The late Andreas Ladner, formerly Professor of Political Institutions and Public Administration, Swiss Graduate Institute of Public Administration (IDHEAP), University of Lausanne, Nicolas Keuffer, Senior Research Fellow, Alexander Bastianen, Research Assistant and PhD Candidate, Swiss Graduate Institute of Public Administration (IDHEAP), University of Lausanne, Switzerland, Harald Baldersheim, Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science, University of Oslo, Norway, Nikos Hlepas, Professor of Regional Administration and Self Government, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, Carmen Navarro, Professor, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain, Kristof Steyvers, Professor, Department of Political Science, Ghent University, Belgium and Paweł Swianiewicz, Professor of Local Government and Urban Economics, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Poland

‘Tackling this planet’s complex problems requires effective and legitimate local government, but how best to design it? Dynamics and Issues of Local Autonomy provides the most comprehensive systematic data source on local autonomy across 57 countries from 1990 to 2020. An indispensable resource for policy makers and scholars.’

• ContentsPreface viiPART I ASSESSING AND MEASURING LOCAL AUTONOMY1 The LAI 2.0: project scope, conceptualization of localautonomy, methodology, and contributions 22 Main results and dynamics of local autonomy 233 Self-rule versus interactive rule: towards a cross-nationalempirical typology of local autonomy 57PART II ISSUES OF LOCAL AUTONOMY4 Asymmetric decentralization at the subnational level: variedarrangements of local autonomy 745 Organizational autonomy 1206 Financial autonomy as local democratic space 1357 Assigned tasks and tasks delivered 1488 Legal regimes and local autonomy: the interaction ofadministrative supervision and legal protection 1639 Regional and local autonomy: comparing measurements ofdecentralization 17610 Pathways of access: configurations of formal and informalchannels 19211 The impact of global crises on local autonomy 20912 The European Charter of Local Self-Government and itsimpact on local autonomy 22213 Rapid changes in local autonomy: a race away from thebottom or a fall from a great height? 23914 The potential influences of local autonomy on localgovernment legitimacy 256References 273Appendix 284

The late Andreas Ladner, formerly Professor of Political Institutions and Public Administration, Swiss Graduate Institute of Public Administration (IDHEAP), University of Lausanne, Nicolas Keuffer, Senior Research Fellow, Alexander Bastianen, Research Assistant and PhD Candidate, Swiss Graduate Institute of Public Administration (IDHEAP), University of Lausanne, Switzerland, Harald Baldersheim, Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science, University of Oslo, Norway, Nikos Hlepas, Professor of Regional Administration and Self Government, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, Carmen Navarro, Professor, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain, Kristof Steyvers, Professor, Department of Political Science, Ghent University, Belgium and Paweł Swianiewicz, Professor of Local Government and Urban Economics, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Poland

‘Tackling this planet’s complex problems requires effective and legitimate local government, but how best to design it? Dynamics and Issues of Local Autonomy provides the most comprehensive systematic data source on local autonomy across 57 countries from 1990 to 2020. An indispensable resource for policy makers and scholars.’

• ContentsPreface viiPART I ASSESSING AND MEASURING LOCAL AUTONOMY1 The LAI 2.0: project scope, conceptualization of localautonomy, methodology, and contributions 22 Main results and dynamics of local autonomy 233 Self-rule versus interactive rule: towards a cross-nationalempirical typology of local autonomy 57PART II ISSUES OF LOCAL AUTONOMY4 Asymmetric decentralization at the subnational level: variedarrangements of local autonomy 745 Organizational autonomy 1206 Financial autonomy as local democratic space 1357 Assigned tasks and tasks delivered 1488 Legal regimes and local autonomy: the interaction ofadministrative supervision and legal protection 1639 Regional and local autonomy: comparing measurements ofdecentralization 17610 Pathways of access: configurations of formal and informalchannels 19211 The impact of global crises on local autonomy 20912 The European Charter of Local Self-Government and itsimpact on local autonomy 22213 Rapid changes in local autonomy: a race away from thebottom or a fall from a great height? 23914 The potential influences of local autonomy on localgovernment legitimacy 256References 273Appendix 284