John Loughlin is author and editor of over twenty books and numerous articles and book chapters on European territorial governance. He is an expert of the Council of Europe's Committee of Independent Experts on Regional and Local Democracy and chaired the Advisory Committee of Experts on Effective Decentralization of UN-Habitat. He has acted as advisor on territorial governance to the European Union, the UK government and other agencies. In 2009 he was invited by the French Senate to contribute to its reflections on reform of French subnational government. He is Professor of European Politics at Cardiff University. He also holds Visiting positions at Oxford, Cambridge, Umeå University, and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques Aix-en-Provence as well as numerous other appointments.

Frank Hendriks deals with cross-border comparison of policies and governance systems, including the comparative analysis of democratic and decisionmaking models at the national and the subnational level. He has conducted extensive research, partly commissioned by public bodies, on governance and democracy at the local, regional, national, and European level. He is member of various (international) research networks and editorial boards. He has published in international journals such as Public Administration; Democratization; International Journal of Public Administration; Innovation; Local Government Studies; Administrative Theory and Praxis; GeoJournal; Dutch Crossing; Verwaltungsarchiv; Journal of Crises and Contingencies, International Review of Administrative Sciences. He is Professor of Comparative Governance at Tilburg University, the Netherlands.

Anders Lidström's research focuses on local politics and government, comparative politics, and education policy. This includes studies of local democracy and self-government, both within Sweden and in a comparative perspective. Current research includes comparative studies of local government systems, and studies of democracy and political participation in city-regions. He has also carried out research on education policy, with a particular focus on how this is shaped at the local level. He is Professor of Politics, University of Umeå, Sweden.

• Introduction


• Part I The British Isles


• 1: Peter John and Colin Copus: The United Kingdom: Is There Really an Anglo Model?


• 2: John Loughlin: Ireland: Halting Steps Towards Local Democracy


• Part II The Rhinelandic States


• 3: Ellen Wayenberg, Filip De Rynck, Kristof Steyvers, Jean-Benoît Pilet: Belgium: a Tale of Regional Divergence?


• 4: Frank Hendriks and Linze Schaap: The Netherlands: Subnational Democracy and the Reinvention of Tradition


• 5: Patrick Dumont, Philippe Poirier, and Raphael Kies: Luxembourg: The Challenge of Inclusive Democracy in a 'Local State'


• 6: Arthur Benz and Christina Zimmer: Germany: Varieties of Democracy in a Federal System


• 7: Franz Fallend: Austria: From Consensus to Competition and Participation?


• 8: Andreas Ladner: Switzerland: Subsidiarity, Power-sharing, and Direct Democracy


• Part III The Nordic States


• 9: Jens Blom-Hansen and Anne Heeager: Denmark: Between Local Democracy and Implementing Agency of the Welfare State


• 10: Stefan Sjöblom: Finland: The Limits of the Unitary Decentralized Model


• 11: Anders Lidström: Sweden: Party Dominated Sub-national Democracy under Challenge?


• 12: Harald Baldersheim and Lawrence E. Rose: Norway: The Decline of Subnational Democracy?


• Part IV The Southern European States


• 13: Alistair Cole: France: Between Centralization and Fragmentation


• 14: Simona Piattoni and Marco Brunazzo: Italy: The Subnational Dimension to Strengthening Democracy since the 1990s


• 15: César Colino and Eloísa del Pino: Spain: The Consolidation of Strong Regional Governments and the Limits of Local Decentralization


• 16: José M. Magone: Portugal: Local Democracy in a Small Centralized Republic


• 17: Nikos Hlepas and Panos Getimis: Greece: A Case of Fragmented Centralism and 'Behind the Scenes' Localism


• 18: Henry Frendo: Malta: Local Government: A Slowly Maturing Process


• 19: Andrekos Varnava and Christalla Yakinthou: Cyprus: Political Modernity and the Structures of Democracy in a Divided Island


• Part V The New Democracies


• The Visegrád States


• 20: Pawel Swianiewicz: Poland: Europeanization of Sub-National Governments


• 21: Michal Illner: The Czech Republic: Local Government in the Years After the Reform


• 22: Gábor Soós and László Kákai: Hungary: Remarkable Successes and Costly Failures: An Evaluation of Subnational Democracy


• 23: Sona Capková: Slovakia: Local Government: Establishing Democracy at the Grassroots


• The Baltic States


• 24: Georg Sootla and Kersten Kattai: Estonia: Challenges and Lessons of the Development of Local Autonomy


• 25: Inga Vilka: Latvia: Experiments and Reforms in Decentralization


• 26: Jolanta Vaiciuniene and Saulius Nefas: Lithuania: Brave Enough to Implement Daring Democratic Reforms?


• The Balkan States


• 27: Stanka Setnikar-Canka: Slovenia in Transition: Decentralization as a Goal


• 28: Pavlina Nikolova: Bulgaria: The Dawn of a New Era of Inclusive Subnational Democracy?


• 29: Ana Maria Dobre: Romania: From Historical Regions to Local Decentralization via the Unitary State


• Part VI Conclusions


• 30: Frank Hendriks, John Loughlin, and Anders Lidström: European Subnational Democracy: Comparative Reflections and Conclusions


• Appendix 1 Structure of Sub-National Governments in Europe (2007)


• Appendix 2 Sub-national Finances in Europe


• Appendix 3 Trust, Importance of Local/Regional Government, and Levels of Corruption in Europe


• Index