Skip to main content
  • Book
  • © 2018

Inter-Municipal Cooperation in Europe

Institutions and Governance

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Offers a comprehensive comparative study of the different aspects of the governance capacity of Inter-municipal Cooperation (IMC)
  • Examines decentralisation, multilevel governance and local government reform issues associated with IMC
  • Fills a lacuna in current scholarship by analysing the rise of IMC in under-researched country contexts

Part of the book series: Governance and Public Management (GPM)

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.

Table of contents (20 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiv
  2. Motives for Revisiting Inter-municipal Cooperation

    • Filipe Teles, Pawel Swianiewicz
    Pages 1-13
  3. Drivers, Democracy and Delivery

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 15-15
    2. Actors in Inter-municipal Cooperation

      • Pawel Swianiewicz
      Pages 43-56
    3. Striving for Local Governance Capacity in Portugal and Spain

      • Patrícia Silva, Esther Pano Puey
      Pages 79-104
    4. Reasons for Inter-municipal Cooperation: A Comparative Analysis of Finland, Iceland and Norway

      • Grétar Thór Eythórsson, Pekka Kettunen, Jan Erling Klausen, Siv Sandberg
      Pages 105-129
  4. Cooperation in Europe

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 131-131
    2. Inter-municipal Cooperation in the Netherlands

      • Pieter-Jan Klok, Marcel Boogers, Bas Denters, Maurits Sanders
      Pages 157-171
    3. Inter-municipal Cooperation in Switzerland

      • Reto Steiner, Claire Kaiser
      Pages 173-187
    4. Inter-local Financial Transfers as a Measure of Cooperation in Poland

      • Julita Łukomska, Katarzyna Szmigiel-Rawska
      Pages 225-243
    5. Layer upon Layer: The Position of Inter-municipal Cooperation in the Spanish Quasi-Federal System—The Case of Catalonia

      • Esther Pano Puey, Lluis Medir Tejado, Carla Puiggròs Mussons, Jaume Magre Ferran
      Pages 259-277
  5. Success and Failure: Case Studies

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 279-279
    2. The Rise and Fall of the Union: A Case in Poland

      • Paweł Swianiewicz, Adam Gendźwiłł
      Pages 281-291

About this book

This book sheds light on the central complexities of municipal cooperation and examines the dynamics, experiences and drivers of inter-municipal cooperation (IMC) in Europe. Particular attention is given to the features of governance arrangements and institutions created to generate and maintain collaborative settings between different local governments in a particular territory.


The thematically grouped case studies presented here address the dearth of comprehensive and comparative analyses in recent scholarship. The authors provide fresh insights into the rise of inter-municipal cooperation and its evolution during a period of financial crisis and European Union enlargement. This includes critical examinations of the impact of austerity policies, the behavior and perceptions of key actors; and under-explored new member states. Crucially, this work goes beyond the comparison of institutional forms of IMC to address why the phenomenon so widespread and questions whether it is successful, manageable and democratic.


This work which presents the most recent and innovative research on inter-local collaborative arrangements will appeal to practitioners as well as scholars of local government, public economy, public administration and policy. 

Reviews

“This book makes a value contribution in helping us to understand a classic governance manoeuvre in the context of constrained resources:  inter-municipal cooperation. It explores using comparative material the dynamics, pitfalls and achievements of trying to get more for less by working with partners. The understanding that is gained provides lessons beyond local government for public administration in general.” (Gerry Stoker, Professor of Governance, University of Southampton, UK )

“By assembling expert analyses on 20 European countries and by focusing on the recent phase of fiscal austerity policies, this excellent edited book on “inter-municipal cooperation in Europe” covers more European countries and is more up-to-date than any other available publication. Thus it is “must” reading for students, academics and practitioners interested in in this crucial issue of local/subnational reorganization and governance.” (Hellmut Wollmann, Professor Emeritus, Humboldt-Universität Berlin,Germany)

Editors and Affiliations

  • Department of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    Filipe Teles

  • Department of Local Development and Policy, Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies, University of Warsaw, Warszawa, Poland

    Pawel Swianiewicz

About the editors

Filipe Teles is Assistant Professor at the University of Aveiro, Portugal, where he teaches courses in the fields of Public Policy and Political Science, and member of the Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policy. He has developed research work on local governance, public administration, territorial reforms and political leadership.


Pawel Swianiewicz is Professor of Economics and head of the Department of Local Development and Policy at the Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies at the University of Warsaw. His research focuses on local politics, local government finance, territorial and decentralization reforms with a special focus on countries of Central and Eastern Europe.






Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access