NICHOLAS BERNARD Lecturer in the Department of Law at the University of EssexTHOMAS CHRISTIANSEN Jean Monnet Lecturer and Director of European Studies in the Department of International Politics at the University of Wales AberystwythLUBOMIR FALTAN Senior Researcher and Director of Institute of Sociology, Slovak Academy of Sciences in BratislavaANNA ZIELINSKA-GLEBOCKA Professor in Economics at the University of Gdansk and Jean Monnet Chair in European Economic IntegrationJOZEF HEGEDUS Director of the Metropolital Research Institute in BudapestANDRZEJ KOWALCZYK Lecturer in the Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies at the University of WarsawVLADIMIR KRIVY Senior Fellow Researcher at the Institute of Sociology, Slovak Academy of Sciences in BratislavaJAMES SPERLING Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of AkronJACEK ZAUCHA Associate Professor in the Department of Macroeconomics at the University of Gdansk

'This volume deals with an extremely topical and important subject. Reform of local and territorial government is at the centre of political and economic transition in Central and Eastern Europe directly affecting the EU's eastward enlargement. The book compares Western and Eastern European experiences and perspectives. It also confronts a set of theoretical assumptions accumulated in recent years on the issues of democracy, integration and decentralization, with empirical evidence fron Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech republic. As such it represents a valuable source for those studying European integration, democratic theory, regional politics and regime change.' - Jan Zielonka, Professor of Political Science, European University Institute, Florence 'This excellent volume provides detailed empirical analyses by leading Central European specialists in local government, but also sets the issues into the broader context of changing patterns of state organization across Europe in chapters by Western scholars. It thus contributes usefully to consideration of the common problems faced by both parts of a formerly divided continent in a comparative way.' - Dr J. R. Batt, Centre for Russian and East European Studies, University of Birmingham '...this topical and informative collection of studies, a unique publication in English on the subject, calls our attention to the contribution of the Visegrads to wider European economic and political integration.' - Miklos Lojko, International Affairs

• List of Figures and Tables List of Contributors Preface Abbreviations The Importance of Local and Regional Reform; E.Kirchner and T.Christiansen Regionalization in Western Europe; T.Christiansen Decentralized Government and Subsidiarity; N.Bernard Regional and Local Development in Poland; J.Zaucha Territorial Government in the Czech Republic; M.Illner Slovakia: Changes in Public Administration; L.Faltan and V.Krivy Hungarian Local Government; J.Hegedus Euroregions on the Polish German Border; A.Kowalczyk Poland and the EU: Trade-related Problems; A.Zielinska-Glebocka European Security and Debt Finance in Poland; J.Sperling The Role of the EU in Local and Regional Government; E.Kirchner Index