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Comparing and Contrasting Local Government in Federal Systems

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Local Governance in Multi-Layered Systems

Abstract

The chapter provides a renovated analysis of how local government is arranged within federal countries. To this end, it aims to fill the gap in current legal (and political) research, positioning local government in federal dynamics through the lenses of the comparative-law method.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Saunders (2006), p. 374.

  2. 2.

    Callanan and Loughlin (2021), pp. 1–18.

  3. 3.

    E.g., Palermo and Kössler (2017), pp. 281–315.

  4. 4.

    E.g., Kincaid (2005), pp. 438–439; Anderson (2008), p. 17; Watts (2008), p. 132; Loughlin (2013), pp. 13–14; Hueglin and Fenna (2015), pp. 18–19.

  5. 5.

    E.g., Denters and Rose (2005) and Steytler (2009b).

  6. 6.

    Steytler (2009a), p. 3.

  7. 7.

    U.S. Supreme Court, Atkin v. Kansas, 191 U.S. 207 (1903), at 220. See also Watts (2006), p. 330.

  8. 8.

    On such distinction see Watts (2013), p. 25.

  9. 9.

    Steytler (2007), p. 229.

  10. 10.

    Steytler (2009a), p. 3.

  11. 11.

    Bhattacharyya (2021), p. 13.

  12. 12.

    Schuster (1994).

  13. 13.

    Burdick (1986), p. 460.

  14. 14.

    Xanthaki (2015), p. 209. See also Torres Estrada and García Garza (this volume).

  15. 15.

    Malik (2009), p. 1001.

  16. 16.

    Palermo and Kössler (2017), p. 282.

  17. 17.

    Watts (2008), p. 55. See also Taylor (2007).

  18. 18.

    Kincaid (2005), p. 38; Steytler and Ayele (2018).

  19. 19.

    Watts (2013), p. 20.

  20. 20.

    See the following constitutions: Sect. 40 (RSA), Arts. 18 (Brazil), 137 (Spain), 114 (Italy), 115.I (Mexico), and 8 (Nigeria), 56.1 (Nepal), and VII s 1 (FSM).

  21. 21.

    See Art. XV s 6 and Chapter X of their respective constitutions.

  22. 22.

    See e.g., Local Government Act 2000; Localism Act 2011; Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016.

  23. 23.

    See see in this volume Bailey and Christidis (this volume), Sect. 2.

  24. 24.

    See e.g., the following Constitutions: Brazil (Art. 18); Italy (Art. 114.1); Nigeria (Art. 7); Pakistan (Art. 140A(1) as introduced in 2010); Spain (Art. 137); Iraq (Art. 116); Russian Federation (Art. 12).

  25. 25.

    See the Constitutions of Austria (Art. 116(1)) Germany (Art. 28 GG), Switzerland (Art. 50), and Argentina (Art. 5).

  26. 26.

    See Haller (this volume), Kölling (this volume), Hernández (this volume), and Felder (this volume).

  27. 27.

    See Egwim (this volume).

  28. 28.

    de Visser (2009), p. 268.

  29. 29.

    On Cameroon and Iraq see in this volume Nicolini (this volume), Sect. 4; on Bosnia and Herzegovina see Woelk (this volume), Sect. 3.

  30. 30.

    Bluestein (2006), p. 1985.

  31. 31.

    See the Constitution of Argentina (Arts. 5 and 123) and Ethiopia (Art. 50).

  32. 32.

    See e.g., the Constitutions of Austria (Arts. 115–120), Brazil (Arts. 18, 29–31), and South Africa (Sects 40–41, 151–164).

  33. 33.

    Gamper (2009), p. 76.

  34. 34.

    See Dollery et al. (2008).

  35. 35.

    See Sect. 4 of State List in 9th Schedule to the Malayan Constitution. See Viola (this volume).

  36. 36.

    Such as in Canada (sect. 92(8) of the Constitution Act 1867), Ethiopia, and the subnational Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (art. VI.A.1-6 FBH). For Ethiopia see Fessha (this volume). For Bosnia and Herzegovina see Woelk (this volume).

  37. 37.

    See the X Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Andreoli (this volume). Likewise, in Pakistan, before the 2010 amendment, in Pakistan local government was not enumerated in the federal legislative list, thus falling under the exclusive jurisdiction of provincial governments.

