Sharing good local governance can have positive global impact
“Oh, that is just a municipal perspective.”
That’s a sentence you can sometimes hear echoing down from the national level – a sentence that wants to make clear that cities are irrelevant in international politics.
But the truth is there is zero need to belittle local politics. Indeed, it does have a global impact. Cities matter. Actually, I would even argue that municipal government constitutes the most important sphere in the system of public governance. No other level influences hopes and aspirations of our people more. And good governance on a local level is the top requirement for a good life.
With 2018 coming to an end, it seems we are entering a phase in world politics where old certainties are vanishing. During the last 20 years we collectively learned that information, goods and expertise are freely available to all in a liberal world order, and its availability will grow endlessly. But within just three years – since Brexit and US President Donald Trump – we realized that it’s not irreversible.
Narrow-minded populism, protectionism and nationalism are on the rise once more in ever-more countries worldwide, while our virtual home, the internet, grows likewise with disrespect and rejection of each other.
But as citizens we are not living in a virtual world. We live in real places, and that means in cities. Trivial but true, human life cannot escape geography. To live the right life is the reason cities come into view. Cities are a beacon for a better life. They matter for each of us and make a difference.
Cities have to tackle all global issues, such as climate change, on a local level. On a national level all problem solving is mostly talk. The local level is where the real action is.
Thus we need more discussion and debate between cities around the globe to learn from each other and mutually develop new ideas.
There are positive moves: In September 2012 the first EU-China Mayors Forum took place in Brussels. For the first time, mayors met to exchange their expertise and experience through direct contacts. The following year, these meetings continued in Beijing with a special focus on urbanization. New concepts in areas such as mobility (public transportation, housing policy), conserving resources (smart waste management), energy saving strategies based on renewable energy, digitalization of services, education and air pollution provide for successful mutual learning.
German cities can learn a lot from collaborating with their Chinese counterparts. And they do. At present there are close to 100 partnership agreements of all kinds between Chinese and German cities. In a study we will publish in 2019, Rainer Lisowski from the University of Applied Sciences in Bremen and I have interviewed more than 20 German mayors about their views of China and their cities’ relationships with China.
Interestingly, all mayors closely monitor developments in China and show high respect for what China has achieved since Deng Xiaoping’s reform and opening-up policy was launched. Most of these mayors have been to China, and some of them go there on a regular basis. They all welcome official Chinese delegations in their hometowns. In many German cities there are Sino-German friendship associations or other actors in civilian society supporting collaboration.
“You don’t have to explain to anyone in Wolfsburg why China is important for our lives,” says Mayor Klaus Mohrs in our interview. Because the headquarters of Volkswagen is based in Wolfsburg, the municipal budget is directly linked through taxes to the performance of Volkswagen in the Chinese market. If you like, you could say that Chinese car buyers are financing kindergartens in Germany these days.
These are first steps and there is still a lot to learn. Germans, for example, lack at least some fundamental knowledge of Chinese history and culture. According a study in 2016 by Huawei, a Chinese telecommunications giant, Chinese people know much more about Germany than vice versa. Chinese know about Goethe and Beethoven; Germans know about Jackie Chan, a Hong Kong movie actor. China competence remains more a wish than reality. But some German cities are eagerly pursuing steps to match that goal, like school-to-school relationships.
Finally, municipal relationships have one big advantage over international politics: You don’t have to solve geopolitical conflicts.
That does not mean differences can be ignored, but mayors don’t want to lecture their counterparts on democratic principles. They want an exchange of concreted problem-solving strategies. And that is exactly why more partnerships between Chinese and German cities matter.
The author is a former mayor of Oldenburg and an honorary citizen of Xi’an, Shaanxi province. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
(China Daily European Weekly 12/21/2018 page12)