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Local Governance and Welfare Production – a research course

Published November 4, 2021 Didactics teaching and coaching , Participation , Welfare State , Wohlfahrt Leave a Comment
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Locals Politics makes the political system viable. It brings politics to the people. And it is especially the local level, where welfare is provided, and indeed produced. Starting from concepts of welfare, political systems and local governance, the aim of the seminar is to look at the (legal and structural) frameworks, actors and constraints of local welfare production from a systematic and comparative perspective.

Local welfare production and governance arrangements include public and private actors, such as administrations and NGOs. Local administrations usually have two roles in welfare production. First, they provide and distribute welfare (e.g., social security assistance) on behalf of the national or regional welfare system, and second, they produce welfare at their own responsibility (like childcare, and others) according to the principles of subsidiarity. Associations and NGOs often complement welfare provision on the local level, especially in areas where public administrations are weak or non-performant. So, a third sector arises and gains importance. Sometimes associations and NGOs act on behalf of administrations and are agents of welfare provision. Sometimes they offer their own services.

During the summer semester, Students from Petrozavodsk State University and Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen have conducted research projects to explore different aspects of local governance and welfare production. During a joint Fall School from 04-08. October 2021, they discussed and compared their results and present their core findings. In addition, there was a continued discussion on challenges and chances of local governance in providing welfare and better living conditions for their people.

The topics discussed included:

  • Local and interregional environmental initiatives
  • Politics and policies during the Covid-19-pandemic
  • Associations and organizations during the pandemic
  • Social and health issues during the pandemic

Several external partners from Universities, Civil Society and public administration contributet inputs to the discussion. Among others these were:

The Course and the Fall School were hosted by Prof. Elena Chernenkova, Petrozavodsk State University, Natalya Lavrushina, Karelian public diplomacy development foundation, and Dr. Rolf Frankenberger, University of Tuebingen.

The whole project was funded by the German Academic Exchange Service DAAD

Local Governance and Public Wellbeing

Published June 10, 2020 Participation , Politics , Power, Governance, Governmentality , Publications , Welfare State , Wohlfahrt Leave a Comment
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Just published is our new edited volume on local governance and public wellbeing. It is one result of a cooperation and joint workshop of scientists and practitioners in local governance from Tübingen and Petrozavodsk.

Well-being is a core concept for measuring the satisfaction of citizens with and in their social, political and economic situations. In particular, it is local conditions that are decisive for such an evaluation—and thus also for local welfare production. In addition to municipalities as state authorities, initiatives, non-commercial organisations, associations and federations are also decisive as important welfare producers. From a comparative perspective, the contributions in this volume shed light on various aspects and dimensions of local welfare production and their effects on citizens’ satisfaction. They examine examples from Russia and Germany, in particular the two cities Petrozavodsk and Tübingen as well as the Republic of Karelia and Baden-Württemberg: the theoretical foundations and social challenges, their attitudes and populations, participatory projects and measures of welfare production.

  • Frankenberger, Rolf and Elena Chernenkova (2020) (Eds.): Local Governance and Public Wellbeing. Comparing Russian and German Examples (Schriftenreihe des Europäischen Zentrums für Föderalismus-Forschung Tübingen (EZFF), Bd. 51). Nomos: Baden-Baden.  ISBN 978-3-8487-6532-4

Continue reading ‘Local Governance and Public Wellbeing’

UniverCities – a research and learning project

Published March 9, 2020 Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Funded by the DAAD, my collegues from Petrozavodsk and Tübingen and i will conduct a research seminar and summer school in summer 2020, dealing with the roles of universities in local welfare production by comparing the cities and universities of Tuebingen, Germany, and Petrozavodsk, Republic of Karelia, Russian Federation.

Universities are places of knowledge production and free thought. Or, at least they should be. Academic disciplines like social and economic sciences as well as law are particularly concerned with social developments. They also analyse and reflect social developments aiming at formulating policy recommendations. As places of discourse and education, universities ideally offer room for critical, reflexive thinking and, as spaces of education for future elites, are important instances of socialisation.

Against this background, the seminar aims at reflecting the role of universities in the production of local welfare, the strengthening of civil society, the development of critical reflection and associated competences and skills. Furthermore, it provides the opportunity for an assessment of the role of the two universities of Tübingen and Petrozavodsk  in local welfare production.

The seminar is a research seminar where students contribute to the general aim by doing small research projects, e.g. expert interviews with local elites, content analysis or discourse analysis of local politics and policy making.

