European Regions, 1870 – 2020 : A Geographic and Historical Insight Into the Process of European Integration

This volume explains the national and regional border modifications that took place in Europe from 1870 to 2020. It provides insights that allow us to understand boundary changes for several different levels of territorial organization. The text describes the state formation process related to the regional-administrative structures in each European country, and offers insight into the degree of centralization historically by describing the extent of legislative autonomy at different administrative levels and the competences reserved for each of them. To the book sheds light on the complex regional organization of Europe and the difficulties its reform has faced. The main audience will be academics and PhD/Masters students working in a variety of geography fields, and the maps included in each chapter will also be of interest to a broader audience including undergraduate and secondary-school students wishing to better understand the political history of Europe Regions of Europe Introduction Description of the Changes in State Frontiers and Regional Boundaries The Different Systems of Territorial Administration in Europe The Rationalist Model The Historicist Model A New Historical GIS of the Administrative Geography of Europe Annex The Regional European Geographic Information System (REGIS): An Ongoing Database Project Introduction The Methodological Approach to Capture the Border Geometries Software Solution Geospatial Data Format Definition of Change Sources of the Database Structure of the Database Generalisation Attributes of the Shapefiles Conclusion Acknowledgements Contents List of Maps/Figures List of Tables Contributors Part I: Federal States 1: Germany 1.1 State Formation 1.2 Levels of Government 1.3 Territorial Units 1.4 Main Levels of Official Statistics References and Further Reading Sources 2: Switzerland 2.1 State Formation 2.2 Levels of Government 2.3 Territorial Units 2.4 Main Territorial Level in Official Statistics Appendix References Literature Sources 3: Belgium 3.1 State Formation 3.2 Continuity and Change 3.3 Political–Administrative Organisation of Territory 3.3.1 Federal Government 3.3.2 Subnational Government 3.3.3 Decentralised Government 3.4 Territory in Official Statistics Sources and Further Reading Supplementary material Quantitative and Statistical Materials 4: The Netherlands 4.1 State Formation 4.2 Continuity and Change 4.3 Political–Administrative Organisation of Territory 4.4 Territory in Official Statistics Sources and Further Reading References Sources 5: Luxembourg 5.1 State Formation 5.2 Continuity and Change 5.3 Political–Administrative Organisation of Government 5.3.1 Central Government 5.3.2 Local Government 5.4 Territory in Official Statistics Sources and Further Reading References Part II: British Isles 6: The United Kingdom 6.1 Introduction 6.2 State Formation 6.3 National and Devolved Governments for the Countries of the UK 6.4 Regional Government and Administration 6.4.1 Central Government Administrative Regions 6.4.2 Regional Economic Planning Boards and Councils 6.4.3 Ad Hoc Regional Coordination 6.4.4 ‘Special Areas’ 6.4.5 Regional Development Agencies 6.4.6 Regional Devolution Since 2014 6.4.7 Elected Regional Government 6.5 Local Government Administration 6.5.1 Local Government Before 1832/1835 6.5.2 Local Government Before the 1880s 6.5.3 Late Nineteenth-Century Local Government Reforms 6.5.4 Two-Tier Local Government After 1964 6.5.5 Unitary Councils in Northern Ireland After 1973 6.5.6 The Erosion of the Two-Tier Local Government Structure After 1986 6.6 Local Government Finance 6.7 Associations Between Local Government Units 6.8 Statistical Units 6.9 Conclusion Sources and Further Reading References Sources 7: Republic of Ireland 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Historical Background 7.2.1 Gaelic Ireland 7.2.2 English Colonisation 7.3 Local Government in Nineteenth-Century Ireland 7.3.1 Poor Law Unions 7.3.2 The 1898 Local Government Act 7.4 Local Government in Independent Ireland 7.5 Regional Governance Structures 1964–1999 7.5.1 1964 Planning Regions 7.5.2 Regional Authorities 7.5.3 Regional Assemblies 1999 7.5.4 The National Spatial Strategy 7.6 The 2014 Subnational Government Reforms 7.6.1 Local Government Reforms 7.6.2 New Regional Assemblies 7.6.3 The National Planning Framework 7.7 The Weakness of Subnational Government in Ireland Appendix References Part III: Nordic Countries 8: Sweden 8.1 State Formation 8.2 Levels of