Comparative analysis and conclusions

Abstract

Local government in Europe has been facing serious challenges for many decades. Smaller communities are finding it increasingly difficult to meet the demands and standards of local government in relation to the production of public services that require a large or increasing scale of production. Furthermore, all local communities are confronted with the impact of the increasing scale and complexity of social processes, which result in an increasing level of externalities on local policies. And last, European integration and market pressures carry new opportunities - and threats - for local government. One of the strategies to cope with these issues is inter-municipal cooperation. Joint provision of public services is a way to overcome production-related obstacles and simultaneously meet the rising expectations of citizens. Economies of scale (resulting from a higher production) and economies of scope (a consequence of a more varied production) can be realised. Joint planning and joint policy coordination make it possible to incorporate mutual interdependencies among neighbouring municipalities and thus enhance the quality and efficacy of local policies. It is a way to increase the capacity for solving policy problems that escape the boundaries of a single municipality (Herweijer 1998: 150, Hulst 2000: 2-4, Airaksinen &Haveri 2003: 9, Hepburn, LeSage, &McMillan 2004: 14-16). The fact that inter-municipal cooperation is a widespread phenomenon throughout Europe notwithstanding, it has not been subject to systematic comparative research. There is no overview of the variation in density of intermunicipal cooperation in different countries or policy sectors, or of the institutional arrangements in use. Research into the way cooperative arrangements operate and perform and in the factors that determine presence and performance is relatively rare and fragmented and has not been subject to comparative analysis. The main purpose of this volume is to provide systematic insight into the practice of inter-municipal cooperation in a series of European countries. Students of public administration from eight countries in northern, southern and western Europe have presented data on the diverse manifestations of inter-municipal cooperation in their country. This chapter summarizes and compares the findings concerning the different countries in order to draw some general conclusions. The comparative analysis makes use of the conceptual framework presented in chapter I, which provides dimensions for the description of inter-municipal cooperation and offers factors to understand its presence and performance. Our concept of inter-municipal cooperation contains two basic elements. First, it refers to interactions between local governments and possible other public and/or private actors, which enjoy some degree of institutionalisation, i.e., cooperation that shows more or less stable patterns over time and occurs around certain standing issues, tasks or policies. Second, we reserve the concept of inter-municipal cooperation for entities and arrangements that formally depend on local government (or other participating public authorities) for their establishment and governance, thus excluding institutions that have been set up by local government, but enjoy a statutory independence (e.g., public and private companies, foundations). The comparative analysis starts with a description of the differences and similarities of inter-municipal cooperation in the eight countries vis-à-vis the dimensions presented in the introductory chapter. © 2007 Springer.