A Thorn in the Side: Populist Government Pressures Against Local Administrations

• In Event: Bureaucracy, Institutions, and Authoritarian Rule

Abstract

When Populist or Radical right-wing parties get to government, they create numerous pressures to the state bureaucracy at the central and subnational levels. Among these pressures are weakening administrative checks, massive firing, clientelistic hiring, centralization tendencies, and limited participation by possible challengers or critics. However, less is known about how these pressures play out in a multi-level setting and how cities can resist and showcase an alternative model.
This paper sets out to explore the multi-level tensions between the city's administration headed by the opposition parties (non-traditional parties) and the central government in the grips of radical right-wing or populist party and their impact on the local public administration. Cities governed by the opposition parties in countries under populist rule face a unique set of pressures. On the one hand, these cities undergo pressure from the central government that seeks to hamper and discredit their performance and autonomy. On the other hand, these cities are pressured by the opposition parties in local government that want to showcase the city performance as an example of their capabilities. What is the impact of this two-sided political pressure on the local bureaucracy?
To answer this empirical question, this paper selects three capital cities Prague, Warsaw and Budapest. In all three capital cities (new) opposition candidates won the recent local elections, and because being capitals, they are visible challengers to the central government. The preliminary results show that cities face cuts in the budget transfers, and higher scrutiny from the central level. And from bellow, they are pushed to open up to citizens' participation and increase transparency.

Author

• Eliska Drapalova, University of Goteborg