Decentralization, Amalgamation and Size

Abstract

One of the most visible policy instruments of national states are the (de)centralization of powers to lower tiers and the shaping of these lower tiers using devolution and amalgamation. Both budget cuts because the economic crisis and changing ideas about which type of organization is most efficient, have stimulated national states to decentralize hitherto national policies and to amalgamate very small municipalities into larger units able to cope with the related budget cuts. In this panel the extent to which municipalities of different size operate differently, and the way citizens are affected by decentralization and by the size of the municipality they live in are discussed extensively.

Title	Details
Local government amalgamations – a crucial case for analyzing the impact of citizen’s orientations towards local governments?	View Paper Details
Local and More Local: Impact of Size and Organization of Local Municipal Communities on Candidacy	View Paper Details
Amalgamations and Flanders… Will it ever be anything?	View Paper Details
Deliberating dilemmas of local democracy: Two survey experiments on citizens’ sensitivity to arguments in favor and against local taxation and interregional cooperation	View Paper Details