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Why are some countries able to go ahead with comprehensive top-down local government amalgamation reforms, despite the many challenges such a reform entails? So far, we have limited theoretical and empirical understanding of how central governments manage to adopt such reforms. Drawing on different theoretical frameworks around public policy as well as research into territorial reforms, this article presents key political and institutional factors that are likely to facilitate top-down municipal mergers and examines whether these theoretical propositions help to explain the adoption of comprehensive top-down municipal amalgamation in four cases: Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, and Portugal. Key political and institutional factors identified in existing frameworks provide a useful starting point for understanding and explaining top-down comprehensive municipal amalgamation reforms, such as the role played by the breaking up of existing policy monopolies and emergence of new venues for discussing the reform. At the same time, the cases also reveal some important nuances that at times run counter to theoretical expectations. Our cases also reveal further factors, including the "bundling" of amalgamation reforms with other wider initiatives, and the potential effect of "distracting events" that should be taken into account in the further development of theoretical frameworks concerning top-down amalgamations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The French territorial system is marked by a historical very large communal dispersion. Strangely the French State, although considered very strong, has never managed to impose the merger of these municipalities, as was the case in most other European countries. This resistance of local elected representatives, often also national parliamentarians, then led the central government to use another strategy: their grouping in public institutions of intermunicipal cooperation (EPCI). The creation of the Metropolis of Lyon is, therefore, very original. Created by the law of 27th January, 2014, it is the only “metropolis” with the status of territorial collectivity and merges on its territory the Rhône department and the former “urban community” of Lyon. This metropolis is thus unique in France, and the authors will tend to verify whether it could serve as a model to follow by other metropolises, considering the case of the first institutionalised metropolis in Poland, namely the GZM Metropolis, which is struggling with structural problems. The GZM Metropolis was established in 2017 by the Polish Parliament’s law and provided with a specific governance regime comparable to the “manager and council model” and decision-making based on a double majority of the municipalities and population. After the first five years of functioning, the leaders of this first Polish metropolis seem to be ready to adjust their metropolitan institutions, understanding its limits and searching for inspiration at the international level.

To what extent can citizens’ attitudes to municipal mergers be explained by costs and benefits incurred by merging with a specific consortium of neighbouring units? To answer this question, we analyse data taken from a survey to citizens of 119 Norwegian local governments in the fall of 2019, merely a few months before the merger of their own unit with one or more neighbouring units was to be implemented as the result of a national local government reform decided over two years in advance. In line with previous studies, we find that citizens tend to prefer merging with wealthier neighbours rather than poorer ones. Moreover, we find that this preference is only observable among respondents in smaller units merging with one or more larger units. Furthermore, differentials in private wealth among the merging units appear to affect preferences more than public wealth. However, we did not find support for the theoretical assumption that citizens prefer mergers with units that are similar in terms of political and societal characteristics. Overall, our study suggests that concerns over local redistributive losses may impede support for mergers and, hence, increase the political costs of implementing comprehensive structural reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cities, Communities & Territories / Cidades, Comunidades e Territórios is the property of Instituto Universitario de Lisboa, DINAMIA-CET and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper discusses the territorial reform in Portuguese parishes in 2013 following the bailout from the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission (Troika). The purpose of this paper is (i) to frame the reform of the parishes in Portugal in the trends of reorganization at the local level in European countries in recent decades; (ii) to situate the aggregation at the national scale, integrating it in the Reform of Local Administration of the XIX Government (2011-2015); (iii) to analyze, from the Algarve, the changes in the exercise of its powers, in the provision of services to the population and in the relationship with the municipality; (iv) to discuss the results achieved.The methodology is based on the literature review on local territorial reforms in European countries, on the critical reading of the national process, and the empirical approach is based on the perspective of the elected representatives, based on semi-structured interviews with all the mayors of the aggregated parish councils in the Algarve.The top-down aggregation process applied in the country triggered in the region a reaction of sharing and collaboration between parishes, reducing tensions and fractures between communities (but, in other situations, exposing old divisions or fractures). The new map is assimilated, but criticism remains and two reversals have already occurred.

