Governance in Transition

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xviii

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2. Introduction

   • Andrew Ryder

   Pages 1-15

3. Governance, Intergovernmental Relations, and Development

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 17-17

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   2. Top-Down and Bottom-Up Metropolitan Integration in Poland

      • Tomasz Kaczmarek, Andrew Ryder

      Pages 19-39

   3. The Sydney Metropolitan Strategy: Implementation Challenges

      • Patrick Fensham

      Pages 41-64

   4. Governmental Devolution as a Motor of Local Development

      • Andrew Ryder

      Pages 65-89

   5. Theories of Metropolitan Government and the Post-socialist Experience: The Case of Poznań Metropolitan Area

      • Łukasz Mikuła

      Pages 91-107

   6. Regional Elites, Networks and the Beauty of Regionalism in Hungary

      • Ilona Pálné Kovács

      Pages 109-131

   7. Rural Governance in the New EU Member States: The Experience of the Polish LEADER+ Pilot Programme (2004–2008)

      • Marek Furmankiewicz, Wojciech Knieć, Jane Atterton

      Pages 133-153

4. Crossborder and International Co-operation in Development

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 155-155

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   2. Strategic Cooperation Between Regions: Building and Utilising Transnational Relations

      • David Rylander, Pontus Tallberg

      Pages 157-173

   3. Changing Patterns of City-Hinterland Relations in Central and East European Borderlands: Szczecin on the Edge of Poland and Germany

      • Péter Balogh

      Pages 175-194

   4. Transformation Processes in the Former Black Triangle

      • Rick Glöckner, Isolde Roch

      Pages 195-219

   5. The Influence of Regional Identities on Spatial Development: A Challenge for Regional Governance Processes in Cross-Border Regions

      • Stefan Obkircher

      Pages 221-240

5. Administrative Systems, Services Delivery and Local Finance

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 241-241

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   2. The Empowerment of Local Democracy and Decentralisation of Service Delivery in Local Government Reform: Evidence from Portugal

      • Carlos Nunes Silva

      Pages 243-255

   3. Municipal Bonds in Hungary: Constraints and Challenges

      • Gábor Kovács

      Pages 257-274

   4. Municipal Property During the Post-socialist Transition in Slovakia

      • Ján Buček

      Pages 275-307

   5. Governing the Transformation of the Built Environment in Post-socialist Bratislava

      • Pavel Šuška

      Pages 309-322

6. Back Matter

   Pages 323-341

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This book looks at experience in government restructuring and devolution from a variety of national and international perspectives, both within the European Union and elsewhere, focusing on lessons learned and ways forward.Since the 1980s, there has been a global trend to give more power to local governments. Even in Korea and the United Kingdom, the most centralised countries in the OECD, local government powers have increased, with substantial economic benefits. Within the European Union, the principle of subsidiarity has enshrined the idea of devolution. New member states, particularly in central and eastern Europe, have significantly created new and self-sufficient local and regional governments. However, this process has been complicated. Devolution is not a panacea in its own right, and need not lead to economic growth. While it can encourage savings through collaboration, it can also lead to confused lines of authority and can complicate policy formation and implantation. Devolution can strain local budgets, forcing local governments to rely on their own sources of finance, rather than central government transfers. Suburbanisation, rural depopulation, the growth of some regions, and the decline of others have raised new problems, particularly related to inter-governmental cooperation among local governments and different levels of government. In many cases, an increased number of governments has increased administrative costs.

• Decentralization and development
• Governance reform
• Political reform
• Public administration
• Subsidiarity in practice
• economic geology

• Department of Human Geography and Demogeography, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia

  Ján Buček

• Department of Geography, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, United Kingdom

  Andrew Ryder

Ján Buček is Associate Professor at the Comenius University in Bratislava. He holds a Ph.D. degree in economic geography at Comenius University. Currently he is Chair of the International Geographical Union Commission on the Geography of Governance (since 2008), Vice-President of the Slovak Geographical Society (since 2010) and a member of editorial boards of several scientific journals.
Andrew Ryder is a senior lecturer in geography at the University of Portsmouth. Since 1991, he has also worked as a consultant in regional problems and policies and local government reform for the OECD and other international organisations. He is a member of the International Geographical Union Commission on the Geography of Governance and on the editorial board of several academic journals.

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