Exploring Interest in the Council-Manager Form of Governance in Croatia

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.

By Thom Reilly
February 3, 2025

How receptive are transition countries—those moving from authoritarian to democratic governance—in adopting components of the U.S. council-manager reform model of governance to rectify low administrative and fiscal capacities? This is the research question my colleagues, Martina Pezer, Branko Stanić and I explored with top city administrators in Croatia.

Croatia became independent in 1991 after leaving the former Yugoslavia. It is a republic and a parliamentary liberal democracy that joined the European Union in 2013. It has faced challenges in its postwar reconstruction and transition to a representative democracy. The latest 2022 monitoring report of the European Commission (EU) found Croatian local government administration effectiveness is significantly below the European average. Local governments in Croatia have faced criticism for their management practices, lack of transparency, low levels of citizen participation and a number of corruption scandals. Further, citizen trust in the city government is the lowest of all EU countries.

Considering these low performance capacities of many cities and citizens’ dissatisfaction with public services, we wanted to determine if an alternative reform model of local governance, specifically the council manager form of government—based on the U.S. model—might be adapted to address these shortcomings.

In response to the history of widespread corruption in many large U.S. cities and the need to improve administrative competence, progressive reformers in the late 19^th and early 20^th century introduced new approaches to the way cities were governed by having the council appoint a nonpartisan professional city manager to oversee municipal operations. The Progressives believed by removing partisan politics, the entrenched machine dominating local and state governments would crack, making room for government to be more responsive to its citizens. A key component of the council-manager form of government was the use of merit as the leading criterion for making all hiring and personnel decisions. It was believed that a more apolitical and professional local government and a decrease in the politicization of mayors’ administrative functions would improve local government performance.

To better understand how city administrators felt about the council-manager form of governance, we surveyed lead administrators in all Croatian cities (128) during October and November 2022. Forty-eight responded, well above the lower range for comparable local government research. The survey presented the council-manager reform model and asked participants to rate some reform characteristics (e.g., use of merit, administrative independence, etc.) as well as asking a key question about the possibility of introducing components of the council-manager reform model in Croatia.

Our findings show that despite not being familiar with these reforms, city administrators did rate many of the innovations associated with it as desirable from the perspective of improving governance, specifically the use of merit in personnel decisions, separating out management from politics and the promotion of economy and efficiency via professional management and networks. However, 62 percent of city officials felt adopting such reforms in the current political environment was not feasible. Chief among the obstacles to implementation focused on concerns about politics and the political influence of politicians.

Taken as a whole, political influence and political interference in local governments in Croatia appears to strongly shape how cities are structured. The council-manager form of governance was designed to address these concerns about political interference. Adopting a council-manager reform model of governance system that is more apolitical and separates out some of the administrative functions from politics, particularly in the areas of budget allocation and personnel decisions would rectify many of the concerns expressed by local government leaders. Further, a more administratively professional and less political governance system can better position local governments in Croatia to respond to modern challenges by encouraging collaboration and innovative practices. This also would result in preventing local political elites from promoting their own interests above the public interest, which would increase public trust in local governments.

So how can city administrators make headway in introducing and implementing some of these innovations? Universities’ schools of public administration and various civic nongovernmental organizations would be the likely place to introduce these concepts and work with citizens, local governments and the business community on how components of the reform models might increase effectiveness and trust and how it might be adapted for Croatian culture. Components of this structure such as the merit principle in personnel management and shielding financial and administrative functions from political interference might help it gain traction. 

Professional municipal governance invites collaboration and innovation necessary for modernization of governance to address cities’ present and future needs. Top city officials in Croatia believe some of the reform offered through the council-manager form of governance would improve municipal performance.

References:

Pezer, Martina, Branko Stanić, and Thom Reilly. “The Adoption of Council-Manager Model of Governance in Croatia: An Exploratory Study.” State and Local Government Review, vol. 56, no. 2, 2024, pp. https://doi.org/10.1177/0160323X241232166.

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Author: Dr. Thom Reilly, professor and co-director for the Center for an Independent and Sustainable Democracy, School of Public Affairs, Arizona State University. He is the former Chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education and County Manager for Clark County Nevada.  Reilly is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.  

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