Reshaping local borders in Europe today. A critical reflection founded on an analysis of the case of Finland

• Authors: Albacete Xavier , Tort Joan

Abstracts

EN

In Europe, the amalgamation of local authorities is currently used to optimize public resources. Although amalgamation involves several advantages, it needs to fulfil three conditions to be considered successful. First, address local preferences and needs; second, be fair, transparent and accessible to citizens; and third, be a compromise between central and local political elites. In the current paper the fulfilling of these three conditions is analysed using the comprehensive, bottom-up, Finnish reform introduced during the period of 2008-2013. The findings conclude that while the Finnish local reform plan has been successful in reaching a compromise between local and central governments, it has failed insofar as it has not fulfilled the condition of making the process fair, transparent and accessible to citizens. Furthermore, whether the amalgamation has allowed local government to address citizens' preferences and needs in a meaningful and responsive way has yet to be demonstrated.

Keywords

EN

Amalgamation; local reform; Finnish local administration; local policy

• Publisher: Wydział Geografii i Studiów Regionalnych Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
• Journal: Miscellanea Geographica. Regional Studies on Development
• Year: 2017
• Volume: 21
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 19-24

Dates

published

2017

Contributors

author

Albacete Xavier

• Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Environmental Informatics Research Group, University of Eastern Finland, Finland

author

Tort Joan

• Department of Geography, University of Barcelona, Spain

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Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/mgrsd-2017-0001

Biblioteka Nauki

2046850