Local Government Reforms in Countries in Transition

Fred A. Lazin is the Lynn & Lloyd Hurst Family Professor of Local Government & chair, Department of Politics & Government at Ben Gurion University.Matt Evans is a Post Doctoral Felllow at Northwestern University in the Political Science Department.Hellmut Wollmann is Professor Emeritus at Humboldt University in Berlin.Vincent Hoffmann-Martinot is the Director of Research at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and director of the Institute of Political Studies in Bordeaux.

• Chapter 1 IntroductionPart 2 General SurveyChapter 3 Changes, Ruptures, and Continuities in European Local Government Systems: Between Government and GovernanceChapter 4 Transforming Political Systems and Political Culture: What Works? Lessons from Bogota and Cities around the GlobeChapter 5 Local Goods as Public Goods: A Nonpolitical Approach to the Production and Delivery of Municipal Goods and ServicesPart 6 Post-Socialist CountriesChapter 7 The Politics of Local Government Reform in Russia: From Decentralization to RecentralizationChapter 8 Local Leadership in Post-Communist States: Poland in a Comparative PerspectiveChapter 9 Reform of Local and Regional Governments in Poland: Does the European Union Matter?Chapter 10 Political Parties and their Role in Local Politics in the Post-Communist Czech RepublicChapter 11 Reforming Public Administration: Romania's Winding Road to EuropeChapter 12 Local Public Policies and the Access of Minorities to Public Services: Experience from Central and Eastern EuropePart 13 IsraelChapter 14 Local Government Amalgamation in Israel: Towards the Modernization of Local Government?Chapter 15 Pluralism and Governance: Electoral Politics in Local Government in IsraelChapter 16 Internal Migration and Local Authorities in Israel: Tiebout's Model RevisitedChapter 17 Between Traditionalism and Modernity: Ruling Local Government in Arab Localities in IsraelChapter 18 Arab Local Councils in Israel: The Democratic State and the HamulaPart 19 Countries in TransitionChapter 20 Local Government Reform in China: A Rational Actor PerspectiveChapter 21 The Political Obstacles to Local Government Reform in EgyptChapter 22 South African Local Government: The Limits of Institutional Reform

This is an awesome collection of new thinking on neglected issues and provides a platform for future dialogue on how local political structures are indispensable for sustaining democracy. We are all wondering what works in keeping the hard won freedoms that new states seem to be in danger of losing almost from the moment of achieving them, and this remarkable volume will be necessary reading not only for scholars but for anyone with an interest in the decentralization of liberty.