Government 8.2.1 Powers and Competences 8.3 Territory in Official Statistics Sources and Further Reading References Sources 9: Finland 9.1 State Formation 9.1.1 Swedish Rule, 1150–1809 9.1.2 The Autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland, Connected with Tsarist Russia, 1809–1917 9.1.3 The Republic of Finland, 1917– 9.2 Levels of Government 9.2.1 Territorial State Administrative Units 9.2.2 Provinces 9.2.3 Local and Regional Self-Government References 10: Norway 10.1 Introduction 10.2 State Formation 10.3 Levels of Government 10.4 Territorial Units 10.5 Main Territorial Levels in Official Statistics Appendix Table 10.1 Border Changes Between Norwegian Counties 1870–2020 References 11: Denmark 11.1 State Formation 11.1.1 The Duchies Slesvig and Holsten in the Danish State 11.2 Levels of Government and Functions 11.2.1 The Medieval and Premodern Period 11.2.2 The Reform of 1842 11.2.3 The Reform of 1970 11.2.4 The Reform of 2007 Appendix Sources and Further Reading References 12: Iceland 12.1 State Formation 12.2 Levels of Government 12.3 Political-Administrative Organisation Sources and Further Reading Part IV: The Napoleonic Model 13: France 13.1 The Heritage of the Ancien Régime: A Centralised State 13.1.1 The Origins of France 13.1.2 Local Government Before 1789 13.2 The Legacy of 1789–1790: The Local ‘Convenances’ 13.3 Developments Over the Nineteenth to Twenty-First Centuries 13.3.1 The Creation of a Fifth Tier 13.3.2 Towards a Decentralised State: Local Authorities 13.3.3 Other Types of Territorial Division 13.3.3.1 Inter-Municipal Associations (Intercommunalités) 13.3.3.2 Pays 13.3.3.3 Regional Nature Parks 13.3.4 Use of Special Status 13.3.4.1 The City of Paris, Both Municipality and Department 13.3.4.2 The Specific Status of Lyon and Marseille: Municipal Arrondissements 13.3.4.3 Corsica: A Unique Status 13.3.4.4 Alsace-Moselle, Legal Particularities 13.3.5 Codifications of Administrative Geography 13.3.5.1 The Official Geographic Code (COG) and the European Classification 13.3.5.2 The GeoPeople Project and the Historical Geo-Classification 13.4 Administration of Overseas France: Increasingly Divergent Status 13.5 The Five Tiers of French Administration 13.5.1 Regions 13.5.1.1 The Administrative Areas 13.5.1.2 Central Government: Organs, Functions and Powers 13.5.1.3 Local Government: Organs, Functions and Powers 13.5.2 Departments 13.5.2.1 The Administrative Areas 13.5.2.2 Central Government: Organs, Functions and Powers 13.5.2.3 Local Government: Organs, Functions and Powers 13.5.3 Arrondissements 13.5.3.1 The Administrative Areas 13.5.3.2 Central Government: Organs, Functions and Powers 13.5.3.3 Local Government: Organs, Functions and Powers 13.5.4 Cantons 13.5.4.1 The Administrative Areas 13.5.4.2 Central Government: Organs, Functions and Powers 13.5.4.3 Local Government: Organs, Functions and Powers 13.5.5 Municipalities 13.5.5.1 The Administrative Areas 13.5.5.2 Central Government: Organs, Functions and Powers 13.5.5.3 Local Government: Organs, Functions and Powers 13.5.6 The French ‘Layer Cake’ 13.6 Latest Developments, 2003–2019, a Geography of Regional and Local Authorities Competences and Powers 13.6.1 The Constitutional Law of the 28th March 2003: Decentralisation 13.6.2 The Law of the 16th December 2010: Reform of Local and Regional Authorities 13.6.3 The Law MAPTAM of the 16th December 2010: Increasing Metropolisation 13.6.4 The Law NOTRe of the 7th August 2015: Inter-Municipality 13.6.5 Others Evolutions 13.7 Conclusion Annexes Dual Mandates in France Population of Overseas Local Authorities Bibliography Websites Consulted 14: Italy 14.1 State Formation 14.2 Regions and Provinces: Boundaries and Levels of Government 14.2.1 The Regional Borders 14.2.2 Provinces and Metropolitan Cities 14.3 Levels of Government 14.3.1 The Regions 14.3.2 Municipalities Sources and Further Reading Statistical Sources 15: Portugal 15.1 State Formation 15.2 Levels of Government 15.2.1 Basic Historical Characteristics 15.2.2 From the Constitutional Monarchy to the Democratic Regime: Territorial Reforms 15.2.3 From the Constitutional Monarchy to the Democratic Regime: The Centre–Periphery Relations 15.2.4 The Democratic Regime Sources and Further Reading References Website Sources 16: Spain 16.1 State Formation 16.2 Territorial Structure 16.3 Political-Administrative Organisation 16.3.1 Territorial Levels and Number of Units 16.4 Main Territorial Levels in Official Statistics Sources and Further Reading References Part V: The Habsburg Influence 17: Austria 17.1 State Formation 17.2 Levels of