Evaluating Political-administrative Modernization in Flemish Municipalities

Inspired by New Public Management ideas the Flemish Local Government Decree (LGD) redesigned the municipalities’ political-administrative relations. By introducing inter alia management teams and delegation possibilities from the political to the administrative level, the regulatory framework aspires the administration’s empowerment in the policy cycle. This paper aims to evaluate the impacts of these reforms concerning the internal functioning of Flemish municipalities. Relying on KUHLMANN and WOLLMANN’s work (2011), the authors will carry out an ‘institution evaluation’ and ‘performance evaluation’. Drawing on surveys and interviews with Flemish mayors, aldermen and municipal CEO’s, the authors pursue the following research questions: 1. To what extent have the reforms left behind lasting traces of a managerial administration and/or organization culture? 2. Which variables declare intermunicipal diversity concerning the LGD’s implementation and impact? In order to answer these questions and to select independent variables, new institutionalist literature will be used as a starting point.