Remunicipalisation Revisited: Long-Term Trends in the Provision of Local Public Services in Germany

Abstract

This chapter contributes to the ongoing debate on the ‘remunicipalisation’ of local public services by looking back at more than 100 years of service provision in Germany and a broad range of local public services. The analysis shows that there is indeed some evidence of a ‘return of the pendulum’. However, there are strong sectoral differences, and the extent of remunicipalisation is only partly related to the degree of the original privatisation. Moreover, even in the sectors that have experienced a strong renaissance in local authority involvement there are striking differences between the ‘post-liberal’ present and the ‘pre-liberal’ past. Both these observations demonstrate that the recent trend towards remunicipalisation should thus be interpreted as a partial re-balancing rather than a fundamental rollback of market reforms.