Concept of devolution and the demarcation of roles Workshop of PILDAT 29th and 30th of January 2003 Bhurban, Pakistan
Dec 14, 2015
Concept of devolution and the demarcation of roles
Workshop of PILDAT
29th and 30th of January 2003
Bhurban, Pakistan
Steps to a “Lean State”
1. Task criticism
2. Decentralization, Devolution, Subsidiarity
3. Privatization
4. Deregulation
Situation in Germany
• Special situation after World War II– All structures were destroyed or not
allowed– State was build from bottom to top
• Special situation because of the European Union– Annual subsidiarity report
Levels of political decision-making
• European Union
• Federal level
• 16 federal states
• 440 county
• 13.929 municipalities
Tasks of the European Union
• Agriculture• Foreign trade• Steel, coal• Currency• Other political
fields according to agreements
Tasks of the federal level
• Foreign affairs• Defence• Railways• Air transport• Energy• Some elements of
taxation• Social security
Tasks of the federal states
• Education (schools, universities etc)
• Cultural affairs• Adult education• Media• Police• Local government
Tasks of municipalities
• Supply (water, energy) • Disposal (waste, sewage)• Construction and
maintenance of schools• Local transport• Road construction• Town planning• Theatres, museums• Sport facilities• Hospitals• Kindergarten etc
Structure of Germany
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
16000
18000
Inhabitants in 1000 Municipalities
Bawü
Bavaria
Berlin
Brandenburg
Bremen
Hamburg
Hessia
MVP
Lower Saxony
NRW
RLP
Saarland
Saxonia
Saxonia-Anhalt
Schleswig-H.
Thüringen
Mistakes we made in Germany
• Too many financial transfers between the levels– Loss of responsibility for the expenditure
and raising resources
• Joint projects between the national and federal state level.– loss of responsibility
Experiences from other countries
• South Korea
• Indonesia
• Russia
• Argentina
• Former Yugoslavia and the new states
Experiences Case: South Korea
• Implementation of self government on local level.
• Mistrust and fear of losing power• Power transfer in steps• Training for candidates and staff• Lesson learned: Training, good
preparation and political will make decentralization successfull.
Experiences Case Indonesia
• Decentralization by order of the (former) president
• Decentralization of parts of the health system (transport)
• Resistance of the administration of the higher level, because of losing power.
• Lesson learned: Convince the staff which give and take responsibility and power.
Experiences Case: Russia
• Federal subjects too heterogeneous• Yeltsin: “Grab as much power as you can.”• Dominant and corrupt governors without acceptance
of central needs and without the political will to allow local self government.
• Reaction of the president: Recentralization and implementation of the “Commissioners of the President.”
• Lesson learned: The newly created units on the lower level have to be able to fulfill the new tasks and the smallest unit should not limit the scope of decentralization.
ExperiencesCase: Argentina
• Decentralization because of budget problems on the national level.
• No preparation, no experience, no competence on local level
• No financial, organizational and technical resources for task performance
• Lesson learned: Training of the staff and financial and technical conditions have to be prepared before shifting the task to a lower level
ExperiencesCase: Former Yugoslavia and the new states
• Decentralization by war• Reason: over centralized system with
suppression of ethnic groups and minorities.• Lesson learned: Resistance against
devolution of power to lower levels and ethnicities can not avoid separation. The best way to avoid war and conflicts is proactive decentralization.
Concepts of New Public Management (NPM)
• Lean State
• Separation of strategic from operational level
Concepts of New Public Management (NPM)
• Lean State
• Separation of strategic from operational level
• Product approach
Product approach
• Public administration provides services to citizens.
• Every activity of the administration should be defined as a service product.
• Every activity, which is not citizen oriented is a „waste“ of resources.
Concepts of New Public Management (NPM)
• Lean State
• Separation of strategic from operational level
• Product approach
• Customer orientation and service mentality
Customer orientation
• „The customer is the king.“.
• The citizen is a customer.
• Service mentality is needed.
Concepts of New Public Management (NPM)
• Lean State
• Separation of strategic from operational level
• Product approach
• Customer orientation and service mentality
• New model of control