Promoting Political Decentralization and Local Autonomy

In co-operation with its partners, the Center for Local Autonomy (CLA) and the Graduate School of Local Autonomy (GSLA) at Hanyang University, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation has been supporting political decentralization, the empowerment of local government and the promotion of citizen participation in South Korea since the late 1980s. In this unique institutional co-operation the partners focus mainly on the advancement of scholarly works dealing with local autonomy and the international exchange between academics and civil servants and politicians. The Friedrich Naumann Foundation’s main fields are policy consulting, knowledge transfer through international expert study tours, organization of seminars and conferences, training and exchange programs for academics, civil servants and politicians as well as civic education. In a joint declaration delivered in Seoul on April, 10 2003 marking the 15th anniversary of their close co-operation, the Chairman of the Board of the Friedrich Naumann foundation, Dr. Otto Count Lambsdorff, and the President of Hanyang University, Professor, Dr. Kim Chong Yang, stressed the importance of future co-operation. Since political, economic and social changes demand new political reforms in Korea, the partners want to make necessary innovative contributions to sustainable reforms.