United States was settled by Spain and France, both countries with much more centralized as well as elite government (Elazar, 1966, pp. 186–188). In fact, and more in general, colonizing countries organized subnational government after the fashion of their own country (see later).
Second, there is sometimes a regional level of government that some scholars regard as a third tier (see, for instance, Hooghe and Marks, 2009, p. 229 with regard to Luxembourg) but cannot really be counted as a third tier. Thus, in Finland there are 90 jurisdictional districts and another 20 regional councils, but both these operate as regional“arms”of the national state and are thus an example of deconcentration. The same is the case in Luxembourg where each of the 116 municipalities belongs to one of 12 cantons, and to one of three districts.
In Table 3.3 the Netherlands is a country with uniform local and provincial governments. The regional level is not an administrative exten- sion of national government. It has its own responsibilities and policies.
Austria is a country with four types of local government but is uniform in territorial structure at the regional level.
In Table 3.4 France has a system of uniform government at all levels, but the United Kingdom has four different types of local authorities. France is also one of those countries with a large number of small to very small municipalities. From that we can infer that service delivery and public policy at the departmental and regional levels are far more important than at the local level. Rural municipalities may be large in territorial size but small in population, while urban municipalities may be small or large in terms of territory but certainly large in terms of population. Rural municipalities do not have the tax base to provide a range of services, but do have a sense of tangible community. Urban municipalities can offer a wide range of services, but the sense of community may be much less. In Figure 3.2
TABLE 3.2. EXAMPLES OF TWO-TIERED NESTED SUBNATIONAL GOVERNMENTS
Country Municipal Level
Cyprus 524 local governments: 33 municipalities, 491 rural communities
Estonia 227 municipalities
Finland 342 municipalities (108 cities, 234 rural municipalities) Luxembourg 118 municipalities
Slovenia 210 municipalities of which 11 are urban municipalities From Halásková and Halásková, 2009, p. 65.
Nota bene:Data for Cyprus include the northern part as well.
FIGURE 3.2. SIMPLIFIED DIAGRAMS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS
M
Simplified Geographical Diagram of some Intermediate Units a. The Netherlands
b. United Kingdom
An example of a uniform municipal system
An example of a diversified system with quasi-intermediate units (county borough) and sub-municipal units (parishes)
An example of a secondary unit that is not subdivided in rural areas
I Symbols: Boundaries:
U = urban municipality R = rural municipality M = uniform municipality
secondary unit basic unit sub-municipal unit QIM = quasi-intermediate municipality
c. United States — Some Western States
M M M M
M M M M M
M M M M M
M
U U
U U
QIM
U U
U R
R
R R R
U
M M M M
U
From Humes and Martin, 1969, pp. 68–69.
FIGURE 3.2. (CONTINUED)
d. Finland
An example of a diversified municipal system e. Germany
An example of a uniform municipal system with quasi-intermediate units
M M M M M
M M M
M QIM M M M
M M
M M M M
U U R R R
U R R R U
R R R R R
R R R R R
TABLE 3.3. EXAMPLES OF THREE-TIERED NESTED SUBNATIONAL GOVERNMENTS
Country Municipal Level Regional Level
Austria 2,357 municipalities (15 statutory cities, 197 towns, 755 markets, 1,390 villages)
9 federated states
Denmark 98 municipalities 5 regions
Ireland 114 local councils (29 counties, 5 cities, 75 towns, 5 boroughs)
8 regional authorities
Netherlands 443 municipalities 12 provinces
Sweden 290 municipalities 20 (18 counties,
2 regions) From Halásková and Halásková, 2009, pp. 65–66.
some examples are provided of local government structures in a few, mainly, European countries.
This system of multitiered government can be found all over the world.
In Latin American countries the number of municipalities has grown in the past 20 years as a function of urbanization and of rural fragmentation (Nickson, 2011, p. 17). In many countries there are still urban and rural municipalities (Nickson, 2011, p. 8). Having been colonized by the Portu- guese and the Spaniards, local government was embedded in a highly centralized system until recently; in the past 20 years many countries have adopted decentralization policies (Nickson, 2011, p. 4). The territorial structure of the Francophone countries in Africa is usually quite central- ized, and with more emphasis on deconcentration (which involves transfer of tasks only) than on decentralization (which involves transfer of tasks and of decision-making authority). In Anglophone countries there is more variation in decentralization with strong federalist systems as well as with highly centralized unitary states (United States Agency for International Development, USAID, 2010, p. 49). Just as elsewhere wefind federal and unitary systems of government in Asia and the Pacific. Most countries have
TABLE 3.4. EXAMPLES OF FOUR-TIERED NESTED SUBNATIONAL GOVERNMENTS
Country Municipal Level Second Level State or
Regional Level France 36,683 municipalities 100 departments 26 regions Germany 12,196 municipalities, 116
districts and free cities
323 rural districts 16 federated states
Italy 8,101 municipalities 103 provinces 20 regions
Spain 8,111 municipalities 50 provinces 17 autonomous
communities United
Kingdom
434 local governments (127 unitary authorities, 36 metropolitan authorities, 238 district councils, 33 London boroughs)
34 county councils and the Greater London Authority
3 devolved nations (Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) From Halásková and Halásková, 2009, p. 66.
Nota bene:The count for France includes the overseas departments and regions.
three-tiered systems. Some countries have several types of regional and local government. Thus, at the regional level China has 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, two special administration regions, and four munic- ipalities that fall directly under the authority of national government. At the local level there are county-level cities, cities, townships, autonomous pre- fectures, and autonomous counties. Many Asian and Pacific countries distinguish rural (towns) from urban (cities) municipalities (United Nations Economic and Social Committee for Asia and the Pacific, UNESCAP, no year; see Table 3.5).
Previously we described processes of amalgamation in Europe, but amalgamations have occurred elsewhere as well. For instance, in Australia a variety of local communities were consolidated in the past 20 years without much community consultation. As a consequence, some are now consider- ing the possibility of de-amalgamation (Dollery and others, 2011). Amal- gamations are often accompanied by decentralization, and are generally successful when local government jurisdictions are reflective of some degree of community: social, cultural, ethnic, and so forth. They have been far less successful in Africa where formal local jurisdictions were superimposed above, and still coexist with, traditional tribal authorities. The official juris- dictions are often too large, do not correspond with local communities of varying size, and suffer from lacking ties between the elected political leadership and the population (Wunsch, 2008, pp. 33–34).