Abstract
The chapter (re-)positions local government within federal studies from a comparative legal perspective, thus dismissing the straitjackets of traditional taxonomies as regard non-Western – or hybrid – federations. This perspective also favours a nuanced approach to local government. Its constellation is indeed more complex than that described by traditional federal taxonomies. To assess this heterogeneity, this chapter goes beyond the black-letter constitution and examines the operational rules that effectively implement the regime of local government, thus contributing to the fuzziness of traditional taxonomies.