Reconfiguring the State: Trends in Territorial Governance in European States

Multi-level governance appeared in the 1990s as a concept which sought to capture the changing relationships between different territorial levels of government in the EU. The concept was important as it drew to attention to important changes in territorial governance that were occurring at this time. This article steps back to analyse wider changes in the nature and form of the Welfare State, and the consequences of this for territorial governance. It argues that there are distinct trends in contemporary territorial governance: greater political as opposed to simple administrative decentralization; more asymmetry and diversity; a shift from a 'principalagent' to a 'choice' model of central-local relations; great scope for experimentation; more non-hierarchical relations; new patterns of fiscal relations.