Does Regionalism Detract from Local Democracy? The Impact of Government Scale on Participation

Abstract

As described in Chap. 1, there are three objectives or dimensions that a regional governing system should accomplish. These are to provide services in a cost-efficient manner, enhance or at least not detract from the quality of life of all residents, and provide a political framework whereby policy issues can be effectively addressed. Chapter 8 dealt with the first two governing dimensions. This chapter is an analysis of the effect of regional governing systems on the political dimension. To assess the impact of centralized governing systems on the political element, I use citizen participation as a proxy as indicated in Table 1.1 and discussed in Chap. 1. I analyze the effect of fragmented governing systems on citizen participation. I also consider the effect of government scale on preserving a sense of community, which is an important element in fostering citizen participation.