Inaugurated as mayor of Medellín at the beginning of 2004, Sergio Fajardo inherited a city roiled by decades of violence and corruption. During his four years in office, the charismatic former university professor turned Medellín around. He broke up clientelistic political networks, raised tax receipts, improved public services, introduced transparency fairs, established civic pacts, and restored citizens’ sense of hope. Fajardo left office at the end of 2007 with an unprecedented approval rating of nearly 90%. Though Medellín still faced significant challenges, the city was later identified as an exemplary case of good public administration by cities across Latin America and the Inter-American Development Bank. By 2010, Fajardo had been named the vice-presidential running mate of former Bogotá mayor Antanas Mockus in that year’s presidential elections. 

Although Bangalore had long been considered one of India's premier metropolitan areas, government agencies largely failed to respond to the city's rapid growth during the information technology boom of the 1990s.  During that period, essential public services such as electricity, water and garbage collection fell into disarray, while property-tax revenue stagnated.  Upset by collapsing public infrastructure, civil society groups began to demand broad reform of Bangalore's public agencies, many of which had a monopoly on the goods and services they provided.  In 1999, the new head of Karnataka state, S.M. Krishna, introduced a high-profile campaign to revamp and revitalize Bangalore's underperforming service providers.  By the end of Krishna's term in 2004, makeovers of several public agencies had produced significant improvements in the quantity and quality of services as well as in the agencies' public-approval ratings.  However, Krishna's focus on urban reform in Bangalore carried a high political price in an overwhelmingly rural state.  This case examines the operational details of Krishna's efforts to revamp service delivery in Bangalore and also highlights how political backlash can endanger reforms that are accomplished for one constituency at the perceived expense of another.

Michael Woldemariam drafted this case study on the basis of interviews conducted in Bangalore, India, in June 2010. Case published November 2010.

Associated Interview(s):  V. Ravichandar, Dr. A Ravindra

When Edi Rama became mayor of Tirana in 2000, he confronted a population that was disillusioned with the way democracy had played out in the capital city.  Albania had sunk into a political morass after a brief period of cheer that followed the eastern European country's emergence in the early 1990s from decades of isolation under a Marxist-Leninist dictatorship.  But change was in the air at the start of the millennium, as national reforms began with the support of a forward-thinking prime minister.  Seizing the moment, Rama aimed to restore public confidence in government by building an administration based on professionalism rather than political connections, sprucing up the drab city, improving services, encouraging citizen complaints and leading open discussions on Tirana's future.  He repaired city hall, cleared out public spaces, painted colorless communist-era apartment buildings in bright hues and planted thousands of trees.  Although his reforms lost momentum after Albania's leadership changed and he became more deeply involved in national affairs, Rama's accomplishments as mayor demonstrated the value of responsive, participatory government in regaining citizen support and attacking entrenched municipal problems.

Tumi Makgetla drafted this case study based on interviews conducted in Tirana, Albania, in June 2010. 

Associated Interviews:  Dritan Agolli​

A once proud city, Bogotá was on the verge of ruin by the late 1980s. Its government was corrupt and dysfunctional, and the Colombian city regularly ranked among the worst places in the world in which to live. In 1986, then-president and former Bogotá Mayor Virgilio Barco lamented that “of that booming city that I governed, today all that is left is an urbanized anarchy, tremendous chaos, immense disorder, a colossal mess.” Beginning in 1992, however, Bogotá enjoyed a string of mayors who succeeded in turning the city around. The first of these mayors, Jaime Castro (1992-1994), fought to establish the financial and political framework that would empower the mayor’s office to function as a nucleus of reform. Castro’s successor, Antanas Mockus (1995-1997 and 2001-2003), built on that legacy, consolidating gains in the face of entrenched opposition on the city council and bringing tangible benefits to the population in the form of exemplary public-service delivery. By 2002, the United Nations had selected Bogotá as a “model city” to be emulated across Latin America and by early 2010, Mockus had emerged as a front-runner in Colombia’s presidential elections.

Matthew Devlin and Sebastian Chaskel drafted this case study based on interviews conducted in Colombia during October and November 2009.

Associated Interview(s):  Jaime Castro Castro,  Liliana Caballero, Maria Isabel Patiño

GENERAR Y CONSOLIDAR UNA VUELTA DE PÁGINA: GOBERNABILIDAD EN BOGOTÁ, 1992-2003

SINOPSIS: La otrora ciudad imponente, hacia fines de los años '80 Bogotá se encontraba al borde de la ruina. El gobierno distrital se caracterizaba por la corrupción y el mal funcionamiento, y la capital colombiana frecuentemente se ganaba un lugar en el ranking mundial de los peores lugares para vivir. En 1986, el antiguo alcalde de la capital y por ese entonces presidente Virgilio Barco se lamentó, "De la ciudad vibrante que yo goberné, hoy sólo queda una anarquía urbana, un caos tremendo, un desorden inmenso, un desastre colosal." Sin embargo, a partir de 1992 Bogotá tuvo la suerte de tener una serie de alcaldes que consiguieron pasar la página en la historia de la ciudad. El primero de aquellos alcaldes, Jaime Castro (1992-94), luchó para establecer la infraestructura financiera y política que le otorgaría a la Alcaldía el poder para funcionar como un núcleo de reforma. El sucesor de Castro, Antanas Mockus (1995-97 y 2001-03), siguió construyendo sobre los cimientos legados por su predecesor, y así consolidó victorias a pesar de la oposición profundamente arraigada del Concejo de la Ciudad, trayendo beneficios tangibles para la población en la forma de mejoras en la prestación de servicios públicos. Al llegar el año 2002, las Naciones Unidas habían seleccionado a Bogotá como una ciudad modelo a ser emulada a través de Latinoamérica, y para comienzos del año 2010, Mockus había surgido como un candidato formidable a la presidencia colombiana. Matthew Devlin y Sebastian Chaskel redactaron este estudio practico basado en entrevistas que se llevaron a cabo en Colombia, en octubre y noviembre del 2009. El caso fue publicado en diciembre del 2010. Melina Meneguin-Layerenza tradujo este estudio en febrero de 2013.

Matthew Devlin y Sebastian Chaskel redactaron este estudio practico basado en entrevistas que se llevaron a cabo en Colombia, en octubre y noviembre del 2009. El caso fue publicado en diciembre del 2010. Melina Meneguin-Layerenza tradujo este estudio en febrero de 2013.