Improving Administrative Sciences Worldwide Reflections on Stronger Local Governments 7TED – Babes Bolyai University – Cluj Napoca- Roumania Geert Bouckaert (KU Leuven, Belgium) President of IIAS

Improving Administrative Sciences Worldwide Some facts Impact of Crises Innovations in local government, i.e. cities Local government as a necessary level for central level 2

Improving Administrative Sciences Worldwide SOME FACTS -Decentralisation increases -Trust in local government is higher (highest) -Citizens/Companies/Organisations are demanding, mobile, assertive, aware of their rights -Hierarchy remains important, but markets and networks are emerging -Profiles of populations change -Transparency increases 3

Improving Administrative Sciences Worldwide AustriaLatvia Belgium: (Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels) Lithuania BulgariaLuxembourg CroatiaPoland DenmarkPortugal EstoniaSlovenia FranceSweden GermanySwitzerland GreeceUK HungaryThe Netherlands IrelandFYROM

Improving Administrative Sciences Worldwide Shared challenge = financial-economic crisis:  Decline in own tax revenues  Lower transfers from the central budget  Other grants diminishing as well (e.g. EU funds)  National level anti-crisis measures Impact of crisis varies depending on  Level of local fiscal autonomy  Debt level of local authorities  … 5

Improving Administrative Sciences Worldwide Different challenges for different clusters of countries:  improvement of overall efficiency  Optimization of local government scale (Cluster: states with small or average-sized municipalities in terms of inhabitants)  Ageing of the population and the civil service (Cluster: ‘old Europe’)  Decentralization issues  … Many specific national and specific regional challenges  State reform in Belgium  Joining the EU in Croatia  … 6

Improving Administrative Sciences Worldwide Personnel management/HRM  Shared: Increasing performance of local government staff  Specific: diversity, ethics, gender balance,… Financial management  Shared: Cutting expenditures and improving performance  Specific: decentralisation of public finances, transparency, crisis related measures,… Quality management  Shared: Introduction of quality models (CAF, ISO,…) Organizational management  Shared: Reorganisation  Specific: High diversity of reforms (mergers of municipalities, metropolitan areas, ‘one stop shops’, agentification,…) 7

Improving Administrative Sciences Worldwide Strategic planning and performance management Shared:  Introduction of strategic plans  Benchmarking instruments, quality awards E-government Shared:  More collaboration within the administration  Less bureaucracy  Increasing accessibility of local services Partnerships Shared: Increased number of partnerships (OECD focus) Specific: Different emphasis ( Public-private partnerships, inter-municipal cooperation or multi-level discussion forums) Citizen participation Shared: Increased citizen participation Specific: Varying range: From passive (e.g. complaint handling) to active (e.g. citizen budgeting, user committees,…) 8

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Improving Administrative Sciences Worldwide Pretended succesful implementation of reforms in most countries......However no systematic analysis yet Various difficulties that may impede a succesful implementation:  Legal obstacles  Lack of information and know-how  Little openness of local authorities to reforms,  Lack of financial and human resources, lack of staff competence, political disagreement,  Lack of political support  Lack of initiative and vision,  Mismanagement and corruption.  … Financial-economic crisis: paradoxical role 12

Improving Administrative Sciences Worldwide Drivers for reform: Shared: -Financial-economic crisis -Good performing local governments (efficiency, effectiveness, quality) Specific:  EU-regulations  Demands for reforms by local governments or others actors  Growing expectations and demands by the public  Need/goal for more efficiency, more effectiveness, more quality, more accessibility and more customer orientation 13

Improving Administrative Sciences Worldwide

Additional financial support for local governments in some countries:  Increasing the general grant from central government  Additional grants (limited in time),  Prefinancing of grants  Absorbing local debt  Providing/guaranteeing low margin loans to local governments. Financial support sometimes linked to efficiency gains (e.g. Flanders) 15

Improving Administrative Sciences Worldwide Direct support from the private sector only in Portugal Indirect involvement of the private sector in other countries:  consultancy  Increasing competition in service provision  PPP  Increasing the involvement of non-for-profit organizations  … 16

Improving Administrative Sciences Worldwide

Remaining questions Is the global financial-economic crisis being decentralised? Are local governments being strengthened or weakened? How to keep strengths of local governments? Which role does the EU (want to) play? What is the weakest part in the chain of local government performance? 22

Improving Administrative Sciences Worldwide CONCLUSIONS 1.Local governments are responding to the economic-financial crisis 2.Local governments share an agenda to improve performance (efficiency, effectiveness, quality) 3. There is a need to be informed on the performance of local governments 4. There is a need to host capacity and/or look for partners to collect data on local government performance 5. There is a need to host a learning platform to share innovative practices amongst local governments 6. Innovations in local government, i.e. cities 7. Local government as a necessary level for central level 23