The Secret of Successful Inter-Municipal Cooperation

The exploration of inter-municipal cooperation is very widespread in contemporary literature. A number of studies have been written that analyze inter-municipal cooperation from different perspectives - both from the point of view of factors influencing the formation of inter-municipal cooperation as well as factors impelling the structure and function of inter-municipal cooperation. Studies in Western Europe are more common, unfortunately in Central and Eastern Europe they are barely available. The paper is a contribution to exploring inter-municipal cooperation in Central Europe on the example of voluntary associations of municipalities in the Czech Republic. The main purpose of the paper is to systematize the view of the exploration of the inter-municipal cooperation, including the identification of studies and factors that describe both the creation of inter-municipal cooperation and its functioning. The paper combines data on voluntary associations of municipalities available in several registries, detailed fiscal data and primary data collected directly from the associations through a questionnaire. Authors: Eduard Bakoš, Lucie Sedmihradská, Filip Hrůza