Territorial Choice

What do policy-makers do when they think municipalities are too small for their tasks, metropolitan areas too institutionally fragmented or regional bodies too weak to take on new duties? These are issues of scale faced by national political authorities in most countries of the world, and they are n [...]
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What do policy-makers do when they think municipalities are too small for their tasks, metropolitan areas too institutionally fragmented or regional bodies too weak to take on new duties? These are issues of scale faced by national political authorities in most countries of the world, and they are not easily resolved. This book presents the experiences of eleven European countries in the field of territorial reforms. Drawing upon case studies that outline basic features of the politics of territorial choice in the respective countries, the focus is on the evolution and consequences of national policies. What are the conflicts encountered, the strategies employed, and the ultimate outcomes of territorial reform initiatives? The studies were carried out with the aim of explaining the variation and development of sub-national organization in these countries. By focusing on the politics of territorial choice the contributors seek to identify and elaborate forces of change that contribute to new patterns of territorial organization that arise in response to such problems in modern European societies.