ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the extent to which decision-making in federal systems includes a place for local government. It also examines relations between local government and the upper tier of government in federal systems; that is, the involvement of Canadian local authorities in federal politics and the involvement of European local authorities in European Union. The chapter provides an overview of the formal and informal involvement of local authorities from the territorial areas in a range of policy areas and decision types at the federal/European Union levels. Intergovernmental perspectives take a contrary position and suggest that local government engagement in European Union is insignificant, or at least it is not universally significant across all member states. One major study of local government in Canada suggests that the dominant tendency has been to see local governments as "bit players" in Canadian politics. A number of scholars indicate that intergovernmental relations in Canada are considerably more complicated than the constitutional framework suggests.