Local Government

While intending to give a comprehensive introduction to local government, the entry will largely focus [Page 1464]on local government systems in Europe in its empirical references. Such focus seems justified and promising for two reasons. For one, it would be feasible, given the limited space, to give an account on local government in a global perspective and coverage. Second, because of the structure and variance which local governments in European countries exhibit they might provide insights into general issues and trends which may well relate and be “extrapolated” to local government developments in other regions of the world. Because a truly comprehensive account of the variations and trends in local governments throughout the world would require far more space than is available here, this entry provides an introduction to local government by focusing on the varieties and differences among local government systems in Europe. Such a review of variations in local governmental structure in European countries can offer insights into general issues and trends, which may then be extrapolated to developments in local government in other regions of the world.

Here, the term local (self-)government, which originated and is used in the English-speaking world, will also be applied to the other countries under consideration. The reader should keep in mind, however, that the variance in country-specific terminology, such as kommunale Selbstver-waltung (local self-administration) in Germany, libre administration (free/autonomous administration) in France, or sälvstyrelse (self-steering) in Sweden, conveys not only linguistic but also the underlying country-specific conceptual and institutional differences.