“Use Time as a Tool, Not as a Crutch”: A Comparative Historical Analysis of Municipal Amalgamations in Europe

This article employs a Comparative Historical Analysis approach to 1) identify historical patterns of amalgamation reforms in Europe and to 2) provide a macro-causal explanation to make sense of continuities and discontinuities in these reforms. I unpack four key elements of time required to investigate municipal amalgamations in a comparative manner: a) the historical time of adoption (enactment); b) the sequence of reforms across countries; c) the tempo of the reforms (radical vs. gradual); and d) the duration of the reform (fast vs. slow). In the search for a macro-causal explanation for amalgamation reforms, the paper highlights the different historical time of amalgamation reforms, with some taking place almost two centuries ago (Portugal, 1835), others early after WWII (e.g. Sweden, 1948-52), others much later (e.g., Greece, 1999; Georgia 2002-2006), more than once (e.g., Denmark, 1960s and 2004-05), or never (Spain). Next, I employ the elements of physical time – sequencing, tempo and duration – to uncover the complex causal processes and patterns that generated these territorial reforms.