The French territorial system is marked by a historical very large communal dispersion. Strangely the French State, although considered very strong, has never managed to impose the merger of these municipalities, as was the case in most other European countries. This resistance of local elected representatives, often also national parliamentarians, then led the central government to use another strategy: their grouping in public institutions of intermunicipal cooperation (EPCI). The creation of the Metropolis of Lyon is, therefore, very original. Created by the law of 27th January, 2014, it is the only "metropolis" with the status of territorial collectivity and merges on its territory the Rhone department and the former "urban community" of Lyon. This metropolis is thus unique in France, and the authors will tend to verify whether it could serve as a model to follow by other metropolises, considering the case of the first institutionalised metropolis in Poland, namely the GZM Metropolis, which is struggling with structural problems. The GZM Metropolis was established in 2017 by the Polish Parliament's law and provided with a specific governance regime comparable to the "manager and council model" and decision-making based on a double majority of the municipalities and population. After the first five years of functioning, the leaders of this first Polish metropolis seem to be ready to adjust their metropolitan institutions, understanding its limits and searching for inspiration at the international level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remapping and merging the Regions with one another, redefining the role of the departments, promoting the grouping of municipalities, creating metropolitan areas, reducing the local authorities' expenditure, improving citizen proximity and involving them in the decision-making process in a more effective way: these were the expectations of the NOTRe law, which has overhauled the territorial organisation of the French Republic. The purpose of this article is to review the reasons which led to this territorial reform, in order to highlight the discrepancies between the announced objectives and reality, and specifically to show the challenges the French regions will have to face in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the academic literature indicates that high administrative status positively influences the development of a city, while the loss of such status leads to marginalisation. Most of these studies, however, investigated national capitals, and relatively little research has analysed the effect of a change in status at lower levels of government. Poland is an obvious subject for such research, due to the recent extensive reforms of its system of territorial government. This article presents the recent dynamics of socio-economic development in Polish cities and their relation to whether a city maintained or lost its status as a regional capital. These results enable us to identify correlations between the dynamics of socio-economic development and the status of a city. The nature of these correlations is more ambiguous than the results presented in previous studies. The findings of this study give new insight into the effect of changes in a city’s administrative status.

Local government amalgamation reforms are politically demanding ventures because potential benefits are often diffuse and long term, while costs are concentrated and immediate. We investigate the role of national political actors in forming alliances and choosing policy tools in such demanding reform contexts. Empirically, we compare the Danish amalgamation reform, characterised by the use of authoritative government tools and a nationally directed amalgamation process, and the Norwegian reform, which primarily used softer tools that involved substantial autonomy at the local level. Our analysis is built on a rich set of qualitative data. We show that differences in the pro-reform alliances established by the two national governments help explain the different choices of government tools for carrying out the local government reforms. A strong pro-reform alliance, as was the case in Denmark, lent legitimacy to the use of authoritative tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is devoted to the reform of local self-government and territorial organisation of power in Ukraine, which took place in 2014–2020, combining three important tasks: improving the system of public authority, strengthening local self-government, and streamlining the administrative-territorial system in the state. The analysis conducted in the study concerns: the main problems to be addressed by the relevant reform; the chronology of the adoption of key regulations and their role in this process; the results of the amalgamation of territorial communities; and the communities’ ability to ensure the sustainable development of territories. As a result, the article highlights the stages of the implementation of the reform of local self-government and territorial organisation of power in Ukraine, as well as outlines several unresolved issues in this area.

The article is based on research conducted as part of the POPSU Territories Program. The questioning here consists in articulating the upheaval of the institutional space with the lived space of the inhabitants in the context of a municipal merger. The case study focuses on the town of Longuenée-en-Anjou, north-west of Angers, in Maine-et-Loire. Elected officials, residents, associations, municipal agents and representatives of national public services (National Education, firefighters, gendarmerie, La Poste, etc.) were surveyed. The text questions: the construction process that led to the merger, its reception by the population and the impact of this change in the municipal scale on daily life, the feeling of territorial belonging, the territorialization of services. Finally, he underlines the importance of anticipating the development of the municipality in terms of development, town planning, administration and the provision of public services.

