TY - JOUR A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Heuberger, Moritz T1 - Digital transformation going local BT - implementation, impacts and constraints from a German perspective JF - Public money & management N2 - Digital government constitutes the most important trend of post-NPM reforms at the local level. Based on the results of a research project on local one-stop shops, this article analyses the current state of digitalization in German local authorities. The authors explain the hurdles of implementation as well as the impact on staff members and citizens, providing explanations and revealing general interrelations between institutional changes, impacts, and context factors of digital transformation. KW - administrative reforms KW - digital transformation KW - e-government KW - Germany KW - local government Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2021.1939584 SN - 0954-0962 SN - 1467-9302 VL - 43 IS - 2 SP - 147 EP - 155 PB - Taylor & Francis CY - Abingdon ER - TY - GEN A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Wayenberg, Ellen T1 - Institutional impact assessment in multi-level systems BT - conceptualizing decentralization effects from a comparative perspective T2 - International review of administrative sciences N2 - Comparative literature on institutional reforms in multi-level systems proceeds from a global trend towards the decentralization of state functions. However, there is only scarce knowledge about the impact that decentralization has had, in particular, upon the sub-central governments involved. How does it affect regional and local governments? Do these reforms also have unintended outcomes on the sub-central level and how can this be explained? This article aims to develop a conceptual framework to assess the impacts of decentralization on the sub-central level from a comparative and policyoriented perspective. This framework is intended to outline the major patterns and models of decentralization and the theoretical assumptions regarding de-/re-centralization impacts, as well as pertinent cross-country approaches meant to evaluate and compare institutional reforms. It will also serve as an analytical guideline and a structural basis for all the country-related articles in this Special Issue. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe - 91 KW - administrative reform KW - comparison KW - coordination KW - effectiveness KW - efficiency KW - impact assessment KW - institutional reform, KW - local government Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-405314 VL - 82 IS - 2 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Jäkel, Tim T1 - Competing, collaborating or controlling? - Comparing benchmarking in European local government JF - Public money & management : integrating theory and practice in public management N2 - The way that local authorities in OECD countries compare and benchmark their performance varies widely. This paper explains some of the reasons behind the variations. The current local government benchmarking schemes in Europe their governance, coverage and impactlargely depend on the institutional characteristics of the respective administrative and local government systems (in other words, the starting conditions). There are signs that, as a result of the fiscal crisis in Europe and need to cut public sector costs, many countries (but not England and Wales) are leaning towards compulsory large-scale benchmarking projects. KW - Benchmarking KW - cross-country comparison KW - local government KW - performance assessment KW - public sector reform Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2013.799815 SN - 0954-0962 VL - 33 IS - 4 SP - 269 EP - 276 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Wayenberg, Ellen T1 - Institutional impact assessment in multi-level systems: conceptualizing decentralization effects from a comparative perspective JF - International review of administrative sciences : an international journal of comparative public administration N2 - Comparative literature on institutional reforms in multi-level systems proceeds from a global trend towards the decentralization of state functions. However, there is only scarce knowledge about the impact that decentralization has had, in particular, upon the sub-central governments involved. How does it affect regional and local governments? Do these reforms also have unintended outcomes on the sub-central level and how can this be explained? This article aims to develop a conceptual framework to assess the impacts of decentralization on the sub-central level from a comparative and policy-oriented perspective. This framework is intended to outline the major patterns and models of decentralization and the theoretical assumptions regarding de-/re-centralization impacts, as well as pertinent cross-country approaches meant to evaluate and compare institutional reforms. It will also serve as an analytical guideline and a structural basis for all the country-related articles in this Special Issue. Points for practitioners Decentralization reforms are approved as having a key role to play in the attainment of ‘good governance’. Yet, there is also the enticement on the part of state governments to offload an ever-increasing amount of responsibilities to, and overtask, local levels of government, which can lead to increasing performance disparities within local sub-state jurisdictions. Against this background, the article provides a conceptual framework to assess reform impacts from a comparative perspective. The analytical framework can be used by practitioners to support their decisions about new decentralization strategies or necessary adjustments regarding ongoing reform measures. KW - administrative reform KW - comparison KW - coordination KW - effectiveness KW - efficiency KW - impact assessment KW - institutional reform KW - local government Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/0020852315583194 SN - 0020-8523 SN - 1461-7226 VL - 82 IS - 2 SP - 233 EP - 272 PB - Sage CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Franzke, Jochen A1 - Peters, Niklas A1 - Dumas, Benoît Paul T1 - Institutional designs and dynamics of crisis governance at the local level BT - European governments facing the polycrisis JF - Policy design and practice N2 - This article analyses the institutional design variants of local crisis governance responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and their entanglement with other locally impactful crises from a cross-country comparative perspective (France, Germany, Poland, Sweden, and the UK/England). The pandemic offers an excellent empirical lens for scrutinizing the phenomenon of polycrises governance because it occurred while European countries