issue of home rule is not well understood as a matter of efficiency, but as a matter of effectiveness in local representation.
Introduction
As it happens, recent efforts to introduce local rule into previously state-dominant state-local relations have met, where adopted, with considerable favor from citizens and officials at both levels of government. 10 It is the opinion of the author of this research effort that this fact, together with the increasingly pro-devolution deportment of the American public and the continuing political pressure in many state-centered systems to make a fundamental change in state-local relations, sparks a new discussion. about the fundamental differences between state-local relations governed simply by Dillon's Rule and those in which municipal home rule brings about more equality of authority. To engage this question in a meaningful way, the research presented here uses institutional theory and a systematic review of the current body of.
Preliminary Literature Review
Institutional Theory
The Historical Roots of Institutional Theory
Between the psychologist's micro approach and the sociologist's macro account, a bridge is needed to connect the concepts on the two levels. One derived from the concept of systems and proposed that the problems of organizations could be seen as a function of the type of structuring in which they arose...the second line of attack is the search for social dynamics in the interdependence of organization and environment on which the organization depends energetically and informational input from its environment and processes this input to achieve a product that the larger society needs.
Traditional Approaches to Institutional Theory
- Home Rule in America
Thus, this type of institutional theory was instrumental in creating isomorphism with its claim that “institutionalization is rooted in conformity. Although Meyer's first prominent contribution to the literature of institutionalism was a widely acclaimed article on institutionalization as reality-making, he gradually developed an independent and competing conceptualization of the theory that was remarkably different from the two aforementioned approaches.
Defining Key Terms: Local Government Autonomy
First, it does so by arguing that local government autonomy is a “condition,” a state of being, rather than a system in itself. Second, it does not attempt to offer what specific grants are necessary to establish a state of local government autonomy. Liability and legal scope, (2) limits on local governments' fiscal discretion, and (3) unlimited local government revenues; these were assessed together to create a comprehensive picture of local government autonomy as it exists in each of the 50 states, resulting in a final state ranking (both cardinal and ordinal v.
The need for breadth in dealing with this facet of local government autonomy is grounded less in the practical than in the philosophical, arising from a very fundamental question that has accompanied the debate about local government's proper scope of authority since its infancy: what is the ultimate source from which local autonomy is derived. The above passage, especially the portion transcribed with emphasis added, became known as the Cooley Doctrine, and the critical role that its philosophical underpinnings played in the evolving understanding of local government roles and powers in the United States belongs to forcing any scholarly endeavor that requires a comprehensive definition of local government autonomy to accommodate them.
Defining Key Terms: Home Rule
Richardson himself, defining home rule “usually” as “a constitutional provision or state legislative action that affords a local government a greater degree of self-government.” The historical-definitional narrative of home rule presented in this literature is most aptly described in a 1993 study authored by the US. Two legal concepts of local government have competed for ascendancy in the American federal system: home rule and the creatures of the state.
The concept of internal rules giving greater discretionary authority to local governments has gained ground in the concept of state creatures of strict limits on local discretionary authority. However, these points of consensus cannot address the nebulousness of the concept of home rule in its entirety.
Methodology
The Systematic Literature Review
Technically speaking, this type of research methodology is known as a systematic literature review or, simply, a systematic review. Originally a product of the biomedical field, in which the costs associated with conducting independent, original testing are particularly high, the systematic literature review has been co-opted, re-planned and re-imagined in recent decades to create a methodology suitable for both quantitative and qualitative research in the social sciences. To elucidate these differences, Petticrew and Roberts maintain that the systematic review is “more 'fit for purpose' in answering and testing specific questions.
Thus, the systematic review process is generally more targeted and more empirical in its approach than a conventional literature review and is a versatile means of. The first is that assessing the effectiveness of a particular policy intervention or interventions is the single most appropriate goal for this methodology; "when answering questions about effectiveness or causality," they assert, "a well-conducted systematic review should be considered the most authoritative source of information."74 Secondly, they confirm the value of a systematic review in the emerging or
Applying the Systematic Review Methodology
To adequately answer this point of inquiry, studies in the social sciences of three different kinds must be consulted; in descending order of preference, these are (1) comparative analyzes of the substantive impacts of home rule and Dillon's rule, (2) case studies directly involving the substantive impacts of Dillon's Rule or home rule, and (3) analyzes essential of that project impacts in correlation with the degree of local autonomy displayed. 79 A still unexplained part of the operative logic behind the selection of these search phrases deserves discussion. Each of the articles selected for inclusion in the synthesizing process was thoroughly reviewed and subjected to a critical appraisal.
