The Lost Dimension of Swiss Federalism: Democracy Problems of New Regionalism in Metropolitan Areas

Daniel Kübler

Chapter 11 in Contemporary Switzerland, 2005, pp 256-280 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Emerging in the 1990s, the concept of new regionalism focuses on the building of area-wide metropolitan governance through networks of voluntary cooper- ation rather than through institutional consolidation (‘old regionalism’). This chapter focuses on a yet under-investigated aspect of new regionalism, namely its effects on the relationship between citizens and the state. In the first, conceptual, section three hypotheses are developed on how new regionalism impacts on service satisfaction, government loyalty as well as democratic legitimacy. The second section tests these hypotheses using case study evidence and survey data from four Swiss metropolitan areas (Zurich, Lausanne, Lucerne, Lugano). The results suggest that ‘new regionalism’ has no significant effect on service satisfaction or government loyalty, but reduces democratic legitimacy. A closer look at intervening variables reveals that size of communes and institutional consolidation of metropolitan areas pla a stronger role than the type of regionalism. Hence, efforts to increase area- wide governance capacity in Swiss metropolitan areas should pursue ‘old’ rather than ‘new regionalism’.

Keywords: Metropolitan Area; Public Choice; Public Transport; Core City; Democratic Governance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-52358-6_12

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9780230523586

DOI: 10.1057/9780230523586_12

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().