Introduction
Intergovernmental relations are defined as an interacting network of institutions at local, provincial, and national levels. It has been refined and created to articulate different levels of government in a manner more or less appropriate to the institutional arrangements (Phillimore, 2013). The three tiers’ structure of a government includes local government, state government, and the federal government. It is argued that all three of them collectively work to deliver the dividends of democracy to the population. The study is aimed at exploring inter-governmental relations between the various levels of government particularly financial relations of the federal system among the three levels of government and further determines the use of technology to improve its efficiency.
Intergovernmental Relations between Three Tiers of Government
The three levels of government include the local government, which is responsible for making sure that the community runs smoothly and efficiently. The state government is in charge of maintaining control of the state, and the Federal government regulates all the national as well as international affairs and creates laws for the whole country (Phillimore, 2013). In other words, ways in which different levels of government interact with one another under the same political system are known as Intergovernmental relations. The basic parameters of this phenomena are determined by the official organizational structure of governmental units. The interaction between different levels of government is also impacted by particular policy issues and funding mechanisms.
The political responsibility and authority in the federal system are categorized into one central government and a series of regional governments. The regional governments are further broken down into smaller governmental entities such as villages, parishes, cities, townships, and countries (Bowman & Kearney, 2016). In federal political systems, the issues that affect the whole country are controlled by the central government. On the other hand, regional units only focus on matters that are particularly relevant within their jurisdictions. The federal political system is practiced by only twenty nations including some of the biggest and most popular countries such as Nigeria, India, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Germany, Canada, and the United States. Moreover, there are numerous ways through which the interaction between governmental units takes place in both federal and unitary political systems (Bowman & Kearney, 2016). It is argued that intergovernmental relationships are not only determined by the organizational structure of a political system.
Inter-Governmental Relations and Federal System
Intergovernmental relationships are affected by several factors including financial influences, which play a key role in shaping up these relationships. Many intergovernmental relationships include the exchange of financial resources for delivering public goods (von Daniels, 2016). However, numerous methods have been used to identify the number of intergovernmental transfers, for example, formulas including demographic and economic variables, block grants for individual programs, and equal sharing measures among municipalities. The funds’ disbursal among different units mainly involves performance standards and stipulations for administrative oversight (von Daniels, 2016). In many federal political systems, the flow of resources occurs from the central government to regional governments and then to localities, but the amount of money distributed and the level of autonomy possessed by each level of government varies across different federal systems.
Financial arrangements in other cases have been found more decentralized, for instance, a great amount of financial sovereignty is enjoyed by Swiss municipalities from their central government. Moreover, funds transfer for the provision of social services from central to regional governments or from regional to local governments could result in conflicts between municipal leaders (von Daniels, 2016). It is mostly due to the increase in the actual cost of the programs which have been delegated by them. In the United States, school districts along with many state education departments have highlighted the issue of insufficient federal funding to meet federal education standards.
Technology and E-government
The federal, regional, and local budgets are significantly influenced by global demographic and economic changes. Technology has played a great role in efficiently resolving certain inter-governmental issues, for example, goods previously subjected to taxes are now increasingly delivered by hard-to-tax digital channels. Thus, it creates downward pressure on local and state budgets that are dependent on such revenues with the exception to balance each year (Bird & Martinez-Vazquez, 2014). Simultaneously, increased expenditures on health care and elderly programs strained the federal budget globally as a by-product of an increasingly aging population. Furthermore, e-government helps in effective decision making by utilizing information and communication technology to build trust between citizens and government (Baeuo, Rahim, & Alaraibi, 2016). It enables the engagement of citizens with the policy process and promotes an accountable and open government, which helps in preventing corruption.
Conclusion
It could be concluded that almost all political systems come across certain problems of intergovernmental relations. The financial funding for the three tiers of government is mostly provided by the federal government. The monthly allocation of funding goes to local and state governments and they both share a joint account. It indicates that the state government disburses funds that are required by the local government that operates under it. Furthermore, e-government in the form of ICT helps to build a partnership for good governance and avoidance of corruption.
References
Baeuo, M. O., Rahim, N. Z., & Alaraibi, A. A. (2016). Technology aspects of e-government readiness in developing countries: A review of the literature. Computer and Information Science, 9(4), 1-12.
Bird, R. M., & Martinez-Vazquez, J. (Eds.) (2014). Taxation and development: The weakest link?: essays in honor of Roy Bahl. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Bowman, A. O., & Kearney, R. C. (2016). State and local government. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
Phillimore, J. (2013). Understanding intergovernmental relations: Key features and trends. Australian Journal of Public Administration, 72(03), 228-238.
von Daniels, L. (2016). Fiscal decentralization and budget control. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.