How do face-to-face, assembly processes, and non-face-to-face, popular vote processes impact the decisions made by citizens? Normative discussions of the comparative merits of these two broad types of participatory decision-making processes partly rely on empirical assumptions concerning this question. In this paper, we test the central assumption that assemblies lead to decisions that are more widely supported by participants than popular votes. We do so by analyzing 1,400 decisions made through these processes on the highly salient issue of municipal mergers in Swiss municipalities since 1999. We find that assembly decisions are consistently made by larger majorities than popular vote decisions and that this relationship is significantly mediated by turnout. This suggests that higher levels of agreement in assemblies mainly result from selection biases – with fewer dissenting citizens participating in assemblies than in popular votes – rather than from internal dynamics in assemblies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the study is to determine the leading trends in changing administrative boundaries in Poland. Based on 194 Regulations of the Council of Ministers concerning the changes of boundaries and granting city status, which covered a total of 1,383.8 sq. km, multidimensional analyses for the years 2010–2020 were conducted, and their results were referred to territorial reforms in Europe and Poland. The analyses provided the basis for selecting the leading trends, including: (1) the ‘new wave’ of the restitution of city status (from 2018 in the new fast-track mode), resulting in quantitative changes within 3rd-tier units, (2) a significant increase in the area of cities and city counties primarily caused by annexations in suburban zones and establishing new cities, and (3) the politicisation of the process of changing boundaries, especially in the years preceding local government elections. The trend of unit fragmentation observed in the 1990s has disappeared. The initiators of the changes of administrative boundaries are still predominantly local elites and rarely the inhabitants of communes.

The article is devoted to the reform of local self-government and territorial organisation of power in Ukraine, which took place in 2014-2020, combining three important tasks: improving the system of public authority, strengthening local self-government, and streamlining the administrative-territorial system in the state. The analysis conducted in the study concerns: the main problems to be addressed by the relevant reform; the chronology of the adoption of key regulations and their role in this process; the results of the amalgamation of territorial communities; and the communities' ability to ensure the sustainable development of territories. As a result, the article highlights the stages of the implementation of the reform of local self-government and territorial organisation of power in Ukraine, as well as outlines several unresolved issues in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the history of decentralisation reforms in Ukraine beginning with the last decade of the 20th century until the end of the year 2021, with a special focus on the territorial-administrative reform implemented in 2015-2020. The level of local autonomy in Ukraine is compared to the local autonomy index in other European countries, which was created on the basis of the same methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies 38 splits that occurred between 1995 and 2020 in the Czech Republic. Although the initial splits, that took place during the time of democratic transition, were driven by perceived local identity and the historical memory of being a former independent municipality, the splits after 1995 were predominantly driven by economic factors, be it objective underinvestment and a perceived grievance that the mother municipality was not taking care of its fringe parts. In all cases, the mother municipality had failed to communicate with the initiator of a referendum. However, if the central municipality invested in its parts and its political leaders communicated with its citizens, the municipality did not lose its part despites the attempts of secessionist leaders.

