This book sheds light on the central complexities of municipal cooperation and examines the dynamics, experiences and drivers of inter-municipal cooperation (IMC) in Europe. Particular attention is given to the features of governance arrangements and institutions created to generate and maintain collaborative settings between different local governments in a particular territory.
The thematically grouped case studies presented here address the dearth of comprehensive and comparative analyses in recent scholarship. The authors provide fresh insights into the rise of inter-municipal cooperation and its evolution during a period of financial crisis and European Union enlargement. This includes critical examinations of the impact of austerity policies, the behavior and perceptions of key actors; and under-explored new member states. Crucially, this work goes beyond the comparison of institutional forms of IMC to address why the phenomenon so widespread and questions whether it is successful, manageable and democratic.
This work which presents the most recent and innovative research on inter-local collaborative arrangements will appeal to practitioners as well as scholars of local government, public economy, public administration and policy.

“This book makes a value contribution in helping us to understand a classic governance manoeuvre in the context of constrained resources:  inter-municipal cooperation. It explores using comparative material the dynamics, pitfalls and achievements of trying to get more for less by working with partners. The understanding that is gained provides lessons beyond local government for public administration in general.” (Gerry Stoker, Professor of Governance, University of Southampton, UK )

“By assembling expert analyses on 20 European countries and by focusing on the recent phase of fiscal austerity policies, this excellent edited book on “inter-municipal cooperation in Europe” covers more European countries and is more up-to-date than any other available publication. Thus it is “must” reading for students, academics and practitioners interested in in this crucial issue of local/subnational reorganization and governance.” (Hellmut Wollmann, Professor Emeritus, Humboldt-Universität Berlin,Germany)

Offers a comprehensive comparative study of the different aspects of the governance capacity of Inter-municipal Cooperation (IMC) Examines decentralisation, multilevel governance and local government reform issues associated with IMC Fills a lacuna in current scholarship by analysing the rise of IMC in under-researched country contexts