Tag: Public

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De integrale staat

Kritiek van de samenhang

Paul Frissen | 2023, Boom Uitgevers

Bestuurskundige Paul Frissen* laat overtuigend zien hoe het alomtegenwoordige verlangen naar samenhang onze rechtstaat bedreigt. Het verlangen naar samenhang is even begrijpelijk als gevaarlijk. In politiek en bestuur komt het streven naar samenhang al decennialang tot uiting in integraal beleid.

Er zijn integrale aanpakken, integrale plannen, integrale programma’s en integrale akkoorden. De term is onveranderd positief en er gaat een grote vanzelfsprekendheid van uit. Wie kan er nu tegen integraliteit zijn?

In De integrale staat laat bestuurskundige Paul Frissen overtuigend zien dat deze houding niet alleen theoretisch problematisch is, maar ook politiek gevaarlijk. Als de staat samenhang wil opleggen aan de wereld, bepaalt de politieke meerderheid wat die samenhang moet zijn, en daarmee welk verschil er wél en vooral ook welk verschil er niet mag zijn.

Frissen bekritiseert ook het hedendaagse streven naar diversiteit en inclusie: deze begrippen zijn met elkaar in tegenspraak. Inclusie wil al het gelijke insluiten, maar sluit het niet-gelijke daarmee juist uit.

Een door de staat opgelegde samenhang is politiek-filosofisch strijdig met de gebrokenheid van de wereld. De wereld is onvoltooid, onbepaald en onvolmaakt. En ze moet dat vooral ook blijven.

In het artikel ‘De staat is een heel gevaarlijke institutie’ gaat journalist Martijn Delaere in op de context van het boek en de drives van de auteur. “Vanuit de illusie dat de wereld maakbaar is, legt de staat de burgers steeds meer regels op. Pervers, vindt Paul Frissen.”

Bibliografie

Frissen, P. (2023) De integrale staat: Kritiek van de samenhang. Amsterdam: Boom Uitgevers.

*Paul Frissen (1955) is decaan en bestuursvoorzitter van de Nederlandse School voor Openbaar Bestuur in Den Haag en emeritus hoogleraar bestuurskunde aan Tilburg University. Eerder publiceerde hij onder meer De staat van verschil (2007), De fatale staat (2013), Het geheim van de laatste staat (2016) en Staat en taboe (2018).

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If Mayors Ruled the World

Benjamin R. Barber | 2013

The world’s nations seem paralysed by the challenges of our time—climate change, terrorism, poverty, and the trafficking of drugs, guns, and people. The problems are too big, entrenched, and divisive for the nation-state. Is the nation-state, once democracy’s best hope, dysfunctional and obsolete today? According to Benjamin R. Barber, author of this book, the answer is yes.

Barber asserts that cities, and the mayors that run them, offer the best new forces of good governance: “Why cities? Cities already occupy the commanding heights of the global economy. They are home to more than half of the world’s population, a proportion which will continue to grow.

They are the primary incubator of the cultural, social, and political innovations which shape our planet. And most importantly, they are unburdened with the issues of borders and sovereignty which hobble the capacity of nation-states to work with one another.”

In his TedTalk in Edinburg, Scotland, he outlines his argument for this new approach.

“Democracy is in trouble. No question about that. And it comes in part from a deep dilemma in which it is embedded.  It is increasingly irrelevant to the kind of decisions we face that have to do with global pandemics (a cross-border problem), with HIV (a transnational problem with markets in immigration, something that goes beyond national borders), with terrorism, with war. All now cross-border problems all now. In fact we live in a 21st century world of interdependence and interdependent approval, interdependent problems.

And when we look for solutions in politics and democracy we are faced with political institutions designed four hundred years ago. Autonomous, sovereign nation-states with jurisdictions and territories separate from one another, each claiming to be able to solve the problem of its own people—21st Century transnational world of problems and challenges the seventeenth century world of political institutions.

In that dilemma lies the central problem of democracy. And like many others, I’ve been thinking about what can one do about this. This asymmetry between 21st-century challenges and archaic and increasingly dysfunctional political institutions like nation-states.”

Bibliography

Barber, B. (2013) If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities. New Haven, US: Yale University Press.

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Future Global Shocks

Improving Risk Governance

European Parliament | 2022

This report addresses risks and building capabilities for Europe in a contested world. The coronavirus crisis has demonstrated that the European Union faces various risks, that those disparate risks are interlinked, and that the response to such challenges to the Union is stronger with the Union and its Member States acting together.

Russia’s war on Ukraine, launched while this study was being drafted, shows us more than just the added value of the Union’s concerted action and the ability of EU institutions and Member States to find new and effective solutions to deal with major shocks.

Lees verder “Future Global Shocks”

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Seizing the day

PriceWaterhouseCoopers | 2010

The impact of the global financial crisis on cities and local public services: the ‘Great Recession’ has had a dramatic impact on the financial services sector and other areas of the private sector and highlighted the importance of the role of government at international and national levels in addressing global and systemic risks.

But what has been the global financial crisis’s impact on cities and local governments’ roles and brands? How have their budgets (both costs and revenues) been affected? And how confident are local government leaders in their ability to deal with future threats and, most importantly, effectively and swiftly respond to these challenges?

This report addresses these issues based on the findings of an international survey of city and local government leaders, which sought to gauge their reactions and understand their responses to the global financial crisis. It is clear from their reactions that local government leaders have already seen a significant impact on their organisations and brands and a collapse in revenues.

Tough times, hard choices

Tough times are driving innovation, collaboration, and service design and rationalisation. There are winners and losers—local government leaders, particularly in developed countries, who are facing the need to transform in the face of an impending crisis. In contrast, others, particularly in developing countries, have the opportunity to learn the lessons and leapfrog to new models of service delivery, particularly focusing on early intervention and prevention and making more use of commissioning.