After a new and ambitious reform, referred to as the 'Territorial Big Bang', France was confronted, from the end of 2018, with the revolt of the yellow vests, often originating from the country's most peripheral or troubled territories. These oppositions and contestations from the territories may seem all the more astonishing since the ambitious territorial reform initiated in 2015 and which took shape with the NOTRE and MAPTAM laws aimed precisely at repositioning the role of the territories at each scale. How and why have we arrived at the current result, which seems to revive the historical territorial divide between Paris and the provinces, transforming it into an opposition between the major cities and the rest of France? In this article, we show how the territorial reform of 2015 was a failure and we take stock of the fact that far from affirming a new stage of decentralization, it has consisted above all in favouring large structures and the search for economies of scale, and has left behind territories that don't matter anymore for the public policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to assess the impact of the territorial division on the finances and activity of Polish local government units (LGUs). The basis for such an assessment was both an analysis of changes in the administrative division and an analysis of statistical data. The authors have drawn some conclusions concerning changes in the administrative system. The most important recommendation is to decrease the number of local government units, which would lead to reducing disparities in their financial capacity. Although the paper focuses mainly on the basic LGU (municipality), it also mentions the problem of powiats and voivodeships in the current shape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the side effects of municipal territorial reforms is the common-pool problem. The problem arises when the costs of an activity that benefits a small entity are borne by a larger entity. A review of existing empirical studies suggests that although the common-pool problem has been identified in all investigated cases, it has not as yet been sufficiently analysed and understood. This article focuses on two voluntary mergers in Poland. The authors test the impact of the merger decision on the pre-merger level of capital spending and debt. The analysis is based on a quasi-experimental design using Synthetic Control method. The paper identifies factors explaining why the behaviour of the analysed merging municipalities differs from the results of earlier studies. The most important finding is that the mechanism preventing common resources hoarding is effective when local rules are applied to the merger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The obligations assumed by the Ukrainian state by ratifying the association agreement between Ukraine and the European Union have become a reference point for transformations taking place in various spheres of public life, including local self-government. The article analyzes Ukraine's compliance with EU requirements regarding local selfgovernment organisation, achievements in this field, and determining the prospects for reform. The analysis is grouped into four blocks: implementation of administrative and territorial reform; budget decentralisation; optimization of the organization of local public authorities (executive bodies formation of regional (oblast) and district (rayon) councils, the establishment of prefectures); land reform (transfer of land management to communities). The powers of local self-government bodies and state bodies were transformed in implementing municipal, territorial, fiscal and land reforms. However, further reforms are impossible without amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine (regarding the decentralisation of power), the adoption of new legislative acts (on the principles of the administrative-territorial structure of Ukraine, on prefectures), as well as amendments to some existing ones (on local self-government, etc.). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the study is to determine the leading trends in changing administrative boundaries in Poland. Based on 194 Regulations of the Council of Ministers concerning the changes of boundaries and granting city status, which covered a total of 1,383.8 sq. km, multidimensional analyses for the years 2010-2020 were conducted, and their results were referred to territorial reforms in Europe and Poland. The analyses provided the basis for selecting the leading trends, including: (1) the 'new wave' of the restitution of city status (from 2018 in the new fast-track mode), resulting in quantitative changes within 3rd-tier units, (2) a significant increase in the area of cities and city counties primarily caused by annexations in suburban zones and establishing new cities, and (3) the politicisation of the process of changing boundaries, especially in the years preceding local government elections. The trend of unit fragmentation observed in the 1990s has disappeared. The initiators of the changes of administrative boundaries are still predominantly local elites and rarely the inhabitants of communes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both on a small and on a large scale, the political geography has changed significantly in France particularly since the 2010's. Many authors show this reshaping of territories (Bideau, 2019; Grison, 2016). In this paper, it is understood as a political process aimed at modifying spatial organization (Vanier, 2002). An age-long concern, it results from the existence of communal fragmentation, which is tried to be reduced. Thus, the "failure" of the 1971 Loi Marcellin and the failure to achieve the objectives of rationalisation and simplification of action (considered by the law relating to the Territorial Administration of the Republic in 1992) compelled the legislator to launch into the 2010 RCT law (Territorial Communities Reform). As a result, from this reform to the 2019 Gatel law, the French municipality map has evolved, with the creation of 774 new municipalities (CN) gathering more than 2,500 historic municipalities (CH) at the end of 2018. These gatherings are very heterogeneous and unevenly distributed on a national scale, with an average of 3.4 founding municipalities. A real silent revolution (Pasquier, 2017) in urban and rural areas, the CNs have the particularity of being initiated by local elected officials. This last point raises an issue, and especially the local political reorganization that they involve and the associated stakes. What are the reasons that push the elected representatives to create the CN, and what discourses do they mobilize? Among the departments concerned by this movement, Maine-et-Loire, in the west of France, is an emblematic example, including the Mauges territory, a community of conurbations organised around 6 CNs as early as 2015, instead of 6 public institutions for inter-municipal cooperation. Answering these questions from this territory led to a major survey between April 2018 and May 2019. The mayors of the 6 CNs and 63 deputy mayors were systematically offered semi-directive face-to-face or telephone interviews which were all transcribed. While the issues of reshaping were at the heart of the interview, which lasted an average of one hour, other problems were also discussed relating to territorial specificities, the future of the delegated municipalities and local governance. In addition, 800 questionnaires were carried out with municipal councillors, residents and local authority staff in order to identify the reality of CNs and the way in which the actors project themselves in such entities. The various answers highlight a certain degree of satisfaction despite the brutality of the change. CNs manage to meet current needs in terms of territorial dynamics. They can nevertheless be a source of tension, going as far calling into question the identity of the municipalities, or even having delegated mayors resign. However, generally speaking, a consensus is emerging. The CN is not challenged because it is deemed necessary. The appeasement will come from power sharing and decision making by those who hold the power, in this Mauges territory where working together and gathering together are asserted values. Ultimately, in spite of important advances, the communal work site remains open, with change opportunities towards territories relevant for action.

