Abstract
The recent economic slowdown has revealed major weaknesses in existing fiscal arrangements in local authorities, resulting in the introduction of stronger enforcement mechanisms in a number of OECD countries. This article describes an extreme intervention approach—the neutralization of the elected local leadership and its replacement with a convened committee (CC), in Israeli local authorities. The performance of local authorities headed by CCs was significantly improved with only a temporary loss of democracy. The Israeli approach could be an option for countries dealing with failing local administrations.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the Division of Local Government Administration and the Mifamin Unit at the Ministry of the Interior of Israel which funded this research.