Comparative local government research: Theoretical concepts and empirical findings from a European perspective

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview on analytical key-concepts and outcomes of comparative local government research. It focuses on local government systems in Europe and their reforms from a cross-countries and overtime perspective. This chapter presents various frameworks that have been put forward in order to capture the multi-faced institutional developments at the local level of government and thus highlights the progress that has been made so far in comparative local government research, conceptually, analytically, as well as empirically. Two examples of local government reforms are analyzed, one from a longitudinal perspective, the other based on a crosscountries approach. This chapter concludes with some reflections on a possible future research agenda for the comparative study of local government.