Styles of Inter-municipal Cooperation and the Multiple Principal Problem: A Comparative Analysis of European Economic Area Countries

Cooperation in the delivery of public services is generally framed as desirable, but it is often hindered by serious collective action problems. The article compares inter-municipal cooperation in seven countries with different institutional settings. It investigates the rules of governance characte...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Bel i Queralt, Germà, 1963-, Bischoff, Ivo, Blåka, Sara, Casula, Mattia, Lysek, Jakub, Swianiewicz, Pawel, Tavares, António F., Voorn, Bart
Format: article
Status:Versión aceptada para publicación
Publication Date:2023
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Barcelona
Repository:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/197527
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/197527
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Cooperació intergovernamental
Administració municipal
Administració local
Cooperació interterritorial
Intergovernmental cooperation
Municipal government
Local government
Interstate cooperation
Description
Summary:Cooperation in the delivery of public services is generally framed as desirable, but it is often hindered by serious collective action problems. The article compares inter-municipal cooperation in seven countries with different institutional settings. It investigates the rules of governance characterizing these diverse institutional settings and assesses how they deal with the multiple principal problem. The authors find that in almost all cases, all participating municipalities are represented on the supervisory board of the cooperative entity. In contrast, in other less frequent cases cooperation is frequently managed through a different tier of local government, thus circumventing the multiple principal problem affecting inter-municipal arrangements in the other countries.