Issue 3, 2005   

Local Power. More civic engagement because of governance?

Brigitte Geißel, Civil society and local governance: good fellows? FJ NSN 3/2005, pp 19-28

The article provides an overview of current debates and empirical studies on the participation of civil society actors in processes of local governance. Studies on different countries, topics and participation models show strikingly similar results: Disillusionment on the part of local actors is widespread. Successful processes were characterized by four factors: firstly international, supranational and/or national participative norms, secondly the supply of institutional arrangements for participative processes, thirdly a high level of local social capital and fourthly problems with a low complexity and a high personal concern for the actors.

Annette Zimmer, From honorarity to civic engagement. An introduction to the debate, FJ NSB 3/2005, pp. 29-38

Civic engagement has become a hot issue in the political debate in Germany. However, empirical studies analyse the topic primarily by focusing on the ,supply-side' of civic engagement, whereas the ,demand-side' consisting of voluntary organisations and specific embeddedness or governance structure are hardly taken into consideration. The article draws our attention to the fact that the shift from honorarity (Ehrenamt) to civic engagement (bürgerschaftliches Engagement) constitutes a significant semantic change in Germany. Honorarity looks back upon a long history of embeddedness in public administration and community self-governance. Civic engagement in contrast to honorarity is a multifaceted term encompassing many meanings, functions and role identifications.

Adalbert Evers, More than regulation. On the role of local authorities - The example of day-care centers, FJ NSB 3/2005, pp 39-47

In local social service planning there is as well a strong tendency, to try by implementing a combination of market mechanisms and complementary regulatory arrangements to create subsystems, where policy and administration have only to intervene casually in order to change this or that parameter. Taking the example of child care policies in the cities of Frankfurt and Munich the article demonstrates that policy and administration have to do more: facing a plurality of different partners they must develop a cooperative and activating policy. Developing acting capacity does not only presuppose the right incentives and institutional arrangements but above all as well to cultivate the social capital of corresponding competences, attitudes and trust.

Lilian Schwalb, Governance and public private partnerships in the field of culture and the arts, FJNSB 3/2005, pp 48-57

The development of diminishing public resources for formerly state-aided local cultural institutions and projects in Germany comes along with new forms of cooperative arrangements: Actors of the private sector are included in the political process. The relationship between the citizens, the public representatives, the administration, enterprises and third sector organisations is changing. The paper is attempting to discuss an approach to the explanation of local actors' cooperation, to current forms of local governance and their consequences in the field of culture and the arts.

Margit Mayer, Third sector organisations in policy against social exclusion. New partners of the public administration? FJ NSB 3/2005, pp 58-68

Recent reforms in German labour market and social policies and the new federal-state program ,The Social City' emphasize the activation and participation of the targeted social groups as well as of intermediary organizations. The instruments provided by the new programs impact the working conditions and options of the nonprofits, which now have to compete in a market for contracts and face, at the same time, more restrictive funding conditions. Building on the findings of a Berlin empirical study, the article explores the options open to them under these conditions and uses the findings to challenge some central assumptions in third sector research.

Wolfgang Vortkamp, Integration through participation. Active civil engagement and the role of voluntary organisations in East Germany, FJ NSB 3/2005, pp. 69-83

Civil society and local governance fundamentally rely on the active participation of citizens and therefore, on their integration. Voluntary organizations, the so called institutional heart of civil society, are considered to play a vital role in citizenship building. Therefore, one would expect members of voluntary organizations to be well integrated on a social level. Using data from voluntary organizations of an East German city, research shows that this does not necessarily have to be the case. The results of the described survey demonstrate that, contrary to more optimistic theories, mere membership in voluntary organizations is not sufficient to foster societal integration. The survey concludes that the structure of voluntary organizations, their social standing and political affiliations all influence how well citizens are integrated. Most important, however, is the active participation of their honorary members. The parameters of the survey could not prove whether integration itself is initiated inside voluntary organizations. .

Christoph Haug, Simon Teune, Mundo Yang, From Porto Alegre to Berlin. Local social forums in Germany, FJ NSB 3/2005, pp. 84-90

In their article the authors describe the translation of the idea of a social forum to the local level. Although the local social forums in Germany differ in many ways, basic conflicts to the original idea stemming from the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre can be determined. Recurring to the example of the ,Initiative for a Social Forum in Berlin' (‚Initiative für ein Berliner Sozialforum') these conflicts are shown. They include the developing homogeneity of the groups of actors and the way of positioning of the forum itself in the sphere of local politics. The local forums in Germany have also profited from the protests against the so-called Hartz-reforms; by concentrating on local issues the forums have been able to use the mobilization induced by the reforms. It is yet undecided whether the forums will manage to also work on global issues and by this help to consolidate the commitment.

Sandra Kotlenga, General conditions and options of non-profit-organisations in the local employment policy, FJ NSB 3/2005, pp. 91-96

Within the ESF-funded project ,instruments and effects' a study on financing structures and the employment situation in non-profit organizations has been realized. Based on these findings the author discusses the socio-political context of work and activities in these organisations and the effects of the present reforms of employment policy. Finally, the scope of action of non-profitorganizations will be explored in the context of a more regionalized employment policy.

Thorsten Hallmann, Associations, local politics and democracy, FJ NSB 3/2005, pp 97-102

This article elaborates on the extent to which associations - one of the main forms of institutionalized self-organisation of citizens - foster democracy and influence local policies. With data from the first comprehensive study of all associations within a certain city, the article shows that the main share of associations is in fact working along social policy cleavages. However, even if there is a remarkable civil society infra structure in certain policy fields, an institutional approach on civil societies' activities cannot give an adequate insight in their potentials for democratization. A closer look on the local democratic culture is needed. Against this backdrop, the article concludes that the institutional approach should be combined with the methods of qualitative discourse analysis, in order to obtain a better understanding of the real political impacts of associations in the various processes of civil society deliberations.