Daemen, H.H.F.M. (Harry)

Schaap, L. (Linze)

Erasmus University Digital Repository

Citizen and cityCitizen and Citydevelopments in fifteen localdemocracies in EuropeHarry DaemenLinze SchaapeditorsISBN 90 5166  825 2'Citizen and City' is publication of the Centre for Local Democracy (CLD), DepartmentPublic Administration, Faculty of Social Sciences, Erasmus University RotterdamE-mail: cld@fsw.eur.nlCover: Blikveld, RotterdamGraphic Design: Klik Interactives, RidderkerkPublished by: EburonP.O. box 28672601 CW  DELFTinfo@eburon.nlwww.eburon.nl© 2000 Harry H.F.M. Daemen & Linze Schaap. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be repro-duced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo-copying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing from the proprietor(s).ContentsAcknowledgements 91. Developments in local democracies: an introduction 11  Harry Daemen & Linze Schaap1. Introduction 11   2. The research project 12   3. State traditions 144. Background: interactive government in the Netherlands 165. About this book 182. Finland: the customer satisfied 21Harry Daemen & Job van der Meer1. Introduction 212. Local government in Finland 233. Citizens and local government 304. Conclusion 353. Sweden: deepening democracies 37Tilly Beukenholdt-ter Mors & Roelant Noppe1. Introduction 372. Local government reform in the 20th century 383. Contemporary Swedish local government 404. Changing relations in Stockholm and Örebro 475. Conclusion 544. Ireland: associational democracy 57Harry Daemen & Linze Schaap1. Introduction 572. Local government in Ireland 583. Local government - citizens relations 684. Analysis and conclusion 71Contents5. England: new Labour, new democracy? 75Roelant Noppe & Arthur Ringeling1. Introduction 752. Local government in England 763. Local government - citizens relations 854. Conclusion 936. Germany: administration meets community 95Arthur Edwards & Job van der Meer1. Introduction 952. Local government in Germany 963. Local government - citizens relations 1004. Conclusion 1087. Belgium: representation tested 111Harry Daemen & Arthur Ringeling1. Introduction 1112. Local government in Belgium 1123. Genk: representative democracy stretched to its limits 1184. Antwerp has a problem 1215. Conclusion 1268. France: a strong state, towards a stronger local democracy? 129Arthur Edwards & Peter Hupe1. Introduction 1292. State tradition 1293. The system of sub-national government 1314. Local government tasks and intergovernmental relations 1345. Political structures of local government 1386. Local government - citizens relations 1407. Grenoble 1418. Conclusion 144Citizen and City9. Spain: empowering communities 145Tilly Beukenholdt-ter Mors & Linze Schaap1. Introduction 1452. Local government in Spain 1473. Local government - citizens relations 1564. Conclusion 16510.Reflections 167Harry Daemen & Linze Schaap1. Introduction 1672. Problem definitions 1683. Strategies 1704. Problems 1735. Trends 1796. Further research is needed 185References 187Appendices 193A. Local government finances 1931. Local government income 1952. Local goverment expenditures by function 196B. Local government employment 197C. Number and size of local governments 199D. International partners 201E. Selection of cities and respondents 203About the authors 207ContentsCitizen and CityAcknowledgementsIn the second half of 2000, eight researchers of the Centre for Local Democracy of theErasmus University Rotterdam, Department of Public Administration, visited fifteenEuropean cities. Our purpose was to find out what kind of changes in the relationshipbetween citizens and local government can be observed. In the Netherlands we hadexperienced some developments which suggested that the era of the citizen as a merevoter and customer of local services was slowly drawing to an end. The developmentssuggested that the dominance of traditional models of representation and of NewPublic Management was decreasing.What about other western democracies in Europe, we asked ourselves? Had they alsoexperienced such a dominance of NPM? Are all European citizens treated primarily asvoters and clients? Or are there major differences to be observed? And if there are dif-ferences, how can we explain these? Questions like these formed the reason for doingan exploratory research project. This book is the first result of that research.Conducting the interviews took us almost three months. We couldn't have done thiswithout the co-operation of several people and institutions. The assistance we receivedexceeded our expectations. So let us, first of all, express our gratitude to all our inter-viewees and their municipalities. With much respect, we like to thank them for theirtime, creativity, as well as their willingness to receive us at short notice. Second, wewould like to thank our academic colleagues in all eight countries (appendix C). Theyassisted us in the choice of cities to study, carefully read some of our first drafts andmade suggestions for improvements. Third we like to thank Rina de Vries, who did agood job in correcting our English. We are also grateful to the Faculty of SocialSciences of Erasmus University Rotterdam, for their financial support.We owe special thanks to two people who did the 'dirty work'. Wouter Jan Verheul, ourassisting-student, helped us to find all kinds of data on the internet and to make thisresearch report a presentable book: the lay-out is his work. Furthermore, without theassistance of our international co-ordinator Sonja Balsem, the project would rapidlyhave overwhelmed us because of all the administrative work involved. She took care ofall the logistics and organised our visits, which she, as usual, did swift and effective.9Last but certainly not least, we express our gratitude to our co-authors. They all suc-ceeded in keeping to the tight schedule we forced upon them. More importantly, weenjoyed the enthusiasm with which they took part in this project.Rotterdam, December 2000Harry DaemenLinze Schaap10Citizen and City

Citizen and City : Developments in Fifteen Local Democracies in Europe

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Citizen and City : Developments in Fifteen Local Democracies in Europe

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