Good Local Governance - examples from Germany

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Local Administration: Transparency, Civic

Participation and Good Governance

Examples from Germany

Presentation prepared for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bangkok, Thailand

Bangkok 19 August 2010

By: Dr. Rainer Adam

Contents1. What is good governance? The Worldbank Governance

Indicators

2. Participatory democracy in Germany

3. German federalism: The Administrative structure of Germany

4. Municipal budget management in Germany

5. Participatory budgeting: The example of Cologne

6. Competition as a means for improvement: ÅKlimakommunal 2010´

What is Ågood governance´?

Source: Worldbank

Participatory democracy in Germany

Three main forms:

1. Information (gov. actively provides to citizen)2. Consultation (various instruments among them focus groups

and opinion polling)

1. initiative started by local gov.: Citizen·s assembly,

2. initiative started by citizen: Citizen·s motion and petition3. Joint decision-making

- citizen·s decision (local referendum/vote)

Citizen·s Assembly & -Workshop- In some municipalities the mayor or the local council

has to convene a citizen·s assembly (min. annual)

- There are different topics for a citizen·s assembly suchas traffic planning or school development planning.

- A special form of a citizen·s assembly is the Citizen·s workshop like the one established in 2005 in the formercapital of Germany, Bonn, to discuss the reshaping of

the central station area.- Main goal of both meeting forms is to integrate the

citizens in the configuration process to avoid baddecisions and serves as an control instance for thecitizens.

Citizen·s Motion & Decision- Between 1956 and 2010 a total of 5395 motions were launched in

3051 cities and municipalities by residents.

- A total of 2538 decisions were made in 1731 cities andmunicipalities.

- A citizen·s motion can be initiated by any citizen or as a decision by a council.

- To be successful the request needs to collect between 2% and 15 %signatures (depending on the reference framework)

- Citizen·s decisions are equivalent to the decisions of the

municipality council. The citizens of Berlin used this tool to savethe Berliner airport Tempelhof as a cultural heritage.

- The local citizen·s decision corresponds to a referendum at thefederal level.

Initiated Citizen·s Motion (by state, 1956-2010)

Federalism in Germany Basic feature: decentralisation

- Local governments have own decision-making powers

- Local governments have own income sources- Political decisions should be made as close to theelectorate as possible: principle of subsidiarity

- Upper house of parliament represents interests of federal states

Basic principle of democracy and market economy:

- Private initiatives are given priority over state initiatives

Federalism in Germany The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany divides

authority between the federal government and the states

(German: "Länder" or "Laender"), with the general principlegoverning relations articulated in Article 30: "The exercise of

governmental powers and the discharge of governmental

functions shall be incumbent on the Laender insofar as this

Basic Law does not otherwise prescribe or permit." Thus,

the federal government can exercise authority only in those

areas specified in the Basic Law.

Federalism in Germany The Basic Law divides the federal government's legislative responsibilities intoexclusive powers (Articles 71 and 73), concurrent powers (Articles 72, 74, and74a), and framework powers (Article 75). The exclusive legislative jurisdiction of

the federal government extends to defense, foreign affairs, immigration,transportation, communications, and currency standards. The federal and stategovernments share concurrent powers in several areas, including civil law,refugee and expellee matters, public welfare, land management, consumerprotection, public health, and the collection of vital statistics. In the areas of mass media, nature conservation, regional planning, and public serviceregulations, framework legislation limits the federal government's role to offering

general policy guidelines, which the states then act upon by means of detailedlegislation. The areas of shared responsibility for the states and the federalgovernment were enlarged by an amendment to the Basic Law in 1969 (Articles91a and 91b), which calls for joint action in areas of broad social concern such ashigher education, regional economic development, and agricultural reform.

Federalism in Germany Unlike in other federations, the German states retain the

right to act on their own behalf at the international level.

They retain the status of subjects of international law,independently from their status as members of a federation.

This unique status is enshrined in Articles 23, 24, and 32 of

the Basic Law.

The states are represented at the federal level through the

Bundesrat, which is the upper house of the German

parliament.

Administrative structure of Germany

- 16 federal states

- 116 Äkreisfreie³ cities/urban districts

and 313 rural districts(ÄLandkreise³)

- 29 administrative districts

(ÄRegierungsbezirke³)

- 11.493 municipalities (ÄGemeinden³)

Yellow markings denote Äkreisfreie³ cities

Administrative structure of Germany

Bund ² national government, Bundesländer ² federal states, Regierungsbezirke ² administrative district, Stadtstaaten ² state cities, Landkreis ² rural/administrative district, Ämter ² administrative offices, Kreisangehörige Gemeinde ² municipality of an administrative district

Municipal budget management in Germany

Source: ÅThe Budget System of the Federal Republic of Germanyµ, German Finance Ministry, 2008

Municipal budget management in Germany Special regulations:

- Balanced budgets

- Financial plans- Borrowing

- Reserves

- Cost-covering agencies

- Economic activities

- Budget cycle

The concept of participatory budgeting

Source: "From Porto Alegre to Europe: Potentials and Limitations of Participatory Budgeting", YvesSintomer, Carsten Herzberg, Anja Röcke

Participatory Budgeting in Germany ² The example of Cologne

Competition as a means for improvement: ÅKlima kommunal2010´

The project ÅClimate change and municipalities´ is a

common effort by the ministries for the protection of the

environment and for social affairs of the federal state of

Lower Saxony. It is a competition between all municipalities

within the state. The total prize money is worth 1 million

Euros and the winner s project will be publicised.

Competition as a means for improvement: ÅKlima kommunal2010´ ² the topics of the competition

What are the criteria for winning?

- Innovativeness

- Applicability - Strategies for ensuring public participation

- Economicality

- Conservation of natural resources

Thank you for your attention and

interest!

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www.fnfasia.org www.fnfthailand.org

Good Local Governance - examples from Germany

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