ABSTRACT
The starting point for this book was the clear evidence of substantial change in the nature of European government in general and in the institutions of territorial governance in particular since the original version of this book was produced in 1987. These changes seem to be of such magnitude that the nature of intergovernmental relations in European countries is likely to have changed. Do these changes follow similar patterns across all or most polities and, if so, have they produced greater similarities, and reduced the dissimilarities, between different political systems, and how might we explain these patterns? In particular, does the big underlying distinction we drew in 1987 between Northern and Southern European countries continue to hold? Moreover, does this model hold up outside the small range of seven (then) unitary states in which it was developed, and what is the effect of introducing new countries, both unitary and federal, into the study on this distinction? Does the three-variable model of functions, discretion and access used in the 1987 study still help us to understand patterns of intergovernmental relations today?