were struggling with the impacts of several prior, ongoing, or newly arrived crises. Our major focus is on institutional design variants of crisis governance (dependent variable) and the influence of different administrative cultures on it (independent variable). Furthermore, we analyze the entanglement and interaction of institutional responses to other (previous or parallel) crises (polycrisis dynamics). Our findings reveal a huge variance of institutional designs, largely evoked by country-specific administrative cultures and profiles. The degree of de-/centralization and the intensity of coordination or decoupling across levels of government differs significantly by country. Simultaneously, all countries were affected by interrelated and entangled crises, resulting in various patterns of polycrisis dynamics. While policy failures and “fatal remedies” from previous crises have partially impaired the resilience and crisis preparedness of local governments, we have also found some learning effects from previous crises. KW - polycrisis KW - pandemic KW - local government KW - intergovernmental relations KW - public administration KW - crisis management KW - Germany KW - France KW - Poland KW - Sweden KW - United Kingdom Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/25741292.2024.2344784 SN - 2574-1292 SP - 1 EP - 21 PB - Taylor & Francis CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Marienfeldt, Justine A1 - Kühler, Jakob A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Proeller, Isabella T1 - Kommunale Verwaltungsdigitalisierung im föderalen Kontext T1 - Local government digitalization in a federal context BT - ein europäischer Ländervergleich BT - a European country comparison JF - der moderne staat – Zeitschrift für Public Policy, Recht und Management N2 - Dieser Beitrag vergleicht die kommunale Verwaltungsdigitalisierung in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz (DACH-Länder) als Vertreter der kontinentaleuropäisch-föderalen Verwaltungstradition bei zugleich unterschiedlichen Digitalisierungsansätzen und -fortschritten. Basierend auf Interviews mit 22 Expert*innen und Beobachtungen in je einer Kommune pro Land sowie Dokumenten-, Literatur- und Sekundärdatenanalysen untersucht die Studie, wie Verwaltungsdigitalisierung im Mehrebenensystem organisiert ist und welche Rolle dabei das Verwaltungsprofil spielt sowie welche Innovationsschwerpunkte die Kommunen im Hinblick auf die Leistungserbringung und die internen Prozesse setzen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass der hohe Grad lokaler Autonomie den Kommunen ermöglicht, eigene Akzente in der Verwaltungsdigitalisierung zu setzen. Zugleich wirken die stark verflochtenen komplexen Entscheidungsstrukturen und hohen Koordinationsbedarfe in verwaltungsföderalen Systemen, die in Deutschland am stärksten, in Österreich etwas schwächer und in der Schweiz am geringsten ausgeprägt sind, als Digitalisierungshemmnisse. Ferner weisen die Befunde auf eine unitarisierende Wirkung der Verwaltungsdigitalisierung als Reformbereich hin. Insgesamt trägt die Studie zu einem besseren Verständnis dafür bei, welche Problematik die Verwaltungsdigitalisierung für föderal-dezentrale Verwaltungsmodelle mit sich bringt. N2 - This article compares the digitalization of local government in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DACH countries) as representatives of the continental European federal administrative tradition, but with different approaches to and progress in digitalization. Based on interviews with 22 experts and observations in one municipality per country as well as document, literature and secondary data analyses, the study examines how administrative digitalization is organized in the multi-level system and what role the administrative profile plays in this, as well as what innovation priorities the municipalities set with regard to service provision and internal processes. The results show that the high degree of local autonomy enables the municipalities to set their own innovation priorities. Simultaneously, the highly intertwined complex decision-making structures and need for coordination in federal administrative systems, which are most pronounced in Germany, somewhat weaker in Austria and least pronounced in Switzerland, act as barriers to digitalization. Furthermore, the findings point to a unitarizing effect of administrative digitalization as an area of reform. Overall, the study contributes to a better understanding of the problems that administrative digitalization poses for federal-decentralized administrative systems. KW - digitalization KW - administrative reform KW - local government KW - DACH countries KW - comparative case study KW - Digitalisierung KW - Verwaltungsreform KW - Kommunen KW - DACH-Länder KW - Vergleich Y1 - 2024 UR - https://www.wiso-net.de/document/DMS__98bb1422067fd8d5bd11f47f8f2651fab936d2ce U6 - https://doi.org/10.3224/dms.v17i1.03 SN - 1865-7192 SN - 2196-1395 VL - 17 IS - 1 SP - 35 EP - 59 PB - Verlag Barbara Budrich CY - Leverkusen-Opladen ER - TY - BOOK A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Dumas, Benoît Paul A1 - Heuberger, Moritz T1 - The capacity of local governments in Europe BT - autonomy,responsibilities and reforms N2 - This book compares local self-government in Europe. It examines local institutional structures, autonomy, and capacities in six selected countries - France, Italy, Sweden, Hungary, Poland, and the United Kingdom - each of which represents a typical model of European local government. Within Europe, an overall trend towards more local government capacities and autonomy can be identified, but there are also some counter tendencies to this trend and major differences regarding local politico-administrative settings, functional responsibilities, and resources. The book demonstrates that a certain degree of local financial autonomy and fiscal discretion is necessary for effective service provision. Furthermore, a robust local organization, viable territorial structures, a professional public service, strong local leadership, and well-functioning tools of democratic participation are key aspects for local governments to effectively fulfill their tasks and ensure political accountability. The book will appeal to students and scholars of Public Administration and Public Management, as well as practitioners and policy-makers at different levels of government, in public enterprises, and in NGOs. KW - local government KW - public sector reform KW - Europe KW - local autonomy KW - self-governance KW - new public management Y1 - 2022 SN - 978-3-031-07961-0 SN - 978-3-031-07962-7 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07962-7 SP - 7 EP - 55 PB - Palgrave Macmillan CY - Cham ER -