Local Government in Europe

Acknowledging their inherent diversity, the book examines the ways that local governments in Europe 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.

Section I: The size of municipal reforms when size matters

1. Advancing the research agenda on local territorial reforms: taking time and space seriously - António F. Tavares

2. Too big to be local: local and national elite complicity in the narrative of English council mergers - Colin Copus, Alistair Jones, Rachel Wall

3. Consequences of forced municipal mergers: evidence from Norway - Harald Baldersheim, Lawrance E. Rose

4. Local government reforms in Denmark and Norway: reform tools and outcomes - Kurt Houlberg, Jan Erling Klausen

5. One size does not fit all: growing cities and shrinking towns in the Spanish local map - Carmen Navarro, Esther Pano

6. Institutional changes and shifting roles: local government reform in Hungary, 2010-2014 - Gábor Dobos

7. Territorial reforms in Bulgaria: the cases of municipal divorces - Desislava Kalcheva

8. Participation of Interest Groups on Local Level: Any Space for Democracy in Inter-municipal Cooperation? - Jurga Bucaite-Vilke

Section II: local democracy and Leadership

9. Municipal size and the nationalization of local party systems: the nationalized, localized and regionalized local party systems of Denmark, Poland and Belgium - Adam Gendzwill, Ulrik Kjaer, Kristof Steyvers

10. Co-creating the tolerant city: the role of inspirational civic leadership - Robin Hambleton with Wirginia Aksztejn

11. Urban leadership: German and Polish mayors in comparison - Hubert Heinelt

12. Urban climate leadership in metropolitan areas: How has the political parliamentary model influenced Oslo's climate leadership? - Gro Sandkjær Hanssen

13. The effects of European Union funding in the light of municipal surveys - Grzegorz Gorzelak, Ewelina Przekop-Wiszniewska

Section III: Keeping the pace with a balanced balance sheet

14. Democratic functions of local budgets - Jerzy Bartkowski

15. Does urban sprawl pay off for the suburban municipal budget in Poland? - Julita Lukomska, Jaroslaw Neneman

16. Should tourists pay local taxes and why yes? - Marta Derek

Conclusions

17. Perspectives on European local government: putting local democracy first! - Marta Lackowska, Katarzyna Szmigiel-Rawska, Filipe Teles