ABSTRACT
As this collection of chapters shows local self-government in Europe has been unevenly affected by the global economic downturn and in some countries also by the budgetary and sovereign debt crisis. The variety of experiences and policy responses, both structural, related to the organization of local government, and functional, related to operation of local government, which this book only very partially illustrate, is indicative that we may be near a new wave of local government policies and of a new local governance model in Europe, different from the still prevailing neo-liberal governance model and its new public management principles, although as geographically diverse as previous local governance models in the past have been.
