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Conference on “Local self-Government and challenges for modern Society” in Moscow

Published: April 28, 2017

On 20 April 2017, a conference on “Local self-government and challenges for modern society” took place in Moscow, organised by the IRZ in collaboration with the Kudrin Foundation for the Support of Civic Initiatives (KGI) and the European Club of Experts in Local Self-Government.

The conference was opened by the Deputy Director of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations and KGI member, Prof. Evgeny Gontmakher. Among the more than fifty conference participants were representatives from scientific institutions, city councils and municipalities, the media and experts in local government law.

After the welcome by the organisers‘ representatives, the conference participants were grouped into three round tables. The first round table discussed the issue “Starting point: today’s role, situation and problems of local self-government”. The German expert Dr. Thomas Stöhr, Mayor and Head of the Municipal Administration of the town of Bad Vilbel, gave one of the three initial keynotes, which were followed by a discussion dealing with the experiences with and opinions about the situation of local self-goernment from the participants’ points of view.

The round table “Perspectives: challenges for modern society and tasks of local self-goverment“ considered approaches for tackling current problems. In this round table, the presentation by the German expert Prof. Dr. Jochen Franzke, Professor for Public Administration at the University of Potsdam, led to a lively discussion about the demographic change and migration in Germany and Russia, which are a challenge in both countries.

The last round table shed light on the role, opportunities and tasks of the expert community in the field of local self-government. Finally, future cooperation was discussed which was expressly desired by all participants.