Inter-Municipal Cooperation and Local Communities: Does Citizens’ Engagement Matter?

Inter-municipal cooperation involves the ability to operate in complex systems and to manage a multifaceted network of agents. There is a need for commitment between local authorities and communities. Citizens’ engagement directly in governance arrangements is the positive effect in sharing responsibilities with civil society, and mostly to assure direct accountability. We try to analyze how citizens or representatives of local communities are engaged in inter-municipal cooperation in Lithuania. The research is based on quantitative survey conducted in 2018 and it is a part of broader project “Inter-municipal cooperation and implementation of public services: options for network governance and public interest dilemma in Lithuania”.