This database is related to the voter turnout in five election cycles (2001, 2005, 2009, 2013 and 2017). The data was used in the original in the article “The effects of amalgamations on voter turnout: Evidence from sub-municipal governments in Portugal” (DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2020.102685). The evolution of turnout in Portuguese sub-municipal units (SMUs) has followed the trend of western democracies and recorded a continuous drop. The 2013 territorial reform of SMUs contributed to the increment of the gap of electors that choose not to cast a vote in the elections. Data provides further details on how the territorial reform had an impact on the level of electoral participation. It also adds data on SMUs turnout divided by type and whether or not SMUs were merged.

Copyright of Studia Histórica: Historia Moderna is the property of Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The European Union (EU) has had a considerable impact on territorial governance in Ireland, including both significant financial and regulatory effects and some examples of domestic institution-building. This article addresses some of the effects of these 'top-down' pressures, but also 'bottom-up' processes that have manifested themselves over time through the mobilization of actors at both regional and local levels. In part differing effects can be explained by the range of Europeanization mechanisms used in distinct areas, from 'hard law' regulatory instruments to weaker framing mechanisms. The experience of Irish territorial governance suggests that Europeanization pressures to adapt (both top-down and bottom-up) are filtered through domestic traditions and norms. In the Irish case, the European opportunity structure can be said to have had both decentralizing and centralizing effects in terms of local government. It has also had very mild regionalization effects, but these are now entwined with domestic pressures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The period that begins with the reflections and debates around the new constitution in Tunisia is also the one of territorial reform. Questions about it and, more generally, about the recasting of local authorities and equalization rules has emerged as a major political and social issue. This article shows that what is played out in this country cannot free itself on the one hand from the territorial grids that have existed for several decades, on the other hand from the urban fact that takes more and more importance in the structuring of activities and wealth. This article finally stresses the need to take account of the representations and perceptions of the populations to carry out such a reform.

The purpose of the research presented in the article is to assess the effects of the 2015 amalgamation of the Zielona Góra city with the rural commune of the same name on the quality of local democracy. The second goal is to examine the phenomenon of free riding on the common pool in the context of the local-level territorial reform. The analysis, based on a quasi-experimental scheme using the synthetic control method, unlike previous studies, did not confirm the free riding hypothesis. The results of the study also indicate that the strategy implemented in Zielona Góra can be useful in achieving an intermediate political goal, which is to ensure the residents' approval of the reform and legitimization of its results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revue d'Économie Régionale & urbaine is the property of Librairie Armand Colin and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Debates on the impact of size of subnational jurisdiction on the costs of public-service delivery have a very long tradition, but results are still far from conclusive. This article applies a quasi-experimental scheme of the synthetic control method for Polish municipal fragmentation to analyze the impact of territorial reform on administrative spending as well as on the operating surplus of the budget. Earlier studies using similar methods focused on amalgamation reforms, so the study of territorial fragmentation is an important new contribution to knowledge on scale effects. The analysis clearly confirms the existence of economy of scale in administrative services. The result for the operating surplus is less clear and more ambiguous. Results of the study are to a large extent a mirror of earlier analysis of territorial amalgamation consequences, which confirms the importance of scale for administrative costs, but not necessarily for costs of other local services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Territorial reform is the most radical and contested reorganisation of local government. A sound evaluation of the outcome of such reforms is hence an important step to ensure the legitimation of any decision on the subject. However, in our view the discourse on the subject appears to be one sided, focusing primarily on overall fiscal effects scrutinised by economists. The contribution of this paper is hence threefold: Firstly, we provide an overview off territorial reforms in Europe, with a special focus on Eastern Germany as a promising case for cross-country comparisons. Secondly, we provide an overview of the analytical classifications of these reforms and context factors to be considered in their evaluation. And thirdly, we analyse the literature on qualitative performance effects of these reforms. The results show that territorial reforms have a significant positive impact on functional performance, while the effects on participation and integration are indeed ambivalent. In doing so, we provide substantial arguments for a broader, more inclusive discussion on the success of territorial reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revue d'Économie Régionale & urbaine is the property of Librairie Armand Colin and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The county as the main source of local identity has a key influence on public life in the Republic of Ireland, and amongst other things is reflected in Dáil constituencies, vote transfer patterns, and as the basis for local government. Previous proposals around territorial reform and recent experience with attempted reconfigurations of the county structure (and in particular reviews of county boundaries) suggest that the county is one of those aspects of Irish political life that is highly resistant to change. Contemporary and future debates over public service reform and consolidation, as well as over urbanisation, metropolitan governance and the economic importance of ‘city regions’ will perhaps frame the next phase of debate over the future of the county. However, based on past and more recent proposals for local government reform and boundary change, any future proposals for territorial restructuring are likely to be mediated by a requirement to respect traditional county loyalties. Planning reforms and efforts to place a greater focus on urban-led growth may be challenged by the status of the county as a central and enduring source of identity for most Irish citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The location of public services and the daily organization of administration in the country is related to questions of efficiency and economies of scales. Germany, with a relatively good economic situation in comparison with its neighbours, knows also discussions about the structure of its public sector, with as a consequence, a concentration of it in some cities. These evolutions will be discussed with two examples. First of all, the senior public sector at a national level is traditionally located with polycentric patterns in Germany, until the country’s unification and the transfer of its government from Bonn to Berlin. Nevertheless, recent adaptations suggest a reinforcement of Berlin as central place in administrative functions. Secondly, in the German federal states, fusion projects show that similar evolutions may occur with a reduced number of regional capitals.

