“Local Governance and Intergovernmental Relations: Examining the Past, Assessing the Present and Predicting the Future” is the theme of the conference being hosted by Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) and the Department of Government, UWI, Mona on January 8-9, 2009.

The Conference seeks to provide a forum for discussing theoretic and empirical developments in local governance in the hemisphere; expose management innovations in urban and local development and serve as an arena for policy learning.

Topics to be explored at the Conference include: comparative local governance in a context of regional integration, managing competition, partnerships and networks in local governance, fiscal decentralization and local government viability and issues related to local democracy such as the party system and gender equality.

The keynote speaker at the Conference will be Professor Gerry Stoker, University of South Hampton, UK. His address is entitled “The Micro foundations of Governance: Why Psychology Rather than Economics could be key to better Intergovernmental Relations.” Local, regional and international scholars will be featured at the Conference including, Dr. Eris Schoburg and Dr. Philip Osei, UWI, Mona, Dr. Ann Marie Bissesar, UWI, St. Augustine and Professor Joyce Liddle, University of Nottingham Trent, UK.

For further information interested individuals may contact Dacia Leslie or Nyan Whittingham at 927-1020 or (876) 927-1234 or by email: lgovernanceconf09@gmail.com.