Introduction

In 1990, the Federal Republic of Germany became a united, liberal democracy. After 41 years as separate countries—and 28 years divided by the Berlin Wall—the capitalist West and authoritarian, former German Democratic Republic (GDR) legally rejoined to become today’s modern Germany.

The period of reunification marked a dramatic shift for East Germans in every aspect of their lives, including the sudden transition to a liberal democracy. Since 1990, the five “new states” (Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia) have been conducting a long experiment in building local democracy.

But three decades after reunification, democracy is not a static destination at which Germany has arrived. Populism and democratic skepticism have become part of the political mainstream. Far-right parties have gained increased support and establishment status. Now, Germany also finds itself in a moment of political transition, as Chancellor Angela Merkel steps down from 16 years in office. The United States faces many of these challenges, as well. While our own democratic experiment has always been imperfect, the past five years have indicated that it is concretely under threat. Additionally, from income inequality to bias in the criminal justice system to overt voter suppression,¹ American democracy does not yet fully live up to the ideals it promises.

Today, the United States and Germany also share some of the same policy challenges. Recently, they’ve both faced “similar shifts in demographics, fiscal constraints, and increasing pressure to reinvigorate urban cores.”² Over the last two years, they’ve experienced similar crises, including the public health threat of COVID-19 and its economic impacts, anti-mask protests and misinformation, and systemic racism and injustice. In the space of six months, both even saw citizens storm their respective capitol buildings, albeit at different scales.

Ultimately, despite years of progress and experimentation, the practice of practicing and maintaining democracy has become a much larger question on both sides of the Atlantic.

In both countries, these issues are too complex for federal and state governments to solve alone; municipal governments are becoming increasingly important in these efforts.

Based on political science scholarship, local civic engagement is a promising tool to help meet democratic and public policy challenges.³ However, meaningful and sustainable civic engagement doesn’t happen simply from the grassroots level, and it cannot be effective without strong municipal government buy-in.⁴ At the same time, successful civic engagement programs can be extremely difficult to design and execute. In addressing these similar challenges, American and German city governments can benefit by sharing lessons learned and municipal models for supporting civic engagement.

Located in the German Free State of Saxony, Leipzig offers a particularly interesting case study for several reasons. First, the City of Leipzig has developed a promising infrastructure for engagement, including efforts to expand representative democracy, or the practice of elected individuals making governing decisions on behalf of their constituents. Second, as a city in the former East Germany, Leipzig also recently passed the 30-year mark in its development of local democracy, and its experiences with establishing new institutions for engagement provide concrete lessons for other cities interested in doing the same. These include insights about the relationship between a city and its constituents, designing successful engagement, working through crisis and conflict, and more. Third, because the city is currently working to address common public policy challenges—such as gentrification, urban and economic development, environmental changes, local political polarization, and the mobilization of far-right groups—how Leipzig uses civic engagement tools to address those problems can be instructive for other cities. Finally, given its unique history and modern political climate, Leipzig is an important case study for understanding the way that liberal forces can influence local engagement processes, and how to safeguard local liberal democracy.

The City of Leipzig has not created perfect institutions or a utopian city for civic engagement. But, ultimately, what people in Leipzig have learned from the last 31 years of developing and implementing infrastructure for local participatory democracy—a form of governing that allows constituents to take part in decision-making—are lessons that can benefit American cities and the broader transatlantic democratic experiment.

The City of Leipzig’s experience with civic engagement points to seven key lessons for American cities:

1. Building Lasting Institutions for Civic Engagement
2. Sharing Power with Residents
3. Creating Strong Civic-City Relationships
4. Making Engagement Accessible and Equitable
5. Designing Successful Engagement
6. Engaging Through Crisis and Conflict
7. Supporting Local, Liberal Democracy

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this research was conducted through a combination of desk research and one-on-one interviews through Zoom or via email. The 14 interviews focused on three areas of the city’s political ecosystem: city administrators, city council members, and engaged residents. Initial interviewees were found through desk research, and others were identified through personal reference and snowballing. One result of these limitations is that the interviewee pool over-represents left-leaning representatives and residents in Leipzig. Another limitation is that many of the respondents are involved in the same organizations. However, the research indicates many promising areas for future research, including expanding the study size with a larger sample and greater diversification.