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Territorial Reforms: Concepts and Cases of Boundary Change

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Municipal Amalgamation Reforms

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Sub-National Governance ((PSSNG))

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Abstract

This introductory chapter provides the foundation and justification for the book. I present and discuss briefly the mainstream explanation—reform theory—for the enactment of local government amalgamations. The anomalies identified in this conventional explanation are manifest in the theory, methods and evaluation focus of amalgamation studies. The chapter provides an overview of all types of territorial reforms (annexations, incorporations and city-county consolidations) and situates amalgamations as a special case of local boundary change. Several definitions of municipal amalgamations and their key features are advanced. Taking these definitions as the starting point, the chapter provides a background on amalgamation reforms, highlighting the need to consider time, space and human agency in the analysis of territorial reforms in general and municipal amalgamations in particular. The chapter also addresses the complex relationship between size, amalgamations and local government efficiency. I make a preliminary attempt to untangle these effects, before delving into these arguments in more detail in later chapters.

We must use time as a tool, not as a crutch.

—John F. Kennedy

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56978344

  2. 2.

    Recent reviews by Tavares (2018), Gendźwiłł et al. (2021) and Bolgherini and Paparo (2023) indicate precisely the lack of consistency of the outcomes of the reforms.

  3. 3.

    The amalgamation reform of Portuguese sub-municipal government units (parishes) is a classic example of a coercive reform since it was agreed upon in the Memorandum of Understanding signed as part of the financial bailout between the Portuguese Government and a triad of international organizations (European Commission, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund) (Tavares & Teles, 2018). In contrast, the amalgamation reform recently conducted in Norway was initiated by the national government but largely voluntary and respecting the preferences of local actors (Fitjar, 2021).

  4. 4.

    Special purpose governments are also considered a form of boundary change in the United States (Carr, 2004a), but they are excluded from this analysis due to their single-purpose nature. Furthermore, special purpose governments are a mix of several organizational forms, including ‘public authorities’, which resemble European municipally owned corporations and derive their revenues from user fees (Tavares & Camões, 2010, 2023) and ‘special districts’, which are allowed to levy taxes. In addition, some districts exist solely to raise funds by issuing bonds and/or by providing tax increment financing, which clearly distinguishes them from the type of boundary changes discussed in this book. For an in-depth analysis of the special district form, see Foster (1997), Bourdeaux (2005) and Bauroth (2015).

  5. 5.

    Technical efficiency concerns the relationship between inputs and outputs. Allocative efficiency, in turn, refers to an alignment of production with consumer preferences, i.e., when the marginal benefit to the consumers equals the marginal cost of producing an additional unit of a good/service.

  6. 6.

    Economies of scale are decreases in cost per unit of output obtained due to an increase in the scale of operation (typically measured by the amount of output produced). When the cost per unit of output increases with size it means diseconomies of scale have settled in.

  7. 7.

    Economies of density are lower unit costs resulting from spatial proximity of suppliers or providers. Higher population densities allow synergies in service provision leading to cost savings; conversely, unitary costs increase with decreases in density. Utility services, particularly water supply and wastewater management, typically display an association between density and costs (Bel et al., 2010).

  8. 8.

    Economies of scope occur when producing a wider variety of services in tandem is more cost effective for a local government than producing less of a variety, or producing each service independently.

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

    António Tavares

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Tavares, A. (2024). Territorial Reforms: Concepts and Cases of Boundary Change. In: Municipal Amalgamation Reforms. Palgrave Studies in Sub-National Governance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54736-2_1

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