The principle of decentralization is a fundamental principle for the establishment and operation of local government. It refers to the process of redistributing the authority and responsibility for certain functions from central government to local government units. In many countries, particularly in developing countries, fiscal decentralization and local governance issues are addressed as highly important to the economic development. According to Stigler (1957), fiscal decentralization brings government closer to the people and a representative government works best when it is closer to the people. Albania is still undergoing the process of decentralization in all aspects: political, economic, fiscal and administrative. Decentralization process is essential to sustainable economic growth and efficient allocation of resources to meet the needs of citizens. Albania has a fragmented system of local government with a very large number of local government units that have neither sufficient fiscal or human capacity to provide public services at a reasonable level (World Bank). However, recent administrative and territorial reform is expected to have a significant impact in many issues related to local autonomy and revenue management. This paper is focused on the progress of fiscal decentralization process in Albania, stating key issues and ongoing challenges for an improved system. The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of recent territorial reform, identifying problems and opportunities to be addressed in the future.

This article aims to show how the 2014 reform of the French regional map is part of a process neoliberalising the territories of public action. Contrary to a commonly accepted approximation, ‘neoliberalism’ is not understood here as the apology of laissez faire but rather as a rationality aimed at bringing the framework of public action in line with the norms of economic competition, as per the original meaning of the term. While the idea of increasing the size and decreasing the number of French regions dates back several decades, its implementation was facilitated by the crisis in public finances that began in 2009. By enacting this reform, the socialist government in power turned its back on several of the objectives ascribed to decentralisation by the reformist left wing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voluntary mergers of local jurisdictions in Europe gained in importance in the last two decades. A debated but rarely analyzed issue in this field is the impact of different local characteristics on the probability to merge. The article contributes to this debate by assessing the importance of local determinants in two stages of a merger process. The quantitative study of a large-scale territorial reform in the Swiss canton of Fribourg shows that factors linked to the functional dimension of local government, such as economic hardship, explain the start of a merger process but not the decision taken at the ballots. Here, factors associated with the political dimension of local government, such as political power considerations, offer a better explanation. These findings might be explained by the variation of different political actors’ strength along the two stages of a merger process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, municipal territorial amalgamation has occurred in 15 European countries. The same period has seen spectacular progress in research on the relationship between municipal size and the functioning of local governments, as well as the impacts of territorial reforms on economic performance and local democracy. Quasi-experimental designs treating territorial reforms as specific “research laboratories” have constituted an important part of that trend. However, there are still important gaps in the knowledge and the study results are often inconclusive. These observations call for a research agenda for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]