Upon careful examination of the scant systematic review literature from the social sciences today, Petticrew and Roberts' 18 criteria for assessing qualitative studies appear to fit in this regard. How clear are the assumptions/theoretical perspectives/values that shaped the form and outcome of the evaluation.
Results of Comprehensive Review
Descriptive Statistics
Themes Extracted from the Selected Literature
Differences in System Impacts
These are especially prevalent focal points among articles of the kind to which this study assigns the highest priority, those that comparatively analyze the material consequences of home rule and Dillon's rule. The year 1997 is used for consistency with other regression estimation-based analyzes of metropolitan fragmentation conducted in this source, but which are outside the scope of the present study's home rule/Dillon's rule-oriented discussion. In preliminary discussions of the external factors facing county governments, Turnbull and Geon discuss the importance of "The degree of home rule (or its absence)".
120 Although TELs are certainly an example of unitary forces operating in state-local relations, because they exist apart from the home rule-Dillon Rule dichotomy, their incidence and effects are not relevant to the purpose of the present study. . Analysis based on previous diversification index formulations demonstrates “systemic variation in diversification levels exhibited by cities directly affected by…home rule.
Questionable/Negligible Differences in System Impacts
If anything, the proliferation of special, home-run governments could be responsible for modest employment growth. It is one thing to expect that the presence or absence of self-government will have a direct impact on public services; it is quite another to expect that these consequences will have additional consequences for other wholly or partially non-public systems operating at the local level. Many proponents of state-local decentralization argue that home rule will have beneficial consequences outside the system, especially in terms of economic development, but the handful of comparative studies on such subsequent consequences found in the literature provide scant empirical information . support for these claims.
Home rule had no statistically significant effect on premature death."149 The literature sample's findings are not quite so clear when it comes to economic development. This is a trend that, according to Schragger, continued into the 20th and 21st centuries, "ad hoc, improvised and responsive to economic concerns,"156 which is reflected even now in the fact that "the economic power of the suburbs is reflected. in a certain form of state-local relations, one that privileges suburban jurisdictions over urban ones.”157 For all these reasons, home rule-produced decentralization seems an unlikely candidate to be the progenitor of urban economic successes.
Complicating Factors
- Summary of Findings
Overall, the contemporary literature focusing on the effects of state-local decentralization of power makes little effort to explore the experiences of nonmetropolitan areas—both under home rule and under Dillon's Rule. In the handful of studies within the literature sample that, additionally, ask whether there is heterogeneity between the effects of the Home Rule/Dillon's Rule based on the metropolitan or non-metropolitan character of the area, all of which have a budgetary focus, there is consensus in the results: yes Non-metropolitan areas are differentially and negatively affected by state-local decentralization. As a good example, consider Turnbull and Geon's application of the median voter hypothesis to provincial spending, which found that provincial governments unencumbered by state-level restrictions such as home rule tend to “prevent local elections.”
Service Delivery ‚ Proliferation of Special Purpose Governments under Home Rule; relatively fewer under Dillon's rule. Proliferation of special purpose governments—typically a home rule phenomenon—tends to be associated with employment growth.
Conclusions and Discussion
Home Rule in Illinois: Final Report, Background and Speeches.” (Report on the Work of the Illinois Home Rule Assembly, Lake Bluff, IL, 1973). Bringing Economic Justice Home: The Legal Feasibility of Local Minimum Wage Laws under Home Rule.” Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems 39, no. Local Autonomy, Community Control, and Home Government: Municipal Takeover in Michigan and New Jersey.” Presentation at the American Political Science Association, January 1, 2014.
Home Rule in Alabama and in the South.” Alabama State University Center for Leadership and Public Policy: Alabama Issues Series (2013). Municipal Home Rule Pilot Program.” West Virginia Legislature, accessed May 2, 2016, http://www.legis.state.wv.us/wvcode/.
Databases Consulted in Addition to UM Library Sources
