Vincent Hoffmann-Martinot – författare

Local Government Reforms in Countries in Transition explores the impacts that the end of the Cold War and increased globalization have had on government around the world. The decentralization of national governments has led to a greater role for local governments; public administration and democrative representation are the new arena of local governments the world over. Focusing not only on countries from the former Soviet Union, but also on Israel, China, South Africa, and Egypt, the contributors to this volume present a truly global investigation of countries experiencing governmental transformation.

Local Government Reforms in Countries in Transition explores the impacts that the end of the Cold War and increased globalization have had on government around the world. The decentralization of national governments has led to a greater role for local governments; public administration and democrative representation are the new arena of local governments the world over. Focusing not only on countries from the former Soviet Union, but also on Israel, China, South Africa, and Egypt, the contributors to this volume present a truly global investigation of countries experiencing governmental transformation.

Among social scientists consensus exists on urbanization as an indispensable aspect of social modernization. During the last century, the process of industrialization was accompanied by a huge wave of migration from rural to urban areas. The formation of big cities, in tum, made up the base for an increase of mass education as well as the spread of mass media. The changes induced by urbanization did not only have a strong impact on the structure of the society, but also did deeply change the way of social life. By the end of the 21st century, again, a close link seems to exist between the socio-economic transformation of the Western world on the one hand, and a new stage in the process of urbanization on the other hand. The service economy having replaced industrial production as the most important domain of economic life essentially needs the social and cultural infrastructure provided by urban or even metropolitan areas. Due to the development of fast and highly efficient systems of mass transportation, processes of social, cultural, and economic exchanges between the different parts of the world, but primarily between metropolitan areas. The development of new media of communication has facilitated the exchange of information of any kind, not only within a society, but, moreover, between societies separated by a large territorial distance from each other.

This book is the first result of the International Metropolitan Observatory (IMO) research program. The IMO has been designated as a priority research activity of the Research Committee Comparative studies on local government and politics (RC5) of the International Political Science Association (IPSA). We would like to thank all the contributors from various countries and continents to this ambitious comparative enterprise for their constant efforts and their patience since this collaborative initiative emerged and took form in September 2002 in Stuttgart. Successive meetings organized over 2002-2005 for carrying out this program were made possible through the support of several institutions. We express in particular our deep gratitude to the Center for International Studies, the Center for Religion and Civic Culture and the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences at the University of Southern California, the University of Stuttgart (Institute of Social Sciences), the French Ministries of Research (PIR-Villes and ACI-Ville Programs) and Education (DRIC - ACCES Program), the CNRS (SHS Department), the GRALE in Paris, and Sciences Po Bordeaux (CERVL). Several mechanisms for cooperation have contributed decisively to the strengthening of the IMO network: the CODE (Comparing Democracies in Europe) Associate European Laboratory built between the CERVL-CNRS at Sciences Po Bordeaux and the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Stuttgart exemplifies the increase of this international scientific integration.

Die enge wirtschaftliche und gesellschaftliche Vernetzung Deutschlands und Frankreichs ist zur selbstverständlichen Realität geworden. Angesichts der Dynamik der europäischen Integration werden die Kenntnis des Partnerlandes und der Austausch der Ideen wichtiger denn je. Das Frankreich Jahrbuch versteht sich als Beitrag der Wissenschaft zu besserer Kenntnis der gesellschaftlichen, politischen, wirtschaftlichen und kulturellen Aktualität. Die gesellschaftliche Realität Frankreichs zu verstehen ist eine interdisziplinäre Aufgabe, zu der Politik-, Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften gleichermaßen beizutragen haben. Darüber hinaus geht es darum, angesichts der Europäisierung der Gesellschaften und Bildungseinrichtungen sowie der zunehmenden kulturellen Vielfalt in einer wachsenden Europäischen Union den nationalstaatlichen Blick auf Frankreich zu erweitern und zu ergänzen.

In dem Band werden Entwicklung und Stand der Staats- und Verwaltungsreform in Frankreich und Deutschland vergleichend behandelt. Nach einem vergleichenden Einleitungskapitel werden - in jeweils „parallelen“ Beiträgen - die Themenfelder: Staats- und Verwaltungstradition, Dezentralisierung, Verwaltungsreform, öffentliche Finanzen, öffentlicher Dienst/Personal, dezentral/lokale Sozialpolitik, kommunale Demokratie und lokale politisch-administrative Strukturen untersucht.