massimo balducci /centre of expertise local government reform/ CoE 1 DEVELOPMENT LOCAL AND REGIONAL DEMOCRACY AND CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS Massimo BALDUCCI – Centre of Expertise for Local Government Reform of the Council of Europe

massimo balducci /centre of expertise local government reform/ CoE 2 development What do we mean by “DEVELOPMENT”? Academia people might easily trigger off concepts such as “functional differentiation”, “modernization”, “secularization”

massimo balducci /centre of expertise local government reform/ CoE 3 development Let’s forget academia Let’s keep our discussion on a rather practical level. What do people mean when they speak about a developed area and what do they mean when they refer to a not developed area?

massimo balducci /centre of expertise local government reform/ CoE 4 development In our everyday jargon “development” implies real factors such as: Per capita income Education Health services Social services Networks, public utilities

massimo balducci /centre of expertise local government reform/ CoE 5 development “Development" implies also: Democratic institutions Rule of law Human rights

massimo balducci /centre of expertise local government reform/ CoE 6 Development and Local Authorities Development appears to be strictly linked to “decentralization”

massimo balducci /centre of expertise local government reform/ CoE 7 Development and decentralization Development is linked to “decentralization” As to: Issues of institutional development (rule of law, human rights, democracy Issues of economic welfare

massimo balducci /centre of expertise local government reform/ CoE 8 Decentralization and economic welfare Economic welfare / development is linked to decentralization as to: –decision making overload –financial responsibility –involvement

massimo balducci /centre of expertise local government reform/ CoE 9 Decentralization economic welfare and decision making overload It is not by chance that in the seventies and eighties western European countries were stormed by a wave of heavy decentralization Welfare State requires technically “decentralization”

massimo balducci /centre of expertise local government reform/ CoE 10 Decentralization economic welfare and decision making overload Since government is supposed to deliver welfare services and to provide public utilities, decision making is expanding at a very high speed

massimo balducci /centre of expertise local government reform/ CoE 11 Decentralization economic welfare and decision making overload To avoid a bottleneck effect, routine decision (roughly 80%) must be sent to the periphery

massimo balducci /centre of expertise local government reform/ CoE 12 Decentralization economic welfare and financial responsibility Welfare services imply large amounts of financial resources Keeping under control public expenditures becomes a “must”

massimo balducci /centre of expertise local government reform/ CoE 13 Decentralization economic welfare and financial responsibility To keep public expenditures under control Nothing proved more effective than the rule “he who makes decisions is supposed to pay”

massimo balducci /centre of expertise local government reform/ CoE 14 Decentralization economic welfare and financial responsibility Instead of transfer of resources from center to periphery we should have transfer of tax imposing powers And equalization mechanism

massimo balducci /centre of expertise local government reform/ CoE 15 Decentralization and involvement “Local democracy” has proved to be more effective than “administrative decentralization” Direct involvement Responsibility

massimo balducci /centre of expertise local government reform/ CoE 16 Charter of Local Self-government center of expertise for local government reform These principles are enshrined in the Charter of Local Self-government The Center of Expertise in local government reform provides expertise and tools to improve local government’s performance

massimo balducci /centre of expertise local government reform/ CoE 17 Development And Civil Society Organizations The development of welfare state has brought not only problems of decision making overload but also problems of costs’ overload

massimo balducci /centre of expertise local government reform/ CoE 18 Development And Civil Society Organizations Modern States try to curb costs by Externalizing, outsourcing Giving back to free market area Using civil society organizations

massimo balducci /centre of expertise local government reform/ CoE 19 Development And Civil Society Organizations Some examples: In Swiss cantons service to unemployed people are outsourced to NGO’s to a remarkable extent In Italy (via cooperatives), in Belgium (via a.s.b.l.) service to the elderly are outsourced to NGO’s to a remarkable extent In Denmark education is managed by so called “institution” where stakeholders are involved in the management along with appointed public servants

massimo balducci /centre of expertise local government reform/ CoE 20 Development And Civil Society Organizations The involvement of Civil Society Organizations appears to have two positive effects: Costs’ containment Better decisions

massimo balducci /centre of expertise local government reform/ CoE 21 Civil Society Organizations And The Quality Of Decisions Modern society is a complex society and implies the use of complex technological tools To make correct decisions on technically complex issues democracy is not enough

massimo balducci /centre of expertise local government reform/ CoE 22 Civil Society Organizations And The Quality Of Decisions Democratically legitimized officers need to be assisted by knowledgeable people: In Swiss cantons NGO’s assist the cantons in developing policies to counter unemployment Quite a few Italian mayors find it useful to be assisted by stakeholders’ committees

massimo balducci /centre of expertise local government reform/ CoE 23 Civil Society Organizations and modernization of public authorities In quite a few countries, Public Administrations (at central and local level) Need to make a quality leap: to improve their performance, to be modernized

massimo balducci /centre of expertise local government reform/ CoE 24 Civil Society Organizations and modernization of public authorities Not seldom, public authorities (both at central and local level) do not have the capacity to develop an adequate vision for development

massimo balducci /centre of expertise local government reform/ CoE 25 Civil Society Organizations and modernization of public authorities Civil Society Organizations have proved often to be able to provide the necessary quality leap. Personally I can tell the positive role plasied by Academia Istrapolitania in Slovakia, The Association for Local Democracy in Poland ASMEZ in Southern Italy

massimo balducci /centre of expertise local government reform/ CoE 26 Development Local Democracy Civil Society Organizations We have just been discussing the PRINCIPLE OF SUBSIDIARITY