西ヨーロッパ諸国における地方行政組織に関する比較研究

概要

論文の詳細を見る
In Germany inter-communal corporations (Gemeindeverbande) which were mainly formed by the administrative area reforms in areas of low population density, have remained until today long after they were originally expected to be dissolved. This is because they carried out their administrative duties very well and satisfied the democratic demands (Burgernahe) of the citizens in this area. In the federal republic the federal states (Lander) are divided into counties and municipalities. However, large-scale cities form city-counties (kreisfreie Stadte) independent from the county level. As city-counties grow, they experience difficulties, and serious conflicts relating to the allocation of spillover functions often occur between a city-county and its surrounding municipalities. Are there such regional administrative organizations in the other West European countries with Christian constitutions such as France, Italy, England in the UK, Sweden, and Denmark? Which kind of municipalities do the area reforms of regional administrative organizations lead to in these countries? Clarifying this question is the main aim of this paper. Although studies of administrative geography in European countries have made a great deal of progress since the beginning of the IGU Commission 'Geography and Public Administration', there are only a few studies of European administrative geography in Japan. The main results obtained are as follows: 1. Since in France and Italy the area reforms of municipalities in the 1970s have not succeeded there are still many small-scale municipalities, in which the modern administrations are supported by regional administrative organizations. Conversely, municipalities in England, Sweden, and Denmark have enlarged their scale by area reforms. While the parish system in England is used as a form of sub-local administration, the same organizations have not been developed in Sweden and Denmark. Although large-scale municipalities can carry out the tasks effectively, it is questionable how sufficiently they can fill the democratic demands of citizens. While Swedish municipalities have a sort of sub-local organization, Danish municipalities of large-scale established in early 2007 do not, even if they enable citizen participation in local administration, have such an organization. Bennett (1993a) maintains that regional administrative organizations should be provided rather than having future municipal amalgamations. 2. Although the regional administrative organizations of three tiers have usually been developed in West European countries, they are complex tier structures with various types. In rural England local governments have two tiers of districts and counties, while in urban areas, unitary systems are formed as integrated ones. Unitary authorities consist of over-bounded areas containing wide suburban areas, unlike German city-counties. However, the citizens in rural areas that were merged into urban territories were unable to fulfill their desire for independence and to develop active areas because they lacked their own government. In contrast, regional disparities have obviously been developed between urban and rural areas in France where communaute urbaine (CU) and communaute d'agglomeration (CA) can carry out higher functions without the existence of city-counties. 3. The expenditure ratios of municipalities to GDP are in high variance in these countries because large-scale municipalities can carry out a wide range of tasks: while the ratios are high in advanced welfare states such as Scandinavian countries, the states containing many small-scale municipalities with low capacity such as France and West Germany have lower ratios. It is noticeable that Italy has a relatively high ratio (Fig.1). Great Britain and the Neatherlands are in the median rank. 4. As seen since the so-called 'Thatcher' revolution' in the 1980s, the welfare policy in West European countries has tended to be restricted. However, not only Sweden but also Denmark cope with their poor finances by using the scale of economy by municipality amalgamations and by saving money. At the same time, globalization and borderless societies owing to the formation of the Single European Market have come to West Europe in the 1980s. As a result, it has become an important policy for central governments to strengthen the economic power of metropolitan areas rather than promoting the regional equation. EU politics have little direct influence on basic municipalities.
2008-01-28

西ヨーロッパ諸国における地方行政組織に関する比較研究

スポンサーリンク

概要

著者

関連論文

スポンサーリンク