Territorial Consolidation Reforms in Europe

Territorial Consolidation Reforms in Europe PDF Author: Pawel Swianiewicz
Publisher: Lgi
ISBN: 9789639719163
Category : Central-local government relations
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Bringing together scholars from across Europe, Territorial Consolidation Reforms presents the struggles by politicians, technocrats, and the public to agree on the optimum size of government that balances good performance with good services, and the relevant arguments for the fragmentation, consolidation, or cooperation of government. Edited and introduced by Pawel Swianiewicz, this 15-chapter anthology presents the major reforms of municipal government that were implemented in Europe in the last decade. Covering much of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as detailing the experiences of "old" EU member states of Denmark, England, France, Germany, and Greece, this book investigates how territorial reforms have impacted local public affairs, public service delivery, local identity and autonomy, and what political and public debates have accompanied or been responsible for success or failure. The cases in this anthology answer how government did or did not respond to the need to provide efficient services in concert with demands for local autonomy and needed territorial reforms. Chapters on the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary describe a top-down approach to the stimulation of intermunicipal cooperation in service provision as an answer to fragmentation. Chapters on Armenia and Ukraine summarize the debate, and the decision on which has been postponed. In the final pages of Territorial Consolidation Reforms in Europe, the distinguished scholar Robert Hertzog writes about voluntary cooperation of municipal governments as an alternative, while Kurt Houlberg looks further into the relationship between the population size of municipal government and various dimensions of its institutinal performance. --Book Jacket.

Territorial Consolidation Reforms in Europe

Territorial Consolidation Reforms in Europe PDF Author: Pawel Swianiewicz
Publisher: Lgi
ISBN: 9789639719163
Category : Central-local government relations
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
Bringing together scholars from across Europe, Territorial Consolidation Reforms presents the struggles by politicians, technocrats, and the public to agree on the optimum size of government that balances good performance with good services, and the relevant arguments for the fragmentation, consolidation, or cooperation of government. Edited and introduced by Pawel Swianiewicz, this 15-chapter anthology presents the major reforms of municipal government that were implemented in Europe in the last decade. Covering much of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as detailing the experiences of "old" EU member states of Denmark, England, France, Germany, and Greece, this book investigates how territorial reforms have impacted local public affairs, public service delivery, local identity and autonomy, and what political and public debates have accompanied or been responsible for success or failure. The cases in this anthology answer how government did or did not respond to the need to provide efficient services in concert with demands for local autonomy and needed territorial reforms. Chapters on the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary describe a top-down approach to the stimulation of intermunicipal cooperation in service provision as an answer to fragmentation. Chapters on Armenia and Ukraine summarize the debate, and the decision on which has been postponed. In the final pages of Territorial Consolidation Reforms in Europe, the distinguished scholar Robert Hertzog writes about voluntary cooperation of municipal governments as an alternative, while Kurt Houlberg looks further into the relationship between the population size of municipal government and various dimensions of its institutinal performance. --Book Jacket.

The Party Politics of Territorial Reforms in Europe

The Party Politics of Territorial Reforms in Europe PDF Author: Emanuele Massetti
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317749626
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
The book analyses how political parties compete and strategise on the issue of territorial reform using case-studies that include countries from both Western (Belgium, Germany, Italy and Spain) and Central-Eastern Europe (Poland, Slovakia and Romania). Each case-study in the volume considers the different drivers of decentralization, such as territorial identities and the demands of regionalist parties for territorial autonomy or independence, efficiency concerns related to issues of uneven economic development and economic competitiveness, the pressure from supra-national organizations (especially the EU), as well as different combinations of these drivers. They also consider how the ideology and organisation of state-wide parties and the institutional context in which they compete shape their responses to these drivers and their strategy towards the question of territorial reform. This collection investigates the logic of the actions that guide political parties’ strategy to highlights trends that are apparent across the case-studies. This book was originally published as a special issue of West European Politics.

Municipal Territorial Reforms of the 21st Century in Europe

Municipal Territorial Reforms of the 21st Century in Europe PDF Author: Paweł Swianiewicz
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000537579
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date picture of territorial change on the municipal level across all European countries. Taking a thematic and comparative perspective, the book builds on extensive quantitative data and a large survey of academic experts in 33 European countries. Territorial organisation of the municipal level in Europe is strongly diversified and yet far from stable. Politically speaking, territorial reforms tend to be risky and difficult, as such changes affect vital interests and identities. Despite such difficulties, the last two decades have witnessed considerable changes in territorial divisions at the municipal level across a range of European countries. In this book, the authors describe and analyse these changes comprehensively, making a vital contribution to understanding the reasons and dynamics of territorial reform processes. This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners in local or sub-national government, institutional design and more broadly to political science, public administration/policy, human geography, sociology and economics.

Local Public Sector Reforms in Times of Crisis

Local Public Sector Reforms in Times of Crisis PDF Author: Sabine Kuhlmann
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN: 9781137525475
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book compares the trajectories and effects of local public sector reform in Europe and fills a research gap that has existed so far in comparative public administration and local government studies. Based on the results of COST research entitled, ‘Local Public Sector Reforms: an International Comparison’, this volume takes a European-scale approach, examining local government in 28 countries. Local government has been the most seriously affected by the continuously expanding global financial crisis and austerity policies in some countries, and is experiencing a period of increased reform activity as a result. This book considers both those local governments which have adopted or moved away from New Public Management (NPM) modernization to ‘something different’ (what some commentators have labelled ‘post-NPM’), as well as those which have implemented ‘other-than-NPM measures’, such as territorial reforms and democratic innovations.

