The Finish Municipal Reform
The Finish Municipal Reform

Summary/Abstract: The article aims at evaluating the municipal amalgamation process as a way of reforming local government, by two criteria – efficiency in service provision and level of democracy. Those issues are applied onto a Finnish case study, as amalgamation is more common in Northern Europe. The author gives a review of amalgamation studies in the world and of the extensive evaluation reports of amalgamation reform in Finland. The paper examines amalgamation policy from two perspectives – from the instrumental or goal-oriented view and from the process aspect. The findings on the relatively high number of instances of amalgamation in Finland are the following: the main process-driving factors were political parties that mostly supported the reform and the underlying urge to construct larger entities which made municipalities take part in the process. The level of efficiency in the new, amalgamated municipalities is not necessarily higher, as efficient service provision can be found both in small and large municipalities. Efficiency is more determined by the dynamics of a municipal economy while the size of a municipality alone does not make a difference. As amalgamations change the nature of local political life they affect democracy both positively and negatively.

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