Policy Making at the Second Tier of Local Government in Europe - What is happening in Provinces, Counties, Departements and Landkreise in the on-going re-scaling of statehood? (Hardcover)

Debates about multi-level governance have led to a profound restructuring of regional and local government. The second level of local government, the territorial level of self-government based on a multi-purpose jurisdiction, is under review in most European countries, with the aim to strengthen the institutional capacity of municipalities or to develop appropriate institutional structures for governing fragmented urban areas.

This book provides a thematic and cross-national analysis of the perceptions and interactions of key actors in local government, which form crucial components of effective and democratic policy making. Focussing on the second level of local government, it analyses new empirical data on councillors, political executives and leading bureaucrats in 15 European countries and integrates important variables such as party politics, democracy, finance, multi-level settings. Divided into 5 parts, it addresses:

• Attitudes towards administrative and territorial reforms
• Role perceptions and role behaviour
• Political orientation
• Actor constellations and governance arrangements
• Political socialization and recruitment, professionalization and career patterns.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars of local government, urban studies, regional studies, political science, sociology and geography.

This book follows on from "The Second Tier of Local Government in Europe" (Routledge, 2011).