Abstract
Amalgamations (otherwise labeled as mergers) have experienced an upsurge in the debate on, and the practice of, local governments (LG) in the last decades. Mergers are employed as a policy tool for tackling (some of) the multiple challenges LG are facing in the contemporary era.
Even more so in times of crisis. Crises are pushing governments, including those at the local level, to manage further difficulties on top of their other long-time present challenges, and they often reinforce or accelerate ongoing trends. For instance, the global financial crisis caused an acceleration of certain of these trends and prompted some solutions over others. The current pandemic crisis is likely to produce a similar effect.
The seminar will address the mergers and the enlarging boundaries of local authorities (mainly municipalities), as well as the size and democracy dilemma, by sketching some of the mergers’ main features cross-country and providing some examples of their implementation.