Lena Nothacker

The research project "Municipal umbrella organizations in Hesse" examines the municipal level as part of the research group "Welfare State and Interest Organizations". Municipalities are an important socio-political actor and are active in areas such as health, elderly care, education, integration and labor market policy. Overall, more than a fifth of the average local authority budget is spent on social services, with expenditure on staff employed in this area even amounting to a quarter (Grohs/Reiter 2013: 196).

The subject of the actor-related study are the municipal umbrella organizations in Hesse, specifically the Hessian Association of Cities and Towns (HST), the Hessian Association of Districts (HLT) and the Hessian Association of Towns and Municipalities (HSGB). These represent the interests of the municipalities and municipal associations vis-à-vis third parties; in this case primarily vis-à-vis the state of Hesse, but also the federal government, other regional authorities and institutions. Important internal functions are the creation of an exchange of experience and the provision of advice and legal representation for members (cf. e.g. HLT 2014).

Membership of the federal associations Deutscher Städtetag, Deutscher Landkreistag and Deutscher Städte- und Gemeindebund promotes the representation of interests at federal and EU level. The federal associations represent between 47 and 56 million inhabitants of the Federal Republic of Germany (Henneke 2012: Foreword). The importance and role of municipal umbrella organizations in the political process has hardly been the subject of (political) scientific research (Reutter 2001: 135), although an increase in importance has been noted since the 1960s (Jaedicke/Wollmann 1998: 315). Since associations do not represent social groups but parts of the political-administrative system, they play a special role within interest and association research. Their importance is seen in particular in the linking of state levels and the bridging of the "line of conflict that runs between the central state and civic, local self-government" (Reutter 2001: 152f; cf. also Roters 1976: 364).

The Hessian central associations are examined with regard to structure (internal processes), strategy (external representation of interests) and function (in the overall political structure) (cf. Alemann 1989: 53). In terms of content, the focus within social policy is on the areas of childcare and labor market policy. It will also be examined whether the trend of municipalization observed by Dahme and Wohlfahrt, in the context of which an upgrading of the municipal level in the area of social policy has taken place, can be confirmed (Dahme/Wohlfahrt 2011). Overall, the following hypothesis is assumed: The influence of the municipal umbrella associations is particularly evident in their defense against legislative proposals from higher levels. This hypothesis is supported by the observation that, due to their often strained financial situation, local authorities are currently increasingly restricting themselves to fulfilling their mandatory tasks, as there is hardly any scope left for "independent shaping social policy" (Grohs/Reiter 2013: 196). Here, it is also important to examine which instruments the municipal umbrella organizations use to exert influence and whether the "low capacity for conflict" attributed to them in some literature can be confirmed or refuted (cf. Jaedicke et al. 1991; Schnell 1970; Geißelmann 1975; Reutter 2001).

Literature:

Alemann, Ulrich von (1989): Organized Interests in the Federal Republic, 2nd edition. Opladen: Leske + Budrich.

Dahme, Heinz-Jürgen/Wohlfahrt, Norbert (2011): Introduction. Municipal social policy - new challenges, new concepts, new procedures. In: This (ed.): Handbuch Kommunale Sozialpolitik. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, pp. 9-18.

Geißelmann, Friedrich (1975): Die kommunalen Spitzenverbände. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.

Grohs, Stephan/Reiter, Renate (2013): Municipal social policy in the budget crisis: Fields of action and strategies for action. In: Haus, Michael/Kuhlmann, Sabine (eds.): Lokale Politik und Verwaltung im Zeichen der Krise? Wiesbaden: Springer VS, pp. 196-214.

Henneke, Hans-Günter (2012): Die kommunalen Spitzenverbände, 2nd edition. Wiesbaden: Kommunal- und Schul- Verlag.

Hessischer Landkreistag (2014): Die Aufgaben des HLT. http://www.hlt.de/verband/wir-ueber-uns/aufgaben/, last accessed 24.4.2014.

Jaedicke, Wolfgang et al. (1991): Lokale Politik im Wohlfahrtsstaat. On the social policy of municipalities and their associations in the employment crisis. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag.

Jaedicke, Wolfgang/Wollmann, Hellmut (1998): Municipal umbrella organizations. In: Roth, Roland/Wollmann, Hellmut (eds.): Kommunalpolitik. Politisches Handeln in der Gemeinde, 2nd edition. Opladen: Leske + Budrich, pp. 306-322.

Reutter, Werner (2001): Municipal umbrella organizations and democracy. In: Zimmer, Annette/Weßels, Bernhard (eds.): Associations and Democracy in Germany. Opladen: Leske + Budrich, pp. 135-157.

Roters, Wolfgang (1976): Kommunale Spitzenverbände und funktionales Selbstverwaltungsverständnis. In: Deutsche Verwaltungsblätter, pp. 359-365.

Schnell, Stefan (1970): The German Association of Cities. Bonn: Boldt Verlag.

"Municipal umbrella organizations in Hesse"

Lena Nothacker is doing her doctorate at the Research Training Group "Welfare State and Interest Organizations".
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2006

Abitur in Groß-Umstadt

2006-2010

Studied Politics and Ethnology (2-subject B.A.) at the Georg-August-University Göttingen

2010-2012

Studied political science (M.A.) at the University of Kassel, specializing in social policy.

Thesis on the topic "Free kindergarten places. Effects of the abolition of parental contributions on the childcare rate"

since 2013

Doctorate on the topic "Municipal umbrella organizations in Hesse" in the research training group "Welfare state and interest organizations" at the University of Kassel