  38. 38.

    Valdesalici and Trettel (this volume).

  39. 39.

    Art. 95D of the Constitution. See Viola (this volume).

  40. 40.

    See Woelk (this volume).

  41. 41.

    Nicolini (this volume).

  42. 42.

    Young, 2009, p. 107. For Australia see Grant and Drew (2017), pp. 83–87 and Aroney and Grant (this volume). For Canada, see Guénette and Mathieu (this volume). For Switzerland see Felder (this volume).

  43. 43.

    See Andreoli (this volume).

  44. 44.

    Wheare (1963), p. 10; Elazar (1987), p. 12.

  45. 45.

    See Rufaro and Tinashe (this volume).

  46. 46.

    Renders et al. (this volume).

  47. 47.

    Guerrero Vázquez (this volume).

  48. 48.

    These are rural settlements; urban settlements; municipal districts; urban areas; intraurban territory of cities of federal importance; the urban area with intraurban divisions; the intraurban district; and municipal areas. See Filippini (this volume).

  49. 49.

    Kincaid (2005), p. 438; Steytler (2009a, b), p. 393.

  50. 50.

    Bowman and Kearney (2021), p. 274.

  51. 51.

    Nicolini (this volume).

  52. 52.

    Ayele and Fessha (2012) and Fessha (this volume).

  53. 53.

    Art. 137 of the Spanish Constitution.

  54. 54.

    Such as in Italy (Art. 133.1), Belgium (Art. 41), Brazil (Art. 18.4), Nigeria (Sec. 8.3); South Africa (Sec. 40). In Switzerland and Germany the procedure is regulated at the subnational level.

  55. 55.

    See Art. art. 13 of Law 7/1985 Regulating the Basis of Local Government (Spain).

  56. 56.

    On such distinction see e.g., the Constitutions of Italy (Arts. 117.2.p and 118.2), and Austria (Arts 116.1, 118.1, and 119).

  57. 57.

    Respectively: BVerFGE 79, 127; Federated Municipal and Shire Council Employees’ Union of Australia v Melbourne Corporation (1919) at 526.

  58. 58.

    For Italy see e.g., Constitutional Court, ruling no. 83/1997; for Spain see Constitutional Tribunal ruling 4/1981, of 2 February.

  59. 59.

    Explicit references to such a principle may be found in the Constitutions of Italy (Art. 118.1), Switzerland (Art. 5a as introduced in 2008). Although not formally recognised in their constitutions, it also finds application in Germany, Australia, and Austria, and Comoros.

  60. 60.

    Kitchen (2007), p. 489.

  61. 61.

    Roig (2016).

  62. 62.

    Kitchen (2007), p. 489.

  63. 63.

    US Census Bureau (2019).

  64. 64.

    Kincaid (1990).

  65. 65.

    Courchene (2008), pp. 75ff.

  66. 66.

    Palermo and Kössler (2017), pp. 229ff.

  67. 67.

    US v. Butler US 1 [1936].

  68. 68.

    Kincaid (2012).

  69. 69.

    Rühli (2013). See also Felder (this volume).

  70. 70.

    Mitterer and Seisenbacher (2021).

  71. 71.

    Pernthaler and Gamper (2005), pp. 77ff.

  72. 72.

    Mathew and Hooja (2009), p. 188. See also Idiculla and Mukherjee (this volume).

  73. 73.

    See Fessha (this volume).

  74. 74.

    Steytler and Ayele (2018).

  75. 75.

    Ayele (2014).

  76. 76.

    These are indeed distributed from the Commonwealth via states on advice of the state grants commissions.

  77. 77.

    Productivity Commission (2017).

  78. 78.

    IFEL (2019).

  79. 79.

    Velasco Caballero (2009), p. 315.

  80. 80.

    de Visser (2009), p. 281.

  81. 81.

    de Visser (2009), p. 283.

  82. 82.

    Souza (2009), p. 111. See also Paffarini and Lage (this volume).

  83. 83.

    World Bank (2007).

  84. 84.

    Galadima (2009), p. 251.

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Nicolini, M., Valdesalici, A. (2023). Comparing and Contrasting Local Government in Federal Systems. In: Nicolini, M., Valdesalici, A. (eds) Local Governance in Multi-Layered Systems. Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, vol 108. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-41792-4_1

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