Economic aspects of a “middle layer” of administration and government: some experience from Austria

There was no “middle layer” of government between the central state and the municipal level in the new member states of the European Union when these countries joined the EU recently. For various motivations – the ability to optimize access to EU funds being one of the motivations – the creation of...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Walter Scherrer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani) 2006-10-01
Series:Central European Public Administration Review
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.uni-lj.si/CEPAR/article/view/20220
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832591473739038720
author Walter Scherrer
author_facet Walter Scherrer
author_sort Walter Scherrer
collection DOAJ
description There was no “middle layer” of government between the central state and the municipal level in the new member states of the European Union when these countries joined the EU recently. For various motivations – the ability to optimize access to EU funds being one of the motivations – the creation of a middle layer of regional government or administration has been discussed. In opposite to the new EU members Austria has already had a political system with three layers not only of administration but with three layers of government for several decades. Section 1 discusses major features of the territorial organization of Austria’s economy and its system of political decision making. Section 2 finds that history, a strong political preference for federalism, and pragmatism are major explanations for the emergence and durability of the system. Section 3 analyses the economic cost of Austria’s complex territorial organisation, and section 4 shows the scope for economic policy action at the state level using examples from the state of Salzburg.
format Article
id doaj-art-c4b26a425b9a4aa997e6c1ed65a02731
institution Kabale University
issn 2591-2240
2591-2259
language English
publishDate 2006-10-01
publisher University of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani)
record_format Article
series Central European Public Administration Review
spelling doaj-art-c4b26a425b9a4aa997e6c1ed65a027312025-01-22T10:56:31ZengUniversity of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani)Central European Public Administration Review2591-22402591-22592006-10-0142-310.17573/cepar.v4i2-3.70Economic aspects of a “middle layer” of administration and government: some experience from AustriaWalter ScherrerThere was no “middle layer” of government between the central state and the municipal level in the new member states of the European Union when these countries joined the EU recently. For various motivations – the ability to optimize access to EU funds being one of the motivations – the creation of a middle layer of regional government or administration has been discussed. In opposite to the new EU members Austria has already had a political system with three layers not only of administration but with three layers of government for several decades. Section 1 discusses major features of the territorial organization of Austria’s economy and its system of political decision making. Section 2 finds that history, a strong political preference for federalism, and pragmatism are major explanations for the emergence and durability of the system. Section 3 analyses the economic cost of Austria’s complex territorial organisation, and section 4 shows the scope for economic policy action at the state level using examples from the state of Salzburg.https://journals.uni-lj.si/CEPAR/article/view/20220Austriaeconomyregionalismorganizational structure
spellingShingle Walter Scherrer
Economic aspects of a “middle layer” of administration and government: some experience from Austria
Central European Public Administration Review
Austria
economy
regionalism
organizational structure
title Economic aspects of a “middle layer” of administration and government: some experience from Austria
title_full Economic aspects of a “middle layer” of administration and government: some experience from Austria
title_fullStr Economic aspects of a “middle layer” of administration and government: some experience from Austria
title_full_unstemmed Economic aspects of a “middle layer” of administration and government: some experience from Austria
title_short Economic aspects of a “middle layer” of administration and government: some experience from Austria
title_sort economic aspects of a middle layer of administration and government some experience from austria
topic Austria
economy
regionalism
organizational structure
url https://journals.uni-lj.si/CEPAR/article/view/20220
work_keys_str_mv AT walterscherrer economicaspectsofamiddlelayerofadministrationandgovernmentsomeexperiencefromaustria