Objective: This is an inquiry in agenda setting in Mashhad city council as an example of a local government in Iran. This research is undertaken in order to understand and improve agenda setting in local governments. Methods: Phenomenological hermeneutics and hermeneutic phenomenology (constructivist grounded theory) are used in this research. Results: A dual construct is made for agenda setting in local governments, based on soft periphery and a hard core. The hard inner core constitutes of personal features of policy maker while soft periphery is based on circumstances. There are pre-factors and post factors that embed pre and post effects of an issue when it is set as an agenda. Pre factors include ex-ante evaluation, temporal effects and the likelihood of a bills to pass. Post factors are feedbacks, target population and the issue itself. Conclusion: Agenda setting dynamic in Mashhad city council as a local government differs from existent patterns. Here, the agenda setting process has become individualized due to the lack of a decision support systems and proper feedback.

During the last two decades, decentralization has been supposed as a tool for making the public sector policies more efficient. Despite the claimed benefits, there are some costs; some of decentralization theorists believe that devolution of pure public goods provision to local governments has led to the failure of decentralization policies.This article uses game theory to study the implications of decentralization policies for public goods from the efficiency point of view. The study findings which are based on a mathematical language and the game theory, reveal the fact that devolution of pure public goods provision to local governments violates Pareto efficiency measure.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Solid waste management in Ecuador is the responsibility of the municipal autonomous decentralised governments and is structured in a value chain from waste collection to final disposal. This study aims to assess the impact of municipal governance, public engagement, and the presence of regulations on the quantity of solid waste collected and the probability of service delivery within the value chain. The existing body of research concerning solid waste management at the municipal level in Ecuador is relatively sparse, particularly in terms of longitudinal studies. This gap highlights the need for further investigation, as the current limitations in data hinder a comprehensive understanding of the subject.METHODS: The estimation of the relationships was developed through panel data models, focusing on both the volume of collections and probability of providing recovery, storage, transfer and disposal services. The explanatory variables are quality of the territorial development and land use plan goals, targets and indicators. Furthermore, these factors involve the execution of the investment plan budget financial sustainability, efficiency of expenditure, fiscal dependence, participation system, participation mechanisms, participatory budget, control mechanisms, public accountability, ordinance, municipal agency and gross value added. The current study investigates solid waste collection and the delivery of services in the value chain as the dependent variables, analyzing data from 221 municipalities in Ecuador during the timeframe of 2017 to 2022.FINDINGS: The findings indicate that in smaller municipalities, citizen participation ­– either through participatory budgeting or control mechanisms – influences solid waste collection. In the realm of financial management, the significance of fiscal dependency and financial sustainability is prominent; however, the aspect of planning typically does not exhibit a considerable impact. The chances of offering services such as storage, transfers, and utilization, characterized by limited regulatory oversight, are shaped by fiscal reliance and the existence of relevant ordinances, with no observable effect from citizen participation.CONCLUSION: The outcomes related to citizen participation and waste management are generally more favorable in smaller municipalities. This phenomenon can be linked to their enhanced social cohesion and less complex administrative systems, which promote the successful implementation of policies and initiatives that cater to the unique needs of the community. On the other hand, larger municipalities face greater challenges, such as bureaucracy and complexity in service coordination, which limits the impact of citizen participation. To increase the efficiency of solid waste management services in municipalities, irrespective of their size, it is crucial to innovate in fiscal management and to adopt clear regulatory frameworks.