The seminar is funded by the DAAD and includes a summer school (fully funded) in Petrozavodsk, Republic of Karelia, Russia, from the 12th of September to the 20th of September 2020, where students from both cities get the chance to meet, exchange and discussed their conducted research projects.

 

Der Digitalisierungsdiskurs in Deutschland – Eine Framing Analyse

Published March 7, 2020 Policy Analyse , Publications , Research Projects Leave a Comment
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Gemeinsam mit Daniel Buhr habe ich im Auftrag der Stiftung Arbeit und Umwelt der IGBCE eine Analyse des Digitalisierungsdiskurses in Deutschland erstellt. Grundlage waren fast 4.000 Dokumente von 35 Akteuren aus Politik, Verwaltung, Sozialpartnerschaft, Wissenschaft und Zivilgesellschaft. Methodisch bedienten wir uns einer Kombination aus framing- und Inhaltsanalyse.

Die Studie hatte zum Ziel, den Digitalisierungsdiskurs in Deutschland zu rekonstruieren. Dabei wurden KernakteurInnen der politischen Landschaft betrachtet und ihre Positionen und Lösungsvorschläge zu verschiedenen Aspekten der Digitalisierung analysiert. Da die Digitalisierungsdebatte in den letzten Jahren häufig mit einigem Alarmismus geführt wurde („Ende der Arbeit“), ist es gerade bei diesem Thema entscheidend zu wissen, welche Akteure welche Problemwahrnehmungen und Diagnosen in den Vordergrund stellen. Auch die Lösungsstrategien der jeweiligen Akteure sowie die Frage, wie diese sich über die Zeit verändern, übernommen oder verworfen werden – und gegebenenfalls wie sie in konkrete politische Maßnahmen übersetzt werden – wird untersucht.

Die meisten Akteure heben hervor, dass die Digitalisierung positive Wohlstands- und Innovationseffekte mit sich bringt. Da fast alle Wirtschafts- und Lebensbe-reiche betroffen sind, bedarf es aber guter Kooperation zwischen vielen Akteuren sowie Regulierung und mehr Bildung. Während die Gewerkschaften vor allem noch die Bedeutung von Teilhabe/Empowerment betonen, legen die Wirtschafts- und Arbeitgeberverbände häufiger ihre Schwerpunkte auf Flexibilisierung und Forschung. Die Stu-die zeigt auch, dass politisch SPD, Die Linke sowie Bünd-nis 90/Die Grünen, neben dem BMAS, relativ ähnliche Forderungsprofile wie die Gewerkschaften aufzeigen, was für die gewerkschaftliche Gestaltung der Digitalisierung im Sinne Guter Arbeit strategisch interessant sein kann.

Die Studie als Volltext findet sich im PDF-Format bei der Stiftung Arbeit und Umwelt der IGBCE hier

Click to access StAuU_NW-Analyse-Digitalisierungsdiskurs20200306.pdf

 

Und sie re(gu)lieren doch! Policy making, Performanz und Legitimation in Autokratien

Published March 6, 2020 Authoritarian political systems , Autocracy , Policy Analyse , Publications Leave a Comment
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Autoritäre Regime setzen neben Repression und Kooptation auch auf redistributiv-
ökonomische und legitimatorisch-ideologische Strategien, um ihr Überleben zu sichern. In dem Aufsatz, den ich gemeinsam mit Aron Buzogány und Patricia Graf verfasst habe, diskutieren wir zunächst konzeptionell unterschiedliche Möglichkeiten der Legitimation durch Policy-Making, die (auch) in Autokratien infrage kommen. Wir verdeutlichen diese Konzeptualisierung indem wir autokratische Legitimationsstrategien in distributiven, redistributiven und regulativen Politikfeldern exemplarisch darstellen. Dabei zeigt sich, dass Legitimation durch Policy-Making ein zweischneidiges Schwert ist, denn es birgt Legitimationspotenziale ebenso wie -risiken. Der Vergleich der Politikfelder Innovations-, Umwelt- und Familienpolitik zeigt, dass distributive Policies eher legitimierende Wirkungen entfalten können, während regulative und redistributive Policies aufgrund ihres eher konfliktiven Charakters bestenfalls als ambivalent einzuschätzen sind.

  • Buzogány, Aron, Rolf Frankenberger, and Patricia Graf (2020): Und sie re(gu)lieren doch! Policy-Making, Performanz und Legitimation in Autokratien. In: Wiesner, Claudia and Philipp Harfst (eds.): Legitimität und Legitimation. Vergleichende Perspektiven. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, S.277-314.

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