Bulletin n. 2/2010
October 2010
CONTENTS
  • Section A) The theory and practise of the federal states and multi-level systems of government
  • Section B) Global governance and international organizations
  • Section C) Regional integration processes
  • Section D) Federalism as a political idea
    • Kjaer Ulrik, Hjelmar Ulf, Leth Olsen Asmus
    Municipal Amalgamations and the Democratic Functioning of Local Councils: The Case of The Danish 2007 Structural Reform
    in Local Government Studies , Vol. 36, issue 4 ,  2010 ,  569 - 585
    This article discusses the effects of the structural reform in Denmark in 2007 - where a large number of municipalities were amalgamated - on local councillors' influence on decisions taken in the local political realm. The analysis uses data from two large surveys, a pre-reform survey (2003) and a post-reform survey (2009). The analysis shows that the amalgamations have led to an increase in the perceived influence of leading councillors vis--vis other councillors and a decrease in the perceived influence of the council vis--vis its top administrative officers. Furthermore, it is found that there is an increase in the number of councillors who find that local political decisions are determined by laws and rules from central government, but at the same time it is shown that this increase cannot be ascribed to the amalgamations.
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