Government, Territorial Units, Main Territorial Levels in Official Statistics 17.2.1 The Political System at the Federal Level 17.2.2 National Identity and Cultural Characteristics 17.3 Sub-national Administrative Levels 17.4 Main Territorial Levels in Official Statistics 17.5 Danubian Lands 17.6 The Alpine Southeast 17.7 The Alpine West References Suggested Reading 18: Czechoslovakia, Czech and Slovak Republic 18.1 State Formation 18.2 Levels of Government 18.3 Political–Administrative Organisation 18.3.1 The Czech Lands and Slovakia in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy 18.3.2 The First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–1938) 18.3.3 Czechoslovakia During Communism (1948–1989) 18.3.4 Czechoslovakia After 1989 Sources and Further Reading 19: Hungary 19.1 Introduction 19.2 State Formation 19.3 Levels of Government 19.4 The Historically Changing Administrative Functions and Territorial Transformations of the County System in the Period of Feudalism 19.4.1 The System of Royal Counties 19.4.2 The Centuries of the Nobility Counties Until 1848 19.4.3 The Civic County System, 1848–1948 19.4.4 The Illegitimate, Absolutist County After 1849 19.4.5 The Development of the Legitimate Hungarian Civil County System in 1867–1948 19.5 Trauma in the State History: Revolutionary Attempts for the Reform of Public Administration 19.6 The County System Between the Two World Wars 19.7 Public Administration in the Coalition Period After the War, 1944–1949 19.8 The State Socialist Public Administration, 1949–1990 19.9 The New Self-Government Public Administration, 1990–2000: A Systemic Change Without a Radical Territorial Reform 19.10 Changes in the Hungarian Territorial Administration After 2000 19.11 Territorial Units 19.12 Main Territorial Levels in Official Statistics Sources and Further Reading References Sources 20: Poland 20.1 State Formation 20.1.1 State of the Piast Dynasty (966–1385) 20.1.2 Kingdom of the Jagiellon Dynasty (1386–1569) 20.1.3 Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795) 20.1.3.1 The Partitions of 1772/93/95 20.1.4 Limited Sovereignty and Satellite Statehood (1807–1918) 20.1.4.1 Duchy of Warsaw (1807–1815) 20.1.4.2 Kingdom of Poland/Congress Poland (1815–1918) 20.1.5 Second Republic (1918–1939) 20.1.6 People’s Republic (1945–1989) 20.1.7 Third Republic (1989–Present) 20.2 Territorial Units 20.2.1 Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795) 20.2.2 Duchy of Warsaw (1807–1815) 20.2.3 Kingdom of Poland/Congress Poland (1815–1918) 20.2.4 Second Republic (1918–1939) 20.2.5 People’s Republic (1945–1989) 20.2.6 Third Republic (1989–Present) 20.2.6.1 NUTS Level of Poland References Part VI: The Balkans 21: Bulgaria 21.1 State Formation 21.2 Levels of Government 21.3 Territorial Units 21.4 Main Territorial Level in Official Statistics Sources and Further Reading References Sources 22: Greece 22.1 State Formation 22.2 Territorial Structure 22.3 Political–Administrative Organization 22.3.1 First Administrative Level—Dhemos, Koinotita 22.3.2 Second Administrative Level—Eparchia 22.3.3 Third Administrative Level—Nomos 22.4 Geographical Regions Division 22.4.1 Perifereia Level 22.4.2 Ministries Appendix Sources 23: Romania 23.1 State Formation 23.2 Levels of Government 23.3 Territorial Units 23.4 Main Territorial Levels in Official Statistics References 24: Yugoslavia and Successor States 24.1 State Formation 24.2 Levels of Government, Territorial Units, Main Territorial Levels in Official Statistics Slovenia 24.2.1 Croatia24.2.2 Bosnia-Herzegovina 24.2.3 Serbia 24.2.4 Kosovo 24.2.5 Montenegro 24.2.6 North Macedonia 24.2.7 References Suggested Reading 25: Albania 25.1 State Formation 25.2 Levels of Government 25.3 Territorial Units 25.4 Available Statistical Data References and Sources References Sources Part VII: Small Countries 26: The Baltic States 26.1 State Formation 26.1.1 Development Prior to the Nineteenth Century 26.1.2 The Development in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Until World War I 26.1.3 The Development in the First Independence Period 26.1.4 The Era of the Soviet Time 26.1.5 The Second Independence Period 26.1.6 Republic of Estonia 26.1.7 Republic of Latvia 26.1.8 Republic of Lithuania Sources and Further Readings References Sources 27: Cyprus, Malta and Microstates: Andorra, Lichtenstein, Monaco, San Marino 27.1 State Formation 27.1.1 What Are Microstates? 27.1.2 The Relationship Between Population and Territorial Structure 27.1.3 Changes in the Administrative Structure 27.2 Conclusions Sources and Further Reading References Index