Urban and Regional Research International – serie

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.

Henry Bäck, Annick Magnier and Hubert Heinelt There are various images of the political leader in Europe’s cities and towns. There is the time-honoured ceremonial mayor watching over the keys of the city. But there also is the political boss ruthlessly governing his/her ‘subjects’. We might also offer the streamlined university educated professional or the - ecutive committee leader promoted to a primus inter pares after long service in a political party. With this book we aim to describe and analyse the selection, daily life, networks and values of local top political leaders in seventeen European co- tries. The empirical basis for the investigation into town halls across Europe is a survey conducted mainly in 2003 and 2004 with mayors and corresponding top local political leaders. The data covering responses from more than 2,700 lead- 1 ers constitute a unique and rich material allowing descriptions and analyses pursuing a number of lines of inquiry.

Marion Reiser, Everhard Holtmann Local independent lists as political actors are a common phenomenon on the local level in many European countries – in established Western democracies as well as in the ‘new’ democracies in Central and Eastern Europe. In some West European countries, these non-partisan groups have been an established and stable element in the local political system for decades. Ty- cally, they understand themselves as protectors of a harmonious factual political style. In their opinion, good local politics is not compatible with party politics so they consequently perceive themselves as non-parties. During the last two d- ades, presence and success of local lists have steadily increased in these co- tries. Furthermore, during the last years local lists emerged also in countries which had been formerly fully party-politicised on the local level. Explanations offered for these developments are often based on the observation of a general decline of trust in established parties and politicians. Hence, it has been argued that the disenchantment with political parties is a fertile ground for local lists. For the Central and East European countries, this argument can be - ployed only to a certain extent. Local lists established themselves in the early 1990’s as important actors on the local level especially due to a lack of party organisation in the process of democratic consolidation.

"Good local governance" reflects the dual functions of local government. On the one hand, democratic regimes gain input legitimacy by responsiveness and by being inclusive towards the preferences of their citizens. On the other hand, they achieve output legitimacy by effectively delivering public goods and services. Their governance strategies follow three major paths - "decentralisation," "political administrative reforms" and "participatory reforms". But national contexts, actors, political culture and path dependency matter a lot. In this book continent-wide developments are compared by using relevant country studies. This comparative approach focuses on "developing countries" in Asia, Africa and Latin America, comparing and contrasting their experience with that of European countries

This book explores the dynamics of democratic reform processes in  European local government. On the basis of analyses of theoretical challenges to present developments, the book pays attention to processes of democratic innovation inspired by classical representative democracy and by new forms of democracy influenced by notions of governance, participation, e-governance, empowering civil society and the like.  Also attention is given to the role of regionalization and of leader- ship in efforts to revitalize local democracy. Cases from all over Europe are being studied.

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.

This book demonstrates both successes and failures in attempts to get closer to the ideal of good urban governance in cities in North-America, Europe, and Asia. It presents a value menu and deliberately does not come up with “one best way” for improving urban governance. Good urban governance is presented as a balancing act, an interplay between government, business and civil society in which the core values need careful and timely attention. The authors address questions such as “What is deemed “good” in urban governance, and how is it being searched for?”, and “What (re)configurations of interactions between government, private sector and civil society are evolving, and to what results?”.

Marko Kukec studies the effect of intra-party coordination on individual behavior of local councilors, which is usually considered to be restrictive of individual behavior of representatives. Drawing on the potential of individual activities to serve as vote-seeking devices, this book offers a contrasting perspective implying that party leaders have good reasons to rather stimulate such activities. Based on surveys of Croatian and Slovenian local councilors it finds that the effect varies across different activities and institutional contexts. This study contributes to deeper understanding of the partisan aspect of local representative democracy.

When the editors of this volume met in Mannheim at the European Consor­ tium of Political Research Local Government Workshop in 1999, they dis­ cussed the possibility of a North-South meeting of minds to discuss some common experiences of local government reform. Further discussions with Harald Baldersheim, Chair of the International Political Science Associa­ tions' Research Sub Committee No. 5 suggested there was room for such a meeting within the ambit of IPSA activities and, indeed, for a subsequent publication to form part of aseries of local government studies. With the financial and logistical assistance of the New South Wales Lo­ cal Government and Shires Association based in Sydney Australia, a confer­ ence entitled "Local Government at the Millennium" was organised. The editors would like to thank the NSWLGSA for their assistance in bringing together the conference speakers some of whom are contributors to this vol­ urne. In addition, we each have to ray our own debt of thanks to specific in­ stitutions which provided support with financial assistance or making avail­ able a conducive work environment to bring this collection of papers together as a book. These are the University of New South Wales, the University of Glamorgan, and the University of Troms0. The editors would especially like to thank the Norwegian Ministry of Municipal and Regional Affairs, repre­ sented by Mrs. Christine Hjortland, for financial support for editorial meet­ ings, and Mr. Murray Kidnie, Secretary of the NSWLGSA for his early commitment to the project.

This book is the first volume of aseries that aims at taking stock of the status of local democracy at the beginning of a new century. Modern local govern­ th me nt is largely a 19 century invention in response to processes of urbanisa­ tion and industrialisation. It became charged with the mundane tasks of pav­ ing and lighting streets, collecting refuse and providing clean water and sanitary sewerage, sometimes also acquiring a role in education and health. Anyone who has experienced a breakdown in such services knows how es­ sential they are to civilised life in urban society. Urban civilisation could simply not exist without working municipalities. The importance of munici­ pal functions ensures that the control over the municipality becomes a vital political issue. In most countries, democratisation of local government pre­ ceded and was an important step towards a fuH national democracy. Munici­ palities offered potential for the realisation of democratic citizenship at a comprehensible level of government and also became training grounds for participation in democracy on a larger scale. As institutions of the industrial era, local governments may not necessarily be able to respond adequately to the needs and aspirations of citizens of a post-industrial and global age. There are signs that citizens in a number of countries are loosing patience with local government. However, many municipalities also seek to open up new chan­ nels of participation for and communication with citizens.

The book provides an analysis of local government in five South Asian countries; their evolution from the colonial period to present, and recent steps towards democratisation, decentralization, debureaucratization and fiscal autonomy. Most of these countries share a common colonial legacy and an administrative framework inherited from the British, yet, their paths to nation-building and political development have been quite deverse.

Worldwide processes of transnationalization are accompanied by new chal­ lenges for the democracies of the Western world. On the one hand these proc­ esses ask for more efficient and effective ways of policy-making. On the other hand the legitimacy of the political systems is also challenged by growing dif­ ficulties of bringing the citizens (back) to politics. This gets more and more difficult with the increasing transfer of formerly national political competen­ cies to supra-national institutions. Thereby the political decision-making processes loose their transparency and the chances of the man in the street to understand and influence the political process decline. But not only in West­ em Europe political systems have to enhance citizens' support by increasing their input-and output-legitimacy. This holds as well for the "new" democra­ cies in Central Europe, which had to rebuild their systems after the fall of communism in the beginning of the 1990s. Facing these problems of political legitimacy structural and procedural reforms are on the agenda in almost all European democracies. Local authorities are one of the main actors in this context of public sector reform. The different political and administrative reforms of local govern­ ments during the last decades were implemented with regard to their positive consequences for at least one of the goals mentioned above.