Territorial reforms of local governments (Part I)

Abstract

Territorial reform of local governments is a theme of continued salience on policy agendas on central and sub-national levels of government across Europe and beyond. In some countries, government-initiated reforms have reshuffled entire local government systems virtually overnight. In other countries, failed or semi-failed reform implementation has yielded a patchwork of localized changes. In some countries there is increasing incidence of amalgamations, even in the absence of government-initiated reform. Varying patterns of territorial reform have attracted growing scholarly attention, giving rise to an expanding body of studies of reforms in single countries as well as comparative studies. In this panel we welcome paper proposals that cover the broad range of approaches to the study of territorial reform of local governments, including but not delimited to: - Reform strategies, reform implementation and the effects of reforms on democracy, efficiency and other relevant measures - Single country studies and comparative analysis - Territorial reforms on all levels of sub-national government, including local governments, sub-local/parish councils, and regional/county governments - Qualitative/case-based as well as quantitative analysis and meta-studies Due to great interest we propose two panels with the same title and abstract.

Title	Details
Survey experiments and the shadow of professional respondents’ real-life experience: A split-ballot experiment on local politicians following local government amalgamation	View Paper Details
Taking Time Seriously in the Study of Municipal Amalgamations: A Comparative Research Agenda for European Countries	View Paper Details
Democratic recovery after municipal reforms: The negative effects of municipal mergers do not last	View Paper Details
The introduction of sub-municipal units in Iceland: the first evidence	View Paper Details