Governance and City Regions

Governance and City Regions PDF Author: Karsten Zimmermann
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000536556
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
City-regions are areas where the daily journeys for work, shopping and leisure frequently cross administrative boundaries. They are seen as engines of the national economy, but are also facing congestion and disparities. Thus, all over the world, governments attempt to increase problem-solving capacities in city-regions by institutional reform and a shift of functions. This book analyses the recent reforms and changes in the governance of city-regions in France, Germany and Italy. It covers themes such as the impact of austerity measures, territorial development, planning and state modernisation. The authors provide a systematic cross-country perspective on two levels, between six city-regions and between the national policy frameworks in these three countries. They use a solid comparative framework, which refers to the four dimensions functions, institutions and governance, ideas and space. They describe the course of the reforms, the motivations and the results, and consequently, they question the widespread metropolitan fever or resurgence of city-regions and provide a better understanding of recent changes in city-regional governance in Europe. The primary readership will be researchers and master students in planning, urban studies, urban geography, political science and governance studies, especially those interested in metropolitan regions and / or decentralisation. Due to the uniqueness of the work, the book will be of particular interest to scholars working on the comparative European dimension of territorial governance and planning. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Public Administration in Germany

Public Administration in Germany PDF Author: Sabine Kuhlmann
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030536971
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 415

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Book Description
This open access book presents a topical, comprehensive and differentiated analysis of Germany’s public administration and reforms. It provides an overview on key elements of German public administration at the federal, Länder and local levels of government as well as on current reform activities of the public sector. It examines the key institutional features of German public administration; the changing relationships between public administration, society and the private sector; the administrative reforms at different levels of the federal system and numerous sectors; and new challenges and modernization approaches like digitalization, Open Government and Better Regulation. Each chapter offers a combination of descriptive information and problem-oriented analysis, presenting key topical issues in Germany which are relevant to an international readership.

The Oxford Handbook of Local and Regional Democracy in Europe

The Oxford Handbook of Local and Regional Democracy in Europe PDF Author: John Loughlin
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191628247
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1050

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Book Description
The Oxford Handbook of Local and Regional Democracy in Europe analyses the state of play of democracy at the subnational level in the 27 member states of the EU plus Norway and Switzerland. It places subnational democracy in the context of the distinctive Anglo, the French, the German and Scandinavian state traditions in Europe asking to what extent these are still relevant today. The Handbook adapts Lijphart's theory of democracy and applies it to the subnational levels in all the country chapters. A key theoretical issue is whether subnational (regional and local) democracy is derived from national democracy or whether it is legitimate in its own right. Besides these theoretical concerns it focuses on the practice of democracy: the roles of political parties and interest groups and also how subnational political institutions relate to the ordinary citizen. This can take the form of local referendums or other mechanisms of participation. The Handbook reveals a wide variety of practices across Europe in this regard. Local financial systems also reveal a great variety. Finally, each chapter examines the challenges facing subnational democracy but also the opportunities available to them to enhance their democratic systems. Among the challenges identified are: Europeanization, globalization, but also citizens disaffection and switch-off from politics. Some countries have confronted these challenges more successfully than others but all countries face them. An important aspect of the Handbook is the inclusion of all the countries of East and Central Europe plus Cyprus and Malta, who joined the EU in 2004 and 2007. This is the first time they have been examined alongside the countries of Western Europe from the angle of subnational democracy.

Local Government in Europe

Local Government in Europe PDF Author: Lackowska, Marta
Publisher: Policy Press
ISBN: 1529217202
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
Drawing on classical and emerging research perspectives, this comprehensive book provides an up-to-date review of local government in Europe. Featuring an impressive range of contributors from both eastern and western Europe, the book addresses three main topics: territorial reforms, democratic empowerment of citizens and the role of local leadership, as well as new trends in local finances. Acknowledging their inherent diversity, the book examines the ways that local governments have responded to shared challenges, such as climate change, increasing populism and democratic deficit in order to identify both the variety and communalities between the country-specific features. In doing so, it provides a rich picture of the latest trends in local government, as well as pointing the way for future developments.

The Art of Peacemaking

The Art of Peacemaking PDF Author: István Bibó
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300203780
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 486

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Book Description
"Istvâan Bibâo (1911-1979) was a Hungarian lawyer, political thinker, prolific essayist, and minister of state for the Hungarian national government during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. This magisterial compendium of Bibâo's essays introduces English-speaking audiences to the writings of one of the foremost theorists and psychologists of twentieth-century European politics and culture. Elegantly translated by Pâeter Pâasztor and with a scholarly introduction by Ivâan Zoltâan Dâenes, the essays in this volume address the causes and fallout of European political crises, postwar changes in the balance of power among countries, and nation-building processes"--

Inter-Municipal Cooperation in Europe

Inter-Municipal Cooperation in Europe PDF Author: Filipe Teles
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319628194
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 350

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Book Description
This book sheds light on the central complexities of municipal cooperation and examines the dynamics, experiences and drivers of inter-municipal cooperation (IMC) in Europe. Particular attention is given to the features of governance arrangements and institutions created to generate and maintain collaborative settings between different local governments in a particular territory. The thematically grouped case studies presented here address the dearth of comprehensive and comparative analyses in recent scholarship. The authors provide fresh insights into the rise of inter-municipal cooperation and its evolution during a period of financial crisis and European Union enlargement. This includes critical examinations of the impact of austerity policies, the behavior and perceptions of key actors; and under-explored new member states. Crucially, this work goes beyond the comparison of institutional forms of IMC to address why the phenomenon so widespread and questions whether it is successful, manageable and democratic. This work which presents the most recent and innovative research on inter-local collaborative arrangements will appeal to practitioners as well as scholars of local government, public economy, public administration and policy.