Björn Egner – författare

Some cities manage to mobilize innovation potentials and respond to challenges, such as demographic change and immigration as well as economic restructuring, while others do not. This book solves this problem by answering the following question: what are the conditions for the development of local innovation?In order to identify these conditions, the book explores case study cities which are perceived as success cases of local innovation by the respective local community, and sometimes also nationally or internationally. The conditions for local innovations are not sought primarily in economic, social, or institutional circumstances. Instead, this book focuses on the communicative interactions by which local actors develop locally embedded knowledge or a specific social imaginary about those circumstances, as well as the constraints and opportunities deriving from them. The authors focus on a comparative case study of ten cities—Bensheim, Frankfurt, Kassel, Leipzig, and Offenbach in Germany, and Athens, Chania, Elefsina, Kalamata, and Thessaloniki in Greece. The book is based on content analysis of policy documents and local newspapers as well as in-depth interviews with key local actors.This book will be of interest to scholars and students of political science and policy analysis, as well as sociology, geography, urban studies, and planning. It will also interest local politicians and bureaucrats concerned with achieving innovation in cities.

Some cities manage to mobilize innovation potentials and respond to challenges, such as demographic change and immigration as well as economic restructuring, while others do not. This book solves this problem by answering the following question: what are the conditions for the development of local innovation?In order to identify these conditions, the book explores case study cities which are perceived as success cases of local innovation by the respective local community, and sometimes also nationally or internationally. The conditions for local innovations are not sought primarily in economic, social, or institutional circumstances. Instead, this book focuses on the communicative interactions by which local actors develop locally embedded knowledge or a specific social imaginary about those circumstances, as well as the constraints and opportunities deriving from them. The authors focus on a comparative case study of ten cities—Bensheim, Frankfurt, Kassel, Leipzig, and Offenbach in Germany, and Athens, Chania, Elefsina, Kalamata, and Thessaloniki in Greece. The book is based on content analysis of policy documents and local newspapers as well as in-depth interviews with key local actors.This book will be of interest to scholars and students of political science and policy analysis, as well as sociology, geography, urban studies, and planning. It will also interest local politicians and bureaucrats concerned with achieving innovation in cities.

Debates about multi-level governance have led to a profound restructuring of regional and local government. The second level of local government is under review in most European countries, with the aim to strengthen the institutional capacity of municipalities or to develop appropriate institutional structures for governing fragmented urban areas. This book provides a thematic and cross-national analysis of the key actors in local government that form the crucial components of effective and democratic policy making. Focussing on the second tier of local government, it examines new empirical data on councillors from this level of government in 15 European countries and integrates important variables such as party politics, notions of democracy, finance, multi-level settings. Divided into five parts, it addresses: Attitudes of county/provincial councillors towards administrative and territorial reforms; Their role perceptions and role behaviour; Their political orientation; Actor constellations and governance arrangements; Political socialization and recruitment, professionalization and career patterns of county/provincial councillors. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of local government, urban studies, regional studies, political science, sociology and geography.

Debates about multi-level governance have led to a profound restructuring of regional and local government. The second level of local government is under review in most European countries, with the aim to strengthen the institutional capacity of municipalities or to develop appropriate institutional structures for governing fragmented urban areas. This book provides a thematic and cross-national analysis of the key actors in local government that form the crucial components of effective and democratic policy making. Focussing on the second tier of local government, it examines new empirical data on councillors from this level of government in 15 European countries and integrates important variables such as party politics, notions of democracy, finance, multi-level settings. Divided into five parts, it addresses: Attitudes of county/provincial councillors towards administrative and territorial reforms; Their role perceptions and role behaviour; Their political orientation; Actor constellations and governance arrangements; Political socialization and recruitment, professionalization and career patterns of county/provincial councillors. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of local government, urban studies, regional studies, political science, sociology and geography.

This edited book sheds new light on the understanding of solidarity, reciprocity and fairness from the perspective of European Union (EU) citizens and, with this, how cohesion in the EU can be achieved.Drawing on extensive focus group research across nine countries, the book presents the results of this large project to assess what citizens think they owe their fellow Europeans in other parts of the EU. It brings together participants from different social milieus – highly qualified professionals, low-paid and unemployed persons and young adults – and reveals much about how average citizens think and talk about the issues and crises facing the EU, such as the reasons behind their beliefs and the statements they develop when discussing such issues, and therefore, provides a deeper insight into how exactly EU citizens understand solidarity, reciprocity and fairness when it comes to transborder relations and their attitudes towards EU cohesion.This book will be of key interest to scholars and students in European studies/politics, and more broadly to comparative politics, international relations, civil society organisations and the wider social sciences.The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

This edited book sheds new light on the understanding of solidarity, reciprocity and fairness from the perspective of European Union (EU) citizens and, with this, how cohesion in the EU can be achieved.Drawing on extensive focus group research across nine countries, the book presents the results of this large project to assess what citizens think they owe their fellow Europeans in other parts of the EU. It brings together participants from different social milieus – highly qualified professionals, low-paid and unemployed persons and young adults – and reveals much about how average citizens think and talk about the issues and crises facing the EU, such as the reasons behind their beliefs and the statements they develop when discussing such issues, and therefore, provides a deeper insight into how exactly EU citizens understand solidarity, reciprocity and fairness when it comes to transborder relations and their attitudes towards EU cohesion.This book will be of key interest to scholars and students in European studies/politics, and more broadly to comparative politics, international relations, civil society organisations and the wider social sciences.The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

This book focuses on local state-society relations, understood as institutionalised relations between local municipalities across Europe and individual, collective or corporate societal actors.