Given to the mosaic identity of states around the world, they have experienced different models for good spatial governance. Even now, some states, disrespect of existence and non-existence of potential ethnic tensions, are looking ways of good governance of space and multi-ethnic geography. Until now, five models including: 1.Centralisation, 2.Fedralism, 3.Consociationalism, 4.Decentralisation, and 5. Territorial autonomy have been tested in several countries. In this article, the similarities and differences of these models and their benefits and weak points in application on Iran are analyzed in a comparative perspective. The findings of this article indicate that it is not possible to consider any of them as panacea and their success depends on the historical developments and the process of democracy. About Iran, it is argued that just the decentralization model can be applied and other models are inapplicable on this country on security reasons. But it requires that the law on City Councils to be modified, the mayors to be elected directly by people, the law on Iranian Principle 44 of Constitution to be executed effectively and the structure of budgeting in Iran to be modified in favor the regions. In other words, the local governments in Iran would be empowered.

local governments have taken many decisions in different periods of time, strategic planning being one of them. The purpose of this research is to identify the underlying damage of strategic planning in local organizations. This research is developmental-applicative in terms of purpose and descriptive-survey in terms of data collection method. This research was conducted with a mixed research approach, in which information was collected in the qualitative part by studying related texts and interviewing experts (20 university professors and members of local organizations). From the interviews conducted using the theme analysis method, 33 subcategories were identified and coded and divided into four behavioral, knowledge, communication and institutional categories. In the quantitative part, to fuzzify the experts' point of view, triangular fuzzy numbers with a 9-degree fuzzy spectrum were used, all indicators were accepted by the experts, and finally they were leveled through the method of structural-interpretive equations and using the self-interactive table of strategic planning damages. As a result, political behaviors, lack of negotiation skills, lack of communication technologies, lack of communication with extra-organizational elements, lack of effectiveness of laws and improper organization were identified as underlying harms and were classified into four independent, interface, autonomous and dependent categories with the Mikmaq matrix. Solutions for improving strategic planning in the country's local organizations were presented to independent experts.

Due to the role and importance of local governments in the administration of social affairs, this study set out to examine the capacities of local governments (i. e., city councils and municipalities) to develop social capital in Iran. The study at hand was applied in terms of purpose and descriptive in terms of research method. The data was collected using document analysis and interviews. In order to analyze the obtained data, thematic analysis technique was applied. This qualitative study was carried out in two phases. In the first phase –,i. e., library research–,the texts about the legal duties of city and village Islamic councils and municipalities were probed. Then, in the second phase –,i. e., field study –,interviews were made with 18 experts, including Qom City Council and Municipality experts up to the point that saturation was achieved. The second phase provided 58 subthemes, which were classified into 12 organizing themes and 5 overarching ones. The overarching themes were organizational trust, political trust, the creation of sympathy, the enhancement of social trust feeling, and the organization of social issues. At the end, four approaches were used to validate the identified capacities.

The collapse of Ilkhanid government pushed Iran into a period of instability and political disintegration. After the death of Ilkhan Abu-Saeied (1335), a contest for power and dominance of the Ilkhanid legacy begun, participated by a number of forces. Consequently the country was divided into several local states that lasted more than half a century until the end of 14th century. This article investigates how these forces dealt with the issue of legitimacy and illustrates the principles that rival elements used in order to gain legitimacy. These principles can be studied in four groups: Mongolian, Iranian, Sunnite and Shiite concepts.Mongol tribes used the Holiness of Chengiz family and their exclusive right to govern, whereas the Sunnite political concepts such as dissimulation of religiosity and relation to caliph were used by Sunnite states of Al-e-Kort and Muzzaffarides. Shia concepts like fighting against cruelty and wait for promised Mahdi were referred by Sarbedars, and finally, Iranian concepts like kingdom, enmity between Iran-Turan and the name of Iran, differently used by most of rulers of this period.Among these four groups of concepts, Mongolian and Sunnite principles gradually were sidetracked. However, Iranian and Shiite ones remained and reflected in Safavid movement.Mixing of these two at the beginning of 15th century led to establishment of central government and national unity in Iran.

According to public economics theories, decentralization leads to more efficiency of public sector policies. Decentralization policies have some benefits and costs which are different in various countries according to their structures and the level of decentralization. This article focuses on increasing public sector efficiency as one of the benefits of decentralization policies. There fore, the article uses a new approach based on conventional tools in microeconomics as well as maximum of median consumer's utility to study the effects of decentralization on economic efficiency. The findings of analytical study show that the devolution of authorities to local government may lead to increasing of economic efficiency.