Territorial Organisation of the Republic Of Serbia – Possibilities for Reform
By Milosavljević, B. and Jerinić, J., 2015
Current territorial organisation in Serbia was basically set during the 1960s. Great demographic and economic changes were not reflected in changes of legislation on territorial organisation. Such territorial organisation is a basis for a single-level and almost completely monotype local self-government system. After providing a detailed overview of legislation on territorial
organisation and local self-government in the previous two centuries, the authors analyse the current system and attempt to outline possible lines of reform of territorial organisation. These proposals are viewed as a part of efforts towards greater decentralisation and establishment of a multi-level and/or polytype local self-government.
Administrative territorial structures in EU countries and their specifics
By Halásková, M. and Halásková, R., 2009
The article is focused on administrative territorial structures in European Union countries and their specifics. Each state must respect its internal, territorial and other conditions and in connection to that, create its own system of organization of these relations. Attention is given to the structure of public administration in EU countries, administrative territorial division, differences and identical characteristics, local specifics and structure and differences according to NUTS regions in EU.
 HalaskovaM (2009) AdministrativeTerritorial_SP_FES_2009.pdf | [ ] |
The French State and its territorial challenges
By Cole, A., 2011
The French case, traditionally viewed as the exemplar of a powerful state, is a particularly interesting one to confront arguments about convergence and isomorphism with the resistance of national administrative and institutional structures and state traditions. This article focuses upon the territorial challenges to the French State and its strategic responses to these. Though there is a very abundant academic literature on decentralisation in France, rarer are accounts which frame the State in terms of its overall territorial challenges, encompassing the reform of its own structures as well as the complex relationship with local and regional authorities. While acknowledging the pertinence of arguments based on trans-national convergence and isomorphism, the aritcle argues that the linked processes of ‘endogenous governance’ and acclimatized change best account for the interplay between strategic intent, institutional and interest-based configurations and the weight of the contradictory coalitions at play in French territorial politics and inter-governmental relations.
Decentralisation at a crossroads. Territorial reforms in Europe in times of crisis
Council of European Municipalities and Regions – CEMR, 2013
Reforms involving territorial reorganisations have become quite common over the past few decades in Europe, usually carried out as mergers of municipalities or regionalisation of the territory. This reform movement, based on the concept of a Europe of regions, was very active in the 1980s and 1990s and, ever since the first signs of the financial crisis, now seems to have found new life. Its goal is no longer exclusively to advance decentralisation but also to adjust the functioning of local and regional authorities to the budgetary and operational restrictions imposed by the central governments. It is worth noting that almost every single association responding to the questionnaire mentioned a legislative change affecting local and regional authorities in their country. It should also be mentioned that some reforms implemented in recent years, for example the Kallikratis reforms in Greece, were planned out prior to the onset of the crisis, which then altered the way in which the changes were carried out.
