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Deeply Rooted but Still Striving for a Role: The Portuguese Freguesias Under Reform

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Sub-Municipal Governance in Europe

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

Abstract

This chapter aims to contribute to the debate about sub-municipal units (SMUs) in Europe by presenting and discussing the characteristics of Portuguese freguesias. These parishes stand out as a special case in the European landscape, since all municipalities have SMUs that have evolved to become full-fledged, lower-tier local government units. We argue that these SMUs are—de facto—a division of the municipal territory into small units of governance and of democratic representation, significantly under the discretionary authority of the municipality’s government. The chapter describes their historical evolution, legal framework, and organization, as well as competencies, services, and finances. A special attention is given to the recent territorial reform that reduced their number significantly. The analysis is—finally—focused on the future of SMUs in Portugal.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The six municipalities with one parish are Alpiarça, Barrancos, Castanheira de Pêra, Porto Santo, São Braz de Alportel, and São João da Madeira. The Corvo Island, in the Azores archipelago, has no parishes and benefits from a special status under Portuguese law due to its extremely small size.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center in Political Science/School of Economics and Management, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

    Antonio F. Tavares

  2. Department of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    Filipe Teles

Authors
  1. Antonio F. Tavares
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  2. Filipe Teles
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Political Science and Public Administration, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Nikolaos-Komninos Hlepas

  2. Department of Political Science, University of Münster, Münster, Germany

    Norbert Kersting

  3. Political Science, Public Administration and Organization, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

    Sabine Kuhlmann

  4. Department of Local Development and Policy, Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland

    Pawel Swianiewicz

  5. Department of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    Filipe Teles

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Tavares, A.F., Teles, F. (2018). Deeply Rooted but Still Striving for a Role: The Portuguese Freguesias Under Reform. In: Hlepas, NK., Kersting, N., Kuhlmann, S., Swianiewicz, P., Teles, F. (eds) Sub-Municipal Governance in Europe. Governance and Public Management. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64725-8_9

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