Franziska Paul attended the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics Conference 2022 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands from 9-11 July 2022. Franziska co-presented new research findings from Germany-based research together with colleague Vera Weghmann from the University of Greenwich. 

The title and abstract are below: 

"Struggles for Democratisation in the German Post-remunicipalisation Process"

There is a growing inter-disciplinary academic debate around the process of remunicipalisation (Cumbers and Paul 2022), although, to date, most of the focus has been around the processes leading up to remunicipalisation, i.e. the various ways that municipalities and regional authorities have taken previously privatised infrastructure, services and assets back into public ownership. Yet, remunicipalisation is not an end in itself, but also opens up possibilities for progressive urban politics through increased democratic participation and decision making around public provision. Thus far, little attention has been paid to the ‘actually existing’ political processes and diverse struggles following remunicipalisation and what these mean for attempts to create more democratic forms of local public ownership. The aim of this article is therefore to explore the realities, tensions but also possibilities of increased democratic participation after remunicipalisation. This, so we argue, is not necessarily a straightforward process but ripe with contestations and contradictions between different actors and stakeholders. The article explores these issues in Germany which has been at the epicentre of global remunicipalisation struggles, with twice as many recorded cases as any other country. The article critically assesses the unfolding of attempts to create mechanisms for democratic participation in two well-established cases where these issues are to the fore: the remunicipalisation of water service

in Berlin and the remunicipalisation of the energy system in Wolfhagen. The Berlin case reveals interesting tensions between service users, workers and their trade union, especially concerning governance and opportunities for democratic participation after remunicipalisation. In comparison, the Wolfhagen case has often been praised as an innovative democratic hybrid model of public-common ownership as it unites cooperative ownership with public ownership (Hopmann et al 2021; Cumbers 2021).

First published: 6 April 2022

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