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What Is Local Autonomy?

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Patterns of Local Autonomy in Europe

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

Abstract

The balance between local autonomy and central control is a perennial issue in the territorial organisation of states. Despite the importance of local autonomy, there is little theoretical convergence regarding the core elements of the concept, and a limited number of studies try to measure local autonomy comparatively. This volume aims at filling this gap. On the grounds of a theoretically rooted concept, we measure the autonomy of local government in 39 European countries over a time period of 25 years. After presenting the main research intentions of this volume and the key issues regarding local autonomy, this chapter discusses the underlying normative values and the origins of the concept. What are the different theoretical perspectives and various aspects apprehended by the various disciplinary approaches? We conclude that local autonomy definitely is a multidimensional concept.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The study was initiated by the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy of the European Commission (Tender No 2014.CE.16.BAT.031: “Self-rule Index for Local Authorities”).

  2. 2.

    The second part of this question appears particularly interesting in the age of globalisation and Europeanisation or with respect to the financial and economic crisis.

  3. 3.

    Important to note: Decentralisation and local autonomy are not synonyms (Fleurke and Willemse 2004). There can be a strong decentralisation without local autonomy. Only in the case of political or real decentralisation the municipalities enjoy a high degree of autonomy. This is not the case when it comes to administrative decentralisation or to deconcentration (see Kuhlmann and Bogumil 2010; Wollmann 2004).

  4. 4.

    Within the World Bank operational experience, over one-quarter of development policy operations approved in fiscal years 1995–2005 listed at least one condition with a decentralisation theme (Kaiser 2006).

  5. 5.

    It appears from the monitoring reports that out of the different parts of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, the art. 9 on financial resources of local authorities is the one facing most problems, the first two paragraphs being the least complied with. This is not only due to the recent financial crisis affecting many European countries but also to the clear principles and criteria these two paragraphs entail. The second most violated part of the European Charter of Local Self-Government is the art. 4, which enshrined the scope of local self-government, and especially the paragraph 6 about timely and appropriate consultation of local authorities when planning and decision-making processes directly concerning them. Finally, elements not implemented are also often related to the art. 3 par. 2 (democratic principle), the art. 8 par. 1 (adequate legislative basis for supervision), and the art. 11 (legal protection) (Council of Europe 2016).

  6. 6.

    In the United Kingdom, the ultra vires rule has been replaced by the Localism Act in 2011.

  7. 7.

    Local autonomy is therefore to be understood in the sense of local governmentautonomy (freedom from higher levels of government). But we will use the former expression as it has traditionally been used in the fields of local government and urban studies, even to refer only to the governmental relations system. It should be noted that the approach considering local autonomy as the reflection of the local identity is not followed in this study because it would have required the realisation of surveys to capture the autonomy perceived subjectively.

  8. 8.

    The idea of “local self-government” as employed by the European Charter means “local autonomy” since the French version of the treaty is called “Charte européenne de l’autonomie locale”. For the text and the chart of signatures and ratifications of the Treaty, see http://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/treaty/122 (consulted in 2018).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IDHEAP, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Andreas Ladner & Nicolas Keuffer

  2. Department of Political Science, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Harald Baldersheim

  3. National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Nikos Hlepas

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

    Pawel Swianiewicz

  5. Department of Political Science, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Kristof Steyvers

  6. Department of Political Science, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Carmen Navarro

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  1. Andreas Ladner
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  3. Harald Baldersheim
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Appendix

Appendix

Table 1.1 State of countries’ ratification of the European Charter of Local Self-Government
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Ladner, A. et al. (2019). What Is Local Autonomy?. In: Patterns of Local Autonomy in Europe. Governance and Public Management. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95642-8_1

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