I. Working Group on Local Government
WG Programme Coordinators:
Gabor Soos, Political Science Institute of Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
E-mail: gabor.soos@mtapti.hu
Arto Haveri, University of Tampere, School of Management, Finland
E-mail: atarha@uta.fi
The 9th year of the Working
Group on Local Government focuses on the causes of decentralisation of local
government systems in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS).
Our region has seen
substantial variations of intergovernmental relations during the last 25 years.
The competences, discretion and access of local governments have been varied
not only geographically but also in time. What accounts for the different
trajectories of centralisation and decentralisation? In the Working Group on
Local Government, we are trying to gain an illuminating insight into local
government reforms by thoroughly discussing certain historical cases from
Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS). The presentation and discussion of country cases and cross-country
comparisons are expected to sensitize participants to a deeper understanding of
(de)centralisation processes.
WG coordinators invite papers in the following categories:
1. Conceptual frameworks
which help us to understand centralisation and decentralisation waves at the
level of political-administrative systems. Papers that explicitly reflect CEE
or CIS problems are especially welcome.
2. Empirical papers which
tell stories of successful or failed (de)centralisation efforts in CEE or CIS.
We expect case studies in a structured manner, with the emphasis on the
relevant systemic factors and the general conclusions.
3. Comparative papers which
highlight the similarities and differences between (de)centralisation reforms
are strongly encouraged.
Beyond this year's theme,
one or two of the panels will be devoted to high-quality papers dealing with
topics which are not related to local government leadership, but which
contribute to local government studies in CEE and CIS or the annual theme of
the NISPAcee conference.
The papers to be presented
at the workshop in 2016 are expected to contribute both to LG studies and to
administrative and other social sciences in general. The coordinators hope to
find the opportunity to publish a selected set of contributions.