Now is a time to get back to basics and focus on those functions where cities and local governments can add the most value and retain the talent critical to these core functions. Greater collaboration between public sector agencies, private and voluntary/not-for-profit organisations, and spatially across geographies is also needed.

Our goals in publishing this report are to outline the challenges and opportunities facing local government leaders following the onset of the global financial crisis and to set out our views on the future for cities and local governments and successful ways for local government leaders to act. The research builds on the insights from PwC’s Global Cities and Local Government Network’s publication ‘Cities of the Future’ and subsequent toolkit, drawing on our experiences working with cities and local governments worldwide.

We appreciate the time the local government leaders took to respond to our survey. This report focuses on the 58 responses we received for the global survey to provide a geographically balanced spread. The results are also split by Developed countries (33 responses) and Developing countries (25 responses), in cities comprising a total population of over 120 million people. We have also commissioned country-specific reports for Brazil, The Netherlands and Sweden, covering an additional 215 cities. The details of our sample and methodology for this global report are in the Appendix.

This report would not have been possible without the active participation of all the contributing cities and local authorities. We would like to thank all respondents for their contributions and whose views form the basis for this report.

Download: Seizing the daytekst

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Resilient Cities Catalyst

Resilient Cities Catalyst | 2019

The mission is to help cities and communities create catalytic change to solve their most pressing challenges. Building on a legacy, RCC is an independent nonprofit organisation formed by members of the 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) leadership team, created to empower change in how cities plan and act. Between 2013 and 2019, the 100RC community of practitioners achieved a groundbreaking impact, which they hope to build upon and amplify.

In partnership with a community of urban resilience actors, RCC leverages experience and a pioneering ecosystem of partners and practitioners to apply lessons, insights, and resources to advance this critical work. RCC works with cities to build the local capacities and partnerships needed to understand, prioritise and concretely address each city’s risk and chronic stress as it pursues strategic goals or recovers from a crisis.

Urban Practitioners

RCC is a network of urban practitioners with deep experience in municipal government service design and delivery, public and private funding and financing, and philanthropic partnership development.

“Our resilience approach rests on three pillars – integrated assessment, planning and action, inclusive governance, and a forward-looking risk-based methodology.”

RCC’s resilience approach rests on three pillars – integrated assessment, planning and action, inclusive governance, and a forward-looking risk-based methodology – that build lasting capacity to address the deep-rooted problems that often impede progress at the project, neighbourhood, city and regional scales.

Their professional experiences cover a breadth of technical domains, from economic development to affordable housing to climate change adaptation to urban mobility and beyond. We know the way cities budget, the way cities plan and procure, and how cities operate.

Resilience Experts

RCC is a network of resilience experts who are pioneers in the urban resilience movement. They have collectively partnered with more than 100 cities worldwide to catalyse and support their resilience-building journeys to deliver impact for their communities.

Strategic Conveners

RCC is a group of strategic conveners who understand the importance of bringing uncommon partners and practitioners together. They have built action-oriented communities of practice and networks of diverse actors centred on complex challenges like urban migration, natural infrastructure, seismic resilience, and more.

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(Global) Resilient Cities Network

Global Resilient Cities Network | 2019

The 100 Resilient Cities network continues its goals under the provisional name Global Resilient Cities Network (GRCN). The year 2019 has been a year of significant change.

At the Urban Resilience Summit in Rotterdam, 100 cities worldwide came together under the name 100 Resilient Cities (100RC). Rotterdam, as one of the 100 Resilient Cities, acted as the host city because of its exemplary role as a resilient city.

From Medio 2019, the 100RC network will continue under the provisional name (Global) Resilient Cities Network (GRCN). GRCN is leading the global conversation on building resilient cities, or in other words, making cities resilient and future-proof, to accelerate climate action and social and economic resilience, among other things.

Building the future

The GRCN will actively work to design the future of the network in such a way that it is city-led, financially sustainable and impactful. It will also seek funders for projects that increase cities’ social and economic resilience and better protect them from climate change. In addition, work, including project funding, will come more from the cities themselves.

Urban resilience demands that cities examine their capacities and risks holistically, including through meaningful engagement with the most vulnerable members of a community. This is not easy work.

GRCN’s goals are to integrate its work towards urban resilience outcomes, measure its collective contribution to global goals, and develop various partnerships that will sustain the network for years to come.

Large scope

The scope of the 100RC network, now GRCN, is vast. It concerns not only adaptation to the changing climate, in which Rotterdam plays an exemplary role with its water squares, but also social and economic resilience, energy transition, and security. Meanwhile, many cities worldwide are convinced that the concept of a resilient city is a valuable one.

Strong network

The Rockefeller Foundation initially pioneered the 100RC network. Its contribution in recent years was to get the global network off the ground with the aim of making cities more resilient through collaboration. It has succeeded, with the city network gaining value, expanding and growing stronger. Cities recognise that they are learning from each other, and cities continue to join the network. To that end, the Rockefeller Foundation is winding down its contribution. The network is thus entering a new phase.

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100 Resilient Cities

Rockefeller Foundation | 2013

The 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) initiative was pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation in 2013, as part of its Global Centennial Initiative. The initiative was built on a substantial investment from The Rockefeller Foundation, which enabled cities to hire a Chief Resilience Officer (CRO), develop a resilience strategy, access pro bono services from private sector and NGO partners, and share ideas, innovation and knowledge through the global network of CROs.

Over years of deep engagement with city leaders, communities and the private sector, this initiative enabled transformational change in cities by supporting resilience plans and early implementation of projects.

Lees verder “100 Resilient Cities”