This book focuses on local state-society relations, understood as institutionalised relations between local municipalities across Europe and individual, collective or corporate societal actors.

Offering policy advice on how to integrate these sectors and pursue sustainable housing from a holistic perspective, this Brief will be of use to researchers and policymakers interested in housing policy, climate policy, local politics, urban politics, and sustainability.

This book provides a comparative assessment of housing policies in Europe, paying particular attention to the causes and consequences of rising rents and energy costs, and the various policy instruments implemented to deal with these challenges. Adopting a country case study approach, the book examines the ways in which housing costs differ across the continent, and the reasons behind these variations. Each chapter examines the idiosyncrasies of issues such as tenure structure, housing stock and housing supply structures within a particular country, and their impact on housing and energy costs. A concluding chapter offers a comparative analysis of developments across Europe. With housing and energy costs proving to be a significant issue currently facing policymakers, this book provides important insights for all those interested in public policy, housing policy, sociology, and political science.

As members of representative bodies at local levels of government, municipal councillors play a vital role in democratic decision-making most closely related to the daily lives of citizens. Interactions between councillors and citizens, between councillors themselves, and between councillors and their representative bodies, are therefore some of the most common features of contemporary democracy. The multiple forms these interactions take provide important insights into the different roles of local government, as well as their administrative, civic and political cultures.Bringing together an international network of leading experts, this book is one of two volumes that examine the roles of municipal councillors in twenty-eight European countries over the last twenty years. Chapters in this volume focus on councillors’ profiles and roles inside government, examining topics such as the personal and political profiles of municipal councillors, the amount of time they invest in fulfilling their mandates, and the policy objectives they prioritise. Structured thematically to allow for cross-country comparisons, the book will appeal to all those interested in European local government and public administration, as well as policymakers and practitioners.

As members of representative bodies at local levels of government, municipal councillors play a vital role in democratic decision-making most closely related to the daily lives of citizens. Interactions between councillors and citizens, between councillors themselves, and between councillors and their representative bodies, are therefore some of the most common features of contemporary democracy. The multiple forms these interactions take provide important insights into the different roles of local government, as well as their administrative, civic and political cultures.Bringing together an international network of leading experts, this book is one of two volumes that examines the roles of municipal councillors in twenty-eight European countries over the last twenty years. Chapters in this volume focus on councillors’ interactions with citizens and their views of local government, democracy, and public service delivery. Structured thematically to allow for cross-country comparisons, the book will appeal to all those interested in European local government and public administration, as well as policymakers and practitioners.

Dieser Band greift die Frage nach der politischen Rolle von Gemeinderäten auf und behandelt die folgenden Fragen:- Wie formiert sich in der Kommunalpolitik Interessenartikulation und -vertretung?

​Unter der ebenso schlichten wie provokativen Überschrift „Regieren“ sollen in diesem Band Beiträge zum aktuellen Verständnis der Herausforderungen einer Ausrichtung von politischer Herrschaft auf die zielgerichtete Veränderung der Gesellschaft versammelt werden. In einem ersten Teil geht es um normativ-theoretische Grundlagenfrage des modernen Regierens. Im Mittelpunkt stehen hier Grundbegrifflichkeiten der Konzeptualisierung von Regieren sowie Fragen des Zusammenhangs von Vorstellungen des Regierens mit legitimatorischen Konzepten moderner Demokratien. In einem zweiten Teil werden Herausforderungen des Regierens in unterschiedlichen Pra-xiskontexten verortet und hinsichtlich der Verfügbarkeit institutioneller und prozessualer Ressourcen diskutiert. Es geht dabei um die Rolle von Beteiligung für effektives Regieren, Geld und Wissen als Ressourcen sowie die unterschiedlichen Ebenen des Regierens. Im dritten Teil liegt der Schwerpunkt auf internationalen Erfahrungen, die in vergleichenden und Fallstudien-Designs analytisch fruchtbar gemacht werden. Hierbei werden angel-sächsische, skandinavische, mittel-, süd- und osteuropäische, aber auch chinesische Fälle diskutiert.

Councillors are the essence of local representative democracy, linking ordinary citizens and decision-makers in municipal arenas. In cross-national perspective, and taking in countries from across Europe, this book analyses the recruitment patterns, career, party associations, role perceptions, and attitudes to democracy, representation, and participation of local councillors. Matters such as gender, parties, institutions, municipal reform, functions in governance networks, and councillor influence are considered using data collected in an international survey, covering some 12,000 members of the local political elite. Drawing on diverse and eclectic literature, the contributions in this volume comprise a comprehensive and revealing analysis of modern councillors.

Im politischen System der Bundesrepublik zeichnet sich auf der lokalen Ebene seit geraumer Zeit ab, dass sich das Parteiensystem durch den Einzug neuer Parteien in die Kreistage und Räte erweitert hat, während neue Beteiligungsmöglichkeiten politische Mehrheitskonstellationen weniger vorhersehbar machen.