Between Legitimation and Decentralisation

The present paper aims at answering why a country that shared, with other Latin American states, a centralist tradition that was even strengthened in the aftermath of its 1952 revolution, became one of the most radical and complex decentralisers in the region. The present is a country case study in which, using a process-tracing analysis, the evolution of decentralisation in Bolivia will be explained up to its current complex structure from a perspective of the relationship between political legitimation under competitive elections and the way in which the party system processed longstanding tensions between the state and different segments of society.

Current Features and Developments of Local Governance in Finland

This chapter discusses local governance renewals and the recent development of local democracy in Finland. Due to profound structural reforms, the role of municipalities is changing, which is challenging current local government processes, from management to citizen participation. Nordic local self-government is considered strong, despite of tightening state steering. Ruling reform politics and the increasing amount of service tasks do not fit the idea of active local governance with sufficient latitude for decision-making. To increase process efficiency, electronic services and governance have been developed nationally and locally, and solutions of eDemocracy have been launched to support participation. Developing participative, deliberative democracy during deep renewals creates opportunities but also requires investments, which create and increase variation between municipalities. From the point of view of local democracy, it becomes interesting how strong municipal self-governance and local governance renewals meet and how the role and status of municipalities are changing.

Why Municipal Cooperation Matters

It is a common phenomenon that municipalities cooperate with each other. Cooperation eventually brings about the gains of efficiency or makes it possible to deliver services. We can however assume that cooperation may also fail, cause unwarranted negative side-effects and diminish the democratic capacity of the participating municipalities. The aim of this paper is to present the literature and available scholarship on the topic, and discuss the research agenda on inter-municipal cooperation, especially through the analysis of its scope, motivations, and perceived costs and benefits. The approach to the problem will be based in multidisciplinary contributions of existing research, which involves theoretical arguments related to the advantages of cooperation, the impact on democracy and accountability, as well as the discussion of public vs private provision of services. The conclusions should enable a serious reflection about Inter-Municipal Cooperation state of the art.

Changes in the Local Government System and Regional Policy in Poland

This chapter presents the successive stages to make changes in the Polish development policy after 1989. The national administration reform of 1990 in the Third Commonwealth of Poland restored the local government after 40 years of non-existence during the time of Polish People's Republic (1944–1989) that was a satellite state of the Soviet Union after the Second World War. Another reform took place in 1998 as a part of preparations for the country's membership in the European Union (EU) from 2004. Currently developed strategic documents are suggesting the use of the “polarization and diffusion model of the development.” The authors also discuss the regional policy currently implemented in Poland, which was designed in years 2009–2014. The process of creation of new policy includes plans to reform the policy instruments and to update the strategic framework. Conclusions highlight a need for a clearer division of powers between the center and regional governments and the importance of strengthening the financial basis and institutional capacity building.

As You Like It or Much Ado about Nothing?

This chapter scrutinizes the ongoing debate on structural reform in local government in the Flemish Region of Belgium at the turn and the first decades of the 21st century. As in many European polities, discussions on the territorial and functional arrangements of the level deemed closest to the citizen have occupied a protracted place on the reform agenda. Likewise, given their often controversial and conflictual nature all but a part of these reformist ambitions have eventually been adopted and implemented. Actual structural change often only crystalizes as the residue of a heated reform base once the damp of the discussion evaporates.

Contemporary Local Government Reform in New Zealand

The New Zealand local government system has experienced considerable reform over the last twenty-five years. The nature of the reform has been contingent on both international trends and local factors, including prevailing ideologies. The experience provides lessons for other nations, particularly the lack of a consistent direction and any overall coherence. The paper identifies six themes, some of which have been recurring while others have been specific to local political economy factors. The lack of any national consensus about the role of local government, and the lack of constitutional status, means that reform is expected to continue into the future.

Democratic Preferences of the Indirectly-Elected Mayor, Open or Locked-In

The Directly Elected Mayor (DEM) model is a prominent manifestation of global efforts to innovate and strengthen local democracy. According to the established reformist claim, a DEM generates an array of advantages for local democracy (e.g., personalization, visibility of power, an increase in accountability, more inclusion, even direct involvement of citizens in local decision making). The DEM model seems to overcome the democratic deficits of the Indirectly Elected Mayor (IEM) model; this is the core assumption of the “difference hypothesis”. The aim of the empirical part of the study is to allow the analysis of the democratic orientation and styles of actions of the IEMs in the city of Vienna from 1973 until 2013. They all asked to the citizenry to express their opinion in consultative referenda. The longitudinal study shows the clear preference of the mayors for representative democracy and the majority principle to decide local issues. The analysis provides evidence that indirectly supports the reformist claim promoting the DEM model in local democracy.

The Normative Base of Local Government

International Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences defines local government as a public entity which is a sub-unit of a state or of a region, charged with the determination and carrying out of certain public policies in a relatively small territory. Local authorities are created to respond to certain needs of the inhabitants in local communities. These are mainly administrative, political and social factors. Leaving aside a few exceptionally small states, carrying out of all the public services from a single center is almost impossible. In order to ensure efficient performance of public services and to avoid both “appoplexy” at the center on one hand, and “anemia” in the periphery, there is a need to reduce the load on the shoulders of the central government and to take necessary measures to strengthen local authorities.

Current Discussions on the Question

Subject of local governments has been attracting the attention of researchers from various disciplines in recent years. Local governments themselves and other related actors undergo a transformation in the face of new public management, good governance, direct democracy, decentralization and other reform waves. Thoughts directing reforms, reform tools and reform results have diversified. In addition, new problem areas have arisen in the local governments after the reform process. Number of studies analyzing local governments both during and after the administrative reform process from a comparative perspective has increased as well. Currently, there is a need to analyze local governments from comparative perspective via different theoretical discussions and country studies. This part will present current discussions as an introduction to comparative local government studies introduced in general terms throughout the book. Particularly the question remarks to have arisen after the local government reform will be addressed and analyzed.

“Imperialism” and “Federalism”

The chapter takes as its starting point Kropotkin's idea that in the design of governance systems there are two fundamentally opposed principles - Imperialism (concentrated, vertical power) and federalism (distributed, horizontal power). The paper shows how this idea was derived from Russian conditions but may be seen in the development of state and city relations more widely. The paper then addresses the case of local government reform in Russia from 1990, and how the principle of concentration of power took precedence over the federalist principle, due to ambiguity in state-city relations and fear of loosening ‘imperial' control. The conclusion is that in large and diverse states, the imperative of control to prevent fragmentation may over-ride the development of decentralised governance or municipal autonomy.