NISPAcee had no working group focusing on local administration. The established new working group has stimulated research activities on that theme and direct empirical research into more comprehensive and comparative analysis. In all probability, such research has raised attention both in the new (or would-be) and old democracies. 

NISPAcee’s Working Group on Local Government was established in 2008. The Working Group invites researchers and practitioners to take part in a project aimed at exploring the reforms of, and at, the local government level in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

The theme of the Working Group is local government. By using the term "local government” we prefer the broader context of governance to the internal machinery of local administration. The core of the mission of the Working Group is built around a comparative analysis of local government developments in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) area. The developments are also compared with the European and Anglo-Saxon local administration models, as well as with the theories of self-governance and decentralisation.

The Working Group especially focuses on local government reforms. Members are expected to compare the challenges which CEE countries face, identify the trends and waves of changes, and draw conclusions on the convergence and divergence within CEE and between CEE countries and the rest of Europe. The reforms examined by the group include both large-scale structural changes of public administration and small-scale managerial reforms initiated by local decision-makers. Contributions are encouraged, especially covering the following topics: local government reforms, multi-level governance, metropolitan governance, local network governance, e-governance and e-democracy, the relationship of local politicians and administrators, and local democracy. All these areas of research fields can be analysed by using political, administrative, cultural and economic views.

For the starting phase (from 2008) the NISPAcee Steering Committee appointed two experienced experts to lead the new working group focused on the local government issues:

Gabor Soos, a research Director of the Tocqueville Research Center, Budapest. He holds PhD in Political Science, MA in Sociology, and MA in History. He edited and co-edited three books on local government in Central and Eastern Europe (CV attached)

Markku Temmes, a Professor of Public Administration in Helsinki University. He has also a long career in the Finnish administration as a civil servant responsible of the administrative reform activities and in-service. Professor Temmes focus is specialized in transition theories. This role means interest in the whole administrative machinery including regional and local levels. He is also specialized in steering and management systems with which this machinery is directed. In his role of professor and in developing and evaluation projects Prof. Temmes have worked very much at the regional level and local levels orienting to "grass root" activities of public administration.

Relevant members of WG were selected based on the submitted CVs and abstracts of papers.