NatioNal associatioNs of muNicipalities iN europe – differeNt models of iNstitutioNalized political cooperatioN

The article endeavours to identify and characterise selected national associations of municipalities across Europe, as well as to provide typical models of municipalities being associated into large groups representing their interests in relations with central government. A study that addressed 26 European countries has helped identify four principal organisational models of associations of local structures. These are as follows: (1) the consolidated model (existing in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden), (2) the bipolar model (in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Estonia, Italy, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Switzerland), (3) the federative model (in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Spain), and (4) the fragmented model (to be found in France, United Kingdom, Poland, Hungary, and Romania).

Inter-municipal cooperation is currently one of the increasingly popular questions addressed in scientific research (Hulst and Van Motfort 2007).Studies to date have focused on a wide array of substantive manifestations of this cooperation.The most frequent have been analyses of cooperation in the provision and production of public services, e.g. in municipal waste management, water and sewage economy and public transport (Bel and Fageda 2006;Warner 2006;Sørensen 2007;Wollmann 2010;Bel et al. 2013;Mäeltsemees et al. 2013;Bel and Warner 2015;Grešová 2016;Kołsut 2015).Such studies concentrate primarily on the economic side of cooperation and seek efficient and profitable institutional solutions for the implementation of the municipalities' statutory objectives (most often as an alternative to privatisation).Studies have also frequently focused on cooperation in the coordination of developmental and spatial planning policies in metropolitan areas as opposed to territorial reforms (Ostrom et al. 1961;Kaczmarek and Mikuła 2007; Lackowska 2009; Rayle and Zegras 2012; Mikuła 2014; Krukowska and Lackowska 2017).Moreover, studies aim to analyse public management and territorial organisation with a view to seeking optimum legal solutions for urban agglomerations and metropolitan areas.
Far less frequent are analyses of intermunicipal cooperation which present the creation of joint representation of municipalities in their relations with the government (at the central or federal state level).This is a unique cooperation which most commonly takes the form of large interest groups gathering from a few dozen up to a few dozen thousand members.Mechanisms of operation of such organisations are most often addressed by political sciences and sociology, which make use of the findings of the interest group theory, collective action theory and public choice theory (Olson 1965;Nownes 2014).Relevant literature very rarely addresses the question of national associations of municipalities, which is most often discussed as part of an analysis of other issues.Kettunen and Kull (2009), for instance, touch upon the role played by associations of municipalities in three European countries (Estonia, Finland and Germany) in the development of the European Union policy via their offices in Brussels.Moreover, the question of national associations of municipalities often appears in the context of more comprehensive analyses of local-national relations (Blom-Hansen 1999;Cigler 1994;Entwistle and Laffin 2003;CCRE 2007;Stoney and Graham 2008;Chenier 2009;Agranoff 2014;Shott 2015).There is then a clear research gap concerning this question, which this publication aims to bridge to some extent, especially in the European context.
The objective of this publication is to identify and characterise selected national associations of municipalities in Europe as well as to indicate the typical models of municipalities being associated in large groups representing their interests in relations with the central authority.Analysis of relevant literature demonstrates an evident deficit of European research on this topic.The objective adopted in this study is first of all idiographic, i.e. addresses mainly the seemingly simple individual solutions, their description and assignment to distinct categories.The typology of models of associations of municipalities proposed here is, however, an attempt to come up with unprecedented generalisations in the field.This is the new approach to this phenomenon, and presented typology is the author proposition to scientific discussion about national, political associations of municipalities.The following research questions will facilitate reaching the stated objective: -How do municipalities create associations in various European countries?
-Is there only one association representing the interests of municipalities in a given country or are there more of them?-What are the models of municipalities gathering into political organisations?
-What is the level of participation of municipalities in national political associations and what does it depend on?

materials aNd metHods
The present analysis has covered 26 European countries, member states of the Council of Europe.The study leaves out a few countries.The reason is threefold.First, this analysis excludes countries which are very small in terms of size and their local self-government organisation is of incomparable smaller significance (Andorra, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Monaco, Luxembourg, Malta).Secondly, excluded are also those member states of the Council of Europe which are in fact located outside Europe (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia).Thirdly, the analysis does not include counties for which data concerning their political associations of municipalities are unavailable (Albania, Belarus, Cyprus, Ireland).The data factored in the analysis are taken from the official publications of the Council of Europe and the websites of the associations, which have been listed in the Table 1.

