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Global Challenge and Institutional Capacity

Or, How We Can Refit Local Administration for the Next Century

University of Louisville

This article explores the question of how locally based administration can be refitted for the next millennium. We use global trends to formulate a new ecology based on open markets, increasing intensity of global interaction, and highly decentralized activities. That ecology produces both positive currents and negative countercurrents. These reciprocating dynamics lead to wealth through urbanization but also to imbalances in investment and growth. The dynamics emphasize the leading role of centrally located regions but also beget greater social disruption; they enhance democracy through a global dissemination of information but also produce heightened expectations, increased citizen demand, and inordinate pressures on local institutions. To manage these pressures, local administration will have to be flexible and resilient. We offer an organizational strategy designed to enhance conventional government by building institutional capacity. Networks of interaction with private, public, and nonprofit sectors are able to maximize participation by citizens, small groups, and mass associations.

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