Intermunicipal cooperation - an appropriate response to local government austerity?

Intermunicipal cooperation (IMC) has become increasingly common across Europe.

Decision-makers - on both central and local levels - have come to appreciate IMC as an effective answer to austerity and fiscal stress.

There is a strong conviction that IMC will bring economies of scale about, hence save costs, increase quality of services and facilitate recruitment.

However, research in this field is wanting and little is known about potential unattractive side-effects of IMC for e.g. governability and the democratic deficit that is assumed to follow when policy-areas are removed from the realm of one single self-governing municipality to IMC. Against this backdrop, the proposed project aims to develop empirically based knowledge about the effects of IMC.

As our overarching case Sweden is particularly well-suited: 1974-1990, formal IMCs through  ‘joint municipal boards’ and ‘local federations’ were rare. However, after regulatory amendments which facilitated IMC, the number of IMCs have virtually exploded.

With a mixed-methods approach, we can employ a difference-in-difference design in this municipal ´test-laboratory´, compare before-and-after experiences of joining an IMC arrangement with municipalities who have not opted for IMC, and analyze if, and to what extent IMC i) is cost-saving, ii) increase quality of services, iii) facilitate recruitment and iii) if we adverse side-effects relating to governability, accountability and democracy in IMC are observed.