Political Tiers & Services for Citizens

Distinguish Needs from Services

No tier of government «owns» a communal need. Governments at all tiers will always be concerned with communal needs. However, handling services to meet those needs is an entirely separate organizational issue. Read more on social v service territories.

It is essential to distinguish:

• responsibility for communal needs

  from

• responsibility for services to meet those needs

«Responsibility for services» does not automatically imply … government employees providing those services. It may make more sense to contract out or regulate services. Read more on provision of services for the public.

The differing responsibilities of the political organization at each tier, in respect of a selection of communal needs, is shown in the following Matrix.

See the Matrix ...

Tier	Political Organization	Prime Political Concern	Security	Transport	Health Care	Education
7	Global Assembly of all Nation-states (UN aspires to this role.)	Co-existence	Conventions on the conduct of war.	Conventions on movement of people and goods.	Conventions on health needs and health care provision.	Conventions on education needs and knowledge availability.
6	Consortium of Nation-states	Harmony	Interpol. Military treaties. Joint exercises.	Air traffic control harmonization. Absent or reduced border controls.	Multi-country epidemiological research. Coordinated management of migrating disease vectors.	Joint massive research projects e.g. CERN.
5	National Government	Sovereignty	National militia. Military forces. Counter-espionage.	Rail network. Motorway system. Domestic air travel. Shipping.	Resource centres (e.g. poisoning, epidemic control, centres of medical excellence.)	Post-graduate research.
4	Regional Government	Autonomy	State police.	Highways. Canals. Bus networks.	Health care system. Health services regulation. Professional training.	Universities and polytechnics.
3	Local Government	Responsiveness (to communal needs)	Civil defence. Local police.	Roads. Bicycle routes. Local buses or trams. Taxis. Support for pedestrians.	Environmental health (water, sewage, rubbish disposal, air pollution.) Immunization. Health education.	Primary and Secondary education.
2	Neighbourhood Government	Familiarity	Neighbourhood Watch schemes.	Walking paths.	Accident prevention. Direct social monitoring or control of individuals.	Play-groups. Kindergartens.
1	Household	Privacy	Physical security, intruder alarms. Personal weapons.	Private vehicle maintenance.	Personal self-care. Managing interaction with healthcare system. Care for children in family.	Primary socialization. Education about the way the world works.

Meeting Social Objectives

Objectives in relation to meeting needs, as pursued by each tier of political organization, is further clarified by considering the tiers in pairs.

The higher tier governing entity has a concern for standards and the general form of communal needs/services of its component territories,
&
the lower tier entity handles specific application and actual provision in its territory.

The higher-tier governing entity delegates or leaves matters to the lower-tier governing entity,
&
the lower-tier entity makes representations to the higher:

• Households & the Neighbourhood

L1 & L2: Ensuring pleasant daily interaction amongst specific individuals.

• Neighbourhoods & the District

L2 & L3: Provision of communal facilities and amenities in general.

• Districts and the Region

L3 & L4: Service provision and socialization for citizens.

• Regions and the Nation

L4 & L5: Citizenship, economic development and geopolitical security.

• Nations & the Consortium

L5 & L6: Enabling international exchanges and international activities.

• Consortia & the World Assembly

L6 & L7: World harmonization and integration wherever possible/desirable.

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• More on distinguishing needs from services, and social territories from service territories.
• Also look at public services.

Originally posted: August-2009; Last updated: 15-Nov-2010