Fascinating. In 1970 Denmark (then around 5 mill inhabitants) implemented a local government reform which meant that we went from 1000+ local councils and 24 counties to 285 local councils and 14 counties, and in 2007 just about all of public administration (local and national) went through a total reorganisation - now we have 98 local councils and 5 regions. It takes a high degree of political ruthlessness (then prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and his no. 2 Lars Løkke Rasmussen definitively had that) - and a very well-organised and highly effective state administration to accomplish that. (It didn’t come without a cost, though: The right-wing populists won big in the 2015 national elections).
Fascinating. In 1970 Denmark (then around 5 mill inhabitants) implemented a local government reform which meant that we went from 1000+ local councils and 24 counties to 285 local councils and 14 counties, and in 2007 just about all of public administration (local and national) went through a total reorganisation - now we have 98 local councils and 5 regions. It takes a high degree of political ruthlessness (then prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and his no. 2 Lars Løkke Rasmussen definitively had that) - and a very well-organised and highly effective state administration to accomplish that. (It didn’t come without a cost, though: The right-wing populists won big in the 2015 national elections).
Your article is very spot on, thank you for sharing!
Interesting read! I hear people talk abut the school district fragmentation problem. One wishes anyone was motivated/empowered to tackle these things.
It’s political suicide.