Local Governance in Practice. IMCs in the Netherlands

Local authorities in the Netherlands have always been an important part of government. As elsewhere, they have jurisdiction over a territory. Societal and policy problems, however, are not restricted to the same territorial boundaries. As a result, scale issues emerge. Two different strategies are feasible in order to address such scale issues, municipal mergers and inter-municipal co-operation. This paper focuses on the latter. The Dutch state is known as a 'decentralised unitary state'. Within their borders and within the limits of ‘higher’ law, municipalities enjoy autonomy and they are also allowed to make municipal by-laws, formulate and execute their own policies in almost every policy area and to levy taxes (though rather limited). In addition to their autonomous ‘tasks’ municipalities are responsible for the implementation of national policies in a large number of policy areas. This is called 'co-governance' (medebewind). Over its long history, local government in the Netherlands has increasingly become an executive branch of the central government. This implementation, however, is not mechanistic in nature. As of 2015, substantial responsibilities have been transferred to local governments, in particular concerning social and health care. Some municipalities merged, others decided to co-operate with neighbouring authorities to solve problems of scale, some did both. Many inter-municipal structures emerged. They often have important service delivery responsibilities or which function as inter-municipal platforms for policy-making. But co-operation did not start with the 2015 decentralisation. In 2010, for instance, the average number of inter-municipal co-operative bodies was already 27 per municipality, and the number is increasing (Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations 2012). Local authorities have several options if they want to co-operate. The law (both public and private law) offers quite a number of possibilities, but municipalities may also opt for less formalised types of co-operation. Public law, especially the Inter-Municipal Co-operation Act (called WGR - Wet Gemeenschappelijke Regelingen, in Dutch) provides five different kinds of co-operations. They may create a level of semi-government at the one end of the continuum (‘semi’, due to the lack of direct elections) and relatively loose co-operations at the other. This Paper provides an overview of various kinds of inter-municipal co-operation, paying attention to their legal foundation (public law, private law), and to the actors involved (solely public ones, or also private actors). It addresses issues of effectiveness and legimitacy of IMCs and other kinds of co-operative bodies at the supra-local level. It also analyses the limits to municipalities' room for maneuvering as a result of both legal provisions and policy dogmas.