Refine
Year of publication
- 2022 (7) (remove)
Document Type
- Article (3)
- Part of a Book (2)
- Contribution to online periodical (1)
- Working Paper (1)
Has Fulltext
- no (7)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (7)
Institute
- Lehrstuhl für Politikwissenschaft (Univ.-Prof. Dr. Stephan Grohs) (7) (remove)
Academia and practitioners agree that the local level is crucial for EU cohesion. However, further conceptual and empirical development is needed. The paper introduces an under-standing of European cohesion consisting of a horizontal and a vertical dimension, covering individuals' relationships with each other and the polity. We review the predominantly nation-state-focused, interdisciplinary literature on support for the European Union (vertical dimension) and societal Europeanization (horizontal dimension) through a 'local lens', arguing in favour of combining the two dimensions in one framework of cohesion. We derive empirical expectations about the role of local agency for European cohesion and operationa-lise European cohesion, thus designing a coherent framework for analysing the local foundations of European cohesion.
Europeanisation situates local governments in a constantly changing environment, bringing challenges, opportunities, and constraints. These circumstances raise the question, how
local authorities adapt to the process of European integration, face its challenges, and use
its diverse opportunity structures. The article explores four dimensions, through which Europeanisation hits the ground of local government: downloading, uploading, dissemi-nation, and horizontal networking. It examines the distribution of different types of Europe-related activities at the local level using data from a survey sent to all 396 independent cities, towns, and municipalities in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Our empirical analysis provides an overview of the most and least frequent Europe-related activities within the different types of local authorities. The findings of our multivariate analysis shows that next to the direct affectedness by Europeanisation, the municipalities’ capacities in terms of financial and institutional resources have a major influence on their efforts towards Europe.
This chapter focuses on the impact of specific “administrative styles,” understood as the everyday routines of the organization, on the reform patterns in international organizations. Consolidators are hence primarily driven by positional rather than policy interests. Entre-preneurs combine the latter two types; they develop administrative routines that entail intensive bureaucratic advocacy in policy-making and a strong orientation toward institu-tional consolidation to strengthen the administration’s position. In contrast, the picture should be completely different for consolidators. Given consolidators’ dominant motivation to secure their institutional status and legitimacy, organizational reforms will to a far greater degree reveal patterns of emulation of dominant reform paradigms and reform ideas in their organizational environment. Public sector organizations adopted these reports from the private sector as a form of communication with external and internal stakeholders. Most reforms have been identified within the area of organizational reforms, for example, institutional adjustments of the directorates.
Stephan Grohs, Professor für Politikwissenschaften an der Deutschen Universität für Ver-waltungswissenschaften Speyer, klärt zunächst den Begriff „Eigenständige Jugendpolitik“
und die Rolle der kommunalen Ebene für deren Umsetzung. Auf dem Hintergrund der in zwei Projekten gesammelten Erfahrungen, sieht er eine deutliche Diskrepanz zwischen „wohlmeinenden“ Programmen auf Bundes- und Landesebene und den Realisierungs-möglichkeiten der dort formulierten Ziele im Gestrüpp der „rechtlichen, finanziellen und politischen Rahmenbedingungen“ auf der örtlichen Ebene. Er verweist aber auch auf An-satzpunkte dafür, wie es gelingen könnte, die Interessen von Jugendlichen in der Kommu-nalpolitik stärker zur Geltung zu bringen. Dazu müssten sich allerdings sowohl die Akteu-rinnen und Akteure in den Kommunalverwaltungen bzw. der politischen Gremien bewegen, als auch die Vertreterinnen und Vertreter der Kinder- und Jugendhilfe.