F. Fleurke

The European Union and the autonomy of sub-national authorities: Towards an analysis of constraints and opportunities in sub-national decision-making

This paper explores what is known about the actual impact of the EU on sub-national (local and regional) government. Existing research on the impact of the EU on sub-national authorities appears to have a strong emphasis on the positive effects or the opportunities that emanate from the EU. By contrast, studies on European constraints that limit sub-national autonomy are rather scarce. Moreover, many studies fail to take sub-national government itself as the object of analysis, as a result of which most conclusions are rather hypothetical in nature. Trying to fill the lacunas in the existing literature, the authors present a conceptual framework that includes three dimensions along which the EU might influence sub-national decision-making: by enforcement or invitation, by hampering or improvement, and by obstruction or enabling. A pilot study found that nearly each of these types of influence was present, indicating the conceptual sensitivity and empirical relevance of the three dimensions.

Measuring local autonomy: A decision-making approach

Abstract In studies on central–local relations it is common to assess local autonomy in a deductive way. The extent of local autonomy is determined by measuring the central legal and financial competence, after which the remaining room for local decision-making is determined. The outcome of this indirect method is that the autonomy of local government tends to be systematically underestimated. As an alternative this paper introduces a decision-making approach in which local decisions are systematically weighed on three dimensions: agenda setting, freedom in choices, and dependency. Using Dutch data, the authors come to the conclusion that a locally oriented perspective leads to a more accurate and positive judgement of the autonomy of local government.

Approaches to decentralization and local autonomy: a critical appraisal

In this paper the authors trace four main approaches to the issue of decentralization and local autonomy: the formal, dynamic, functional, and governance approach. The formal approach is primarily descriptive and deductive, but does not represent the actual workings of the administrative state, or typically lead to normative conclusions. The dynamic approach, in contrast to the formal, focuses on the process of task redistribution among tiers as a consequence of changes in society. The basic question with regard to this approach is: which form of decentralization has which effects on the quality of government under which conditions? The functional approach focuses primarily on the local level, considering issues of horizontal decentralization and the implications for local autonomy. Subsequent normative judgments are often ambiguous. Finally, the governance approach substitutes networks for issues of decentralization, concluding that local autonomy is on the wane.

Effects of the European Union on Sub‐National Decision‐Making: Enhancement or Constriction?

Abstract It is commonly assumed that the European Union (EU) influences sub‐national authorities (SNAs), but it is not clear exactly to what extent and how it does this. Some scholars conclude that the EU strengthens SNAs (e.g. by funding), others claim that the EU weakens them (e.g. by rules). This article presents a theoretical framework in which various forms of enhancing and constraining effects are represented, and by which the empirical merits of the contesting points of view can be assessed. The research was conducted in two municipalities and one province in the Netherlands, by detailed study of their administrative practice. The research shows that the EU influences sub‐national decision making to a fairly large extent, that some of this influence can be concurrently constraining as well as enhancing and that the influence of the EU at the local level is predominantly enhancing and indirect, while at the provincial level it is predominantly constraining and direct.