Bartłomiej Kołsut
NATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS Of MUNICIPALITIES ... Associations of municipalities take active part in many initiatives and play a variety of roles.These are as follows: -contribution to the legislation process via providing opinions on draft laws, negotiations and meetings with parliament and government, public relations, -promotion of modern and innovative, citizen-centred governance methods, -participation in national and international forums, -support to municipalities in their execution of power.
Analysis of national associations of municipalities in 26 European states has helped single out four principal models of organisation of joint representation (Fig. 1

consolidated model
The consolidated model is a type with the simplest institutional structure (Fig. 2).It can be found in countries with a single joint network of municipalities.This type is the most common (covers 11 countries) and is represented by (  bipolar model The bipolar model (Fig. 3, Table 3) can be found in countries with two associations representing the interests of (1) cities and (2) urban areas (possibly also towns and joint urban and rural municipalities).
In one case (Bosnia and Herzegovina), the bipolar representation is made up of associations active in the autonomous and separate parts of a given state.federative model Some European countries (Austria, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and the aforementioned Bosnia and Herzegovina) are federations.There are also European unitarian states, like Spain or Italy, with a powerful role of the regional tier.This character of the state and local self-government has triggered the emergence of the federative model of municipality organisation (Fig. 4).It can be found in countries (Table 4) with at least one network gathering not so much municipalities, but rather regional organisations (of the federal states).This is a complex type of organisation, consisting in indirect participation of municipalities in the national network; formally their members are regional associations of municipalities.Four of the states under discussion here, i.e.Austria, Belgium, Germany, and Spain, represent this very model.However, each of these countries developed their own modality of implementing it, differing as to some details from the other ones (Fig. 4).
Austria is a rather atypical case, with two national associations of a long-standing tradition: the Austrian Association of Cities and Towns (established in 1915) and the Austrian Association of Municipalities (set up in 1947).The former association gathers directly cities and towns (a total of 249).The latter is made up of regional organisations that gather rural municipalities (the national representation is made up of 10 associations organised at the level of federal states, gathering a total of over 2,000 municipalities).In Austria, then, there are two nationwide organisations, one of which has a two-tier structure.
To some extent, a situation similar to that in Austria can be observed in Germany, where we also deal with two associations at the national level, both with a relatively long history.The difference is, however, that in both of them the main members are associations of municipalities of the federal states and the division of the local structures is different.The Association of German Towns and Municipalities groups 17 associations representing rural municipalities and towns of the federal states.In turn, the German Association of Cities represents large German cities and metropolises and incorporates 15 regional organisations.
Apart from Austria and Germany, the federative model can be found in Belgium.This is country of relatively substantial historical and cultural differences, highly politically polarised.Its two rather autonomous parts (Flanders and Wallonia) have their separate representations of the local structures -the Association of Flemish Cities and Municipalities and the Union of Cities and Municipalities of Wallonia.Moreover, there is a separate Spain is the last country with the federative model.This is no state with a typical federation organisation of state structures, but with a powerful position of regions, some of which enjoy a high degree of autonomy.This fact is responsible for the dominance of regional organisations associating municipalities, which together with the provinces make up the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces, in operation for over 35 years.It gathers 16 regional organisations and represents municipalities in relations with the government in Madrid.fragmented model fragmented model (Fig. 5) can be found in countries with more than two national, political associations of municipalities.Their number depends on either the different kinds of municipalities (different representations of rural municipalities, cities, towns, metropolises) or regional affiliation (in the case of substantial internal divisions within a state).France is a country with the largest number of national associations; there are as many as 7 of them.In Hungary there are 5 national networks, with 3 active in Romania.The United Kingdom is atypical in that it has a national union gathered the local structures of England and Wales (with the Welsh municipalities having their separate association) and two autonomous networks, for Northern Ireland and Scotland.This type is Brussels Region, i.e. the Association of the City and Municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region.All the three organisations act in unison within the Union of Belgian Cities and Municipalities, trying to represent the nearly 600 Belgian municipalities.

municipalities fig. 1. Organizational models of national municipal associations in European countries
): (1) the simple consolidated model, under which the country's

Table 3
The entire group includes two federalised states (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Switzerland), as ).They gather 404 municipalities (ca.94% of the total number).Membership rate is, then, relatively high, possibly due to a rather small number of municipalities; research studies to date (Ivanović et al. 2010) indicate a series of weaknesses of inter-municipal cooperation in Croatia, including e.g. a lack of collaboration culture, absence of financial incentives, weakness of institutions, and passivity of central government, which does not support fig. 3. The bipolar model of associations of municipalities within joint national representation

Table 5 . Associations in states with the fragmented model
The area of joint political representation of municipalities has a short research history and this scholarship gap must be effectively bridged in the near future.