State and Local Government Reforms in France and Germany - Divergence and Convergence

Contents

List of contributors

Preface

Hellmut Wollmann and Geert Bouckaert State Organisation in France and Germany between Territoriality and Functionality

1. Introduction

2. Methodological Issues and Conceptual Framework

3. The Intergovernmental Systems of France and Germany between “ Territoriality” and “ Functionality”

4. Describing Drivers for Territorialisation and Functionalisation of and in the Public Sector

5. Reform Agendas

6. And what about “Governance”?

References

Jean-Claude Thoenig Modernizing Sub- National Government in France: Institutional Creativity and Systemic Stability

1. Two sides of the same coin

2. Stylized characteristics of the system

3. Key systemic properties

4. Consensual corridors for modernization action

References

Arthur Benz and Anna Meincke Sub- National Government and Regional Governance in Germany

1. Introduction: Regional Government and Governance

2. The Evolution of Sub-National Government Between Territorial and Functional Differentiation

3. Regional Governance as a New Form of Space-orientated Policy-Making

4. Revival of Regional Government?

References

Pierre Sadran The Evolution of Public Personnel Systems in France: Structure and Reforms

1. Introduction

2. A Necessary Reform

2.1 The French Fonction Publique is an Impressive Statutory Structure

2.2 Assessing the Performances of the Fonction Publique

2.3 The Controversy over the Number of Civil Servants

2.4 An Inventory of the Necessary Reforms

3. Statutory Logic vs. Reforms

4. The Orientations of the Reform

4.1 Towards a Culture of Results: Efficiency and Performance

4.2 Maximising Existing Potentialities within the Administration

4.3 New Coherence in the Public Employment Market

5. The Necessary Conditions

5.1 The Affirmation of a Strong Political Will

5.2 Taking Advantage of a New Window of Opportunity

5.3 A Strategy Based on the Articulations of the System

6. Conclusion

References

Sabine Kuhlmann and Manfred Röber Civil Service in Germany: Between Cutback Management and Modernization

1. Introduction

2. Legal Framework and Structure of the Civil Service in Germany

3. Size, Structure and Development of Public Personnel in Germany: A “ Lean” and Decentralised Public Sector?

4. Civil Service Reform

References

Gérald Orange French Territorial Administration and Changes in Public Management

1. State Apparatus and Fragmented Public Powers

2. The Purpose of the NPM and the Changes in Public Action in France

3. The Modernisation of Public Action and its Consequences at the Local Level

References

Gerhard Banner Local Government - A Strategic Resource in German Public Management Reform

1. State Architecture and the Public Administration Landscape

2. The Management Reform Movement in Local Government

3. Modernising the Länder Bureaucracies: In Search of Management Capacity

4. The New Land- local Relationship: How can it Contribute to better Public Management?

References

Bertrand Blancheton French Public Finances against Globalization: Resistance, Transformation, Reform

1. Attempt at an Overview: The Resistance of the Budget

1.1 Inertia of Public Expenditure

1.2 Relative stability of the tax burden

1.3 Constant Budget Deficits

1.4 Increasing Debt

2. Macroeconomic Explanations for the Resistance of the Tax System to External Constraints

2.1Weak Empirical Foundation of the Supposed Effects of Budget Deficits

2.2 The Relativity of the Debt Level

2.3 Necessity of Budget Pragmatism: The Budget as France’s only Tool to Stabilise the Rate of Economic Activity

2.4 Public Spending and Local Power of Attraction

3. Aspects of the Restructuring of Public Finances in France in Recent Times

3.1 Some Salient Transformations in Terms of Revenues: The Reduction in Income Tax and the Emergence of the CSG

3.2 A System that has Become Decreasingly Redistributive since the Middle of the 1980s

4. Conclusion

References

Bernd Reissert Public Finance as Drivers and Constraints for Public Sector Reform in Germany

1. The Role of Public Finance in Public Sector Reform

2. The Vertical Dimension: Public Sector Reform in the Federal System 2.1 The Division of Responsibilities and the Structure of Public Budgets in the Federal System

3. The Horizontal Dimension: The Variation of Public Sector Reform among Individual Units of Government

References

Thierry Berthet and Philippe Cuntigh Local Mirrors of State Modernisation: The Case of the Territorialisation of Employment Policy in France1

1. Decentralisation, State Modernisation and Temporalities in Polycentred Public Action - The Case of Employment Policy

1.1 Territory and Project: Evolving Public Action in the Domain of Employment Policy

1.2 Territories, Temporalities and Legitimacies

2. The Territorialisation of Employment Policy through the Prism of Decentralisation

2.1 Actors’ Networks: Recomposition and Positioning

2.2 Professional Cultures vs. Institutional Logics

2.3 The Question of Territorial Organisation

2.4 Who is in charge?

2.5 Decentralisation:

3. Competition between the State Administration and Local Authorities - Can We Talk of Local Employment Policy- making?

3.1 Internal factors - A new turn in employment and local social policies

3.2 External factors: the territorial authorities’ new legitimacy

4. Conclusion

References

Frank Bönker and Hellmut Wollmann Public Sector Reforms and Local Governments in Germany: The Case of Local Social Policy1

1. Introduction

2. The Traditional Local Welfare State in Germany

2.1 Social Assistance

2.2 Personal Social Services

2.3 Social Housing

2.4 Labour Market Policy

3. Changes Since the Beginning of the 1990s

3.1 Social Assistance

3.2 Personal Social Services

3.3 Social Housing

3.4 Labour Market Policy

4. Conclusion

References

Hubert Heinelt, Éric Kerrouche and Björn Egner From Government to Governance at the Local Level - Some Considerations based on Data Surveys with Mayors and Chief Executive Officers

1. Introduction

2. Patterns of Interactive Policy-making…

3. Notions of Local Democracy

4. The public sector, modernisation of public administration and New Public Management

5. Conclusions

References

Vincent Hoffmann-Martinot Reform and Modernization of Urban Government in France

1. Modernity in Urban Goverment: A Long-Lasting Competition between France and Germany

2. Modernizing the Political Link between Citizens and Urban Government

3. How to Cope with the Metropolitan Problem?

References

Angelika Vetter Modernizing German Local Government: Bringing the People Back in?

1. Introduction

2. Politikverdrossenheit - the Problem to be Solved

3. A Reform Window opens at the Beginning of the 1990s

4. Modernization Strategies in German Local Government: Successes and Failures

References