The Rise and Fall of the Union: A Case in Poland

Abstract

This is a case story of the inter-municipal organization in southern Poland which was one of the largest and most successful inter-municipal cooperation (IMC) institutions in the late 1990s and first years of twenty-first century. However, last decade brought internal conflicts among involved municipalities and eventually formal failure of the IMC institution which has been dissolved. The chapter discusses lessons from the failure story, underlying reasons for the failure. But it also asks the question if it is really right to consider it as a “failure story” or if it is rather the case of turbulent liquidation of the institution after completion of its mission.